An interview Clara Chapdelaine-Feliciati about her edited book, Girls' Positionalities at the Intersection of Identity and Violence
Our member, Dr. Clara Chapdelaine-Feliciati (Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China – the United Kingdom), talks about her edited book, Girls' Positionalities at the Intersection of Identity and Violence (Springer, 2026).
Q: What is this edited collection about?
Girls' Positionalities explores the unique situation of girls and gender-based violence in the 21st century. It covers timely issues, such as online violence, deepfakes, popular platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Pornhub, while addressing girls in specific situations, such as armed conflict.
This book first explores the cultural and visual portrayal of girlhood and its relationship with gender-based violence, from the co-option of girlhood by nationalist and colonial agendas, awareness-raising campaigns, to political activism on TikTok, girls in videogames, access to reproductive health, and the concepts of girlhood and gender apartheid.
The book then provides case studies of specific human rights violations: harassment in the educational system, violence in intimate partner relationships, including via social media; girls in problematic situations, such as guerrilla and refugee girls; and violations specific to girls, namely child marriage and FGM, including labiaplasty.
Girls’ Positionalities features junior as well as senior scholars and practitioners, in various disciplines (by chapter order): Clara Chapdelaine-Feliciati, Julie Ada Tchoukou, Aakanksha D’Cruz, Anuppiriya Sriskandarajah, Gabriele Aroni, Marta F. Suarez, Eva Bishwal, Laura Guercio, Stéphanie Walsh Matthews, Christine Tamer, Cecile de Villiers, Olanike S. Adelakun, Rossini Sandjong Djabome, Jonathan Herring, Kim Barker, Sou Hee Yang, Emily Lockhart, Billie-Dhelia Laforest, Mercy Oke-Chinda, Anmol Kaur, Boluwaji Olaniru and Frésange Maleka. Their expertise shines a light on contemporary issues faced by girls in the Global South and the Global North and across social classes.
The book aims to identify legal, social and economic avenues to support girls in reclaiming their identity, dignity and bodily integrity.
Q: What made you initiate this volume?
In 2026, girls experience significant gender-based violence. Many so-called “traditional” harmful practices, such as child marriage, are still prevalent globally, while new forms of violence have emerged, notably in the Global North, especially through social media platforms. In my recently published monograph The Status of the Girl Child under International Law (CUP 2025), I investigated the extent to which girls are protected under international law, and concluded that many violations specific to girls, and the obstacles they face in exercising their rights, are not duly considered. What stood out was how prevalent violence against girls is in both the Global North and Global South.
As the editor of Girls’ Positionalities, I found it important to explore the relationship between societal perceptions of girlhood, including those promoted by mainstream and social media, and gender-based violence. This required an interdisciplinary approach; accordingly, this volume is the outcome of a common effort from scholars in various disciplines, such as law, sociology, childhood studies, feminist studies, political science, education, game studies and literature.
The objective of this volume is to demonstrate that violence against girls is not a fatality: it is shaped by representations of girlhood, from Pornhub and OnlyFans, to political decisions at the domestic and international levels.
Also, while many studies tend to focus on girls as victims, this volume emphasizes ways in which girls can be empowered and engage in the promotion of their rights through awareness-raising, policy reform and a cultural shift in the portrayals of girlhood globally.
An excerpt from Clara Chapdelaine-Feliciati's own chapter ('The Girl Child and Her Inferior Status in Society: The Road to Violence,' pages 186-188):
The Girl Child experiences various forms of violence in the public and private spheres, and across the Global North and the Global South, throughout her childhood and into womanhood. This violence, however, does not occur in a vacuum. The cultural and visual portrayals of girlhood and the inferior status ascribed to the girl child as a semiotic sign in society have, over the past centuries, critically impacted the view that she is “less than” and thus less deserving of fundamental human rights and freedoms […]
Both the woman and girl identity groups experience gender-based violence and are targeted expressly and precisely because of their sex. The overarching womanhood umbrella however does not account for the increased vulnerability of girl children compared to adult women. […]
While gender-based violence, and notably sexual violence, is a serious violation and traumatic experience at any age, it severely impacts the girl child, often for her entire life. It is thus important to explore the unique legal and socio-cultural positionalities of girl children located at the intersection of childhood and femalehood, which differ from those of adult women. In this regard, it is pertinent to distinguish boundaries within girlhood and acknowledge that young girls, that is, girls before they reach puberty, do not experience violence in the same way as adolescent girls, that is, after puberty.
The consequences may also differ: a young girl who is raped is more likely to have long-term scars; while an adolescent girl might become pregnant from the rape, another important trauma. Hence while I do not intend to conduct “Oppression Olympics” between young girls and adolescent girls, the experience of violence and its long-term impact can vary between and among these identity groups (Hancock 2007). In all cases, gender-based violence has long-term and dire consequences […]
The present Chapter shall examine the various social, legal and cultural portrayals and positionalities of the girl child, chronologically from before her birth and into womanhood, and its relationship with many forms of gender-based and child-based violence.