_{© Yves Klein, Antropometría (1962)}

Although it has been part of social and legal theory since early times, the normative status of sex is a problem that is often sidestepped. One of the apparent paradoxes it contains, which intrigues cultural studies of law, is that the greater the power offered by the invocation of sex - taken as violence, emancipation, identity, freedom, self-determination, dignity, danger, etc. - the less ability there is to isolate and justify the place that the law reserves for it, as well as the way in which it is represented.

Mobilising different disciplinary matrices and analytical sensibilities, the Winter School “Sex between legal knowledges and powers” questions the conditions of its enunciation and evidence in the exercise of jurisdiction over people and things. Focusing on the relationship between sex and law, this School is framed by the broader concern to understand why, through what devices, using what arguments and with what assumptions and implications, various extra-lawscapes provide ideas, beliefs and references for the creation of norms, the material sources of law and the interpretative exercise in sexual matters. The main objective is to contribute to problematising the mediations of meaning between legal practises and the worlds of ethics, aesthetics, politics, and science, with a view to capturing the mechanisms of constitution of these articulations and the regimes of influence they exert on the ways of imagining, conceptualising and regulating sex and sexuality.

The guiding questions of the work programme are as follows: how do the fields of science, culture, politics, and ethics conceive and project sex/sexuality? How do their respective narratives and conceptions of sex invade the legal system and language? Moreover, conversely, how do the grammar and rationality of law reverberate in the worlds of science, art, politics, and ethics? By accepting or reformulating these questions, the Winter School seeks to explore new avenues and hypotheses about law as a cultural phenomenon and sex as a normative challenge.

The School is aimed at researchers, students, professionals and people interested in cultural studies of law and in the technologies (discursive, visual, symbolic) of normative representation of sex.

Structure
This Winter School runs over five days, with mornings concentrating on lectures and afternoons on workshops.

The programme is structured around topics: the first day will focus on different theoretical and methodological approaches to law (law and discipline); the following days will focus on epistemological dialogues between law and science (day 2), law and culture (day 3), law and politics (day 4) and law and ethics (day 5). The activities will be led by speakers and teachers from diverse areas and disciplinary backgrounds, with the aim of introducing participants to analytical problems, intellectual debates, and various theoretical and methodological frameworks.
 

Teaching Team

Ana Oliveira (Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra)
Ana Pinho (Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Porto)
Andrea Peniche (A Coletiva)
António Casimiro Ferreira (Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra / Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra)
António Guerreiro (Público newspaper / Revista Electra / Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon)
Brisa Paim Duarte (Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra)
Catarina Vitorino (Independent Life Support Centre / European Network on Independent Living / As DEsaFiantes)
Cátia Guerra (Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust / Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto)
Daniela Côrtes Maduro (Centre for Portuguese Literature of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the Ûniversity of Coimbra)
Eugénia Abrantes (Institute for Advanced Studies in Catholicism and Globalisation - IACGO)
Fernanda Henriques (Departament of Philosophy of the School of Social Sciences of the University of Évora / Philosophy and Gender Centre of the Portuguese Society of Philosophy)
Inês Godinho (Faculty of Law and Political Science of Lusófona University)
Joana Aguiar e Silva (School of Law of the University of Minho)
João Leal Amado (Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra)
João Pedroso (Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra / Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra)
Jorge Silva Santos (Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon / CIDPCC – Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Sciences)
Jorge Teixeira da Cunha (Faculty of Theology of the Portuguese Catholic University)
José Manuel Pureza (Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra / Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra)
Luís Meneses do Vale (Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon / University of Coimbra Institute for Legal Research - UCILeR)
Maria do Carmo Silva Dias (Supreme Court of Justice)
Mário Montenegro (Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of the University of Coimbra – CEIS20)
Nuno Igreja Matos (Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon)
Patrícia Fernandes (Centre for Ethics, Politics and Society of the University of Minho)
Paula Marinho (Marinho Law Firm)
Pedro Caeiro (Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra)
Pedro Vasconcelos (ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)
Rui Sousa-Silva (Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto)
Soraya Nour Sckell (Research & Development Centre on Law and Society – CEDIS / NOVA School Of Law)
Tiago Cavaco (Second Baptist Evangelical Church of Lisbon – Igreja da Lapa)
Tiago Ribeiro (Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra / School of Education and Social Sciences of the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria)
Vânia Álvares (Superior Council of the Public Prosecutor's Office / School of Social Sciences and Humanities, NOVA University of Lisbon  - NOVA FCSH)

Registration fees

- Until 30 December 2025
General registration: €80
Registration for students and unemployed persons: €50

- Between 31 December 2025 and 28 January 2026
General registration: €100
Registration for students and unemployed persons: €70

_{* The School offers three free places to the CES community.}

_{** Registration for the Winter School includes transport and a guided visit to the Museum Centre of the Rovisco Pais Colony Hospital, a guided visit to the Major Seminary of Coimbra, lunches and coffee breaks, support materials, and a certificate of participation}.

_{Refund policy: The registration fee will be refunded in full upon notification by 16 January 2026.}

Maximum number of participants: 25