For more information:
Frank R. Scatoni
619-807-1887
frank@ventureliterary.com

"No Kill Date"

Venture Literary Sells a Critical Look at Sex and the Media to Overlook Press.

On April 7, 2007, Jennifer de la Fuente of Venture Literary sold the World rights to The Lolita Effect: Why the Media Sexualize Young Girls and What You Can Do About It by Meenakshi Gigi Durham to Juliet Grames at Overlook Press.

In this book, University of Iowa professor and journalist Meenakshi Gigi Durham addresses this media phenomenon of sexualizing young girls and offers strategies of resistance for girls and their concerned parents. She’s not condemning, but rather making sure we are aware of the images around us—and how we can hone our critical thinking to empower ourselves to deal with the media spectacle surrounding our young girls.

The Lolita Effect argues that the sexualization of young girls in contemporary society is an effect of cultural factors—which define sex in specific ways that work to construct these little “Lolitas”—that eroticize childhood for profit. This phenomenon—the “Lolita Effect”—is in large part a creation of the corporate media. In this book, various myths of sexuality circulated via the mass media are examined to demonstrate how children, and young girls in particular, are positioned in terms of an exploitative version of eroticism and sexuality. It also offers clear guidelines for adults to help them work with children to recognize, understand, and ultimately resist the damaging consequences of these trends.

Meenakshi Gigi Durham is a tenured faculty member in the University of Iowa’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. A former journalist, she is now on the editorial boards of the Encyclopedia for Children, Adolescents, & the Media, and Feminist Media Studies, among others. She has lectured and researched extensively on the topic of adolescent gender and sexuality and the media, and has been quoted extensively in major media outlets that were seeking to gain a better understanding of how the media is affecting the innocence of young girls.






To learn more about Venture Literary, visit: www.ventureliterary.com.
To learn more about Overlook Press, visit: www.overlookpress.com