unitwinidevaw2021
- Dec 3, 2021
- 6 min read

The minority in the minority

A research in violence against LGBTQIA+ women in journalism

The aim of this research is to stress the challenges faced by women that are members of the LGBTQIA+ community and work in journalism. The title is “The minority in the minority” because there is already a lot of discrimination against women that do this job, however, the situation might be even worse for those who are part of the community. In fact, it is a very dangerous field for women: they are frequently targets of virtual and physical harassment, stalking and/or violence. After discussing a few theoretical definitions, two LGBTQIA+ women that work as journalists will be presented.

The study starts with the definition of a very important concept: intersectionality. This term refers to the social categories that interconnect and that make up the axes of identity (in other words, the distinctive features) of an individual or a group of individuals. Fundamentally, these axes include race, ethnicity, gender, religion/creed, generation, geographic location, sexuality, age, ability/disability and class, however, the list is not limited to the mentioned categories. This concept makes us understand that identity is multidimensional: it is not something uniform, but formed by different aspects that are linked to one another and therefore shape the personality, background and ideals of an individual or a group. Sadly diversity is not something positive in every context, for these different characteristics, some more than others, cause discrimination, inequality and vulnerabilities. That is why there are social categories that are in an unprivileged situation with respect to other categories, and this difference is sometimes difficult to recognize, for it has been perpetuated by institutions, laws and states for years and years. This discriminatory process creates a difficult situation for people who have axes that are considered to be “different from the norm”, so for those who are considered part of minorities. However, it is not always the case, as gender and class discrimination do not concern minorities, yet they are very widespread anyway. In light of what has been said, what does it mean to understand discrimination from an intersectional point of view? It means taking into account all the structural imbalances that push these groups at the margins, which not only means that they are at a disadvantage, but also that they are often invisible to the majority of people. Furthermore, it means understanding the interconnectedness of the different axes that make up the identity of an individual and how this interconnection can cause discrimination as well as to what extent it goes.

The minority taken into consideration in this research is that of LGBTQIA+ women in the journalist field. It goes without saying that they suffer a significant amount of intersectional discrimination, as women (and especially if they are members of the community) often do in many other fields. This discrimination is very dangerous, as it could, and it has, result in violence against journalists, in the worst case scenarios it leads to the death of the reporter. Despite being a very serious and important problem, it is not even remotely stressed enough by media and other information broadcasters. In fact, not only news about women and LGBTQIA+ women journalists that are victim of violence and/or harassment are almost hidden from the public, but also doing research about them is not an easy task. Indeed, one of the main problems in doing this analysis was the quest for finding information. Not being correctly informed about this issue by the media as well as not being able to find relevant material about it worsen the issue even more, for not talking about this type of violence and discrimination puts women in this field to an even more severe level of risk.

Going into more practical details, here is an example of an LGBTQIA+ minority and its representation in the media:

As it is clear from this graphic, news regarding transgender and gender minorities are extremely lower than the total: the change of number between the different news media is so small that it is impossible to make a comparison. This means that this minority, with other ones, is not mentioned or represented in the channels of information, it is rendered almost invisible, which of course is a serious form of discrimination for those who have the right to be represented such as the majority. In addition, better representation in media would be a great start to educate people who are not enough informed about LGBTQIA+ minorities, as these people are usually the ones who discriminate the most.

Despite the low level of representation in the news in general, two LGBTQIA+ women that work as journalists have been found, they are hereafter presented.

Carrie Lyell is the former editor-in-chief for DIVA magazine, a media group dedicated to LGBTQIA+ women, one of her main focuses is the lack of representation of this minority in media on a deeper level. The magazine is born as a place for all women who seek a more feminist point of view, starting for example from the lack of body shaming that there is in most mainstream magazines.

Megan Mitchell is an award-winning broadcast-journalist that promotes acceptance of diversity on social media. Her career started in 2016 when she joined WLWT Channel 5 as a weekend morning anchor and reporter. However, she had difficulties in the beginning, precisely for the fact that she was a homosexual woman in a discriminatory industry. In fact, she was forced not to speak freely about her sexuality, in order not to lose her job. This discrimination was clear also through the fact that she was forced to dress in a “feminine” way if she wanted to keep her position, as local news reporters tend to follow gender roles quite rigidly: there is always a female wearing a dress and a male wearing a suit seated next to each other. That is why one of the main ways that she now uses to fight discrimination against LGBTQIA+ women in journalism is wearing suits, as well as the fact that she feels more comfortable wearing them than dresses. Now, she uses her strong social media following, which was born mostly thanks to TikTok, to be a visible role model for the LGBTQ community and to stress the importance of self-acceptance. She is also an active member of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and enjoys hosting LGBTQ events in the community. Here are some of her statements:

“Broadcast journalism can be a very stiff business. Having an LGBTQ person in those [local news anchor] positions is super important because then younger kids or even adults who may not be self-accepting will be able to say, There are people in my own community who are just like me and they’re totally comfortable with it. Having that visual of I’m not alone is one of the most important things you can feel as a human being.”
“Cincinnati has this amazing, thriving LGBTQ scene. My closest group of friends—besides the people at my station—are in this community. And it’s amazing because I can’t believe I’ve been exposed to all these people just by being myself. I would have never expected that in a million years, especially back in high school.”
“One of the things I’ve learned since joining the LGBTQ community since I came out nine years ago, is it’s OK to be yourself, and the more we showcase who we really are, whether that be a full face of makeup or a suit, being able to bend those boundaries a little bit can only be good for everyone.”

In conclusion, in order to be more inclusive it must be taken into account that in media outlets the news that are relevant to the majority of people are not relevant to all, especially minority groups, which usually do not have representation and visibility in the media. Hence, media companies should hire more people from these specific minorities, as to represent them and spread correct information in order to educate people about the existence, troubles and rights of these categories, for ignorance is the main source of discrimination and violence. In other words, it should be stressed the importance of informing the public about minority groups and spread awareness on their issues and needs. In any case, as information about the LGBTQIA+ community and other minorities in news is still poor, it is important for people to try and get information on their own (as difficult as it sometimes is), in order to always be respectful. Here are a few advices to be more considerate and inclusive intersectionally:

Remembering that specific topics could be triggering for some people is very important – that is why, in a lot of social media platforms, it is common practice to put trigger warnings on sensible topics.
Pronouns are important when addressing a person whose gender identity is unknown, especially in writing and speaking in English – it is more respectful to use gender neutral pronouns.
Being accessible to all people with disabilities – for example, online it is possible to add descriptions for images that may be difficult to visualize and comprehend for those who can’t see well.

Isabella Bortot, Aurora Ercego, Monica Sgarabotto