This talk addresses the socio-political backdrop of gender backlash and the rise of the manosphere, examining how participatory digital cultures disseminate conservative messages through everyday practices and aesthetics via two novel concepts: “Conservative Femininity Lifestyle Influencers (CFLIs)” and the “Grey Area”. Such an approach will lead to a) describing the hybrid nature of digital spaces where conservative norms are marketed as attractive lifestyles to a broad audience; b) outlining a framework for understanding the reconfiguration and normalization of conservative gender norms through affect, aesthetics, and visibility on digital platforms.
The final part of this talk will feature a soft launch of the book „Visual Misogyny: platformed politics of gendered hate“ by Patricia Prieto Blanco (Lancaster University, UK) and Suay Melisa Özkula (PLUS, Austria), which extends the work of the 2025 CAIS working group „Critical Interventions into Platform Visual Misogyny“.
Im Kolloquium stellen unsere Fellows, Arbeitsgemeinschaften und eingeladene Referent:innen regelmäßig ihre Forschungsprojekte vor. Gäste sind herzlich willkommen. Für eine bessere Planung senden Sie Ihre Anmeldung bitte an kolleg@cais-research.de