Vol. 15, Núm.  1 (2024)

Call for papers

Monograph: Informed and uninformed women; communicated and uncomunicated women. Traceability, post-truth, misinformation and fake

Since the 2016 US elections, which gave the presidency to Donald Trump, there has been a growing concern about the presence of fake news and discourse in our public sphere, which has been given the name of post-truth, a phenomenon basically related to the rise of populism and digital information capitalism. This environment of discrediting factuality has an important gender component, insofar as the main debates surrounding fakes news deal with the limits of epistemology in contemporary times, especially, who can construct knowledge and what we can understand by solid knowledge. This fact has placed feminist discourses at a crossroads.

On the one hand, because women, in the words of Miranda Fricker (1966-present), have suffered epistemic injustices for centuries, being considered less valuable subjects when it comes to constructing knowledge and being considered worthy of credibility. Indeed, in a post-truth environment, the success of the slogan ‘Sister, I believe you’ is no coincidence. This subaltern character complicates the claim of factuality as a contrast between true information versus false information, or desires for a return to a golden age of truthful information. Alongside this, feminist theories such as situated knowledge (Donna Haraway, 1944-present), point of view theories or activism based on personal experience (from self-awareness groups to #metoo) force us to think about our relationship with factuality as an absolute empirical category that defines the correctness of information.

On the other hand, one of the main objectives of post-truth dynamics in right-wing populist discourses is the attack on expert knowledge, which has a clear gendered reading. Feminist and gender studies have been under attack for decades by populist machismo discourses, pointing to such knowledge as ideologised, obscure, elitist or against common sense; pointing out how it can work against ‘ordinary women’. Along these lines, attempts are made to silence and discredit the professional authority of women in fields such as academia, journalism, politics or social media activism. When feminists are accused of spreading false knowledge and news (as is the case with false allegations), post-truth discourses can function as a mode of control over which ideas about gender, sexuality or race can appear in the public sphere.

These two circumstances, whereby feminism struggles against contemporary macho fallacies, while being described as a display of post-truth, force us to think new strategies and to refine discourses and analyses.

Contributions will revolve around the following thematic lines, but other similar ones can be proposed:

  • Traceability of information and gender. Methods and technologies for tracking the veracity of information.
  • Impact of misinformation on gender perception. Causes, effects, challenges.
  • Social, psychological or educational effects of misinformation on women.
  • Post-truth and its effects on public policies related to women.
  • Fake news aimed at women or fake news featuring women.
  • Feminist strategies against fake news. Law, ethics, deontology, association, activism, artivism.
  • Women's roles in the fight against disinformation: historians, writers, artists, communicators, journalists, activists, influencers.
  • Feminism and the construction of narratives of truth as a social process.
  • Epistemic injustices and violence: ‘Sister, I believe you’.
  • Analysis of anti-feminist discourses as post-truth.
  • Gender differences and biases in the reception and consumption of news and data in the era of post-truth, big data and unequal artificial intelligence.
  • Representation of women in digital media and its relation to post-truth.
  • Deepfakes and cheapfakes: impact on women's reputation and safety.
  • Strategies to reverse the epistemic discrediting of women in the public sphere.
  • Feminist education and training in the post-truth era.
  • Curriculum designs and educational programmes with critical skills in information analysis, traceability, post-truth and fake news.
  • Empowerment strategies for girls and women: media literacy, training against disinformation, fostering critical thinking.

Issue coordinated by: Dr. Ignacio Moreno Segarra (Complutense University of Madrid, Spain), Ms. Ana Pinto Martinho (Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal) and Dr. Susana Santos (ISCTE-IUL, CIES, NOVA Law School, CEDIS).

Call for papers

All texts must be original and must be submitted via the platform (email submissions are not accepted), strictly following the rules of the journal: https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/INFE/about/submissions

Papers may be submitted in English or Spanish. They cannot have been previously published, nor can they be in the process of evaluation in other journals.

It is preferable that they are the result of funded competitive research, with a team of clear international vision and work. This journal does not accept essays, chronicles, sketches or similar.

All articles will be subject to double-blind review.

Please note that apart from the Monograph texts, the Miscellaneous section is always open, all year round, with articles in all issues of the journal.

Dates and deadlines

Submission of original articles: Until 30 September 2024.

Review of original articles: As received and until October 2024.

Publication: December 2024.

 

Vol. 15, Núm.  1 (2024)

Call for papers

Monograph: 20 years of the Organic Law on Comprehensive Protection Measuares against Gender Violence in Spain: implementation, development, impact and future challenges

On December 28, 2004, Organic Law on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence, was passed in Spain during the government of President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. A comprehensive law that aims to address, in a wide range of areas, the personal and social problems arising from gender-based violence that women experience and have experienced at the hands of their partners or ex-partners. A pioneering law that has served as a mirror for legislation around the world.

Since 2003, when the murders of women at the hands of their partners or ex-partners began to be registered, Spain has recorded the killing of 1239 women. Likewise, since 2013, when the recording of vicarious murders began, 52 minors have been killed by their own parents or by their mother's partner or ex-partner (Government Delegation For Gender Violence, 2024).

This reality is not limited to Spain. According to the United Nations (UN), although there is still a significant lack of complete, reliable, comparable and updated data on violence against women and girls, it is estimated that 736 million women -almost one in three- have been victims of physical or sexual violence by their partner, sexual violence outside the couple, or both, at least once in their lives (30% of women aged 15 and over). In addition, according to 2022 data, around 48.800 women and girls died at the hands of their partners or other family members worldwide. In other words, a woman or girl is killed every hour by someone in her own family.

In an attempt to alleviate this situation, Organic Law 1/2004 developed, as indicated in the explanatory memorandum, both preventive, educational, social, welfare and aftercare aspects for victims, as well as civil regulations affecting the family or cohabitation environment, where the aggressions mainly take place, and the principle of subsidiarity in the Public administrations. It also addressed the punitive response that all manifestations of violence regulated by the Law should receive. In addition, awareness-raising, prevention, detection and intervention measures were determined in different areas, such as education, advertising, the media and health.

Contributions will be made along the following thematic lines:

  1. Evolution of gender-based violence in Spain in the time frame since the implementation of the law.
  2. Prevention and awareness of gender violence.
  3. Legislative and penal framework of gender violence in Spain and its comparison with other countries in the world.
  4. Impact and prevention of gender violence in the educational environment.
  5. Impact and prevention of gender-based violence in the health care setting.
  6. Impact and prevention of gender violence in the field of social services.
  7. Gender violence and cultural contents.
  8. Gender violence and the media.
  9. Gender violence in the digital environment.
  10. Adaptation of Spanish and European legislation to the Istanbul Convention.

Coordinated by: Dr. Dunia Etura Hernández (Gender Studies Chair, University of Valladolid, Spain), Dr. Virginia Martín Jiménez (Gender Studies Chair University of Valladolid, Spain), Dr. Carla Cerqueira (Lusófona University, CICANT, Portugal) and Dr. Virginia García Beaudoux (University of Buenos Aires, Argentina).

Dates and deadlines:

Submission of original articles: Until 31 March 2024.

Review of original articles: As received and until 15 April 2024.

Publication: May 2024.