The thematic issue, titled “Influence and Visibility in Gendered Public Spheres,” aims to shed new light on a topical and crucial area in media and communication studies.
Feminist media studies and gender scholars demonstrate that public spheres are strongly gendered and mirror unequal power relations, hierarchies, and injustices in politics and society. The thematic issue builds upon these crucial theoretical and empirical insights and focuses on the establishment, change, and stabilization of gendered public spheres in various communication contexts. It thus includes key questions of who is visible and which frames, ideas, and narratives are present as well as how influential are certain actors, frames, and discourses in gendered public spheres. The thematic issue shall offer new theoretical and empirical insights into the relationship between visibility and influence in gendered public spheres.
Hence, the thematic issue can cover the following topics:
- Fragmentation and polarization of public spheres and how gender dynamics come into play;
- The role of social media in shaping (anti-)gender narratives and fostering (anti-)feminist activism;
- Relevance of specific individual and collective actors (e.g., influencers, politicians, activists, and organizations) within public spheres, with a focus on the dynamics of influence and visibility;
- Conflicts and coalitions on the actor and ideational level in gendered public spheres;
- Cross-national comparisons of how gendered public spheres are constructed via global (anti-)gender movements;
- Disinformation and fake-news attacking gender studies and targeting gender equality.
We invite authors to address these topics from theoretical and empirical perspectives. Scholars can be situated in different disciplines to spur an interdisciplinary debate on the subject. Qualitative and quantitative as well as mixed and multi-method approaches are very welcome.
