Year: 2026
Type: editorial
Abstract: Research on gendered public spheres has examined how struggles over gender equality, recognition, and equal representation unfold across changing communication environments. These struggles involve competing actors and claims, including feminist and queer mobilization as well as anti-gender contestation, but they are also shaped by how and under what conditions actors become visible, remain less visible, or strategically manage their public exposure. This thematic issue conceptualizes gendered public spheres as contested regimes of (in)visibility and brings together contributions that address three closely connected dimensions: the structural conditions that shape visibility; the situated agency through which actors navigate them; and the relational production of visibility across networks, publics, and national boundaries. Together, the contributions show that visibility is neither inherently empowering nor always the desired outcome, while invisibility cannot simply be equated with exclusion or political irrelevance. The thematic issue contributes to research on feminist and anti-gender mobilization, platformized and networked publics, strategic (in)visibility, and the relationship between visibility and influence in contemporary gendered public spheres.
Source: Media and Communication
DOI: 10.17645/mac.13427
Authors: Stefan Wallaschek, Mareike Bauer
Institutions: Europa-Universität Flensburg, European University Viadrina
Language: English
Topic: Gender, Feminism, and Media
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,132
Funder: Gerda Henkel Foundation
Award: G6642102334
OpenAlex ID: W7224268432