On March 21st, 2025, the Program in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies launched the inaugural Public Research Seminar with keynote speaker Dr. Sydney Calkin, Associate Professor in the School of Geography at Queen Mary University of London. Dr. Calkin was also a guest speaker in WGSS 541, Feminist and Queer Approaches to Research, taught by Dr. Jennifer Sherman, WGSS Affiliate Faculty member and Professor of Sociology.
Dr. Calkin’s areas of research include the intersections of gender and gender equality, political geography, reproductive technology, feminist political change and reproductive justice. She is the author of Abortion Pills Go Global: Reproductive Freedom Across Borders (U of California Press, 2023) and the editor of After Repeal: Rethinking Abortion Politics (Zed Books, 2020). Dr. Caulkin is the primary investigator of Pharmaceutical Geographies of Self-managed Sexual Health, which is an ongoing research project funded by UK Research and Innovation (2024-2029). This project is an interdisciplinary project with a team of social and chemical scientists to study informally acquired pharmaceuticals and the therapeutic communities that use them for abortion, HIV prevention, and transgender health.
Her webinar presentation, titled “Abortion Pills and the Pharmaceutical Geographies of Autonomous Health,” analyzed the transformative Global impact of self-managed medication abortion pills and placed them in relation to other forms of “illicit” but not “illegal” DIY use of pharmaceuticals worldwide. Over seventy people attended Dr. Calkin’s presentation, with attendees from the WSU system and from across the United States and the United Kingdom. The WGSS Public Research Symposium and the associated WGSS 541 visit feature an innovative researcher and are components of the Graduate Certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, which was launched in fall 2024.
Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
2025 Inaugural Public Research Seminar (Webinar)
March 21, 12:00 noon, Pacific
“Abortion Pills and the Pharmaceutical Geographies of Autonomous Health”
Dr. Sydney Calkin
School of Geography, Queen Mary University of London
Dr. Calkin is the author of Abortion Pills Go Global: Reproductive Freedom Across Borders (U California, 2023) and co-editor of After Repeal: Re-thinking Abortion Politics (Zed, 2020). She is the Primary Investigator of “Pharmaceutical Geographies of Self-managed Sexual Health” (2024-2029, funded by UK Research and Innovation). This is an interdisciplinary project with a team of social and chemical scientists to study informally acquired pharmaceuticals and the therapeutic communities that use them for abortion, HIV prevention, and transgender health.