Essays, articles, presentations, and papers published as Alex Henderson.
Academic publications
2023
Gender Mischief: Trickster Characters and Non-binary Identity in Young Adult Fiction (doctoral thesis)
Genre-savvy Protagonists in Queer YA Rom-Coms (Journal of Popular Romance Studies)
2022
From Painters to Pirates: A Study of Non-binary Protagonists in Young Adult Fiction (The International Journal of Young Adult Literature)
Nonbinary Narration: The Potential of POV in YA Novels with Genderqueer Characters (recorded conference paper)
Otherworldly Bodies: Non-human Non-binary Characters in YA (recorded conference paper)
2021
Playing with Genre and Queer Narrative in the Novels of Malinda Lo (The International Journal of Young Adult Literature)
Be Gay, Do Crime: The Revolutionary History of Queer YA Fiction [With Chloe Cannell] (recorded conference paper)
“Socio-political Ragnarök”: The Resonance of the Trickster figure in Queer YA Fiction (recorded conference paper)
Genre-Savvy Protagonists in Queer YA Rom-coms (recorded conference paper)
2020
Queer young adult fiction isn’t all gloomy realism. Here are 5 uplifting books to get you started (The Conversation)
Night in the Woods: the video game that captures bittersweet millennial life under COVID-19 (The Conversation)
Queer Allegory and Queer Actuality in Every Heart a Doorway (Writing From Below)
2019
Let’s Talk About Love, Tash Hearts Tolstoy, and the Asexual Coming-of-Age Story (RoundTable)
The Butterfly Effect: Player Agency and Trope Subversion in Life is Strange and Until Dawn (c i n d e r)
The Trickster in Pop Culture (recorded conference presentation)
2017
Beast: A Hero Tale – Challenging the Gendered Nature of The Hero’s Journey Through Reimagining the Myths of Cuchullain (Honours thesis)
Essays on pop culture
2024
#IntlYALitMonth Review: Do You Dream of Terra-Two? (Global Literature in Libraries Initiative)
2023
Working Out the Kinks: Deconstructing Gendered Expectations of Sex in Ladies On Top (Anime Feminist)
Queer Time and the Quarter-life Crisis in Contemporary Yuri (Anime Feminist)
2022
The Orbital Children‘s Rejection of Ecofascist Ideas (Anime Feminist)
The Unwavering Optimism of The Aquatope on White Sand (Anime Herald)
Queer Resonance and Critiquing Heteronormativity in Spy x Family (Anime Feminist)
Girls Doing Stuff: Agency and Motivation in Girls’ Hobby Shows (Anime Feminist)
2021
Together, Alone: How Laid-Back Camp Shows Companionship Through Technology (Anime Herald)
Genderless Gemstones: The Pros and Cons of Land of the Lustrous as Non-binary Representation (Anime Feminist)
Heaven’s Design Team: A Celestial Celebration of the Creative Process (Anime Herald)
Rotten Eggs and Adult Agendas: How Girlhood is Constructed in Wonder Egg Priority (The Afictionado)
Convenient Monsters: The Problem with Frill and Wonder Egg Priority‘s Take on Trauma (Anime Feminist)
Genre and Gender in Wonder Egg Priority (Otaku Tribune)
What are we Talking about When we Talk About “Good Representation”? (The Afictionado)
2020
The Gloriously Goofy, Geeky Girls of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! (Anime Feminist)
Worldbuilding a Queer Paradise in My Next Life as a Villainess (Anime Feminist)
Alice Oseman and the Revolutionary Power of the Platonic Love Story (AZE Journal)
The Ship of Theseus, Questions of Identity, and Phos (The Afictionado)
2019
Rewriting the Script: Revue Starlight‘s Rejection of Tragic Queer Tropes (Anime Feminist)
Headcanons, Queer Readings, and “Reading Too Much Into Things” (The Afictionado)
Not “Just a Phase”: How Bloom Into You Challenges Common Yuri Tropes (Anime Feminist)
2018
Pop Team Epic and the Value of Letting Girls Be Absurd (Anime Feminist)
Tash Hearts Tolstoy is the Ace Coming-of-Age Story We Need and Deserve (AZE Journal)
Cozy Campfires, Bitter Broth: Female Relationships in Laid-Back Camp vs Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles (Anime Feminist)
Going Beyond Severance: Metaphorical and Literal Queerness in Yurikuma Arashi (Anime Feminist)