LECTURE Feb 25th

A Woman as Image Application

1) Images of women:
- its not just a problem that we do see, but its also about the role for
women that we don't see
- ex: a lot of working women are not represented in mainstream media
- this theory develops in early wave feminism
2)
-

Woman as images:
Focus on women as a singular thing
Every image constructs an empty sign for women themselves
Ex: woman as an image for the male gaze
This type of theory is contextualized in such a way that it constructs this
male spectatorship the viewer must take on a male spectatorship
position to make any sense of the text
Develops in the later second-wave feminism period
Females need to take the role of a male to be able to get the joke

3) Images for women:

- is about saying: what do we as readers or viewers actually do with these
structures?
- How do actual readers and interpret these structures
- The viewers themselves begin to play with the structures and deconstruct
them in their own minds
- An image that does some kind of cultural work for some women
- we manipulate structures in feminist texts and attempt to create
resistance
- people try to create spaces of resistance
The Berenstain Bears Forget their Manners
By Stan and Jan Barenstain
- Social Construction Theory and the Gendering of Childrens Picture Book
- There was trouble in the big tree house...trouble with manners.
- At first it was just an occasional please or thank you that was
forgotten.
- Of course...Mama tried to correct ...
- Papa banged on the table...
- Solution:
The Bear Family Politeness Plan
- Hmm, said Brother.
This looks serious.
- The Super Politeness Plan in Action

And after awhile...

To the grocery store...
Besides manners are all right for cubs and mama bears...
...but we papa bears have other things to think about...Why, that
pinheaded fiddlebrain!
Name calling, reminded Sister.
The penalty for name calling was cleaning the whole cellar, so Papa
gritted his teeth and remembered his manners. And a good thing, too.
Because climbing out of the other car was the biggest, angriest bear he
had ever seen!

- No harm had been done...

- As I was saying, said Papa...
- its very important for us to remember our manners...
Childrens book assignment
- male narcissism
Female Spectatorship and Audience Resistance
Theoretical Interpretations
- pretty woman
- Julia Roberts is portrayed through camera angels as an object, where the
camera focuses in on male characters and their conversations.
- Julia Roberts rather is often at distance and youre just tracking her
The Male Gaze: Laura Mulvey
Ground-breaking essay in the Politics of Representation:
- Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema
- (1975; first published in Screen)
- woman as image in mainstream cinema is produced as a spectacle for
the male gazeorganized around male desire
- (from Hollows)
The Male Gaze:Laura Mulvey
- the pleasure (scopophilia) and politics in looking derives from the male
spectators identification with a male protagonist who is observing a
passive, female object, through one of three modes of looking that
enable the male protagonist to avoid the threat of castration:
1) Narcissism
2) Fetishism
3) Voyeurism
The Male Gaze: Laura Mulvey
- the very structures and conventions of cinema, from camera angles to
marketing, are patriarchal in construction
male gaze theory

every construction of women is as an object

this psychoanalytical perspective assumes sexual difference and
heteronormativity
feminist resistance is nearly impossible from this perspective

Female Spectatorship: Laura Mulvey

- How does the female spectator respond to the films construction of the
male gaze?
1) Taking up the position of the male spectator:
o shift to be the male spectator in order to understand the film
o Identification with the power of the male protagonist in a transsex or transvestite spectating position
o By denying femininity to sympathize with male protagonist
o Media examples emphasizing this spectating position: Shes the
Man; Mulan; Special K ads
2) Identification with a female protagonist:
o Representation of the contradictions within patriarchy (identify
with the patriarchal problems that the women encounters)
o As experienced by women
o Media examples emphasizing this spectating position: soap
operas; the womans film; chick flicks; Sex and the City; Desperate
Housewives; Dove Real Beauty Campaign
We begin to see her as an object of desire and the
struggles that she goes through
o
Visual and Other Pleasures: Laura Mulvey
From 1974 1983:
- Mulveys feminist avant-garde film-making period
Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975):
- The presence of woman is an indispensable element of spectacle in
normal narrative film, yet her visual presence tends to work against the
development of the story line, to freeze the flow of action in moments of
erotic contemplation.
o Julia Roberts is just a spectacle in the first scene with only her
body to be seen.
o YET, her being on the screen works against the male story line
Her presence alone interrupts his story
She has the power to pause on his story
Even though she is being sexualized, were lingering on her
We start to ask questions about her

2008 edition of Visual and Other Pleasures:

- new electronic and digital technologies can help to create a cinema of
delay
- Resistance through stillness; moving beyond identification with the male
protagonist
Collages of women create even more of a delay
Sex in the city women
Multiple images create multiple stories of women
o Resistance through stillness; moving beyond identification with
the male protagonist
Cinema of Delay
Thelma and Lousie over the canyon
- pause to the story of the male heroes, where you can ask questions
about women
- not a huge resistive strategy but does create resistance through stillness
Female Spectatorship: Mary Ann Doane
1) (Female) Narcissism:
- over-identification with the idealized feminine object of male desire
- ex: every little girl wants to buy princess toys because they want to be her
- how every women gets any kind of power, is through sexual power
access limited female power
victoria secret model
2)

Masochism:
identification with the female victim
Ex: we identify with the rape victim who is seeking justice (most of the
time she does not achieve justice but we identify with her pain)
We don't identify with her power, but only identify with her pain (as a
victim)

3) Commodification:
- Trading on an idealized image of ones self in exchange for power
- Here you are trying to be a perfect object, but youre trading your sexual
power for money, career or something else that you could get indirectly
rather than directly (like through your sexual power)
- i.e. in treat me deadly, the women trades her sexual power in order to get
clues from mike
- i.e. Julia Roberts trades her sexual power (as a prostitute) for money, a
good life and happily ever after
Female Resistance: Mary Ann Doane
Only possibility for female resistance:
- Denaturalize/deconstruct images of passive femininity

