[News] Correction: Save the Date: Trans*Formations Talk Luana Pesarini, 30.4.2026

Dear all, we have been asked to make some corrections regarding the info mail below: * the event will take place on April 30 (not May 30). * Registration for the event <https://urise.univie.ac.at/mod/booking/optionview.php?optionid=2617&cmid=29 4&userid=20&returnto=url&returnurl=https%3A%2F%2Furise.univie.ac.at%2Fmod%2F booking%2Fview.php%3Fid%3D294> through this link is appreciated. Kind regards, Andreas Wintersperger -- Institutskoordination Dipl.-Ing. Katherina Geneviève Krobath, BEd Andreas Wintersperger, MA <mailto:philosophie@univie.ac.at> philosophie(a)univie.ac.at +43(1)4277 46401 Institut für Philosophie Universitätsstraße 7, Raum A316 1010 Wien <https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/> https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/ From: Initiative to Support Women in Academic Philosophy &lt;upsalon.philosophy(a)univie.ac.at&gt; Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2026 3:06 PM To: News &lt;news(a)lists.philo.at&gt; Cc: Iwap &lt;iwap(a)lists.univie.ac.at&gt; Subject: Save the Date: Trans*Formations Talk Luana Pesarini, 30.4.2026 Dear All, please save the date for the next Trans*Formations Event at the Philosophy Institute. For those who do not know the series: This talk and workshop series organized by a bunch of people from the Philosophy Department (BA, MA and PhD) provides insights into recent developments in trans* philosophizing. Thanks to the Vienna Doctoral School of Philosophy (VDP) <https://vd-philosophy.univie.ac.at/> and queer@hochschulen <https://queer-at-hochschulen.org/> for their financial support! In the next talk, Luana Pesarini (Goethe Universität Frankfurt) will discuss historical and contemporary theories of the neural basis of transness, and the presuppositions these studies rely on, from a trans/feminist science studies perspective. The next Event will be in English! When & Where: Thursday, 30.5.2026 - 18:00-19:30 at HS 3A, NIG (Universitätsstraße 7) The Trans Brain? History and Current Hypotheses on the Neural Basis of Transness Abstract: Against the background of contemporary debates about the supposed natural basis of sex/gender and the intersection of neurodivergence and transness, the lecture will turn to the history and contemporary theories of the neural basis of transness. Contemporary trans brain hypotheses rest on a whole array of presuppositions: The assumption that brains have a sex/gender; that this brain sex/gender can stand in opposition to the sex assigned at birth; that brain sex/gender develops in response to hormonal changes; that this development has a temporal threshold; and that one can discern transness from a trans-sexed/gendered brain – all of these conveyed through imaging technologies. To fan out the presuppositions that fuel contemporary theories of the neural basis of transness, the lecture will trace its history through the lens of trans/feminist science studies. Starting from theories about the natural bisexuality and plasticity of mammals and their eugenic interpretations at the beginning of the 20th century (Eugen Steinach, Paul Kammerer), the lecture will move through the early hypotheses about the neural basis of transness in the post-Second World War inception of trans medicine in the US (John Money, Robert Stoller, Harry Benjamin), to the first neuroimaging studies on transness in the 1990s and early 2000s, to finish with the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of transness in contemporary neuroscience and a discussion of its impacts on the lives of trans people. Neuronal explanations of transness certainly do not carry the same weight in the debates about the natural basis of sex/gender and transness as chromosomal explanations. Incidents such as the International Chess Federation’s ban of trans women from the women’s category, the European Society of Endocrinology’s considerations about brain scans as “a useful tool for earlier identification of transgenderism in young people,” and calls from neuroscientists to intervene in and prevent the development of transness in the brain nevertheless illustrate the current and potentially future power of such explanations over the lives of trans people. Bio: Luana Pesarini is a philosophy-trained sociologist specializing in feminist science and technology studies, theories of materiality, and trans feminism. She is currently working as a doctoral researcher in the German Research Foundation-funded RTG "Fixing Futures. Technologies of Anticipation in Contemporary Societies" at Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany. There will be a Q&A after the talk, as well as snacks and drinks! Please also save the date for the next Trans*Formations Events: A talk on Law and Gender by UK barrister Jane Russell on 15.5., and a full-day event with a focus on Gender Euphoria on 7.6. with, among others, talks by Quill Kukla (Georgetown University) and Eric A. Stanley (University of California, Berkeley). We are thankful to our previous Trans*Formations speakers: Luce deLire <https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/en/news-events/nachrichten-news-events/det ailansicht-news-events-en/news/transformations-161-talk-by-luce-delire-and-f ilm-by-isa-schieche-copia-1/?no_cache=1&cHash=1e56614dc94d5f1dacef48f0310119 1b> , Alyosxa Tudor <https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/news-events/nachrichten-news-events/detail ansicht-news-events/news/decolonising-transgender-studies-alyosxa-tudor-soas -london-transformations-talk-series-1/?no_cache=1&cHash=1a3096839b523107dde7 dd5e1520eb77> , Eric Llaveria Caselles <https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/news-events/nachrichten-news-events/detail ansicht-news-events/news/transformations-2/?no_cache=1&cHash=39638598474f426 764cd881bd2dc03ba> , Emelia Stanley, <https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/news-events/nachrichten-news-events/detail ansicht-news-events/news/on-the-cass-review-a-philosophy-of-science-perspect ive-transformations-series-2/?no_cache=1&cHash=9aba5fe2ba1ad919143703aa55d31 c83> Emma Heaney <https://lists.philo.at/hyperkitty/list/news@lists.philo.at/thread/GIUSVC6TO 3NOJA3E7VBSZUEP3NHUKB7Z/> , Juliana Gleeson, <https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/news-events/nachrichten-news-events/detail ansicht-news-events/news/transformations-workshop-with-juliana-gleeson/?no_c ache=1&cHash=5c3097fc51a421e7ef23c0a396bddfeb> Gen Eickers <https://urise.univie.ac.at/mod/booking/optionview.php?cmid=293&optionid=172 6> & Sigmond Richli, Jonah I. Garde <https://lists.philo.at/hyperkitty/list/news@lists.philo.at/thread/ZUJBVRNM7 4LTZSRKK3TQ3MGYOBWILE4J/> and Anna Klieber <https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/news-events/nachrichten-news-events/detail ansicht-news-events/news/transformations-sich-einen-namen-machen-trans-namen sfindung-und-namensgebung-als-subversive-lin/?no_cache=1&cHash=6dc3b44220536 fe1535e51ac7ed27098> ! We are looking forward to seeing you at the event, and happy if you forward this invitation and the attached poster to others who might be interested! With all the best, the Trans*Formations Team & UPSalon - A Salon for Underrepresented Philosophers