CALL FOR PAPERS
FRAME 36.2 “Writing Sex”
From the ancient text of the Kama Sutra, the first script that studied sexual intercourse as science (Chakraborty and Thakurata), to the 2011 cult novel Fifty Shades of Grey, sex figures in literature in many different ways. That is, if it figures at all. While in the Victorian era “silence became the rule” on the subject of sex (Foucault 6), Preciado writes that today sex and the discourse surrounding it have silently “turned into governmental agents” of power (69).
When sex does, however, appear in literature, does the author discuss it explicitly or implicitly? Is the author’s aim to normalise or sensationalise, to expose or suppress? To what extent is sex in its literary formulation empowering or subjugating, clean or filthy, taboo or fetish, queer or straight, shameful or pleasurable, vanilla or kink, all or none of the above? FRAME’s next issue will wander between the multiple literary loci of sex. We would like to invite scholars of literary studies and related fields to consider the (textual) implications of the presence and/or absence of sex.
Themes and topics related to these questions might include, but are not limited to:
❖ Literary orgasms
❖ Gendered sex and sexed gender
❖ Colonial legacy of sex and sexualisation
❖ Consent and coercion
❖ (A)sexuality
❖ Queerness and transness
❖ Eroticism
❖ Sex work and porn
❖ (Digital) censorship
❖ Sexiness
❖ BDSM and kink
❖ Pedagogy and sex education
❖ Sexual healthcare and STIs
❖ Reproduction and contraception
❖ Historical demonisation of (female) sexuality
❖ Religion and spirituality
❖ Ecosexuality
❖ Ableism and ageism
❖ Psychoanalysis and desire
❖ Erotohistoriography
❖ Myths, folklores and fan fictions
The above questions and concerns are only a few of the many themes that could be explored in the upcoming issue. However, we would like to stress that while FRAME encourages interdisciplinary and creative approaches, every submission should show a clear connection to literary studies, as we are a literary journal first and foremost.
If you are interested in writing for FRAME, please submit a brief proposal of max. 500 words before 14 May 2023. Proposals should include a thesis statement, general structure and a preliminary reflection on the theories and discourses in which the argument will be situated. On the basis of all abstracts, contributors whose proposals are accepted will be notified by 24 May 2023, and asked to submit a draft version of the paper before 25 June 2023. Be mindful that we hold the right to reject draft versions to ensure consistency and coherence across all contributions to the issue.
The deadline for the article’s first full version is 27 August 2023, after which the editing process begins. Articles in our main section, which is reserved for scholars with a doctoral degree, has a word limit of 6000 words, including bibliography and footnotes. For our Masterclass section, graduate and PhD students are invited to write up to a maximum of 4000 words. Please feel free to contact us at info[at]frameliteraryjournal.com, should you have
any questions. You can find our guidelines here.
Works Cited
Chakraborty, Kaustav and Rajarshi Guha Thakurata. “Indian Concepts on Sexuality.” Indian Journal of
Psychiatry, vol. 55, suppl. 2, 2013, pp. 250-255.
Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality: 1: The Will to Knowledge. Penguin, 2019.
Preciado, Paul B. Testo Junkie: Sex, Drugs, and Biopolitics in the Pharmacopornographic Era. The Feminist Press at CUNY,
2013.