 By creating distance between spectator and object

Through exaggeration
Femininity as masquerade/ posing
Playing with and manipulating feminine identities
Resisting patriarchal containment in the film text
- Examples:
All femme fatales
Christinas mockery of Mikes narcissism in Kiss Me Deadly creates
distance between spectator and object
Phrase remember me resists patriarchal containment in the film text
as Christina lives on through her words
Additional Contexts for Gender Resistance
Beckdell test
Movies that talk about other things than just guys
Linda Williams:
- Shock of recognition
female viewers recognizing the restrictions of living under patriarchy
- Example: Thelma and Louise
Jackie Stacey:
- Fascination between women
female viewers acknowledging female desire and differences between
femininities, not just sexual difference
moment of female spectator by making us ask about relations of
women on the screen
little representation of women on the screen (the Bechtel test, very
little meaningful relationships/ conversation between women on the
screen)
- Example: Greys Anatomy
- Brave
Female Spectatorship (ikea ad)

Mulvey:
Identification with female protagonists to explore contradictions of power
and the lack of equality within patriarchy; images of women interrupt male
narrative about garages in a cinema of delay
Doane:
Denaturalizes the patriarchal norm of masculinity by making it appear
narrow through parody
Williams:
shock of recognition underscores the restrictions of patriarchal gender
norms and leads to humour
Stacey:

Heteronormativity signified by traditional feminine tennis outfits in ad

ensures that there is no fascination between women here

Pretty Women
Male narcissism
o Make spectator sees himself in the male hero
o Camera angle allows us to see him acting in his own ways
o Male hero desires female object
Male subject, female object
Doesnt identify with her as an object
Fetishism
o Reducing the female to a part of the body to satisfy the male
needs
o Camera is focused on her body
Boobs, and barely any of her face
We dont want to see women as a human so that we dont
identify with her feelings and needs
Voyeurism
o Tracking her off in the distance

LECTURE March 10th

The Construction of Masculinities
Identity Politics for Guys
Hegemonic Masculinity
Characteristics:
- Chivalrous; protective of women
- Rational
- Competitive
- Successful economically
- Sexually skilled, knowledgeable and experienced
- Irresponsible; having no real life consequences aside from violence from
other males
Examples:
- AXE ads
- The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners
- Examples from film Tough Guise
Feminist Studies of Men
- Begins with a concept of hegemonic masculinity we understand what
masculinity means in a patriarchal society

Analysis of masculinity as part of institutionalized patterns of dominance

and subordination associated with the concept of patriarchy
the that you have to be that kind of (specific manly male) to have
power and for men to have real relationships with men in women
it recognizes that a patriarchal society is not good for anyone
Recognition of mens dominance over other men, as well as women
Identification of a range of masculinities
Condemnation of war, rape, mainstream pornography (structured by
gendered hierarchies) and gendered violence as results of mens
socialization pornography is about sexualizing the power of one
person over the way presenting power in a sexualized way
Judith Lorber

Men and Masculinity Studies

Crisis of Masculinity Theory:
- Pointed to the role of socialization in the construction of male identity
- Distinguished between sex and gender
- Identified gender role constraints for men:
Shame as the dominant male emotion
Triple dissociation experienced by men
1) Physiological (toughness; stoicism) most men experience this shame,
its a consequence of living in a patriarchal culture
2) Emotional (anger as only acceptable emotion)
3) Relational (domination or seduction in place of intimacy)
Emo Culture
Emo bands
- Mid-1980s 2000s
- Confessional lyrics
- Criticized as androcentric
Emo boys
emo boys are trying to resist dominant, hegdronormative masculinity
they try to expose the emotional side of males, and argues that men do have
a broader range of emotions
- Tight black clothes; not goth
- Black hair with emo swoosh side bang
- Shoulder bag with pins
- Piercings
- Associated with glamorization of suicide and self-harm; cutting and
anorexia
- Gender ambiguity and bi-sexual experimentation; androgyny within
heteronormativity
- Strong emotions/sensitivity
- Labelled whiners

Emo Gender
Emo boys are cool, i personally am one :) i DO have long black hair dat i
swoosh across my face and i do wear tight jeans and band t shirts but i am
definitly NOT a faggot anyone hu thinks otherwise (usually other guys) is clearly
wrong :) me and my friends are all emo and i dont think any of us cut our wrists
but i do write poetry wen i feel down and i often get called "sweet" and "nice"
and i tend to look at relationships more for love dan just sex like a lot of uther
guys do :)
Metrosexual
- A heterosexual, single male, with concerns for his appearance, and a lifestyle
or attributes stereotypically associated with gay men
- Associated with male version of female narcissism; known as the mirror men
concerned with (their own) image (and creating that own image) the male
shopper who has expertise in the fashion industry
- Considered evidence of the deconstruction of masculine norms due to the
mainstreaming of gay culture and lifestyle through
same-sex marriage legislation (Canada; 2006)
media (Queer Eye for the Straight Guy; 2003-2007)
- A shopper associated with the feminine pleasures and choices of consumerism
and identity construction
Metrosexual in Pop Culture
Examples:
- Ryan Seacrest
- David Beckham
Ubersexual:
- created by marketers to counter the ambiguous gender and sexual
orientation of the metrosexual
Colonization of the Feminine:
- Colonization of the new feminine power associated with consumption
- ryan seacrest beckham
Bear Masculinity
- The teddy bear became an image for sexualized masculinity
- The rugged, hairy, man represented masculinity
Rooted in gay culture:
- Mid-1980s
- Began in leather clubs

