Call for Proposals: 2025 Male Supremacism Studies Conference

The Institute for Research on Male Supremacism is accepting proposals until October 20, 2024 (extended deadline) for an interdisciplinary virtual conference for researchers and others working on male supremacism and its intersections, to be held via Zoom April 24-26, 2025. (Interested in cosponsoring the conference? Visit the form here.)

Male supremacist ideology is the belief in cisgender men’s superiority and right to dominate, control, or erase “others”: women, trans and non-binary people, and those with Indigenous gender/social roles. IRMS is a transnational organization that supports researchers who are committed to exposing and challenging common narratives that uphold male supremacist ideology.

Our approach understands supremacism, in its multiple forms, as a pervasive belief system supporting dominance and oppression that is at the historical and contemporary core of society. This understanding is informed by feminist, intersectionality, reproductive justice, social movement, gender/sexuality, and race/ethnicity studies, bringing this interdisciplinary lens to bear on discourses in right-wing, far-right, hate, radicalization, extremism, terrorism, P/CVE, and other related studies. The conference seeks to  bring these disparate fields further into conversation with one another, and to orient researchers to understanding the shared belief systems of domination, dehumanization, and entitlement that underlie and encourage collaboration among male supremacist and authoritarian projects.

IRMS encourages papers on male supremacism and its intersections with other forms of supremacism, such as in misogynoir and transmisogyny. We also seek to highlight the work of researchers who are themselves part of systematically marginalized communities and from countries outside of the West that tend to dominate the discourse on antidemocratic research. Some topic examples include:

  • Male supremacism and [...]

  • Critical assessments of trends in research on male supremacism in fields such as counterterrorism, P/CVE, etc.

  • Male supremacism in different religious and cultural contexts (i.e. Christian nationalism, Hindu nationalism, etc.)

  • Intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and other forms of gender-based violence or “everyday terrorism” as aspects of male supremacism

  • Identifying and comparing male supremacist belief systems

  • Targeting of trans and nonbinary people, drag performances, and other methods of upholding biological essentialism

  • Opposition to policies that support gender justice, such as comprehensive sexuality education, protections for violence against women, workplace equity laws, etc.

  • Theory-building on male supremacism, bringing in insights from intersectionality studies, queer studies, etc.

  • Research into methods for long-term cultural and structural change in male supremacism, through education, entertainment, etc.

  • Work on dehumanization, entitlement, dangerous speech, and other common elements of supremacist belief systems

IRMS conferences cultivate a global community of participants and as such presenters from any time zone will be able to comfortably attend at least one of the daily live session times. English-language proposals are accepted from participants located across the globe. Replays of session recordings will be accessible at different times during the conference period.

Proposal type options are as follows:

  • Individual paper proposals (conference organizers will place on a panel)

  • Full panel proposals (at least three papers)

  • Presentations not based on papers, particularly from researchers or organizers working on male supremacism outside of academia

  • Topical working group session (i.e. session for researchers on misogynist incels to meet)

    Interested presenters may fill out this form by October 20, 2024, with a 500-word abstract of a paper or presentation.

Closed-Door Preconference for Vulnerable Researchers

We are aware that while there is risk inherent for all researchers in working on supremacism, some researchers are more vulnerable, especially those conducting research in countries with fewer protections for freedom of expression. As such, on April 23, 2025, there will be a “closed-door” preconference for such researchers that will not be open for public registration.

Direct questions to contact@theirms.org.

Interested in cosponsoring the conference? Visit the form here for information and sign up.