SBPC Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities Division of SSSP Summer Newsletter In This Edition: Notes from the Division Chair, Corie Hammers_________ Pg. 1 2012 SSSP ANNUAL MEETING EVENTS____________Pg. 2 -- Division Sessions _______________________________Pg. 3 Member News and Notes____________________________Pg. 5 New Publications__________________________________Pg. 6 Graduate Students on the Market______________________Pg. 8 Call for Abstracts / Papers___________________________Pg. 10 EditorÕs Note_____________________________________ Pg. 10 NOTES FROM THE CHAIR Greetings SBPC members! Well, it is officially Summer which means that our 2012 SSSP Annual Meeting in Denver is just around the corner. I would like to begin this newsletter by encouraging faculty and students to attend the Sexual Behavior, Politics and Communities Divisional Meeting, taking place Friday, August 17th from 12:30 to 2:10 in the Mt. Columbia room of the Grand Hyatt Denver Hotel. This is a great opportunity to get to know other SBPC members and get involved in the SBPC community. Come check us out! And for those who are already SBPC members, bring along a friend who you think might be interested in joining our division. Speaking of getting more involved and meeting cool people, SSSP is currently seeking nominations for the 2012 General Election for the following positions: President-Elect, Vice-President Elect, Board of Directors, Budget, Finance and Audit, Editorial and Publications, Committee on Committees, and Membership and Outreach. If someone is interested in serving they can either fill out the form at this link http://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/pageid/1082/ or email Stephani Williams. Her email address is: stephani.williams@gmail.com. We have an exciting array of SBPC sessions planned for this upcoming meeting. Listed here in chronological order (and outlined in detail below), sessions held on Thursday, August 16th include: session 8, Gender, Sexuality and the Law (co-sponsored with Law and Society) from 8:30 am to 10:10 am; session 17, Sexuality on the Edge from 10:30 am to 12:10 am. Sessions scheduled for Friday, August 17th include: session 51, Constructing Sex Work (co-sponsored with Poverty, Class, and Inequality) from 8:00 am to 9:40 am; session 75, Sexual Minorities, Homophobia and Sporting Communities (co-sponsored with Sport, Leisure, and the Body) from Ð (continues on next page) -- 2 -- (Notes from Division Chair continued) - 2:30 pm to 4:10 pm. Sessions scheduled for Saturday, August 18th include: session 103, Public Sex/ualities from 10:30 am to 12:10 pm; session 115, Queer Families (co-sponsored by Family) from 12:30 pm to 2:10 pm; session 140, Sex/y Activism (co-sponsored by Conflict, Social Action, and Change) from 4:30 pm to 6:10 pm. This yearÕs Graduate Student Paper Competition Committee considered a number of excellent submissions. I would like to express our collective congratulations to Long Doan, Annalise Loehr and Lisa Miller, winners of this yearÕs SBPC Graduate Student Paper Competition for their paper, "Attitudes toward Formal Rights and Informal Privileges for Lesbian and Gay Couples: Evidence from a National Survey Experiment.Ó As this is my last newsletter, before I go out as chair I want to thank all of our SBPC members not only for the work and support you give to this division, but also for the vision and change you bring to the social injustices surrounding us. The passion you give to your work, the students you inspire, and the communities you impact are so vital and precious, especially in these increasingly hostile and conservative times. Above all, I want to thank you for what you believe in and for what you cherish. For instance, we SSSP members understand how basic human rights, like reproductive freedom, and things like access to basic services, like healthcare and jobs with living wages (our ÒrealÓ security), are to so-called ÒdemocraticÓ societies and a societyÕs general human welfare. Why these are even political issues and moreover, turned into acts of political violence (it is an act of violence when healthcare and sexual information are not automatic entitlements for all!) and greed, I will never understand. So, thank you for all that you do. Finally, I want to thank you for all of the support