Who’s Still Afraid of Gender? is the thematic meeting of the Gender and Politics Research Network in South-East Europe (GenPolSEE), organized by the Institute of Social Sciences and the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory of the University of Belgrade. The event aims to foster scholarly discussion on anti-gender policies through three panel discussions.

The first panel will be dedicated to gender-sensitive language, the use of which contributes to raising awareness of the importance of gender equality and directly affects the process of democratization of society. However, in Serbia, gender sensitive language became the main arena of contestation. The discussion on the panel revolves around the issues that have been the subject of these contestations: Is language under attack? Who threatens it – Serbian women, feminist linguists, the West, or European values as such? Can language be raped and is gender (džender) the rapist?

The second panel is dedicated to anti-gender mobilisations that take place in the sphere far larger than the one shaped by linguistic concerns. Moral panic spreaded by multitude of actors – right-wing groups, (ultra)conservative parties, religious and fundamentalist organisations, NGOs that gather ‘concerned parents’ or ‘concerned citizens’ – goes far beyond issues of language. During the panel, the participants will strive to answer the following questions: What is the context of ‘gender ideology’? Where does it come from? What is its link to ‘gender theory’ – and is there such a thing? How are anti-gender mobilizations linked to the issues of violence, abortion, sexuality and gender mainstreaming in institutions, public policy and practice? Is the threat real and who articulates it in various publics?

Agenda

The event will be photographed and recorded due to publishing on social networks, the website and other information channels for the purpose of promoting the event and activities of the Institute.