Overview

In LGBTQ+ studies and activism, intersexuality is an experience that is often overlooked and unknown. Through a conversation with Ana Lúcia Santos, a researcher, and Santiago Mbanda Lima, an intersexual activist, the medical and social interpretations of intersexuality, which compulsorily tend to reduce people to the political categories of women and men, will be discussed. Medical power, which intrusively and violently influences the lives of intersex people, such as the importance of activism and self-determination will be at the centre of the debate.

The event marks the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia (May 17)

Bio notes

Ana Lucia Santos holds a degree in Philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Coimbra and an MA in Feminist Studies from the same university. Her topic was intersex with a thesis entitled "A sex which is many - the (im)possibility of the intersex as a human category". Ana Lucia is a junior researcher at Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, since 2012. She is a Research Fellow in the research project "INTIMATE — Citizenship, Care and Choice: The Micropolitics of Intimacy in Southern Europe", funded by the European Research Council, between 2014 and 2019. She is currently a doctoral student in Feminist Studies at the University of Coimbra. Her research interests focus on feminist studies, intimate and sexual citizenship, crip theory and queer theory. She is also an activist in the LGBT/queer and feminist movements in Portugal.

Santiago Mbanda Lima, is co-founder and co-director of Action for Identity and the first person to come-out in Portugal as intersex. Leading the debate on the diversity of sexual characteristics and the need to protect the body diversity of intersex people from birth - advocating for their preservation and non-genital mutilation.

Event organised in partnership with não te prives - Grupo de Defesa de Direitos Sexuais, Ação Pela Identidade, Projeto CILIA LGBTQI+ e Associação Portuguesa de Sociologia - Secção Temática Sexualidade e Género

Coordinators: Fernanda Belizário, Mara Pieri and Rita Alcaire (CES) | More information: sharptalks@ces.uc.pt