ABSTRACT
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.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |2 pages
PART I: Histories of Representation in Mass Media and Beyond
part |2 pages
PART II: Media Consumption, Identification and Role Models
part |2 pages
PART III: LGBTQs as Producers in the Digital Age: Blogging
part |2 pages
PART IV: Discourses on and by LGBTQs on Social Media
part |2 pages
PART V: Self-Presentation and Intimacy on Online Dating Sites