Anchored in analysis of in-depth and semi-structured interviews with 23 Black women in Britain, this research explores how media and online content-sharing is implicated in the development of Black women’s diasporic identities. Such matters are unpacked via an interpretive analytic lens, with Black feminist and social constructionist underpinnings. Shaped by critical studies of marketing, media, race, and gender, this research addresses issues concerning identity, ideology and inclusion, amidst media and digital culture. This thesis analyses media-based coping mechanisms concerning experiences of marginalisation and searches for a sense of belonging, related to intersecting issues of race, ethnicity and gender. There is analysis of how content generated by Black online users is entangled in processes of cultural transmission, counter-cultural resistance, and the construction of a digitally-mediated collective Black consciousness. As such, there is discussion of the notion of Black digital diaspora, in relation to analysis of the online media experiences of Black women in Britain. As part of this thesis, the concept of Black British diasporic literacy is also outlined, to further understand the particularities of Black identity development in Britain and how it is influenced by media content. Whilst the narratives of interview participants are emphasised in this thesis, it expands upon research that embraces a self-reflexive quality, by including reflections on the author’s own experiences as a Black and mixed-race woman.

This thesis is focused on American gay male comics and queer alternative comics. I argue that the field of gay male comics production is dominated by two key genres: gay porno comics and gay ghetto comics. The conventions and characteristics of these genres help to construct and reinforce a dominant gay male habitus that is both sexual and social. Drawing on interviews as well as close readings of a number of case studies, I discuss the ways in which alternative queer cartoonists respond to the conventions of these genres, and create alternative representations of gay identity, community, and sex. I argue ultimately that the field of gay male comics production is not entirely homogenous, and that the queer male alternative comics that appear from roughly 1990 onwards are distinctive. The gay male comics of the First Wave (from the 1970s to 1990) are concerned with constructing and consolidating a sense of gay identity and community as relatively unified and stable. While sometimes critical of gay culture, as a whole they ultimately affirm the ideal of a unified gay community. In contrast, the queer male alternative comics that emerged as part of the Second Wave (starting around 1990) are far more concerned with questioning the normative, dominant values of mainstream gay culture, and challenging the identities, tastes and practices associated with the dominant gay habitus. Nevertheless because the gay ghetto and gay porno genres have been so dominant, queer alternative cartoonists position themselves in various different relationships to one or other genre. While some do abandon the genre conventions of gay porno and gay ghetto comics, more often queer alternative cartoonists take up some of these genre conventions and adapt, challenge, or subvert them in subtle ways.

The theoretical part of the diploma thesis "The influence of media on perception of body image by adolescents" describes the developmental stage of adolescence, body image and terms connected with this issue. The period of adolescence is showed from many points of view. Subsequently, there follows the description of media, advertising and strategies which influnce the perception of media and also the adolescents' behavior as consumers. The empirical part contains the result of the questionnaire which was attended by a group of respondents aged between 15 to 20. The task was to determine the influence of advertising as means of media on body image by adolescents and how this youth groug perceives its body. In the final part there is a summary of findings of the perception of adolescents' body image and the influence of media on its perception.

This study researches the mass media description of women’s roles in criminal gangs as well as the contributing factors portrayed by the media for women and their involvement in the criminal gangs. We believe that this is an important subject to highlight, mainly due to the fact that the information available today is more often than not about the men whereas the women and their situation are portrayed and written about far less frequently. By using a qualitative text analysis we want to bring light to the image portrayed by the women and thereby contribute with an increase to understanding the specific terms these women face in the given contexts with the hope that the result will contribute to an increase in the knowledge of crime fighting and law enforcement. The empirical material consists of 20 articles from the following newspaper: Aftonbladet, Expressen, Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten, which have been analyzed through a content analysis. The results show that women in the gang have a far more active role than previously reported and that the activity in the gangs has increased as well. This falls in line with previous international research where women’s roles have been highlighted as predominantly active in organised crime. Furthermore, the women’s role in media is often mentioned as supportive or even being victims of the men in the gangs. A common explanation that is given is that the women join the gang due to societal factors such as the women feeling let down by their society. Social relations such as family and boyfriends that are part of criminal gangs and that might influence the women are also brought up as possible causes. More unusual factors that draw the women to gangs regard financial incentives such as the dream of making a great deal of money, longing for a feeling of safety or to simply experience excitement.

