Přednášky budou v angličtině.
Gabriel Bianchi: Postmodern intimacy – a Dionysian transmutation (2. 9. 2019, 14:15 – 15:15)
Late modernity has brought not only changes in the form of intimacy expression (Giddens, Jamieson), but has also significantly changed the nature/content of intimacy. Intimacy, if contrasted with sexuality, has raised from the subordinate position to a broad encompassing category. It, moreover, represents well the Dionysian principle (Maffesoli). What may be the impactc of these processes on sexual health and healthy sex? The presentation will be augmented by illustrations from current Slovak feminist poetry.
Lucie Jarkovská: Culture war in a secular country? The case of sex education (2. 9. 2019, 15:15 – 16:15)
The conflict between the conservative and liberal approaches to sex education is one of the axes of the culture war that is happening in the US since the 1990s in the USA. As R. Marie Griffith claims the profound societal divide of American culture has deep historical roots. The origins of these conflicts, she argues, lie in sharp disagreements that emerged among American Christians a century ago and in the way Christianity and politics were and still are interwoven. But what about one of the most secular countries in the world, the Czech Republic? Culture war issues seem to be imported into current European politics and become a fundamental base of rising populism and ultra-conservative backlash. But how does the culture war translate into the secular context of the Czech Republic? Who are the main actors that foment this ahistorical conflict? Are sexual rights in immediate danger? Using outcomes of her research on sex education the keynote will open the debate addressing these questions.
Sasha Roseneil: Holding tight: The power of the couple-norm in contemporary intimate citizenship regimes (3. 9. 2019, 16:00 – 17:25)
Recent decades have seen enormous change within the intimate citizenship regimes of European societies, as processes of individualization, de-familialization, gender equalization and hetero-normalization have transformed the legal and policy frameworks governing intimate life. However, against this backdrop, the tenacity and ubiquity of the couple-norm have become increasingly apparent. Drawing on a cross-national study of intimate citizenship in four European countries, this talk offers an anatomy of the couple-norm, opening it up for scrutiny and offering an theorization of its psychosocial workings.
Roman Kuhar: Gender as a hidden radical plan (3. 9. 2019, 17:30 – 18:45)
In the past few years some Western and Eastern European countries – and recently countries in Latin America – have been faced with a fierce opposition to what used to look like a steady progress in ensuring sexual rights and gender equality. Mass protests against marriage equality, reproductive rights, gender mainstreaming, transgender rights and sexual education have centralized around the so called “gender theory” or “gender ideology”. The vocal actors of these anti-gender movements claim that the very notion of “gender” is in fact a hidden plan of “radical” feminists and LGBTIQ activists. They see it as a new type of Marxism, aiming at nothing less than a cultural revolution: a post-binary gender world, where there is no place for “natural families”, masculinity, femininity etc. “Gender theory” has become an empty signifier, an all-inclusive mobilizing tool, used by various (religious) groups, political parties and even state establishments to prevent equality policies from being adopted and implemented.
The key note speech will map out and explore the emergence, the content and the effects of the “gender ideology” (or “gender theory”) discourse. It will examine how an academic concept of gender became a mobilizing tool for neo-conservative social movements and massive street demonstrations and how the concept of human rights, which has been used until recently by the proponents of gender and LGBTIQ equality, is now being (ab)used by neo-conservative actors.