[ecrea] CFP: '"Let's Hear It For The Girls": Girlhood, Media and Popular Culture, 1990-present'

We invite submissions for the one-day interdisciplinary conference
'"Let's Hear It For The Girls": Girlhood, Media and Popular Culture,
1990-present', to take place at the University of Warwick, 12 March 2016.

Keynote speakers: Prof. Carol Dyhouse (UniversitySussex) and Prof.
Rosalind Gill (City University London).

 From Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted (1993) and Anita Harris’s All
About the Girl: Culture, Power, and Identity (2004) to the Gilmore Girls
(2000-2007) and Katniss Everdeen – The Hunger Games’ ‘Girl on Fire’ –
this brief list indicates the areas (literature, academia, television
and film) into which the girl – and concern for the girl – have
proliferated. While this ‘girl’ has long been a figure of concern,
bearing the weight of cultural hopes and fears, the last twenty-five
years have seen not only an explosion of interest in the girl but also
in the state of being a girl, producing a host of discourses surrounding
both the ‘girl’ and girlhood.

Since the 1990s’ dawning of ‘girl power’ (with figures such as the Spice
Girls, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the ‘Riot Grrl’ musical movement at
the forefront of this craze), it seemed that ‘being a girl’ was
increasingly considered a state of empowerment, pride and independence.
Since (but not necessarily because of) this landmark period, girls have
never before had more opportunities available to them; however they have
also never experienced such pressure to look and act a certain way in
order to meet an ever-changing, specified ideal. There is also an
increased concern regarding the sexualisation of girls, particularly on
the streets, in school, in their entertainment, but also – and ever
increasingly – online.

This conference thus aims to address the following key questions: What
does it mean to be a girl in today’s media landscape? What options and
problems are facing today’s girls, how are these presented and resolved
in media addressing the girl, and how have these changed (or not
changed) since the 1990s, the decade of so-called ‘girl power’? Other
specific areas papers might address include, but are not limited to:

• Representations of girls and girlhood in the toys, films, literature,
and other media entertainments offered to them (including how these are
marketed);

• Body projects, including: the role of the body in securing one’s identity;

• Representations of race, sexuality, disability, and their
intersections with issues of girlhood, the body, and identity;

• The roles of digital media, the internet and social networking in the
experiences of contemporary girls, particularly regarding the formation
of identity;

• The relationship between the physical body and the digital, including
implications on/for identity;

• The proliferation and function of ‘girl-centred’ campaigns, e.g.
#bringbackourgirls, Amy Poehler’s #SmartGirls, Covergirl’s #GirlsCan,
Always’ #LikeAGirl; Sport England’s ‘This Girl Can’.

• Role models: the images and examples of ‘being girl’, both positive
and negative, available to girls within both ‘reality’ as well as
fictional texts.

We welcome papers from all disciplines and from researchers at any stage
of their career. Please send 300-word abstracts, including a title and
short biography, to (girlsandgirlhood /at/ gmail.com) by Friday 16th October 2015.

Conference website: https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/hrc/confs/girls/

Regards,

Catherine Lester and Leah Phillips
Conference organisers, University of Warwick


*Catherine Lester*
PhD Candidate, Film & Television Studies
University of Warwick
email: (c.lester /at/ warwick.ac.uk) <http://(c.lester /at/ warwick.ac.uk)>
web: warwick.ac.uk/catherine_lester <http://warwick.ac.uk/catherine_lester>

*Upcoming conference:* 'Let's Hear it for the Girls: Girlhood, Media and
Popular Culture, 1990-Present'
https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/hrc/confs/girls/

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