SSEES 100: Soviet and Post-Soviet Sexualities Conference

The aim of this one-day conference is to engage critically with the under-researched topic of Soviet and post-Soviet sexualities. 

Prompted by the introduction of laws restricting the rights of LGBTQ citizens and the increase in homophobic violence in Russia and other post-Soviet states, there is a pressing need to understand attitudes towards non-normative sexualities, the lived experience of sexual minorities and the ways in which LGBTQ individuals and groups have sought to negotiate or resist heteronormative structures and homophobia.

The conference will comprise papers from and debate among both established academics and research students from a range of disciplines and working on various aspects of the study of non-normative sexualities in the Soviet and post-Soviet space. Speakers will discuss:

• Soviet discourses of sexuality and everyday life
• Competing discourses of sexuality in the post-Soviet era
• Re-writing and re-imagining Russian sexualities

Throughout the day participants will be able to view an exhibition curated by Dzmitry Suslau, and the conference will be followed by a reception and the launch of Francesca Stella's new book Lesbian Lives in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia: Post/Socialism and Gendered Sexualities

• Download the conference programme

Registration is now open on Eventbrite

Conference convenor: Richard Mole, UCL SSEES