Volume 53, Number 1 (2017) Microaggressions, Harassment, and Abuse--Medieval and Modern

Guest Editors' Note

This special issue was originally intended to be produced as a Medieval Feminist Forum Subsidia issue, open to all who might find it on the website, rather than open only to paid-up members of the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship. We had also intended to publish the issue earlier in the year—around September 2017. The events of late summer, however, and the pervasiveness of hostile online attacks directed at medieval feminists in general, and medievalists of color in particular, forced us to rethink our original desire for openness and transparency. Thus, we came to the decision to present this issue only to those who subscribe to the Medieval Feminist Forum through their membership in SMFS, knowing however that it would be open to all readers in two years as part of our ongoing editorial policy to provide back issues of MFF for free to anyone who wants to read them.

The events of the last few months following the summer’s attacks on feminism—including all the revelations of sexual assault and harassment made by extraordinarily courageous women all over the world and the #MeToo movement—have, in contrast, given us more hope that the issues of harassment, assault, and microaggression are going to be addressed vigorously and robustly through public discourse and continued investigation. The articles in this special issue of MFF address many of the issues raised by the women and men literally speaking truth to power. Therefore, it is perhaps the optimum moment to present this issue and we might say thank-you, with a definite note of irony, to the people whose bullying and threats led us to delay its publication until this time.