- Pocketing teddy bears in place of coloured handkerchiefs to indicate sexual

preferences
Bears: (men symbolize their body through the teddy bear image)
- Facial/body hair
- Mature, larger bodies
- Masculine aesthetic
- Not faeries or leathermen
Bear Culture
Little racial distinction
- Favours white body aesthetic
- Panda: Asian bear
Age
-

Cub: younger, passive bear partner

Polar bear: aging, greying bear

Gender
- Ursula: Lesbian bear
- Increasing inclusion of transgender bears
Bears in Pop Culture
Magazines:
- Bear Magazine:
- 1987-2008
Comedy:
- Bear with Me:
- Online comic strip
Movies:
- Bear City and Bear City 2: The Proposal
Peter Hennen
- Bear Bodies, Bear Masculinity: Recuperation, Resistance or Retreat
(2005)
- Bear represents body as cultural text
Resistive to phallocentric sexual practice
Broadens gay body image
Addresses masculine self-confidence and self-esteem; part of politics
of fat
- repudiating effeminacy:
Reinforces hegemonic masculinity
- become part of the fat movement,
- because the media tried to create a broader image of masculinity (that
was different from thin, effeminate male) through the bear image, this
also reinforced male masculinity

 it identified against the effeminate male and other gay males

therefore reinforces the body types and the power of normative
masculinity

Bro Culture
15-24 males from mid-1980s
Frat boy aesthetic:
Pop-collared polos, caps, Birkenstocks
The Bro Code:
Disciplining by other males into hegemonic masculinity
Rape and sandwich jokes; jackass humour
Beer and sports markets
Movies:
The Hangover
Masculinity Video Clip
- violence is associated with masculinity
- some of the most serious problems in contemporary male society is
associated with male violence
- through society and the media, we tell males that they are suppose to be
violent and then not talk about their feelings we are encouraging a
very problematic cycle
Menstruation
The Politics of Representation
-

the symbolic annihilate of menstruation

its not or under-represented in the media
the social construction of the body

Dominant Discourses
Religious:
- Cross-culturally considered pollution
- Talking about mensteration is immoral in the Christian religon
Cultural:
- Intersecting oppressions of gender and class
- mean laundry to be done by maids and laundresses for the upper
class
Moral (advertising):
- Kotex concerned that copy in initial ads would not be published for ethical
reasons
- Albert Lasker, the advertising genius who resolved the problem of
advertising something you could not talk about in the 1950s
- Persistent themes in menstrual advertisements:

 Concealment and shame

Comfort and ease
Social Scientific (medical):
- Pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS)
- Medicalization: illness to be cured
- Pill prescribed now to eradicate womens menstrual cycles
Classism Represented in Advertising
Medicalization in Advertising
tampax
History of Menstrual Products
Kotex
- Disposable products to replace laundered rags from the late 19th century
- more visible due to ad campaigns by the 1920s and new technologies
- Made from cellucotton, the absorbent materials used to dress soldiers
wounds in WWI
Symbolic Annihilations
KOTEX marketing:
- Name:
shorthand for cotton-like textile and adopted to make it easier for women to
order at the counter without embarrassment
- Telephone ordering:
Telephoning in your order in advance
- Counter display and coin box:
deposit 60 cents for a box of 12; products wrapped in plain white paper and
tied with a blue ribbon
- Silent purchase coupons:
Coupons that could be cut out of advertisements to request a box of napkins
from the clerk without having to speak out loud
The KOTEX Name
Silent Coupon Ads
Contemporary Symbolic Annihilations
- Tampax Pearl: has an absorbent braid to help protect against unexpected
leaks.
discreet and durable wrapper with easy-to-open tabs.
- Tampax: A discreet protection experience like never before.
- Always: Help keep your period out of sight!
- Playtex: Have peace of mind with the perfect fit for your unique flow

- Stayfree: You guard your movements, trying to protect against nighttime

leaks.
Social Construction of the Body
The Rely Tampon and Toxic Shock Syndrome
- Created by Proctor & Gamble in 1975
- Superabsorbent, would absorb even your worry
- Studied by Dr. Philip Tierno, Jr.
- Removed from the market by 1980 for leading to toxic shock syndrome, the
growth and spread of staphylococcus aureus in the vaginal wall due to the use
of synthetic material, which could lead to death
- Tampon makers still use synthetic materials in smaller quantities
Counter Discourses
Religious:
- Rachel and her camel bags
- Jewish feminist ritual reconstructions
Cultural:
- Museum of Menstruation and Womens Health
- Tween/Teen Message Boards on sanitary product sites
Kotex Girlspace
Tampax BeingGirl
Advertising:
- Red Dot ad campaign by Kotex
- UbyKotex Social Experiment Ads
- Always #LikeAGirl
LECTURE March 17th
Patriarchal Motherhood and Resistance
Mommybloggers
Stanley Cavell
- Heroines of womens film in the 1930s and 40s represent the first
generation of women to have the vote
- Melodramatic representation of the troubled mother-daughter relationship
and failed mothers
- These interwar films also represent a repression of the memory of the
mother who could not deliver fully on her first-wave feminist goals
- Psychologically the father replaces the mother as the primary and true
parent
Naomi Scheman
- Double State of Motherlessness
1) Not having a mother

2)

