Abstract
‘Bisexuality is a conglomeration of too many possibilities of sexuality and gender roles that we would do well not to mix together [and not to choose as the subject and perspective of historical analysis].’ (Hekma, 1994, p. 116f., translation by the author). However, does the concept of bisexuality not offer the opportunity for historical studies to engage productively with its various forms, analysing the diversity of human sexualities in a more differentiated way, beyond the supposed dichotomy?
This is the aim of my PhD thesis, in which I examine court cases involving adultery, fornication, and sodomy offences in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation between the 15th and 17th centuries. I focus on the particularities of bisexual practices in the pre-modern era and argue that bi+sexual people were punished less frequently and severely because the courts considered their offences to be lesser violations of the social and legal order than those of homosexual people. I also examine modern prejudices against bi+sexual people and consider the role of infidelity, promiscuity, and switching between partners of different genders in pre-modern court cases.
In my presentation, I would like to discuss strategies for historicising bisexuality that emphasise its associated practices – as opposed to modern identity. This is because unreflectively historicising sexual identity as a modern construct contradicts the systems of thought and discourses of the Middle Ages and the early modern period. However, my thesis does not imply that infidelity, promiscuity and bisexuality are synonymous; rather, it shows how these issues were addressed together in legal proceedings.

Bio
I'm Anna-Lea Krampe and a bisexual historian from Germany. In 2024, I finished my Master of Art in History with the profil 'History of Pre-Modernity' at Bielefeld University. I'm currently doing my PhD on Adultery, fornication, sodomy - a social and cultural-historical analysis of bisexual behaviour in pre-modern moral offence trials (15th - 17th century).

Abstract

In my presentation I’d like to take a closer look at how the historical figures Ivan the Terrible, Russia’s first Tsar and Fyodor Basmanov, the man rumoured to be his lover, have been portrayed in important pieces of Russian media. The analysed works include the novel Knjaz’ Serebrjannyj (1861) by A.K. Tolstoy which is one of the first works to reach significant success, the famous Ivan the Terrible (1944) movies by Eisenstein and the movie Tsar Ivan Groznyy (1991) based on Tolstoy’s novel which is still one of the most impactful Fyodor portrayals to this day.
These stories contain many of the same key pieces such as the growing mistrust and violence at court, Ivan’s internal struggle with himself, Fyodor’s androgynous appearance and his special relationship to Ivan, including him cross-dressing and dancing for the Tsar. What interests me especially is how despite including these similar, reoccurring elements every story’s view of their relationship and message differs. And while Fyodor is most often portrayed as homosexual, it is Ivan whose sexuality seems much more open to interpretation. Some stories ensure to include the wives that Ivan historically had while others stay surprisingly silent on the matter and in one story Fyodor even becomes a stand-in for Ivan’s deceased wife Anastasia.
I aim to answer how several Russian artists throughout history have used the character Fyodor Basmanov to shape their versions of Ivan IV. and his sexuality and why. The main themes are views on masculinity, autocratic rulership and of course sexuality at different points in Russian history.

Bio
I am history student from Germany whose main research interests include views and attitudes towards gender and sexuality with a strong focus on masculinity. Currently I am working towards my bachelors thesis about eunuchs in greco-roman antiquity.In my freetime I am very involved in fantasy and role-playing games such as dnd and larp.

Abstract
Councilman Renildo José dos Santos, from Coqueiro Seco, Alagoas, had his mandate revoked in 1993, shortly after being elected, when he disclosed his “bisexual” sexuality during a local radio interview. He was subsequently kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by a death squad acting under the orders of political opponents. This assassination was denounced by the Grupo Gay da Bahia (GGB) and local activist groups throughout the 1990s as one of the most violent crimes committed against a “gay” man in Brazil. The case gained international attention through the work of international human rights organizations and the bisexual movement. This paper examines the processes of framing the memory of this case through the actions of different local actors. The analysis juxtaposes the perspectives of Renildo’s relatives, state agents and sectors, social movements, and the press. Based on ethnographic research involving interviews and the examination of newspaper articles from the period, I focus on how these actors participate in the construction of the case’s memory and meanings, highlighting the strategies used to make the crime visible and to frame Renildo’s assassination, in this context, as motivated by prejudice against his sexual orientation.

