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Join the Queer@King’s Reading Group as they discuss The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

Performance has allowed queer, gay and lesbian Christians to celebrate their bodies in cultures that disdain them. Isherwood describes queer people finding self-worth and friendship through the bodies that in other times and places would be placed into flames. While many members of the SPI consider themselves spiritual but not religious, their mission statement: Promulgating omniversal joy and expiating stigmatic guilt, suggests a greater sense of purpose beyond satire or provocation.

When comparing themselves to the Roman Catholic church, and despite their negative option of the church hierarchy, many sisters have expressed admiration for nuns themselves and describe themselves as nuns for the 21st century: "They serve the community; we serve the community. They raise money for charity; we raise money for charity. They take a vow of celibacy, we…serve the community." The Sisters reference pop culture and broader understandings of nun iconography to invert power structures and trouble religious performances so that we may question what a 'normal' spiritual practice is.

Readings 

  • M. Wilcox, Queer Nuns: Religion, Activism and Serious Parody (New York, 2018) pp.1-31.
  • M. Wilcox, “The Separation of Church and Sex: Conservative Catholics and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.” emisférica (12, 2016).
  • C. Glen, “Queering the (Sacred) Body Politic: Considering the Performative Cultural Politics of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.” Theory and Event (7, 2003).

If you do not have access to the readings, please email queer@kcl.ac.uk.

Event details

Small Committee Room, K0.31
King's Building
Strand Campus, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS