Judith Butler participated in a discussion with gender expert Ovidiu Anemțoaicei, professor Ionela Băluță and researcher Irina Costache.
The dialogue, moderated by Roma feminist activist Carmen Gheorghe, engaged with the themes of queer culture in Eastern-European space, but also the ways in which queer people become targets for anti-gender and anti-LGBTQ movements in Eastern Europe. The dialogue also zoomed in on the way language is being manipulated by conservative movements as the main tool for attacking minorities. The pro-family referendum which took place in 2018 and the unconstitutional law from 2020 which prohibited talking about gender identity in schools and universities were also topic in the talk.
The event was organized in partnership with Centre For The Study Of Equal Opportunity Policies (CPES) and Cercul Donatorilor din Bruxelles. Centre For The Study Of Equal Opportunity Policies is the first research center created within The University of Bucharest with the purpose of engaging with a research area not very explored by Romanian academia: policies concerning equality of opportunity. Among the research topics which interest its founding members are: the social and political construction of gender, the policies of gender equality, the equality/ inequality/ social exclusion, family policy and educational policy.
„Butler is making a statement about things having gone too far and contributes to strengthening the movement and queer culture in Romania”, says Vlad Viski, the curator of the literature section of Triumf Amiria.
Judith Butler, aged 65, received a Ph.D. in philosophy from Yale University, in 1984. Their seminal work is „Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity”, published in 1990. „Gender Trouble” was one of the works which formed a foundation for queer theory. The book had a follow-up, „Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of ‘Sex’”, published in 1993.
Ovidiu Anemțoaicei is a pro-feminist and queer activist and a consultant in the field of equality of opportunities and the policy of gender equality. Ionela Băluță is a professor at the Faculty of Political Science within University of Bucharest and the director of CPES. Irina Costache teaches at the Faculty of Political Science within University of Bucharest and is a researcher in the fields of gender violence, LGBTQ youth and education on gender equality. Carmen Gheorghe is a Roma activist, feminist and independent researcher, but also the founder of ROma feminist organisation E-Romnja.