Zeitgrad seeks to delve beneath the surface of contemporary cultural and political issues by uncovering historical or unconsidered connections between the current contemporary moment and academic research from a wide cross-section of fields. The majority of guests on Zeitgrad are graduate students and early-career scholars who share their expertise to elucidate a topic of interest from the day’s headlines. These discussions seek to provide a deeper, more nuanced understanding of contemporary issues by approaching them from a new perspective and providing additional context, all of which is informed by the rigours of academic research.
You can check out the Zeitgrad archives right over here.
Episode 2 – The Myth of “Underage Women” and Childhood Studies
Content Warning: Today’s episode features frank discussion of the Jeffrey Epstein case, sexual abuse, and the sexual exploitation of children.
My guest today is, once again, a fellow PhD candidate here at Queen’s University: Kelly McDevitt. Join us as we discuss the Jeffrey Epstein case, the myth of the “underage woman” and connections to the academic study of childhood and gender.
Further Reading
Kelly was kind enough to provide a list of academic texts relating to childhood studies, sexuality, and gender:
- Baran, Madeleine. “In the Dark, Season 1.” APM Reports, 2018. Podcast.
- Bruhm, Steven and Natasha Hurley. Curiouser: On the Queerness of Children, University of Minnesota Press, 2004.
- Butler, Octavia E. Fledgling, Grand Central Publishing, 2005.
- Coviello, Peter. “The Sexual Child; Or, This American Life.” Raritan, vol. 27, no. 4, 2008, pp. 134-157.
- Kincaid, James. Child-Loving: The Erotic Child and Victorian Culture, Routledge, 1992.
- —. Erotic Innocence: The Culture of Child Molesting, Duke University Press, 2000.
- Renold, Emma. Girls, Boys, and Junior Sexualities: Exploring Children’s Gender and Sexual Relations in the Primary School, Routledge-Falmer, 2005.
- Stockton, Kathryn Bond. The Queer Child, or Growing Sideways in the Twentieth Century, Duke UP, 2009.
Articles referenced during the podcast:
- Clark-Flory, Tracy. “Jeffrey Epstein and the Oxymoron of ‘Underage Women.’” Jezebel, 10 July 2019.
- Garber, Megan. “Jeffrey Epstein and the Myth of the ‘Underage Woman.’” The Atlantic, 15 Aug. 2019.
The header image features detail from Andy Dixon‘s Bacchante & Goat.
Contact
Interested in being a guest on a future episode of Zeitgrad? Drop me a line and I will add you to the database for when a relevant topic or episode comes up.