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Call for Papers: Sex and Sexualities in Popular Culture: Feminist Perspectives A special-themed issue of Networking Knowledge, the journal of the MeCCSA-PGN Edited by Milena Popova and Bethan Jones Deadline for abstracts: 30th December 2015 Popular culture, as can be seen through the GamerGate controversy for one example, has a profound impact on feminist issues and discourses. Representations of sex and sexualities influence public opinion and individual attitudes and perceptions. Discussions - in both media and academia - are continuing to take place about the impact of Fifty Shades, sexism and misogyny in computer game and comic book fandom, the sexualisation of girls and the sexual desires of both young and adult women. Moral panics abound surrounding Fifty Shades and the "irrational" behaviour of One Direction fans, while LGBTQIA+ identities and sexualities are often represented tokenistically at best. Creative practitioners can easily come under fire for poor representations of sex and sexualities, as evidenced most recently by the reception of Joss Whedon's treatment of Black Widow in The Avengers: Age of Ultron; equally they can be celebrated for their efforts, as was the case with Bioware's inclusion of a consent negotiation scene in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Following a successful one-day symposium on this theme in November 2015, we invite proposals for a special issue of Networking Knowledge - the Journal of the MeCCSA PGN. As with the symposium, we wish to open up debates and explore the nuances of sex and sexualities within popular culture. To that end, possible topics include but are not limited to: * Representations of women's desire and sexualities in popular culture * Non-cis- and heteronormative sexualities in popular culture, especially beyond "gay and lesbian" * Representations of sex work * Infertility and sexual dysfunction * Sexual intersections: race, disability, religion, class and socioeconomic status, gender * Sex and sexualities in gaming * Sexual pleasure in popular culture * Invisibility: (a)sexualities unrepresented * Sex, sexualities and social media * Sex and sexualities in fan and transformative works Please send 300 word abstracts for papers of 5,000 to 6,000 words, along with a short author biography, by 30th December 2015. Please email these to guest editors [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> and [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>. If you have questions about Networking Knowledge in general, please contact the Journal Editor, Simon Dawes at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>. Final, selected, articles will be due by the end of March 2016. Milena Popova PhD Researcher Digital Cultures Research Centre University of the West of England, Bristol