Sexual Behaviors, Politics, and Communities Division SSSP Newsletter Summer 2020 Friends and colleagues, The world has certainly changed since we last met in New York City in 2019. I hope that, as much as possible, you’re surviving this current moment of upheaval and uncertainty. Please find below important announcements for the Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities Division of the SSSP. Contents: I. Election Results for 2020-2022 Division Leadership II. Newsletter Editor Needed III. 2021 Conference Sessions Planning (URGENT) IV. Division Zoom Meeting V. Reminder to Renew Membership if Possible I. ELECTION RESULTS for 2020-2022 DIVISION LEADERSHIP Election Results for Division Leadership were help earlier this spring. Dawn M. Baunach was elected Division Chair and Janelle Pham was elected Associate Chair. Associate Chair is a new position created this year to run the awards within the division and assist the Chair in whatever her needs may be. The SBPC division has overlapping turn-over, so I’ll be out-going chair as Dawn takes over in the Fall. Contact Information: J. Todd Ormsbee (outgoing chair) todd.ormsbee@sjsu.edu Dawn Baunach (incoming chair) dbaunach@kennesaw.edu Janelle Pham (incoming associate chair) jpham@oglethorpe.edu II. NEWSLETTER EDITOR NEEDED For the past two years, we have had no volunteers to run the Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities Division Newsletter, and it’s vital for the health and longevity of the division that we get a regular Newsletter up and running as soon as possible. The position is perfect for a graduate student and we were able to secure more funding for a slightly bigger yearly stipend this coming year (I believe that stipend is paid out in the spring after the publication of two (2) newsletters for the division). Contact me and Dawn Baunach as soon as possible if you’d be interested in taking over as newsletter editor starting this fall. III. 2021 CONFERENCE PLANNING & SESSION PROPOSALS (URGENT) Conference Planning: As you may know, the SSSP is now busy planning the 2021 conference, thinking optimistically about the future. Because of COVID19, we are having to plan our sessions for next year’s conference virtually—by email and by Zoom, and we need to do as much of this as possible this week. The theme for the 2021 meeting is Revolutionary Sociology: Truth, Healing, Reparations, and Restructuring and a statement by incoming president Corey Dolgon (Stonehill College) and explanation of the theme can be found on the SSSP website at https://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/833/2021_Program_Theme_Statement/ Session Proposals for SBPC: We are looking for exciting and interesting panels ranging from current debates within Queer Theory to community studies; from issues of sex workers to research on sexual non-conformity; from sexual violence to intersections of other social categories with sexual behaviors. What are you researching? What are you curious about? Bring it to our conference! We are especially open to new session ideas and new voices. Please contact me (outgoing division chair) and Dawn Baunach (incoming division chair) by email ASAP, especially if you can’t make our Division Zoom meeting this Friday. As an example and to inspire your creative thinking, I’ve enclosed a PDF of the panel planning for the 2020 meeting (Cancelled). If anyone who was running or presenting one of these panels would like to postpone and reschedule for next year, that would be a definite possibility. Session Proposal Guidelines: As we plan our 2021 slateAs usual, our division should plan on at least one (1) session that speaks to the conference theme. Thematic sessions should be part of a slate of up to 10 total panels within the following limits: Our division is allowed to solo-sponsor up to three (3) sessions and may co-sponsor up to seven (7) more sessions with other divisions. Because sexuality issues intersect with so many other social issues, it’s often fairly straight forward to arrange a cosponsorship at our planning meeting if you’ve got an idea for something specific. If you have an idea for a panel, think about also what kind of panel you’d like it to be (Traditional papers or Critical Dialogue), if you’d want a discussant, who would preside, and if you’d like to co-sponsor with another division. IV. DIVISION ZOOM MEETING THIS WEEK We will be having a Division Zoom Meeting tentatively scheduled for 10:30 Pacific Time (13:30 Eastern Time) this Friday July 24th. I will confirm that time and date in a later email and send out Zoom log in information. All division members are welcome to attend and participate. I will send out a follow up email with the Zoom link and log-in information in the next two days. V. REMINDER TO RENEW MEMBERSHIP Like all academic professional organizations across the country, SSSP is experiencing a major drop off in funds with the cancelation of our 2020 meeting. If you have the means and have not done so yet, please consider renewing your membership as soon as you can. Even though we are not having a conference this year, the organization continues to support our scholarship and research and mentoring of new scholar-teachers focusing issues of social justice and resolving and addressing ongoing social problems. Take care of yourselves and each other. I look forward to checking in with all who can participate this week in planning for our 2021 sessions. Be well,