The topicality and complexity of issues of gender and sex/uality as key factors in the political arena has become apparent in recent political elections in different parts of the world. Matters of performance are determining criteria for the successful distribution and realisation of political aims. In this context questions about re-defining the political arena arise, as the proliferation of new media platforms provides alternative possibilities for voicing political ideas and building political movements outside of the classical institutions. In accordance with the complexity of the subject, the articles in this issue of gender forum engage with the interplay of gender and politics from diverse perspectives.