Beyond the Binary: Reimagining Gender Fluidity in Media Representations

Queer theory is a postmodern critical theory that grew out of the women’s, gay, and queer studies’ movements of the 1990s. As a critical theory, queer theory explores the disconnect between biological sex, gender, desire, identity, and culture, and how the discrepancies between each can speak to the multiple forms of reality present within the world, and instability of binary positions. Although queer theory has been widely adopted in fields such as literature, philosophy, and critical cultural studies, little attention has been given to this theory within the fields of counseling and psychology. This article will begin by presenting queer theory and describing the tenets, followed by a discussion of how the tenets of queer theory align within the humanistic paradigm within counseling and psychology. The authors will explore the utility and application of queer theory into humanistic counseling practice, education, and discuss the possibility for future research. A pronounced focus of the article will center on the social justice implications of queer humanistic work, and the utility of the theory to promote self-exploration, holistic integration, and validation of all clients’ human potential.

This chapter explores how contemporary Italian youth television problematises today’s moral panic about young people online, by using representations of social media and mobile app use in the Italian version of the transnational format SKAM Italia (2018–2024) as a case study. Like other contemporary Italian TV series, SKAM Italia is characterised by the use of mobile app screenshots as diegetic extensions in the narration (Antonioni et al., Critical Studies in Television: The International Journal of Television Studies, 16(4), 433–454, 2021), which help define the relationships between characters and the main characters’ subjectivity. Firstly, the series successfully displays the community-building opportunities allowed by different social media, which facilitate communication within close friends (WhatsApp), interaction with secondary characters (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram) and relationships with characters who are away from Rome (Skype). Secondly, representations of homosexuality and religious practice in SKAM Italia show that social media is not only used to derogate and bully but is also fundamental to self-interrogate and express the main characters’ identities.

This chapter discusses nonbinary sexual identities, such as bisexuality, that are often rendered invisible and illegitimate due to the prevalence of either/or categories rooted in dualistic thinking and behaviors in society. Bisexuality, pansexuality, and asexuality are introduced through a social lens, including through the social institutions of media, law, and higher education. Theoretical interventions are used to debunk harmful misconceptions about nonbinary sexual identities. Beginning with essentialist theories, the reader is challenged to consider why nonbinary sexual identities continue to be delegitimized and invalidated. Next, theories of social constructionism and queer theory are introduced to provide a much-needed counterpoint to the commonly held belief that sexual identities are inherently natural, stable, and never-changing. Finally, this chapter returns to the author’s own nonbinary identity and now she has personally navigated bi-negativity at both the personal and institutional level.

PurposeThis study aims to refocus the field of Hip Hop based education on youth identities and epistemologies rather than on the tangible artifacts of Hip Hop culture. It argues that centering classroom pedagogy and curriculum on youth self-actualization best supports the critical literacy development of students grappling with social and structural inequities within an ever-evolving youth and media culture.Design/methodology/approachBuilding upon previous literature on critical literacy, Hip Hop pedagogy and adolescent identity formation, this paper shares data from a semester-long teacher–researcher case study of a high school Hip Hop literature and culture class to explore how young people develop critical literacies and self-actualizing practices through a critical study of youth culture.FindingsFor youth engaged in Hip Hop culture, co-constructing spaces to discuss their consumption of popular media and culture in class allows them to openly grapple with questions of identity, provide support for each other in dealing with these questions and reflect more critically upon their self-constructed, performed and perceived identities.Originality/valueThis form of English education challenges traditional notions of teaching and learning as it positions students as co-creators of curriculum and as part of the curriculum itself. Building on research that frames Hip Hop pedagogy as a culturally relevant tool for engaging urban youth, this paper argues that educators should approach critical Hip Hop literacy development as a means by which young people across diverse educational and social backgrounds come to know themselves and others as part of the process of self-actualization and critical resistance.

