Deep Thought series

with Andreea Petre-Goncalves

Progressive sexual politics,
a church with no heaven

Ideas / Conversations | Sat 7th Mar | 5-7pm

Why does the sexual politics of the right, with its strong man and trad wife / submissive sex object iconography appeal to so many people? Why is it so effective in channelling men’s rage and providing a sense of belonging and safety? Why does it appeal to so many women who willingly subscribe to its traditionalist dynamics of domination? 

The annual International Women’s Day professions of devotion to the fullness of our humanity are upon us once again, and this time they risk sounding hollower than usual. Ours is the era of Giselle Pelicot and the Epstein revelations. Of those who have been flying the flag for our politics being shown not to mean it.

Our progressive church, somewhat complacently, offers no heaven. We’ve desiccated progressive ideas about sexual politics with puritanical compulsory language and one-dimensional identity-obsessed analysis, making it a space for precisely no one’s aspiration. All the while, dynamics of injustice prevail unchallenged.

As the populist right promises a return to a “natural” order of things, with millions nodding in agreement, what is our promised land for humankind?

Join us for a hopeful conversation with Andreea.

Open to everyone

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ABOUT THE HOST

Andreea Petre-Goncalves was 8 years old when totalitarian Communism collapsed overnight in her native Romania. She saw then how quickly yesterday’s absolute truth can become tomorrow reviled atrocity. She knows that societal narratives can shift fast, and when they do, they make deep system re-set possible. For two decades she worked for international development, human rights, health and sustainability in the EU institutions and international NGOs. In 2019 she set up Flare, a Brussels-based think-and-do tank that experiments with practical ways of shifting the collective ideas we hold of what is normal and desirable. This work builds on 15 years of her researching and writing about societal narrative shifts. She is a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader and a member of Global Diplomacy Lab.

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ADDITIONAL INFO 

FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar & snacks	Small (10-15)	Available on request