Education
Professor Mary Lou Rasmussen recalls a conversation she had with her father back when she was doing her PhD. He had driven two hours to pick her up from a retreat, and he asked what her PhD was about. “Gender,” Mary Lou replied, hoping that general term would sound sufficiently uncontentious. “Well, what's there to know, Louie?” he responded. “There's girls and there's boys, and that's all there is to it.” Mary Lou was raised by loving, conservative parents and went to a Catholic all-girl high school. She researches gender, sex and sexuality, and is also gay. In this conversation, she talks about how her life took the trajectory that it did. We discuss sex education in schools, including the confronting lesson she personally received in high school, and her research on attitudes and policy in the realms of religion, young people and sexuality. Professor Mary Lou Rasmussen works in the ANU School of Sociology. She has undertaken research in the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Her research focuses on building transdisciplinary understanding of sexuality and gender across diverse lifeworlds, taking account of issues related to sexual citizenship, cultural and religious difference and technologies of sexuality, education and health. She is co-editor, with Louisa Allen, of the Handbook of Sexuality Education (Palgrave). … The theme music for This Academic’s Life is “Snow Blower” by Flower Crown. Other music used in this episode: “We may be remembered by what we did when we sat down” by Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson. This Academic’s Life is a production of the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences. It’s produced by Evana Ho. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @ANUCASS.