Professor of Comparative Literature and Creative Writing Emerita Nancy Rabinowitz, with Marcus Bell of the University of Oxford, recently received grants from two classics organizations for a project they have been working on for more than two years.
Funds from grants from the Society for Classical Studies in the United States and the Classical Association in Great Britain will support the creation of an interactive e-book designed to be a resource for high school teachers wishing to facilitate discussions about relationships and sexuality with a specific focus on LGBTQ+ issues.
Rabinowitz said the project is motivated by the recognition that many LGBTQ+ youth continue to experience exclusion and bullying. “The Trevor Project estimates that LGBTQ youth attempt suicide three times more frequently than their heterosexual counterparts, a situation exacerbated by the lack of queer-friendly resources on sex and human relations,” she noted.
The e-book “will use the lenses of ancient myth, tragedy, and material culture to explore questions of identity as well as gender fluidity. It is intended as a necessary step toward creating a more open and accepting society,” Rabinowitz said.
