Announcement: To Be Published

The next session of the presentation series "To Be Published" (hosted by the Coordination Centre for Women's Studies, Gender Research and Affirmative Action for Women of the University of Graz, the research unit of Gender Studies at the Department of Sociology, and IFZ) is organized in collaboration with the Department of American Studies and the Department of Educational Sciences and will be held on

June 4, 2012

4 pm at SR 35.K4, Merangasse 18, 8010 Graz

I was invited to present my study on Stephenie Meyer's The Twilight Saga, in which I analyzed the representations of gender relations and sexuality with a special focus on the film adaptions.

Here an abstract of what the study is about:

The international success of “The Twilight Saga”, a series of novels by the American author Stephenie Meyer which were made into films, was the motive for taking a closer look at the franchise and its attraction for a mainly female target group. This thesis in particular is a discussion of the gender relations represented in the films. What do teenagers potentially learn about gender and sexuality? This research question is the starting point for the analysis of the social relationships among the characters and the social structure in regard to heteronormativity. The results are evaluated from a perspective of a pedagogy of diversity. The methodological setup of this interdisciplinary study consists of a mixture of approaches from cultural and social studies.

The story of a 17-year-old girl falling in love with a vampire boy reflects a heterosexual norm which structures binary and hierarchical gender relations. This norm is binding to almost all characters of the saga; non-heterosexual relationships are marginalized and associated with the antagonists to the lovers. Furthermore, the gender binary as well as heterosexuality are depicted as biologically determined. The results also show the construction of a biological association of masculinity with violence and that the saga seems to propagate voluntary subordination of women to men. In the face of the tremendous success of the franchise among teenagers, these results are to be seen as especially critical, for there is a high potential of fans to identify with the protagonists and thus with problematic role models.

Looking forward to seeing you at presentation!

In 12 days ...

... we can meet in Graz!

The working group "Queer STS" is hosting a session at the annual IAS STS conference (7-8 May 2012) in Graz. The topic will be "Queerness in STS" and four presentation will dicuss queer perspectives in and on science and technology studies which challenge heteronormative and hegemonic point of views.

If you did not register yet, please do so:

http://www.ifz.tugraz.at/ias/IAS-STS/Upcoming-Activities/11th-Annual-IAS-STS-Conference

Students do not have to pay conference fees but should contactThomas Berger berger@ifz.tugraz.at

Unruly matters - the queer side of things (call for abstracts)

From colleagues (University of Copenhagen) we got this call:

"Call for papers for open panel for the 2012 joint 4S and EASST meeting

Unruly matters - the queer side of things

Chaired by Marie-Louise Holm (Linköping) and Sebastian Mohr (Copenhagen)

The unruly side of materialities has been the focus of much of feminist science and technology studies as well as queer theory. From the cyborg woman (Haraway 1991) and bodies that matter (Butler 1993) to queering the non/human (Giffney & Hird 2008) and queer phenomenology (Ahmed 2006) the queer side of things provided a pathway into materialities and their meanings for life worlds. This open panel wants to pose the question of unruly matters anew and seeks to explore contemporary intersections of queer theoretical perspectives and STS approaches to research on science, society, and technologies. How do materialities open up a possibility for queering the normalized? What normative frameworks are set up in order to regulate the inherently queer nature of things? What are the queer dimensions of technologies? How are technologies appropriated in queer settings? How can and do technologies queer research? Do materialities put restraints on a queer research agenda and if so, in which ways? How do technologies enable interventions in heteronormative scripts of gender and sexuality? And what could queer STS mean? This open panel invites scholars working empirically as well as theoretically at the crossroads of STS and queer theory to discuss and engage with these and other related questions, thereby exploring what a queer approach might contribute to STS. Furthermore, the panel wishes to stimulate the formation of a network of scholars working within these fields, thereby providing an opportunity to share work in progress and to exchange ideas.

Paper abstracts should be up to 250 words. They should include the main arguments, methodology, and their contribution to the STS literature. The title of papers should be up to 10 words. Please send your abstract for a paper to semo@sund.ku.dk and marie-louise.holm@liu.se.

There will be maximum three sessions within this panel of 1½-hour time slots with fifteen minutes per presentation. A session will consist of maximum five papers, one chairperson, and a fifteen-minute open discussion slot.

All presenters must have a user account with the submission system of the 4S/EASST meeting (see http://convention2.allacademic.com/one/ssss/4s12/). Submitters can create accounts on behalf of their co-authors and session participants, if necessary. Anyone who has participated in a 4S meeting in the last four years should already have a user account.

Deadline for submissions is 11th March 2012. Acception notifications will be given 1st May 2012.

For more information about the 4S/EASST meeting 2012 and other open panels, see www.easst.net/conferences/easst2012.shtml.

Please forward this call to anyone to whom it might be relevant."

