Call for Papers – Edited Book
Title: Reading Girls
Abstract submission deadline: 1 June 2015
Editors: Meredith Nash and Imelda Whelehan, University of Tasmania
Email: girlsedited@gmail.com
Premiering on HBO to critical acclaim in 2012, Lena Dunham’s cable television series Girls is a candid and comical look at the lives of four young women living in Brooklyn, New York. Following in the footsteps of the earlier post-feminist, woman-centred television series, Sex and the City (SATC), Girls explores numerous feminist themes centring on an exploration of what it is like to be a white New York woman. However, compared to SATC, the show is a coming-of-age story with the characters awkwardly hovering between adolescence and adulthood.
Although the title Girls perhaps symbolises a post-feminist sensibility, its appearance in the opening credits in bold uppercase lettering subverts the pejorative nature of the word “girl” and demonstrates a knowing irony that permeates the show and perhaps an unwillingness to leave feminism behind so easily. Yet questions remain: Who are the ‘girls’? And what do they stand for? Where does feminism fit into the show?
Whether a fan or a critic, the show has generated an enormous amount of discussion and controversy in the global media. We are interested in chapters that draw on feminist/gender studies perspectives to respond to and discuss:
• any aspect of the show (Seasons 1-4)
• comparisons between Girls and other woman-centred TV shows
• public controversies raised by the show
• Lena Dunham as the show’s creator/writer/director/producer
Possible chapter topics include:
• Female/male friendship
• Bodies/embodiment
• Feminism/postfeminism
• Sex/Sexuality
• Mental health
• Race/Ethnicity/privilege
• Self-entitlement
• Social class/post-recession
• Narrative
• Consumerism
• Work/employment/underemployment
• Satire
• Confessional writing/Memoir/diaries
• Millennial femininities
• Digital feminisms
• Reproductive ‘choices’
• Sex/romance
• Masculinities/femininities
• Third wave/girl power/digital activism
• Second wave feminism/personal is political
• Intertextual postfeminism
• Feminist hauntings
We have had interest in this collection from two high-profile global publishers and we anticipate signing a contract shortly after the contributor list is finalised. Interested authors are invited to submit chapter proposals (approx. 300 words) and a short biographical sketch by 1 June 2015. If accepted, final submissions of no more than 6,500 words (including notes and
references) must be submitted by 15 December 2015. Please send abstracts or queries directly to: girlsedited@gmail.com