Seminar 3 Flashcards
Miranda
- Comedy serie on BBC (3 seasons)
- made by Miranda hart (stand up comedian)
- she was tired of dominant stereotypical casting
practices so she made this show to laugh with the
stereotypes –> she is very tall so she was always
asked to play the girl who looks like a boy - she uses hypersteotyping to laugh with the
stereotypes - she acknowledge that she is priviliged that she can
make an alternative program
theoretical and historical perspectives on sex and gender
Sex is not gender
- sex is the biochemical, genetic structures that
difference male from female species in terms of one’s
reproductive system or second characteristics
- gender is the social construct of what it means to be
born with male or female characteristics
– genderidentity is the self identification with a
paticular
gender category
– genderexpression is how you present yourself
within that gender category
- masculinities and femininities: cultural repertoires that
are gendered like roles or expectations
Feminism
- you have academic and political movements.
Academic movements do research and political
movements go on the street to protest - commonalities: sex is an fundamental axis for social
organization. It still subordinates women to men. This
power is used to maintain patriarchal order. - they disagree on how to achieve social change
Feminism throughout history
First wave (1790-1960) - equal rights for women in the public sphere
Second wave (1960-…)
- equal pay
- personal is political (abortion rights, rape at home…)
- several forms of feminism
- patriarchy constructs gender identities through
culture
- identity politics: shared identity of womanhood –>
they don’t acknowlegde yet the dificulties that black
women get confronted with
Third wave (1990-…)
- social constructionist and non-essentialist
- acknowlegdge diversity in experiences and identities
- intersectional, inclusive and a global focus
- increased attention to popular culture
Early feminist studies
- study of images of women in culture and mass media
- inspired by liberal feminism
– the difference between man and women is a result of
stereotypes and a lack of oppurtunities
– there must be equal oppurtunities for women in a
legal form
– critisized for emphasis on white women, individualism - they are gonna challenge stereotypes and advocate
for woman’s access to production of media - informed by realism: images should be direct
expressions of reality because the audiences decode
images in similar ways - gender stereotypes are misrepresentations of real
women and reflect male attitudes - issues?
– patriarchal perspective
– ignoring itnersectionality
– little agency for audience
Gay Tuchman
- If you don’t represent particular groups in the media,
you will exclude those people from the society. they
are present but they don’t contribute to the symbol of
the society. - by largely ignoring women or portraying them in a
stereotypical way, the mass media symbolically
annihilate women - omission: not presenting women in certain contexts
- trivialization: representing women but in a stereotyped
way - condemnation: if you repeat those stereotieps you will
condem them to these rolls
Porn wars
- different feminist strads –> there are agreements and
disagreements - sex as a divisive topic
- radical feminism and lesbian feminism
– questioning the central role of man in society –>
patriarchy
– racial reordering society
– questioning the normative position of heterosexuality
– critisim from the outside and within
— compromising position of heterosexual women
— see male disire as a sign of misogny
— implying that a good feminist is always a lesbian
Anti-pornography movement
- Mackinnon and Dworkin
- they wanted to make pornography illegal becuase of
sex discrimination, this was because of the fact that it
was really easy to get to porn so a lot of people dit it.
They were scared that people really were gonna think
that sex is like that (woman unfriendly).
- there is sexual exploitation, forced prostitution,
physical injury…. and it’s presented as entertainment
- it’s not only the censorship that is wrong but also that
with this kind of pornography, they are keeping
women subordinated to maitain male supremacy
Sex-positivist perspectives
- liberal, radical and lesbian feminists
- anti-pornography movement is moral puritanism
- law is a form of censorhip
- restrict expierences of sexuality
- hamper option for sexual minorities to expierence
sexuality
Gayle S. Rubin
- she says that you can’t remove the porn industry but it
needs a change
- she is against S/M, erotic pleasure, gay sex, role play,
fantasy…
- contrarty to the goal of feminism: sexual liberation
Masculinities and femininities
- culture is the product of ideology
- analyzing representations and media related practices
to understand ways of thinking about gender and sex
in a given society - Discourses on masculinities and femininities are used
to maintain a patriarchal society
Connell’s gender theory
- masculinities and femininities are plural and subject to ideology
- four types of masculinities
1. hegemonic masculinity
- this is the example for man who wants patriarcy and
the subordination of women
- not a lot of men fit in this category but still this is the
category that orgenises our society
2. complicit masculinity
- these are the man who do not fully fit in the category
of hegemonic masculinity but who support it but don’t
stand at te front line
3. subordinated masculinity
- the subordination of men in their gender order, based
on their non-normative gender expression or sexual
identity
4. marginalized masculinity
- the subordination of men based on the interplay of
gender and class or race
Emphasized femininity
- femininity that is normative but not hegemonic
because there is not institutional or structural power
and because they are less active in negating other
femininities
- women’s compliance with subordination and the
acomodation of men’s interest and desires
Games of Thrones
- American HBO series
- medieval fantasy
- subversive representation of gender
- bound to politics and condition of the popular
- it’s promoted as traditionally masculine
- they have a lot of seasons so they had the chance to
change the gender dynamics and they did this –> if
you go further in the season you see more women
Season 1
- hegemonic masculine ideal
- male characters are in power: they are cisgender, white leaders
- most female characters are subordinated
– it’s patriarchal
– iconography: women are objectified as sexual objects
– emphasized femininity embodied by women of noble
houses
- complicit masculinities: characters who aspire to be in
power and emulate masculine traits
- subordinated masculinities: two closeted gay
characters
- marginalised masculinity: subordinated due other
identities
Season 7
- new heroes: women and atypical man
- series gender ideologies remain ambiguous –>
representation of rape that she became stronger
because of that –> not ok
- quantitative: women are still bodies to be looked at,
they say much less than the man
gendering of rock music
Music industry is run by man, this may affect the perception of the industry, the access to networks and financial means and the taken seriously as female artists.
Rock music is supposely male and pop music female. Not because there is more man who make rock music but also the style
Female rock artist dinied visibility or critical recognition
- canonization
- rock canon: created to challenge the initial dismiss of
rock music in favour of classical music
- through repetition normalized
- there is no other canon that can challenge the rock
cannon - audience practices
- giving the audience the power to express what they
think is good music –> never from scratch, guided by
journalists, chosing a artist that you think will make it
in the top 3… - journalists who other of maculinize women
- rock is assumed to be male, journalists never ask
about the absent of female artists
- women in rock: ‘girl power’ –> erasing presence of
female rock artists and implying that they are not
made for rock
- writing about women as man, she is one of the boys
Transgender media studies
- roots in transgeder feminism, part of the 3th wave
- complex relation with feminist and queer movements
- transgender persons: all person who demonstrate
unease with fitting into hegemonic gender categories,
and the wish to personally disregard or even subvert
these dominant conceptions of human gender and
sexuality
20th century:
- patholizing dicourses –> trapped in the wrong body
- negative stereotypes
21st century
- still problematic practices but increases
representation
- focus on succesfull transitioning –> hegemonic
beauty ideals
- judging everyone who does not want surgery
Euphoria
- HBO teen drama
- shows the life of a trans person, acted by a trans person
- there is no negative stereotypes
- trans is part of her identity, there is much more identities
