Hungarian Media Representations of Gender-Role Transgressions between 1910 and 1939

This paper examines media representations of gender role transgressions – i.e. manifestations of non-normative gender performances, being salient in the given social context – published in Az Est (The Evening). This Hungarian daily had the highest circulation among Hungarian popular press products between 1910 and 1939. Our main goal was to contribute to a better understanding of the social perceptions of gender variance and gender role transgressions in early 20th century Hungary by relying on the social norm enforcing function of mass media and mass communication theories as our theoretical framework. After examining 21 volumes of Az Est (published between April 16, 1910 and November 17, 1939), including 8861 copies (of typically 16-20 pages) we have selected 508 gender role transgressions- related articles. Our present study focuses on 92 articles that can be divided into four main thematic groups: work related unusual gender performance; science popularization reports; cross-dressing stories, and narratives of (unintentional and intentional) gender changes.