Negotiating sexuality and gender expression in a Swedish context: Boundaries and restrictions

The panel aims to present research at Lund University’s Gender Studies Department on the regulation of sexuality and gender expressions, both imposed from above and as activist initiatives defining the boundaries for acceptable sexual behaviour and claiming the right of defining one’s own sexuality, gender expression, identity formation and bodily integrity. Over time, the quest for autodetermination of one’s sexuality and gender expression, as well as for the safeguarding of one’s personal and corporeal integrity, has been an integral part of feminist and LGBTQ+ activism, while changing conceptualisations, moral/scientific discourses, as well as socio-political factors have defined – and redefined – the possibilities to express one’s sexuality or gender expression. The five panelists will present ongoing research projects investigating this tension through explorations of past and present struggles between non-normative sexual and gendered subjects on the one hand, and dominant discourses concerning the limits for acceptable behaviour and expression. 1) Andrés Brink Pinto will discuss the

co-construction of urban space, sexual desires and police regulation in Stockholm 1951–1971 by analysing documents from the so-called homo-sex commission. 2) Based on letters to the editor and advice columns in in the 1960s, Signe Bremer Gagnesjö will present a study of Swedish heterosexual porn magazines as sites of queer utopian world-making projects and hope for people with what today might be labelled trans experiences. 3) Kat Kehl will discuss the incorporation of LGBTQ- rights narratives in right-wing nationalist contexts, and the effects this might have on queer identities, queer politics, and the potential for liveable queer lives. 4) Ov Cristian Norocel studies anti-gender political articulations in the Swedish Riksdag 2018–2022, arguing that this represents a final stage in the mainstreaming of radical right populist parties. 5) Irina Schmitt, finally, takes a cue from Maria Lugones understanding of purity as tool of power in analysing intersectional negotiations between trans pupils and the adults in Swedish schools.

Jens Rydström1, Signe Bremer Gagnesjö2, Kat Kehl3, Ov Cristian Norocel4, Irina Schmitt5 and Andrés Brink Pinto6

1Professor, Professor, Genusvetenskapliga Institutionen, Lunds Universitet

2Filosofie Doktor, Forskare, Genusvetenskapliga Institutionen, Lunds Universitet

3Filosofie Doktor, Universitetsadjunkt, Genusvetenskapliga Institutionen, Lunds Universitet 4Docent, Biträdande Universitetslektor, Genusvetenskapliga Institutionen, Lunds Universitet 5Filosofie Doktor, Universitetslektor, Genusvetenskapliga Institutionen, Lunds Universitet 6Docent, Forskare, Genusvetenskapliga Institutionen, Lunds Universitet