“Sex and the Slayer: Sexual Liberation or Sexual Transgression in Buffy the Vampire Slayer A Feminist Icon Tormented by Misogyny”

This essay challenges the long-held feminist notions of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its creator, Joss Whedon. The text examines the many physical, mental, and emotional abuses that Buffy Summers endures throughout the seven season show, especially any time she uses her female agency to have sex. The emotional turmoil the creators consistently put her through significantly changes her character through the shows overall arc. At this stage, this paper is organized chronologically through her lovers, and how her choices and the machinations of the gods (the creators) punish her throughout. There is a thread of misogyny that runs through this show attaching itself to Buffy’s sexual life and leaving her physically hurt, emotionally shredded, and mentally exhausted, yet she is still the Slayer and must continue on. Potential Journals for submission: Slayage: The International Journal of Whedon Studies; Science Fiction Film and Television

Mad Max Franchise: An Edited Collection (temporary title)

This is currently a work in process with the proposal going out only recently. George Miller introduced Mad Max with his first movie in 1980. The trilogy delivered heart pounding action and acts of heroism, but it ended in 1985. George Miller was always interested in a fourth installment which came to fruition in 2015 with Mad Max: Fury Road: which some saw as “feminist propaganda” and in 2024, he released Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Mad Max has become an important inclusion in the movie world and is rife with important thematic approaches and points for discussion. It is the story of an apocalyptic wasteland that deals with heroism, monstrosity, and violence, and many other themes which made it relevant in the 1980s and far more relevant in the first quarter of the 21st century. There have been  a few articles written about this topic, and Science Fiction and Television Journal recently did a special issue. However, there has never been a complete and full examination of the entire franchise, which is the intention of this edited collection.  McFarland has expressed interest in this project, pending an initial selection of essays. CFP