you have given me throughout my tenure as Chair. It has been thoroughly enjoyable, and has allowed me to meet so many interesting and cool folks. So, with that, we have some very exciting news! Please give another collective congratulations to Elroi J. Windsor, our incoming SBPC Chair. Elroi has been actively involved in SSSP for a number of years. Elroi received a PhD from Georgia State University in 2011 and is currently an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Salem College. ElroiÕs dream car is a plum Dodge Challenger. If ElroiÕs taste for cars (Dodge Challengers are, after all, amazing!) is any indication, we have a lot of great things to look forward to over the next two years! Congratulations Elroi! 2012 SSSP ANNUAL MEETING 62nd annual meeting The Society for the Study of Social Problems presents the preliminary program including detailed information and the program schedule for its 62nd Annual Meeting themed: ÒThe Art of ActivismÓ August 16th Ð 18th at the Grand Hyatt Denver Hotel in Denver, Colorado. This program offers a rich assortment of sessions and meetings. Divisional Meeting: Sexual Behavior, Politics and Sexual Communities, Friday: 12:30 to 2:10, Mt. Columbia room Division Sponsored Reception: August 16th from 6:30 to 7:30 in Mount Evans A & B Listed below are the division sessions and joint sessions that SBPC is co-sponsoring with other SSSP divisions. -- 3 -- DIVISION SESSIONS Date: Thursday, August 16 Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM Session 8: Gender, Sexuality, and the Law ?Room: Mount Evans B (AT) Sponsors: Law and Society; Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities Organizers: Kimberly Richman, University of San Francisco;?Corie J. Hammers, Macalester College Presider: Tre Wentling, Syracuse University Papers: ÒFighting for inclusivity: Transgender activists and the 2011 Nevada Legislature,Ó Ezra Needham, University of Nevada, Las Vegas ÒGoverning the DivorceeÕ: Safety and Paranoia in State-Mandated Divorce Seminars,Ó Moon Charania, Tulane University, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program and Wendy Simonds, Georgia State University ÒThe Art of Managing Identity and Identity Documentation among Trans People,Ó Tre Wentling, Syracuse University ÒThe Social Life of Borderland Migrant Communities: How Legal Status Shapes Gender Inequality and Segmented Assimilation in Los Angeles,Ó Oscar Fernando Gil-Garcia, N/A ÒThe continuing criminalization of consensual, same-sex sexual activity: A law and society perspective on U.S. prisons,Ó Jay Borchert, University of Michigan Date: Thursday, August 16 Time: 10:30 AM - 12:10 PM Session 17: Sexuality on the Edge ?Room: Mount Evans B (AT) Sponsor: Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities Organizer, Presider & Discussant: Kathleen A. Asbury, Community College of Philadelphia Papers: ÒSubject: American Apparel Ads,Ó Heather Bowles, Georgia State University ÒCreate Your Own Deviance: A Look into the Evolution of the BDSM/Fetish Subculture,Ó Candice Campanaro and Mindy M. Weller, University of Central Florida ÒÔBringing Intersexy BackÕ? Intersexuals and Sexual Satisfaction,Ó Georgiann Davis, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville ÒLBGT Leadership in Equine Sports,Ó Kathleen A. Asbury, Community College of Philadelphia Date: Friday, August 17 Time: 8:00 AM - 9:40 AM Session 51: Constructing Sex Work ?Room: Longs Peak (AT) Sponsors: Poverty, Class, and Inequality: Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities Organizer, Presider & Discussant: Shawn A. Cassiman, University of Dayton Papers: ÒExamining Social WorkersÕ Attitudes Towards Sex Offenders: A Social Justice Imperative,Ó Jacinda M. Lewis and Justin Miller, Spalding University ÒStraight-Acting: Desire for heterosexuality through the lens of gay adult film,Ó Nathaniel Burke and Caitlin Myers, University of Southern California ÒThe Girl is Mine: Reframing Sex Work and Intimate Partner Violence as Intersectional Spaces of Gender-Based Violence,Ó Jonel Thaller and Andrea N. Cimino, Arizona State University -- 4 -- DIVISION SESSIONS (cont.) Date: Friday, August 17 Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM Session 75: Sexual Minorities, Homophobia and Sporting Communities ?Room: Mount Evans A (AT) Sponsors: Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities; Sport, Leisure, and the Body Organizer & Presider: Elise Paradis, University of Toronto Papers: ÒThe Sociology of Sport in American Society,Ó Samantha L. Shepard-Guerinoni, Tulane University ÒPeripheral Student Identities in a Heteronormative and Athlete-Centered Culture,Ó Rachael Neal and Miriam Taour, Coe College ÒCritical Social Capital and LGBTQ Sporting Communities,Ó Sara J. Mertel, Arizona State University ÒFemale Athletes as Pinups & Fashionistas: Interrogating Sex-Positive Feminism,Ó Erin Maurer, Graduate Center, CUNY ÒWomen boxersÕ bodies in a time of hysteresis,Ó Elise Paradis and Simon Kitto, University of Toronto Date: Saturday, August 18 Time: 10:30 AM - 12:10 PM Session 103: Public Sex/ualities ?Room: Mt. Columbia (GH) Sponsor: Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities Organizer & Presider: Corie J. Hammers, Macalester College Papers: ÒÔWeÕre Into EverythingÕ: Culture, the Queering of Space, and Municipal Regulatory Apparatuses,Ó Donovan Paul Lessard, University of Massachusetts-Amherst ÒGlobal LGBT Politics: The Collaboration between the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and LGBT Activists from China,Ó Brett Nava-Coulter, Northeastern University ÒPlanning for Diversity: A Case Study of LGBT Pride on the Campus of Tomorrow,Ó Laurel Holland, Georgia Gwinnett College ÒProfessional Girlfriends and New Emerging Sexualities in Cambodia,Ó Heidi Hoefinger, University of London ÒÔI hear you, I see youÕ: Invisibility, Resistance, and the Intersection of Gender and Sexuality in One Butch-Femme Online Community,Ó Rebekah J. Orr, Syracuse University Date: Saturday, August 18 Time: 12:30 PM - 2:10 PM Session 115: Queer Families ?Room: Mt. Columbia (GH) Sponsors: Family; Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities Organizer & Presider: Elisabeth A. Sheff, Georgia State University Discussant: Chandra Denise Ward, Georgia State University Papers: ÒA Family Affair: Reclaiming Ôfamily valuesÕ as movement strategy in same-sex marriage activism,Ó Jaime J. McCauley, Northern Kentucky University ÒGay Families Count: Contact, Tolerance, and Voting on Gay Marriage Bans,Ó Rebecca A. DiBennardo, UCLA ÒKey Findings from the Social Justice Sexuality Project: Exploring Family Support, Religion, Race, and Health for LGBT People of Color,Ó Antonio (Jay) Pastrana, Jr., John Jay College, City University of New York, Juan A. Battle, City University of New York and Jessie Daniels, Hunter College, CUNY ÒRegulating Reproduction: Queer Families in the United States and Germany,Ó Alicia J. VandeVusse, University of Chicago -- 5 -- DIVISION SESSIONS (cont.) Date: Saturday, August 18 Time: 4:30 PM - 6:10 PM Session 140: Sex/y Activism ?Room: Mt. Princeton (GH) Sponsors: Conflict, Social Action, and Change; Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities Organizer & Presider: Barbara G. Brents, University of Nevada Discussant: Crystal A. Jackson, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Papers: ÒA Situational Analysis of the Bisexual Movement: Preliminary Findings,Ó Kathryn L. Nutter, University of Florida ÒRadical Queers: Mobilizing Structures, Collective Action Frames, and Sexual Minorities who Protest for Gay and Lesbian Rights,Ó Eric W. Swank, Morehead State University and Breanne R. Fahs, Arizona State University ÒSexecology & the Ecosexual Movement: Making Global Social Critique More Sexy, Fun & Diverse,Ó Jennifer J. Reed, University of Nevada ÒYour Roots are Showing: DIY Culture, Resistance, and Local Community in WomenÕs Roller Derby,Ó Suzanne R. Becker, University of Nevada, Las Vegas MEMBER NEWS AND NOTES: Graduate Student Paper Competition *** This yearÕs winner of the Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities (SBPC) Graduate Student Paper Competition is ÒAttitudes toward Formal Rights and Informal Privileges for Lesbian and Gay Couples: Evidence from a National Survey Experiment,Ó which was written by three graduate students at Indiana University: Long Doan, Annalise Loehr, and Lisa Miller. The committee members were: Jennifer Sumner Jason Crockett Avery Tompkins Wayne Brekhus David Pettinichio Lloyd Klein Craig Tollini David Steele Jacinda Lewis-Jobe Dawn Baunach (chair) *** Congratulations to Nancy Plankey-Videlak, who has been promoted to Associate Professor at Texas A&M University. Her book is coming out in July with Rutgers University Press.