Das Internet kann auf vielfältige Weise in den (häuslichen) Alltag integriert werden - die vorliegende, durchaus interessante Studie analysiert hauptsächlich auf der Basis von problemzentrierten Interviews und einer qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse (nach MAYRING) die (aktiven) Aneignungsmodi und die Integration dieses Mediums in den Alltag. Im Mittelpunkt der Studie stehen die Effekte der Nutzungs- und Kommunikationsformen des Internets, aufgegliedert in zeitliche, räumliche, inhaltliche und soziale Dimensionen. Im Besonderen werden die Wirkungen der Internetnutzung in Bezug auf Beziehungsstrukturen zwischen (Lebens-) Partner/innen und Geschlechterverhältnisse fokussiert. Dabei wird der Frage nachgegangen, inwieweit Ungleichheitsstrukturen auch im Bereich des going online reproduziert werden. Durch die Auswahl von jeweils zwölf Paaren in Deutschland und Australien werden Veränderungsprozesse in zwei Ländern verglichen, die sich in einer etwas differenten Phase des Diffusions- und Integrationsgrads befinden. Die Autorin verweist darauf, dass gerade qualitativ orientierte Studien die sich wandelnden Kommunikationsprozesse und Interaktionsstrukturen im häuslichen Alltag in den Blick nehmen können - das wird mit der Studie gezeigt, auch wenn "nur" ein eher explorativer Anspruch deutlich wird.

Lately, the trailer for the game “Battlefield V” received a massive backlash from the players of the Battlefield franchise due to the fact that the game inspired by World War II featured a woman as the main character. This research set out to investigate how female elements are interpreted in a traditional male-dominated digital space, and aims to highlight the elements to consider when introducing a female lead character in a video game. The method employed was the critical discourse analysis method (CDA) which interprets discourse by drawing out the implicit meanings in texts. The analysis sought to discern the elements depicting the woman soldier in the online discourse around the game that originated from the controversy. The interpretation of the results is based on the reception theory, as well as the concept of identification and develop around the theory of gender and media and game theory (ludology). The results revealed that the perception of women as a role, from a presence and aesthetic perspective in a virtual space, is influenced by gender roles and the reception of History. Another conclusion is that when giving a female character the main role, with all the attributes of a male character, it seems to confuse the players, resulting in that they cannot identify themselves with the avatar. In addition, the physical appearance contributes to the identification with a character and confirms the precedent studies about male players identifying with male players. The findings support the autonomy of historical understanding and its connection to visual culture in order to explain the phenomenon. As a consequence, the rejection of the main character has led to the creation of a community built around the online discourse and the imbalance of gender values, favorising masculinity over femininity.

The aim of this thesis is to achieve a deeper understanding of how media portrays politicians and examine whether media is gender-biased. This is done by carrying out a case study within the Swedish context, which compares print media’s portrayal of the Moderate party’s former leader Anna Kinberg Batra with their current leader Ulf Kristersson. A quantitative content analysis is applied on 330 articles from four Swedish newspapers. By examining previous literature, a theoretical framework is constructed using theories on framing, the gender system as well as media’s treatment of female and male politicians which is later operationalized. In brief, the results of the study show there are differences in certain parts of media’s portrayal of Kinberg Batra and Kristersson, however they were not always as substantial and obvious as previous literature had indicated.

