Authoritarianism, Gender, Sexual Politics and Counter-Strategies: Transnational Perspectives in a Moment of Crisis

We are very excited to announce our call for papers for the workshop Authoritarianism, Gender, Sexual Politics, and Counter-Strategies: Transnational Perspectives. This workshop draws attention to the aims and strategies of rising authoritarian forms of political powers and systems in different regions of the world to reshape gender regimes and sexual politics including countries considered to be the cradle of liberal democracy. It focuses on how attacks both on the rights won through long struggles by women, LGBTI+ people and gender equality advocates, and on their ongoing struggles, are legitimised through “politics of fear” – including “moral panics” on gender and sexuality issues. These politics of fear are spread via the construction of threats to the family, nature, the nation, tradition and (democratic) freedom – often based on (antisemitic) conspiracy narratives. The Workshop invites to view anti-gender and anti-LGBTI+ mobilisations and politics – positioned in opposition to struggles against patriarchal, heteronormative, racial and social contracts – embedded in today’s crises.

In light of the crises in contemporary capitalism, it aims to critically re-examine interventions in gender and sexual politics, questioning how gender and sexuality function not only as hegemonic cultural battlefields, but also as central mechanisms in the reshaping of social reproduction and the stabilisation of authoritarian accumulation regimes.

It seeks to encourage studies from feminist, queer, and post-/decolonial perspectives, aiming to examine the multidimensional relationships between authoritarianism, right-wing politization, nationalism, religious conservatism, neoliberalism and gender.

It aims to discuss how authoritarianism is intertwined with gender and sexual politics and the local and transnational resistance strategies developed against it.

The workshop focuses on four interrelated questions, policy areas and fields of counter-strategies:

• Global economic politics and gender: How do anti-gender policies intersect with capitalist crisis management?

• Anti-abortion politics: How does reproductive management become a form of labour discipline and demographic control, and what impact does this have on social reproduction?

• Anti-LGBTI+ politics: Are resurgent nationalism, familism and heteronormativity a response to a crisis of masculinity and heteronormative hegemony?

• Counter-strategies: What strategies can labour movements, feminist groups, queer and trans organisations, migrant solidarity groups and anti-colonial movements develop?

The workshop welcomes submissions focusing on Authoritarianism, Gender, Sexual Politics, and Counter-Strategies and taking Transnational Perspectives. We intend to produce a joint publication as a result of this workshop. After the workshop, we will ask for the submission of the final papers for publication – with the usual possibility that papers may have to be revised for publication (special issue) within a reasonable amount of time.

Please submit your abstract of up to 500 words by 31 July 2026 to Utku Canikli (uk112869@uni-kassel.de)

The travel and accommodation costs of selected workshop participants may be subsidised, depending on budget limitations, for those who have not received institutional support.

Important Dates and Deadlines:

Deadline for abstracts: 31 July 2026

Notification of acceptance: 31 August 2026

Workshop days: 5–7 November 2026

Deadline for final papers: 15 April 2027

We are looking forward to an outstanding workshop. The workshop is being organised by the Political Theory Department, the Department for International Gender Politics and the Competence Center for Gender Studies in Transformation (GETRA) at the University of Kassel. It is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for the scope of Dr Melehat Kutun`s (Principal Investigator) research project – The reshaping of abortion politics in Turkey: Understanding Islamic right-wing populism through the differing experiences of three groups of gynaecologists.

Organising Committee

Dr. Melehat Kutun, Dr. Inga Nüthen