As well as being a uniquely personal experience, the relationship between religion and gender identity is increasingly a topic of discussion within public and political discourse. Those who identify as female or LGBTQIA+ are redefining frameworks of religion, creating their own spaces and moving towards a more nuanced understanding of faith and spirituality. Practices within religious traditions, including meditation and prayer, generate opportunities to explore and navigate these relationships At this event, hear from a panel of writers and thinkers from a range of backgrounds about how their identities have been shaped, challenged and influenced by their connection and disconnection to religion and spirituality. Holy Woman author Louise Omer, Buddhist monk and scholar Sunim BomHyon, ex-Mormon writer Jess Knight and LGBTQIA+ and Islam researcher Aisya Zaharin will join host Jacinta Parsons to consider what a safe, meaningful and inclusive experience of modern religion can look like for women and LGBTQIA+ people, and why this so often ends up being the exception, not the rule.
The bookseller for this event is Neighbourhood Books.
Presented in partnership with the Contemplative Studies Centre
Illustration by Megan Herbert.
Building on conversations begun at Broadside festival in 2019, join us for a series of deep dives into feminism and gender. Featuring brilliant local and international feminist thinkers talking culture, media, matriarchy, law, health, sex, sovereignty and more.
Wheelchair accessible
Accessible toilets available
Sunim is a Buddhist monk, scholar, teacher, and activist, who lives on the unceded lands of the Gundungurra and Tharawal people. Sunim came of age in the early seventies and was active in the early women’s refuge collectives ...
Louise Omer is a feminist writer born on Kaurna Country with words published in The Guardian, The Australian, The Saturday Paper, and more. She has read at events in Edinburgh, Dublin, Catalonia, Melbourne and Adelaide ...
Jacinta Parsons is a radio broadcaster and writer from Melbourne, Australia who has worked at community radio station Triple R, and for the ABC at Double J, ABC Radio Melbourne, and ABC Radio National ...
Aisya Aymanee M. Zaharin serves as one of the board members of Australia GLBTQIA+ Multicultural Council (AGMC) while doing her PhD on navigating Asian values and media responsibility. Her research includes fields in political ...