The Against Nature Journal

Initiated in 2014 and developed collaboratively with human rights NGOs, The Against Nature Journal is an international programme of publications, symposiums and exhibitions on the laws condemning “sexual intercourses against the order of nature”. In the absence of a unique legal definition of “nature”, the application of these laws is arbitrary, depending on local cultural traditions and judges’ personal beliefs. Even in Countries where these laws are not applied, “against nature” is the main argument used by people campaigning against sexual and gender rights. By building a 3-years discursive platform between Finland, Lithuania and Sweden, the project gathers an international network of artists, scholars (anthropology, human rights, theology, medicine, philosophy, history), activists and law professionals. Inspired by the campaigns led by Lebanese NGO Legal Agenda, the project proposes new interpretations of the legal concept of “Nature” to judges, religious leaders and parliamentarians. On the one hand, the aim of the project is to have a direct impact by providing tools to law professionals. On the other hand, the project aims at speculating on the legal representation of “Nature” and on experimenting with the language of advocacy. As the final output of the project, the journal (online and print) will be distributed via partner NGOs and organisations to judges, lawyers and legal activists, as well as scholars and the arts communities in more than 50 countries.