While the study of language, gender and sexuality has become a central research topic in linguistics in past decades, the vast majority of the research has focused on the Anglosphere. In Romance linguistics, the interplay of language, gender and sexuality has received less attention. At the same time, there is a growing interest in phenomena like gender-neutral or inclusive language and the connection between grammatical and societal gender.
The conference Sex in Romance: Perspectives to Gender and Sexuality in Romance Languages (SiR2025) is organized by the research project Gender, society, and language use: Evidence from Mexico and Spain funded by the Kone Foundation and carried out at the University of Helsinki, and other researchers of Romance languages working on topics related to gender and sexuality. The purpose of the conference is to provide an international discussion forum for scholars interested in different aspects of gender and sexuality in Romance languages. We include all theoretical and methodological approaches, including but not limited to the following:
The lingua franca of the conference is English, but we welcome submissions and presentations in Romance languages as well. The planned length of presentations is 20 minutes + 10 minutes for questions and comments.
The keynote speakers of the conference are Julie Abbou (University of Turin), Virginia Acuña Ferreira (University of Vigo) and Fabio Fasoli (Surrey University).
Submission of abstracts will open in the beginning of February 2025 and the deadline is the 1st of April 2025. Abstracts should be 250 words in length (excluding references and examples) and they can be written in English or any major Romance language. However, to facilitate reviewing, please include a translation into English if submitting in another language.
Abstracts must be sent as an email attachment to grp-sir2025@helsinki.fi. Please use the abstract template we provide here to format your abstract. Don’t include author details in the abstract, but include your full name and title, affiliation, language in which you will deliver the presentation, and contact email in the body of the email.
Notification of acceptance will be sent in early May, 2025.
The conference fee is estimated to be around 100 euros, but this will be confirmed early 2025.