Find out more about the speakers
Daisy Letourneur
Daisy Letourneur is a writer and a feminist, trans and lesbian activist. Since 2017, she has run the blog La Mecxpliqueuse, dedicated to the critical analysis of masculinities. She is the author of On ne naît pas mec. Petit traité féministe sur les masculinités (Zones, 2022) and has contributed to several collective volumes, including Masculinités (E/P/A, 2023) and Les temps intimes. Genre, sexe et quinoa (Éditions de l’Aube, 2023). She is also a member of the association Toutes Des Femmes.
- Picture: Stephanie Valibouse
Dr Ben Mechen
Dr Ben Mechen's work has focused on histories of gender, sex and sexuality in late twentieth-century Britain, and especially the meanings given to gendered and sexual health, happiness and freedom across pop culture, politics, commerce and the human sciences. Ben’s current work in gender history and the history of sexuality turns towards mid-to-late twentieth-century psychoanalysis and its influence beyond the clinic, in domains as diverse as business psychology, political commentary, feminist and LGBT+ activism, and social work. Ben co-edited the 2024 collection Men and masculinities in modern Britain: A history for the present (Manchester University Press).
Alona Pardo
Alona Pardo is Director at the Arts Council Collection, London, a nomadic national collection designed to celebrate and champion British art from the post-war period to the present. Prior to that, she was a curator at the Barbican Art Gallery in London for over a decade, where she curated numerous exhibitions including RE/SISTERS: A Lens on Gender and Ecology (2023); Masculinities: Liberation through Photography (2020); Trevor Paglen: From Apple to Anomaly (2019); Dorothea Lange: Politics of Seeing (2018); and Richard Mosse: Incoming (2017), among others. Recent independent curatorial projects include The Infinite Woman (2024) at the Fondation Carmignac, France, and Noémie Goudal: Phoenix (2022) at Les Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles.
- Picture: Jenny Lewis
Bradley Stephens
Bradley Stephens is Professor of French Literature at the University of Bristol, where he is also the Academic Director for Programmes in the Faculty of Arts, Law, and Social Sciences. His teaching and research focus on French writing from the nineteenth century to the present day, with interests in fiction, literary adaptation, cultural transfer, and gender. He has spoken at conferences and festivals in the UK, USA, and France, in addition to discussing his work in broadcast and print media, including The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, and BBC as well as CBC Radio. His current project, which is funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, investigates how masculinity is being represented and reimagined in contemporary French culture.
