Editorial - Feminism(s) in the Media: Public Outreach and Cultural Transformation

This special issue is the outcome of the international conference Feminism(s) in the Media: Public Outreach and Cultural Transformation, which took place in Ghent, Belgium, on 14–15 September 2023. The interdisciplinary conference aimed to engage participants in exploring how the concept of feminism has been reshaped in the media over time and across linguistic and geographical boundaries, fostering a rich dialogue on feminism(s), a theme examined by keynote speaker Lucy Delap in her book Feminisms: A Global History (2020). Attending the conference was an experience full of discoveries and surprises. From the very first sessions, it became clear that the exchange went beyond abstract debate: the personal reports of scholar-activists brought a vivid immediacy to the discussions, offering insights into the lived realities of women across very different cultural and political contexts, from Europe to North Africa, to China, Brazil, North America, or New Zealand. These testimonies, grounded in experience, reminded us that feminism is never only theoretical; it is enacted, contested, and negotiated in real-world settings, often under challenging conditions that demand both resilience and creativity.