“Homosex, Hermaph, or Trans-a-vest…Hate Fags? The Answer’s Yes”: Hypermasculinity in America and Commodified Homophobia Through the Lens of Hip Hop

Birthed in the Bronx in response to socioeconomic frustration and political invigoration, hip hop equipped youth of color in the U.S. with a dynamic platform to both communication resentment towards structures of systemic oppression and act as an outlet for fun, innovative, and uninhibited creative expression. However, as this cultural revolution transformed from an underground movement to a mainstream commodity, rap music that reflected stereotypes of Black hyper-masculinity and heteronormativity were prioritized, and rappers who embodied these roles and the ideologies paired with them rose to the top of the charts. As a result of the music industry’s prioritization of hyper-masculine, heteronormative rap, a genre with the power to project the voices of marginalized communities of color in America at the same time became an active participant in the marginalizing of another—the LGBT+ community. Yet as rap music is notorious for its attacks on the LGBT+ community, I argue that this homophobia is not contained or exacerbated within hip hop, but rather is a by-product of a homophobic society that, through hyper-masculine and heteronormative norms, nurtures these attitudes within the male-driven genre. Through a textual analysis of rap lyrics, my paper highlights where the homophobic attitudes within hip hop stem from by locating broader societal structures that foster these ideals outside the genre. Taking this step back and looking at the larger issues within American society that nurture this homophobic environment within hip hop allows us to understand and address the phenomenon within the genre more clearly.

Et Tu Ru? Entrepreneurship and the Commodification of Drag in RuPaul’s Drag Race

Historically, drag is a taboo which has been marginalized in the face of centuries of repression against non-heteronormative activity. Yet today drag has become highly visible in popular culture, and this is in large part attributable to the international success of American reality TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race (2009-present). Its bold representation of drag on a mainstream television show is unprecedented and the selection of drag queen competitors by the show’s producers has demonstrated a plethora of representations as Drag Race showcases a diverse range of identifications from the world of drag performance. The blossoming of Drag Race’s success comes at a historical moment in which we are seeing a huge proliferation of queer representations (re)produced in US television and other media over the last decade. However, as I will argue, the apparent liberalization of drag queens in popular culture is not simply a celebration of so-called ‘progress’ in the recognition of the marginalized, but may also be prompting the promotion of other value changes within late capitalism’s ideals of consumerism and entrepreneurship. Contestants are increasingly pressured to construct their drag performances to conform to a recognizable brand to reach the heights of their own private ‘success’. Mainstreamed depictions of queer subjects are susceptible to co-option, particularly in televisual forms such as Drag Race which prospers by channelling the emancipatory and subversive desires of the subculture. Through trans-textual considerations and historical contextualizations, I show how the representation of drag in Drag Race is depoliticized through neoliberal discourse as the show’s continual demand for competitors to ‘work it’ privileges and maintains the impetus for competitive profitmaking above the needs and demands of disempowered groups.

Editorial: A Contemporary Outlook on Media and Gender

ForewordNow in its 3rd year, this issue of for(e)dialogue is offering a varied analysis of the developments in Media and Gender studies, as well as a contemporary discussion as to how the field has evolved and shaped the debates.

How to Give Birth - According to Hollywood

This article examines birth scenes in five mainstream films in order to explore the way norms about birthing are reproduced or challenged. The films are: Juno (Reitman, 2007), Knocked Up (Apatow, 2007), Baby Mama (McCullers, 2008), The Back-up Plan (Poul, 2010) and What to Expect When You’re Expecting (Jones, 2012). What do the birthing scenes look like, are they realistic with non-on-set births and does the directors’ and writers’ gender, age, skin colour and class have any parallels with what is portrayed? The analysis shows that certain norms are upheld in all films; vaginal delivery in hospital, birthing positions of half sitting or laying down and present partners or friends during delivery. Scenes not representing this were depicted as the Other and thus made deviant. Homogeneity in the group behind the camera was found which correlates with certain homogeneity on screen as well. Of all the eight scenes, the women give birth half sitting or laying down in seven, implying a dominance of certain positions. These positions were found to be very common off-screen too, despite the wide range of birthing positions available and recommendations to try different ones during labour. This implies that the practicality for personnel goes beforehand. By using feminist theories on the body and medical studies on births, these findings reveal power structures devaluating female-coded bodies. The results also enhance the importance of analysing patterns of representation in general, but birthing depictions in particular, since these representations can affect people’s understanding of how a birth should be in real life.

Fighting Social Normalisation in Generation Z: Trans* Youth Activism on Tumblr

Activism for socio-political movements has been affected by the progression of technology, enhancing the conditions under which advocates can communicate worldwide. Recently, Tumblr has announced accommodating large numbers of young transgender identified individuals. This article will offer an historical analysis of the progression of gay rights throughout the twentieth century, in comparison with the similar trajectory of the transgender movement now being catalysed by technology. Through discussing key arguments in transgender theory such as the pathologisation of Gender Dysphoria in the DSM; the heterogeneity of the transgender community; and rejecting essentialist ideas of gender: we can begin to understand the need for further integration of the rhetoric of gender fluidity into the public space, in which wrong body discourse and the politics of passing can be deconstructed. By dissecting the history of mainstream media representation of gay identities, we can now understand them to be in the final ‘respect’ stage, progressing through ‘non-recognition’, ‘ridicule’, and ‘regulation’ (Clark, 1969). A further comparison with transgender representation will highlight a non-recognition of the full heterogeneity of their community, which exemplifies the need for public discussion. Tumblr has a unique opportunity, as the biggest cyberspace community of young transgender identified individuals, to impact dialogues created around transgender politics. A discourse analysis of Tumblr’s platform evidences a need to optimise its usability for transgender members. The arguments will conclude proposing that Tumblr has the ability to create a space for influential dialogues that could expand past Tumblr and into wider public spaces.

