The 2011 Conference theme focuses on the multiple ways that equality and inequality are articulated through sexuality. This year we will explore diverse situations of (in)equality in sexuality around the world and critically share proposals
Organized by: Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society (IASSCS)
Contact name: Ruth Iguiñiz
About the Conference
The theme of the meeting invites dialogue and analyses of the interplay of sexuality, sexual identity, gender, class, race, ethnicity, age, citizenship and inequality. As well, the Conference theme invites analyses placed within the context of the state’s willingness (or reticence) to discuss and incorporate practices, discourses, laws and public policies that acknowledge sexual rights for all men and women and promote gender equality, and recognition of sexual diversity.
The official language of the Conference is English. However, for the first time, we will have one afternoon of sessions in the language of the host country, namely Spanish, with simultaneous interpretation. Due to the limited space and time for presentations in Spanish, only a limited number of abstracts will be accepted in that language.
In line with the IASSCS’ mission, the Conference seeks to promote links between researchers, academics, advocates and activists by addressing the process of taking theory into practise, conceptualizing the meaning and significance of advocacy at the national and community level, and supporting and advancing the implementation of sexual rights.
The VIII IASSCS Conference offers various options for abstract submission: abstracts, posters, films and workshop presentations. For more information regarding the main themes of the Conference, detailed information on the type of proposal submission and the submission guidelines, please click here.
The main themes of the Conference sessions include, but are not limited to:
•Gender, feminism(s) and the struggle for sexual equality.
•HIV/AIDS and sexual inequality.
•Beyond heterosexuality: LGBTQI challenging and reproducing sexual hegemonies.
•Sexualized states. From sexual repression to sexual democracies: The role of the law, public policies, education, medicine and religion.
•Non-normative bodies as a sexual battleground.
•Development work and the reproduction of sexual inequality.
•Sexual tourism: tensions between development and cultural colonization.
•Pleasure, desire and sexual (in)equality.
•Academia and sexual power relations in the house of sciences.
•The races, ethnicities, social classes and ages of sexual (in)equality.
•Translating (in)equality: cultural globalization of both sexual discrimination and sexual rights.
•Sexuality 2.0: internet, the media and online social networks constructing and deconstructing sexual images, relations and practices.
•The arts performing, reproducing and questioning sexual inequalities.
Host Organization
The Complutense University of Madrid is one of the oldest universities in the world, with more than seven centuries of history. Its almost 80.000 students make of it an educational and cultural referent in Spain.
The Social Anthropology Department of the Universidad Complutense of Madrid was created in 1986 and hosts a significant group of faculty and scholars doing research on sexualities with a social and cultural approach.
Conference Organizing Committee
1.Diane di Mauro, Assistant Professor at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University, Chair of IASSCS Board of directors (USA).
2.José Ignacio Pichardo, Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Anthropology at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, IASSCS member (Spain) and Conference host.
3.Ana Porroche Escudero, Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Sussex (United Kingdom).
4.Alejando Melero, Post-doctoral Researcher of Audiovisual Communications at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain).
5.Beatriz Gimeno, Feminist Writer and LGBT Activist (Spain). Former President of the Spanish LGBT Federation (FELGTB).
6.Carlos Cáceres, Professor in the Public Health and Administration Department at Universidad Cayetano Heredia and Director of the Instituto de Estudios en Salud, Sexualidad y Desarrollo Humano, IASSCS Board member (Peru).
7.Evelyn Blackwood, Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Women’s Studies at Purdue University, Indiana, IASSCS member (USA).
8.Gil Herdt, Professor of Human Sexuality Studies and Anthropology and Executive Director of the National Sexuality Resource Center (NSRC), San Francisco State University (USA), IASSCS member (USA).
9.Huso Yi, Assistant Professor, School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, IASSCS member (China).
10.José Luis Linaza Iglesias, Professor of the Departamento de Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain).
11.Laurent Gaissad, Post-doctoral researcher of the Atelier Genre(s) et Sexualité(s) of the Institut de Sociologie at Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium).
12.Philip Martin, Researcher, IASSCS member (Australia).
13.Violeta Barrientos, Professor at Gender Master, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (Peru), poet and feminist lawyer, IASSCS member (Peru).
14.Consuelo Álvarez Plaza, Associate Professor at the Department of Social Anthropology at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain).
15.Inmaculada Hurtado, Assistant Professor at Valencia International University, (Spain)
About Spain
The Kingdom of Spain, with a population of 46 million inhabitants, is located in Southwest of the Europe Union. Since the 1980s the country has experienced a double transformation: the democratization and general liberalising of Spanish society and a wider revolution in the social relations of gender and sexuality. Indeed, Spain was the third country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, has a government with gender parity of its members and several progressive laws in terms of gender equality, abortion, adoption, assisted reproductive techniques and other legal and public policies related to sexual rights. As the capital of Spain, Madrid has a modern infrastructure while still conserves many of its historic neighborhoods and streets. It has a vibrant social and cultural life, with plenty of events, historic monuments, world-class museums, theaters, parks, clubs, cafés, restaurants and outdoor terraces for the enjoyment of visitors and residents alike.
