Shameless! Festival London feat. Dr George Severs – Male Survivors and Masculinity
SHaME’s Postdoctoral Fellow Dr George Severs joins poet and performer Tanaka Mhishi and Beyond Equality Spokesperson Ben Hurst to explore the ways in which men are socialised and the lack of spaces for male survivors. This expert panel discusses why their needs are often overlooked, how we can challenge the elements of masculinity that normalise violence, and how together we create a better society for all.
To hear more from George at the Shameless! Festival, listen in to his podcast co-hosted by Dr Rhian Keyse, which features behind-the-scenes interviews from a variety of contributors.
The Shameless! Festival of Activism Against Sexual Violence took place on 27th November 2021, created in collaboration by Birkbeck’s SHaME project and WOW – Women of the World. The festival featured high profile speakers, survivors, researchers and medical professionals, alongside performances by incredible artists, poets and musicians, interactive workshops, ‘how to’ clinics, wellness spaces and more.
Inspired by and building on the work of SHaME, WOW and activists and academics across the world, the festival aimed to revolutionise conversations around sexual violence; burst open inherited ideas of shame; and give everyone the chance to say to all societies, enough is enough, sexual violence must end. A number of the day’s talks are now available to watch on the Birkbeck YouTube channel, with captions by Stagetext.
Dr George Severs is a postdoctoral research fellow on the SHaME project. He is an historian of HIV/AIDS, activism, religion and sexuality in modern Britain. George’s doctoral research examined the history of HIV/AIDS activism in England between 1982 and 1997, covering radical direct-action groups such as ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), as well as less conventionally accepted modes of activism which pushed for changes in workplaces, religious settings, universities and amongst medical practitioners. George’s postdoctoral research concerns the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on medics and sexual health advisors who dealt with survivors of sexual harm and violence in the UK. George is Secretary of the Oral History Society’s LGBTQ special interest group and Public History Editor of Oral History.