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We are inviting proposals for essays (5,000 words length) to be included in a reader which will explore gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender identity within new media through the world-wide-web. It will foreground a sociology, performance and media studies focus.
The reader will primarily focus on the potential of new media to enable reconstructions of identity, and the exploration of complex new connectivities which free the individual from the hold of the local. It will explore a breath of identifications, potentials and readings, specifically focusing on issues such as: representation, commodity, politics, activism, healthcare and play.
General topics of interest include:
Community potential:
Therapeutic benefits:
Coming out strategies:
AIDS and healthcare:
Newsgroups and communities:
Dating and partnership finding:
Virtual identity and explorations of sexuality:
The ‘pink dollar:’
Case studies could include:
Blogging and diaries (eg. Blogger.com, Guydads, Mygayonline):
Dating (inc. Gaydar, Gaydargirls, GLBT Singles):
Communities and web games (inc. MUDs):
Personal and home pages (inc. Myspace and Facebook etc.):
New media video (inc. Youtube)
Broadcasters (inc. Logo, Village TV):
Politics (inc. Glaad):
News (inc. Planet Out, Advocate, Washington Blade):
Examination of ‘hate sites’ (eg. Fred Phelps):
Examination of ‘ex homosexual’ sites (eg. Exodus-international):
Please send abstracts (of 200 words length) and a biography by the 31st of October 2007 to Chris or Margaret (email below). Essays need to be original texts, and cannot have been published elsewhere. If you have any questions we are happy to answer them.
Christopher Pullen – Bournemouth University, UK.
cpullen@bournemouth.ac.uk
Margaret Cooper – Southern Illinois University, USA.
macooper@siu.edu
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