Dr Olu Jenzen (University of Brighton) joins me for this episode on queer screens: from the silver screen, to the small screen to the smartphone screen. We talk about queer film and series, visual activism, digital queer spaces and, guess what, we even talk about queer teeth. Olu does incredible work for and with young trans people, researches their use of social media and also shares her insights on lesbian doppelgangers and queer sensibility in contemporary film and series. Since I am not quite as eloquent as Olu, I mention “technomachismo” when we talk about gendered and racial data bias. As you may have guessed, I meant to say technochauvinism.

Olu’s research mentioned (a lot of it is open access):
The Aesthetics of Global Protest: Visual Culture and Communication (edited by Aidan McGarry, Itir Erhart, Hande Eslen-Ziya, Olu Jenzen, Umut Korkut)
“The symbol of social media in contemporary protest: Twitter and the Gezi Park movement” (Aidan McGarry, Itir Erhart, Hande Eslen-Ziya, Olu Jenzen, Umut Korkut)
“Trans youth and social media: moving between counterpublics and the wider web”
“Queer teeth: exploring traumatic health legacies”
“Revolting doubles: radical Narcissism and the trope of lesbian Doppelgangers”

Series mentioned:
Pose
Lena Waithe’s Twenties
Transparent
Gentleman Jack

Filmmakers mentioned:
Matthew Hellett
Campbell X
Oska Bright Film Festival (Queer Freedom, Love Bites)
https://oskabright.org/

Book mentioned:
Douglas Stuart’s Shuggie Bain

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. What is visual activism?
2. Why is the motif of the doppelganger relevant to queer studies? Can you think of an example of a doppelganger in literature or film?
3. What does Olu say about the connection between Otherness and queerness?
4. What does it mean to do participant-led research?
5. Why are online platforms biased? How does this affect queer life and, in particular, black trans people?
6. What does Olu mean by queer sensibility?