Gender, Television and Digital Media: Representations and Practices in a Platformized Public Landscape

Dear Colleagues,

Since the development of the scientific field of gender studies from the late 1960s onwards, both as an unexplored scientific area of interest and as a social, cultural and political request, a lot of ‘ink’ (and web content) has been spilled. The issue of the role played by the media in the configuration of gender imaginaries, perceptions and stereotypes has never abandoned the questioning of scholars and society in various dimensions. Whether by studying news production, journalism patterns, television production, or — more recently in the tradition of cultural, media and gender studies — cross-media content, social media and digital platforms, the question of gender must be considered at multiple overlapping levels.

The dimension of gender must be taken into consideration when analysing content and behaviour in television and digital media. These two media areas must be considered not to strictly mark divided operating areas, but, by stretching out television content, we acknowledge and explore the dynamic of the intermedial logic reconfiguring both the ‘traditional’ and digital media that have developed in the past few decades, contradicting simplistic claims of the ‘death of television’ and thus forming a hybrid public sphere.

It is in the above context that this Special Issue explores the intersections between gender, television, and digital media. With the advent of digital platforms and media convergence, gender representation and media consumption practices have evolved in complex and interconnected ways. We invite studies that address how television and digital media reshape gender constructions, the power dynamics in content production and consumption, and the socio-cultural impacts of transmedia representations and practices.

Topics of interest (indicative but not limited to):

• Gender representation from traditional to digital media;
• Media consumption practices in the platformization era with regard to gender;
• Gender power dynamics and participation in audiovisual and digital content production;
• Socio-cultural impacts of television and digital content on gender perceptions and re-shaping gendered imaginary discourses;
• Transmedia storytelling and its influence on gender narratives;
• Gendered approaches in factual TV genres and news and public debates in the media and on social media;
• Gender revisited by fiction on TV and streaming platforms and production trends, textual analysis, and audience research;
• Just for fun? Gendered stereotypes and models on entertainment television (reality shows, TV games, etc.) and online platforms (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc.);
• Gender reconfigurations and expressions between the public and private hybrid and platformized spheres.

Dr. Rita Basílio Simões
Dr. Ioanna Vovou
Dr. Fabiana Piccinin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journalism and Media is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• gendered representations
• gender narratives
• media representations
• digital content
• platformized public space, TV and gender
• media consumption practices