With apologies for cross-posting:

Intellect is thrilled to announce that the new issue of Queer Studies in Media & Popular Culture (2.1) is now available.

For more information about this issue please click here or email [log in to unmask].

Articles within this issue include:

Sex, lies and the locker room: A critical discourse analysis of athletes coming out in the media

Authors: Cu-Hullan Tsuyoshi McGivern and Paul Chamness Miller

Page Start: 9

Oppression and hostility is still evident towards LGBT athletes within modern sport organisations, where hegemonic masculinities contribute to the opposition to LGBT members of the athletic community. Given the homophobia that continues to impact sport, the aim of this study is to ascertain, through the lens of grounded theory, what discourses are used to address the coming out of professional athletes in online news sites and the hegemonic power that is reflected through that discourse. Through the analysis, four themes emerged as significant. One particular theme stood out as the most substantial: the locker room seen as a space where masculinity is negotiated, suggesting the possibility that many masculinities exist within that milieu. The study’s findings highlight the urgency that is needed in order to make sport a safe and non-hostile space for all athletes.

What’s so funny about a snowman in a tiara? Exploring gender identity and gender nonconformity in children’s animated films

Authors: G. Patterson and Leland G. Spencer

Page Start: 73

The year 2014 has been dubbed the ‘trans tipping point’, a new era of acceptance towards trans and gender-nonconforming identities. In addition, in recent years, children’s animated film has seen an influx of characters and storylines that appear to celebrate gender diversity. Using inductive and deductive thematic analysis, this article examines the gendered messages in top-grossing children’s animated films from 2012 to 2015. Drawing from our analysis, it argues that such alleged gender diversity applies only to a narrow subset of characters in children’s animated film – and these same characters also often function to reinforce oppressive ideas about gender, race and sexuality. Ultimately, despite the visibility of gender diverse characters in and outside children’s film, this article cautions against premature celebrations that would regard such visibility as progress.

Gay ghetto comics and the alternative gay comics of Robert Kirby

Authors: Sina Shamsavari

Page Start: 95

This article focuses on North American gay comics, especially the ‘gay ghetto’ subgenre, and on the alternative gay comics that have been created in response to the genre’s conventions. Gay comics have received little scholarly attention and this article attempts to begin redressing this balance, as well as turning attention to the contrasts between different genres within the field of gay comics. Gay ghetto comics and cartoons construct a dominant gay habitus, representing the gay community as relatively stable and unified, while the alternative gay male comics discussed critique the dominant gay habitus and construct instead an alternative gay – or ‘queer’ – habitus. The article focuses on the work of Robert Kirby, an influential cartoonist and editor of gay comics anthologies, and particularly on his story ‘Private Club’, in order to explore some of the typical themes and concerns of alternative gay ghetto comics.