Now on display: Selected highlights from PUL's Gender and Sexuality Studies Research Collection

Selected materials from GSS collection

A new exhibition in Firestone Library features select materials from the Gender and Sexuality Studies Research Collection at Princeton University Library. Photo by Shelley Szwast, Princeton University Library

“The moment we choose to love, we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love, we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others.”

bell hooks, Outlaw Culture, (1994, pg. 250)

Spotlighting bell hooks’ prominent quote, a new exhibition in Firestone Library (near the Milberg Gallery in the lobby) highlights select materials from the Gender and Sexuality Studies (GSS) Research Collection at Princeton University Library. Curated by Librarian for GSS and Student Engagement Sara Howard, the exhibition was inspired by a campus project centered around enthusiastic consent, the Pause Project.

Led by the Sexual Harrassment/Assault Advising Resources & Education (SHARE) office on campus, the Pause Project invited students, faculty, and staff in Frist Campus Center to participate in the live creation of an artistic impression wherein they practiced continuous communication and consent to build the piece. Developed by local artist Andre Veloux, the final art features two gender-ambiguous people kissing. (Learn more about the Pause Project and watch a time lapse of the Pause Project.)

Like the project, the exhibition focuses on intimacy and consent, and many titles included are often used in classroom studies or research papers at Princeton. Items featured observe the relationships between intimacy and media, give voice to marginalized mothers of color, and explore love through personal essays about intersectional identities, among other topics. 

Presented in the exhibition, which will remain open through summer, are “Mediated Intimacy: Sex Advice in Media Culture” by Meg-John Barker, Rosalind Gill, and Laura Harvey; the anthology “Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Frontlines”; “Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representation” by bell hooks; “Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches” by Audre Lorde; “Rosalyn Drexler: Who Does She Think She Is” by Katy Siegel; “Consent” by Nina Raine; “The Languages of Sexuality” by Jeffrey Weeks; and “Techniques of Pleasure: BDSM and the Circuits of Sexuality” by Margot Weiss.

To learn more about PUL’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Research Collection, contact Sara Howard, Librarian for GSS and Student Engagement. 

Written by Stephanie Ramírez, Library Communications Specialist and Staff Writer

Media contact: Barbara Valenza, Director of Library Communications