A Belgian Peculiarity? Sexual Revolution and (De)pilarisation from 1960 to 2000. A contribution to the History of the Transformation of Gender and Sexuality Norms

Pilarisation, which refers to the management of religious and philosophical diversity in highly divided societies, is one of the fundamental features of Belgian society. It led to the existence of separated worlds surrounding individuals from cradle to grave. Besides pastoral care, this system applied to institutions in fields such as education, youth protection, health, family or work. Through the study of issues such as the introduction of gender diversity in schools, contraception and abortion, HIV/AIDS and homosexuality, the study of gender norms and sexuality transformations since 1960 will shed new light on depilarisation.

This project, which gathers an interdisciplinary team will highlight the often overlooked intersections between intimate changes and the contestation of traditional forms of social and political organisation in Belgium, which took place within the context of authority reshaping in Western Europe.

Principal investigators: Cécile Vanderpelen - Centre Interdisciplinaire d'Étude des Religions et de la Laïcité CIERL -, Valérie Piette - Savoir, Genre et Société, Groupe SAGES -, David Paternotte - Migrations, Espaces, Travail, Institutions, Citoyenneté, Epistémologie, Santé, METICES -, Guy Lebeer - Migrations, Espaces, Travail, Institutions, Citoyenneté, Epistémologie, Santé, METICES -, Dominique De Fraene - Centre de recherches criminologiques -, Carla Nagels - Centre de recherches criminologiques -.
 

Spokesperson

Cécile Vanderpelen
Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Religions and Secularism (CIERL)
Faculty of Philosophy and social Sciences


Video (in French)

Dates
Created on August 31, 2018