Toward a Transgender Critique of Media Representation Thomas J Billard (bio) and Erique Zhang (bio) Shifts in media production and consumption along with the emergence of digital technologies have facilitated quantitative increases and (per some critics) qualitative improvements in transgender representation across print media, film, and television.1 The biggest influence on trans media representation has come via social media and other platforms for sharing usergenerated content, which now provide the lion's share of trans media representations. Unlike those of newspapers, studio films, and broadcast television, however, social media representations are not produced by members of the cisgender majority, for members of the cis majority; they are overwhelmingly trans produced. As such, to critique these digital media representations is not to critique regimes of representational power or the machinations of hegemonic media systems. Rather, it is to critique how transgender people choose to represent themselves and the identities they hold. Studies of trans media thus far have tended to employ perspectives from feminist theory and queer theory to analyze transgender representation.2 [End Page 194] However, doing so has posed analytic problems for the burgeoning field of trans media studies. To articulate these problems, we draw on Cáel M. Keegan's analysis of trans studies' position vis-à-vis women's and queer studies, as well as TJ Billard's extensions of that analysis in the specific domain of trans media studies.3 By no means do we assume either feminist theory or queer theory to be monolithic in their approaches; rather, we endeavor to describe the central tendencies of these broad interdisciplines as they exist in their institutionalized forms. Moreover, we draw from sociology of culture frameworks to propose a mode of transgender representational critique that attends to the specificities of trans identity and experience rather than evaluating representation in terms of "good" or "bad." Feminist approaches to media studies often maintain a model whereby men dominate women and patriarchy works through media narratives to maintain male dominance.4 Misogynist representations are "bad" and those that oppose it are "good."5 Trans media representations challenge this thinking by disrupting the hierarchy of domination that feminist theory posits. Where does the trans man fall in the hierarchy of patriarchal domination? Does he now dominate women by virtue of his transition? Where does the trans woman fall? Is she now dominated by men, or—as trans-exclusionary radical feminists have argued—does she dominate "real" (i.e., cis) women by virtue of the sex she was assigned at birth?6 Where does the nonbinary person fall, whose existence challenges the binary required for this hierarchical understanding of power? While much feminist theory is invested in a model of binaristic sexual subordination, queer theory is invested in deconstructing the binary gender system as a means of "unravel[ing] heteronormativity."7 Queer theorists often interpret transness either as "some 'ultimate form' of queerness that manifests literally the metaphor of gender transgression" or as an anti-queer impulse toward binary conformity.8 From a queer theoretical perspective, [End Page 195] then, transgender representations should be evaluated as "bad" to the extent they uphold the validity of binary gender identity and "good" to the extent they disrupt the binary gender system.9 Trans identity disrupts this theoretical model, as trans people variously identify with and against a binary gender system in a complex field of valid identities.10 Accordingly, transgender media representations cannot be simply read through the queer political fantasy of counter-normativity. Beyond their theoretical limitations, both approaches also present methodological shortcomings: feminist and queer theories claim to offer a "more rigorous excavation of subjectivities" than sociological accounts, but they have tended to do so via analyses that superimpose the anti-patriarchal and antinormative political investments of the theorist onto the objectified trans figure.11 Put differently, these theorists project their own universalized interests onto the trans figures whose identities they claim to excavate. Consider, for instance, two competing readings of the film Paris Is Burning (Jennie Livingston, 1990) by Black feminist theorist bell hooks and queer theorist Judith Butler. For her part, hooks reads the representations of trans women in Paris as "bad" because they uphold the subordination of Black women...

Gender representation is inherently a part of child-oriented media that plays a significant role in childhood identity development, and the lack of positive queer representation may lead to unfair treatment of queer youth. An art classroom cannot be a space for exploration and risk-taking if art teachers are unaware of how to structure an appropriate environment for queer curricula. Recognizing the circumstances, we categorize queer representations in media as queer main-text and queer subtext. (Queer representation can be utilized as a foundational approach for cultivating pre-service art teachers’ visual literacy regarding two aspects: (1) the sensibility of decoding visual spectacles of queer representations, and (2) the actions of encoding visual messages for educational application. With a mind-set of advocating for diversity, pre-service art teachers can critically and logically refute normative interpretations of LGBTQ+ representations in media, create a space for open exploration of LGBTQ+, and reveal and neutralize top-down power relationships within K—12 art classrooms. Further, pre-service art teachers will be better primed to take on a leading role in advocating for LGBTQ+ themes, and they will be encouraged to create an appropriate place for queer students to feel welcome to express themselves, but also a place where students can experience open-mindedness and empathetically embrace diversity.

This study examined public responses to Elle Magazine’s Facebook post titled “30 LGBTQ+ Celebs You Really Should Know” to reveal common rhetoric towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning, intersex, asexual, and two-spirit (LGBTQIA2S+)-based discussion on social media. A content analysis of 100 comments uncovered several themes in negative reactions to queer representation in the media sphere including: preferred ignorance, lack of understanding, blatant distaste, religious bias, the view that queer identity is unnatural, an illness, an identity crisis, a trend, and a trauma response. Of the 100 comments examined, 86 responses were negative. The most prevalent theme was preferred ignorance, where respondents favoured keeping queer representation out of public discourse.

