[csaa-forum] CFP: Feminist Media Studies, Scientific/Biological Determinism

[Melissa Gregg]

Feminist Media Studies

Call for Papers - “Commentary and Criticism” section



Scientific/ Biological Determinism:

Media Models of Genetics and Gender





●          Why is it that scientific discourse of male/female difference
has become so prevalent in media accounts of gendered behaviour, or of
sexual difference in transnational terms?



●          How does this scientific/evolutionist discourse produce
‘authentic’ knowledge about women, women’s bodies, and women’s behaviour
that exonerate historical and political causes of gender difference?



In the west, quality newspapers are eager to report on the latest scientific
research, while television documentaries call on celebrity scientists Steven
Pinker or Richard Dawkins to give legitimacy to their explanatory
commentaries. Popular entertainment in the form of magazine quizzes, reality
television, talk shows and lifestyle make-overs return again and again to
the same message, that the reason men and women behave as they do is ‘hard
wired’ into their genes through evolutionary selection for reproductive
fitness.



Meanwhile, news coverage of the ‘third world’ woman reveals her body as
the subject of uncontrollable fertility, malnutrition, and disease. If
scientific ideologies have been an integral part of population control
campaigns in India and China, for example, the same science diagnoses media
images of the bodies of women of African nations as victims of malnutrition
and sexually transmitted diseases.



None of this is new but a return to these issues is timely given the role
that scientific and evolutionary explanations now play as a
counter-discourse to religious fundamentalism.



We invite you to submit a short essay of up to 2,000 words to the
“Commentary and Criticism” section of the journal Feminist Media Studies
that address such questions as:



・        How might feminist interventions disrupt the gendered assumptions
on which these scientific discourses are founded? Are there feminist
alternatives in circulation and how might these be promoted?



・        What strategic uses are there for scientific accounts of gender in
the context of resurgent religious fundamentalisms?



・        What features of evolutionary discourse make it attractive to
media professionals? Is it the weight of popular belief with which these
theories conform? Is it the utility of a binary model that allows for
relative simplicity in the telling? Is there an economic incentive to
promote sexual differentiation in a media market structured by gender?

・        What relevance do evolutionary explanations have in a global
context? How widespread is the circulation and acceptance of these Western
scientific discourses of gender? How do they translate into diverse cultural
and political contexts?



All contributors should follow the Harvard style of reference and guidelines
for submission of manuscripts outlined on our website. The title page of the
manuscript should contain your complete mailing address, institutional
affiliation, and full contact information including phone and fax numbers.
Submissions must be e-mailed and saved as a Word attachment to both
<mailto:jane.arthurs at blueyonder.co.uk> jane.arthurs at blueyonder.co.uk  and to
<mailto:usha.zacharias at gmail.com> usha.zacharias at gmail.com. Deadline --
January 10th 2006.






Dr. Melissa Gregg
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies
and
Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies
School of English, Media Studies and Art History
The University of Queensland QLD 4072
CRICOS provider number: 00025B

phone    61 7 3346 9762
mobile   61 4 1116 5706
fax    61 7 3365 7184

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