One year on
Screening Sex published its first posts a year ago this month. We have been delighted with the response to our academic blog, which has attracted more than 30,000 visitors since we first launched, from more than 125 countries. Our network of writers and researchers in the area of sex on screen now stands at almost fifty in number and includes academics and creatives from across Europe, the US, Canada and Australia.
We have published over 20 articles since April 2017 covering an array of topics and debates relating to the representation of sex on screen and broader sexual, political and historical contexts. Our ten most read articles indicate the diverse subject matter on display, including articles about porn parody, Roman Porno, queer sex and BDSM, puppet sex in indie cinema, adolescent female sexuality, representing the paedophile, censorship and the BBFC, sexual play, porn performance and sex toy stores. Articles have considered sex, representation and culture in relation to issues and debates around desire, grief, exploitation, abuse, female and male rape, experimentation and play, sexual labour, neoliberalism, virtual reality, adaptation, age and agency, classification and regulation, education, performance and even Christmas spirit.
Films and television programmes that have been considered on the site include US dramas – Oscar winning Spotlight (Tom McCarthy 2015), Rabbit Hole (John Cameron Mitchell 2010), animated puppet indie Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson 2015), coming-of-age comedy-drama The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Marielle Heller 2015), Hollywood blockbusters Fifty Shades of Grey (Sam Taylor-Johnson 2015) and Fifty Shades Darker (James Frey 2017), black comedy Horrible Bosses (Seth Gordon 2011) – French romance drama Blue is the Warmest Colour (Abdellatif Kechiche 2013), gay porn Born to Raise Hell (Roger Earl 1974), erotic historical drama Caligula (Tinto Brass 1979), psychological thriller Crash (David Cronenberg 1996), US porn parody This Ain’t Jaws XXX (Stuart Canterbury 2012), US television drama The Girlfriend Experience (Starz 2016) and Netflix musical comedy A Very Murray Christmas (Sofia Coppola 2015). Articles have also explored iconic figures such as Bettie Page and Annabel Chong and significant filmmakers Irving and Paula Klaw, Jan Soldat and Tinto Brass.
In September, we started adding book reviews to the site, covering screen studies as well as social and cultural approaches to sex, and interviews with authors discussing their publications such as our interview from September 2017 with Lynn Comella.
What’s next for Screening Sex?
We are currently scheduling articles for the Spring/Summer season so send us a speculative proposal if you are interested in contributing. Articles are usually in the region of 1000-2000 words. We are also keen to hear from people who might be interested in hosting screeningsex.com and convening a number of articles around a particular theme.
We will continue to publish book reviews of the latest academic publications and share links to new article publications so do get in touch if you have a book or article that you think our network and readers will be interested in or, if you are interested in reviewing a book for us, take a look at our current list of books available for review. We will also continue to publish interviews on the site and we will also be adding interviews with filmmakers.
This year also sees the launch of our screening sex special interest group for the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS). We will soon be sharing more news about this exciting development as well as news about a Screening Sex symposium and a book series we are in the process of confirming.
We are always interested in hearing from anyone with a scholarly and creative interest in sex on screen and sexual cultures so contact us (below or by emailing screeningsex@gmail.com) if you would like to add your details to our network page, join our mailing list, become a member of the BAFTSS screening sex SIG, propose an article or book review, or perhaps put your name in the ring for our book series. If social media is your thing then you can also get in touch via Twitter or Facebook.
More soon —
Screening Sex
Screening Sex 