Institute of Advanced Studies

Picturing Innocence: Children and representation

This talk focused on contemporary concerns that children are being sexualised in and by popular culture and art. It explored these debates through an analysis of the kinds of images that have generated controversy and put them into a cultural historical context.  

This lecture asked what's at stake in representations of children for adults and what these debates tell us about how we understand and frame childhood in the 21st century.

Biographical details

Professor Catharine Lumby is Professor of Journalism at UNSW and Director of the Journalism and Media Research Centre. She was the inaugural Chair of the Media and Communications Department at the University of Sydney. She is the author of seven books and numerous book chapters and journal articles. Professor Lumby is a well-known public commentator who has worked as a news reporter, feature writer and columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Bulletin magazine. She sits on the Education and Welfare Committee and the Research Committee of the National Rugby League, advising them on gender issues. She is also a member of the Advertising Standards Board. She has been awarded five Australian Research Council grants and is a member of the ARC Cultural Research Network. Her latest book is The Porn Report (Melbourne University Publishing, 2008) co-authored with Alan McKee and Kath Albury. 

Monday 16 March 2009