Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Banning homosexual propaganda. Belonging and visibility in contemporary Russian media

Edenborg, Emil LU (2014) In Sexuality & Culture
Abstract
This article investigates Russian mainstream media’s coverage of the 2013 legislation banning “propaganda for non-traditional sexuality”. Inspired by theories on belonging, media and visibility, it reconstructs a dominant narrative representing non-heterosexuals as threatening the future survival of the nation, as imposing the sex-radical norms of a minority onto the majority, or as connected to an imperialistic West which aims to destroy Russia. This story, it is argued, functions as a hegemonic grammar regulating how non-heterosexuality is seen and heard in the public sphere. However, it is argued that sometimes the linearity and cohesiveness of the narrative breaks down, when things appear that do not fit this model of interpretation.... (More)
This article investigates Russian mainstream media’s coverage of the 2013 legislation banning “propaganda for non-traditional sexuality”. Inspired by theories on belonging, media and visibility, it reconstructs a dominant narrative representing non-heterosexuals as threatening the future survival of the nation, as imposing the sex-radical norms of a minority onto the majority, or as connected to an imperialistic West which aims to destroy Russia. This story, it is argued, functions as a hegemonic grammar regulating how non-heterosexuality is seen and heard in the public sphere. However, it is argued that sometimes the linearity and cohesiveness of the narrative breaks down, when things appear that do not fit this model of interpretation. The analysis illustrates how contestations of belonging in contemporary media are increasingly structured according to the logic of visibility: dominant actors attempt to regulate what can be seen and heard in the public sphere whereas oppositional actors attempt to establish their own visibility in the mediated space of appearance, putting forward alternative constructions of the nation and who belongs to it. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Russia, Belonging, Media, Homosexuality, Visibility, LGBT
in
Sexuality & Culture
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:84940002035
ISSN
1936-4822
DOI
10.1007/s12119-014-9254-1
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e5fb90ff-cf9c-4d60-adad-3e21752e0ab1 (old id 4935090)
alternative location
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12119-014-9254-1
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:16:09
date last changed
2022-03-27 23:36:17
@article{e5fb90ff-cf9c-4d60-adad-3e21752e0ab1,
  abstract     = {{This article investigates Russian mainstream media’s coverage of the 2013 legislation banning “propaganda for non-traditional sexuality”. Inspired by theories on belonging, media and visibility, it reconstructs a dominant narrative representing non-heterosexuals as threatening the future survival of the nation, as imposing the sex-radical norms of a minority onto the majority, or as connected to an imperialistic West which aims to destroy Russia. This story, it is argued, functions as a hegemonic grammar regulating how non-heterosexuality is seen and heard in the public sphere. However, it is argued that sometimes the linearity and cohesiveness of the narrative breaks down, when things appear that do not fit this model of interpretation. The analysis illustrates how contestations of belonging in contemporary media are increasingly structured according to the logic of visibility: dominant actors attempt to regulate what can be seen and heard in the public sphere whereas oppositional actors attempt to establish their own visibility in the mediated space of appearance, putting forward alternative constructions of the nation and who belongs to it.}},
  author       = {{Edenborg, Emil}},
  issn         = {{1936-4822}},
  keywords     = {{Russia; Belonging; Media; Homosexuality; Visibility; LGBT}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Sexuality & Culture}},
  title        = {{Banning homosexual propaganda. Belonging and visibility in contemporary Russian media}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/2522091/4935111.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s12119-014-9254-1}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}