Kitti Suoranta

My sociological dissertation addresses the institutional and cultural regulation of intimacy and sexual relationships in Finland from the 1960’s to the present moment. I focus on the intersection of macro and micro levels, on how sociocultural changes of the period have shaped the lived experiences and social networks of the people living through them. I look at 1) shifts in the normative climate, from the quest of homosexual rights to the sexual citizenship of same-sex couples and to the recent queering of the heterosexual couple norm; 2) the regulation of homosexuality in the biographical narratives and social networks of older gay and straight men living alone, and 3) the surfacing of non-monogamy in the Finnish wider public in 2020 and how this cultural idea shapes how people actually live in their relationships with media and interview data.

I am also the editor of Perheyhteiskunta.fi which is a social scientific publication aimed at the wider public. I write popular science articles about couple norms, ethical non-monogamy and social scientific research of sexuality.