This two-day conference proposes to examine the history of conceptions of sexuality and of gender relations that have, explicitly or implicitly, been used in sexological “constructions” since the mid-19th century.

The knowledge, theories and practices to which “sexology” refers imply specific conceptions of sexuality. Sexology is a social (and, above all, medical, psychological, psychiatric or even legal) response to the questions people ask about “their sexuality”. Its history has shifted from a “proto-sexology”, centered around perversions and deviancies, to a second phase with a focus on the “function of orgasm” and on sexual behaviors (Béjin 1982). Sexology is evolving with the emergence of “sexual medicine”, “sexual health” and “sexual rights”, trends that weigh on the reformulation of theories of sexuality. Papers will present material from medical, scientific or educational sources or from institutions involved in the medicalization of sexuality.

The accepted papers will be grouped by subject, geographical area, historical period or historiographical approach as a function of the two-day program, and each group will be assigned a discussant who will Chair the session and open discussion of the papers presented. Abstracts and papers can be submitted and presented in English or French. There will not be official simultaneous translation during the conference. Participants are expected to understand both languages.

Plans are in the works for editing the papers presented at the conference for a book to be published by a French publishing house specialized in multidisciplinary books.

Framework

Two types of presentations are expected:

• Papers proposed by the members of the European Sexologies Network and the scientific committee
• Additional papers selected through the open call for papers.

Submission of papers: Important dates and deadlines

July 15th 2017:

Abstracts of no more than 1,000 words including a short bibliography are to

be submitted to Alain Giami (alain.giami@inserm.fr) and Sabine Bimbard (sabine.bimbard@inserm.fr).

• September 1st 2017: Response from the scientific committee and notification of accepted communications;
• September 30th 2017: Papers (in pdf format) will be sent to the Chair of the scientific committee for prior distribution to session Chairs and discutants.

Papers will also be made available to participants on the private page of the conference website (under construction).

Please feel free to contact Alain Giami, Chair of the Scientific Committee for more information (alain.giami@inserm.fr).