The Queerness of Babies
Conversation with
Liola Mattheis | Diego Semerene | Misha Kavka
The Queerness of Babies places Misha Kavka, Liola Mattheis, and Diego Semerene in conversation with the audience about the figure of the baby from a trans studies and psychoanalytic perspective. What does it mean to say that the baby is essentially queer? Is there a relationship between transness and the baby?
And why is it that all sorts of moral panics are still set off when one puts “babies” and “sexuality” in the same sentence, despite Freud’s claims about infantile “perversions” building the bedrock of all human sexuality over a century ago?
These are some of the questions this event poses, as we explore the function of the baby as a screen for the contemporary subject’s fantasies. What is it that the baby can tell us—about desire, sex, and gender— that the figure of the child writ large can’t? And are we willing to hear it?
When
8 July 2026,
8 pm
Where
diffrakt | centre for theoretical periphery
Language/s
- English
Free admission
All our events can be attended free of charge.
About
The Queerness of Babies places Misha Kavka, Liola Mattheis, and Diego Semerene in conversation with the audience about the figure of the baby from a trans studies and psychoanalytic perspective. What does it mean to say that the baby is essentially queer? Is there a relationship between transness and the baby?
And why is it that all sorts of moral panics are still set off when one puts “babies” and “sexuality” in the same sentence, despite Freud’s claims about infantile “perversions” building the bedrock of all human sexuality over a century ago?
These are some of the questions this event poses, as we explore the function of the baby as a screen for the contemporary subject’s fantasies. What is it that the baby can tell us—about desire, sex, and gender— that the figure of the child writ large can’t? And are we willing to hear it?
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