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Abstract
What kind of theoretical or methodological changes are needed to more effectively theorize global politics? This question is one increasingly posed, one reason being the ever burgeoning weight of violence on our global political landscapes. To investigate this, the central concept examined at the workshop from which this special section emanates was relationality. Motivated by feminist scholarship, my initial question was, ‘Why did we not focus the whole workshop around feminist theory?’ This question is posed alongside the clear knowledge that the workshop was not ‘about’ feminism and thus it might not seem rational to choose such a focus. Yet given the concept and practice of relationality was so deeply embedded in feminist work, I wondered how feminism could have been forgotten. In this article, I explore the idea of ‘forgetting feminism’ through a further question, namely, ‘Is sexism (still) at work in international relations [IR]?’ This involves a perusal of the work of sexual politics and sexism, IR’s putative ‘failure to love’ and a personal, relational detour into the life, work and career of Lily Ling—corporeally suddenly absent but remaining a vital part of the work in which we are all engaged.
Acknowledgements
My very grateful thanks to Astrid Nordin and to the editors of the journal for their patience and support. Also very much appreciated are the careful guidance and comments from the four anonymous reviewers. And to my ‘ugly feminists’ (you know who you are!) huge thanks, admiration and love. And finally always thanks to Lily—we all miss her, but her life, love and work carry on in our hearts and minds.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 See also <https://www.bisa.ac.uk/index.php/research-articles/539-the-origins-of-international-relations>.
2 Ann Towns made some prescient remarks at one of the opening plenary sessions at the European Studies Association Conference in September 2018 in regard to the ongoing problem with siphoning feminist work into ‘only’ feminist panels/events. See also <https://www.e-ir.info/2019/02/15/gender-troubled-three-simple-steps-to-avoid-silencing-gender-in-ir/>.
3 Far too large to adequately reference here. For one of the latest ‘generic’ publications in the field, readers might look to The Routledge handbook on gender and security edited by Caron E Gentry, Laura J Shepherd and Laura Sjoberg (Citation2018) for some sources. See also the other references in this article.
4 Originally credited to an article titled ‘The personal is political’ by Carol Hanisch in 1969. See <http://www.carolhanisch.org/CHwritings/PIP.html>.
5 Morgenthau remains a key figure in the development of IR theory and is still regularly taught as part of the foundational ‘canon’ of IR theory.
6 See Politics amongst nations: the struggle for power and peace (Morgenthau 1973).
7 There is a vast literature illustrating how ‘masculinity’ has become and becomes associated with hegemonic values, attributes, ideas, thinking patterns, behaviours and lives. See, for example, Seidler (Citation1989), Segal (Citation1997), hooks (Citation2003), Zalewski and Parpart (Citation1998/2019), Berger et al (Citation1995), Elshtain (Citation1987), Middleton (Citation1992) and Ling (Citation2000).
8 Though of course this does not, in practice or even in Morgenthauian theory, transpire as ‘unemotional’―only that the right (white, masculine-tinged) kind of emotion will suffice. The October 2018 Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford Senate Judiciary hearings in the US affords some hefty testament to this. See <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/27/kavanaugh-ford-testimony-latest-what-will-they-say-senate-hearing> and <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56tNJkzqdZ0>.
9 Which for Tickner implies the need for equal representation in the discipline.
10 The ‘week on feminism in IR’ is still a regular occurrence. See <https://duckofminerva.com/2010/12/feminist-ir-101-post-4-common-myths.html>.
11 To refer to the ‘feminine’ does not imply essentialism. There is a profusion of literature on this, see for example Fuss (Citation1989) and Elam (Citation1994).
12 See Zalewski and Runyan (Citation2013).
13 Though a problematic thing to do given the temptation to enter into temporally dismissive readings. See Hemmings (Citation2011) and McBean (Citation2016).
14 There is a vast literature on these forms of feminism. A very brief selection to help readers includes: Bell and Klein (Citation1996); Jaggar (Citation1983); Harding and Hintikka (Citation1983).
15 For recent work on this in the field of law see <https://www.scotsman.com/news/crime/insight-feminists-rebalance-the-scales-of-justice-in-scotland-1-4912321>.
16 Recall the comment in relation to emotion and Morgenthau in footnote 8.
19 Think of the idea of ‘feminized creep’ referred to earlier.
22 Shine Choi’s words (personal communication). See also <https://www.ifjpglobal.org/in-memoriam/>
23 Like Sharoni’s (Citation2018), my arguments are about disciplinary incompetence and unwillingness.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Marysia Zalewski
Marysia Zalewski is a Professor of International Relations in the School of Law & Politics at Cardiff University, Wales, UK. Her research interests are in the areas of critical feminist theory and creative writing & knowledge production in international politics. She has published widely in these areas in an international range of journals and books. She is currently working on a number of projects including one on ‘sexual violence against men’. Her latest book on this is Sexual Violence against Men in Global Politics (co-edited with Paula Drumond, Elisabeth Prugl and Maria Stern) which published by Routledge in May 2018. She is also working on several creative writing projects including one on feminism and security in ‘Trump-time’ (with Anne Sisson Runyan). She is one of the Editors-in-Chief of the International Feminist Journal of Politics. Email: [email protected]