Abstracts are due 2/15/22
Rewriting the Abortion Narrative: The Power of Popular Culture
With the Supreme Court poised to radically change or even overturn Roe v.
Wade after hearing the Mississippi Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health
Organization case, critical attention is being turned toward the changing
ways popular culture depicts abortion. Popular culture is uniquely
positioned to offer these narratives, particularly given the research that
suggests that the way abortion is depicted in popular culture impacts
cultural perceptions of abortion and may even, as Steph Herold has noted,
“have very real ‘policy implications,’ particularly in such a politically
charged climate.”
We are currently accepting proposals for essays that deal with
popular-culture depictions of abortion in the last 20 years that are
changing the narrative about abortion in a wide range of popular culture,
including film, television, literature, and music, blogs, podcasts or
social media.
Underlying questions of the project include, but are not limited to:
– How can popular culture contribute to the destigmatization of
abortion?
– How can popular culture correct misinformation and misunderstanding
about abortion?
– How have abortion narratives changed in the last 25 years?
– To what extent might the entertainment industry influence pulic policy
pertaining to abortion rights?
– Are current abortion narratives showing the obstacles and barriers to
abortion experienced by many women?
Possible topics include but are not limited to:
– Greater opportunities for first-person abortion narratives
– Absence of race, ethnicity, and class diversity in abortion narratives
– Availability of medication abortions
– Safety of abortion
– Abortion comedies
– Backlash against anti-choice legislation
– Abortion stigma
– Family and friend support for abortion
Please submit a 250-word abstract by Feb. 15, 2022.
*Submission Information: *Submit proposals of 300 to 500 words by *Feb. 15*
to Brenda Boudreau at bboudreau@mckendree.edu and Kelli Maloy at
kem25@pitt.edu. Abstracts should outline the author’s theoretical
framework and identify the goals of the essay Complete essays, of
approximately 4000-6000 words, will be due by June 1, 2022.
*About the Editors*
Brenda Boudreau is a professor and the James M. Hammil Chair of English at
McKendree University. She has published on a wide range of film and
television series. She serves on the Popular Culture Association board and
currently serves as the VP of Awards.
Kelli Maloy is an Associate Professor of English at the University of
Pittsburgh at Greensburg. Her publications and areas of research include
contemporary writing by Irish women and topics in popular culture.
