Politics of singlehood are a matter of relevance to the majority of people, as most experience singlehood at some point in their life course. As being such a multidimensional issue, singlehood also serves as a fruitful starting point for wide-ranging sociological and feminist conversations. Singlehood can be studied as a social category, an identity, a […]
Singlehood in the Finnish public debate (by Marjo Kolehmainen)
Who would not remember the iconic Sex and the City TV programme that pictured the single lives of four women in the city of New York? Sex and the City and several other fictional television series and movies that have focused on − often female − single protagonists and their wish to form a conventional […]
Online Summer Session: SINGLEHOOD & COMPANIONSHIP: Challenges and Opportunities for New Frameworks (July 27 – Aug 1, 2020)
The following online event ‘Singlehood & Companionship: Challenges and Opportunities for New Frameworks’ is organized in collaboration with The Research Network of Singlehood Studies. NSU Summer Session ‘Singlehood & Companionship: Challenges and Opportunities for New Frameworks’ takes the form of a reading group with pre-assigned texts that discuss singlehood, held via Zoom during the week […]
The figure of the polyamorous single woman in consensual non-monogamy discourse in Belgium (by Katrien De Graeve)
The following text is a shortened version of the keynote speech given by Katrien De Graeve at the launch event for the Research Network of Singlehood Studies that took place on 16-17 December 2019 in Tampere. A picture of a bed, with a romantic, wooden headboard with candles, and covered with orange blankets, has been […]
Living alone during state of emergency (by Tiina Sihto)
Covid-19 and the measures taken by governments around the world in order to control the pandemic have fundamentally changed the way we currently live our everyday lives and organise our relationships with others. Much of the popular media discussion has revolved around challenges faced by dual-earner families with young children and the possible consequences the […]
The organizational lives of singles (by Andreas Henriksson)
The following text is a shortened version of the keynote speech given by Andreas Henriksson at the launch event for the Research Network of Singlehood Studies that took place on 16-17 December 2019 in Tampere. Singles inhabit most parts of society, including most organizations. Some organizations are solely for singles, including singles’ associations and dating […]
Couplenormativity in the fertility clinic: creatively making families by matching gamete donors with single women recipients in private sector care (by Riikka Homanen)
The following text is a modified version of the panel speech given by Riikka Homanen at the launch event for the Research Network of Singlehood Studies that took place on 16-17 December 2019 in Tampere. In my research I have studied couplenormativity in relation to heteronormativity and homonormativity in the context of fertility treatments, as […]
Disentangling Living Alone, Being Alone, and Feeling Alone: between Cultural Pessimism and Optimism with ‘Modernity’ at Stake (by Christopher Swader)
The following text is a shortened version of the keynote speech given by Christopher Swader at the launch event for the Research Network of Singlehood Studies that took place on 16-17 December 2019 in Tampere. Few themes are closer to the ‘heart’ of modern societies as the related concepts of individualism and individualization. Indeed, since […]
Singlehood and Seduction: A Mea Culpa (by Rachel O’Neill)
The following text is a shortened version of the keynote speech given by Rachel O’Neill at the launch event for the Research Network of Singlehood Studies that took place on 16-17 December 2019 in Tampere. In January 2018, I submitted the final proofs for my book Seduction: Men, Masculinity and Mediated Intimacy. An ethnography of […]
LGBTIQA+ singles: then and now (by Annukka Lahti)
The following text is a slightly modified version of the introduction speech by Annukka Lahti, originally written for the panel discussion on couple-normativity in the launch event of The Research Network of Singlehood Studies that took place on December 17, 2019 in Tampere. During the last twenty years, the political demands by the LGBTIQA+ movement […]