Language, Sexuality, Wellbeing

The Department of Modern Languages presents an “Intersecting Identities” event on "Language, Sexuality, Wellbeing”.

A roundtable discussion with:

• Clark Baim, Birmingham-based psychotherapist and theatre practitioner
• Prof. Lisa Downing, Professor of French Discourses of Sexuality, University of Birmingham
• Prof. Alain Giami, Emeritus Research Professor, Gender, Sexuality, Health team, INSERM, Paris, France
• Dr Charlotte Ross, Senior Lecturer in Italian, University of Birmingham. 

In this event, the four panellists will present their research and/or clinical work on the relationship between language, sexuality, and the psy sciences. A panel debate will follow. Issues discussed will range over: translating key terms for sexuality and gender identity between different languages; the power relations created by the use of diagnostic labels in clinical settings; the evolution of sexual identity labels over time and across cultures; intersections between languages researchers and practitioners of the psychological sciences in the field of sexuality and gender. 

Following the panel discussion, there will be a postgraduate presentation by Katie Masters (PhD Sexuality and Gender Studies in the Department of Modern Languages) on her work on women and the very gendered psychiatric diagnosis of Social Anxiety Disorder.