Believability: Sexual Violence, Media, and the Politics of Doubt: a roundtable discussion

A roundtable event, featuring world-leading feminist media studies scholars, will take place at Loughborough University and online on June 25.

The panel of speakers will discuss the politics of believability around sexual violence in the current conjuncture, considering how digital media is now the primary site for struggles over what (and who) is considered “believable”.

Sarah Banet-Weiser and Kathryn C. Higgins will discuss their new book Believability: Sexual Violence, Media, and the Politics of Doubt, which considers how the #MeToo movement created more opportunities for women to speak up about sexual assault. However, this moment of feminist opportunity has occurred in a time when “fake news” and “alternative facts” call into question the very nature of truth, and women and people of colour are routinely cast as “doubtable subjects”.

The authors will be in dialogue with leading feminist scholars who will reflect on the significance of this landmark book for their own work, as well as for feminist media and cultural studies more broadly.

Speakers include: Sarah Banet-Weiser (Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania), Kathryn Claire Higgins (Goldsmiths), Hannah Hamad (Cardiff), Jilly Boyce Kay (Loughborough), Sarita Malik (Brunel), and Tanya Serisier (Birkbeck)

Chair: Eleanor Kilroy (Loughborough University)

Register for online attendance or in-person attendance