Bio
PhD candidate and MA graduate in Social Anthropology at the State University of Campinas (PPGAS/UNICAMP). Holds a BA in Social Sciences from the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), including an academic exchange in Anthropology at the University of Coimbra, Portugal (UC). Researcher at the Núcleo de Estudos de Gênero – Pagu (Center for Gender Studies) at UNICAMP. Member of the Editorial Board of Proa: Journal of Anthropology and Art, currently serving as Section Editor. Affiliated with the Brazilian Anthropological Association (ABA). Also part of the Trans-Transvestite Studies Network and the Brazilian Network for Studies on Bisexuality and Monodissidence (REBIM). Research interests include sexuality, violence, gender, trans identities, representation, and politics.

Abstract
The affirmation of a dissident identity becomes increasingly urgent in the face of the current political and social landscape, particularly within the field of healthcare. Producing knowledge about bisexuality in Brazil involves challenging epistemological structures that render non-normative experiences invisible and delegitimize embodied knowledge. This article investigates the impacts of epistemic injustice on the construction of bisexual history within Brazilian healthcare practices, focusing on the erasure experienced by bisexual individuals in nursing education and professional practice. Drawing from an autoethnographic approach and theoretical contributions from Fricker, Foucault, and Butler, the article highlights how bisexual subjects are systematically discredited as legitimate knowers, a phenomenon that constitutes testimonial epistemic injustice. Beyond public delegitimization in academic spaces, the article also incorporates erasure experienced in familial contexts, revealing how the denial of bisexual identity by close relations reproduces institutional mechanisms of silencing. Through a Foucauldian lens, the analysis explores how power-knowledge dispositifs operate in nursing education, regulating bodies and identities through curricula and clinical practices that reinforce cis-heteronormativity as the dominant framework. Butler’s concept of gender performativity is mobilized to understand how reiterated social norms shape professional ideals and caregiving models that exclude non-monosexual identities from the field of care. Bisexuality, as a fluid identity, disrupts the binaries that sustain the intelligibility matrix of gender and sexuality, often being interpreted as indecision or transgression. This epistemic exclusion results in unprepared professionals and precarious healthcare delivery, undermining the principle of comprehensive care. By legitimizing lived experience as knowledge and incorporating dissident narratives as decolonial practices, the article proposes pathways to denormalize care and reconfigure health education. Epistemic justice, in this context, is also health justice.

Bios
Maria  Ludmila Kawane de Sousa Soares. Registered Nurse, graduated fromSão Lucas University Center (UniSL/RO), currently pursuing a Master’s degree at the Anna Nery School of Nursing, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (EEAN/UFRJ). She is a member of the CNPq Research Group on Sexual and Reproductive Health of Human Groups (GPSSRGH/EEAN-UFRJ), where she contributes to studies on health equity and human rights. She serves as co-advisor of the LGBTQIAP+ Health Academic League (DiversiLiga/UFRJ), promoting inclusive education and advocacy for marginalized communities. She is also affiliated with the Brazilian Network for Studies on Bisexuality and Monodissidence (REBIM), engaging in research that amplifies visibility and understanding of non-normative sexualities. Her academic interests include sexual and reproductive health, gender and sexuality studies, and equitable healthcare access for LGBTQIAP+ populations. She is committed to advancing culturally sensitive, rights-based approaches to nursing and public health.

Nilson Dutra dos Santos Júnior.
Undergraduate Nursing student at the Anna Nery School of Nursing, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (EEAN/UFRJ). Member of the CNPq Research Group on Sexual and Reproductive Health of Human Groups (GPSSRGH/EEAN-UFRJ), with a focus on health equity and human rights. Currently serves as President of the LGBTQIA+ Health Academic League (DiversiLiga/UFRJ).

Ana Beatriz Azavedo Queiroz. Full Professor at the Anna Nery School of Nursing, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). She is an Obstetric Nurse and specialist in Women’s Health, with postgraduate training in Gynecological and Obstetric Nursing and in Higher Education Methodologies. She holds a Master’s and PhD in Nursing, focused on Women’s Health, from EEAN/UFRJ. She leads the CNPq Research Group on Sexual and Reproductive Health of Human Groups and is a researcher at the Women’s Health Nursing Research Center (NUPESM). Her academic work includes teaching in undergraduate, residency, and graduate programs, as well as coordinating outreach projects, including the Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Extension Project (UFRJ, since 2006).She coordinated the Multidisciplinary Residency in Women’s Health at HESFA/UFRJ (2009–2017) and served as Vice President of COREMU/UFRJ (2010–2018). She was Vice President of ABENFO-RJ (2010–2012) and served on its board until 2021.

Her research focuses on women’s health, sexual and reproductive health, gender, and social representations. She is a member of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care (ISNCC) and currently serves as Research Coordinator at EEAN/UFRJ (2022–2024).