Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society is a peer-reviewed feminist academic journal. It was established in 1975 by Jean W. Sacks, Head of the Journals Division, with Catharine R. Stimpson as its first editor-in-Chief, and is published quarterly by the University of Chicago Press. Signs publishes essays examining the lives of women, men, and non-binary people around the globe from both historical and contemporary perspectives, as well as theoretical and critical articles addressing processes of gendering, sexualization, and racialization.

History and significance

The founding of Signs in 1975 was part of the early development of the field of women's studies, born of the women's liberation movement of the late 1960s and 1970s. The journal had two founding purposes, as stated in the inaugural editorial: (1) "to publish the new scholarship about women" in the U.S. and around the globe, and (2) "to be interdisciplinary." The goal was for readers of the journal to "grasp a sense of the totality of women's lives and the realities of which they have been a part." Joeres explored the "paradox" of how a journal can be both an "agent for change" and regarded as "respectable in the academy," and concluded with the hope that Signs could retain its activist roots and transform the academy.

The history of Signs is explored extensively in Kelly Coogan-Gehr's 2011 book The Geopolitics of the Cold War and Narratives of Inclusion: Excavating a Feminist Archive. Coogan-Gehr uses Signs as a case study to complicate what she calls the "stock narrative of feminist field formation". alongside a response by the author. Featured books include Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist, Rebecca Traister's All the Single Ladies, and Andi Zeisler's We Were Feminists Once.

Currents publishes essays that put forth "a nuanced and edgy take on a key issue circulating in the feminist definitional landscape."

Ask a Feminist is an interview series that seeks to create "conversation between and among feminist scholars, media activists, and community leaders," to bridge the divide between scholarship and activism. Recent features include "Angela P. Harris on Gender and Gun Violence" and "Cathy J. Cohen on Black Lives Matter, Feminism, and Contemporary Activism".

Catharine R. Stimpson Prize

Signs awards the Catharine R. Stimpson Prize for Outstanding Feminist Scholarship, named for the founding editor-in-chief of Signs, biennially to the best paper from an international competition of "emerging" feminist scholars (meaning "fewer than seven years since receipt of the terminal degree"). The submissions are judged by an international jury of prominent feminist academics. Winners of the award include Czech historian Anna Hájková. Winners receive a $1,000 honorarium and have their papers published in Signs.

The 2017 co-winners of the Stimpson Prize were Cameron Awkward-Rich, for his essay "Trans, Feminism: Or, Reading like a Depressed Transsexual", and Meghan Healy-Clancy, for her essay "The Family Politics of the Federation of South African Women: A History of Public Motherhood in Women's Antiracist Activism".

Editors-in-chief, emeritae and current

  • Catharine R. Stimpson (Barnard College), founding editor-in-chief, 1975-1980
  • Barbara C. Gelpi (Stanford University), 1980-1985
  • Jean Fox O'Barr (Duke University), 1985-1990
  • Ruth-Ellen Boetcher Joeres and Barbara Laslett (University of Minnesota), 1990-1995
  • Carolyn Allen and Judith A. Howard (University of Washington), 1995-2000
  • Sandra Harding and Kathryn Norberg (University of California, Los Angeles), 2000-2005
  • Mary Hawkesworth (Rutgers University), 2005-2015
  • Suzanna Danuta Walters (Northeastern University), 2015–present

Notable contributors to Signs

  • Lila Abu-Lughod
  • Sara Ahmed
  • Raewyn Connell
  • Kimberlé Crenshaw
  • Audre Lorde
  • Catharine MacKinnon
  • Chandra Talpade Mohanty
  • Adrienne Rich
  • Joan Wallach Scott
  • Elaine Showalter
  • Rajeswari Sunder Rajan
  • Patricia J. Williams
  • Iris Marion Young

Abstracting and indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed in:

According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal had a 2017 impact factor of 1.078, ranking it 16th out of 42 journals in the category "Women's Studies." In 2022, the journal's impact factor rose to 1.9, which placed it 14th among 64 "Women's Studies" journals. As of May 2024, its five-year impact factor was 2.8.

See also

  • Cultural studies
  • Feminist theory
  • Queer theory
  • Gender studies
  • Women's studies
  • List of women's studies journals
  • Feminist Studies (journal)
  • Feminist Review
  • Frontiers (journal)

References

  • Signs page on the University of Chicago Press website
  • Signs Twitter
  • Signs Facebook