Not being a mother

Symptom of patriarchy:
- The motherlessness of the heroines is the clue to the male framing of
the desiring female gaze
- Primacy of paternity; no model of feminine identity
- Not just absence of the mother, but her non-existence
- If there is a mother-daughter bond, it is ruptured by marriage, as heroine
abandons both mother and active sexuality represented by the mothers
body
Motherhood and Third Wave Feminism
Third wave feminist concerns with identity
- Public relationship between Rebecca Walker and her mother, Alice
Walker, estranged since the birth of Rebeccas son in 2004 :
The truth is that I very nearly missed out on becoming a mother thanks to being brought up by a rabid feminist who thought motherhood
was about the worst thing that could happen to a woman.
You see, my mum taught me that children enslave women. I grew up
believing that children are millstones around your neck, and the idea that
motherhood can make you blissfully happy is a complete fairytale.
Contemporary feminist theory on motherhood
- Susan J. Douglas and Meredith Michaels critical of the new Momism
(2004) and the use of the term Mom to discipline women
- New momism: you have to be a self-sacrificing women
you have to be rewarded into being a mother whether it's a good thing
or not
Disneys Brave
- mother-daughter relationship takes central role in the plot
- most of the story is her mother being a bear
- shows lack of importance of mother in the real world
- has little political influence
- mother-daughter are working psychologically on their relationship
but doesn't happen in the public or cultural sphere (their relationship is in
private, this is problematic)
- you want a mother who is involved in her life
- we need to see those sorts of relationships of mother and daughter that
impact their lives in the real world
Mommyblogs
- we need to open up a space where we can talk about the realities of
motherhood

moms never get to say how hard motherhood is

all of these things begin to get written about by real mothers. The
tensions they feel and the identity of being a real mother and career
women

Part of womens long history of self-publication

- Rotary press and New Woman novel
- Ephemera of the second wave produced as dittoes
- Zine publication in the third wave by photocopiers
- E-zine publication from the 1990s
Multiplicity of voices in blogs by women by 2005
As life-writing
- Begins in online diaries
- Mommyblogs more like letters than diaries
- Involves authors and readers; individual accounts shared communally
New York Times article by David Hochman, Jan. 2005 critical of blogging moms
for:
- Critique of mommyblogs:
- Boring posts
- Not protecting their children exploiting their children when they write
about them in their blogs
- Patriarchal criticism, in attempts to close down the reality of motherhood/
mother free expression
BlogHer 2005 Conference on Women Bloggers
- Panel on mommyblogging creates tension with mainstream bloggers
Mommyblogs
- Becomes a perjorative term reclaimed by mommybloggers
- Writing about motherhood
- Began to be more of a letter to other people, rather than like a
motherhood diary
- Began to be activism about what you felt and experienced and see if
they felt similarity/ what people thought of it
they are rooted in community
May Friedman:
The Mamasphere and Hybridity
Disrupts/interrupts normative, patriarchal constructions of the good or
sacrificial mother
- Replaces expert manuals on patriarchal mothering

Includes maternal activism for autistic children, disability awareness, the

environment, funding and education, etc.
Womens writing as observations on the self and subjectivity
Complicated and contradictory narratives
Relationality important
Resistance from multiple sites as a micro-movement

Represents a diversity of mothering practice, experience and social location

- Transgender, transnational, non-abled, non-white, working-class, young,
diverse sexual experience and practice
- Real-time narratives both celebrating and critical of motherhood
Mamasphere as a whole new conception of support and community - May
Friedman
Limited Resistance of Mommyblogs
- Excludes marginalized women without internet access
- Star-bloggers generally middle-class, white women
Express contradictory narratives resisting and reinforcing dominant
discourses on motherhood
expresses the importances of motherhood
- Monetization
Popular bloggers marketing products, companies, etc. for payment
Commodification of the mamasphere
Less concern with intimate dialogue on mothering
LECTURE March 31st
Blue Blue period
Teen and Tween Fiction
- images for women theorists/ critics
- if these structures exist of the male gaze, what are they actually doing
with these texts?
- Learning to over identify with these teen ficton
- Teen and tweens do not over identify with characters
reading is a site of productive identity construction for these girls
Holly Virginia Blackford
- Out of this World: Why Literature Matters to Girls (2004)
- To address explosion in girls literature from the nineties
- Reader-response/reception theorsist (like Radway)
- Polled girl readers
- Tween and teen lit. is a site for identity construction
- Appropriate site because identity is a focus of adolescence

Blackfords Findings
Girls do not identify with the female protagonist
- Not over-identification or female narcissism
- Focus on difference, or difference/play (Derrida), among available
identities
Cf. to Jackie Staceys theory on the fascination between women
Girl readers identify with the fantasy
- Not realism, but reelism
- Going off world for insight
- Imagining oneself outside of the text
- Active identity construction
Beyond the Romance: Popular Genres for Identity Construction
- Suspense
- Action
- Quest (this goal to figure out who you are to make that work for the
female protagonist)
- Gothic form (the more fantasy/ unrealistic, the easier it was for the girls to
play with the characters, rather than over-identify with them)
Cyborg
- half human/ techno body (a human body that is partially technology)
- being half robot, provides women with more power
Lady Gaga and Madonna have played with this image
- uses a resistive image to power a very intelligent female body
Madonnas music video
- she was a powerful women who was violent and killed men
- but Madonna drives into a pole at the end and kills herself
- shes kind of masculine (in her power/ violence) but looks very feminine /
sexualized
suggests women of power must die/ end tragically in order to exist
- do you know what it feels like to be a girl
- uses shock to show people how hard it is to be a women
Popular Feminism and the Limits of Resistance
Current Debates within the Feminist Study of Popular Culture
Popular Feminism:
Jennifer Baumgardner

and Amy Richards

American feminist writers

2004: Feminism and Femininity: Or How We Learned to Stop Worrying

and Love the Thong
Popular, girlie feminism as challenge to patriarchal definitions of a weak
and subordinate femininity
Consumerism interpreted in positive feminist terms as political choice
Revisiting motherhood as a choice
The Debate:

Jennifer L. Pozner and Jessica Siegel

2005: Desperately Debating Housewives
Jennifer:
tired cultural clichs trumped up as feminism
Jessica:
effective satire aimed at the myth of motherhood
ABCs Desperate Housewives
Post-feminism
Post-feminism:
- Popular thesis that feminism has done its job and women have achieved
economic equality and a new sexual power
- Depends on the emerging neo-liberal consensus that economic equality has
been achieved and other factors of social oppression will dissipate in the wake
of this new workplace equality
Angela McRobbie: (British Communications Professor at Goldsmiths University
of London)
Post-feminism:
- New femininity-focused feminism
- Popular feminism and the mainstreaming of (patriarchal, hierarchicallystructured) pornography
- No theory about sexual power within the feminist study of popular culture
- suspension of the critique of capitalism in theories of consumption: the end of
socialist feminism
Angela McRobbie
Post-feminism:
- New femininity-focused feminism
- Popular feminism and the mainstreaming of (patriarchal, hierarchicallystructured) pornography
- No theory about sexual power within the feminist study of popular culture
- suspension of the critique of capitalism in theories of consumption: the
end of socialist feminism
women are trading off on their sexual power
it's the same old story, commodifying their power

Angela McRobbie
The Aftermath of Feminism: Gender, Culture and Social Change (2009)
- new form of sexual contract:
- Sexual contract under patriarchy: second-wave theories of womens
political, social and economic subordination
weve actually bought into a new contract where we have to sell
ourselves sexually
in previous periods, we were selling on our productive power to get
rights, now we depend on our sexual power
sexualization as empowerment, is selling us a false sense of feminism
we will no longer have a feminist consciousness left if
- Faux-feminism: words like empowerment and choice are used
particularly by the media and popular culture to sell a false brand of
feminism that ensures that feminism will never re-surface
we think that women have power because the media tells us that we
do
but those
- Womens subordination and experience of inequality, though changed,
remains unequivocal and substantial

Consumption
From Marxist Feminism to Theories of Resistance
Marxist Backgrounds
Capitalism produces surplus value from working class labour to be
exploited by owners
Fordism in particular at the mid-twentieth century represented the
rationalization of industry that extended into domestic spaces,
emphasizing efficiency and time-management
Production is understood in Marxist thought as an active, rational,
masculine site of social identity
Consumption is understood in Marxist thought as the passive,
irrational, and feminine adoption of meanings prescribed through the
production process
Second Wave Approaches:
Marxist Feminism
womens work is never done classic slogan of the second wave
Margaret Benston, The Political Economy of Womens Liberation
(New Left Review, 1969)
Identified men and womens differing relation to production
Distinguished production for exchange, which is paid for and
controlled by men in the public sphere from production for use,
which is unpaid and performed by women in the home
Unpaid labour limited womens economic independence and only
served the capitalist class of owners
Called for women to join in the struggle against capitalism
Required cooperative/collective forms of childcare and domestic
service
Second Wave Approaches:
Socialist Feminism
Tried to make gender and class equal terms of analysis
Emphasized womens reproduction of a labour force on which
capitalism depended
Critical of Marxist feminism for not going far enough in its analysis
Heidi Hartmann, The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism
(1981)
o Used the term capitalist-patriarchy, instead of simply
capitalism, to emphasize the equal importance of class and
gender in labour analysis

o Compared the sphere of production in the context of capitalist

domination and the sphere of reproduction in the context of
patriarchal domination
o Concept of a family wage, earnings sufficient for a family but
earned by one breadwinner only reinforces the power of the
working class (male) breadwinner
Third Wave Approach:
Consumption as Pleasure
John Fiske, Shopping for Pleasure (1989)
o Mall as an extension of the 19th c. department store
o Shopping brings women into the public realm of work, rather
than leisure, where skills are rewarded
o Power to spend money earned by men
o Shopping as escape from patriarchy
Resistance:
o carnivalesque inversion of economic subjugation
Third Wave Approach:
Beyond Resistance
Joanne Hollows, Feminism, Femininity and Popular Culture (2000)
o Popular culture as a site of struggle and identity construction
includes consumption of products and media
o Feminist theorists recast consumption as active, labourintensive and requiring experience and specialized knowledge
o As consumption becomes the site of feminine power in the third
wave, it is colonized by the metro-sexual/white, middle-class
male hero
The Body as a Site of Struggle
Inscription and Performance of Gender
The Social Construction of the Body
In conjunction with our physiological selves, the body exists within a
society that gives it meanings
The body as a semiotic sign points to:
o The sexual objectification of women:
Western beauty ideal and the sexualized female body
Seclusion and conservative dress
o Biological determinism:
Identification of womens bodies with reproduction,
nature and pollution
o Race:

 White emaciated ideal dominates globally

o Class:
Brand-names, nails, hair, etc. become shorthand to
status
Western Beauty Ideal
Reflects social power and the intersecting oppressions faced by
women:
o Limited power promised to White, able-bodied, young, middle
class, thin, and passive women
Beauty norms are internalized:
o Positive reinforcement for compliance leads to disciplinary
practices: seemingly trivial techniques reflecting complex
social controls through money, time, risks, etc.
o smoking used by 11-12 year old girls to stay thin; 90% of
anorexics are female; plastic surgery, e.g. labiaplasty, legstretching
Beauty ideals maintained by capitalism and consumerism:
o beauty reinforced by billion dollar fashion, cosmetic, surgical,
food and weight-loss industries
Beauty ideals change over time:
o Enculturation of beauty is reflected in changing aesthetics
larger women have symbolized prosperity and status in
other cultural periods like the middle ages
o shows social construction of gender
Feminist Body Politics
Second-wave approach:
o Femininity and beauty ideals are strictly patriarchal
constructions
o No make-up, bras, high-heels, shaving, cosmetic procedures,
hair dyes or form-fitting clothes
Third-wave approach:
o Clothing and fashion are self-expression and offer potential for
resistance and pleasure through parody and choice
o Identity:
Gender
Political
Religious
Ethical
Resource use
Animal testing
Objectification
Labour oppression

