Anyone watching the “news” must be aware of the extent to which contemporary global politics are increasingly played out in visual images. This session focuses on the intersection of these images, their relationship to power, and corresponding articulations of gender and sexuality. While these images play on received ideas about gender, they often complicate them, too: both women and men now figure as victims as well as combatants and politicians. Conversely, while the so-called US-led ‘war on terror’ claims to champion women’s liberation from oppressive fundamentalisms, it continues to propagate regressive and homophobic gender politics. We invite papers from artists, art historians and critics who address these and other intersections of gender and global image politics. What political or social purposes do these images serve? What do they say about gender equality or access to power? Are there relevant historical precedents or contemporary responses in the fine arts and/or the multiple arenas of visual culture that demand our attention? Please submit abstracts of 250 words no later than 10 May to Carol Duncan (cduncan16@juno.com) and Hannah Feldman (h-feldman@northwestern.edu).