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I have a short article out on the Abolitionist Futures blog called “It takes a village to rape a woman.� Community, modernity, and Gisèle Pelicot.� It draws on material from my upcoming book to reflect on what ‘community� means in racial capitalism and how this relates to sexual violence. You can read it at

The piece is part of the Abolitionist Futures gender-based violence series, which also features contributions from Leah Cowan, molly rosabelle ackhurst, Tina Sikka and Lola Olufemi, with more on the way. The series came out of a co-produced resource focused on abolitionist strategies for tackling gender-based violence, and the articles explore different facets of gender-based violence, carcerality, and abolition.

We hope the series will become a space where people engaging with gender-based violence (organisers, frontline workers, survivors, scholars and others) can share ideas, and it’s open for contributions so get in touch with Abolitionist Futures if you’d like to write a piece. And do share the series widely.

I have created a page on my website to let people know about my new book, , which is out with Manchester University Press either late this year or early next. The page contains summaries of all the chapters and an overview of what and who the book is for.

I’m starting to schedule talks from September onwards � so if you want me to come and speak to your research group, department, organisation or similar about the book, then do send me a message. As subscribers to this blog, you will also be immediately notified when the book is available for pre-order (and there will be a discount code for you, a substantial one I hope).

I am on strike for much of May to protest against compulsory redundancies at my workplace. However, I will answer any messages on non-strike days and will be back to work fully in June (and will hope to keep my job thereafter).

Thanks in advance for your support,

Alison

My book Sexual Violence in Racial Capitalism will be out either later this year or early next, from Manchester University Press. I’ve done a few talks based on the book in the past year or so, but now the first published ‘sneak peek� is out. I did an interview with the fantastic Aurelien Mondon from the Reactionary Politics Research Network, focused on chapter six of the manuscript.

The interview covers two concepts I set out in the book: the coloniality of sexual violence, and the racial capitalist protection racket. It also focuses on my analysis of sexual violence as a bordering project, looking at how and why authoritarian populism weaponises ideas of the sexually dangerous Other. Read it at the link below and please do share onwards.

Dear all, I wanted to let you know that at Newcastle University we have just launched a new suite of interdisciplinary Gender Master’s programmes. These are: 

� Gender and Sociology

� Gender and Global Sustainable Challenges

� Gender and Public Policy

� Gender and International Relations

Students will do half their credits in Gender and half in their other subject, and the dissertation will combine the two under expert supervision.Ìý

The modules look at key contemporary issues such as conflict and violence, poverty and inequality, reproductive justice, the environment, migration, identity and belonging. Students will engage with cutting edge scholarship and feminist, queer, and trans theory, and learn how to put theory into practice. The programmes are taught by experts who take an intersectional, decolonial, trans- and sex-worker inclusive, engaged, and community-based approach. By the end of their programme, students will be independent researchers equipped for a variety of different careers and â€� more importantly â€� with the knowledge and skills to make a difference in the world.ÌýThe programmes are taught in person.

More information and online application links can be found at our website at .ÌýThere is information about scholarships and funding at .Ìý

Please share this information widely with your networks and encourage people to apply â€� this is a very difficult time to get a new degree off the ground but we need Gender Studies more than ever.Ìý

Thanks, Alison

I recently gave a talk for the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University, based on the final chapter of my forthcoming book Personal Business: Sexual Violence in Racial Capitalism (with Manchester University Press). You can read the abstract and watch the video below.

This talk explores online violence against women, a phenomenon usually situated in a cultural ‘backlash� frame. It contextualises this violence within a political economy of late (or ‘platform�) capitalism that draws on arguments that we are moving into a neo- or techno-feudal age. I engage Siapera’s understanding of digital violence as a strategy of enclosure that excludes women from technological spaces, arguing that it also enacts a fantasised neofeudal masculinity: this requires the humiliation and abjection of women, but ultimately vents a frustrated desire for power. Crucially, this ressentiment is one side of the neofeudal bargain in which some are offered impunity to perpetrate violence on others, as part of interactions between cyborgian serfs that ultimately generate value for the platforms owned by petty kings.

I have a new open-access paper out with the brilliant , called ‘Using Community Power to Tackle Gender-Based Violence: An Intersectional Theorisation.� The abstract is below, and the paper is completely free to download and share. It’s intended as a friendly critique and perhaps even a first step to taking a more GBV-sensitive and intersectional approach to Community Power. Do share onwards if appropriate and we really hope it’s useful. Download the full paper at

What is the role of the community in tackling gender-based violence (GBV)? Could communities succeed in ways that states have failed? What approaches could make this possible? This article presents a theoretical discussion of Community Power, a recently codified and influential paradigm in Britain that focuses on ‘handing power� to communities to deal with local issues. We are particularly interested in its potential to tackle GBV, a persistent issue with many social determinants relevant to Community Power. Our refractive analysis works on two levels: (1) we explore the possibilities of Community Power in relation to GBV; and (2) we use GBV as a lens on Community Power to illuminate its broader strengths and weaknesses. In doing this, we call for a deeper engagement with the terms ‘community� and ‘power�, which are under-theorised and flattened in the paradigm of Community Power. Applying intersectional theory to this task, we find that Community Power initiatives risk exacerbating the dynamics that underpin GBV. We make suggestions for creating a more GBV-sensitive approach to Community Power, which might also help to enhance this mode of practice in the round.

