This article examines two landmark rulings from lawsuits filed by South Korean survivors of Japanese military sexual slavery under the so-called “comfort women” system. Both rulings denied Japan’s claim to state immunity and recognized the survivors’ right to justice. This article argues that these two rulings were grounded in feminist interventions in international law that challenged its patriarchal foundations and sought to embed women’s rights and a survivor-centered approach within its framework.
Read MoreThis article focuses on Shamima Begum – one of three schoolgirls who traveled to Syria to join Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in 2015 – who has been the subject of many intersectional analyses that have highlighted the gendered, racist, and neo-Orientalist frames that have been deployed in relation to her story. It shows that even though her political agency has been erased, Begum has still been firmly cast as a threat via this legitimation of punishment – the strength of which has, ultimately, rendered her stateless.
Read MoreThis article explores reproductive violence against China’s internally colonized Uyghurs through the lens of reproductive justice developed by women of color in the United States (US). The authors argue that reproductive justice transforms outside the US, and specifically that addressing reproductive justice for Uyghurs points to geopolitical complications in countering reproductive violence in China. The article also develops the concept of internal colonialism by considering a specific gendered form of colonization – that of reproductive injustice.
Read MoreIn this article, the author details the internet shutdowns, platform shadowbanning, and countermovement doxxing as endured by feminist activists in India. Taken together, these practices and tools represent a digital Hindutva governance that comprises and co-constitutes the power of the state, corporations, and pro-government actors. The findings build on feminist scholarship detailing digital space as gendered and challenge reductive, state-centric narratives about digital capitalism and colonialism.
Read More
Three IFJP editors, Amy Lind, Elisabeth Prügl, and Marysia Zalewski, stepped down at the end of 2025. While Amy and Elisabeth co-edited IFJP for the past four years, Marysia served two terms as an editor, making it a tenure of eight years. In this blog post, they reflect on what they loved, what they didn’t like about their role, and what they learned in the process.
Read MoreIn this article, the authors analyze the gender politics of the anti-feminist “red pill” or Matrix conspiracy theory. Based on a discourse analysis of a representative sample of red pill communities’ YouTube videos, they find that the Matrix conspiracy theory serves to entrench hierarchical differentiations between masculinities, reproduce narratives of aggrieved sexual entitlement against “feminist oppression,” and advocate for a violent “return” to a more “traditional” gendered, sexual, and racial order.
Read More