CNM-MOVES deployed a multi-method approach and explored both journalistic coverage of CNMs and the voices and media outlets of CNM groups and activists in Portugal and the UK.
The media research collaborated with news clipping agencies to collect all news pieces in the written press mentioning CNMs. This resulted in over 200 news and opinion pieces for Portugal over ten years, and close to 2000 pieces for the UK over the same time period. We found major differences in how CNMs are portrayed in the Portuguese and UK’s press, with the former being far less polarized about the issue, but also affording less visibility to it. In both countries, opinion pieces are more negative than reporting coverage. Most reports are based on slice-of-life stories, adopt a sensationalist tone, and are celebrity-focused or sex-centric. Few pieces focus on political, social or human rights aspects discussed by activists. Both reports are readily available on our project’s website.
CNM-MOVES also engaged with activists in both countries, collating publicly available resources about past and present activities of CNM-focused activist groups. Conducting focus groups and interviews (5 in the UK and 10 in Portugal) allowed for a thorough understanding of how CNM movements have organized and cooperated over the past two decades. This data has been analysed mainly through thematic analysis, demonstrating the conceptual and practical complexities around CNM activism. It showed several intersections between CNM activism, bisexual activism, anti-racist activism, and even climate change related activism. We also attended relevant online events to gain an understanding of the main topics discussed, considering all of them were roundtable discussions or panels that sought to bring awareness to CNMs.
Along the project, and relying on the data collected, we have helped facilitating training and awareness-raising sessions specifically focused on health professionals, while simultaneously presenting the research project to them and garnering feedback from them. This pertained to the project’s social outreach goals to tackle discrimination against CNM people. The systematic compilation and research of websites and other public-facing communication platforms used by CNM-focused communities plus the analysis of historical accounts of key activists resulted in the publication of an activism timeline in Portugal and the UK from 1990 onwards on the project’s website. The timelines show that more consolidated and topic-specific movements started appearing around the early 2000’s, but there have been more diverse initiatives in the UK, while Portugal is characterized by more cohesiveness and more direct participation in politically-centred events like LGBTQ Pride March organising. Activists’ analyses of inequality, social policy, and the law were collated in a short report, and a policy briefing shared with political parties in both countries. This ensured that the topic has formally been brought to important stakeholders’ attention.
Apart from these strategic steps of dissemination in the areas of professional psychology and policy making, CNM-MOVES created open access academic and non-academic texts, participated in round-table discussions, contributed to databases and podcasts, and engaged with mainstream media in several countries.
