For most of 2017, I’ve been working on a research project related to the BBC Holby City characters Bernie Wolfe and Serena Campbell, known by the ship name‘Berena’. My research has always focused around questions of gender, sexuality, and media representation, and it was hard to miss the buzz around these older women-loving women falling in love. (How often does that happen on your telly on a Tuesday night?!) In particular, I was struck by the way that viewers talked about the impact that Berena had had on their lives – and I knew from personal experience that the storyline had been a source of joy and comfort (and sometimes virtually shared frustration and sadness) through a difficult time in my own life. I wanted to explore that.
I currently have a journal article under peer review that reports on the key themes that emerged from a survey of Berena fans that I ran at the start of the summer; what was striking was how many of the survey participants talked about the impact of the story – and of their involvement in the fandom – on their mental health and wellbeing, whether because they had made sense of their own same-sex attraction, or been able to come out, or had felt empowered to overcome mental illness, or had simply felt visible and validated.
Participants ranged in age from their late teens to women in their 70s and beyond, and I feel privileged to have been given their stories. As well as being marginalised on screen, older wlw are also less visible in research on the relationship between queer identities, media representation, and mental health, which is typically focused on youth and adolescence. So I am really keen for my participants’ voices not to be lost: the next stage of the project is about putting the means of production and dissemination of knowledge into theirhands, by working collaboratively to create a zineabout Berena, media representation more generally, and mental health and wellbeing.
Now that I have funding in place, I’m making plans to host a number of people in Liverpool on 10 February 2018, as well as making arrangements for anyone who wants to contribute remotely to do so. Just now I’m working on information packs that tell people a bit more about making zines and all the different forms that contributions can take, and about my research, so if you are interested in taking part, please send me an email and I’ll make sure I send this to you once it’s ready. (You’re under no obligation to take part just because you’ve emailed, and participants are free to drop out at any time.) I’ll also use this blog to circulate the information and a contact address for anyone who would like to put something into the zine but who wants to remain completely anonymous.
I look forward to sharing more news soon!
Georgina Everett 