LGBTQs, Media and Culture in Europe / Edition 1

by Alexander Dhoest, Lukasz Szulc, Bart Eeckhout

Overview

Media matter, particularly to social minorities like lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. Rather than one homogenised idea of the ‘global gay’, what we find today is a range of historically and culturally specific expressions of gender and sexuality, which are reflected and explored across an ever increasing range of media outlets. This collection zooms in on a number of facets of this kaleidoscope, each chapter discussing the intersection of a particular European context and a particular medium with its affordances and limitations. While traditional mass media form the starting point of this book, the primary focus is on digital media such as blogs, social media and online dating sites. All contributions are based on recent, original empirical research, using a plethora of qualitative methods to offer a holistic view on the ways media matter to particular LGBTQ individuals and communities. Together the chapters cover the diversity of European countries and regions, of LGBTQ communities, and of the contemporary media ecology. Resisting the urge to extrapolate, they argue for specificity, contextualisation and a provincialized understanding of the connections between media, culture, gender and sexuality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138649477
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/20/2016
Series:	Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Alexander Dhoest is associate professor in Communication Studies at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. His research explores the significance of popular media culture in relation to social identities, focusing in particular on media and diversity.

Lukasz Szulc is a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and the Marie Curie Fellow in the Media and Communication Department at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.

Bart Eeckhout is professor of English and American Literature at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He studied at Columbia University and Ghent University and has been a visiting professor at Fordham University and New York University, USA. He is a NIAS Fellow-in-Residence for the academic year 2016-17.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Richard Dyer

Introduction

Alexander Dhoest, Lukasz Szulc and Bart Eeckhout

Part I. Histories of Representation in Mass Media and Beyond

1. Respectably Gay: Homodomesticity in Ireland’s First Public Broadcast of a Homosexual Couple

Páraic Kerrigan

2. Breaking the Silence: The Early Portuguese Lesbian Press

Ana Maria Brandão, Tânia Cristina Machado and Joana Afonso

3. ‘I Am My Own Special Creation’: Sexual and Gender Differences in the Music Performances of an Antwerp Drag Show Company

Robbe Herreman and Alexander Dhoest

Part II. Media Consumption, Identification and Role Models

4. Coming Out in the Digital Age: The Opportunities and Limitations of Internet Use in Queer-Lesbian Coming-Out Experiences in Germany

Ulrike Roth

5. ‘I Think I’m Quite Fluid with Those Kinds of Things’: Exploring Music and Non-Heterosexual Women’s Identities

Marion Wasserbauer

6. ‘I Worry That They’ll Pick on Someone I Care about’: Trans People’s Perceptions of the British Mass Media and Its Impact on Their Mental Health and Well-Being

Louis Bailey, Jay McNeil and Sonja J. Ellis

Part III. LGBTQs as Producers in the Digital Age: Blogging

7. Safe Space, Dangerous Space: Counterpublic Discourses in the Russian LGBT Blogging Community

Evgeniya Boklage

8. Is the Pope Judging You? Digital Narratives on Religion and Homosexuality in Italy

Giulia Evolvi

9. Contesting Hegemonic Gender and Sexuality Discourses on the Web: A Semiotic Analysis of Latvian and Polish LGBTQ and Feminist Blogs

Joanna Chojnicka

Part IV. Discourses on and by LGBTQs on Social Media

10. Homosexuality on Dutch and Flemish Facebook Pages: Situational Meanings, Situational Attitudes?

Tim Savenije

11. Gay the Correct Way: Mundane Queer Flaming Practices in Online Discussions of Politics

Jakob Svensson

12. ‘I Sort of Knew What I Was, So I Wanted to See What Awaited Me’: Portuguese LGB Youngsters and Their Situated Experiences with New Media

Daniel Cardoso

Part V. Self-presentation and Intimacy on Online Dating Sites

13. Exploring Networked Interactions through the Lens of Location-Based Dating Services: The Case of Italian Grindr Users

Lorenza Parisi and Francesca Comunello

14. New in Town: Gay Immigrants and Geosocial Media

Andrew DJ Shield

15. Strategic (In)visibilities and Bareback Subcultures: The Implications of Online Communication for HIV Transmission among Gay Men in Serbia

Zoran Milosavljevic

Afterword: Writing at the Precipice

Sharif Mowlabocus

Editorial Reviews

"This collection addresses the Anglo-American bias in much LGBTQ media research and offers the reader a series of snapshots, both past and present, that detail how European LGBTQ people have used, and continue to engage with, media technologies, texts and practices. A must-read for anyone who is interested in work in this area." —Sharif Mowlabocus, University of Sussex

From the Publisher