[ecrea] Feminist Theory: Call for papers on girlhood and sexualization

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*CALL FOR PAPERS*

*Feminism, sexualisation and contemporary girlhood*

*A special issue of Feminist Theory*

Editors: Emma Renold and Jessica Ringrose

* *

The subject 'girl' and 'girl culture' has emerged as an increasingly 
visible problematic in late capitalist societies (Walkerdine 2001 et 
al., Driscoll 2002, McRobbie 2008) from images of over-achieving 
consumer oriented 'girl power' through to pathological representations 
of 'girls at risk'. A significant luminosity in recent years is a 
resurgence of anxiety and fear over what has come to be known as the 
'sexualisation of the (girl) child' (Albury and Lumby 2010). This 
contested discourse has gained hegemonic status and is framed by many 
academic commentators as a contemporary moral panic. Indeed, popular and 
consumer culture have been subject to a regulatory gaze from government 
and non-governmental bodies across the global north accompanied by a 
steady stream of sensationalist popular cultural texts bemoaning the 
loss/desire of sexual innocence. Here, representations of girls' 
presumed sexual knowing, agency and desire are not only 'no longer 
missing' but 'cariacaturely displayed everywhere' in contemporary 
sexually saturated societies (Fine and McClelland 2006).

This Feminist Theory special issue situates the 'sexualisation of girls' 
discourse as one discourse in a wider assemblage of contemporary and 
historical gazes upon the sexual girl-child-women (see special issues in 
Australian Feminist Media Studies 2008, Vol 23 (57) and Feminist Theory 
2010, Vol. 11 (3). The aim of the collection is to pay critical 
attention to the myriad of assumptions, silences and myths associated 
with this seemingly ubiquitous discourse and its effects and encourages 
papers which offer critical commentaries upon the ways in which feminist 
theory and praxis can assist in exploring this discursive terrain. Key 
questions that authors might like to consider could include:

What old/new theoretical feminisms are available to map and explore 
contemporary young female sexualities?

Does the contemporary sexualisation moral panic constitute a renewed 
crisis of femininity within a wider context of shifting gender and 
sexual relations?

What are the methodological challenges in researching girls and 
sexuality in postfeminist neoliberal societies and in an era of 
'sexualisation'?

How do 'sexualisation' discourses operate in cultures and countries 
beyond the global north?

This special issue grows out of an ESRC-funded seminar series on: 
_Pornification? Complicating the Debates about the Sexualisation of 
Culture. _These seminars included presentations from diverse theoretical 
and disciplinary fields, including scholars working across a range of 
regional, national and transnational contexts. We thus welcome 
contributions from psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, 
historians and cultural studies scholars who are or have been engaged 
with the theorising of girlhood, sexuality and subjectivity.

*Submissions***

An abstract of no more than 300 words should be emailed to: Dr Emma 
Renold ((renold /at/ cf.ac.uk) <mailto:(renold /at/ cf.ac.uk)>) no later than 1^st 
September 2011

Full papers will be between 6000-7000 words and adhere to Feminist 
Theory requirements (for details see http://fty.sagepub.com/ 
<http://jos.sagepub.com/>).

*Timetable**:***

1 September 2011: Abstract deadline

15th September 2011: Notification of acceptance to go through to full 
paper stage

February 28 2012: Full paper submission deadline

March-July 2012: Refereeing

July 31 2012: Reviewer comments returned to authors

November 30 2012: Revised papers to be received (and returned to 
referees if needed)

Jan 31 2012: Final corrections received

Feb 28 2013: Final copy to Feminist Theory

[Expected Publication Date is December 2013]