Women and Media Conference
9th-10th March 2012
This interdisciplinary conference considers the relationship between women and the media, across history, in a dual sense: the media’s categorization of the female body and censorship of the female voice, as well as the use of media such as social networking and blogging as a platform for feminism.
Representations of women in the media have been both vexed and controversial from the witch trials of fifteenth century to the recent portrayals of figures such as Amanda Knox. Investigating such representations, and the motivations which encircle them, the conference seeks to discuss the marginal experiences of women and expose the female silences that operate within the news cycle. In addition, it seeks to acknowledge the variety of ways in which women have sought to redress this silence by examining the gendered discourses that are emerging through new media.
We welcome 20 minute papers that address all aspects of women’s interaction with the media. Possible topics may include, but are not limited to, the following themes:
- The past and historical aspects of newspaper reporting
- Issues of censorship
- Victimisation and exploitation
- Celebrity culture and the journalist’s cult of personality
- Media treatment of rape, abortion and motherhood
- Social networking and the future of media
- Feminism and the radical media
- Areas of deviance and resistance
- Silence and absent voices
- Local and national perspectives
- Representations of female criminality
- Spectacle and hysteria
- The female voice and representations of self
- Representations of prostitution and sexuality
- Media advertising and target audience
Proposals (max. 250 words) are invited from postgraduate students and early career researchers, and should be submitted by 10th February 2012 to the conference organisers at womenandmedia2012@gmail.com.
