Diversity in Sexual Health Communication

The conference will provide a platform for scholars to explore how diversity is represented and accommodated in publicly available information about sexual health. We use ‘diversity’ to refer to a wide array of factors including age, gender, culture, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, and geographic location (e.g. rural/urban population groups and global diversity). ‘Communication’ emphasises multimodality, that is, the use of multiple meaning-making resources (language, images, sound, colours, typography, and more). While doctor-patient interactions are extensively covered in other contexts, this conference seeks instead to illuminate the wider societal implications of health communication and thus focuses on a wide array of publicly available information including materials like leaflets, webpages, and self-help books; mainstream and social media; and influencer communication.