This event is part of the A tmospheric Apparitions mini-symposium on Sept 18-19 2025. It is is free and open to the public. We encourage you to visit the departmental Atmospheric Apparitions: Particle Pollutants – Dust\, Ash\, Smog and Smoke! exhibition in the Liu Lobby Gallery on view from July 21-Sept 26\, 2025.
Speaker:
Dr. Melina Packer (University of Wiscon
sin–La Crosse)
Title:
Toxicant Masculi
nity: Chemical Gaslighting for the Undoable Science of Toxicology
Melina Packer will share the political motivat
ions for and core arguments from her book Toxic Sexual Politics\, a q
ueer feminist historiography of U.S. toxicology. Based upon in-depth interv
iews and extensive ethnographic and archival research\, including participa
nt observations in toxicology classrooms\, conferences\, and laboratories\,
Toxic Sexual Politics urges toxicologists and public health advoc
ates to situate toxicant science within its masculinist\, militarist\, and
eugenicist history. Packer further argues that toxicology will not protect
the planet from pollution until and unless this science explicitly confront
s chemical corporate power\, following the lead of queer\, feminist\, anti-
ableist\, and antiracist movements for environmental justice.
Bio:
Melina Packe
r is Assistant Professor of Race\, Gender\, and Sexuality Studies at the Un
iversity of Wisconsin\, La Crosse\, on Ho-Chunk Nation land. She received h
er PhD in Society and Environment\, with a Designated Emphasis in Women\, G
ender\, and Sexuality Studies\, from the University of California\, Berkele
y\, on the unceded land of the Chochenyo-speaking Ohlone. Her research inte
rests include queer feminist and anticolonial science and technology studie
s\, antiracist animal studies\, critical public health\, and environmental
justice. She is author of Toxic Sexual Politics: Toxicology\, Environme
ntal Poisons\, and Queer Feminist Futures (NYU Press 2025) and co-auth
or of Feminism in the Wild: How Human Biases Shape Our Understanding of
Animal Behavior (MIT Press 2025).
Respondent:< br />Estraven Lupino Smith\, PhD Candidate\, UBC Geography
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