The Journal of Communication Inquiry (JCI) invites submissions that adopt critical-cultural approaches to exploring and examining the interaction between the press and sex for its theme issue, “Between the Sheets: Sex and the Press | Identities, Institutions, and Issues.” We are currently accepting abstracts of 1,000-1,500 words that fit this paper call. Authors with an accepted abstract will adhere to the following timeline for this special issue:
Special Issue Timeline
- June 15 – Abstracts due
- July 1 – Notification of abstract acceptance*
- September 15 – Full paper due
- Issue published in 2024
* Abstract acceptance does not guarantee publication. Papers will go through a rigorous double-blind peer review process, which may result in paper rejection due to poor quality or other publication concerns.
Abstract submissions will be sent to Patrick R. Johnson, JCI Managing Editor, via email: patrick-r-johnson@uiowa.edu
Special Issue Paper Call
Following the leak of a United States Supreme Court opinion to overturn the 50-year precedent of Roe v. Wade, media discourse erupted about the implications of such a decision on women’s rights to choose and political rights to life. In Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan’s interview with award-winning journalist Eyal Press, he claims that journalists have catered to the pro-life movement and shares that “Journalists need to do a better job of connecting these dots, he said. They should “unpack just what ‘pro-life’ means.” This unpacking is something former CNN Reliable Sources anchor and chief media correspondent Brian Stelter also took to in his critique. He claimed that what is missing for the press’s coverage of Roe v. Wade, abortion, pro-life v. pro-choice is one word: sex.
It isn’t a surprise the word “sex” was missing from media coverage of the potential overturn and subsequent overturn of Roe v. Wade (and Casey v. Planned Parenthood). According to Joseph and Keeble (2019), the lack of sex in media coverage is a paradox. Sex is everywhere in the media—as sex sells—but the research into the coverage of it is marginalized in the academy. While media content including sex is less regulated worldwide than say violence (in America that is the opposite and the U.S. is the only country that this is the case), the topic of sex is still identified as one of “those things” you don’t talk about at the dinner table. This means it is also often neglected in scholarship, except for journals dedicated solely to studying it like the Journal of Sex Research or Porn Studies. Irish writer Oscar Wilde is popularly, yet incorrectly, credited with the saying, “everything in the world is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power.” At its core, this issue is about just that: interrogating the power and pervasiveness of sex in media.
This issue seeks to put sex and the press (defined broadly as print, broadcast, or digital) in bed with one another in ways that challenges scholars to think about how the two construct identities, create industries, and cover issues. This could mean discussions of key players, such as Hugh Hefner or Larry Flynt, Pornhub or OnlyFans, obscenity concerns, morality clauses in media companies or FOSTA-SESTA laws; interacting with identities in the press, such as gendered representations or those who belong to the LGBTQIA+ community; or possibly its historical or contemporary issues such as abortion rights, the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the monkeypox vaccination, sex crimes, drag story hours or the drag community, the Don’t Say Gay bills, censorship of LGBTQ content in schools or public space, moral panics, Tucker Carlson and the M&Ms, or contraceptive uses.
The critical and cultural study of the intersection of sex and the press might also present opportunities for unique research connections to other areas, such as sustainability and the environment, race or ethnicity, or age. This call for papers invites critical-cultural approaches to examine identities, institutions, and issues at the center of sex and the press across the world. Contributions on how coverage of sex and sexuality has changed or challenged established systems of politics, media, economy, and culture are especially encouraged.
Possible topics of inquiry include but are not limited to:
- Concerns related to the example identities, institutions, and issues noted above
- Innovative ways to approach the study of sex and the press
- Social, political, and economic implications of sex and/in the press
- Implications of language use or issue construction in the press
- Challenges and changes to mainstream press in their coverage of sex
- Audience engagement and reception of sex content in the press
- Issues of ethics related to coverage of sex
- Legal and workplace concerns within the coverage of sex in the press
- Mainstream versus alternative press coverage of sex
- Visual constructions of sex and sexuality, such as photographs, illustrations, design, data visualization, or graphic depictions of representation
- Philosophical and theoretical interventions in defining sex coverage and their implications for the field of media studies
Abstract Details
Authors looking to submit to this call should provide a 1,000 to 1,500 abstract that details the theoretical and methodological approaches, foundational literature grounding your study, and the sample corpus of texts and population your study addresses.
