From its very inception, the field of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies was closely related to local and global struggles for social justice. Feminist and queer theorists have analyzed the social construction of identity categories across history, challenging dominant ideologies that stigmatized individuals and communities on the basis of gender and sexuality, as well as race, class, and other factors. In recent years, we are witnessing a powerful backlash that targets not only non-heteronormative individuals, but also the critical research on gender and sexuality in academia.

Lesbians have long created worlds of their own, refusing the limits of the lives they were offered. Across different places and histories, they have imagined new ways to desire, belong, make kin, and build a future. Amid rising authoritarianisms, perpetual war and genocide, religious fundamentalism, and attacks on feminist, queer, and trans lives, Transnational Lesbian Liberation asks what liberation can mean now: what we have inherited, what we must resist, and what we are creating together.

The SCMS Gender and Feminisms Caucus Graduate Student Writing Prize, co-sponsored by Feminist Media Histories, recognizes outstanding scholarship in the field of feminist media history.

A $500 cash prize will be awarded annually to the winner and the winning essay will be published (subject to revision) in Feminist Media Histories.

A Writing Award Committee composed of two members of the SCMS Gender and Feminisms Caucus (formerly Women’s Caucus) and the editor of Feminist Media Histories will evaluate submissions.