Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference 14-17th December 2016 Program Index

Jamie Hakim
Chemsex and the city: queering intimacy in neoliberal London
Since 2011, chemsex has been on the rise in London amongst men who have sex with men (MSM) (Bourne et
al., 2015). The term chemsex refers to the use of one or a combination of recreational drugs (GHB/GBL,
mephedrone and crystal methamphetamine) to facilitate sexual sessions, often in groups, that can last hours
or days. This paper attempts to account for this rise. It does this by contesting the prevailing view advanced
by sexual health experts that the rise of chemsex can be located in the hook-up app use of vulnerable gay
men who have problems with sex and intimacy. To counter this technologically deterministic view of MSM
digital media use, this paper performs a conjunctural analysis (Grossberg 2010) to argue that this form of
mediated intimacy has risen in popularity as a result of the material effects of neoliberal austerity on
London’s gay scene since 2008. It concludes by arguing that chemsex is an intense, albeit transient, way for
MSM to form collective bonds within historical conditions in which neoliberalism’s insistence on
autonomous, competitive individualism makes any formation of collectivity as difficult as possible (Gilbert,
2014).
1D
Recovering Class – Media Practices of Disadvantaged Communities in Australia (Chair, Greg Noble)
Mark Gibson
“Disadvantage” or “Class”? Conceptualising Inequalities in Media Practices
Recent years have seen a major increase in concern around social inequalities in media and communications,
not only in cultural studies and related fields where it has always been a major focus, but also in government
policy forums and international agencies such as the OECD. Inequalities in relation to media are widely
recognised as having significant “spillover” effects, affecting inequalities in other areas, including health,
government services and economic development. However, the issues are generally framed by a deficit
model governed by the concept of “disadvantage”: the communities defined as disadvantaged are
represented only in terms of what they lack, closing off consideration of the positive resources they may be
able to call up on and entrenching assumptions of dependency. A significant absence has been the concept
of class which, by contrast, has always implied a set of capacities and positive resources for expression and
identity. The paper outlines some of the stakes in this displacement of class. It seeks to reconnect thinking
about inequalities in media practices with some of the classical cultural studies work on class as well as
“capabilities” approaches in development theory.
Catherine Lumby
Who Listens To the Radio?
Young people across diverse socioeconomic backgrounds may not share equal access to education but most
of them do share social and online media experiences. While their networks differ, new media platforms are
central to their lives and identities. This paper will draw on a project involving focus groups with young
people between 13-17 from two high schools – one in a traditionally working class city and one in a country
town. I will look at how the young people perceive class, gender and sexuality and how they think those
issues affect their sense of self and community. A large part of the project was focused on media
consumption. But in conducting the research it became immediately apparent that young people were far
more interested in using media for communicating with each other than consuming professionally produced
content. The latter was clearly and consistently positioned as incidental, albeit influential, when it came to
their own media use. The paper will explore the experiences and views of young people in regional and rural
areas about the role media plays in their lives. It will also answer the following question: Who listens to the
radio? Stay tuned.
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