Please note the location change to University Center. 63 Fifth Avenue

Sexual Harrasment & Assault : Eros, Power,

Violation & Consent

Starr Foundation Hall, UL 102

University Center

63 Fifth Avenue

Thursday February 8, 2018 7:00 p.m.- 9:00 p.m.

Co-sponsors

The Sandor Ferenczi Center, The New School Gender Studies & Sexuality Program, and Public Seminar

Speakers

Lewis Aron, NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis

Katie Gentile, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Ali Shames-Dawson, New School for Social Research

Lisa Rubin, New School for Social Research

Adrienne Harris, NY Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis

Moderator

Jeremy Safran, New School for Social Research

Recent months have witnessed the beginnings of a massive public reckoning with the prevalence of sexual harassment and assault locally and nationally. Many were dumbfounded when Donald Trump was elected 45th President of the United States subsequent to the release of the infamous Access Hollywood “grab them by the pussy” video. Following the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the emergence of the #metoo movement, dozens of powerful men in the public eye, have been fired after multiple complainants have come forward with allegations of decades of sexual harassment and assault. The ways that race, class, genders, and sexualities operationalize power in public spaces have become clearer.

This event will be the first in a two-part series (a second full-day event will be scheduled for the Fall) that begins a conversation with the objective of opening up a reflective space for thinking about sexual harassment and assault in the context of maintaining an appreciation for the complexity of sexuality, power, desire, coercion, and consent.

Here are some questions we want to pose and discuss:

1. How can women and men work to genuinely change the status quo without falling into polarizing binaries that either exculpate or demonize?

2. How can we think critically about these issues in a way that respects the delicate nuances of human interaction while maintaining the momentum for fundamental change at individual, institutional, and cultural levels

3. How does the way in which institutions manage and mismanage situations of harassment and abuse of power contribute to the difficulties involved in reflecting critically and constructively about these issues?

We will begin with a general discussion by the speakers, and then and then break into groups to consider these matters and to plan for the full day, Fall 2018 conference on this topic.