MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Events of recent months, including abortion restrictions, attitudes toward sexual assault, marriage equality, military service gender roles at home and in the workplace remind us that issues involving gender and sexuality lie at the core of stories covered by the news media. Since gender, sexuality, and what constitutes news are social constructions and since how stories about gender and sexuality are covered is shaped by cultural convention and professional practice, they are inherently both the subjects and products of discourse. This panel casts a wide net in the glimpse it offers into how gender and sexuality figure in mediated current events, from the role of masculinity in the tabloidesque behind-the-scenes machinations of a once top-rated television series, to feminist responses to politicians’ mis-characterizations of sexual assault, to notions of “unity” and “community” as represented in publications targeting LGBT and mainstream audiences. Rationale: We believe this session proposal is an excellent fit with the conference theme, “The Presence of Our Past(s)” in that it locates discussions of longstanding issues among LGBTQ persons in recent events and texts, such as gender in Two and a Half Men, community as reflected in LGBTQ publications, feminist perspectives on sexual assault in weblogs, and representations of a queer agenda in media converage.