Lesbian Lives IX - 2002

FEAR & LOVING
FRIDAY 22nd - SUNDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2001
(full programme details below)

SATURDAY NIGHT PARTY:

Lesbian Lives Party hosted by LIBIDA ­The Queer Alternative on Saturday Night
Chief O’Neill’s Hotel, Smithfield
2 floors ­ 2 dance areas, 4 DJs, 2 bars, chill out area, dancers & performances
free cocktails for early arrivers and other goodies
Doors open at 9pm till 2:30am.
Tickets 9 Euro at Lesbian Lives Registration Desk  - 12 Euro on door
10% Discount on pre-party meals at Chief O’Neill’s with ticket bought at conference

SUNDAY AFTERNOON EVEnt :

EVEnt @ Vicar Street
Sunday afternoon cabaret of poetry & song in The Shelter at Vicar St. 3-7pm
hosted by EVE - Free Admission
Shaz Oye, Ailbhe Smyth, Sharon Murphy, Zrazy & Cherry Smyth
Patricia Kennedy MC

WERRC:  LESBIAN LIVES IX
FEAR & LOVING
FRIDAY 22nd
7:30pm ­ Theatre Q   - Arts Block

Singer/Songwriter Sharon Murphy performs
 & Cherry Smyth reads from her recent poetry collection
‘When the Lights Go Up’ is a stunning book: accessible, evocative and finely wrought. Whether you’re looking for poetry, politics or pure passion, this book comes highly recommended.’ DIVA magazine
 

SATURDAY 23rd FEBRUARY 2001
Arts Annexe ­ Car Park 5
9:00 REGISTRATION

9:45     PARALLEL SESSIONS I
(1) Queer Medievals & Other Monsters:
The Burning Question ­ Lesbians & Witchcraft
A paper by Mary McAuliffe (WERRC) examines the reasons for burning women as witches in Medireview Europe focusing on the idea that women who expressed sexual desire towards other women were unnatural, outside the accepted moral boundaries and as such had to be destroyed for their sin.
Murderers, Rapists, Cannibals, And Mutilators: Queer Theory And The Mongols
A paper by Noreen Giffney, examines the representation of the Mongol enemy in mid-thirteenth century Western propaganda and shows how the authors other/outlaw/queer the Mongols through their use of racial, gendered, sexual, spatial, temporal, and religious imagery.
Alien And Ripley: In Heterospace No-One Can Queer Her Scream
A paper by Paul McDermid: The Alien films, starring Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, offer a sci-fi illustration of the horror of the Other. These highly entertaining and popular flights of fantasy are grounded in the same notions that contemporary Queer thinking shows to be heteronormative constructs of gender, sex and desire. Ultimately, Ripley faces what is alien (or is that queer?) about her own being.
Resource Room - Arts Annexe ­ Ground Floor

(2) ‘…the Interval of Desire…’
Liz O’Riordan (UCD) performs, with Patricia Connery, a short concert consisting of new pieces she has written towards her Ph.D., most of which are settings of love poems by contemporary women poets, including lesbian erotic love poems (by Mary Dorcey, Carol Ann Duffy, Susan Stinson and others). These pieces will be interwoven with new arrangements of traditional Irish tunes and songs and some love songs and tunes from times past to create a sensual, passion-filled atmosphere: an interval of imagination, love and desire in music, song and poetry.
 ISSC Seminar Room­ Ground Floor

7 Lesbian  Film Shorts ­ curated by Fiona Clarke
WERRC Resource Room - Arts Annexe ­ Floor 2

11:15                          COFFEE BREAK ­ Ground Floor Lobby

11:30     PARALLEL SESSIONS II
(1) ‘Fitting Into Form’ Poetry Workshop with Cherry Smyth
Please bring 2-3 poems that you have written that you would like Cherry to comment on. The workshop will explore the haiku and sonnet form, looking at work by Basho and Marilyn Hacker. There will be a warm-up writing exercise and the chance to try out different poetic structures. Registration limited to ten ­sign on at the registration desk
ISSC Seminar Room­ Ground Floor

(2) An End To Monogender: Masculinities Without Men
Dragging Gender into the 21st Century: Masculinities Without Men- a paper by Michael O’Rourke
The Long Dislocating of All Senses: Being a Drag King in Postmodern Ireland: Politics, Aesthetics & Culture ­ A paper by Rachel Drag King
Resource Room - Arts Annexe­ Ground Floor

