The following is a cfp for a roundtable session at the forthcoming PAMLA 2026 conference to be hosted in Seattle, Washington, U.S. from Nov 12-15, 2026.
Please contact Noah Gallego [email protected] for inquiries.
All abstracts must be submitted through the PAMLA portal.
The deadline is May 15, 2026
This roundtable invites scholars across the disciplines and different stages in their academic career with an interest in horror to undertake critical investigations into specifically male-centered horror media. By “male-centered,” I am referring to texts that spotlight male identity and the male body, cis-, queer, and trans- included, as sites of fear and monstrosity.
2025 saw the release of several male-oriented horror media, with blockbuster hits like Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, box office flops like Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man and Justin Tipper’s Him, and Guillermo Del Toro’s much anticipated adaptation of Frankenstein. These films captured the attention of critics who consistently commented on how these media represented, negotiated, and critiqued distinct manifestations of masculinity, which could not be more timely than in an era of reinvigorated Trumpism and bro culture. Thus, scholars from across the disciplines and different stages in their academic career with an interest in horror are invited to submit proposals that intend to locate and explore the horrors of masculinization – what I term “androhorror” – in various media, including film, television, anime, manga, comics, analog horror, music, and more! Like its complement gynaehorror, androhorror may operate as both a genre and mode through which to examine the social underpinnings of masculinity and the anxieties that result from being conditioned to be a man in a white, phallocentric cis-heteropatriarchal society that privileges and praises dominance and aggression. Prospective presenters are encouraged to explore different iterations of masculinity like toxic masculinity, petro-masculinity, POC, queer and feminine masculinities, and other permutations in media in order to determine how the pressures manifest in monstrous and horrific ways.