1. Introduction

The introduction develops a conceptual framework for analysing how gendered life stories become sites of political significance. Drawing on feminist theory, media studies, and political philosophy, it advances four interrelated concepts: dialectical tensions reaching a critical juncture, the mediated life of public testimony, haunting as a mode of unsettlement, and the narrative technology of gendered life stories. These concepts serve as interpretive tools for examining how and why certain personal narratives gain momentum beyond the individual and intervene in public discourse. The focus is not only on what is narrated, but on how stories travel, unsettle established frameworks, and mobilise affective responses across media and institutions. By situating gendered life stories as narrative forms capable of reshaping collective imaginaries, the chapter offers a historically anchored methodology for tracing how personal experience enters public life and acquires political force. This framework underpins the case studies that follow and contributes to debates on how gendered experience pushes against the boundaries between the private and the public, reshaping the terrain of political discourse.