In this study, the representation of gender in the media was examined. Examples of the media representations in the media has been presented as an introduction to the book. Gender development takes place in news, series, advertisements and the prevailing gender in cinema. After the theory part which includes academic studies and differences from sex. It was supported by examples from the media. In the study, women, men and homosexual representations in the Turkish media have been examined. At the end of the study, women have been depicted in the media in a disadvantaged and secondary position. Especially the news that the word “woman” in the news is reinforcing the disadvantageous position of women. In series and advertisements, women are either a carrier of an object or traditional role in the face of a man's perspective. In addition, men reinforce their dominant position in the society as well, while homosexuals are also disadvantaged like other women and continue their positions in the media.

In this study, the representation of gender in the media was examined. Examples of the media representations in the media has been presented as an introduction to the book. Gender development takes place in news, series, advertisements and the prevailing gender in cinema. After the theory part which includes academic studies and differences from sex. It was supported by examples from the media. In the study, women, men and homosexual representations in the Turkish media have been examined. At the end of the study, women have been depicted in the media in a disadvantaged and secondary position. Especially the news that the word “woman” in the news is reinforcing the disadvantageous position of women. In series and advertisements, women are either a carrier of an object or traditional role in the face of a man's perspective. In addition, men reinforce their dominant position in the society as well, while homosexuals are also disadvantaged like other women and continue their positions in the media.

This study aims to examine the media literacy and digital media practices of university students who are digital natives and Generation Z. This study diagnosed critical media literacy among university students, investigate their daily digital news use, and analyzed the relationship between critical media literacy levels and digital news use. The analysis on the data of university students’ critical media literacy and digital news use showed that their media literacy levels are quite high, but their media practices are not. They perceived the credibility of social media as a source of information to be moderate and believed it to be trustworthy in attractiveness rather than qualifications or expertise. Nonetheless, they reported that social media is the primary source of news in their daily lives. The main implication of this study is that the goals of media literacy education for university students should include the ability to transfer their media literacy skills into everyday media practices. This research may contribute to increase of the interest of researchers in the area of university media literacy education.

This paper explores the imperative of decolonizing psychiatry by re-evaluating its foundational frameworks to better accommodate gender fluidity and nonbinary identities. Modern psychiatry, deeply rooted in Western epistemologies, has historically marginalized nonbinary and fluid gender identities by pathologizing divergence from cisnormativity. By integrating perspectives from global mental health, queer theory, and postcolonial studies, this paper argues for a paradigmatic shift within psychiatric thought and practice toward inclusivity and cultural competence. The paper emphasizes the need for systemic reforms in diagnostic criteria, clinical training, and therapeutic frameworks to align psychiatry with the evolving understanding of gender diversity.

Data Desire in the Anthropocene

Recently, mediatisation has emerged as a theory seeking to account for the seemingly pervasive influence of media on social, cultural and religious practices and institutions. Mediatisation theory, as proposed by Stig Hjarvard, suggests that mediatisation is a modern Western process whereby the media usurps social activities once the domain of institutional religion. Such a theory, focusing on changes that media brings to institutional religions with a visible presence in the public sphere of the nation state, does not seem to be intended for an analysis of non-institutional or unofficial religions that have limited visibility in the public sphere. And yet, such religions also seem to be changing as they intersect with forms of new and mass media. This article interrogates the applicability of mediatisation theory to Haitian Vodou (a non-institutional religion). It does so by exploring the intersection of Vodou with media practices and representations (focusing on televisual and cinematic representations), examining the public visibility of the religion and exploring what media representations (both popular and documentary) can mean for religious practitioners. Such an analysis questions the technological determinism, ethnocentrism and myths of secular modernity that threaten to underpin mediatisation theory.

“My Little Influencer”

Media technologies are at the heart of media studies in communication and critical cultural studies. They have been studied in too many ways to count and from a wide variety of perspectives. Yet fundamental questions about media technologies—their nature, their scope, their power, and their place within larger social, historical, and cultural processes—are often approached by communication and critical cultural scholars only indirectly. A survey of 20th- and 21st-century approaches to media technologies shows communication and critical cultural scholars working from, for, or against “deterministic” accounts of the relationship between media technologies and social life through “social constructivist” understandings to “networked” accounts where media technologies are seen embedding and embedded within socio-material structures, practices, and processes. Recent work on algorithms, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and platforms, together with their manifestations in the products and services of monopolistic corporations like Facebook and Google, has led to new concerns about the totalizing power of digital media over culture and society.