by Phuong Hoang '26
Reproductive justice and human rights advocate Loretta J. Ross will discuss changing the dialogue and improving work in the reproductive health, rights and justice movements during a special lecture at Dickinson. Her talk, “Creating a Calling In Culture within the Reproductive Health, Human Rights and Justice Movements,” will take place Monday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m. in the Anita Tuvin Schlechter (ATS) Auditorium. This event is free and open to the public. It will also be available as a livestream.
Ross will explain the importance of “calling in” instead of “calling out” and how shifting this framework is important for creating change without so-called “cancel culture.” In this lecture, she will initiate a conversation about the effective methods to implement societal changes to uphold women’s human rights.
Ross is an associate professor at Smith College. In 2022 she received the MacArthur Foundation fellowship award, also known as a “genius” grant. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame earlier this year. Driven by her experiences as a survivor of rape and nonconsensual sterilization, Ross is a pioneer in the reproductive justice movement. Ross has also served in leadership roles at the D.C. Rape Crisis Center, the National Organization for Women (NOW), the National Black Women's Health Project and SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. Her most recent books are Reproductive Justice: An Introduction, and Radical Reproductive Justice: Foundations, Theory, Practice, Critique. Her forthcoming book, Calling In the Calling Out Culture, is due in 2024.
This program is sponsored by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and is part of the Dialogues Across Differences Program, which is funded by a grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. The program is co-sponsored by the Women’s & Gender Resource Center and the Department of Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies. This event is also part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.
Published October 20, 2023