Gender, Religion and Authority in Digital Media
Gender, Religion and Authority in Digital Media

Summary/Abstract: This article discusses how women’s authority to speak about religion is forged in digital media and builds on empirical work focusing on bloggers in a Swedish context and vloggers in a North American context. These studies show how women’s self-performances in digital media are characterized by a communicative intention towards authentic self-expression. We argue that these self-performances also enable a particular form of authority to emerge, that is dependent on an individual’s personal qualities and ability to inhibit and/or perform certain values; relational and co-effected, forged in constant connectivity with audiences. Authenticity is a core characteristic of this form of authority in the sense of a connection between being true to your inner self and acknowledging your dependence on others. Finally, vulnerability is an intrinsic part as, on the one hand, a condition enhanced by the socio-technological affordances of digital media and, on the other, as a possibility to challenge stigma, open up spaces of inclusivity and enacting a different ideal of authority.

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