Dr Whitney Monaghan is a Lecturer in the School of Media, Film and Journalism at Monash University. She works across film, media and cultural studies, bringing expertise on gender and LGBTIQA+ media issues to a range of fields.

Her PhD research on the representation of queer girlhood is published as the monograph Queer Girls, Temporality and Screen Media: Not ‘Just a Phase’ (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). She has since expanded her research into a range of digital media and screen related topics alongside broader interests in diversity, equity and inclusion.

She is the co-author of Queer Theory Now: From Foundations to Futures (Red Globe Press, 2019), co-editor of Screening Scarlett Johansson: Gender, Genre, Stardom (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), and has published numerous articles on queer theory, gender, sexuality and media.

Her current projects look to the future and past of LGBTIQA+ inclusion in the media, uncovering Australia's queer screen culture histories and examining discoverability of LGBTIQA+ content in the streaming media environment.

Dr Monaghan reguarly contributes to film festivals and cultural events. She is a festival coordinator at the Melbourne Women in Film Festival, where she uses her expertise in queer and feminist media studies to curate film programs, screenings and public events. She established the MWFF Critics Lab, the first Australian mentoring program to support the careers of women and gender diverse critics.

Dr Monaghan supervises research projects (PhD and Masters level) in a range of areas, primarily related to identity, gender and sexuality in screen and media cultures. 

Current projects

• Young queer women’s history-making online.
• Digital culture and Asian-Australian identity.
• Representing women in Asian-American diasporic cinema.
• Gametogenesis as Reproductive Justice.
• Queer Film Festivals as sites of activism, community and representation: A case study of Mongolia.
• Authenticity and reality television.
• Confidence culture and body positivity on Chinese social media.

Past projects

• Analyzing the discourse of postpartum bodies on Chinese social media Xiaohongshu.
• News media coverage of COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown in Melbourne.
• The ecology of social short video applications in China: professional-generated-content, user-generated-content and professional-user-generated-content.
• Financing Queer films in Brazil.
• Representing Witches on Teen TV.
• Videogame and film adaptation.

Dr Monaghan has extensive teaching experience (curriculum development, coordination, lecturing and tutoring) in film and screen studies, media studies and strategic communications management.

Current teaching responsibilities

• ATS3969: Screen Studies in the Digital Era
• ATS3964: Gender, Race and Media Practices

Previous teaching at Monash:

• ATS2992/MON2100: Global Immersion Guarantee
• ATS1119: Communicating in the Digital Era
• ATS1304: Introduction to Television Studies
• ATS1305: Introduction to Film Studies
• ATS2964: Screen Theories
• ATS2962: Contemporary Approaches to Film and Television Studies
• ATS3551: Gender and Sexuality in Film and Television
• APG5050: Doing Media and Communications Research
• APG5367: Campaigns, Advocacy and Change
• APG5742: Industry Project
• APG5458: Digital Technology, Policy and Governance
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