Putting queerness into words: The audio description of Sex Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7968.2025.e106841Palavras-chave:
queer, media accessibility, audiovisual translation, multimodality, representationResumo
Recent audiovisual works have increasingly featured non-normative characters, setting a trend in the industry. In translation studies, minority representation has been examined through feminist and queer translation theories. In such instances, the translation process is filtered by the professional’s subjectivity and positionality, since translators act as mediators, making translation a purposeful and intentional act. This is especially relevant in AVT, due to the vast scope of audiovisual contents that has traditionally contributed to the perpetuation of stereotypes. Since the cultural turn in translation studies (Bassnett & Lefevere, 1990), feminist and queer approaches have produced significant works (Baer, 2020; Castro & Ergun, 2017). Although AVT has been a focus (Martínez-Pleguezuelos, 2018), applying queer feminist perspectives to media accessibility is less explored (Iturregui-Gallardo, 2023; Iturregui-Gallardo & Hermosa-Ramírez, 2024). Netflix’s Sex Education (2019–2024) exemplifies diversity, presenting fresh views on sexuality and identity, especially in its final season, which featured more queer and intersectional characters. This paper examines the audio descriptions (AD) of the series, by means of a multimodal approach (Villanueva-Jordán, 2024) to analyse how queerness is constructed and represented in the audio described version of the audiovisual content. The analysis raises questions about the agency, subjectivity, and ideology of accessibility professionals in AD. The results emphasise the importance of diversity in AD and its impact on queer and non-normative visually impaired people’s social engagement and self-representation.
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