Rate My Professor Whitney Monaghan

Dr. Whitney Monaghan is a Lecturer in Film, Screen and Culture within the School of Media, Film and Journalism at Monash University’s Faculty of Arts. She holds a PhD from Monash University, where her doctoral research examined the representation of queer girlhood, resulting in the monograph Queer Girls, Temporality and Screen Media: Not ‘Just a Phase’ (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). Monaghan’s research specializations include queer theory, feminist media studies, gender and sexuality, media representation, television studies, media studies, and social justice. Her current projects investigate the history of queer screen cultures in Australia and the discoverability of LGBTIQA+ content in streaming media environments. She supervises PhD research on identity, gender, and sexuality in screen and media cultures, favoring qualitative methods such as textual analysis, discourse analysis, and interviews. Her work aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goals, including Gender Equality (SDG 5), Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11), and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (SDG 16).

Monaghan has published extensively, co-authoring Queer Theory Now: From Foundations to Futures (Red Globe Press, 2019; second edition forthcoming 2026) and co-editing Screening Scarlett Johansson: Gender, Genre, Stardom (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). Key recent works include chapters “Film, television and streaming media” and “Queer theory” in the Elgar Encyclopedia of Queer Studies (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2025), an article on “Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and nonbinary representation on Australian scripted television in the 2000s and 2010s” (Media International Australia, 2024), and “Melbourne Women in Film Festival: navigating precarity in building a sustainable professional festival” (NECSUS: European journal of media studies, 2025). As co-convener of Monash’s Gender and Media Lab, she fosters research on screen representation. Beyond academia, Monaghan coordinates the Melbourne Women in Film Festival, curating queer and feminist film programs, screenings, and events; she established the MWFF Critics Lab, Australia’s first mentoring program for women and gender diverse critics. She serves as a peer reviewer for journals including Continuum and Public Relations Inquiry, spoke at the Screen Studies Association of Australia Aotearoa New Zealand conference (2024), and organized the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia Seminar (2024–2025). Her scholarship and public engagement advance understandings of diversity, equity, and inclusion in screen media.