Who’s Afraid of Gender?

During the 2024 presidential race, the Trump campaign released an anti-trans ad blitz across swing states. Once in power, he wasted no time issuing an executive order proclaiming there are only two biological sexes. Accordingly, trans protections, gender affirming care, and DEI initiatives are being dismantled nationwide. Philosopher and human rights activist Judith Butler has long been a lightning rod for society’s fears, myths, and projections about the idea of gender. Now, when we need them most, Butler is back with what critics are calling their most mainstream and urgent book yet, Who’s Afraid of Gender? It’s both an intervention and an example of rising to meet the moment. At our Sunday headliner event, Butler will be in conversation with micha cárdenas, a novelist and scholar known for her work on “transreal” identities and digital media, whose latest sci-fi novel, Atoms Never Touch, tackles themes of neurodivergence and trans identity. Moderated by Afro-Latinx educator and writer MK Chavez, Butler and cárdenas will discuss their complementary yet distinct approaches to gender theory and identity: putting Butler’s foundational concepts in conversation with cárdenas’s cutting-edge explorations of biotechnological realities.