Campus Notes

Campus Notes reported last month about Bianca Laureano, an adjunct professor at Catholic College of Mount Saint Vincent, who is a regular blogger for the radical abortion rights website RHRealityCheck.com.  She is teaching a course at the College of Mount Saint Vincent on human sexuality this summer.

In a recent post, Laureano indicates that she was invited to provide a workshop to the students at Saint Peter’s College (a Catholic, Jesuit institution in New Jersey).

She writes:

My workshop was called Gender, Dating & Technology….

I had some ideas for such a workshop from past sessions I’ve done, but I wanted more options. I headed over to the Advocates For Youth website and checked out what curriculums they share that center around relationships, sexuality, and friendships. Two activities stood out to me: Likes & Dislikes and Body Language from Life Planning Education, Advocates For Youth, 2009….

The activity Likes and Dislikes was one I knew I wanted to start with, but a issue I had with the activity the way it is presented is that it supports a gender binary: that there are only people who identify as women or men and nothing more. It took me a moment to think about how I could alter this activity and it was not until about an hour before my presentation that I came up with an idea. Instead of breaking groups up by gender identity as in the curriculum, I provided each participant with a sheet of paper to list likes and dislikes of all genders and I used gender neutral and inclusive language. For example, I said: “list likes and dislikes for men, women, gender non-conforming/queer, and/or trans people.”…

In an earlier post, Laureano discusses a presentation she gave at the University of Maryland on “Latina Sexualities” (warning: pornographic and blasphemous content).  She writes:

The main topics/themes I focused on included discussing and deconstructing the virgin/whore dichotomy; Latinas, abortion and contraceptive access; the Welfare Queen; criminalization of Latina sexualities; Trans Latinas how they are erased and/or attempts at inclusion; and media making and mentorship.

She goes on to discuss how during her presentation she used artwork that portrays the Virgin Mary pornographically.  She also describes the types of contraceptive methods she uses.

Laureano discussed Rosie Jimenez, who traveled to Mexico and died from an abortion procedure there, and noted that her “inability to obtain and afford a legal abortion” provided a good transition for her presentation.

Laureano also discussed “how trans people are included, excluded and erased in conversations about Latina sexualities.”

In an earlier post here, Campus Notes reported how Laureano said she believes that the “educational value” of an after-class presentation of a sex act at Northwestern University “helps to make clear that sex work is work.”

Bianca Laureano has reminded her readers on more than one occasion that she teaches at a Catholic college.  It’s College of Mount Saint Vincent in case you forgot.