Editorial: Dislodging Girlhood?. Issue 1 (1st March 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mitchell, Claudia
• Is Part Of: Girlhood studies. Volume 12:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: v
• Page End: v
• Publication Date: 2019-03-01
• Subjects: Girls -- Periodicals; Girls -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Girls -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; Girls -- Education -- Periodicals; Girls -- Sexual behavior -- Periodicals; Girls -- Health and hygiene -- Periodicals; Women's studies -- Periodicals; 305.23082
• DOI: 10.3167/ghs.2019.120101
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1938-8209

Abstract

Abstract : I am very grateful to Barbara Brickman, the guest editor of this Special Issue of Girlhood Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal for her term "dislodging girlhood" in the context of heteronormativity. Repeatedly in this issue Marnina Gonick's pivotal question, "Are queer girls, girls?" (2006: 122) is cited. In the 13 years since she posed this question, we have not seen enough attempts made to address it. To mix my metaphors I see this issue of Girlhood Studies as helping to break the silence and simultaneously to open the floodgates to a ground-breaking collection of responses to Gonick's question. Given the rise of the right in the US and in so many other countries, queer girls— trans, lesbian, gender non-conforming, non-binary to mention just a few possibilities—are at even greater risk than before. Girlhood Studies has always been concerned with social justice, so this special issue is a particularly important one in our history. It is also worth noting that many of the articles are written or co-authored by new scholars, signaling an encouraging trend in academic work that has social justice at its core. I thank Barbara Brickman, the authors, and the reviewers for their history-making contributions to the radical act of dislodging girlhood.