_Jane Sexes It Up: The Truth About Feminist Desire_
(Revised Call for Papers: Note date changes below.)
Essays solicited for a collection on female sexuality and feminism
addressing the elements of female sexuality that do NOT fit into existing
feminist frames. You should have a strong background in feminist theory,
and be able to integrate theory with the autobiographical. _Jane Sexes It
Up_ is conceived as a 3rd wave feminist treatment of young women's efforts
to reconcile their complicated erotic desires and love relationships with
feminism in this post-sexual revolution era. (The third wave is defined
approximately as women ages 20 to 35.) While body image has become the
banner issue for this generation of feminists, other aspects of our
lives-such as sex, love, marriage-remain in the shadows of our politics.
Jane seeks to bring these elements to the surface for analysis. The
purpose here is to expand the sexual lexicon of feminism to account for the
"problem desires" we negotiate in daily life; for instance: our ambivalent
relationships with men; our gravitation towards "no-no's" like make-up, the
sex industry, and hierarchies of dominance and submission in the bedroom
and elsewhere; and the myriad ways our sexuality spills over the lines
established by continuous social policing of women's bodies and eroticism.
Topics might include: the feminist wife (a Simone de Beauvoirian struggle
between autonomy and dependence?), responses to labels of "babe feminism,"
"do-me feminism," and feminists as "the new victorians" on a "return to
modesty," narrative desire and the feminist reader, music activism and
female sexuality, sex radicalism, bondage and discipline, the feminist body
in bed, anything that addresses the fruitful and demanding tension between
politics and erotics. I am particularly interested in essays that engage
what might be considered "unfeminist" desires in order to examine the
limits of feminist sexuality and to redraw those boundaries. One subset of
this interest includes re-evaluating "passive" roles or behaviors and
revealing their active or subversive uses. The lived messiness of women's
sexuality will be used here as a theoretical tool by which to unsettle
feminist discussions of power, desire, and femininity. The strongest
contributions will recognize the social-sexual dynamic, addressing the
autobiographical specifics of sexuality AND their broader social
implications.
I need detailed abstracts (500-1000 words) by June 1 in order to select
authors and prepare the book proposal. Mail them to the address below, or
email them to: br00852@binghamton.edu
Final essays (15-30 pages due by Sept. 1) should be in MLA format and sent
to: _Jane Sexes It Up_, c/o Merri Lisa Johnson, Binghamton University,
English Dept., P.O. Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000.
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CFP@english.upenn.edu
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or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu
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