WEEK 4 - Regulatory Discourses and Representation

Question 1

Knowledge vs. Power

Answer 1

Knowledge is produced through discourses, which are practices that systematically form the object of which they speak
Discourses give meaning to social practices; they become dominant or normative when circulated through relations of power
Often maintain the status quo
> ex. women are “naturally nurturing” no science evidence

Question 2

Discourses Defined

Answer 2

Ways of describing ideas and issues (ex. acceptable female sexuality and the ideal victim) that assign meaning to social practice
Circulated through media, education, government, and political..etc/
Often myths, then become perceived truths

Question 3

Consequences of the Relationship between Knowledge and Power?

Answer 3

Framing something as normal not only renders it unquestioned truth but also defines its opposite - the deviant, the abnormal, all need intervention
Reproduces stereotypes and scripts
Examples
> slavery of black people, their culture was seen as inferior
> justified their treatment as they were perceived less than human

Question 4

Consequences of Stereotypes?

Answer 4

Underpin and legitimate stigma
Precisely the common “truths” emanating from the perspective of those with the ability to name and define the “other”

Question 5

Medicalization and Pathologization of Women

Answer 5

Women framed in terms of their deviations from the male norm
Female ‘craziness’, invisible social determinant of health
Examples
> Brittany Spears
> Miley Cyrus

Question 6

Deviantization Defined

Answer 6

The social process by which a behaviour comes to be understood as deviant
Or which individuals think is deviant, through the response of social actors, agents of the states, or institutions
Women deviantized in the media
> ex. ghost busters re make - leslie jones

Question 7

The Process of Pathologization and Medicalization of Women

Answer 7

Women suffering from anorexia (deemed suffering from hysteria, ‘hysteros’ in Latin) were viewed as typically feminine and pathologically emotional
Anorexia was understood (by male doctors) as a personal failure or moral defect, overlooks social context
Still relevant today, balmed for being too thin or too fat

Question 8

Who are the ‘Ideal’ Victims and Offenders?

Answer 8

weak, sick, old, or very young
carrying out a respectable project - daytime vs night time
the offender is big, bad, unknown and has no personal relationship

Question 9

Gender Sexual Scripts in the Media

Answer 9

normative expectations that provide guidelines for people’s interactions in social contexts. sexual scripts forces that, together, with gendered scripts, dictates how sexual interactions play out
> shows how women ‘should’ act in sexual context