Organized Resistance of the Body

Body as canvas, site of identity, self-expression and resistance to
standards of Western beauty and gender norms
Reclaiming gendered identities and erogenous zones indicating
sexual freedom and desire through fashion, piercings, girl tats, and
scarification
Reclaiming spiritual and religious identities through body art, tattoos,
and charms
Demonstrating pain tolerance and strength through girl tats, the
markers of childbirth, and sport injuries/scars
Corresponding attempt to reclaim the female body through art
Girl Tats Rather than
Girly Tatoos
Feminine Designs:
o Roses, Daisies, Butterflies, Ladybugs, Hawaiian flowers,
Rainbows, Hearts, Hummingbirds, Wings, Crosses
o Lacey, inky drawings
Erogenous Zones:
o Lower back, shoulder, back of neck, bust-line, bikini line, thigh
Totems:
o Sexual totem indicating gender group
o Personal totem for protection
Narratives:
o Spiritual identity marker
o Personal story/journey
Limits to Resistance:
o Pain
o Addiction
Queer Theory:
Gender as Performance
Theorizing the disciplinary and performative dimensions of gender
According to Judith Butler, heterosexuality is not the expression of a
natural self, but the ritualized performance of cultural ideals and
symbols reflecting male/female binary constructions
o My argument is that there need not be a doer behind the
deed, rather the doer is variably constructed in and through
the deed. Butler, 1990
Queer and resistive genders and sexualities are also disciplined
through available cultural scripts that relate to binary categories
Gender and sexual orientation are unstable and contradictory
o Dayna B. Daniels asks her readers to realistically accept the
lived life as polygendered

How have production and consumption been understood in Marxist

terms? How did feminist Marxists redefine these Marxist interpretations?
How does John Fiske interpret womens consumption practices in
Shopping for Pleasure?
ARES Article: Shopping For Pleasure
John Fiske
Deems shopping as an act of cultural resistance
Malls + stores womens desires and pleasures are catered to;
manufactured and managed by the predominantly male powers that be
Source of empowerment, and a value to women of a public space
Masculine: Public, Work, Earning, Production, Empowered, Freedom
Feminine: Private, Leisure, Spending, Consumption, Disempowered,
Slavery
Women cross the public sphere through shopping
Consumption as Pleasure
John Fiske, Shopping for Pleasure (1989)
o Mall as an extension of the 19th c. department store
o Shopping brings women into the public realm of work,
rather than leisure, where skills are rewarded
Consumers are suddenly important
o Power to spend money earned by men
o Shopping as escape from patriarchy
Could not deal with not having a job
Could be powerful not at home
o Resistance:
carnivalesque inversion of economic subjugation

How did womens definitions of beauty differ from traditional

understandings associated with physical appearance, size, weight and
shape according to the Doves Global Report?
Traditional Beauty Ideal
Maintained by capitalism and consumerism
Reinforced by a billion dollar fashion, cosmetic, surgical, food and weight
loss industries
Beauty norms are internalized
Reflects social power and the intersecting oppression faced by women
Doves Global Report

Real Beauty campaign

77% agree that beauty can be achieved through attitude and spirit
99% agree that women can be beautiful at any age
Tells women to be comfortable in their own skin and body

Explain briefly how tween and teen literature and reading

practices relate to feminine identity construction according to Holly
Virginia Blackford in Out of this World.
Holly Virginia Blackford
Out of this World: Why Literature Matters to Girls (2004)
Fantasy matters as it allows us to imagine things differently
To address explosion in girls literature from the nineties
Reader-response/reception theorist (like Radway)
Polled girl readers
Tween and teen lit. is a site for identity construction
We ask questions about identity as a teen
Read with mothers and teachers
90s third wave movement
Appropriate site because identity is a focus of adolescence
Blackfords Findings:
Girls do not identify with the female protagonist
Not over-identification or female narcissism
Opposite of other theory (done)
We dont want to be the princess
Focus on difference, or differance/play (Derrida), among available
identities
Play between possibilities as literature is fantasy
Cf. to Jackie Staceys theory on the fascination between
women
Women should step back from text, not always trying
to be the princess
Girl readers identify with the fantasy
Not realism, but reelism
Going off world for insight
Imagining oneself outside of the text
Not in the story
Blue period is productive
Active identity construction
Beyond the Romance: Popular Genres for Identity Construction
Genre promotes active reading practice
Suspense
Action

 Quest
Gothic form
Theorizing about Gender
Book address explosion in girls literature in the 90s
Is a site for identity construction
Girls did not identify with the female protagonist
Focused on differences, or where they would oppose a particular identity
Similar to Staceys theory on Fascination of women
ACTIVE identification
Contrast: Mulvey male gaze (3) avoiding identification with the female
protagonist; Doane female spectatorship (3); they do identify with the female
but in passive ways
Readers identify with the fantasy
Too realistic would make us over identify with the protagonist
Active identify construction
Beyond the romance; suspense, action, quest, gothic

What do we mean by hegemonic masculinity? How has hegemonic

masculinity largely been constructed in popular culture according to
Jackson Katz in Tough Guise?
Hegemonic Masculinity
Chivalrous, protective of women
Rational
Competitive
Successful economically
Sexually skilled, knowldgable and experiences
Irresponsible; having no real life consequences aside from violence
Tough Guise
Watch youtube video

Be able to discuss constructions of bear masculinity. In what way is

bear masculinity related to hegemonic masculinity according to
Peter Hennen?

