Between Pinkwash and Purity: Pride Pardes, Corporate Collaboration and Politics of Relationality

Based on empirical work with Copenhagen 2021 WorldPride and thinking with Shotwell’s (2016) notion of ‘constitutive impurity’, which in our case means to accept that corporate engagement in pride is inherently compromised, this presentation builds on and extends existing conceptualisations of pinkwashing – defined as instances of corporate (organised) hypocrisy, whereby companies seek attachment to the fight for LGBT+ rights and workplace inclusion (e.g. through sponsorships and partnering up with pride organisers) without taking any necessary action. We argue that puritan criticisms of corporate pride as always-already tainted (since there is no escape from the totalising co-optation of capitalist organising) does not allow for a nuanced analysis that explores the complexities and alternative interpretations. We propose that by adopting a politics of relationality of corporate collaboration we may see its potentials without losing sight of its problems