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
<upsalon.philosophy(a)univie.ac.at>
Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2026 3:06 PM
To: News <news(a)lists.philo.at>
Cc: Iwap <iwap(a)lists.univie.ac.at>
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
Federations ban of trans women from the womens category, the European
Society of Endocrinologys 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