Although there appears to be an abundance of literature and opportunities available for discussion on the topic of gender and the media, «researching the gender-media dyad is still an important project for media scholars» (Ross 2010, p. 3). This topic remains significant for several reasons. First is the complex and rapidly evolving nature of media products, technology and actors. The current media landscape and its cultural dimension are constituted by the accumulation and juxtaposition of content, media forms, production and consumption practices, and everything in between. Stale and stereotyped images continue to exist, alongside more innovative and critical content created through processes of remixing, sharing, co-creation and contestation (Banet-Weiser, 2018; Bolter, 2019).

Moreover, the field of studies that explore the complexity and variety of subjectivities, identities, orientations and social and sexual relations in the media universe, alongside more traditional analyses of media representations, is steadily growing. In the last two decades, there has been a significant growth of innovative theoretical reflections and empirical evidence on the relationship between gender and the media that has gone beyond mere media representation and binary, heteronormative approaches (Farris, Compton, Herrera, 2020; Gill 2007; Kay, 2020; Krijnen, 2020; Lotz 2006; Ross, 2012).

This trend is also fuelled by the ever-increasing centrality of gendered actors who make growing use of the media to gain visibility and voice in the discursive arena (Mendes, Ringrose, Keller, 2019; Jackson, Bailey, Foucault-Welles, 2020).
Additionally, the importance of an ongoing reflection on the gender-media dyad stems from the advance of theoretical and empirical contributions from different countries with more recent experience of studying gender and media and with distinctive cultural perspectives (Buonanno, Faccioli, 2020; Cerqueira et al. 2016; Rigoletto, 2020).
In particular, the field of gender and media studies in Italy has developed fairly recently, yielding valuable theoretical and empirical insights, but with few opportunities for international discussion.

Building on these considerations, we aim to organise an international (online and in-person) conference with the primary objective of advancing discussion and exchange among scholars from different countries. The conference will provide an overview of the most recent studies on gender and the media, and, most importantly, will give prominence to research strands that are not always visible in the international arena.
The event is in line with the activities of the GeMMA Research Unit (Department of Communication and Social Research, Sapienza University of Rome) and of the PhD Programme in Communication, Social Research and Marketing (Sapienza University of Rome).
The conference welcomes paper proposals exploring the gender-media dyad in relation to media production, representations and the public, legacy and digital media, technology affordances and constraints. This includes a variety of viewpoints from across time and space. Particular attention will be given to contributions that focus on emerging trends on the innovation of images, production and consumption of media content, and, more generally, on new or lesser-known dimensions of gender and media studies.

Please submit your 350-word abstract in English or Italian, together with a short bio (up to 150 words), including your contact details, before the 15th of May 2021.

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