Bear Bodies, Bear Masculinity: Recuperation, Resistance or Retreat

(2005)
Bear represents body as cultural text
o Resistive to phallocentric sexual practice
Broadens gay body image
Addresses masculine self-confidence and self-esteem;
part of politics of fat
Allowed to be fat
o repudiating effeminacy:
Reinforces hegemonic masculinity
Big gay men who didnt support random sex
Power with the big body

Bear Masculinity
Bear culture was born of resistance
Started off with men putting a small teddy bear in their pocket way to
refute the colored handkerchiefs originally used
Used by gay leatherman to signal their interest in one specific sexual
activity
The teddy bear was to emphasize their interest in cuddling

Bear rejects the self-conscious, exaggerated masculinity of the gay

leatherman in favor of a more authentic masculinity

Giving specific examples from our material and advertising cultures,

how does the dominant discourse orrepresentation of menstruation in our
society demonstrate Gail Tuchmans theory on the symbolic annihilation
of women in media?
Kotex Examples
Kotex ads:
Symbolic Annihilation of menstruation
Whipping it out of our vocab and discourse
Social construction of the body
We end up socially constructing the female body as though we dont
menstruate
We never show anything
Symbolic Annihilation
kotex marketing
Name: short for for cotton like textile, easier to order over the counter
without embarrassment
Telephone ordering
Counter display and coin box, 60 cent for a box of 12 wrapped in plain
white and tied with a blue ribbon; no marking to hide
Silent purchase coupons so that you didnt need to speak out loud to
the clerk
Kotex became a cultural code for menstruation products
Coding to make it as invisible as possible
Counter Discourse
Religious:
Rachel and her camel bags
Jewish feminist ritual reconstructions
Cultural:
Museum of Menstruation and Womens Health
Tween/Teen Message Boards on sanitary product sites
Kotex Girlspace
Tampax BeingGirl
Advertising:
Red Dot ad campaign by Kotex
UbyKotex Social Experiment Ads
Always #LikeAGirl

According to Wallace-Sanders and Cooper (Ch. 4), why was Janet

Jacksons exposed breast at the 2004 Super Bowl considered
so transgressive? According to Pitcher (Ch. 6), why is Anna Nicole Smiths
body also read as transgressive within contemporary culture?
Organized Resistance of the body:
Body as canvas site of identity, self- expression and resistance of
standards of Western beauty and gender norms
Reclaiming gendered identities and erogenous zones indication sexual
freedom and desire through fashion, piercings and girl tats
Reclaiming spiritual and religious identities through body art, tattoos, and
charms
Demonstrating pain tolerance and strength through girl tats, the markers
of childbirth, and sport
Corresponding attempt to reclaim the female body through art
Girl tats rather than Girly Tattoos
Feminine designs:
Roses,daisies,butterflies,ladybugsHawaiianflowers,Rainbows,Hearts,
Hummingbirds, Winds, Crosses
Lacey, Inky drawings
Erogenous Zones:
Lower back, shoulder, back of neck, bust-line, bikini line, thigh
Totems:
Sexual totem indicating gendero Personal totem for protection spiritual
identity
Spiritual identity
Limit to Resistance:
Pain
Addiction

With reference to examples from the first, second and third waves of
feminism, how has self-publication remained important to womens and
feminist cultures? (See lecture on Mommyblogs.)
has that social capital
Good mother devotes large amount of time to her children
Symbolic woman: ideal woman, perfect mother, nurturing, beautiful

Absent mother: she is absent from the narrative, marginalized, shes the
flipside to the ideal mother; cannot have a good narrative about the mother in
patriarchal society, too real and threatening Mommyblogs are a great
response to this
Mommyblogs show real issues that women face; subjective, not always
perfect, real
Slowly ends up being capitalized, and the good mothers white, get
more ads and $$ and publicity
Patriarchy still can be seen

How has motherhood been patriarchally constructed in the

media according to Caveland Scheman? Explain howMommyblogs offer
feminist resistance to patriarchal norms of motherhood or the good
mother according to May Friedman?
has that social capital
Good mother devotes large amount of time to her children
Symbolic woman: ideal woman, perfect mother, nurturing, beautiful
Absent mother: she is absent from the narrative, marginalized, shes the
flipside to the ideal mother; cannot have a good narrative about the mother in
patriarchal society, too real and threatening Mommyblogs are a great
response to this
Mommyblogs show real issues that women face; subjective, not always
perfect, real
Slowly ends up being capitalized, and the good mothers white, get
more ads and $$ and publicity
Patriarchy still can be seen

Be able to discuss the three strategies female music artists use to

create resistance to patriarchal constructions of femininity?
What is meant by the co-optation of feminism? What is meant
by post-feminism? What does Angela McRobbiemean by the new sexual
contract? What does Carolyn Byerly mean by backlash in her discussion
of mediated communication in Ch. 14 of your textbook?
Carolyn Beverly
Words used in media is increasingly conservative
the biological clock; mommy track
post feminism suggests that the womens liberation movement is over
Relentless whittling down process of this backlash

Prepare short answer responses to these questions based on your

reading and discussion of Patricia Leavys novel,Blue.
Be able to discuss the metaphor of blue in the book and
how Leavys characters understand the blue period in their lives.
Blue period where the characters are transitioning
What matters to them where they can offer something authentic
Transition from university to work
Mild depression as everything is chaotic
Still sees it as productive
Tries to be hopeful
Build something very beautiful from something that is a mess
Period is a risk
Pop culture is a site of struggle, but as we read it with communities it
starts to be resistive
We could be in the wrong communities

