Overview

The talks series “Decoding Masculinities” is organised by the research project «DeCodeM - (De)Coding Masculinities: Towards an enhanced understanding of media's role in shaping perceptions of masculinities in Portugal», funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology through national funds (ref: PTDC/COM-CSS/31740/2017), the first comprehensive study on media and masculinities in Portugal. From a critical and feminist perspective and an ecological approach to media agency, this series is a proposal for a discussion between people from academia, activism and the media, open to all interested parties, about the complexity, non-linearity and heterogeneity of representations and attitudes towards masculinities and gender relations in the current Portuguese media sphere. Each session is made up of roundtables, with a flexible format, which should stimulate the discussion between the guests and challenge public participation.

Throughout the series, representations of masculinities (re)produced by the media and online social networks in Portugal will be identified and critically analysed through an intersectional approach. The reasons underlying the construction of certain gender representations will also be discussed, namely why certain notions of masculinity prevail in these representations.

Finally, the way these representations are appropriated or challenged by audiences and content producers will be explored. Furthermore, whether an egalitarian and non-violent perspective of social gender relations has been promoted or not through the media content (and to what extent) will be discussed.