The first workshop of the series entitled “Technology, Sex and Gender in Classical Antiquity” proposes to explore the ways that technology (defined broadly as technique) produces, configures or reshapes gender and sexuality. Cosmetics, prosthetics, athletics, pharmaceutics and sexual tools can all be considered in terms of enhancement technologies with a variety of aims including longevity and healthier and improved appearance. As such, they have a pervasive impact on gender, as they redefine the limits of the physical body, as well as on sexuality in terms of rewriting the script for erotic action emphasizing sexual pleasure, or assisting/preventing reproduction.
The workshop is convened by Maria Gerolemou and supported by the Centre for Knowledge in Culture in Antiquity and the Centre for Medical History, University of Exeter.
Programme
8.45-9.00, Registration
9.00-9.15, Kate Fisher, Rebecca Langlands, Maria Gerolemou, Introductory speech
9.15-10.00, Jane Draycott (Glasgow), Gendering Therapeutic Body Modification and Bodily Enhancement Technologies
10.00-10.45, Maria Gerolemou (Exeter), Want to look younger and beautiful? Steamy baths in classical antiquity
10.45-11.15, Coffee/Tea Break
11.15-12.00, Alessia Gurdasole (CNRS Paris), Dysfunction (δυσέργεια) and deformity (ἀπρέπεια) in Paul of Aegina’s surgical chapters
12.00-12.45, Daniel King (Exeter), Galen’s athletics
12.45-1.30, Genevieve Liveley (Bristol), Natural born cyborgs: Or, when Talos met Medea
1.30-2.30, Lunch
2.30-3.15, Laurence Totelin (Cardiff), Lizards and Lettuces: aphrodisiacs as technosõmata
3.15-4.00, Francesca Spiegel (HU Berlin), The Abortion of Oedipus: On contraception
4.00-4.45, Karen Ni-Mheallaigh (Exeter), Prosthetic penises and removable eyes: bionic life on the Moon
4.45-5.15, Coffee/Tea Break
5.15-6.00, Giulia Maria Chesi (HU Berlin), Ethiopian cosmetics vs. Persian commotics in Herodotus’ Ethiopian logos
6.00-6.45, Martin Devecka (UC Santa Cruz), The Human Touch: Prosthetic Gendering of Animal Bodies in the Roman Empire
7.30, Dinner
The conference is free to attend, but registration is required. Please register by Sunday, 31 March, contacting Maria Gerolemou ([email protected])