Women’s Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal

Special Issue: Feminist Resistance to Fascism, Past and Present

Submission Deadline: May 25, 2025 

Estimated Publication Date: February 2026

It’s been almost 90 years since Virginia Woolf argued the strong ties between fascism and patriarchy in Three Guineas. Far from being an uncontested thesis or settled reflection on the past, however, we are currently seeing the ways in which this thesis remains an overlooked point on analyses of the fascist imaginary. If anything, our current moment attests to the ways in which feminist forms of theory and practice are more timely than ever. As Jack A. Bratich interrogates in his analysis of “microfascism,” “When it comes to fascism studies, a gendered analysis often subsides…What if we afforded the same orientation to gender? Instead of making it a necessary but insufficient ‘stage’ to fascism what would happen if we spent time tracing its singularity?” Following this line of thinking, how might we also interrogate the gendered dimensions of resisting fascism? 

For this special issue of Women’s Studies, we invite you to contribute to our understanding of what it means to enact feminist resistance against fascist forms of power–be that fascist ideology, fascist institutions, or fascist aesthetics. We are particularly eager to read proposals that draw off of interdisciplinary methods to spark dialogue on this timely issue. 

In keeping with our understanding of fascism as existing in a number of forms, we invite our contributors to think about the variety of ways in which resistance can also take shape. Fitting articles may choose to discuss womens’ role in resistance movements under fascist regimes, but they may also seek to explore ways in which feminist theory and practice resists everyday forms of microfascism. We are likewise eager to read submissions that discuss how these forms of resistance have changed over time. Can the unsettled past help clarify what is unsettling about our present moment? This issue furthermore acknowledges that resistance to fascism may not only pertain to the positionality of the resistor, but also to the mode of their resistance. Submitted articles may choose to focus on women engaged in resistance, but are also open to wider issues of what it means for both fascism and its opposition to be gendered. 

Topics that would be fitting for this issue include, but are not limited to:

• Intellectual histories of anti-fascism and feminism. 

• Literary, artistics, and/or cinematic depictions of feminist resistance.

• Theoretical essays on the relationship between gender and fascism.

• Historical analyses of womens’ roles in resistance movements.

• Comparative approaches to gendered depictions of resistance across periods and cultures.

• Other topics related to gender, antifascism, and resistance. 

Abstracts should be no longer than 500 words. You may also choose to include your full-length paper if ready. Papers should be no longer than 30 pages (12 pt. Font Times New Roman, Double Spaced), including footnotes and citations.

Please submit abstract proposals and/or articles to hender.m.j@wustl.