Is there gender in Cyberspace and is so do we get to choose which one, if any, we are? Whilst physical reality would seem to choose who and what we are for us, virtual reality would seem to allow us to be who and what we want whenever we want but is this in fact the case? What are the choices we are actually allowed and how do they impact on the world beyond cyberspace? If our gender and sexuality can be constructed online who does this relate to that which we have offline and how do the two, or more, interact? Social media, dating sites, chatrooms, blogs, porn sites, and other cyberpaces are as much the platforms to perform and create our identities in as the everyday "real" world is and this meeting will discuss the ways that might work and what it might say about our post-human, or post-gender future.
As a special stream within "Femininities, Masculinities and the Posthuman" conference, we would like to invite presentations on the following topics:
– Performing genders and fashioning identities in the cyberspace
– What are the ramifications of virtual and "real" identities interacting?
– Cyber-relationships: online dating, cybersex, online communications
– Media addiction and gender
– Sexual addiction and the media
– Internet pornography
– Non-normative sexualities in the cyberspace
– Cyber-violence and gender
– Feminisms and the political power of the Internet
– Representations of normative and non-normative femininities and masculinities on the Internet
– Is the above actually indicative of a post-human future or just a greater degree of "allowance" within heteronormative society?
– Is a post-gender society possible and, if so, how and what would it look like?
Proposed papers, presentations, workshops and pre-formed panels on issues related to any of the above themes, but by no means limited to them, are welcome in a variety of academic and creative forms. We would like to embrace scientific, theoretical, philosophical, historical or sociological examinations of those themes, as well as in other fields of scholarship and discussions of their representations in literature, film, visual art, music, media, and other aspects of culture. We would like to invite scholars and scientists as well as artists, activists and professionals from a variety of fields.
What to Send:
300 word proposals should be submitted by Friday 13th March 2015. All submissions are at least double blind peer reviewed. Proposals should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in programme, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract, f) up to 10 keywords.
E-mails should be entitled: FM5 CyberGender Abstract Submission.
Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.
Organising Chairs:
Barbara Braid and Malwina Degórska: barbara.braid@gmail.com
Rob Fisher: fm5@inter-disciplinary.net
The conference is part of the Critical Issues programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for and presented at the conference must be in English and will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be developed for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s). All publications from the conference will require editors, to be chosen from interested delegates from the conference.
Inter-Disciplinary.Net believes it is a mark of personal courtesy and professional respect to your colleagues that all delegates should attend for the full duration of the meeting. If you are unable to make this commitment, please do not submit an abstract for presentation.
Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.
More info: http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/gender-and-sexuality/femininity-and-masculinity/call-for-papers/
Saturday 2nd May – Monday 4th May 2015
Dubrovnik, Croatia