Call for Papers – Porn Studies Special Issue: Porn and Labour

Porn Studies is an international, peer-reviewed journal, which publishes original research examining specifically sexual and explicit media forms, their connections to wider media landscapes and their links to the broader spheres of (sex) work across historical periods and national contexts. I’m proud to announce that I’ve been invited to be a co-editor, along with Professor Rebecca Sullivan of the Women’s Studies Program at The University of Calgary. Please see our call for papers below, and if you have any questions let us know!

Porn Studies Special Issue: Porn and Labour

Guest Editors: Jiz Lee and Rebecca Sullivan

Critics of the porn industry are quick to claim its deleterious effects on consumers, and too often presume exploitative abuse of performers. Yet, such arguments ignore the voices of porn performers and producers. It has been the performers and producers themselves who have refused the silencing tactics of stigmatization and shame and spoken candidly in a variety of news and social media venues about their working experiences, their attention to craft and skill, and their efforts towards more ethical, respectful labour conditions. Yet, their strategies of negotiation toward greater self-determination remain problematically under-theorized.

Media and cultural entertainment industries are under greater critical scrutiny around precarious labour, problematic gender and sexual relations, entrenched racism and other forms of prejudice and exclusion, industry convergence, and occupational health and safety. At the same time, critical media and cultural industry scholarship notes an expansion of independent and DIY production, new forms of labour exchange and commercialization, collective and collaborative networking, and audience engagement. Pornography is no different and is, in many ways, leading this entertainment revolution.

This special issue of Porn Studies invites scholars, critics, artists and producers, activists, and educators to explore the contours of Pornography and Labour. Topics may focus on any aspect of pornography production that foregrounds the experiences of workers both above and below the line. Some potentially exciting areas of inquiry include but are not limited to:

• Analyses of groundbreaking performers/producers
• Ethical porn production and shared labour practices
• Occupational health and safety issues for pornography performers
• Pornography and its relationship to other forms of sex work
• Casting, stereotyping, and niche performance
• Pornography as craft
• The commercial segregation of adult business, payment and advertising
• Mainstream commercial pornography and workers rights
• Piracy and the #payforyourporn movement
• Studio systems and contract performers
• Legal and social restrictions on porn performers
• Critical ethnographic studies of porn production sets
• Histories of the pornography industry and its labour regulation

Articles for peer-review should be between 5000-8000 words. Shorter thought pieces of approximately 2000 words may also be submitted, and the editors will make a selection for the Forum section. In the same document as your submission, on the first page, please also include a brief author bio of approximately 200 words and an abstract of 200 words.

Who can Submit
This is a scholarly, peer-refereed publication but authors do not need to hold an academic appointment. The editors welcome submissions from artists, critics, producers, scholars, activists, and educators. No affiliation with an academic institution, or adult industry organization, is necessary. Due to the mature nature of this subject, contributors must be over 18 years of age, or as legal to view such material in your location.

How to Submit
All submissions must be made online. Please consult the Authors and Submissions tab in the journal website, tandfonline.com for more information.

Journal Deadline
The deadline for submission is July 1, 2015. Authors will be notified by August 15, 2015 if their article has been selected for peer review, or for the Forum. The special issue will be published in Winter 2016.

Editor Contacts
Jiz Lee – jiz@jizlee.com
Rebecca Sullivan – rsulliva@ucalgary.ca