Die vorliegende kumulative Habilitation umfasst elf publizierte Aufsätze aus verschiedenen qualitativen Forschungsprojekten. Alle Projekte fokussieren den gesellschaftlichen Wandel im vereinten Deutschland seit 1990. Mit dem Zusammenbruch des Sozialismus 1989 setzt auf dem Territorium der DDR ein radikaler Wandel ein, der nicht ohne Rückwirkung auf die alten Bundesländer bleibt. Dieser Transformationsprozess, der bis in die Gegenwart anhält und noch nicht abgeschlossen ist, wird in den einzelnen Forschungsprojekten in unterschiedlichen sozialen Feldern untersucht: Erwerbsarbeit, Politik und Militär. Der gesellschaftliche Wandel geht mit einer Transformation des Geschlechterverhältnisses und damit auch mit einer Veränderung der Machtverhältnisse zwischen den Geschlechtern einher. Dabei richtet sich der Blick insbesondere auf die Veränderungen von gesellschaftlichen Männlichkeitskonstrukten und die soziale Positionierung von Männern, die in der Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung bisher nur wenig untersucht wurden. Um diese Prozesse angemessen untersuchen zu können, wird ein soziologisches Konzept von Männlichkeit entwickelt, das sich an den Theorien von Raewyn Connell, Pierre Bourdieu und Michael Meuser orientiert und neue Verknüpfungen zwischen diesen Ansätzen formuliert. Das Konzept der hegemonialen Männlichkeit (Connell) wird in zwei Dimensionen erweitert. Hegemoniale Männlichkeit wird als generatives Prinzip und institutionelle Praxis untersucht. Durch die Verbindung mit der Theorie männlicher Herrschaft (Bourdieu) wird der Aspekt der symbolischen Gewalt integriert, die für moderne Herrschaftsverhältnisse konstitutiv ist. Der Titel der Habilitation „Diversifizierung und Delegitimierung männlicher Herrschaft“ beinhaltet bereits die These, die in der Habilitation entfaltet wird: In der aktuellen Entwicklungsphase moderner Gesellschaften ist männliche Herrschaft nicht mehr eine durchgängige Strukturkategorie, wie dies in der organisierten Moderne mit ihrer strikten Trennung zwischen gesellschaftlichem Produktions- und Reproduktionsbereich und der jeweiligen Zuweisung an ein Geschlecht der Fall war. Männliche Herrschaft vervielfältigt sich in den Machtfeldern, teilweise wird sie delegitimiert und partiell entstehen aufgrund je eigendynamischer Prozesse Verflechtungen mit anderen Herrschaftsformen. Diese Prozesse werden anhand von gegenstandsbezogenen Untersuchungen in den Feldern Erwerbsarbeit, Politik und Militär aufgezeigt.

The childlike character of ideal femininities has long been critiqued in feminist literature, from Mary Wollstonecraft (1792) to Susan Faludi (1992). Yet, despite the partial gains of feminism the ‘woman-child’ continues to be a prominent subject-position in fashion photography of the West. This thesis builds upon earlier feminist critiques of the infantilisation of women by considering the meaning of childlike femininities in the period spanning 1990 to 2015. In particular, it questions whether representations of childlike femininities can shed their dehumanising, ‘second sex’ connotations and be resignified to a more progressive end in the contemporary context. The possible appeal of ‘girly’ subject-positions to women, following several waves of feminism, is explored through reception studies carried out with female participants in focus groups, as well as theory on the ‘female gaze’. Images were principally drawn from three British fashion magazines: Vogue (UK), i-D, and Lula. Drawing on the work of Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, this thesis demonstrates the ways in which discourses on childhood, girlhood and womanhood overlap and intersect to produce the figure of the ‘woman-child’ in the fashion media and beyond. This subject-position is shown not to be singular but rather as appearing in a number of guises. The many permutations of childlike femininity are subsumed into four overarching categories: the Romantic woman-child; the femme-enfant-fatale; Lolita style; and the Parodic woman-child. This thesis thereby contributes to existing debates in fashion studies by considering in greater detail the different discourses on childhood and femininity that come into play when women are positioned as childlike. A multi-faceted visual methodology is employed, combining visual analysis of imagery with experimental reception studies. Reception studies were conducted in focus groups with female participants and provide insight into the way these women made sense of the ‘woman-child’. In addition, they provide an indication as to whether the participants liked or disliked childlike femininities in the fashion media, thus pointing to the possible investments women might have in childlike subject-positions. Finally, including an element of social research served to challenge and/or reinforce the researcher’s own readings of the imagery, pointing to new avenues of research and expanding the discursive field of enquiry. This aspect of the thesis makes a methodological contribution to literature on the reception of still media imagery in fashion studies, magazine studies and feminist media studies.

This study views the media as a powerful agent which constructs the narratives of political candidates. In order to determine whether the media constructs the narratives of male and female political candidates differently, newspaper articles were analyzed for two 1994 Congressional races, each involving a male and a female candidate (Thurman versus Garlits and Byrne versus Davis). The first research question posed the following question: Does the media devote more coverage to male or female candidates? The next question concerned media endorsements of the candidates. Third, the settings in which the media portrayed the male and female candidates were compared. Finally, differences in the media's attitude toward male and female candidates were analyzed.