Chris Beasley (researcher)

Chris (Christine) Beasley is an Australian political scientist. In 2018 Beasley was named the leading researcher in feminism and women's studies in Australia.[1] She has made substantial

intellectual contributions to the fields of gender studies, as well as critically exploring assumptions in sexuality and intimacy in the context of research on internet dating, and critically examining the implications of and political uses of "care".

Beasley is emerita professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Adelaide and an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences.[2] Her interdisciplinary work crosses the fields of social and political theory, gender and sexuality studies, and cultural studies. Beasley has a BA, Dip Ed, M Ed, and PhD from Flinders University, South Australia, and a MA from Birmingham University, UK.[3]

In 2018, Beasley was named the leading researcher in feminism and women's studies in Australia based on major journal publications in the field.[4] Beasley was the founder of the Fay Gale Centre for Research on Gender and its inaugural co-director from 2009 to 2013.[5]

Beasley's research has explored possibilities for, and barriers to, dialogue across the sub-fields of gender studies: feminism, masculinity studies and sexuality studies.[6] Beasley has brought attention to the "potential disjunctions" that arise as a result of the different "theoretical frameworks or paradigms" that shape the overall agendas of masculinity studies and feminist scholarship.[7][8] Her work on the use of feminist theory in masculinities research has seen her described as "the most articulate critic on this point [in] arguing that men and masculinities researchers tend to set up 'awkward couplings'  between structuralist and poststructuralist traditions..."[9]

Beasley has warned of the ethical limits of care as the basis of a resistant politics, highlighting the "moral and asymmetrical relationship [that] is constructed between those needing care and those delivering care, undermining the egalitarian potential of the terminology."[10]

Beasley has collaborated with Professor Emerita Carol Bacchi, and together they have postulated the notion of "social flesh" as a means to challenge the atomistic individualism that frequently underpins understandings of the human subject in political philosophy.[11]

Beasley has also published research on the cultural politics of film, including a 2019 book with co-author Heather Brook.[12] In a review of the book, Dr Rob Manwaring described it as “an important book which helps us better understand a key political and cultural phenomena - Hollywood films. The book is engaging, packed with insights, and helps us understand film as 'political objects'. The authors remind us that we have to critically think about films as diverse as Avatar, Mama Mia! and Bride Wars, and see them not just as cultural artefacts; but as a wider part of reinforcing and sustaining wider power relations.”[13]

Beasley's many contributions further include writings on sexuality and intimacy, including two collaborations with Professor Mary Holmes on internet dating. Their 2021 book published by Routledge Internet Dating Intimacy and Social Change brings a socio-political perspective to the topic.[14] Their co-authored chapter, “Older internet dating: ageist prescriptions and novel resexualising” in Resexualising Later Life Performances of Older Sexual Citizenship, published in September 2025 by Bristol Uni Press, “questions whether heterosexual internet dating… offers opportunities for enhancing social equality.” Their work also challenges established writing on internet dating which typically focuses on young daters, and “reproduces systemic prejudice against older people that discounts their complexity as human beings, as irreducibly social subjects, as relational and interconnected bodies, and as socio-political agents.” [15]

Other recent work includes a series of collaborations with Dr Pam Papadelos on social justice, including a 2023 edited collection Living Legacies of Social Injustice: Power, Time and Social Change, published by Routledge in 2024.[16]

Selected publications

  • C. Beasley and P. Papadelos (eds.), Living Legacies of Social Injustice: Power, Time and Social Change, Routledge, New York, 2024
  • C. Beasley and M. Holmes, Internet Dating: Intimacy and Social Change, Routledge, New York, 2021
  • C. Beasley and H. Brook, The Cultural Politics of Hollywood Film: Power, Culture and Society, Manchester University Press, 2019
  • R. Harding, R. Fletcher and C. Beasley eds, Revaluing Care in Theory, Law & Policy: Cycles and Connections, Routledge, Oxfordshire, UK, 2017
  • C. Beasley et al., Heterosexuality in Theory and Practice, Routledge Advances in Feminist Studies and Intersectionality Series, London & NY, 2012
  • A. Bletsas and C. Beasley (eds.), Engaging with Carol Bacchi: Strategic Interventions and Exchanges, University of Adelaide Press, 2012
  • C. Beasley, Gender & Sexuality: Critical Theories, Critical Thinkers, Sage, London & Thousand Oaks, Ca., 2005
  • C. Beasley, What is Feminism?: An Introduction to Feminist Theory, Sage, London & Thousand Oaks, Ca., 1999 (also published as What is Feminism, anyway?: Understanding Contemporary Feminist Thought, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1999
  • C. Beasley, Sexual Economyths: Conceiving a Feminist Economics, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1994)