(3) Xena -What’s the Story?
Including: "Forged in Battle: Xena Warrior Princess & Lesbian Fandom".  A paper by Rosalind Hammer,  (North London University), which addresses the once silenced and now audible voice of the lesbian fan, made possible through the rapidly growing phenomenon of related Internet websites.
Also on the panel: Margaret Moran, Fantasy and Sci-Fi expert, speaking on the attitudes of Xena's producers/scriptwriters/actors to the lesbian content in the program. And Mary McAuliffe, historian, on the systematic feminisation of History, Mythology & world religions in the series.
The session will include question & answer time. Chaired by Aintzane Legarreta-Mentxaka (Maken).
Theatre O - Arts Block

Film: Until 1:30 Aimee & Jaguar
WERRC Resource Room - Arts Annexe ­ Floor 2

1:00            LUNCH - GROUND FLOOR AREA -   ARTS ANNEXE

2:00     PARALLEL SESSIONS III
(1) Utopian Classrooms? Teaching and Learning about Sexuality without Fear
By means of a presentation and workshop, Sam Dawkins and Cath Lambert explore the experiences of lesbian teachers struggling against homophobia and heterosexism in schools. Their session takes us on a journey, building on the experiences of everyone in the group to develop strategies for working towards a classroom of the future. In this 'utopian' classroom, everyone, no matter what their sexuality, can talk freely about all kinds of loving, without fear of alienation, mockery or violence.
ISSC Seminar Room­ Ground Floor

(2) Song Workshop
With Frances McAllorum & Una Lawlor (details to follow)
Resource Room- Arts Annexe­ Ground Floor

(3) Desire By Any Other Name: Bisexuality & Lesbian Community in Northampton, MA
A paper by Clare Hemmings  (London School of Economics)
Theatre O

Film: Pourquoi Pas Moi? -“Why not me?”
WERRC Resource Room - Arts Annexe ­ Floor 2

3:30                                    TEA BREAK - GROUND FLOOR AREA ­ ARTS ANNEXE

3:45 - 4:45      PARALLEL SESSIONS IV

(1) Bisexual/Lesbian Spaces­ A Workshop
With Clare Hemmings  (London School of Economics)
ISSC Seminar Room­ Ground Floor
 

(2) Bedroom Evidence?: Problems in writing Biographies Of Notable Irish Lesbians
'To us was opened another way': Reading Somerville and Ross as Lesbian Authors.
A paper by Pamela Weaver .
Marie Mulholland, biographer of Dr Kathleen Lynn, discusses Lynn’s relationship with Madeleine ffrench-Mullan.
Resource Room ­ Arts Annexe ­ Second Floor

(3)  Queer Families And Our Homes
Leaving Home: Migration, Queer Love and Queer Communities
 A paper by Carol-Anne O’Brien (Ryerson University, Toronto), based on community-based research about LGBT youth migration (international & rural-urban) and HIV, with reflections on her own migration and dilemmas about identity and homes.
‘An Involved Increasing Family': The Politics Of 'Gay Marriage' And The Loss Of Possibilities
A paper by Michael Cronin, (University of Sussex), arguing that rich friendships and networks of mutual support have been a defining feature of life for many lesbians and gay men. But is the decision to prioritise the political demand for partnership rights an abandonment of that heritage and its potential for imagining new ways of being human? And whose interests do 'partnership rights' serve?

Theatre O  
Odd Sock - Irish Lesbian Film Short & Sexing the Label - Documentary
WERRC Resource Room - Arts Annexe- Floor 2
 

5:00 - 6:00    THEATRE O -   Close

 
Lesbian Lives Party hosted by LIBIDA ­The Queer Alternative on 
Saturday Night
Chief O’Neill’s Hotel, Smithfield
2 floors ­ 2 dance areas, 4 DJs, 2 bars, chill out area, dancers & performances
free cocktails for early arrivers and other goodies
Doors open at 9pm till 2:30am.
Tickets 9 Euro at Lesbian Lives Registration Desk  - 12 Euro on door
10% Discount on pre-party meals at Chief O’Neill’s with ticket bought at conference

EVEnt @ Vicar Street
Sunday afternoon 
cabaret of poetry & song in The Shelter at Vicar St. 3-7pm
hosted by EVE - Free Admission
Shaz Oye, Ailbhe Smyth, Sharon Murphy, Zrazy & Cherry Smyth
Patricia Kennedy MC

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