Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society
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signsjournal.org
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society
@signsjournal.org
The leading international journal in women's studies, Signs has since 1975 been at the forefront of new directions in feminist scholarship. | http://signsjournal.org | Published by @uchicagopress.bsky.social

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Today is the last day of Transgender Awareness week! In celebration of this, check out the digital archive on our website offering various resources on Transgender Law and Politics!
Catharine A. MacKinnon, “Exploring Transgender Law and Politics”
Digital Archive: To accompany this Feminist Frictions essay, Signs invites you to explore two previously independently prepared resources related to the themes in “Exploring Transgender Law a…
signsjournal.org
November 19, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Last Wed, Nov 12th, was the birthday of the punk feminist and Riot grrrl pioneer, Kathleen Hannah! In celebration of this, check out this article to not only learn more about Hannah and the Riot grrrl movement, but to also hear about the amazing punk feminist author, Kathy Acker!
University of Chicago Press Journals: Cookie absent
www.journals.uchicago.edu
November 18, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society
Stop by our booth at the National Women's Studies Association conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico to learn about Signs, our other journals, and to grab some giveaways. Can’t make it in person? Discover our women's studies journals here: https://ow.ly/pEbi50Xm3sw
November 13, 2025 at 8:00 PM
#NWSA attendees! On Sunday, join the editors of feminist journals, including Signs editor Suzanna Danuta Walters, for practical advice about how to get published in feminist scholarly journals! "Publishing in Feminist Journals: Meet with the Editors," Sunday, November 16, 1:00 - 2:15 pm, Room 203.
November 14, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Reposted by Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society
We're sad to miss @theenwsa.bsky.social conference this year - but hope you check out the session on Sun at 1PM on feminist publishing with our friends from @signsjournal.org , @meridians.bsky.social, and more. #feministpublishing
November 14, 2025 at 1:09 PM
"As feminists today live in...the largest anti-feminist legal backlash we’ve seen..., it’s worth knowing...our history – because while there are always mistakes to be left behind, there are also parts...we certainly want to repeat."- Jill Filipovic

Read this short takes on "The Women of NOW"!
Katherine Turk’s The Women of NOW
Alice Echols, Jill Filipovic, Rebecca Jo Plant, and Carmen Rios discuss Katherine Turk’s new book The Women of NOW, and Turk offers a response to the commentaries on her book.
signsjournal.org
November 13, 2025 at 5:15 PM
"Humor...is the portal to a sense of outrage"-Patricia J. Williams.

