Calls

Call for Contributions: Intimate Technologies of Reproductive Health - Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Chapter proposals for an edited volume that critically examines reproductive health apps and related digital technologies from intersectional feminist perspectives including but not limited to HCI and interaction design are invited.

The collection seeks to foreground power, inequality, and resistance while exploring possibilities for more just and accountable technological futures. The editors welcome contributions that engage with, but are not limited to, the following themes:

Social and Cultural Dimensions

  • Empowerment and Agency: How do reproductive health apps enable or constrain users in taking reproductive health into their own hands?
  • Diversity, Gender, and Queer Perspectives: How do they address—or fail to address — diverse identities, non-binary experiences, and queer communities?
  • Normativity and Inclusion: How do reproductive health apps reinforce or challenge traditional norms around gender, sexuality, and reproductive health?
  • Intersectional Analyses: How do race, class, disability, and other axes of identity shape experiences with such digital technologies?

Technical and Design Perspectives

  • User and Design Studies: How are reproductive health apps designed, and how do users interact with them? What are the implications for usability, accessibility, and user xperience?
  • Algorithmic Intimacy and Automation: How do algorithms and automation shape users’ experiences of intimacy, bodily autonomy, and reproductive decision-making?
  • Datafication and Patienthood: How do reproductive health apps contribute to the datafication of reproductive health, and how does this reshape concepts of patienthood and self-tracking?
  • Speculative and Feminist Design Futures: What would non-extractive, collectively governed, or community-owned reproductive technologies look like?

Privacy, Policy, and Ethics

  • Privacy and Data Concerns: What are the risks and ethical dilemmas surrounding data collection, storage, and sharing in reproductive health apps?
  • Political and Policy Consequences: How do they intersect with reproductive rights, healthcare policies, and surveillance
  • Commodification of Intimacy: How are bodily rhythms, fertility intentions, and affective disclosures transformed into economic value?
  • Sustainability and Material Infrastructures: What are the ecological footprints of wearable devices and data storage infrastructures tied to reproductive tracking?

Comparative and Contextual Studies

  • Case Studies: How are reproductive health apps developed, regulated, and used indifferent countries or cultural contexts?
  • Comparative Analyses: How do experiences with reproductive health apps vary across
    regions, legal frameworks, or healthcare systems?

 

Submission Guidelines

  • Abstract Submission Deadline: April 26, 2026. Abstracts (300–500 words) should outline the chapter’s focus, methodology, and contribution to the volume’s themes. Include a brief author bio (100 words) and contact information
  • Notification of acceptance: May 3rd, 2026
  • Draft Chapter Deadline: September 15, 2026. Contributors submit full draft chapters (6,000–8,000 words).
  • Feedback Sent to Contributors: November 1, 2026
  • Final chapter deadline: January 15th, 2027
  • Final Editorial Review: January 16–March 31, 2027

The book will be published as Diamond Open Access volume via Uppsala University Library’s Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, ensuring global accessibility.

You can find further information about the call on this link and in the attached document.

 

  • Call for Contributions Download