The University of Toronto’s Institutional Equity Office (IEO) invites you to the Inclusion in Action Speaker Series.

The Inclusion in Action Speaker Series is a collaboration between the Institutional Equity Office (IEO), and the UTM Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Office (UTM EDIO). 

The goal of this series is to host local and international experts, academics, and advocates to increase dialogue and understanding of equity, accessibility, and inclusion in postsecondary environments. Through an intersectional lens, the series focuses on systems of discrimination with the aim of dismantling attitudes and processes that uphold ongoing exclusion and marginalization.

Date: Monday April 17, 2023

Time: 10:00 am – 11:30 am

Beyond the Gender Binary: Stories Told and Strategies Shared

By attending this session, participants will:

• Draw links between the sex and gender binaries and whiteness, colonialism, ableism, and class.
• Build skills to identify patterns and processes of gender-based discrimination, transphobia, and gender policing in post-secondary education.
• Self-reflect on how attitudes and actions related to gender binaries are played out individually, interpersonally and systemically.
• Review strategies to challenge binary thinking and work towards systems and practices that foster belonging for all.
• Examine strategies that have been implemented in other sectors that can serve as models for post-secondary spaces to deepen equity and inclusion.

About the Speaker:

Alok (they/them) is an internationally acclaimed author, poet, comedian, and public speaker. As a mixed-media artist their work explores themes of trauma, belonging, and the human condition. They are the author of Femme in Public (2017), Beyond the Gender Binary (2020), and Your Wound/My Garden (2021). They are the creator of #DeGenderFashion: a movement to degender fashion and beauty industries and have been honored as one of Huffington Post’s Culture Shifters, NBC’s Pride 50, and Business Insider’s Doers. Over the past decade they have toured more than 40 countries, most recently headlining the Vancouver Just for Laugh’s Comedy Festival and selling out their runs at the Soho Theatre in London and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. They are currently on a world tour of their new show which has been described as “provocative and powerful” (Chortle), a “Potent combination of comedy and poetry” (The Scotsman), and a “jaw-dropping celestial event” (To Do List London). On screen, they will make their feature film debut in Netflix’s Absolute Dominion. On television, they have appeared on Netflix’s Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness, HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness and The Trans List.

Format: Virtual – Zoom Platform (requires an institutional Zoom account).

Audience: Faculty, librarians, staff, and students at the University of Toronto.

Cost: Free

Note: Registration requires an active UTORid.

Further information and registration