Conference Program

In recent years, violence and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in Italy have gained increasing visibility thanks to data collected by associations and independent observatories. However, this growing visibility has not been matched by an equally significant journalistic representation: media coverage of the phenomenon remains sporadic, fragmented, and often marginal, contributing to the limited public recognition of the issue as a structural problem.

This paper presents the results of research conducted by the Messina research unit within the PRIN PNRR 2022 project STEPSISTER – STEreotypes and PrejudiceS In preSs represenTation of gEndeR-violence, which focuses on the analysis of journalistic representations of violence and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people and associations. The aim is to identify the main narrative frames, stereotypes, and prejudices present in media discourse.

The study is based on a content analysis of a corpus of 356 articles published in 2021 in four national newspapers – Avvenire, Il Fatto Quotidiano, Corriere della Sera, and Il Manifesto. The selected year coincides with the parliamentary debate on the DDL Zan, a period marked by strong polarization in the public debate on LGBTQ+ rights.

The analysis highlights a prevailing tendency to treat violence as episodic events, with limited reference to their structural context, as well as the presence of stereotypes and prejudices in journalistic representation. The paper concludes with a reflection on the implications of these forms of representation for the public construction of violence as a social and political problem, showing how media narratives contribute to defining which forms of violence are recognized, which subjects become visible, and which remain at the margins of public discourse.