[Commlist] CFP-“Unmasking Gender: Gender and Gender, Past and Present”

*Call for Papers*
*
*
Second Annual “Unmasking Gender” in Film Conference
“Unmasking Gender: Gender and Gender, Past and Present”
University of Salford, MediaCity, Manchester, UK
17 December 2026

Conference Convenors
Dr Pete Deakin, University of Salford
Dr Rania Kosmidou, University of Salford


Film genres do more than organise stories. They establish expectations, 
encode cultural values, shape identities, and influence how audiences 
understand gendered experience. From the western to the romantic comedy, 
horror to science fiction, action cinema to melodrama, genre has long 
provided a space through which ideals of masculinity, femininity, 
sexuality, power and identity are constructed, reinforced, challenged 
and reimagined.

Across film history, scholars have explored how genre conventions 
regulate representations of women and men, negotiate social anxieties 
around sexuality and identity, and provide opportunities for both 
ideological reinforcement and cultural resistance. Feminist film 
criticism, queer theory, masculinity studies, intersectional approaches, 
and recent work on trans and non-binary representation have demonstrated 
the importance of genre as a site through which gender is continually 
contested and transformed.

At the same time, contemporary cinema exists within a rapidly changing 
social and political landscape characterised by debates surrounding 
equality, inclusion, representation, identity politics, digital 
cultures, and the global circulation of media texts. Questions 
concerning whose stories are told, who gets to tell them, and how 
audiences engage with those stories remain as urgent as ever.

The Second Annual “Unmasking Gender” Conference at the University of 
Salford invites scholars, researchers, practitioners, postgraduate 
students, and creative professionals to explore the dynamic relationship 
between genre, gender, and cinema. We welcome a broad range of 
theoretical, historical, textual, industrial, audience-based, and 
practice-as-research approaches.


Topics may include, but are not limited to:
•     Gender and genre theory
•     Feminist approaches to genre cinema
•     Queer genre studies
•     Masculinities across cinematic genres
•     Femininities across cinematic genres
•     Non-binary and trans representation in genre films
•     Horror, monstrosity and gender
•     The eco-gothic and climate horror
•     The "Final Girl" in Post-#MeToo Slasher Films
•     Gender and the action hero
•     Women in science fiction and fantasy cinema
•     Romance, desire and contemporary gender politics
•     Melodrama and emotional labour
•     The western and contested masculinities
•     Crime cinema, violence and gendered power
•     Superhero cinema and gender representation
•     Genre hybridity and gender fluidity
•     Comedy and gender performance
•     Genre cinema and intersectionality
•     Race, class, disability and gender in genre film
•     Global and transnational perspectives on genre and gender
•     Women's filmmaking and genre innovation
•     LGBTQ+ identities in genre cinema
•     Streaming cultures, audiences and gendered genre consumption
•     Genre, fandom and online communities
•     Practice-as-research explorations of genre and gender
•     AI, emerging technologies, and gendered representation in screen 
cultures
•     Post-genre cinema in the streaming era

*Submission Information*
Please send:
•     A paper title
•     An abstract of up to 250 words
•     Up to 5 keywords
•     Your name and institutional affiliation
•     A short biography (50-100 words)
•     Contact email address

To: (conferencesalford /at/ gmail.com)


*Important Dates*
•     Abstract submission deadline: 8 November 2026.
•     Notification of acceptance: 15 November 2026.
•     Conference date: 17 December 2026


*Publication Opportunities*
Selected papers may be invited for inclusion in a proposed edited 
collection or special journal issue following the conference.

*Inclusivity Statement*
We particularly welcome submissions from early career researchers, 
postgraduate students, independent scholars, and practice-based 
researchers. The conference seeks to foster a supportive and inclusive 
environment that encourages diverse perspectives on gender, genre, and 
screen culture.
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