References

  1. ^ Cite web|url=https://blogs.adelaide.edu.au/gender/2018/11/01/congratulations-to-professor-chris-beasley/%7Ctitle=Congratulations to Professor Chris Beasley!|last=a1076602|website=The Fay Gale Centre for Research on Gender Blog|language=en|access-date=2019-12-10
  2. ^ "Fellows Directory". Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  3. ^ https://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/christine.beasley#career
  4. ^ a1076602. "Congratulations to Professor Chris Beasley!". The Fay Gale Centre for Research on Gender Blog. Retrieved 10 December 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ "Adjunct Professor Christine Beasley | Researcher Profiles". researchers.adelaide.edu.au. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  6. ^ Beasley, Chris (1 March 2013). "Mind the Gap? Masculinity Studies and Contemporary Gender/Sexuality Thinking". Australian Feminist Studies. 28 (75): 108–124. doi:10.1080/08164649.2013.761949. ISSN 0816-4649. S2CID 145691273.
  7. ^ Beasley, Chris (2020). "Feminism and men/masculinities scholarship: connections, disjunctions and possibilities". In Gottzén, Lucas; Mellström, Ulf; Shefer, Tamara (eds.). Routledge International Handbook of Masculinity Studies. Oxon and New York: Routledge. ISBN 9781138056695.
  8. ^ Ulf Mellström, (2023) "Masculinity studies – more relevant than ever?" NORMA, 18:3
  9. ^ Berggren, Kalle (3 July 2018). "Is Everything Compatible? A Feminist Critique of Hearn's Composite Approach to Men and Masculinity". Australian Feminist Studies. 33 (97): 331–344. doi:10.1080/08164649.2018.1542590. ISSN 0816-4649.
  10. ^ Beasley, Chris (2017). "Care is Not Enough: Beyond Care and Vocabularies of Altruism". In Blåder, Niclas; Helgesson, Kristina (eds.). Mending the world? Possibilities and Obstacles for Religion, Church and Theology. Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications. pp. 370–390. ISBN 978-1-5326-1065-3.
  11. ^ Beasley, Chris; Bacchi, Carol (2012). "Making politics fleshly: The ethic of social flesh". Engaging with Carol Bacchi: Strategic Interventions and Exchanges. pp. 99–120. doi:10.1017/upo9780987171856.010. ISBN 9780987171856.
  12. ^ Beasley, Chris; Brook, Heather (2019). The cultural politics of contemporary Hollywood film: power, culture, society. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-8298-6.
  13. ^ Beasley, Chris; Brook, Heather, The cultural politics of contemporary Hollywood film Power, culture, and society, ebook edition Manchester University Press, Rob Manwaring book review https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526135759/
  14. ^ Beasley, Chris; Holmes, Mary, Internet Dating Intimacy and Social Change Routledge, New York, 2021 https://www.routledge.com/Internet-Dating-Intimacy-and-Social-Change/Beasley-Holmes/p/book/9780367753931
  15. ^ Beasley, Chris; Holmes, Mary, “Older internet dating: ageist prescriptions and novel resexualising” in Resexualising Later Life Performances of Older Sexual Citizenship, Paul Reynolds, Paul Simpson and Trish Hafford-Letchfield (eds.), Bristol University Press, Bristol, 2025 https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/edcollchap/book/9781447366225/ch008.xml
  16. ^ Beasley, Chris; Papadelos, Pam (eds.), Routledge, New York, 2024 Living Legacies of Social Injustice: Power, Time and Social Change https://www.routledge.com/Living-Legacies-of-Social-Injustice-Power-Time-and-Social-Change/Beasley-Papadelos/p/book/9781032318943
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