Click and listen to Patricia J. Williams, Carla Kaplan, and Durba Mitra discuss Rage and Humor as an act of Disobedience.
Ask a Feminist: Patricia Williams Discusses Rage and Humor as an Act of Disobedience with Carla Kaplan and Durba Mitra
Patricia Williams discusses Trump’s racist and misogynist legacy, the COVID crisis, and more, with Carla Kaplan and Durba Mitra.
signsjournal.org
November 10, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society
Signs is seeking submissions for a new special issue: "Crisis," edited by Jih-Fei Cheng, Cati Connell, and Gowri Vijayakumar. For the full CFP go to signsjournal.org/for-authors/...
October 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Signs is seeking submissions for a new special issue: "Crisis," edited by Jih-Fei Cheng, Cati Connell, and Gowri Vijayakumar. For the full CFP go to signsjournal.org/for-authors/...
October 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Signs presents a new symposium: “Ask a Lesbian Feminist!” Scholars tackle reproductive justice, AI, protecting trans/queer youth, fascism, police violence, climate crisis & borders. Vital lesbian feminist perspectives on today’s most urgent issues (sub. req’d): buff.ly/MxJWVvm
October 9, 2025 at 3:01 PM
What was ‘lesbian AIDS’? Emily Lim Rogers’ new article explores how chronic fatigue syndrome was politicized during the AIDS crisis, examining contested illness definitions & their impact on lesbian identity, community & health activism (sub. req’d): buff.ly/MxJWVvm
October 9, 2025 at 1:03 PM
New from Signs: Nikita Shephard explores “carceral equality” — how lesbian cops became symbols of LGBTQ progress while reinforcing state violence. A critical analysis of feminist politics, representation, and the contradictions of inclusion (sub. req’d): buff.ly/MxJWVvm
October 8, 2025 at 9:00 PM
“...Sligh’s work goes beyond the mainstream logics of lesbian and trans community building and sees the gender policing between them as tied into slavery’s impact on the present.” — Virginia C. Thomas on Clarissa Sligh’s “Wrongly Bodied” (sub. req’d):
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society | Vol 51, No 1
This introduction to “Lesbian Studies, Now” reflects on the affective, intellectual, and political stakes of invoking “lesbian” as a generative scholarly category in the present as well as the three…
buff.ly
October 8, 2025 at 7:01 PM
New from Signs: Nikita Shephard explores “carceral equality” — how lesbian cops became symbols of LGBTQ progress while reinforcing state violence. A critical analysis of feminist politics, representation, and the contradictions of inclusion (sub. req’d): buff.ly/MxJWVvm
October 7, 2025 at 9:01 PM
In our latest issue, Sarah Luna examines how Mexico City’s lenchas & transfeministas transform violence into pleasure through radical pedagogy—ejaculation workshops, intergalactic dildos and lucha libre wrestling in flaxseed lube. Read more here (sub. req’d): buff.ly/MxJWVvm
October 7, 2025 at 7:01 PM
While Brazil’s military dictatorship crushed dissent, lesbian activists went underground, publishing secret bulletins and building networks of resistance. Augusta da Silveira de Oliveira reveals this vital history of resilience under authoritarianism (sub. req’d): buff.ly/MxJWVvm
October 7, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Check out Clara Bradbury-Rance’s “Defensive Spectatorship, or, Watching as a Butch/Lesbian,” which explores masculinity, lesbian studies, and ambivalent spectatorial desire (sub. req’d): buff.ly/MxJWVvm
October 7, 2025 at 3:01 PM
New from Signs: “Lesbian Studies, Now” traces the figure of the lesbian in feminist theory, history, and politics — confronting nostalgia, critique, and the possibilities of survival. Check it out here (sub. req’d): buff.ly/MxJWVvm
October 7, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Rejected everywhere, staged as a hoax, and finally published in a lesbian sex mag — Sarah Schulman’s “A Short Story About a Penis” has quite a history. Rachel Corbman uncovers its fascinating legacy in Signs’ new issue: check it out here! (sub. req’d):
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society | Vol 51, No 1
This introduction to “Lesbian Studies, Now” reflects on the affective, intellectual, and political stakes of invoking “lesbian” as a generative scholarly category in the present as well as the three…
buff.ly
October 6, 2025 at 9:00 PM
In our new issue, Julia Golda Harris dives into the 1970s women’s music scene — where trans and butch musicians claimed lesbian identity through music amid fierce battles over inclusion. Read it here (sub. req’d): buff.ly/MxJWVvm
October 6, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Signs presents “Lesbian Studies, Now” — exploring lesbian feminism’s vital role in contemporary scholarship, from gender nonconformity to revolutionary fervor. Special issue out now! (sub. req’d): buff.ly/MxJWVvm
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society | Vol 51, No 1
This introduction to “Lesbian Studies, Now” reflects on the affective, intellectual, and political stakes of invoking “lesbian” as a generative scholarly category in the present as well as the three…
buff.ly
October 6, 2025 at 5:00 PM
What does “lesbian” do — as identity, politics, analytic — in the 21st century? Signs’ fall issue, “Lesbian Studies, Now,” stages the debates shaping feminism’s past, present, and future. Read it here (sub. req’d): www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/signs/20...
October 6, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society
The lesbian studies issue of @signsjournal.org is on the internet! It includes my article about Sarah Schulman’s slideshow about a fake lesbian writer & her real short story about a lesbian who wakes up with a penis.
October 3, 2025 at 2:51 PM
"So much ... violence ... proceeds along lines that track conventional sorts of masculinities, that are about protection, control, and force." - Angela P. Harris

Click here and listen to this Short Takes episode on Gender and Gun Violence!
Gender and Gun Violence: A Conversation with Angela P. Harris and Amy Farrell
Angela P. Harris and Amy Farrell discuss gender, race, and gun violence.
signsjournal.org
October 3, 2025 at 1:54 PM
September 30, 2025 at 1:13 PM