cfp.english.upenn.edu

Call for papers
Sex and the City 1860-1930: Women and the Urban Experience

An International Interdisciplinary Conference
School of the Arts, The University of Northampton, 10-11 July 2009

Increased industrialisation in the latter half of the nineteenth century saw an influx of people into cities, many of whom were single women who moved to the city to work. Hence, women became consumers as well as producers. Was their perceived financial independence a reality or a myth? How did women respond to being the “customer”? Was there a conscious “gendering” of the way in which stores displayed their goods? How were independent women portrayed in the literature, film and publications of the period? What was the significance of the flâneuse and [how] did she displace/differ from the flâneur? Did the city effect a shift in sexual mores? How far did immigrant women’s socio-sexual role change when they moved, for example, from Eastern Europe to the USA? To what extent did the city offer “safe” spaces for single women, or was the city more sexually dangerous? These are among the many intriguing questions that arise…

Papers are invited on the following (or related) topics:
• cinematic and pictorial representations of city women
• city woman as sexual predator/sexual victim
• “New Woman” in the city space
• women and their workplaces
• woman as consumer
• advertising to women; advertising using women
• socio-linguistics and the city woman.
• fashion – dressing for the city
• the flâneuse - women in urban spaces
• socio-political notions of the woman’s role in urban society
• comparison of roles of urban and rural women
• streetwalking, the prostitute, the madame, the brothel
• entrepreneurial/politically active women
Panel proposals are most welcome. (Three speakers – chair will be provided)
Abstracts of 200 words for 20-minute papers by 31st March 2009 to Laurence.Marriott@northampton.ac.uk or sonya.andermahr@northampton.ac.uk
Or by post to: Dr. Laurence Marriott/Dr. Sonya Andermahr, Avenue Campus, St. George’s Avenue, Northampton NN2 6JD, U.K.
Late submissions will still be accepted, especially those related to poetry and social studies. Final submissions should be received by 15th May 2009.