Communicating non-heteronormative masculinities in contemporary Russian media: discourses on ‘non-traditional sexual orientation’ in the context of 'traditional sexuality' legislation

The thesis investigates discursive strategies of communicating masculine non-heteronormativity in contemporary Russian makeover television and online news and entertainment media. The research builds on studies into sexuality, transnational and Russian media, discourse theory and intersectionality. Through in-depth monitoring of selected media outlets, for the first time in the current scholarship, this study captures the evolution of media discourses on non-heteronormative masculinities and demonstrates that the 2013 ‘traditional sexuality’ legislation did not exclude but rather propelled diverse media portrayals of non-heteronormative men. The research focuses on verbal and visual strategies of communication of non-heteronormative masculinities, which are presented in a series of media case studies. The processed media data is interpreted through multimodal and Critical Discourse Analysis approaches and is conceptualised within the frameworks of intersectionality and transnational media studies.