Taking up such issues as mainstreaming, the male gaze, and female masculinity, this book puts forward provocative readings of little explored texts and offers new insights into the contemporary representation of lesbians.

"In 2007, while giving a book talk, Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling revealed an interesting fact about beloved character Albus Dumbledore's love life. "Dumbledore is gay, actually," she said as the audience erupted in cheers. She added: "I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy." Though most fans initially praised the announcement, LGBTQ fans in particular questioned why the author chose to make it informally, while never actually writing explicitly gay characters into the storylines. As it turns out, this type of bait-and-switch is fairly common between fans and creators; there's even a term for it: "queerbaiting." In this first comprehensive examination of queerbaiting, fan studies scholar Joseph Brennan and his contributors examine cases like Rowling's to shed light on the exploitative industry practice of teasing homoerotic possibilities that, while hinted at, never materialize in the program narratives. Looking at everything from popular TV series to video games to children's programs, and more, these essayists--some of the biggest names in the emerging field of fan studies--explore the consequences of the misleading practice, both for fans and creators. The result is a first-of-its-kind collection that is sure to appeal equally to fan, queer, and media studies students and scholars"--

Distinctive Styles and Authorship in Alternative Comics addresses the benefits and limits of analyses of style in alternative comics. It offers three close readings of works serially published between 1980 and 2018 – Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For, and Jason Lutes’ Berlin – and discusses how artistic style may influence the ways in which readers construct authorship.

Sarah Waters: Gender and Sexual Politics uniquely brings together feminist and queer theoretical perspectives on gender and sexuality through close analysis of works by Sarah Waters. This timely study examines topics ranging from heterosexuality, homosexuality, masculinities, femininities, sex, pornography, and the cultural effects of othering and domination across her work. The book covers each of Waters's published novels to date including Tipping the Velvet, Fingersmith and The Paying Guests and also considers her non-fiction and academic writing as well as the television adaptations of her texts. O'Callaghan situates Water's writing as an important textual space for the examination of contemporary gender and sexuality studies and locates her as an astute commentator and contributor to twenty-first century gender and sexual politics.

Contributions by Michelle Ann Abate, Leah Anderst, Alissa S. Bourbonnais, Tyler Bradway, Natalja Chestopalova, Margaret Galvan, Judith Kegan Gardiner, Katie Hogan, Jonathan M. Hollister, Yetta Howard, Katherine Kelp-Stebbins, Don L. Latham, Vanessa Lauber, Katherine Parker-Hay, Anne N. Thalheimer, Janine Utell, and Susan R. Van Dyne Alison Bechdel is both a driver and beneficiary of the welcoming of comics into the mainstream. Indeed, the seemingly simple binary of outside/inside seems perpetually troubled throughout the career of this important comics artist, known for Fun Home, Are You My Mother?, and Dykes to Watch Out For. This volume extends the body of scholarship on her work from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives. In a definitive collection of original essays, scholars cover the span of Bechdel’s career, placing her groundbreaking early work within the context of her more well-known recent projects. The contributors provide new insights on major themes in Bechdel’s work, such as gender performativity, masculinity, lesbian politics and representation, trauma, life writing, and queer theory. Situating Bechdel among other comics artists, this book charts possible influences on her work, probes the experimental traits of her comics in their representations of kinship and trauma, combs archival materials to gain insight into Bechdel’s creative process, and analyzes her work in community building and space making through the comics form. Ultimately, the volume shows that Bechdel’s work consists of performing a series of selves—serializing the self, as it were—each constructed and refracted across and within her chosen artistic modes and genres.

The Routledge Companion to Media, Sex and Sexuality is a vibrant and authoritative exploration of the ways in which sex and sexualities are mediated in modern media and everyday life. The 40 chapters in this volume offer a snapshot of the remarkable diversification of approaches and research within the field, bringing together a wide range of scholars and researchers from around the world and from different disciplinary backgrounds including cultural studies, education, history, media studies, sexuality studies and sociology. The volume presents a broad array of global and transnational issues and intersectional perspectives, as authors address a series of important questions that have consequences for current and future thinking in the field. Topics explored include post-feminism, masculinities, media industries, queer identities, video games, media activism, music videos, sexualisation, celebrities, sport, sex-advice books, pornography and erotica, and social and mobile media. The Routledge Companion to Media, Sex and Sexuality is an essential guide to the central ideas, concepts and debates currently shaping research in mediated sexualities and the connections between conceptions of sexual identity, bodies and media technologies.

Essays that query the roles of trust, truth, and family memories in autobiographical comics

Covering from 1900 to the present day, this book highlights how female artists, actors, writers, and activists were involved in the fight for women's rights, with a focus on popular culture that includes film, literature, music, television, the news, and online media. Women's Rights: Reflections in Popular Culture offers a succinct yet thorough resource for anyone interested in the relationship between feminism, women's rights, and media. It is ideally suited for students researching popular culture's role in the modern history of women's rights and representation of women, women's rights, and feminism in popular culture. This insightful book highlights of some of the most important moments of women taking a stand for women throughout popular culture history. Each section focuses on an aspect of popular culture. The television section covers important benchmarks, such as Julia, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Roseanne, Murphy Brown, and Ellen. Coverage of films includes Christopher Strong, Foxy Brown, and Thelma & Louise; the literature section features the work of influential individuals such as Virginia Woolf, Zora Neale Hurston, and Toni Morrison. The book celebrates early musical ground-breakers like Gertrude "Ma" Rainey and Bessie Smith as well as contemporary artists Janelle Monáe and Pussy Riot. The work of key women activists—including Margaret Sanger, Angela Davis, and Winona LaDuke—is recognized, along with the unique ways women have used the power of the web in their continued effort to push for women's equality.

Collecting chapters from authors all over the world, this volume examines and expounds the rich tapestry of meanings, expressions, and cultural insights found in the medium of comics.

This book is an exploration of both mainstream and independent media. Grounded in qualitative methods, this book explores three trans masculine run YouTube channels alongside the streaming productions: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Orange is the New Black, and Transparent. Analyzing and contrasting these narratives illuminates how even the most progressive of pop culture productions fail to present multi-dimensional transgender narratives, thereby intensifying stigma and shame for those outside of the binary (male or female, man or woman, gay or straight). In contrast, trans masculine produced YouTube vlogs, such as those discussed in this book, can help audience members unlearn the ways in which the continuum of sex, gender, and sexual orientation has been simplified and obscured through corporate media. These vlogs thus exemplify the various ways in which independent media acts as an educational tool toward greater awareness, and perhaps empathy, of/for the self and others in regards to sexual identity.