Social justice advocate Loretta J. Ross will challenge call-out culture in a virtual presentation, “Calling In, Not Calling Out,” that will take place on Feb. 17.

The presentation, part of the Office of Inclusive Excellence’s “Let’s Talk About Race” series, will take place from noon to 1 p.m. Register online for the Zoom event, which is also sponsored by the Gender Institute.

In her talk, Ross, associate professor in the Program for the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College, will explore how call-out culture has become toxic and transformed conversations that could otherwise be learning opportunities into confrontations. The solution, she says, is to “call people in” by building a unified human rights movement that uses our differences as a platform for creating a positive future.

Ross is the founder of SisterSong, an organization that aims to build a national network of individuals and organizations to improve institutional policies and systems that impact the reproductive lives of marginalized communities. She co-created the theory of “reproductive justice” — a combination of “reproductive rights” and “social justice” — in 1994. 

She is working on book project titled “Calling in the Calling Out Culture.”