Academic publishing isn’t usually a family affair, but a York University professor and her alumna daughter have proven to be an exception with a book that explores women who exist outside rigid patriarchal norms.
When Casey O’Reilly-Conlin earned her master’s degree from York University’s Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change in 2019, her major research paper, The Feline, Feminine, and Familiar: Co-histories of Domestic Micro-Rebellions, explored how women and cats have been linked in Western culture – from medieval witch imagery to the modern “crazy cat lady” trope.
Among those captivated by her work was her mother, Andrea O’Reilly, professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies in York's Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and an internationally recognized scholar in motherhood studies. O’Reilly’s work has long challenged idealized expectations of women – primarily mothers – and examines how institutions constrain those who don’t conform.
Beyond parental pride, the paper resonated with O’Reilly for the way it paralleled her own scholarship. Her daughter had explored how women and cats have been romanticized as emblems of domestic institutions, only to be condemned when they stray from imposed expectations.
O’Reilly-Conlin recognized the overlap too. “Both my mother and I have a great passion and admiration for women who dare to stray from the predetermined paths set for us by the dominant culture,” she says.
After graduation, O'Reilly-Conlin began deeper conversations with her mother about that shared interest. “We started talking about what it means to be a woman outside of patriarchy. What are the rewards and what are the risks?” recalls O’Reilly.
Their discussions were fuelled in part by the renewed rise in misogynistic attitudes aimed at controlling women who challenge conventional notions of femininity – from threats to reproductive rights to the resurgence of traditionalist gender figures and resistance to movements like Me Too.
Eventually, O’Reilly made a pitch: what if they co-edited a book about “ferality” – a metaphor for resisting patriarchal norms?
The result is Gone Feral: Unruly Women and the Undoing of Normative Femininity, published in March by Demeter Press, the feminist publishing house founded and run by O’Reilly.
The collection features 16 international contributions from scholars, poets, activists and artists who examine how women have been vilified for stepping outside gender norms, and how those figures are now being reclaimed as symbols of resistance.
Despite the adage that warns not to go into business with family, the process of putting the book together was deeply collaborative. While O’Reilly drew on her extensive experience editing more than 30 books to guide her daughter through the logistics of editing and publishing. The rest of the work was shared equally – from crafting the call for papers and reviewing submissions to working closely with contributors.
Their academic and personal connection made the process smoother. O’Reilly-Conlin says they had an intuitive understanding of how each other thought and approached feminist issues. She also credits her mother’s work with helping shape both her academic perspective and her personal views. That scholarship, particularly in motherhood studies, offered a foundation for understanding why choices about her body and life are often met with suspicion or resistance.
Still, O’Reilly-Conlin is careful not to idealize what the book explores. In the introduction, she warns against romanticizing ferality, acknowledging that it can be a condition that’s neither freely chosen nor without consequence.
But, she hopes the book speaks to a wide audience and views it as a tribute to women who, by choice or circumstance, fall short of the ideals imposed by normative femininity. It's a call to embrace the fierce, angry and disruptive parts of themselves that society often rejects, she says.
O’Reilly agrees. “We really want to reclaim terms [and ideas] that have been used to penalize, demonise, shame and ostracize women – whether its crazy cat lady, outlaw mother or spinster.”
With the book now launched at Toronto’s Glad Day Bookshop, the two look back on the experience with pride. O’Reilly believes collaborations like theirs produce stronger, more meaningful work by blending multiple skill sets and passions. And while theirs was a unique mother-daughter partnership, she hopes it may inspire others – across families and generations – to pursue similar projects.
Gone Feral can be purchased through the Demeter Press website.