Author: Erique Zhang / Northwestern University

Erique Zhang (they/she) is a PhD candidate in the Media, Technology, and Society program at Northwestern University’s School of Communication. Drawing on feminist, queer, trans, and critical race theories, Erique’s research focuses on the aesthetic practices, media representation, and cultural production of transgender people and queer and trans people of color. Their ongoing work uses a combination of interviews with trans women and femmes, transcripts of vlogs produced by trans female social media influencers, and fashion magazine coverage of trans subjects to interrogate how normative ideals of beauty are produced through media representations and how trans people navigate those norms in their everyday lives.