ISU Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

08/25/2026

We are on the quad today and tomorrow, 8/25 & 8/26, so stop by for information, buttons, and other WGSS swag!

08/17/2026

Welcome back Redbirds!!

Next Friday, we are hosting a social for students and faculty of WGSS, African American Studies, and Latin American / Latinx Studies! 📚

Drop in anytime between 1 - 2:30pm, Aug 28 at the WGSS Resource Center, 237 Rachel Cooper Hall. Snacks provided! ☕

04/20/2026

Recent news article on Dr. Sarah Ensor, the keynote speaker for this Friday's WGSS Symposium! 📰

The WGSS Program at Illinois State University will host the 29th annual WGSS Student Research Symposium on Friday, April 24. The symposium invites students, faculty, and community members to explore an important question: What does it mean to imagine collective life at a time when the future feels so uncertain?

This year’s keynote will feature Dr. Sarah Ensor, an associate professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Ensor will present a talk titled “Q***r Extinctions: Or Learning How to Last” at 1:30 p.m. in the Bone Student Center’s Circus Room at Illinois State.

Turning to q***r literature, Ensor explores forms of persistence that emerge “at the last”: at the end of a life, a lineage, or even a species. Her work revisits two historical periods marked by experiences of q***r extinction: the 1890s and the 1980s.

By examining literature and cultural history from these two eras, Ensor identifies models of care, continuance, and collective action that emerge in times “when the future feels uncertain.” Her talk invites audiences to rethink how communities endure, organize, and imagine possibility amid environmental and social cataclysm, which often involves either safeguarding the future (as we think we know it) or, alternatively, speculating and working toward alternate futures. Ensor considers what becomes possible when we take our eyes off that nominal futuristic prize, setting our sights elsewhere and directing our energies otherwise.

Read the full story: https://news.illinoisstate.edu/2026/04/lasting-at-the-edge-of-the-extinction-2026-wgss-student-research-symposium-is-friday-april-24/

Remember to register!

Register for the Annual WGSS Student Research Symposium on April 24, 2026.

04/14/2026

Next Friday is the WGSS Student Research Symposium! 📚

Come support students from across ISU as they present their WGSS research.

Registration and the full 2026 Program are available on our website and the link in our bio. 🔗

You can preorder Dr. Sarah Ensor's book Q***r Lasting (2025) from !

04/10/2026

Want to build an online collection or database but not sure where to start? Have you digitized some rare items and want to create an online catalog but need to figure out the best way to do it? If so, this workshop is for you! It chronicles a semester-long Digital Humanities Fellowship sponsored by Milner Library with Dr. Whitesel’s archival research on fat-gay men’s clubs.

This workshop is free and open to the public. You can find the lunch registration link in our bio. 🔗

04/07/2026

In recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), WGSS will table on Schroeder Plaza on Wednesdays from 11a-2p with Health Promotion and Wellness, SERC, Q***r Coalition, Stepping Stones, and more. Drop by our table to learn more about SAAM and how you can be involved in bringing awareness to sexual violence.

Day of (No) Silence, April 8: Day of (No) Silence is a nationally recognized day of action created to spread awareness about the impacts of bullying and harassment on LGBTQ+ students. The tabling will prepare you for April 10, when people across the world take a vow to silence to represent the repression of the LGBTQ+ community. (Rain date: April 15)

Consent Day, April 15: Campus and local organizations will join to teach about consent and the way it plays a role in our daily lives. Students can receive a SAAM t-shirt from HPW! (Rain date: April 22)

The Clothesline Project, April 22: The Clothesline Project is an art installation that displays t-shirts made by survivors of IPV. Survivors can create their own shirt to add to the collection. (Rain date: April 29)

Denim Day, April 29: Denim Day is a worldwide campaign that began after the Italian Supreme Court ruled that because a survivor was wearing tight jeans, she must have helped the person who r***d her remove them. The next day, women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the survivor. Wear denim to show your support of survivors of sexual violence.