Ê *** Northeastern Illinois University, an urban commuter university with a diverse student body of mostly first generation college students on the northwest side of Chicago, is implementing a new minor in LGBTQ studies, under the WomenÕs and Gender Studies Program. SBPC Member Nancy Matthews (home department Justice Studies) will be coordinating the WomenÕs and Gender Studies program starting in the fall. In addition, despite massive budget cuts, the administration is responding to long time student, faculty and staff pressure and establishing a new LGBTQ Student Center and a new WomenÕs Center (among several other multi-cultural centers to support our diverse student population). -- 6-- NEW DIVISION MEMBER PUBLICATIONS: Nancy Plankey-Videla. 2012. We Are in This Dance Together: Gender, Power, and Globalization in a Mexican Garment Firm. In 2001, Nancy Plankey-Videla secured access to one of Latin America's top producers of high-end men's suits in Mexico for participant observer research. She labored as a machine operator for nine months on a shop floor made up, mostly, of women. Lured initially into the firm by way of increased wages and benefits, workers had helped shoulder the company's increasing debts. When the company's plan for successful expansion went awry and it reneged on promises it had made to the workforce, women workers responded by walking out on strike. Building upon in-depth interviews with over sixty workers, managers, and policymakers, Plankey-Videla documents and analyzes events leading up to the female-led factory strike and its aftermath--including harassment from managers, corrupt union officials, and labor authorities and violent governor-sanctioned police actions. We Are in This Dance Together illustrates how the women's shared identity as workers and mothers--deserving of dignity, respect, and a living wage--became the basis for radicalization and led to further civic organizing against the state, the company, and the corrupt union to demand justice. Ryan Ashley Caldwell. 2012. Fallgirls: Gender and the Framing of Torture at Abu Ghraib. Dear colleagues, I am so pleased to announce the publication of my first book, Fallgirls: Gender and the Framing of Torture at Abu Ghraib. Fallgirls provides an analysis of the abuses that took place at Abu Ghraib in terms of social theory, gender and power, based on first-hand participant-observations of the courts-martials of Lynndie England and Sabrina Harman. This book examines the trials themselves, including interactions with soldiers and defense teams, documents pertaining to the courts-martials, US government reports and photographs from Abu Ghraib, in order to challenge the view that the abuses were carried out at the hands of a few rogue soldiers. With a keen focus on gender and sexuality as prominent aspects of the abuses themselves, as well as the ways in which they were portrayed and tried, Fallgirls engages with modern feminist thought and contemporary social theory in order to analyse the manner in which the abuses were framed, whilst also exploring the various lived realities of Abu Ghraib by both prisoners and soldiers alike. Providing a unique perspective and a thorough theoretical examination of the events, their framing and depiction, this book will be of interest to sociologists, feminists, and social and political theorists concerned with cultural studies, political communication and gender and sexuality. For more information and sample chapters, please follow the link to Ashgate's cite. Thanks so much for sharing this announcement with those who might find it of interest. http://www.ashga te.com/default.aspx?page=637&calcTitle=1&pageSubject=3164&title_id=10975&edition_id=14457 Cheers! Ryan Ashley Caldwell --7-- NEW DIVISION MEMBER PUBLICATIONS (cont.) Mary Bernstein Bernstein Mary and Verta Taylor (eds.).Ê In Press.Ê The Marrying Kind: Debating Same-Sex Marriage Within the Lesbian and Gay Movement.Ê Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Bernstein, Mary and Mary C. Burke. In Press.Ê ÒNormalization, Queer Discourse, and the Marriage Equality Movement in Vermont.ÓÊ In The Marrying Kind: Debating Same-Sex Marriage Within the Lesbian and Gay Movement, edited by Mary Bernstein and Verta Taylor. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Bernstein, Mary and Verta Taylor.Ê In Press.Ê ÒThe Debate Over Marriage in the Lesbian and Gay Movement.ÓÊ In The Marrying Kind: Debating Same-Sex Marriage Within the Lesbian and Gay Movement, edited by Mary Bernstein and Verta Taylor.Ê Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Ryan Ashley Caldwell Caldwell, Ryan Ashley. 2012. Fallgirls: Gender and the Framing of Torture at Abu Ghraib. Ashgate Pub Co. Kari Lerum Lerum, K, McCurtis, K, Saunders, P., and Wahab, S.Ê 2012. ÒUsing Human Rights to hold the US Accountable for its Anti-Sex-Trafficking Agenda: The Universal Periodic Review & New Directions for US PolicyÓ Anti-Trafficking Review, 1. Maralee Mayberry Mayberry, M., Chenneville, T., and S. Curry (2012).Ê "Challenging the Sounds of Silence:Ê A Qualitative Study of Gay-Straight Alliances and School Reform Efforts."Ê Education and Urban Society, online first at: http://eus.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/05/26/0013124511409400 Ê Currie, S., Mayberry, M., and T. Chenneville (2012).Ê "Destabilizing Anti-Gay Environments through Gay-Straight Alliances:Ê Possibilities and Limitations through Shifting Discourses."Ê The Clearing House:Ê A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas 85(2):56-60. Nancy Plankey-Videla Plankey-Videla, Nancy. 2012. We Are in This Dance Together: Gender, Power, and Globalization in a Mexican Garment Firm. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. -- 8 -- GRAD STUDENTS ON THE MARKET Crystal Jackson Affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Chair: Barb Brents Email: cajackso@unlv.nevada.edu Website: http://faculty.unlv.edu/wpmu/cjackson/ Dissertation: Sex WorkersÕ Rights as 21st Century Labor Activism: How Contingent, Independent Laborers are Re-Defining Labor & Identity My dissertation explores how U.S. sex workers rights organizing represents a re-shaping of labor movement in late capitalist society for contingent, independent, and often criminalized laborers. While sociologists have examined sex worker activism in other countries, few have studied U.S. sex worker rights organizations. Between 2010 and 2012, I engaged in ethnographic research, including participation observation and interviews, with sex worker rights activists and allies across the country. I explore how the dominance of abolitionist anti-trafficking ideology in the United States shapes their efforts and hinders the range of collaborations necessary for national level legal changes. By situating sex workers rights organizing within a political economy of commercial sex, I show how political climate shapes organizing efforts. I am currently on the market. Research interests: I study the political economy of intimate labor, including erotic dance, adult film (queer and heterosexual), and legal brothels (The State of Sex: Tourism, Sex, and Sin in the New American Heartland, Routledge 2010, with Brents and Hausbeck-Korgan). My areas include sexuality and gender, law and work, inequalities, and qualitative methods. Trevor Hoppe Affiliation: Sociology & WomenÕs Studies, University of Michigan Email: thoppe@umich.edu Website: http://www.trevorhoppe.com Ê Dissertation Title: From Sickness to Badness: Enforcing Michigan HIV Law as a Site of Social Control Ê Abstract: People infected with HIV in Michigan are required by law to disclose their HIV-positive status to their sexual partners. Failure to do so is a felony, sentencing for which varies but typically includes jail time. Most documented prosecutions have targeted African-American heterosexual men, female sex workers, and gay men. Using qualitative interviews and surveys with health officials and prosecuting attorneys throughout the state as well as trial transcripts, this study argues that the application of Michigan HIV law operates as a form of social control in two ways. First, the law renders practices conventionally understood in terms of medicine into crime. While conventional theories of medical social control have explained medicalization or the transition from "badness to sickness," IÊ instead showing how sickness has been transformed into crime. Second, the law disproportionately impacts marginalized communities, suggesting that its enforcement by authorities is particularly aimed at controlling poor and