Feminist Spaces Summer 2024: What is She?

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Sex is assigned at birth. Gender is socially constructed, shaped, crafted.

 

This is one of the founding insights of feminism. Yet, despite the longstanding distinction between gender and sex, society still forms assumptions and rigid expectations of gender based on a person's assigned sex, while the refusal of gender fluidity has fueled a raft of public policies that limit who and what we can be. In popular culture, in the home, in the workplace, in the doctor's office, gender collapses into sex.

 

So what Feminist Spaces wants to know is this: What is She? Who is She? What does it mean to be She in twenty-first century societies around the globe?

 

She is a threat: Queer, Trans, Gay, Woman, Man Hater, Political Extremist, Feminazi, Pussy Riotist, Destroyer of families, Baby Killer, Bathroom Rapist, Blasphemist, An Abomination. To be She is to be subject to innumerable campaigns of disempowerment. She is gender. She is sex. She is feminism. 

 

Politicized and ridiculed, gender and sex has become inseparable from the work of feminists. The autonomy of women being threatened, taken, in the Middle East. The violent support of the nuclear family. The war on gender freedoms in Ukraine. It is the job of Western feminists to listen to the voices of the oppressed across the world. In numbers, we are powerful. In voices, we are loud. For what is She if not community? 

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Feminist Spaces welcomes work across genres and disciplines and invites students, faculty, and independent scholars to submit academic papers, creative writing, and artistic pieces that address topics in feminist, gender, sexuality, or women’s studies. Articles may originate or enter into dialogue with current feminist discourse or present historical research. Topics may include but are not limited to the following:

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• Feminism in politics and/or political discourse

• Feminist theory, practice, and politics

• History and analysis of feminist movements

• Historiographies of individual women

• Intersectionality and politics of diversity in feminism

• Women’s and feminist contributions to/effects on industrial or labor fields

• Feminist ethics/philosophies

• LGBTQ+ topics

 

Please ensure that all written submissions adhere to the guidelines and conventions set forth by the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition). Standard essays must be emailed in .doc or .docx form and should be single-spaced at a 12 pt. font. All artistic submissions must be submitted electronically in universally compatible formats and should include a written statement to contextualize the work.

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The deadline for submission is Sunday, May 12, 2024, and writers and artists who submit can expect to hear back from us by May 19. This issue's tentative release date is scheduled for the beginning of August. All submissions must be forwarded to feministspacesjournal@gmail.com. Be sure to include your full name and email address on the first page of text, label the file using your last name and first name (e.g. “Doe, Jane”), and write “submission” in the email subject line. 

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For any questions or inquiries, contact the editorial team at feministspacesjournal@gmail.com or use our contact page.

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