It is with much enthusiasm that we are inviting the global academic and educational community, media professionals and any other interested parties to be part of the “International Congress on Media, Gender and Sexualities: Representations, Literacies and Audiences” that is being held at the Benasque Pedro Pascual Science Centre (CCBPP) from 6 to 10 June 2023. The pre-eminence in public debate of issues related to gender identities and sexualities shows how urgent and necessary they are. That is why this congress plans to work on and debate the interrelationships between sexualities and gender, the media and education, three cornerstones of the debate in this field of study.

This congress is organised around three core thematic areas: Representations, Literacies and Audiences. Its main purpose is to serve as a showcase for the bravest, most innovative and most challenging work associated with the different theoretical approaches to understanding the relationship between the media, gender and affective-sexual identities. However, it is also being offered as a platform for a variety of social agents (e.g. media, regulators, non-governmental organisations), activists and educators to present their formal and informal practices and experiences around these issues. The ultimate goal of the meeting is the joint fertilisation of frontier science perspectives and professional praxis to contribute effectively and creatively to social development.

Hence, the congress is calling for work that challenges pre-existing paradigms, approaches and theoretical conceptions in relation to the aforesaid topics. Contributions may include, but are not limited to, the following:

    - Good and bad practices related to media representations with a gender and sexuality perspective;
    - Screens, diversities and everyday life;
    - Audiences, media representations, gender and sexualities;
    - Collaborative cultures, user-generated content, transmedia, gender and sexualities;
    - Benefits and risks of informal learning about sexualities and gender via the media;
    - Youth, informal peer learning, media and sexualities;
    - New media spaces to learn about sexualities and gender: social networks, dating apps, online communities, etc.;
    - New actors in media environments and sexualities: YouTubers, Instagrammers, Tiktokers, etc.;
    - Narrative mutations: new formats and genres, sexualities and learning;
    - From the informal to the formal, from media to school: difficulties and possibilities;
    - Queer pedagogies and media;
    - Intergenerational learning, sexualities and media;
    - University, gender and education;
    - Intersectionality and the media;
    - LGBTQ+ phobia and the media;
    - Reduction of gender and sexual orientation prejudices through and with the media.
    - Effects of the media’s portrayal of LGBTQ+ on various audiences;
    - Cultural differences and/or comparative studies in the representation and consumption of LGBTQ+ content.

Programme

The congress is taking advantage of the capacities of the CCBPP to propose an event made up of keynote speeches by scientists of renowned international repute together with communication sessions, creative workshops, formal and informal discussion activities and an attractive social programme with a major focus on outdoor activities in a natural setting. From our experience of organising other events at this centre, we know how much its delightful location in the Benasque Valley, on the slopes of the Aragonese Pyrenees, helps to forge fruitful collaborations, as well as fraternal ties. Of particular note is the fact that the host institution, the CCBPP, an instrument of the Spanish scientific system for the organisation of high-level scientific meetings, has hosted 250 congresses to date, which have been visited by 15,000 scientists from 79 countries, including a large number of Nobel, Fields, Wolf, Dirac and Príncipe de Asturias winners.

At the time of closing this call, we have confirmed the attendance of the International Congress on Media, Gender and Sexualities: Representations, Literacies and Audiences of the following keynote speakers:

        - Jack Halberstam: Prof. of Comparative Literature and Director of the Institute for Research on Women, Gender and Sexuality at Columbia University. + info

        - Lucas Platero: Prof. of Social Psychology at the Rey Juan Carlos University, a lecturer on social and community interventions and an activist for LGBT rights. + info

        - Maria Rodó-Zárate: Prof. in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at Pompeu Fabra University. Her scientific work is focused on the study of social inequalities from an intersectional, spatial and emotional perspective applied to topics such as the right to the city, chauvinistic violence and LGBTI-phobia
         + info

        - Sofie Van Bauwel: Prof. in the Department of Communication Studies at Ghent University, where she teaches cultural media studies, gender and media, and television studies + info

Call for participation

The congress is open to two types of participation:

1) scientific communications that reflect theoretically on the topics of interest, present research methods or perspectives and/or results of empirical studies. These communications will be presented at dynamic sessions where the focus will be on the exchange and discussion of proposals;

2) proposals for workshops or creative activities with an emphasis on practical aspects and aimed at obtaining new knowledge or challenging conceptions about the relationship between the media, sexuality and gender.

A complete guide on how to send your contributions can be found HERE

Grants

Master’s, doctorate and post-doctorate students without contractual ties may opt for enrolment grants and/or accommodation grants in shared apartments, once their proposal has been accepted. To do this, they must send their grant application to the congress secretariat (congressmediagendersexuality@gmail.com) between March 21 and 29, stating both their own name and that of the accepted communication. The subject of the message must be written as follows: grant_applicant’s surname. For example: grant_gonzalez. The organisers of the congress may request supporting documents as it deems necessary to award grants.

Publications

The most outstanding communications presented to the congress will be considered for inclusion in one of two special issues of two impact journals that are currently being prepared. These invited communications must subsequently pass a peer review process organised by the two publications. Also, the participating authors may be invited to contribute to the Handbook of LGBTQ+ and Media, published by Routledge and coordinated by the congress management.

Transport

The congress will be providing a private coach that will leave Barcelona in the morning of June 6 and will take the attendees on the 307-kilometre journey to Benasque. On June 10, the bus will make its way back from Benasque to Barcelona. The trip is a wonderful chance for the attendees to get to know each other and start bonding. All attendees who are taking the coach must register in advance by following the instructions sent by the centre’s secretariat in the registration confirmation email. In other words, you must book a seat on the coach. Note that this can also be done by sending an email to info@benasque.org.

