CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS
RESIST: Intersectional Queer Feminist Resistances Against ‘Anti-Gender’ Politics
Location: Warsaw
Dates: 17-19 June, 2026
Free participation and attendance.
In recent years, the rise of ‘anti-gender’ mobilisations has posed a significant threat to gender equality, LGBTIQ+ rights, reproductive rights, and democratic values across Europe and globally. While there is no agreement on what ‘anti-gender’ is—or even if it is a useful concept—anti-LGBTQIA+, anti-feminist, and anti-intersectional politics are targeted, systemic, organised and networked. Resistances are urgent and necessary.
Anti-LGBTQIA+, anti-feminist, xenophobic and anti-intersectional mobilisations exploit gender and sexual diversity as political tools, framing traditional values as under attack. This rhetoric intersects with anti-immigrant narratives, suggesting that both LGBTQIA+ rights and immigration threaten the fabric of the nation. It undermines human rights by marginalising individuals through conspiratorial narratives that reframe ‘anti-gender’ claims as ‘democratic’, while claiming to ‘protect’ democracy, national sovereignty, and children (RESIST Project Team 2024a).
The consequences of ‘anti-gender’ mobilisations are profound, especially for individuals with intersecting marginalised identities. Alarming effects include physical attacks, displacement, social media targeting, systemic discrimination, burnout exacerbated by systemic factors, disillusionment and demobilisation, media withdrawal, and loss of professional opportunities (RESIST Project Team 2024b).
Yet, it’s essential to recognise that feminist and LGBTIQ+ individuals are challenging these injustices. They are actively resisting ‘anti-gender’ politics creating support networks, mutual aid groups, education and awareness raising campaigns, and queer-feminist spaces of collective joy, even in the midst of most hostile political climates (RESIST Project Team 2024c).
Call for participation
The RESIST project seeks to foster and amplify ongoing resistances to ‘anti-gender’ politics, including through social movement organising, knowledge production, advocacy, and grassroots communities.
For RESIST’s final conference, we invite proposals for presentations and workshops that share insights about queer feminist experiences of, and resistances to, ‘anti-gender’ mobilisations. This space will seek to foster a meaningful cross-national, cross-sectoral, and interdisciplinary dialogue on ‘anti-gender’ politics and queer-feminist resistances.
We welcome contributions related, but not limited to the following topics:
- Tracing queer feminist resistances to anti-feminist, anti-LGBTQIA+ attacks
- Strategies for grassroots organising and community mobilisation against ‘anti-gender’ politics
- Historical perspectives on ‘anti-gender’ movements and queer-feminist responses
- Local, regional, and EU-level policy and legal analyses on repression of LGBTIQ+ rights and feminist movements
- Impacts of ‘anti-gender’ politics on mental health and community well-being
- Digital security and online queer-feminist activism in and beyond corporatised social media environments
- Fault-lines in feminisms and internal conflicts within LGBTIQ+ and feminist movements
- Strategies for fostering intersectional and transnational solidarity within queer-feminist resistance to ‘anti-gender’ politics
- The role of cultural production (art, literature, music) and media in shaping hetero- and cis-normative narratives around gender and sexuality
- Analyses of state repression (e.g. defunding, book bans, criminalisation) and lessons learnt from sites of struggle
- Educational strategies for countering ‘anti-gender’ narratives and promoting inclusivity
- Affective politics and the emotional labour of resistance
- Queer, trans, feminist, LGBTIQ+ resistance as a tool of utopian thinking for imagining a better future
We invite the following types of contributions:
- PRESENTATIONS: Individual short presentations between 12 and 15 minutes, based on academic research and/or activist experience. Each submission will require an abstract of up to 200 words and a short bio.
- PANELS: Proposals for panel discussions of up to 1 hour, to include Q&A time with the audience. Each submission should consist of a 200-word panel abstract along with individual presentation abstracts of max 200 words, and a short bio for each of the presenters.
- WORKSHOPS: Proposals for 1,5 hour workshop activities related to queer, feminist, trans, and sex work resistance to ‘anti-gender’ mobilisations. All formats are welcome, and we are particularly interested in workshops using creative approaches, various art forms, engaging facilitation techniques, and other methods that are inclusive, engaging, and aimed at general, non-academic audiences.
Please submit your contributions via this form by November 28, 2025.
Bursaries
We provide a limited number of participation bursaries that cover accommodation for the entire duration of the conference, from Tuesday to Saturday, in a double room with breakfast included. Please note that we are unable to offer cash equivalents, reimbursements for flight costs, or visa expenses. We will prioritise unfunded PhD students and Early Career Researchers, volunteers and unfunded members of civil society organisations, those on precarious contracts, or those located in the Global East and Global South. If you are interested in applying, please fill out this form.
Visa assistance
Please note we cannot cover visa fees. However, we can offer limited assistance by providing an invitation letter or certain documentation for your visa application. Please note that we may not be able to assist with all possible documentation required for your specific visa process, and we do not provide specific visa guidance.
Accessibility and safety
The conference venue is accessible for individuals with visual impairments, wheelchair users, and people with assistance dogs. An elevator provides access to all areas of the venue, the entrance is well-lit and adapted for those with visual disabilities, along with assistance, reception, and information services located nearby. The doors and passageways are free of thresholds and the restrooms are accessible for all. Designated parking spaces for individuals with disabilities are available, and accessible modes of public transportation are located nearby, making it convenient for all participants.
The conference organisers are committed to fostering an inclusive and equitable environment that celebrates diversity in all its forms. The RESIST Project follows a queer feminist ethos that is firmly anti-racist, anti-ableist, fully inclusive of non-binary and transgender persons, and fully supportive of sex workers. We strive to create a space where participants from all backgrounds, identities, and experiences can engage authentically but, given the limitations in our ability to provide advanced risk and security measures (other than verifying participant institutional affiliations to confirm identity), all participants will be advised caution when sharing sensitive information. For security reasons, the conference will not be streamed or recorded.
We are looking forward to your submissions,
The RESIST Project Team