Shelby Knox to speak at annual women's conference

Famed women’s rights and sex-education advocate Shelby Knox is scheduled to return to her hometown of Lubbock this week as a featured guest at Texas Tech’s All-University Conference on the Advancement of Women in Higher Education.

This year’s 27th annual conference sponsored by Tech’s Women’s Studies Program is centered on the theme of “Innovative Voices: Initiatives, Projects and Practices for Empowerment and Gender Equality.”

Knox, a Lubbock native who now lives in New York City, is scheduled to join the conference Friday as a member of the event’s keynote panel titled “Forth Wave: (Active)ism in Her(story).” The panel is scheduled to for 5:30 p.m. Friday in the Matador Room of Tech’s Student Union Building.

Many may know Knox from 2005’s “The Education of Shelby Knox,” a documentary about the then teenage girl’s coming of age in Lubbock as she tries to reconcile her conservative Christian beliefs with the city’s abstinence-only sex-ed policy.

Today, Knox tours the country speaking about comprehensive sex education. She is also writing a book about the “fourth wave” of feminist activism.

Prior to Friday’s conference on campus, a screening of “The Education of Shelby Knox” is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. today at the Firehouse Theatre at the Louise H. Underwood Center for the Arts, 511 Ave. K.

A panel discussion featuring individuals in the film will follow the screening.

Tickets are $13 for the public. They are available through Select-A-Seat by calling 770-2000 or on the Web at selectaseatlubbock.com.

Tech students with a valid student ID can pick up discounted $8 tickets at the ticket booth in the Student Union Building. Friday’s events on campus are free and will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the Student Union Building with a welcoming address followed by several hourlong academic paper and panel discussions.

At 5 p.m., a performance titled “Voices of Feminism” and organized by Tech faculty member Sara Peso White will incorporate the writing of several women.

To comment on this story:

matthew.mcgowan@lubbockonline.com • 766-8724

shelly.gonzales@lubbockonline.com • 766-8747