Health and Social Change Lecture Series - Lisa Wade, Ph.D.

For most of American history, the U.S. public was blissfully unaware of the female genital cutting practices (FGCs), now familiar to many as “female genital mutilation,” occurring in parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Lisa Wade, an assistant professor of sociology at Occidental College, will examine when, why and how FGCs were introduced to the American public. She will show how this introduction was the result of specific choices made by moral entrepreneurs and decisions by journalists and their editors to make FGCs important to the American public.

Wade is a sociologist who specializes in the intersection of inequality and the body. She holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and an M.A. in human sexuality from New York University. She teaches gender, race and sexuality and is working on a book titled "Female Genital Mutilation" in the American Imagination. She is also founder and co-editor of the Web blog Sociological Images: Seeing Is Believing at www.contexts.org/socimages.

Admission is free.