An Interspecies Internet? Thinking and Acting Feminist - Animal Rights Discourse Online

As contemporary feminist discourse continues to utilize online and digital media and technologies as platforms and tools for debate and information sharing, the reality of who -and what - has access and makes contributions to this discourse is changing. The perception of online and digital communication and debate as accessible, intersectional and democratizing forces has also meant that the conceived relationship between theoretical discourse and feminist praxis in a global forum has been made more mutable, and the distinctions between what is theory and what is praxis have become more blurred. Whether we regard digital media as trans or post-human, disembodied or decentralized, it does at least represent a form of conversation that blurs the boundaries of how we communicate, who (and what) is considered to have subjectivity, the impact of geographical location and embodiment and corporeality. These have also underpinned feminist animal rights and feminist vegetarian/vegan discourse, especially around our feminist understanding of what it means to be human. This paper references feminist vegetarian, feminist-vegan and ecofeminist theory alongside theoretical work from animal studies across a range of disciplines to analyze feminist intersections with animal rights and veganism. In doing this I hope to offer an introduction to how online context influences feminist animal rights discourse. By considering this topic through a lens of ecofeminist and vegetarian/vegan feminist theory, what we think about when we think about ‘the animal’, and an examination of the role and function of digital media in feminist discourse, this paper offers some reflections on the online contribution being made to feminist animal rights and vegan discourse, and how digital media are shaping and influencing this discourse and its wider impact.

Assessing the freedom of expression of Syrian refugee media outlets

Syrian post-uprising media outlets arose during the peaceful phase of the Syrian uprising in early 2011 (Salazar-Ferro, CPJ, 2014). Fewer than 30 of these outlets, funded by Western countries, survived and gradually moved to Turkey, escaping censorship and deteriorating security in Syria. In Turkey, they still face challenges such as security threats and an uncertain legal status. This article focuses on the challenges that threaten refugee reporters' freedom of expression. Its aim is also to bring an understanding of the techniques refugee journalists use to mitigate these challenges, which can inform other reporters in similar conditions. This research was carried out utilising a case-studies framework and speaking to seven editors in chief of post-uprising media outlets in Istanbul. It concludes that Syrian post-uprising media face severe restrictions to their freedom of expression, but survive through a mixture of collaboration, creativity and resourcefulness.

Seeking ‘common information’ among refugees, program workers, and academic researchers

This paper discusses three factors that contribute to a lack of ‘common information’ among refugees, academic researchers, and humanitarian program workers. The first is power differentials between refugees and many individuals who work with them. Refugees produce information agentively (especially through personal communications), but are also subjugated as targets of research, beneficiaries of humanitarian projects, and contingent recipients of legal protection. The second factor is transitoriness. Refugees often experience prolonged uncertainties about where and how they will live. Researchers and program workers, however, often spend short times ‘in the field’. They often negotiate their jobs’ learning curves in relative independence, with limited opportunities to share key basic aspects of their work with others or collaborate to explore more complex ones. The third factor is a lack of common ground around what information is valuable to share, rooted in the abovementioned factors and differences among academic disciplines. To strengthen collaborations, we propose increasing direct involvement by refugees in academic and program development; longer-term engagements and relationship development; and collaborations among all involved in the further development of theoretical frameworks.

How a photograph of a drowned refugee child turned a migrant crisis into a refugee crisis: A comparative discourse analysis

The ‘refugee crisis’ refers to the on-going movement of people crossing into Europe, in which over 3,692 migrants and refugees died in 2015. A key point in this ‘crisis’ was the publishing of photographs of one of the young children who died. Despite the death toll, representations and the resulting treatment of refugees in Europe remained ambivalent. This paper compares the representation of the ‘crisis’ across three countries (The UK, Norway and Australia) before and after the publishing of the photographs from one major broadcaster in each country using discourse analysis. It is shown that the photographs led to a more sympathetic portrayal of refugees resulting in the ‘crisis’ shifting from a ‘migrant’ to a ‘refugee crisis’. This analysis demonstrates the importance of the ways in which refugees are presented as well as the benefits of a comparative and interdisciplinary approach to discourse analysis.

Editorial: Connecting (Forced) Migration and Media Studies

This Special Issue on (Forced) Migration and Media is the result of two workshops organised at the University of Leicester: a workshop on (Forced) Migration and Media-research that took place on the 13th of June 2016 and a Community Impact event that was organised on the 18th of July, 2016. These workshops were a response to the topical interest for refugees’ access to digital technology and the dehumanizing language used in, especially but not limited to British, media regarding migrants and/or refugees (Berry, Garcia-Blanco, & Moore, 2015). (Forced) was purposefully bracketed as the label ‘refugee’ has its own difficulties. The differentiation between economic and forced migrants for instance negates that reasons behind migration are often multi-causal and multi-layered. It reinforces thinking in dichotomies that homogenizes and tends to negate in-between complexities, as is often appropriated as a governing tool to victimize, exclude and curtail the rights of human beings (Crawley & Skleparis, 2017; Lindley, 2010; Zetter, 2007). In this editorial, we reflect upon the main outcomes of the workshop we and other PhD-colleagues organised on the 13th of June, 2016, and connect them to the articles within this Special Issue.