The First Feminist Sex Research Reception at the International Academy of Sex Research.

The First Feminist Sex Research Reception at the International Academy of Sex Research (IASR) occurred on August 11, 2011, at the Los Angeles conference. It was an exciting event—exciting to plan, exciting to attend, and exciting to follow up on. I organized the reception with my colleague, Terri Conley. We both have research programs primarily devoted to sex research though we use very different approaches. In addition, we are both jointly appointed in Psychology and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan. Our overlapping positions and sensibilities as feminist sex researchers helped foment our concern with the lack of visibility for feminist sex research as well as its dispersion and lack of organizing force or community, especially at IASR. Plus, we were acutely aware of its lack of parties. We were committed to addressing these issues as best we could. I approached Dr. Conley with the idea of the reception and she enthusiastically agreed. Though we originally thought to request funds from our departments to sponsor the event, we realized that we could each put forward some of our discretionary funds given our joint interest. We went about selecting an evening that contained no other IASR planning and a location that might be appropriate for a reception. Initially, I explored the possibility of a community room in the conference dormitory, which culminated in a call from an IASR officer wondering what sort of wild party we were planning (I was flattered, in part, to be thought capable of such revelry). Dr. Conley instead found The Glendon Bar & Kitchen, which contained a reservable private upper level for no charge so long as we paid for a quota of food. We invited a few senior feminist scholars we knew as special guests to help make the event attractive. We were delighted to have enthusiastic acceptances from Lisa Diamond, Cynthia Graham, Stephanie Sanders, Ine Vanwesenbeeck, and Leonore Tiefer, who represented major scholars, past-presidents of IASR and/or SSSS (Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality), the Editor of the Journal of Sex Research, and who were interested in mentoring junior colleagues. We used informal means to pass the word out, including fliers at IASR (we were actually concerned about the potential anti-feminist backlash a more formal effort might engender; no small concern given that we are both pre-tenure). Word spread about the reception and we were excited about the buzz. Is a feminist reception needed at IASR? We felt that organizing an event would help build community among a disparate group of scholars with a shared commitment to feminist approaches. We also felt that some students might be interested in feminist approaches but not have access to feminist scholars and that the reception would help build a network for them. Other experiences, at IASR itself, helped to make clear just how important the feminist reception was. For example, a number of male trainees tossed anti-feminist epithets at two of my ultrapolite Midwestern students, who were holding a sign directing people to the reception. These outspoken conference attendees then told my students that no men would be at the reception, to which one of the young men standing with my students responded ‘‘Well, I’m going.’’ To which these lovely young inclusive conference attendees clarified‘‘no straight men.’’I’m not exactly sure whether these men were suggesting that events