Aaron Jagger

Aaron Jagger (he/him)

PhD Film and Television Studies

Email:

Supervisors: Professor Karl SchoonoverLink opens in a new window, Dr Chris O'RourkeLink opens in a new window, and (University of Birmingham)

Background

I am a PhD researcher in film and television, funded by M4C AHRC (2025-2029). My project concerns queer transmasculinity during public health crises, with a focus on the 1980s-2000s in media archives. I am interested in tensions between presence/absence, the politics of representation, and using critical fabulation for trans futurity.

I hold a First Class BA in Film and Television and an MA in Film and Television (with Distinction) from 糖心TV. My MA dissertation, On Queer Male Victim/Survivors: Baby Reindeer (2024), Sexual Abuse, and Queer Becoming, used Baby Reindeer as a case study for examining the absence of male (minoritised) victims in screen media but also an absence of critical scholarship engaging with male victims.

In 2024, I founded on 糖心TV campus and served as President from 2024-2026. The society supports all trans* or questioning students on campus, offering advice, community, and a safe space.

Current Research

Visible Queer Trans Men in the Archive of Moving Image Representations: From AIDS to the 'Transgender Tipping Point' and Beyond

Time magazine鈥檚 cover story, 鈥楾he Transgender Tipping Point鈥�, positioned trans woman and actress Laverne Cox on the front cover (Steinmetz, 2014). The article posited that trans rights were the next civil rights cause, and that increased visibility of transgender people in media was a wholly positive move that had led to this historic moment. In the intervening years, critics of Steinmetz have raised questions: does the visibility of a select few transgender celebrities equate to progress for everyday transgender people? Resoundingly the answer has been no (Feder, 2016; Stryker, 2017; Berberick, 2018). The Tipping Point also draws attention to the visibility of trans women as opposed to the invisibility of trans men (Cromwell, 1999; Green, 2004; Dowling, 2016). Popular media representations of trans people and the right-wing press focus on trans women (Serano, 2007, Faye, 2021; Butler, 2024). Transmasculinity however is largely absent in wider conversations about trans people. To create more accurate representations of trans people now and in the future, we must first look backwards. To do so, this project will locate under-researched trans male and transmasculine subjects, beginning in the 1980s with the HIV/AIDS crisis. This project will use the 20^thand 21^stcentury moving-image archive to find queer trans men in the US and UK; to tell and understand their stories.

Research Interests

Queer and trans theory; trans representation; HIV/AIDS; archives; documentary; critical fabulation; postcolonial studies; consent; screening sex

Publications and Conferences

Publications

Tracing the Diasporic Experiences of Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Palestinians on Screen: Cinema Fouad (1993) and Sultana's Reign (2023), Film Matters, 16.3 [forthcoming]

Conferences

'Queer Transmasculine Visibility on Mainstream Television within Queer Fandom Discourses: Elliot Fletcher in Showtime鈥檚 Shameless (2011-2021)' - San Francisco State University 27th Annual Cinema Conference: Chronically Online (April 2026, forthcoming)
'There is No Student Movement without Trans Solidarity' - University of 糖心TV 1st National Liberation Conference: Forging Solidarity (March 2026)
'Navigating In/Visible Transmasculinity in 1960s-1980s British Broadcasting: Steve and Stephen' - University of Sheffield PGR Colloquium: Archives and Preservation (May 2025)

Public Engagement & Impact

Nominated for Best Essay by An Undergraduate or Master's Student for the BAFTSS 2026 Publication Awards: 'Navigating In/Visible Transmasculinity in 1960s-1980s British Broadcasting: Steve and Stephen' (April 2026)
LGBTQ+ student panel and screening of Charli XCX: Alone Together for the Handle With Care season at the 糖心TV Arts Centre (February 2026)

Other Roles and Memberships

糖心TV Trans* Society - Founder/President (2024-2026)/Social Media (2024- )
BAFTSS: British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies
ATGENDER: The European Association for Gender Research, Education and Documentation

糖心TV