CFP: (dis)junctions: Is Pornography Feminist Yet? (grad) (1/7/05; 4/8/05-4/9/05)

CFP: (dis)junctions: Is Pornography Feminist Yet?:
Looking at “Alternative” Erotics (grad) (1/7/05;
4/8/05-4/9/05)

(dis)junctions: theory reloaded (April 8-9, 2005)

This call for papers is for a proposal panel to be
held at (dis)junctions: theory reloaded at the
University of California Riverside’s 12th Annual
Humanities Graduate Conference on April 8-9, 2005.

        Many feminists agree that certain types of
pornography, if not specifically feminist, are at
least not overtly damaging/threatening to women
physically and psychologically. Perhaps partly as a
result of the ideological shift of many feminists, one
that allows certain forms of female pleasure and
sexuality to serve as potential sites of agency, a
large new crop of pornography that markets itself as
women and queer/trans friendly has surfaced over the
past five years and it is not at all uncommon for
advertisements for this “different kind of porn” to
surface in the pages of magazines and journals that
cater to a largely feminist-identified audience. This
panel will explore whether there are certain factors
or characteristics that allow pornography to be
designated as “feminist.”

Topics may include, but are not limited to:
1. “Alternative,” ironic, or masquerading
femininities: punk rock porn, gothic or vampire porn,
nerd porn, retro/kitsch/campy porn, scar/piercing/or
mutilation porn, BDSM porn, hippie or “natural” porn,
transgender and queer porn. Depictions of body type
and race in feminist porn. Emerging trends in
fetishizing bodies (male, female, trans, etc.).
2. Depictions, assertions, and the problematic of
pleasure in feminist porn. Women centered/dictated
sexual fantasy. Porn set as site of feminist agency?
Modeling in response to violence, trauma, etc. The
role of feminist pornography in shaping the
sexual/erotic desires of subjects who identify as
feminist.
3. The role of amateur vs. professional models in
feminist pornography. The site owners (motivation,
purpose, treatment of labor, profit). Connections
feminist porn has with advertising and fashion
(particularity in leftist media/entertainment scenes).

4. The models: personal/social/political agency or
lack thereof, selection processes, motivations, labor
contracts. Model interaction with spectators through
use of on-line journals, discussion boards, or other
tools that provide more “complete” illustrations of
the models lives, interests, hobbies, etc.
5. Theories surrounding the gaze of the spectators of
feminist pornography. Who is the audience? Women as
consumers and producers of pornography.

Please submit a 250 word abstract (including requests
for audio/visual needs) and your full contact info to
Emily Anderson electronically at
eande001_at_student.ucr.edu
Deadline for Abstracts: January 7, 2005
For more information on the conference, please visit
http://english.ucr.edu/gsea/disjunction/

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Received on Tue Dec 07 2004 - 09:58:43 EST