Speaking

Paisley Currah lectures internationally on sex classification, gender and feminist thought, the history of discrimination against transgender people, and the ways conflicts over sex and gender are reshaping contemporary democracy. His work engages scholars and practitioners in law, political science, gender and sexuality studies, LGBTQ studies, and public health.

Selected Keynotes and Plenaries

"Gender, Sexuality, and Reproductive Freedom," invited panelist, "Upholding Human Dignity in Turbulent Times" conference, Jewish Theological Seminary, Nov 17, 2025.

"Sex as an Output of Governing," Hancock Symposium, Westminster College, Sept 16, 2025.

“Against Transphobia," plenary panel, Second International Trans Conference, Northwestern University, Sept 4, 2024.

“Sex Classification as a Tool of Governance,” Network of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies in Europe, Utrecht, August, 2025.

"Sexual Democracy, Moral Panics, and Trans Politics," Socialism 2025, Chicago, July 5, 2025.

“Politics of the Body at the Crossroads,” Plenary Panel, Law and Society Association, June 2025

"The Centrality of Gender in Trump's Attack on the Administrative State," Diálogos Pendientes y Emergentes, Sexuality Policy Watch, Rio de Janeiro (via Zoom), June 17, 2025.

“Sex as a Legal Category,” National Institutes of Health Symposium on Sex and Gender in the Genomic Era, July 2024

"The Politics of Sex Classification," Global Institute on Sexuality, Gender, Rights (CREA), Zagreb, Croatia, May 9, 2024 (on Zoom).

“Legislating Gender,” Minx Auerbach Lecture, University of Louisville; Reed College; Wesleyan University, 2024.

"How the Women's Rights Movement Paved the Way for Transgender Equality," Women's Rights National Historic Park, Seneca Falls, July 21, 2023.

“Trans Studies After Identity Politics,” Keynote Address, International Colloquium on Transgender Studies, Université Paris 8, Paris, 2022

“What Would a Transgender Political Science Look Like?” Keynote Address, Freie Universität Berlin, 2021

"Sex Is as Sex Does," Queen's University Law School, Feb 28, 2020

“Neoliberal Futures, Cultural Backlashes, and the Politics of Sex Classification,” Keynote Address, Canadian Federation for Humanities and Social Sciences, 2017

“Why Do Bathrooms Matter? Sex Classification, Trans Politics, and the New Culture Wars,” Keynote Address, University of North Carolina School of Law, 2017

“The Left Neoliberalism of Transgender Politics,” Duke University, Durham, NC, 2016

“What’s the Political Use of Transgender?” Plenary Panel, Trans* Studies International Conference, 2016

Recent Public Conversations and Cultural Events

"Gender, Sexuality, and Reproductive Freedom," panelist, Jewish Theological Seminary, Nov 17, 2025.

Discussion with Michael Waters, The Other Olympians, Barnes & Noble, New York (2025)

“Revisiting the Archive of Trans Politics,” McNally Jackson, New York (2025)

“Sexual Democracy, Moral Panics, and Trans Politics,” Socialism Conference, Chicago (2025)