"GLSEN Releases Groundbreaking Study of Bias, Bullying and Homophobia in Grades K-6"

Sounds interesting:
"The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) today released a new report on school climate, biased remarks and bullying, Playgrounds and Prejudice: Elementary School Climate in the United States. The report, based on national surveys of 1,065 elementary school students in 3rd to 6th grade and 1,099 elementary school teachers of K-6th grade, examines students' and teachers' experiences with biased remarks and bullying, and their attitudes about gender expression and family diversity. The surveys were conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of GLSEN during November and December 2010." (Source: http://bit.ly/yp4iFL)


http://www.glsen.org/binary-data/GLSEN_ATTACHMENTS/file/000/002/2027-1.pdf

X:enius on intersexuality

Just watched an episode of the TV program "X:enius" (channel: "arte") on intersexuality with very interesting contributions - e.g. by an M.D. who in the past was pro 'corrective' surgery with babies but who changed his mind and now demands to either eliminate the categorization of 'sex' in birth certificates or to create a third option for intersexual persons to indicate that intersexuality has an equal status to 'female' and 'male'. This is basically also the conclusion of the episode.

In the attempt to explore the 'mystery' gender/sex, not only researchers and doctors with opposing viewpoints - i.e. supporting the gender-binary as a norm vs. considering gender as open category - intersexuals and parents of intersexuals are interviewed. It seems obvious that surgery causes more damage than it prevents: Many intersexuals feel that they were physically and psychologically forced into one of two genders and accuse the doctors to have caused them suffering. It also seems that surgery predominantly serves the parents to feel less awkward because their child does not optically fit one of the two genders - because that is what the surgery is for: an optical adaption. If you understand German you may want to watch the episode online, I do not want to repeat here the description of the procedure for preventing the cosmetic vagina from adhering. The argument that intersexuals would otherwise experience bullying at school ("Kids can be cruel") proves to be not valid as long as educational measures are taken and tolerance is an integral part of a society. Children only reflect what adults offer them as models...

My personal conclusion on this episode: very interesting and very useful for educational purpose - especially for its nice message at the end.

Upcoming Conferences / Call for Papers

1. NeuroCultures - NeuroGenderings II: 13 - 15 September 2012, University of Vienna (http://neurocultures2012.univie.ac.at)

In co-operation with the network NeuroGenderings, the Gender Research Office at the University of Vienna, will launch a three-day international, interdisciplinary conference entitled "NeuroCultures – NeuroGenderings II" 13 - 15 September 2012 at the University of Vienna.

The aim of the conference "NeuroCultures – NeuroGenderings II" is to improve reflective scientific approaches concerned with sex/gender and the brain, and to gain particular insight into the transformation or persistence of gendered norms and values that accompany the mutual entanglements between brain research, various disciplines and public discourse.

End-date for submitting papers to the conference is 25 March 2012.

2. Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Science and Technology: October 17-20, 2012, Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark (http://4sonline.org/meeting)

“Design and displacement – social studies of science and technology”

For the Joint 4S/EASST conference 2012 we broadly invite papers that address the dynamics and interrelationships between science, technology and society. Papers which address the meeting’s theme ‘Design and Displacement’ are especially relevant, but papers on any topic in STS are welcome.

The conference encourages analytic, critical and practical engagement with design and displacement in several ways. First, it points to the need for investigating the relation between design intentions and their displacements, for example as catalysts for change and conflict. It also highlights the importance of investigating design controversies. It locates design practices in broader political contexts, and focuses attention on how design facilitates or hinders social inclusion, locally and globally. The theme ‘Design and Displacement’ invites careful analyses of the way design practices take part in shaping worlds. However, ‘Design and Displacement’ also raises questions around STS as design work and practice-based interventions. In this sense design becomes simultaneously topic and outcome, a situation that raises new questions concerning the role of STS research.

Deadline for submissions of individual papers and session proposals: March 11, 2012.

IAS-STS Conference 2012 - Call for Papers

Each year, the Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology and Society (IAS-STS) - hosted by the Inter-University Research Centre for Technology, Work and Culture (IFZ) - holds a conference which in 2012 will be on May 7-8.

The call for papers will be open until January 30.

For this conference, the Working Group Queer STS will organize a special session: 

Queerness in science and technology studies
This session is interested in queer perspectives in and on science and technology studies which challenge heteronormative and hegemonic point of views in these fields of research. First of all, this calls for papers dealing with the basic theoretical question: If a ‘queer’ point of view stands for opposing the hegemonic views – how useful, then, is the concept of ‘queerness’ for science and technology studies? Secondly, we are interested in papers analysing STS on a meta-level: How do hegemonic views become established? What structural role does heteronormativity play in STS?

Furthermore, we invite scholars who discuss queer STS based on empirical research, asking for instance: Who are ‘the others’ in discourses about ‘average users’ of technology? How much deviation from the norm is implied or tolerated when standard procedures in science and technology are defined? What are methodological consequences when critique on heteronormativity in research is taken into account? How does this perspective influence the role of the researcher? [text taken form the call]