Gender & Religions Research Centre Annual Public Lecture
The Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, School of Oriental & African Studies, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

May 8th 2001, 17:00

Professor Wendy Doniger, University of Chicago
'Gender versus Sex in the Kamasutra'

The Kamasutra, the paradigmatic textbook for sex, composed in Sanskrit in North India probably in the 3rd century C.E., is known in English almost entirely through the translation by Sir Richard Francis Burton, published over a century ago. A new, more accurate translation

reveals new insights into gender, into more subtle stereotypes of feminine and masculine natures, surprisingly liberal attitudes to women's education and sexual freedom, and far more attitudes to homosexual acts than are suggested by other texts of this period.

Professor Doniger's lecture will be followed by a reception. Please let us know at this address if you are planning to attend. Details for travelling to SOAS can be found at http://www.soas.ac.uk/Brunei/findus.html

For more information, please contact Sian Hawthorne (Tel: 020 7898 4784; Email: [log in to unmask])