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‘Inside the manosphere’, beyond the backlash: the technofeudal covenant
This piece is based on a shorter one written for an anthology I co-authored with Rob Walker, Benjamin Nangle, David S. Smith and Antje Joel, which was originally published by the Reactionary Politics Research Network in Red Lines. The piece draws on arguments from Chapter Seven of my forthcoming book, Sexual Violence in Racial Capitalism. Louis Theroux’s recent Netflix documentary ‘Inside the Manosphere’ was trailed as a rare glimpse into a strange new dystopia, though feminists have been researching this particular hellscape for well over a decade. The programme is a parade of supercars, Bitcoin wallets, ripped bodies and equally…
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Upcoming hybrid talk on Sexual Violence in Racial Capitalism
On April 23rd, I will be doing a talk on my forthcoming book, hosted by the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) at the University of Manchester. The talk is free, hybrid and open to all, whether in person or online – you just need to sign up here. The abstract is below – the talk is at 1pm UK time. What are the relationships between sexual violence, sexual fear, social control, and surplus value? What is the role of sexual violence as racial capitalist systems corral, mould, use, and discard the workers they require? Sexual violence is key…
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New paper out: transformative justice in universities
I have a new paper out in the Journal of Gender and Justice and co-authored with Erin Shannon, Nikki Godden-Rasul, and Tina Sikka. It’s called ‘Transformative justice in English universities: exploring the conditions of possibility.’ The abstract is below and an open-access version of the accepted manuscript is available here. If you have access, you can download the official published version here. Feel free to share onwards. The intersection of the viral #MeToo campaign with recent Black Lives Matter protests produced more mainstream discussions of abolitionist approaches to sexual violence, which include transformative justice. In this article, we explore the…
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The coloniality of sexual violence
On the evening of 17th March 2025, the state of Israel unilaterally ended a nominal two-month ceasefire in Gaza. In one of the deadliest episodes of the whole genocide, that night’s assault killed more than 400 Palestinians and wounded more than 550. The morning after, Netanyahu made a statement announcing the resumption of hostilities. He said: ‘Hamas is responsible for this war. It invaded our towns, murdered our people, raped our women and kidnapped our loved ones.’ It was during a previous temporary ceasefire in late 2023 that initial reports emerged of systematic sexual violence enacted by Hamas against Israeli…
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Spanish translation of article on Gisèle Pelicot
My article on Gisèle Pelicot and abolition feminism, originally published on the Abolitionist Futures blog, has now been translated into Spanish by the wonderful comrades at Zona de Estrategia. You can read the Spanish version below – please do share onwards to any Spanish speakers/readers you think might be interested. https://zonaestrategia.net/hace-falta-todo-un-pueblo-para-violar-a-una-mujer-comunidad-modernidad-y-gisele-pelicot/
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Sexual violence as the pretext for disposal: talk and discussion at California State
I recently did a talk and discussion for California State University San Bernardino’s ‘Conversations on Race and Policing‘ series, which is now on YouTube and Spotify (also embedded below). This was based on Chapter Six of my upcoming book – the chapter focuses on how sexual violence functions as a bordering project, and traces what I call the neocoloniality of sexual violence through War on Terror formations, authoritarian populism, anti-trafficking initiatives and racialised mass incarceration. I hope it’s an interesting listen – I found it a really inspiring and interesting session.
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First podcast on new book
I was recently interviewed by Dominic Bowen on The International Risk Podcast, about my new book Sexual Violence in Racial Capitalism. We covered a lot of ground, including: how I frame sexual violence as a tool of racial capitalism; how this changes the way we think about its causes and solutions; how the idea of sexual threat is racialised to serve colonial and capitalist interests; and what a genuinely inclusive, anti-capitalist, anti-racist response to sexual violence looks like in practice. Listen to the interview at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1544431/episodes/17194875 or on your favourite podcast app.
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New article on community, capitalism and Gisèle Pelicot
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 https://abolitionistfutures.com/latest-news/it-takes-a-village-to-rape-a-woman 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…
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New book coming soon
I have created a page on my website to let people know about my new book, Sexual Violence in Racial Capitalism, 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…
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Sexual Violence in authoritarian populism
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…
Alison Phipps 