[Discussion] CFP: Representations of Bisexuality in the Media (12/31/05; journal issue and book)

[gpultar@cstgroup.org]

From: Keith Dorwick <kdorwick@louisiana.edu>

Call for papers:
Looking Both Ways:
Bisexuality and the Media
A Special Double Issue of the Journal of Bisexuality

Guest Editors:
Dr. Keith Dorwick, The University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Dr. Jonathan Alexander, The University of Cincinnati

Today, with the explosion of new forms of mass media, from webcams on the
Internet to periodicals delivered on CD-ROM to online editions of newspapers,
the number and locations of representations of bisexuality and other forms of
queer sex has also climbed. Too, with more forms of media that allow for various
levels of privacy, the explicit nature of those representations range from the
very public, such as Sharon Stone's infamous bisexual killer (Basic Instinct,
1992); to the less public, as with cable deliveries of representations of
bisexual; to the entirely private (presumably), such as bisexual porno sites
that deliver full length adult films via broadband connections through such
technologies as Ethernet and DSL.

This special double issue of the Journal of Bisexuality, scheduled to appear
subsequently in book form, is seeking papers that will tackle media
representation of bisexuality from recognized theoretical schools and 
perspectives (including but not limited to feminism, queer studies, Marxism,
reader response, deconstruction and other recognized theory); material that
lacks a theoretical underpinning is not acceptable, though personal narratives
that do include such a perspective and fusions of various theoretical schools
will be considered. “Media” can refer to any of the number of ways that mass
representations are made and disseminated: movies, television, the Internet, the
Web, etc.

Thematic issues that we encourage for exploration include privacy issues,
censorship, thrusting of images and sound upon the unwilling viewer or hearer,
the roles libraries play in the electronic delivery of adult materials, rural
vs. urban understandings of the depiction of bisexual or bi-erotic acts, the
representation of the tensions between bisexuals and other queers, the concerns
of the differently abled, of church and religion, economics, politics of
identity, community formation, bi-eroticism, bi-curious and questioning youth,
polyamory, non-monogamy, inter-generational sex and sexualities and so much
more. In particular, the editors will welcome essays that consider the ways that
media represents bisexuals who maintain membership in more than one minority
community: gay men married to women, lesbians who have straight sex, the
disabled, queers of color, bisexuals who are celibate by choice, etc.

Please submit completed essays (no abstracts) of 20-25 double-spaced manuscript
pages to BOTH kdorwick@louisiana.edu and jamma@fuse.net in Word or RTF format
for consideration by 12/31/05; requests to review relevant books on this topic
may be sent to both addresses as well. Inquiries are welcome, though, again,
only full manuscripts will be considered for possible inclusion in this special
issue.


Dr. Keith Dorwick
Assistant Professor of English and Rhetoric
Department of English
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
P.O. Box 44691
Lafayette, LA 70504-4691
(337) 482-6915




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