Profs and Pints - Philadelphia

Profs and Pints Philadelphia presents: “The ‘Gooning’ Lecture,” answers to our questions about a growing online sexual practice, with Jenn Pollitt, assistant professor in the gender, sexuality, and women’s studies program at Temple University.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profs-and-pints-black-squirrel/philadelphia-gooning .]

The term “gooning” has exploded across online spaces, yet many people have only a vague or wildly inaccurate sense of what it actually references.

Learn about gooning both as a sexual practice and as a cultural phenomenon shaped by the internet with Jenn Pollitt, a scholar whose research focuses on pornography, digital culture, and the changing nature of intimacy in the age of screens.

She’ll provide clear, grounded, and research-informed exploration what gooning is, how it emerged within digital porn cultures, and why it resonates with so many people in an era defined by screens, algorithms, and constant stimulation.

Drawing from media studies, sexuality research, and firsthand analysis of online communities, Dr. Pollitt will situate gooning within broader conversations about intimacy, attention, and embodiment in the digital age. Rather than treating gooning as fringe or purely sensational, she’ll frame it as a lens for understanding larger cultural shifts, especially in terms of how people navigate loneliness, overstimulation, and the search for intimacy in increasingly mediated environments.

Among the questions she’ll tackle: What does gooning reveal about how technology is reshaping desire and sexual experience? Why does it blur the line between pleasure and dissociation? And how does it challenge traditional ideas about connection, agency, and control? (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Guests are welcome to arrive any time after 5:30. Talk starts at 6:30.)

Image: Photo by Terry Johnston / Creative Commons

Profs and Pints Philadelphia presents: “Brain Stories,” a crash course on the basics of neuroscience interspersed with surprising tales from research in the field, with Stuart McCaughey, who teaches courses on neuroanatomy, neuropharmacology, and neurological disorders as an assistant professor at the University of Delaware.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profs-and-pints-black-squirrel/philadelphia-brain-stories .]

Gain insights into how our brains work, and learn what research tells us about the causes of our behavior and the links between our brains and those of animals, with brain expert Stuart McCaughey of the University of Delaware.

Using an approach that wins him and his courses rave reviews from his university’s students, Dr. McCaughey will discuss the basic principles of his field and illustrate them by telling remarkable stories related to the history of neuroscience and the workings of the brains of human beings and animals.

He’ll start by taking you on a tour of the nervous system, explaining the functions of its different parts and how various drugs alter neurochemical events.

We’ll look at neurological syndromes with bizarre symptoms, at the results of fascinating science experiments, and at the unusual effects of psilocybic mushrooms on the brain.

We’ll consider some of the many strange questions that have arisen as scientists have pursued their quest to understand how the brain works. Among them: Was the French Revolution triggered by a fungus with psychedelic properties? Does Parkinson’s disease cause a unique body odor? Should you eat your experiments on neural development when you finish collecting data on them?

Your brain will thank you for bringing it to Philadelphia’s Black Squirrel Club for this talk. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Doors open at 3:30 pm. Talk starts at 4:30.)
Image by Canva.