Kapittel: Kitty Kielland in the debates on public morality

In the 1880s, Kitty L. Kielland (1843–1914) was one of very few women who spoke publicly about female sexuality. The prevailing view was that women largely lacked sexual desire. Kielland debated against the physician Oscar Nissen, who argued this position. She also criticised fellow women’s rights activists for undermining women’s sexual needs. Women had both a need and a right to sex, Kielland argued. Openness about sex would lead to greater understanding and equality between the sexes.

In the lecture, Inger M. Lund Gudmundson will discuss Kielland’s involvement in the morality debates of the 1880s. Gudmundson is senior curator at Stavanger Art Museum and has written Norway’s first and only doctoral thesis on Kitty Kielland.

Organised in collaboration with Stavanger Art Museum.

The event is part of Kapittel – Stavanger International Festival of Literature and Freedom of Expression, 16–20 September 2026.

More information, the programme and tickets can be found at www.kapittel.no.

At some events at Sølvberget and during the Kapittel Festival, photographs and video recordings are taken for documentation purposes and for use on social media.