Within a short period of time, the Netherlands transformed itself from a relatively tolerant country to a nation that called for cultural assimilation, tough measures and neo-patriotism. The discursive genre of 'new realism' played a crucial role in this retreat from multiculturalism, and that had a dual effect for immigrant women. Whereas formerly they were virtually ignored by both the integration and the emancipation policy, since the triumph of new realism they are in the centre of both policy lines and there is now more policy attention for their needs and interests. Yet in the public debate the culture card is drawn frequently and immigrant women are portrayed as either victims or accomplices of their oppressive cultures. Policy makers and practitioners in the field, however, succeeded in avoiding cultural stereotyping by developing cultural-sensitive measures, while naming them in culture-blind terms.
The Kenyan supreme court recently struck down a government decision to ban the registration of an LGBTIQ+ community rights organisation, sparking new homophobic rhetoric in the country. Kenya is one of 32 African countries that criminalises homosexuality. Those who identify as part of the LGBTIQ+ community are often discriminated against, harassed and assaulted. Lise Woensdregt and Naomi van Stapele, who have researched queer experiences in Kenya for nine years, explain the impact of this ruling.
In April 2020, I was in my second month of lockdown. The particular state of isolation I was in made my digital life more tangible, and my ‘real life’ intensively more digital. Around that time, TikTok started to gain more popularity and to become a social networking phenomenon which I didn’t delve into until I found out about ‘lesbians on TikTok’ through a discussion on my Twitter feed. TikTok lesbians were talked about as a particular category of both platform users, and lesbians in general, which some perceived as either fun, cringe, attractive, educational and/or just purely fascinating. Driven by that conversation and curiosity it sparked in me, I joined the app and without giving its recommendation algorithm a chance to ‘clock’ me on its own, I started typing #lesbian in the search bar.
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A research theme examining diversity and inclusion in video games, using an intersectional perspective and typically addressing issues related to the representation of gender, race, and LGBTQ+ people, but also touching broader topics such as class, age, geographic privilege, physical and neurodiversity, the (unevenly distributed) impacts of the climate crisis, and other aspects of identity.
