Australian Feminist Studies

What kinds of feminist futures might be imagined through the study of boys and boyhoods? The Affirmative Feminist Boys Studies Research Group  invites expressions of interest for a planned special issue of Australian Feminist Studies, exploring diverse approaches for reconfiguring the boy as a research subject and object, and inviting new and refined feminist theories and methods for understanding youth and masculinity.

Potential questions for consideration include, but are not limited to: 

• How do ideas about gender identity shape medical and developmental understandings of boys? For example, how might the scope or prevalence of medical diagnoses be shaped by gendered understandings of boyhood and trans boyhood?
• How can intersectional approaches to diverse boyhoods revise, extend, or displace existing paradigms for the study of boys? For example, how might racialised and gendered assumptions shape analyses and approaches towards boys of colour?
• How do policy discourses and institutional expectations shape ideas and practices around boyhood, gender relations, and youth development?
• How have digital media platforms, mobile technologies, and online communities contributed to new practices or discourses around boyhood?
• How does the concept of role modelling continue to shape contemporary understandings of masculinity for boys and boyhood, and how might role modelling be reimagined or challenged?
• What do contemporary articulations of “consent culture” mean for boys, and how might boyhood be imagined differently in relation to public debates around sexual consent and sexual violence?
• How have news media and popular media concerning boys contributed to or detracted from complex understandings of boys and boyhoods?
• What might novel methodological approaches offer to the production of new, diverse, or unexpected stories about boys?

We are seeking expressions of interest from scholars in any discipline and contributions that cross disciplinary boundaries are particularly welcome. Proposed submissions can be between 6,000 words and 8,000 words for research articles. Shorter polemical pieces up to 5,000 words can be considered for the journal's ‘Feminist Debates’ section. Co-authored and multiple-voiced pieces are welcome. All submissions will be peer-reviewed as per the journal’s policies.

Your expression of interest (300 words max) should indicate your title, what questions or ideas you wish to address, the proposed length of your submission, and your key words.  Please include contact details and a short line bio note.

Your EOI should be emailed as a word document to [email protected] by the closing date for abstracts listed above.

Instructions for AuthorsSubmit an Article