stigmatized communities. With recent attempts in African countries to make HIV infection punishable by death, this dissertation responds to the urgent need to understand not only how justice has been medicalized but also how particular health issues come to lend themselves to interdiction and punishment. You can read more about HoppeÕs dissertation, and view his CV, on his website: http://www.tre vorhoppe.com. -- 9 -- Eric Anthony Grollman Affiliation: PhD Candidate, Indian University Email: egrollma@indiana.edu Website: http://egrollman.com Dissertation Title: ÒThe Continuing Significance of Discrimination: Multiple Forms of Perceived Discrimination and HealthÓ Eric Anthony Grollman is a doctoral candidate in sociology at Indiana University, as well as a Ford Diversity Fellow. EricÕs research interests are in sexualities, medical sociology, social psychology, and race/gender/class. Through his research Eric investigates the effects of prejudice and discrimination on the health, well-being, and worldviews of stigmatized groups. Eric has published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, International Journal of Sexual Health, and the Journal of Homosexuality. He has taught Sociology of Sexuality at Indiana University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. EricÕs dissertation examines the prevalence, distribution, and health consequences of perceived discrimination. In light of mixed findings regarding the extent to which perceived discrimination contributes to health disparities, his dissertation investigates three research questions. First, what experiences and dimensions of discrimination are captured in existing measures of major lifetime and everyday discrimination, and unfair treatment? In particular, Eric examines whether the prevalence, distribution, and mental and physical health consequences of perceived discrimination vary by question wording, and whether measures of discrimination reflect a uni- or multidimensional structure. Second, what are the prevalence, distribution, and mental and physical health consequences of multiple forms of perceived discrimination among adults and youth? Relatedly, are the health effects of multiple forms of perceived discrimination larger than those of a single form of discrimination (e.g., gender discrimination). Finally, is sexual health associated with perceived discrimination? Overall, EricÕs dissertation aims to advance and extend research on perceived discrimination and health: greater clarity regarding what is captured in existing measures of discrimination; more specificity regarding the dimensions of discrimination that drive its relationship with health; and, documenting the full range of health and well-being outcomes that are associated with perceived discrimination. Karen Macke Affiliation: Dept of Sociology, Syracuse University Email: kemacke@maxwell.syr.edu Website: KarenMacke.com Dissertation: Que(e)rying Activism in the Church: Culture, Identity, and the Politics of Community in Unitarian Universalist Churches Karen is a PhD Candidate in sociology at Syracuse University. Her work is located at the intersections of cultural sociology, the sociology of religion, social movement studies, and queer and sexuality studies. ÊHer dissertation combines ethnographic and discourse tracing methods with a queer analytic perspective to examine the production of LGBTQ political discourse and collective action in two Unitarian Universalist (UU) churches. With a focus on organizational culture, it explores how church members negotiate repertoires of social justice and collective action by drawing from competing discourses of sexuality, sex, gender, and difference. Linked by a commitment to Ôcultural praxisÕ, KarenÕs research and teaching integrate public sociology with insights from feminist and queer studies to foreground the importance of culture to the production of knowledge, both in the classroom and in the field. Her future research will seek to further develop 'cultural organizationÕ as a framework for examining the mechanisms shaping political discourse and action within organizations for LGBTQ and otherwise marginalized youth. Karen specializes in teaching for the departments of Sociology and WomenÕs and Gender Studies at Syracuse, including classes in Sex and Gender, Qualitative and Feminist Methods, Global Sexualities and Genders, Queer Theory, and the Sociology of Families.