We ask you acknowledge the process you will be engaging in for this research and be cognizant of the ethical considerations involved when conducting research on issues of sex and sexuality. The use of this editorial process reflects a desire to encourage strong ethical practices, which means recognizing that some of this research will require Institutional Review Board approval and additional time.
We especially welcome scholarship dealing with – but not limited to – topics such as:
- Representations of genders and sexualities not covered explicitly in the “LGBTQ” acronym, such as asexual, intersex, pansexual, polyamorous, non-monogamous, questioning, two-spirit, non-binary, and gender-non-conforming people
- Media depictions of transgender issues and individuals
- Online queer advocacy and activism networks
- Representations of bisexuality, sexual fluidity, and other sexual orientations that do not fit cleanly within the boundaries of “straight” or “gay”
References
Joseph, S., & Keeble, R. (2019). Sex and journalism: Critical, global perspectives. Bite-Sized Public Affairs, independently published.
Reliable Sources. (2022, May 8). These two words are missing from Roe v. Wade coverage. CNN. < https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2022/05/08/these-two-words-are-missing-from-roe-v-wade-coverage.cnn/video/playlists/reliable-sources-highlights>.
Sullivan, M. (2022, May 5). The media fell for ‘pro-life’ rhetoric — and helped create this mess. The Washington Post. < https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/05/05/media-pro-life-abortion-rights-rhetoric-fail-eyal-press/>.
Contact Info:
Patrick R. Johnson
patrick-r-johnson@uiowa.edu
Managing Editor, Journal of Communication Inquiry
E332, Adler Journalism Bldg.
Iowa City, Iowa, USA – 52242
Journal of Communication Inquiry
Call for Papers:
“Between the Sheets: Sex and the Press | Identities, Institutions, and Issues”
The Journal of Communication Inquiry (JCI) invites submissions that adopt critical-cultural approaches to exploring and examining the interaction between the press and sex for its theme issue, “Between the Sheets: Sex and the Press | Identities, Institutions, and Issues.” We are currently accepting abstracts of 1,000-1,500 words that fit this paper call. Authors with an accepted abstract will adhere to the following timeline for this special issue:
Special Issue Timeline
- June 15 – Abstracts due
- July 1 – Notification of abstract acceptance*
- September 15 – Full paper due
- Issue published in 2024
* Abstract acceptance does not guarantee publication. Papers will go through a rigorous double-blind peer review process, which may result in paper rejection due to poor quality or other publication concerns.
Abstract submissions will be sent to Patrick R. Johnson, JCI Managing Editor, via email: patrick-r-johnson@uiowa.edu
Special Issue Paper Call
Following the leak of a United States Supreme Court opinion to overturn the 50-year precedent of Roe v. Wade, media discourse erupted about the implications of such a decision on women’s rights to choose and political rights to life. In Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan’s interview with award-winning journalist Eyal Press, he claims that journalists have catered to the pro-life movement and shares that “Journalists need to do a better job of connecting these dots, he said. They should “unpack just what ‘pro-life’ means.” This unpacking is something former CNN Reliable Sources anchor and chief media correspondent Brian Stelter also took to in his critique. He claimed that what is missing for the press’s coverage of Roe v. Wade, abortion, pro-life v. pro-choice is one word: sex.
It isn’t a surprise the word “sex” was missing from media coverage of the potential overturn and subsequent overturn of Roe v. Wade (and Casey v. Planned Parenthood). According to Joseph and Keeble (2019), the lack of sex in media coverage is a paradox. Sex is everywhere in the media—as sex sells—but the research into the coverage of it is marginalized in the academy. While media content including sex is less regulated worldwide than say violence (in America that is the opposite and the U.S. is the only country that this is the case), the topic of sex is still identified as one of “those things” you don’t talk about at the dinner table. This means it is also often neglected in scholarship, except for journals dedicated solely to studying it like the Journal of Sex Research or Porn Studies. Irish writer Oscar Wilde is popularly, yet incorrectly, credited with the saying, “everything in the world is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power.” At its core, this issue is about just that: interrogating the power and pervasiveness of sex in media.
