Based on a poster by Cuban artist José Gómez Fresquet, c1970 contrasting privileged First World women with that of Viet Namese women during the Southeast Asia War

Gender, sexuality and inequality

Overview

Work on gender and sexualities also has a long history at York, at the heart of which is the Centre for Women's Studies (CWS), founded in 1984. CWS is among Britain's most well-established bases for interdisciplinary feminist research and is the editorial base for the journal Feminist Theory. The core CWS staff are Stevi Jackson (Director) and Gabriele Griffin, but its work extends well beyond that included in this submission, since its affiliated staff are drawn from a range of Departments at York and are submitted to their appropriate UOAs and includes 21 registered PhD students.

Stevi Jackson is best known for being at the forefront of critical studies of heterosexuality and for theorising the sociality of sexuality, notably in her recent work on sexual pleasure and the sexual self. She has also combined her expertise with that of Amanda Rees in exploring the popular appeal of evolutionary accounts of human sexual conduct.

Gabriele Griffin has produced work on Women's Studies as a discipline, the development of feminist methodologies and a major text onWho's Who in Lesbian and Gay Writing (Routledge, 2002). As noted above, Celia Kitzinger, and Merran Toerien carry out research on gender and sexuality through an analytic interest in conversation analysis (CA).

Celia Kitzinger is the leading international figure in the application of CA to issues of gender and sexualities. Amongst many notable studies, her work on telephone calls to a home birth helpline has had important implications for midwifery practice.

The work of Merran Toerien applies feminist CA to a number of fascinating contexts, including that of the beauty parlour - a topic she has published on jointly with Celia Kitzinger in a recent article in the journal Sociology.

Research centres

CWS - Centre for Women's Studies

Staff members

Ellen Annandale - Gender theory, gender and health, health inequalities

Sian Beynon-Jones - Reproductive justice, power, femininities, women's health

Stevi Jackson

Paul Johnson

Nisha Kapoor

Celia Kitzinger - Same-sex marriage, gender, language

Amanda Rees

Merran Toerien - Conversation analysis, medical authority