"The feminist transmission labour in heterosexual relationships” by Leila Fery

When: Thursday 4 December 2025, 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM (Brussels Time)

Where: Room S.15.215 (Building S, 15th floor), Campus Solbosch, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Avenue Jeanne 44, Bruxelles 1050.

And live-streamed online via Zoom. Register here to receive the link:

https://forms.gle/pM6DFgK9LepYfdjc8

Abstract:

This paper aims to analyze the feminist transmission labour at play within contemporary heterosexual relationships. Drawing on interviews with women who identify as feminists and are engaged in heterosexual relationships, it examines how they introduce, negotiate, and adapt critical knowledge about gender and couple relationships. This work, understood here as a process of everyday politicization, can be seen as a form of “relational labour” through which intimate relationships become spaces of transmission, experimentation, and sometimes conflict around gender norms. In a context marked by the expanded circulation of feminist knowledge since the 2010s — notably through digital spaces and the mobilizations of the #MeToo movement — this research explores the concrete forms of such transmission: discussions, adjustments, resistances, and tactics. The analysis thus seeks to characterize the effects of this work on couple dynamics.

Bio:

Leila Fery is a PhD candidate in sociology at the Atelier Genre(s) et Sexualité(s) (ULB). Her research focuses on the transmission of feminist ideas and practices within heterosexual relationships, with particular attention to men and masculinities.