Dr Anneke Meyer

Academic and professional qualifications

I completed a PhD on the social reaction to paedophilia at Manchester University in 2004. 

Previous employment

Between 2004 and 2006 I worked as a lecturer in sociology at Durham University and was review editor for the BSA’s Sociology journal. In 2006 I joined MMU.

Research expertise

My research interests and activities span a range of areas - including paedophilia and child sexual abuse, childhood, rape, gender, binge drinking, morality and moralising - which are connected by a focus on the media. Specifically, my research explores the ways in which the media create popular discourses around an issue and how these imapct on wider culture and society. I am interested in specific effects (e.g. the conceptualisation of laws or the implementation of rules) as well as general impact, such as providing a language for talking about a topic or contributing to the maintenance of norms and values.

• I am currently researching moral panics and Islamophobia, specifically the way in which certain Islamophobic disocurses underwrite and connect a number of discrete moral panics about Muslim 'Others'. To this end, myself and Scott Poynting are perparing a conference paper and journal article f analysing the case of Abu Qatada in the British press.

• Between 2009 and 2011, myself and Katie Milestone completed the book Gender and Popular Culture (Polity Press) which investiagtes processes of media production, representation and consumption in relation to gender.

• Since 2008 I have conducted research into media representations around binge drinking and rape, with a focus on how media discourses shape public attitudes to intoxicated victims of rape and affect legal decision-making processes. This research has resulted in conference papers and publications (see below).

• 2001-2004 ESRC funded Phd Sociology: Governing the Child at Risk: Paedophiles, Media Responses and the Crisis of Neo-Liberalism. The thesis aims to understand and explain the social reaction to paedophiles – which are marked by panic and emotiveness – by engaging in a close discourse analysis of media representations of paedophilia as well as documenting focus group research with members of the public regarding their attitudes. This research has resulted in numeours conferences papers and publications, including the single-authored monograph The Child at Risk (Manchester University Press).

Other research activites and group memberships

Member of the Joseph Rowntree Advisory Board for the project Transmission of Drinking Cultures, Liverpool John Moores University, 2008-2010.

I am a member of the BSA's media study group.

I am a member of the Parenting Cultures study group, based at the University of Kent.

I am a member of the BSA's childhood study group.

Publications

• Books (authored/edited/special issues)

  K. Milestone, A. Meyer (2020). Gender and Popular Culture. Polity.

  K. Milestone, A. Meyer (2019). Gender and Popular Culture.

  A. Meyer The child at risk: paedophiles, media responses and public opinion.

• Journal articles

  A. Meyer (2010). "Too drunk to say no": Binge drinking, rape and the daily mail. Feminist Media Studies. 10(1), pp.19-34.

  A. Meyer (2007). The moral rhetoric of childhood. Childhood. 14(1), pp.85-104.

• Chapters in books

  A. Meyer, S. Poynting (2018). Media, Crime and Racism. M. Bhatia, S. Poynting, W. Tufail. In: Media, Crime and Racism. Springer International Publishing,

  A. Meyer, K. Milestone (2016). The Lonely Cloud: Intensive Parenting and Social Media in Neoliberal Times. In: We Need to Talk About Family: Essays on Neoliberalism, The Family and Popular Culture. Policy Press,

  A. Meyer (2015). The Rotherham Abuse Scandal. In: Revisiting Moral Panics. Policy Press,

  A. Meyer (2012). Global Islamophobia. G. Morgan, S. Poynting. In: Global Islamophobia. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.,

  A. Meyer Moral panics, globalisation and Islamophobia: the case of Abu Hamza in The Sun.

  A. Meyer Researching cultural consumers.

  A. Meyer (2010). Popular Culture, Crime and Social Control. M. Deflem. In: Popular Culture, Crime and Social Control. Emerald Group Publishing,

  A. Meyer Evil monsters and cunning perverts: representing and regulating the dangerous paedophile.

  A. Meyer (2008). Investigating cultural consumers. In: Research Methods for Cultural Studies. pp.68-86.

• Conferences

  J. Massey, A. Meyer (2009). Dangerous liaisons: child sex offending and underage sex in the media and the law. Indiana State University, USA, 5/10/2009.

Expert reviewer for journals and publishers

Review editor for the BSA’s Sociology journal.

Consultancy and advisory roles

Member of the Joseph Rowntree Advisory Board for the project Transmission of Drinking Cultures, Liverpool John Moores University, 2008-2010.