ITHACA, N.Y. -- Writer, teacher and public speaker Allan Johnson will give a presentation, "Unraveling the Gender Knot," Friday, Nov. 21, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the auditorium of Martha Van Rensselaer Hall on the Cornell University campus.

The presentation is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served at 9:15 a.m.

"The 'gender knot' refers both to the complexity of gender inequality and to the difficulty people have talking about it without getting bogged down in dynamics of defensive denial," says Johnson. "My work has to do with articulating ways of thinking about issues of privilege that can help get us past the paralysis we're stuck in."

Johnson, who has almost 30 years of college teaching experience, is the author of several books, includingPrivilege, Power, and Difference (McGraw-Hill, 2001), The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology: A User's Guide to Sociological Language, (Blackwell Publishers, 2000), The Forest and the Trees: Sociology as Life, Practice, and Promise (Temple University Press, 1997) and The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy (Temple University Press, 1997). His interests focus on issues of privilege, oppression and social inequality.

His presentation is co-sponsored by the Cornell Cooperative Extension Diversity Catalyst Team and the College of Human Ecology at Cornell.

Allan Johnson's Web site: http://www.agjohnson.us .