\"Feminist and LGBTQ Mobilizing in Contemporary Social Movements\" — an edited volume by Cristina Flesher Fominaya on feminist and LGBTQ activism

In 2026, Routledge published the academic anthology Feminist and LGBTQ Mobilizing in Contemporary Social Movements, edited by Cristina Flesher Fominaya and Damon Eguiarte Flesher. The volume examines how feminist and LGBTQ organisations operate within the structure of contemporary social movements.

Cristina Flesher Fominaya is Professor of Global Studies at Aarhus University in Denmark. She specialises in the study of European social movements, researching protest movements against austerity measures — in particular Spain’s 15-M movement, also known as the Indignados (the Outraged) — as well as feminism and digital activism. Flesher Fominaya is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Social Movement Studies and co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary European Social Movements (2020). In 2024, she co-edited Mobilizing for and against the Far-Right (Routledge) with Damon Eguiarte Flesher. Damon Eguiarte Flesher serves as Managing Editor of Social Movement Studies.

Social movements are a form of collective political action through which citizens seek changes in society. Feminist movements pursue equality for women and gender justice; LGBTQ movements advocate for the rights of people with non-normative sexual orientations and gender identities. In recent decades, both types of movements have experienced simultaneous growth and increasing opposition: in many countries, organisations hostile to feminism and LGBTQ rights have become more active.

In this context, academic reflection on how feminist and LGBTQ movements organise their work, recruit supporters, and engage with other political forces becomes especially relevant. The volume is addressed to researchers in sociology, political science, gender studies, and queer theory.