Questions of identity have taken up a central position in the research of CIMS. Researchers have particularly focused on aspects and issues that relate to gender and sexuality in popular (media) culture. Stressing the need to critically analyze the way contemporary societies deal with gender and sexual identities, CIMS has invested in research that addresses the role of media and popular culture in the process of shaping identities and in reiterating and/or questioning norms and values revolving around gender and sexuality. Research topics may range from studying gender disparity in the production processes of popular media culture, over understanding the representation of femininities, masculinities and LGBT+ identities in film, television, digital media, and popular music culture, to exploring how people make sense of and/or co-construct their own gendered and sexual identities by consuming and interpreting diverging types of media.