Ê -- 10 Ð CALL FOR ABSTRACTS / PAPERS We invite contributions to our proposed volume, ÒQueer Landscapes: Mapping Queer Space(s) of Praxis and PedagogyÓ. For two decades, queer theory has provided a flexible methodology for engaging the world. This broad theoretical approach is slowly working to dissolve dialectical boundaries erected to contain rigid distinctions separating disciplines within the academy, and the academy itself from the world beyond. In doing so, queer theory has opened up new landscapes in diverse fields in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, pushing us to reconsider the ways in which we organize and navigate knowledge. ??Queer Landscapes seeks to further ÒqueerÓ scholarship and praxis by bringing together thinkers and activists to explore how we see, write, read, experience, and teach through the fluid space of queerness. We are interested in how queer-identified and -influenced people create ideas, works, classrooms, and other spaces (e.g., digital, activist) that vivify relational and (eco)systems thinking, thus challenging accepted hierarchies, binaries, and hegemonies. Our volume will feature theorist-practitioners who have already made huge strides in helping us to open new landscapes of queer thinking and being, and we also welcome fresh new voices to a community of scholars and activists. Possible areas of interest include, but are certainly not limited to: ¥ Activism ¥ Digital Humanities ¥ Disability Studies ¥ Ecocriticism & Environmental Justice Studies ¥ Ethnic & Critical Race Studies ¥ Gender & Sexuality Studies ¥ Global Studies ¥ History ¥ Literature, Film, & Media Studies ¥ Medicine ¥ Music and Visual Arts ¥ Pedagogy & Literacy Studies ¥ Philosophy ¥ Social Sciences In sum, Queer Landscapes will offer academicians at the college and secondary levels, as well as lay readers, an accessible volume that challenge delimiting ways of thinking and being to incite radically nondualistic alternative spaces for thought and action. ?? SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: ?We welcome proposals for both critical essays and shorter and/or non-traditional writing that will contribute to the volumeÕs goal of exploring queer landscapes. Please send an abstract of no more than 250 words and a short bio of approximately 150 words to mcneil@asu.edu no later than 11:59 PM (MST) July 31, 2012. Note: Complete papers, along with abstract and bio, are also welcome.??We will notify authors of acceptance/rejection no later than August 15, 2012. Several publishers have already expressed interest in this volume, so we plan to submit the full proposal early this fall. Final versions of critical essays will need to be between 6,000 and 8,000 (inclusive of endnotes) and must conform to MLA style guidelines. Guidelines for final versions of shorter and/or non-traditional pieces will be addressed on a case-by-case basis. ? ABOUT THE EDITORS:?Elizabeth McNeil teaches writing and American ethnic, ÒfreakÓ studies, and transgender and intersex literatures and film at Arizona State University. She is co-editor of SapphireÕs Literary Breakthrough: Erotic Literacies, Feminist Pedagogies, Environmental Justice Perspectives (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) and author of Trickster Discourse: Mediating Transformation for a New World (Lambert Academic Publishing, 2010). James Wermers teaches literature, philosophy, and composition at Arizona State UniversityÕs Downtown Phoenix Campus. He has published on Shakespeare and contemporary film, with a particular focus on how conceptions of race and sexuality impact our understanding of the world. ?? EDITORÕS NOTE I hope that everyone has an excellent time at this yearÕs 62nd annual SSSP conference! The next call for submissions will be in the fall of 2012 and I will be looking for some interesting, current, noteworthy, and thought-provoking materials for the next issue. With that said, I still welcome any and all relevant information and/or suggestions for innovative sections that can help foster continued growth and enthusiasm within this Division of SSSP. Feature articles are also welcome. So please feel welcome to contact me at any time. All Best, Karen E. Macke Email: kemacke@maxwell.syr.edu