Roundtable discussion

Hakim, Jamie; Kanai, Akane; Redmond, Sean; Winch, Alison; Wood, Rachel

Abstract

For over three decades now Rosalind Gill has played a critical role in steering the direction of feminist media studies. Her scholarship provides a powerful overview of what it has been like for women (and others) to engage with, work in and be represented by media during this time. Her latest book ‘Perfect: Feeling Judged on Social Media’ (Polity, 2023) continues this important work. Drawing on interviews and surveys with over 200 participants, Perfect shows the excruciating pressure that a diverse range of young female and non-binary people feel to live up to the images of perfection they see posted across their social media. Moving beyond the binaries which too often dominate academic discussions of social media use, Gill argues that her participants were quite aware of how social media functioned but felt they could not always escape their insistent demands. In making this argument, the book performs that rare feat of being both theoretically rigorous, ethnographically rich and lucidly accessible beyond academic audiences.

Below, Journal of Gender Studies associate editor, Jamie Hakim chairs a roundtable discussion of the book with four leading media and cultural studies scholars – Akane Kanai, Sean Redmond, Alison Winch and Rachel Wood – on how Perfect has impacted their thinking and research.

Citation

Hakim, J., Kanai, A., Redmond, S., Winch, A., & Wood, R. (2024). Roundtable discussion. Journal of Gender Studies, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2024.2356923

• Journal Article Type: Commentary
• Acceptance Date: May 28, 2024
• Online Publication Date: May 29, 2024
• Publication Date: May 29, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jun 4, 2024
• Journal: Journal of Gender Studies
• Print ISSN: 0958-9236
• Electronic ISSN: 1465-3869
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 1-10
• Item Discussed: Perfect by Rosalind Gill (2023)
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2024.2356923
• Public URL: https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/845876
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09589236.2024.2356923
• Additional Information: Peer Review Statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope.; Aim & Scope: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=cjgs20; Published: 2024-05-29