This year’s Academic Pride activities consist of a seminar on gender categorization and language, based on new research conducted at Stockholm University and Lund University, as well as two social events for students. The Pride flag will also be hoisted at all participating schools throughout the festival week.

“The dignity and rights of LGBTQIA+ people continue to be violated around the world and Pride is more important than ever. At SSE, we are deeply committed to ensuring that our institution is open and inclusive of everyone regardless of their gender identity, sexual orientation or gender expression,” says Karol Vieker, SSE Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager.  

Seminar: Language as a tool for breaking the gender binary

How are binary gender norms affected by language use? In this year’s Academic Pride seminar, we’re exploring perceptions of inclusive language and how the new personal pronoun “hen” has influenced Swedish speakers’ understanding of gender.

Researchers Elli van Berlekom (Stockholm University) and Amanda Klysing (Lund University) show, based on current research, how small variations in language can have large effects on how people interpret others in terms of gender and how people are affected by the language used to describe gender. Focus lies on how to break the binary notion of gender, and what practical implications this may have.

The seminar will consist of two short presentations followed by discussion and questions. The presentations will be about the Swedish pronoun hen and non-binary categorizations of gender, and expressions of the gender binary in recruitment situations.

The seminar on Thursday, August 5^th will be both streamed and held live at Pride House (Clarion Hotel Stockholm). Read more at https://www.facebook.com/events/1800796026767462/

Social events for students

The social events organized by the student organizations are:

1. A self-expression hangout in English for students with several topics that the participants can choose from. It will be held on Friday, August 6^th via Zoom. Read more at https://www.facebook.com/events/766290730726400/

2. A screening of the film Pride (2014) via Zoom on Saturday, August 7^th. No registration required but there’s a maximum number of 50 participants, who will be let in in order of arrival. Read more at https://www.facebook.com/events/184097756855626/

Contact information

For more information about Academic Pride or this year’s activities, please contact the KTH Equality Office at equalityoffice@kth.se.

Academic Pride 2021 is arranged by Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, the Stockholm School of Economics, the Swedish Red Cross University College and Stockholm University together with the student unions of the various schools, including Medicinska Föreningen’s LGBTQ association Queerolinska at Karolinska Institutet, the Student Union’s (THS) LGBTQ+ organisation Speqtrum at KTH, the Rainbows association at Stockholm University, the Stockholm University Student Union (SUS), and the Student Association at the Stockholm School of Economics (SASSE).