Abstract
This chapter brings renewed attention to the important role and building of theory in women-and-media communication research, particularly mediated communication, where public discourse occurs and where—for better or worse—messages and representations appear that serve to help to construct gendered selves and their understandings of the world. The discussion reviews the definitions of feminist communication theory, traces its development over the years, identifies distinct positionalities among feminist scholars, sets forth key debates and critiques, and calls for greater attention to both the building and naming of feminist communication theories.
A special thanks to good colleagues who shared their thoughts on the definition of theory and feminist communication theory when I reached out to them. They include Linda Aldoory, Radha Hegde, Lisa McLaughlin, Eileen Meehan, Marian Meyers, Gitiara Nasreen, Karen Ross, and Angharad Valdivia.
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Notes
- 1.
I am referring, for example, to the Syrian civil war that has forced millions of people to flee since 2011, and particularly since bombing intensified in 2015, as well as the refugee crisis this has caused across Europe and other western nations; several shooting and bomb attacks by Islamist militants in Paris since 2015, Brussels in 2016, Berlin in 2016 and other cities; numerous mass shootings in the United States, including 49 deaths at a gay nightclub in Florida, and the continued killing of unarmed black men by police in U.S. cities. These, of course, are alongside the continued war by the U.S. and its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003, and the recent drone attacks the U.S. has used against “terrorists” in several Arab nations.
- 2.
Sharp moves to the political right can be seen, for example, in the narrow victory of those leading the Brexit vote in the UK and the subsequent ascent of the conservative politician Theresa May as Prime Minister; as well as the election of Donald Trump as US President in November 2016.
- 3.
The researchers did not explain why they only scanned these 12 journals, omitting others of relevance, including Feminist Media Studies, which published three of the five years in their timeframe of analysis; nor did they indicate how many articles they found or how they analyzed them. In addition, they paid very limited attention to feminist media research, which accounts for an enormous amount—perhaps the majority—of feminist communication scholarship.
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Byerly, C.M. (2018). Feminism, Theory, and Communication: Progress, Debates, and Challenges Ahead. In: Harp, D., Loke, J., Bachmann, I. (eds) Feminist Approaches to Media Theory and Research. Comparative Feminist Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90838-0_2
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