UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Katrina Karkazis, acclaimed anthropologist and bioethicist and author of “Testosterone: An Unauthorized Biography,” will deliver the Rock Ethics Institute’s 2022 Richard B. Lippin Lecture in Ethics at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 7, in 101 Thomas Building.
“We invited Katrina Karkazis because she's an internationally respected feminist anthropologist and bioethicist,” said Hil Malatino, associate director of the Rock Ethics Institute (REI). “Her scholarship is rigorous, insightful and accessible, and she has become a sought-after political commentator, particularly on the subject of hormones and the regulation of women's sports.”
Karkazis, professor of sexuality, women’s and gender studies at Amherst College and a senior research fellow with the Global Health Justice Partnership at Yale University, will speak on “Sex Itself: The Science, Politics and Ethics of Categorization.”
“Whether one is entering into military service, seeking identity documents, enrolling in a clinical trial or participating in organized sports, the categorization of bodies according to ‘sex’ is central to the organization of society,” Karkazis said. “Who is a woman, and who is a man — and what makes someone a woman or a man — may seem like simple questions, but making a determination of sex has long been understood as far from straightforward.”
"Her research is on the cutting edge of scholarly inquiry at the intersection of science and gender, and given the REI's emphases on gender and sex equity, sports ethics and bioethics, she is an ideal visitor, and we are thrilled to host her for this year's Lippin Lecture,” Malatino said.
The 2022 Richard B. Lippin Lecture in Ethics will be held in room 101 Thomas Building on Penn State’s University Park Campus. Admission is free.
The Rock Ethics Institute’s annual Lippin Lecture, created by Richard B. "Dick" Lippin and his wife, the late Ronnie Lippin, addresses questions of justice with particular emphasis on ethical issues facing the fields of business, medicine, science and technology.
This event is co-sponsored by the Schreyer Honors College, the Humanities Institute, the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, the Department of Anthropology, the Center for the Study of Sports in Society and the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies.
The Rock Ethics Institute was established in 2001 through the support of Doug and Julie Rock. The Institute promotes engaged ethics research and ethical leadership from its home in Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts.