Project Details
Projekt
Geschlechtliche Ambiguität in der Medienberichterstattung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland von den 1970er Jahren bis zur Jahrtausendwende
Applicant
Professor Dr. Frank Becker
Subject Area
Modern and Contemporary History
Term
from 2018 to 2022
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 322729370
The project examines how media perceived gender ambiguity in the Federal Republic of Germany from the 1970s till the turn of the millennium. This ambiguity can be divided into intersex variations, transvestism and transsexuality. Intersex variations are usually seen as linked to nature, while transvestism and transsexuality are attributed to the free will of the concerned persons: this classification is provoking a comparative perspective. Media analysis includes significant and popular printed media as well as radio broadcasting and television. The subproject focuses on public debates about the fields of medicine (including psychiatry and psychology), law and sports. That is because gender distinction plays an essential role in each case: in the field of medicine gender affiliation is derived from physical and mental categories while medical scientists are even able to conduct gender reassignments. The field of law is concerned with marital status, its changings and consequences. In the field of sports competitions are divided by gender distinctions. In addition gender affiliation is highlighted by an expressive focus on the body/physicalness of the athletes. In a diachronic perspective the subproject examines the question whether there was an "americanization" of the German debate and in which intensity and temporal intervals it occured. In doing so the project intends to connect discussions before the transsexual-law of 1980 with the upcoming of the US-American Gender Studies which emphasize a more constructivist perception of gender affiliation since the
DFG Programme
Research Units
