“La búsqueda no dio resultados”: Visibilidad de contenido audiovisual español sobre maternidad y reproducción en plataformas de streaming (2013-2023)

Mariona Visa-Barbosa; Margarida Carnicé; Metzeri Sánchez-Meza

doi:10.4185/rlcs-2025-2428

Authors

Mariona Visa-Barbosa University of Lleida https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9261-264X
Margarida Carnicé University of Lleida https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1031-4030
Metzeri Sánchez-Meza University of Lleida https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0656-1349

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/rlcs-2025-2428

Keywords:

maternity, reproductive process, audiovisual fiction, VOD platforms, Spain, analysis content, quantitative research

Abstract

Introduction: Audiovisual fiction plays a key role in the construction and legitimization of new imaginaries around topics that have traditionally been marginalized, such as motherhood and the reproductive process. This study examines how the current social and technological context has influenced the proliferation of narratives focused on reproduction in Spanish fiction available on VOD platforms between 2013 and 2023. Methodology: A quantitative content analysis was employed, divided into two phases: an exploratory phase based on systematic searches using keywords, followed by a second phase of cataloging and classifying the content. Results: An increase in the number of works on motherhood is observed, especially in the documentary and drama genres, with fewer works in comedy and horror. Although platform search engines return results for terms like "pregnancy," "childbirth," and "abortion," there are few or no results for topics such as assisted reproduction, breastfeeding, postpartum, or gestational loss. Additionally, it is reinforced that a significant proportion of works on these topics are not produced by women. Discussion: It follows that the increase in fictions does not define the existence of a more diverse imaginary about the process of maternity and that the keywords that define these realities are not signifiers with sufficient autonomy to index content in the algorithmic operations of platforms’ search engines. Conclusions: VOD platforms have facilitated the emergence of more works on motherhood, but they have not significantly contributed to the construction of more complex and ethical imaginaries of the reproductive process.

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Author Biographies

Mariona Visa-Barbosa, University of Lleida

Associate professor at the Facultat de Lletres of the University of Lleida (UdL) in the degree in Audiovisual Communication and Journalism at the University of Lleida (UdL). She currently co-leads the funded project “MaterScreen. Maternities on screen: Representation of the reproductive process in contemporary Spanish fiction” PID2022-137338OA-I00 (2023-2026). She is a member of TRAMA, a research group on transformations in audiovisual media and their implications for political, cultural and social development. Her main lines of research are social networks and digital platforms and the representation of identities in the media.

Margarida Carnicé, University of Lleida

Lecturer at the Facultat de Lletres of the University of Lleida (UdL) and researcher in audiovisual media and gender perspective. Currently co-leads the funded project “MaterScreen. Maternities on screen: Representation of the reproductive process in contemporary Spanish fiction”” PID2022-137338OA-I00 (2023-2026) and collaborates with national and international research groups such as DHIGECS (UB), TRAMA (UdL) and CUC (Università degli Studi di Roma Tre). She has published her work in Profesional de la Información, Estudios Sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, Estudos Feministas or European Journal of Women Studies, and has participated in various R&D&I research projects on audiovisual media and gender perspective.

Metzeri Sánchez-Meza, University of Lleida

Lecturer in the Degree in Audiovisual Communication and Journalism at the University of Lleida. She is a member of the TRAMA research group on transformations in audiovisual media and their implications for political, cultural and social development, and a researcher in gender studies, communication and journalism. She has worked in public administration and in the educational sector. She has also collaborated with several civil organizations. She has also been coordinator of the Ideograma-UPF Chair of Political Communication and Democracy. She has published her work in journals such as El Profesional de la Información, Estudios Sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, Antípoda, Comunicación y Hombre, among others.

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