In Queer Science, two internationally renowned scholars of sexuality approach same-sex sexuality from seemingly orthogonal angles: Jennifer Terry critically explores contemporary and historical sexual science; Paul Vasey conducts cross-species and cross-cultural empirical research on the evolution of same-sex sexuality. More than just scientific studies of same-sex sexuality or critical takes on the same, Queer Science upends our preconceived notions of what ”˜proper’ topics of science are, what ”˜natural’ is or can be, how reading empirical articles and pop science as texts can illuminate sexual problematics, whether critical and empirical sexual science can, themselves, queer science, and what contemporary scientific understandings of same-sex sexuality are.

This event is part of the IRWG program area Feminism + Science = Feminist Science Studies. Feminist science studies focuses on feminist analyses of and contributions to science; Feminism + Science = Feminist Science Studies brings together interdisciplinary scholars at the forefront of this field. Each of the panels pairs two renowned scholars, one from the humanities/social sciences and one from the natural/biomedical sciences, to discuss feminist perspectives on a specific debate or controversy in science, medicine, or technology. The panels combine individual disciplinary talks from these diverse scholars with interdisciplinary commentary and questions from local expert faculty at the University of Michigan, themselves drawn from varying locations on the knowledge spectrum.