Event
Penn Humanities Forum: Steven Epstein, Professor of Sociology, Northwestern University
"Living in the Era of Sexual Health"
Steven Epstein
John C. Shaffer Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Sociology, Northwestern University
Lance Wahlert
Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Americans seem to have an ever-growing preoccupation with sexual health problems and the promise of their solutions. Why the fascination? And what might our focus on "sexual health" be telling us about what we imagine sexuality to be? Renowned sociologist of medicine Steven Epstein sits down with Penn medical ethicist Lance Wahlert to examine the invention of the term "sexual health" and the latest debates over HIV prevention, HPV vaccines, new drugs designed to treat female sexual dysfunction, and more.
Steven Epstein is the John C. Shaffer Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Sociology at Northwestern University. He also holds joint appointments in the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, the Gender & Sexuality Studies program, and Cells to Society (C2S): The Center on Social Disparities and Health at the Institute for Policy Research. Epstein studies the "politics of knowledge" as it relates to the contested production of expert biomedical knowledge, the interplay of social movements, experts, and health institutions, and the politics of sexuality, gender, and race.
Lance Wahlert is Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics & Health Policy at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine, where he also directs the Master of Bioethics Program and the Project on Bioethics, Sexuality, and Gender Identity. Within the School of Arts & Sciences, he is on the faculty of the Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies Program, and regularly teaches in the English and History and Sociology of Science departments. Wahlert's research and teaching promote the intersection of the sciences and the humanities. His interests include narrative medicine, clinical ethics, the historiographical legacy of the health care concerns of LGBTQ persons, and disability theory.
John C. Shaffer Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Sociology, Northwestern University
Lance Wahlert
Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Americans seem to have an ever-growing preoccupation with sexual health problems and the promise of their solutions. Why the fascination? And what might our focus on "sexual health" be telling us about what we imagine sexuality to be? Renowned sociologist of medicine Steven Epstein sits down with Penn medical ethicist Lance Wahlert to examine the invention of the term "sexual health" and the latest debates over HIV prevention, HPV vaccines, new drugs designed to treat female sexual dysfunction, and more.
Steven Epstein is the John C. Shaffer Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Sociology at Northwestern University. He also holds joint appointments in the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, the Gender & Sexuality Studies program, and Cells to Society (C2S): The Center on Social Disparities and Health at the Institute for Policy Research. Epstein studies the "politics of knowledge" as it relates to the contested production of expert biomedical knowledge, the interplay of social movements, experts, and health institutions, and the politics of sexuality, gender, and race.
Lance Wahlert is Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics & Health Policy at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine, where he also directs the Master of Bioethics Program and the Project on Bioethics, Sexuality, and Gender Identity. Within the School of Arts & Sciences, he is on the faculty of the Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies Program, and regularly teaches in the English and History and Sociology of Science departments. Wahlert's research and teaching promote the intersection of the sciences and the humanities. His interests include narrative medicine, clinical ethics, the historiographical legacy of the health care concerns of LGBTQ persons, and disability theory.