This issue seeks to put sex and the press (defined broadly as print, broadcast, or digital) in bed with one another in ways that challenges scholars to think about how the two construct identities, create industries, and cover issues. This could mean discussions of key players, such as Hugh Hefner or Larry Flynt, Pornhub or OnlyFans, obscenity concerns, morality clauses in media companies or FOSTA-SESTA laws; interacting with identities in the press, such as gendered representations or those who belong to the LGBTQIA+ community; or possibly its historical or contemporary issues such as abortion rights, the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the monkeypox vaccination, sex crimes, drag story hours or the drag community, the Don’t Say Gay bills, censorship of LGBTQ content in schools or public space, moral panics, Tucker Carlson and the M&Ms, or contraceptive uses.
The critical and cultural study of the intersection of sex and the press might also present opportunities for unique research connections to other areas, such as sustainability and the environment, race or ethnicity, or age. This call for papers invites critical-cultural approaches to examine identities, institutions, and issues at the center of sex and the press across the world. Contributions on how coverage of sex and sexuality has changed or challenged established systems of politics, media, economy, and culture are especially encouraged.
Possible topics of inquiry include but are not limited to:
- Concerns related to the example identities, institutions, and issues noted above
- Innovative ways to approach the study of sex and the press
- Social, political, and economic implications of sex and/in the press
- Implications of language use or issue construction in the press
- Challenges and changes to mainstream press in their coverage of sex
- Audience engagement and reception of sex content in the press
- Issues of ethics related to coverage of sex
- Legal and workplace concerns within the coverage of sex in the press
- Mainstream versus alternative press coverage of sex
- Visual constructions of sex and sexuality, such as photographs, illustrations, design, data visualization, or graphic depictions of representation
- Philosophical and theoretical interventions in defining sex coverage and their implications for the field of media studies
Abstract Details
Authors looking to submit to this call should provide a 1,000 to 1,500 abstract that details the theoretical and methodological approaches, foundational literature grounding your study, and the sample corpus of texts and population your study addresses.
We ask you acknowledge the process you will be engaging in for this research and be cognizant of the ethical considerations involved when conducting research on issues of sex and sexuality. The use of this editorial process reflects a desire to encourage strong ethical practices, which means recognizing that some of this research will require Institutional Review Board approval and additional time.
We especially welcome scholarship dealing with – but not limited to – topics such as:
- Representations of genders and sexualities not covered explicitly in the “LGBTQ” acronym, such as asexual, intersex, pansexual, polyamorous, non-monogamous, questioning, two-spirit, non-binary, and gender-non-conforming people
- Media depictions of transgender issues and individuals
- Online queer advocacy and activism networks
- Representations of bisexuality, sexual fluidity, and other sexual orientations that do not fit cleanly within the boundaries of “straight” or “gay”
References
Joseph, S., & Keeble, R. (2019). Sex and journalism: Critical, global perspectives. Bite-Sized Public Affairs, independently published.
Reliable Sources. (2022, May 8). These two words are missing from Roe v. Wade coverage. CNN. < https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2022/05/08/these-two-words-are-missing-from-roe-v-wade-coverage.cnn/video/playlists/reliable-sources-highlights>.
Sullivan, M. (2022, May 5). The media fell for ‘pro-life’ rhetoric — and helped create this mess. The Washington Post. < https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/05/05/media-pro-life-abortion-rights-rhetoric-fail-eyal-press/>.
Contact Info:
Patrick R. Johnson
patrick-r-johnson@uiowa.edu
Managing Editor, Journal of Communication Inquiry
E332, Adler Journalism Bldg.
Iowa City, Iowa, USA – 52242
Patrick R. Johnson, MJE 