CALL FOR ARTICLES: Public Medievalist Special Series—Gender, Sexism, and the Middle Ages

If 2017 has taught us anything, it’s that sexism remains rampant in our society. In a year that began with the Women’s March and ended with #metoo, grappling with the way that our society defines and treats people based upon their gender is more relevant than ever. And just as with race, many of our present perceptions of gender have been shaped by both medieval history and contemporary fantasies about the medieval past.

A New Special Series
Beginning in 2018, The Public Medievalist will launch a new special series: Gender, Sexism, and the Middle Ages. Like our ongoing Race, Racism and the Middle Ages series, our gender series will explore the complex and fascinating ways that medieval people understood and performed their genders, will disrupt myths about gender binaries in the past, and will examine how myths about medieval gender shape masculinity and femininity in the present. We’re soliciting articles on any and all aspects of medieval gender, or on gender and medievalism in the modern world. We will be accepting submissions on a rolling basis.

We’re interested both in fresh ideas and in adaptations of your existing work or work-in-progress. The only critical element is that they be geared toward a public audience, which the TPM editors are happy to help you with. Appropriate topics might include, but are certainly not limited to:
  • Debunking myths about medieval gender and gender roles (both male and female)
  • Gender non-conformists
  • Women in the medieval workforce
  • “Chivalry”
  • Queenship and kingship
  • Gender in neomedieval entertainment (games, film, television, fiction)
  • Gender and medieval literature
  • Medieval people who were transgender, genderqueer, or nonbinary
  • Intersectional identities (gender and faith, gender and race, gender and class, etc.)

We encourage submissions from scholars at any point in their career, as well as medievalists outside the traditional boundaries of the academy. And, we are particularly interested in submissions about medieval gender outside of the confines of Western Europe.

Feel free to pitch us an idea or send a full submission to editor@publicmedievalist.com, and be sure to consult our guidelines for prospective authors before submitting.