Rosemary Overell – författare

This edited collection explores the meaning of feminism in the contemporary moment, which is constituted primarily by action but also uncertainty. The book focuses on feminist modes of activism, as well as media and cultural representation to ask questions about organising, representing and articulating feminist politics. In particular it tackles the intersections between media technologies and gendered identities, with contributions that cover topics such as twerking, trigger warnings, and trans identities. This volume directly addresses topical issues in feminism and is a valuable asset to scholars of gender, media and sexuality studies.

Our contemporary moment is preoccupied with arbitrating ‘reality’. With the spectre of buzzwords like ‘fake news’ and ‘post-truth’ we find a scramble to locate or fix some sort of universal ‘real’ beneath what are positioned as ‘fake’ articulations. To engage with this crisis, this collection argues for the importance of a new conjuncture in communication and cultural studies of media. Building on Hall’s understanding of ‘conjuncture’ as a way of grasping moments within hegemonic struggle, the essays suggest that the current moment requires a revitalization of the concept of conjuncture.

Our contemporary moment is preoccupied with arbitrating ‘reality’. With the spectre of buzzwords like ‘fake news’ and ‘post-truth’ we find a scramble to locate or fix some sort of universal ‘real’ beneath what are positioned as ‘fake’ articulations. To engage with this crisis, this collection argues for the importance of a new conjuncture in communication and cultural studies of media. Building on Hall’s understanding of ‘conjuncture’ as a way of grasping moments within hegemonic struggle, the essays suggest that the current moment requires a revitalization of the concept of conjuncture.

This edited collection explores the meaning of feminism in the contemporary moment, which is constituted primarily by action but also uncertainty. The book focuses on feminist modes of activism, as well as media and cultural representation to ask questions about organising, representing and articulating feminist politics. In particular it tackles the intersections between media technologies and gendered identities, with contributions that cover topics such as twerking, trigger warnings, and trans identities. This volume directly addresses topical issues in feminism and is a valuable asset to scholars of gender, media and sexuality studies.

This edited collection explores the meaning of feminism in the contemporary moment, which is constituted primarily by action but also uncertainty. The book focuses on feminist modes of activism, as well as media and cultural representation to ask questions about organising, representing and articulating feminist politics. In particular it tackles the intersections between media technologies and gendered identities, with contributions that cover topics such as twerking, trigger warnings, and trans identities. This volume directly addresses topical issues in feminism and is a valuable asset to scholars of gender, media and sexuality studies.

This account of Melbourne porno-grindcore band Blood Duster's 1993 debut album Fisting the Dead positions the "pure evil filth" album as a subcultural object at odds with Australia's cosmopolitanism.With track titles invoking explicit language and lurid imagery, Fisting was deliberately offensive. Drawing on interviews with the band, this book considers the subcultural work of causing offense in a sub-genre of extreme metal where offensiveness is a requirement. Fisting’s liner notes announced “BLOOD DUSTER DOES NOT CONDONE SEXISM” – apparently at odds with the lyrical material and the band’s image. Through a consideration of how Blood Duster mobilized humor and exaggeration, Rosemary Overell considers how Fisting might work as a critique of the misogyny it loudly declares. Blood Duster’s debut also indicates other contradictions – their crusty, subcultural, grindcore status was legendary, but they were signed on an art-noise label (Dr Jim’s Records), which proffered them to avant-garde music lovers. Further, in the cultural and political context of Prime Minister Paul Keating's progressive government's push for cosmopolitan middle class creative production - the 1990s Australian iteration of the "culture wars" - where does such sordid music fit in? Fisting, in its vulgarity and contradictions, offers an insight into the subcultural politics of gender, taste and cultural value.