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The plenary session at the Being the Change conference starting the day on Friday, July 9 was moderated by Rita Deverell (Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University) and it was given by Dr. Erika Simpson, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Western Ontario, who is also Vice-Chair of Canadian Pugwash. The presentation was called Sex, Death, and Violence in the Disarmer’s World and it explored how men and women are treated differently in the world of war, peace, and disarmament.
Simpson explored how identity is socially constructed in the debates and discussions surrounding how we talk about war. Through a postmodernist and constructivist Feminist lens that questions implicit assumptions and biases she gave a thought-provoking theoretical framework for the day. She argued that whatever makes you passionate contributes to making a culture of peace.
