Lucy Cooke asks us to reimagine outdated binary expectations of bodies, brains, biology and behaviour through feminist zoology and evolutionary biology
CLASS DESCRIPTION
What does it mean to be female? Mother, carer, the weaker sex? Think again.
In the last few decades a revolution has been brewing in zoology and evolutionary biology. Lucy Cooke introduces us to a riotous cast of animals, and the scientists studying them, that are redefining the female of the species.
Meet the female lemurs of Madagascar, our ancient primate cousins that dominate the males of their species physically and politically.
Or female albatross couples, hooking up together to raise their chicks in Hawaii.
Or the meerkat mothers of the Kalahari Desert - the most murderous mammals on the planet.
The bitches in BITCH overturn outdated binary expectations of bodies, brains, biology and behaviour. Based on Lucy Cooke's brilliant new book, this lecture will change how you think - about sex, sexual identity and sexuality in animals and also the very forces that shape evolution.
ABOUT OUR LECTURER
Lucy Cooke is a bestselling author, zoologist and broadcaster. She studied natural history at Oxford under Richard Dawkins, and more recently has been a National Geographic Explorer, presented TV series in both the UK and the US, and written for papers including the Guardian and Telegraph.
Her debut The Little Book of Sloth was a New York Times bestseller; it was followed by The Unexpected Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos and Other Wild Tales (2018) which was shortlisted for the Royal Society Investment Science Book Prize. Her third book Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal was a Waterstones Book of the Year 2023.
INSTAGRAM: @luckycooke
WEBSITE: http://www.lucycooke.tv/
SPRING TERM 2025
Monday 20th January
Margot Mifflin (she/her)
Beauty Pageants and National Identity
Monday 27th January
Verity Babbs (she/her)
Divergent Minds: Female Neurodiversity in Art and Art History
Monday 3rd February
Vex Ashley (she/her)
The Body And The Screen - Sexuality Against The Machine
Monday 10th February
Luisa-Maria MacCormack (she/her)
Holy Hags: Sinners and Sheela Na Gigs - RECORDING ONLY
Monday 17th February
Dr. Kimberley Baltzer-Jaray (she/they)
Women Who Kill: Gender Bias And Murder
Monday 24th February
Alekszandra Rokvity (she/her)
Endometriosis: A Feminist Issue
Monday 3rd March
TBC
Monday 10th March
Jennifer Anyan (she/her)
The Madonna Whore Dichotomy: Motherhood And Sexual Agency
Monday 17th March
Alyssa Velazquez (she/her)
Spawn: The Fantasy Of Women's Right To Choose
Monday 24th March
Leanne Yau (she/they)
Radical Connection Through Relationship Anarchy
Monday 31st March
Dr. Noam Yadin Evron (she/her)
Abortions: A Complicated History From The Middle Ages To Today
Monday 7th April
Lucy Cooke (she/her)
Bitch: On The Female Of The Species
Monday 14th April
Anna Souter (she/her)
Plant Parenthood: A Potted History Of Vegetal Reproduction And (M)Otherhood
Monday 21st April
Luisa-Maria MacCormack (she/her)
Feminism And The Ice Age - RECORDING ONLY
Monday 28th April
Elora Shehabuddin (she/her)
Feminism And Islam: A History Of Muslim Feminism
RECORDING
A recording of the lecture will be sent out by The Feminist Lecture Program after the event finishes, within 2 hours of the end of the class. This email will also contain any resources/reading list the lecturer shares.
Please add [email protected] to your email contacts to ensure you receive the recording as expected.
Please note that the recording will expire 7 days after sending.
PAY WHAT YOU CAN
Everyone is welcome to join this Pay-What-You-Can class. We suggest a donation of 20, however, we understand that may not be possible for everybody. Please be honest and pay what you can afford so that we can continue to offer our sessions on a donation basis.
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