Claire Sisco King

Associate Professor of Communication Studies Vanderbilt University

  • Nashville TN

Expert in media and visual culture, with a particular emphasis on the study of gender and sexuality.

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Vanderbilt University

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1 min

Media, gender and celebrity culture expert on Britney Spears news developments

Claire Sisco King, associate professor of communication studies, is available for commentary on the recent resurgence in media interest in Britney Spears's personal life, including the #FreeBritney movement and the pop star's recent engagement. Sisco King teaches about Spears in a celebrity culture class, as part of a discussion on gender and trauma as they relate to fame. She can discuss: Spears and the public’s emotional investments in the lives of celebrities The misogyny that often typifies celebrity culture Our culture’s general fascination with trauma

Claire Sisco King

Multimedia

Biography

Claire Sisco King is Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Communication Studies, and affiliated with the Cinema and Media Arts program. She is a scholar of media and visual culture, with a particular emphasis on the study of gender and sexuality. Her book, Washed in Blood: Male Sacrifice, Trauma, and the Cinema (Rutgers University, 2011), which was named an Outstanding Book of the Year in 2013 by Critical Cultural Studies division of the National Communication Association, addresses the intersections between cinematic violence, masculinity, and discourses of civic identity. Her work has been published in numerous journals in the fields of communication and media studies, and she is currently writing a new book on celebrity culture, gender, and race. King is the Editor-Elect of Women’s Studies in Communication, a peer-reviewed, feminist journal addressing the relationships between communication and gender.

Areas of Expertise

Pop Culture
Civic Identity
Gender
Media
Visual Culture
Sexuality
Celebrity Culture

Education

Indiana University

Ph.D.

Communication and Culture

Indiana University

M.A.

Communication and Culture

Davidson College

B.A.

English

Selected Media Appearances

Bennifer gets a happy ending, now that tabloids have lost their bite

Washington Post  online

2022-07-18

Though celebrity gossip has been around for as long as there was a star system, the early 2000s marked the start of an intensified era, according to Claire Sisco King, a communication studies professor at Vanderbilt University. The building popularity of reality television and the proliferation of digital media fed a hunger for the juiciest celebrity news. Magazines paid big bucks for exclusive paparazzi shots; the New York Post in August 2002 detailed a bidding war between People magazine and Us Weekly that ended with the former coughing up $75,000 for nine photos of Affleck and Lopez.

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The psychology of parasocial relationships with celebrities

NewsChannel 5  tv

2022-05-13

Rhori Johnston is joined by Dr. Claire Sisco King from Vanderbilt University to discuss what parasocial relationships are, why people develop them with celebrities, and the Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard case on this episode of OpenLine.

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Ban on ‘Soul Cap’ spotlights lack of diversity in swimming

AP News  online

2021-08-01

“The predominance of white athletes in swimming is a key example of a racial disparity in sport that can be linked to histories of institutional racism,” said Claire Sisco King, an associate professor of communication studies at Vanderbilt University and editor of the Women’s Studies in Communication international journal.

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