Sarah Banet-Weiser

Sarah Banet-Weiser holds dual appointments as Distinguished Professor in the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and Professor in the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, where she also directs the Annenberg Center for Collaborative Communication. Her scholarly work bridges media studies, cultural analysis, and gender politics with particular attention to power dynamics in contemporary media environments.

Her research examines the complex intersections of media representation, identity formation, and cultural power. Banet-Weiser investigates how popular culture shapes societal understandings of gender, race, and authenticity, with recent work focusing on sexual violence narratives and the politics of believability in digital media landscapes. She analyzes how victimhood is constructed and contested across different media platforms and cultural contexts.

Her most recent scholarly contribution examines mediated white male victimhood within contemporary cultural discourse, situating this phenomenon within broader frameworks of race, gender, and power. This work connects to her collaborative research with Kathryn Claire Higgins on sexual violence representation and media politics of doubt, reflecting her sustained engagement with how media shapes societal responses to gender-based violence.

• Distinguished Professor recognition

Banet-Weiser has authored foundational texts including 'Empowered: Popular Feminism and Popular Misogyny' (2018) and 'Authentic: The Politics of Ambivalence in a Brand Culture' (2012), while co-editing significant collections on television studies, commodity activism, and post-racial discourse. Her scholarship consistently addresses how cultural narratives reinforce or challenge existing power structures in neoliberal contexts.