Lawcus Winter School
Sex between legal knowledges and powers: ethics, aesthetics, politics, and science as mediations of meaning
2 to 6 February 2026
Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra
Programme
2 February | Law and Discipline
09:00 - 09:30 | Welcome
09:30 - 10:00 | Introduction to the Winter School. Ana Oliveira and Tiago Ribeiro
10:00 - 11:00 | The social construction of reality and the observation of legal imaginaries. António Casimiro Ferreira
11:00 - 12:00 | The practice of “speaking the Law” as a way of life almost equal to all others: more or less habitual moves on stages reserved for professionals. Jorge Silva Santos
12:00 - 13:00 | Poetics of the body: hermeneutic encounters between law and fiction. Joana Aguiar e Silva
13:00 - 14:30 | Lunch
14:30 - 16:00 | Workshop I: The practice of forensic linguistics and the implications of the expression of sex in language. Rui Sousa-Silva
16:00 - 16:30 | Coffee break
16:30 - 18:00 | Workshop II: Legal reasoning and sex as a criminal problem: the case of procuring. Nuno Igreja Matos
3 February | Law and Science
09:30 - 10:30 | “Deixai Clotilde Rodrigues ser Celeste Godinho” [Let Clotilde Rodrigues be Celeste Godinho]: on the legal use of science in the design of sexual representation. Tiago Ribeiro
10:45 - 11:45 | The paradoxes of recognition: the “trans issue” and neoliberalism. Pedro Vasconcelos
12:00 - 13:00 | The (neuro)science of decision-making: a question of sex? Inês Fernandes Godinho
13:00 - 14:00 | Lunch
14:00 - 16:30 | Visit to the Museum Centre of the Rovisco Pais Colony Hospital (Praia da Tocha, Cantanhede)
16:30 - 18:00 | Workshop III: Sex in the psychiatric apparatus. Cátia Guerra | Location: Museum Centre of the Rovisco Pais Colony Hospital
4 February | Law and Culture
09:30 - 09:40 | Introductory notes. Ana Oliveira
09:40 - 10:30 | The image as affection, distinction, and apparatus. Soraya Nour Sckell
10:45 - 11:45 | Sex - a question of language. António Guerreiro
12:00 - 13:00 | When images change sides: probans image, legal imagination, and sexual violence. Brisa Paim Duarte
13:00 - 14:30 | Lunch
14:30 - 16:00 | Workshop IV: Sexual law and science fiction. Daniela Côrtes Maduro
16:30 - 18:00 | Workshop V: Sexual law and theatrical dramaturgy. Mário Montenegro | Location: Salgado Zenha Auditorium (Academic Association of Coimbra)
5 February | Law and Politics
09:30 - 09:40 | Introductory notes. Tiago Ribeiro
09:40 - 10:40 | Sex matters after all: what now? Patrícia Fernandes
10:50 - 11:50 | Sex: relations of power(s) and right(s). João Pedroso
12:00 - 13:00 | The preeminence of protecting freedom in sexual matters in the Portuguese Penal Code: a brief life? Pedro Caeiro
13:00 - 14:30 | Lunch
14:30 -15:45 | Workshop VI: Sex as a prerogative of the individual: sexual assistance and legal regulation. Ana Pinho & Catarina Vitorino
16:00 - 17:15 | Workshop VII: Sex in legislative construction: representativeness, process, and outcome. Vânia Álvares
17:15 - 17:45 | Coffee break
17:45 - 19:00 | Workshop VIII: Sex in political mobilisation: the place of law in debates and collective positions. Andrea Peniche
6 February | Law and Ethics
09:30 - 10:00 | The “sexual” sign: production of meaning, ethical mediation and normative effects. Ana Oliveira
10:00 - 10:50 | Working and loving: employer powers, romantic relationships, and workers’ personality rights. João Leal Amado
11:00 - 11:50 | Is sexual criminal law (still) crucified/imprisoned by ethics, morals, and prejudice? Maria do Carmo Silva Dias
12:00 - 12:50 | The right to pleasure and the sexual unconscious of the legal system: between ethos and nomos. Luís Meneses do Vale
13:00 - 14:30 | Lunch at the Major Seminary of Coimbra
14:30 - 15:15 | Guided tour of the Major Seminary of Coimbra
15:30 - 17:30 | Roundtable: Sex in canon law: from theological thought to jurisdictional experience. Eugénia Abrantes, Fernanda Henriques, Jorge Teixeira da Cunha, José Manuel Pureza, Paula Marinho, Tiago Cavaco | Session open to the public. Location: Major Seminary of Coimbra
17:30 - 17:45 | Closing of the Winter School. Ana Oliveira & Tiago Ribeiro