Next Wednesday June 12th I will be giving an online lunchtime lecture (12:30-2pm) for the Centre for Education and Social Justice at Lancaster University. This is based on a chapter from my forthcoming book Personal Business: sexual violence in racial capitalism, which will be out next year from Manchester University Press. Title, abstract and Zoom details below � all welcome! Feel free to share onwards.

This paper explores online violence against women, a phenomenon usually situated in a cultural ‘backlash� frame. It contextualises this violence within a political economy of late (or ‘platform�) capitalism that draws on arguments that we are moving into a neo- or techno-feudal age. I engage Siapera’s understanding of digital violence as a strategy of enclosure that excludes women from technological spaces, arguing that it also enacts a fantasised neofeudal masculinity: this requires the humiliation and abjection of women, but ultimately vents a frustrated desire for power. Crucially, this ressentiment is one side of the neofeudal bargain in which some are offered impunity to perpetrate violence on others, as part of interactions between cyborgian serfs that ultimately serve to generate value for the platforms owned by neofeudalism’s petty kings.

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 830 1774 9983
Passcode: 622094

I was recently part of a group of researchers collaborating with to create a resource called �.� The resource is designed as a discussion tool for people, groups and organisations who want to think through how to tackle gender-based violence without using or bolstering the criminal legal system.

The resource has two parts: (1) a chart, that compares carceral reforms and abolitionist strategies; and (2) a booklet, that explains each strategy in more detail and considers the strengths and pitfalls of different approaches. You can download the resource , along with a discussion guide to use if you’d like to facilitate a discussion group using it.

The resource will be formally launched on June 4th with an online event featuring speakers Lola Olufemi, Leah Cowan and frontline worker Billy. All welcome but please do register to attend .

There are also a number of discussion groups focused on the resource coming over the summer. The first one is being held online and hosted by Abolitionist Futures on June 25th (register ). I am also co-facilitating a group in Newcastle on June 26th, on behalf of the Abolition Feminism for Ending Sexual Violence Collective (register � it would be lovely to see some followers of this blog in person if you are in the area!) Other groups to be confirmed later. You can also facilitate your own groups and there is a guide to help you, as mentioned above.

This International Women’s Day, I wanted to share a teaching resource I made with input from some expert colleagues, called ‘Why Palestine is a feminist issue�. It’s a short electronic aid/handout with points to be elaborated in class and links to discussion material. Please feel free to download, adapt and use (and do share onwards with anyone you think might find it useful). It’s a very small and limited/imperfect contribution but I hope it’s helpful � especially to fellow feminist scholars who are not experts on Palestine but who want to centre this issue as much as we can in our classrooms.

Download as a PDF file at

Download as a Word document at

My paper in Feminist Theory is finally officially out � it is fully open-access and can be downloaded at . I am no longer on social media due to persistent harassment, so would appreciate any help at publicising it � these things take a long time to write and even longer to peer review, and very rarely get widely read! The abstract is below and I hope the paper is a useful contribution to thinking through how we tackle sexual violence in institutions.

A ‘rape crisis� has been identified in universities in the Anglophone North, and responses usually take the form of institutional discipline and governance despite well-established assessments of the failings of both carceral and procedural approaches. In these responses, institutional reputation and risk management overdetermines, elevates and captures particular types of white feminist activism. This article theorises these dynamics, using precarity as a lens on the relations within which campus sexual violence is addressed. I trace the material connections between sexual violence and precarious labour, and the intersecting narratives of crisis focused on both issues in contemporary higher education, which reflect ‘genres of crisis� in the wider politico-cultural sphere. In this context, persistent attachments to discipline and governance within the campus sexual violence movement can be theorised at least partly as a political flight from vulnerability, a ‘holding on� to whatever one can find, that is ripe for exploitation by liability-focused institutional agendas. Such procedural enactments of security are possible because bureaucracy is the institutional ‘water in which we swim�, which creates a strong impetus to reduce politics to paperwork relations. This is especially manifest in risk-averse and compliance-driven ‘safeguarding� modalities, securitarian regimes that serve mainly to interpellate the dangerous Other and safeguard the institution. I argue for the cultivation of more susceptible relations which are difficult to achieve within disembodied bureaucratic codes and which require a retreat from both narratives of crisis and procedural attempts at calm.