Attendees may choose to make their own travel plans to Benasque from other places in Spain, in which case the cost of transport will not be reimbursed. The CCBPP website (benasque.org), under the venue tab in the menu, offers detailed information on travel options. To summarise, attendees travelling from Barcelona can take a public bus to the town of Barbastro and a second bus from there to get to Benasque. If travelling from Zaragoza, a city that also receives international flights, they need to take a public bus to Huesca and another to Benasque. The venue tab of the CCBPP website (benasque.org) contains detailed information about this and other kinds of private transport.

Accommodation

Accommodation in hotels or apartments can be booked via CCBPP staff, if the attendee so wishes. To request a booking, please follow the instructions in the registration confirmation email or write to info@benasque.org. In your message, please give the name of the congress you are attending and the number of people that you are booking for. Benasque has a wide range of accommodation of different kinds and prices. You will find details here

Scientific Committee

- Mie Hiramoto. Dept. of English, Linguistics and Theatre Studies, National University of Singapore.
- Michael Hoechsmann. Education Programs. Faculty of Education. Lakehead University Orillia.
- Miriam Kap. Faculty of Humanities. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata.
- Débora Lanzeni. Dept. of Human Centred Computing. Monash University.
- Nohemí Lugo Rodríguez. Dept. of Communication and Digital Art. Tecnológico de Monterrey.
- Jake Mahr. Independent Scholar.
- Júlio-César Mateus. Faculty of Communication. Universidad de Lima.
- Daniel Mourenza. Dept. of Modern Languages and Cultures. Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen.
- Sara Pereira. Dept. of Communication Sciences. University of Minho.
- Wajiha Raza Rizvi. Film Museum Society Pakistan.
- Łukasz Szulc. School of Arts, Languages and Cultures. University of Manchester.
- Gabriella Taddeo. Dept. of Humanities. Università degli Studi di Torino.
- Simona Tirocchi. Dept. of Philosophy and Educational Sciences. Università di Torino
- Lucía-Gloria Vázquez-Rodríguez. Institute for Romance Studies. Universität Leipzig.

Organisation Committee

- Ariadna Angulo-Brunet. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. UOC
- Vítor Blanco-Fernández. Dept. of Communication. UPF
- Juan-José Boté-Vericad. Dept. of Library and Information Science and Audiovisual Communication. UB
- Toni Caparrós. Dept. of Library and Information Science and Audiovisual Communication. UB
- Marga Carnicé-Mur. Faculty of Catalan Studies and Communication. Universitat de Lleida.
- Adrien Faure Carvallo. Dept. of Library and Information Science and Audiovisual Communication. UB
- Maddalena Fedele. Dept. of Library and Information Science and Audiovisual Communication. UB
- Laura Fernández. Dept. of Library and Information Science and Audiovisual Communication. UB
- Concepción Fuentes Moreno. Dept. of Education. UB
- Andrea Francisco Amat. Associació Enruta't.
- Maria González. Centre Jove d’Atenció a les Sexualitats. Barcelona.
- Beatriz González de Garay. Dept. of Sociology and Communication. Universidad de Salamanca.
- Adriana Ibiti. Dept. of Cultural Studies and Media. Universidade Federal Fluminense.
- Hibai López-González. Dept. of Library and Information Science and Audiovisual Communication. UB
- María Marcos-Ramos. Dept. of Sociology and Communication. Universidad de Salamanca.
- Maria-Jose Masanet. Dept. of Library and Information Science and Audiovisual Communication. UB
- Daniel Mourenza. Dept. of Modern Languages and Cultures. Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen.
- Fernanda Pires de Sa. Dept. of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising. UAB
- J. Roberto Sánchez-Reina. Dept. of Information and Communication Technologies. UPF
- Juan José Sánchez-Soriano. Dept. of Journalism and Corporate Communication. Universidad Rey Juan Carlos.
- María Teresa Soto-Sanfiel. Dept. of Communications and New Media and Centre for Trusted Internet and Community. National University of Singapore.
- José M. Tomasena. Dept. of Library and Information Science and Audiovisual Communication. UB
- Lucía-Gloria Vázquez-Rodríguez. Institute for Romance Studies. Universität Leipzig.
- Esmeralda Vázquez-Tapia. Dept. Audiovisual Communication and Advertising, UAB.
- Rafael Ventura. Dept. of Management, Law, Society & Humanities. UPF Barcelona School of Management.
- Sergio Villanueva Baselga. Dept. of Library and Information Science and Audiovisual Communication. UB
- Isabel Villegas-Simón. Dept. of Communication. UPF

Congress Academic Secretariat

Esmeralda Vázquez-Tapia - email: congressmediagendersexuality@gmail.com

Funding

The congress is the result of cooperation between two projects that are part of the Spanish National R+D+i Plan:

1) Transmedia Gender & LGBTI+ Literacy (TRANSGELIT; PID2020-115579RA-I00 / AEI / 10.13039/501100011033) at the University of Barcelona, and

2) LGBTIQ+ representation in Spanish fiction series and its effectiveness in reducing prejudice based on sexual orientation and gender identity (LGBTIQ+ PANTALLAS/ LGBTIQ+ screens; PID2019-110351RB-I00 / AEI / 10.13039/501100011033) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

It is being held with the specific support of the call for public subsidies for postgraduate degrees in Feminist and Gender Studies and university activities related to equality for 2022, financed by the Ministry of Equality and the Women’s Institute (5/6ACT/22; University of Barcelona).

Sponsors

Organization

Partners

Registration fee information

Further Information.

• List of participants.
• Scientific program.
• Pictures.