Guest Scholar to Discuss Gender and Sexuality in the Parthenon Frieze

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – John G. Younger, professor of classics and chair of women, gender and sexuality studies at the University of Kansas, will present “Gender and Sexuality in the Parthenon Frieze” on Monday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m. in Giffel’s Auditorium. This free lecture is supported by the Associated Student Government, Eta Sigma Phi honorary society for classical studies, the classical studies program, the department of world languages, literatures and cultures, and the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

The presentation will examine the Parthenon as an Athenian public monument that expresses ideal Athenian values. With a focus on Athenian assumptions about proper gender roles and sexual behaviors that also find expression in the Parthenon's sculptural program, the study assumes that Athenian craftsmen and designers incorporated images that were characteristic of Athenian society into the Parthenon's sculptural iconography.

Younger joined the University of Kansas in 2002 as professor of classics and of humanities and western civilization after teaching at Duke University for 27 years. His research focuses on the Bronze Age Aegean and on Classical Greek art. He has written books on Minoan-Mycenaean engraved gemstones and on music in the Aegean Bronze Age.

Younger earned a bachelor of arts in history, with additional majors in music and classics, from Stanford University. He received a master of arts and a doctorate in classics from the University of Cincinnati.