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Oct 31, 2007 
Call for Papers for a Special Issue of Historical Sociology
The History of Sexuality of Childhood and Youth
Guest Editors
R. Danielle Egan Gail Hawkes
Associate Professor and Chair Senior Lecturer
Gender Studies Program School of Behavioral,Cognitive and Social Science
St. Lawrence University University of New England
Canton, NY 13617 Armidale, NSW 2351
United States Australia
Theme:
Few other topics manage to raise anxiety to the same extent in our western culture than
our fear over a child?s proximity to the sexual realm. Prevailing discourses on the
sexual child manifest ambivalence at best, and at worst exemplify something approaching
moral panic. As a result, the historical, cultural and ideological underpinnings of such
discourses are often rendered invisible. We believe that a critical deconstruction of
historical discourses, stories and material objects can illuminate the complex and often
contradictory assumptions upon which such cultural narratives are built.
This special issue of Historical Sociology on the history of sexuality of childhood and
youth is intended to illuminate these historical traces and their resonances. We
recognize that this is a challenging empirical endeavor since the status of children,
both historically and contemporarily, make it difficult, if not impossible, to know what
children and youth were doing or thinking with regard to their sexuality. With this in
mind, this issue seeks to offer insight into historical discourses produced about
children and the material consequences of such adult intervention.
The editors are seeking papers which provide examples of the historical origins of the
problematization of the sexuality of youth and childhood. We welcome work that draws on
cross-disciplinary as well as comparative scholarship, and encourage authors who are
exploring continuities between the past and present. Finally, since the majority of work
done on sexuality and the young tends to focus on adolescence, the editors especially
encourage contributions from scholars whose focus is on the pre-adolescent age group.
Submissions may include, but are not limited to:
Medical Intervention and Pathologization
Sex Education
Reform Movements
Advice Manuals or Parent Training
Religious Mandates
Legal Reform
Permissive or Sex Positive Discourses
Psychoanalytic Discourses
Developmental Psychology
Children’s/Adolescent Literature
Biological Discourses
The management of girls’ sexuality
Queer Youth
Colonial/Neo Colonial Relations
Feminist Movements
Resistance
Cross cultural comparison
Abstracts are due no later than January 20, 2008
Accepted Papers will be due no later than June 2, 2008
Please email abstract submission to: R. Danielle Egan degan@stlawu.edu
Any questions or quires should be addressed to either R. Danielle Egan (degan@stlawu.edu) or Gail Hawkes ghawkes@une.edu.au.
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