COMM3730 - 01 - Feminist Media Studies

(SJ) Social Justice

For decades, media have been an important force in shaping conceptions of gender, race, sexuality, and social movements. In this class, we will engage in interdisciplinary and intersectional analyses of media texts, focusing on the ways in which they speak to, represent, and critique notions of gender and feminism. Drawing from a wide range of academic literature including feminist theory, queer theory, critical race theory, feminist film theory, television criticism, digital studies, and cultural studies, we will trace the development of mediated representations of gender during the 20th and 21st centuries. Throughout this journey we will cross a range of media texts, outlets, and platforms, culminating with an examination of the often digitally-mediated "new visibilities" of feminism that inform modern conceptions of gender, race, sexuality, and the feminist movement itself.