The contemporary media landscape and its cultural dimension today are characterized by a digital plenitude (Bolter 2020) that engages with various forms—from books and magazines to films, television and radio programs, from website to blogs and social platforms -, and a multitude of practices that include making, remixing, sharing, and critiquing. We are also witnessing phenomenally rapid changes in gender relations, representations, and identities, fostered by media technologies and globalization.

In this context, there is an increasing sensitivity to the “contradictoriness of constructions of gender in today’s media” (Gill 2007). Indeed, along with undeniable progresses in media discourses that emphasize self-confidence, body positivity, and feminist achievements, worrisome violent phenomena such as revenge porn, online harassment and the conflation of xenophobic and misogynist media campaigns are on the rise (Banet-Weiser, 2018).

Understanding the ever-changing relationship between gender and media therefore requires an interdisciplinary approach that encompass intersectional and transnational perspectives. How do changes in gender roles affect and shape the production of media content? Which role do media play within broader social histories and sociological theories of gender? How do the interrelations between media and gender shape new forms of subjectivity, agency, and identities?

Convenors: Maria Elena D’Amelio (UNIRSM) and Luca Gorgolini (UNIRSM)

Scientific organizing committee: Giovanna Cosenza, Cristina Demaria, Maria Elena D’Amelio, Luca Gorgolini, Geraldina Roberti, Lucio Spaziante

Programme