New Books Network Podcast

LGBTQ+ Studies December 5, 2023

LGBT Victorians

Sexuality and Gender in the Nineteenth-Century Archives

Simon Joyce

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh

It has been decades since Michel Foucault urged us to rethink "the repressive hypothesis" and see new forms of sexual discourse as coming into being in the nineteenth century, yet …

Asian American Studies December 3, 2023

Adoption Fantasies

The Fetishization of Asian Adoptees from Girlhood to Womanhood

Kimberly D. McKee

Hosted by Julia Lee

In Adoption Fantasies: The Fetishization of Asian Adoptees from Girlhood to Womanhood (Ohio State UP, 2023), Kimberly D. McKee explores the ways adopted Asian women and girls are situated at …

Law November 26, 2023

Intersex Embodiment

Legal Frameworks Beyond Identity and Disorder

Fae Garland and Mitchell Travis

Hosted by Jane Richards

What is intersex and why does it matter? What is the power of law to disrupt dominant narratives? I had a fascinating conversation with authors Dr Fae Garland and Dr Mitchell …

Sociology November 17, 2023

Sex Work on Campus

Terah J. Stewart

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Terah J. Stewart's book Sex Work on Campus (Routledge, 2022) examines the experiences of college students engaged in sex work and sparks dialogue about the ways educators might develop a deeper …

Political Science November 16, 2023

Sex Trafficking and Human Rights

The Status of Women and State Responses

Heather Smith-Cannoy, Patricia C. Rodda, and Charles Anthony Smith

Hosted by Lamis Abdelaaty

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Human trafficking for the sex trade is a form of modern-day slavery that ensnares thousands of victims each year, disproportionately affecting women and girls. While the international community has developed …

Academic Life November 9, 2023

I Kick and I Fly

A Discussion with Ruchira Gupta

Ruchira Gupta

Hosted by Christina Gessler

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Professor Ruchira Gupta joins us to share her young adult novel I Kick and I Fly (Scholastic, 2023), which was inspired by her experience making the Emmy-award winning documentary The …

UConn PopCast November 7, 2023

This Will Change Your Perspective on James Bond

A Discussion with Susan Burgess

Hosted by UConn PopCast

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The Bond movies have influenced portrayals of masculinity and femininity for decades, but the Daniel Craig-era saw a revolution in depictions of sex, gender, and inclusivity. The UConn PopCast discusses …

LGBTQ+ Studies November 6, 2023

Transgender Refugees and the Imagined South Africa

Bodies Over Borders and Borders Over Bodies

B Camminga

Hosted by Clayton Jarrard

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Transgender Refugees and the Imagined South Africa: Bodies Over Borders and Borders Over Bodies (Palgrave MacMillan, 2018) tracks the conceptual journeying of the term ‘transgender’ from the Global North—where it …

Japanese Studies November 4, 2023

The Work of Gender

Service, Performance and Fantasy in Contemporary Japan

Gitte Marianne Hansen and Fabio Gygi

Hosted by Nathan Hopson

The Work of Gender: Service, Performance and Fantasy in Contemporary Japan (NIAS Press, 2022) is an edited volume of ethnographic research organized around a cluster of key themes such as …

East Asian Studies November 2, 2023

Involuntary Consent

The Illusion of Choice in Japan’s Adult Video Industry

Akiko Takeyama

Hosted by Bing Wang

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In a world dominated by the notion of autonomy, free choice, and consent, Akiko Takeyama takes us on a thought-provoking journey into the heart of Japan's adult video industry in …

Sociology October 24, 2023

Keeping Family Secrets

Shame and Silence in Memoirs from the 1950s

Margaret K. Nelson

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

All families have secrets but the facts requiring secrecy change with time. Nowadays A lesbian partnership, a “bastard” son, an aunt who is a prostitute, or a criminal grandfather might …

Literary Studies October 18, 2023

Pregnancy in the Victorian Novel

Livia Arndal Woods

Hosted by Latoya Johnson

In Pregnancy in the Victorian Novel (Ohio State University Press, 2023), Livia Arndal Woods traces the connections between literary treatments of pregnancy and the medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth occurring …

Critical Theory October 8, 2023

What It Feels Like

Visceral Rhetoric and the Politics of Rape Culture

Stephanie R. Larson

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

What it feels like: Visceral Rhetoric and the Politics of Rape Culture (Penn State Press, 2021) by Dr. Stephanie Larson interrogates an underexamined reason for our failure to abolish rape …

Sex, Sexuality, and Sex Work September 27, 2023

Pregnancy Test

Karen Weingarten

Hosted by Jana Byars

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In the 1970s, the invention of the home pregnancy test changed what it means to be pregnant. For the first time, women could use a technology in the privacy of …

French Studies September 23, 2023

Queering the Enlightenment

Kinship and Gender in Eighteenth-Century French Literature

Tracy Rutler

Hosted by Roxanne Panchasi

Tracy Rutler's Queering the Enlightenment: Kinship and Gender in Eighteenth-Century French Literature (Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment, Liverpool UP, 2021) explores the imaginaries of novels and plays from the "liminal" period …

Gender Studies September 20, 2023

Male Femininities

Dana Berkowitz, Elroi J. Windsor, and C. Winter Han

Hosted by Isabel Machado

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Innovative essays that explore how men perform femininity and what femininity looks like without women.What counts as “male femininity”? Is it simply men behaving in effeminate ways or is it …

Sex, Sexuality, and Sex Work September 18, 2023

Child Sex Abuse

Power, Profit, Perversion

Beverley Chalmers

Hosted by Jeannette Cockroft

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Children of all ages are abused in every country in the world, by members of every society, culture, religion, and socio-economic class. About 120 million children under twenty, or one …

Chinese Studies September 18, 2023

Contemporary Chinese Queer Performance

Hongwei Bao

Hosted by Shu Wan

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In Contemporary Chinese Queer Performance (Routledge, 2022), Hongwei Bao analyses queer theatre and performance in contemporary China. Boa documents various forms of queer performance - including music, film, theatre, and …

Gender Studies September 12, 2023

Drag

A British History

Jacob Bloomfield

Hosted by Isabel Machado

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Drag: A British History (University of California Press, 2023) is a groundbreaking study of the sustained popularity and changing forms of male drag performance in modern Britain. With this book, Jacob …

Nordic Asia Podcast September 9, 2023

Victims, Perpetrators and Professionals

The Representation of Women in Chinese Crime Films

Tingting Hu

Hosted by Joanne Kuai

How are women represented in Chinese crime films? In what ways do the representation reflect traditional Chinese values and contemporary Chinese social-cultural norms? How did boys’ love culture emerge in …