What kinds of pop culture are consumed by the characters in Blue and
how do they make use of this consumption in constructing identities for
themselves?
Consumption
From Marxist Feminism to Theories of Resistance
Marxist Backgrounds
Capitalism produces surplus value from working class labour to be exploited
by owners
Fordism in particular at the mid-twentieth century represented the
rationalization of industry that extended into domestic spaces, emphasizing
efficiency and time-management
Creation of tined soup to free women up to be able to cook and take care
of the home
Production is understood in Marxist thought as an active, rational, masculine
site of social identity
Where you create the male identity
Consumption is understood in Marxist thought as the passive, irrational, and
feminine adoption of meanings prescribed through the production process
Shopping is girly
Second Wave Approaches:
Marxist Feminism
womens work is never done classic slogan of the second wave

Margaret Benston, The Political Economy of Womens Liberation (New Left

Review, 1969)
Identified men and womens differing relation to production
Distinguished production for exchange, which is paid for and
controlled by men in the public sphere from production for use, which
is unpaid and performed by women in the home
We only track what gets paid for
Home work is not counted as real work
Not for exchange
Unpaid labour limited womens economic independence and only
served the capitalist class of owners
Called for women to join in the struggle against capitalism
If they worked in the home they wouldnt have time to work in
the economy
Required cooperative/collective forms of childcare and domestic service

Second Wave Approaches:

Socialist Feminism: critical
Tried to make gender and class equal terms of analysis
Emphasized womens reproduction of a labour force on which capitalism
depended
Those who dont take time off are rewarded
We need to value women who take time off
Women never can get back to where they were economically
Critical of Marxist feminism for not going far enough in its analysis
Heidi Hartmann, The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism (1981)
Used the term capitalist-patriarchy, instead of simply capitalism, to
emphasize the equal importance of class and gender in labour analysis
Compared the sphere of production in the context of capitalist
domination and the sphere of reproduction in the context of
patriarchal domination
Concept of a family wage, earnings sufficient for a family but earned
by one breadwinner only reinforces the power of the working class
(male) breadwinner
Third Wave Approach:
Consumption as Pleasure
John Fiske, Shopping for Pleasure (1989)
Mall as an extension of the 19th c. department store
Shopping brings women into the public realm of work, rather than
leisure, where skills are rewarded
Consumers are suddenly important
Power to spend money earned by men
Shopping as escape from patriarchy
Could not deal with not having a job
Could be powerful not at home

 Resistance:
carnivalesque inversion of economic subjugation
Third Wave Approach:
Beyond Resistance
Joanne Hollows, Feminism, Femininity and Popular Culture (2000)
Popular culture as a site of struggle and identity construction includes
consumption of products and media
Feminist theorists recast consumption as active, labour-intensive and
requiring experience and specialized knowledge
As consumption becomes the site of feminine power in the third wave, it
is colonized by the metro-sexual/white, middle-class male hero
Cultural jam
Draw attention to problems
Write for adult audience as mockery of the story
Make it look ridiculous, not feminist commentary
No description of the problem
o Insert text, use narrator, speech bubbles
pedig
Indicate how to read the book
Ask questions
The construction of Masculinities
Identify politics for guys
Hegemonic Masculinity
Characteristics:
Chivalrous; protective of women
Not the same as manners
Depends on men being in a position of power
Needs to have the means and power to protect them/pay for
dinner
Rational
Competitive
Sports, corporate realm
Successful economically
Most pressure on men, bread winner, pressure to succeed
Sexually skilled, knowledgeable and experienced
Must be skilled at sex, masculine men, if you were a real man
Irresponsible; having no real life consequences aside from violence from
other males
Rules dont usually extend to men, consequence is violence from
other males
Examples:
AXE ads

The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners

Examples from film Tough Guise

Feminist Studies of Men

Begins with a concept of hegemonic masculinity
Hurts women, and all of society as we cant relate
Analysis of masculinity as part of institutionalized patterns of dominance and
subordination associated with the concept of patriarchy
Masculinity is on the powered line
You have to be the violent male no matter what
Not a healthy state
Much power is available (through economic, social)
Recognition of mens dominance over other men, as well as women
Want to beat other men
Identification of a range of masculinities
We want to create change by showing what other men do
Condemnation of war, rape, mainstream pornography (structured by gendered
hierarchies) and gendered violence as results of mens socialization
Judith Lorber
Not erotic porn (structured by power hierarchy)
One person over powers another that creates normalcy in boys
growing up
Gendered violence from male socialization
Men and Masculinity studies
Crisis of Masculinity Theory:
Pointed to the role of socialization in the construction of male identity
Were assigned sex and socialized into the roles
Distinguished between sex and gender
Identified gender role constraints for men:
Shame as the dominant male emotion
1. Shame gets covered by anger
Triple dissociation experienced by men
1. Physiological (toughness; stoicism)
2. Emotional (anger as only acceptable emotion)
3. Relational (domination or seduction in place of intimacy)
Checking each others phones
Emo Culutre
Emo bands
No room to be individual and have feelings
Mid-1980s 2000s
Confessional lyrics
Criticized as androcentric
Emo boys
Tight black clothes; not goth
Black hair with emo swoosh side bang

Shoulder bag with pins

Piercings
Associated with glamorization of suicide and self-harm; cutting and
anorexia
Gender ambiguity and bi-sexual experimentation; androgyny within
heteronormativity
Strong emotions/sensitivity
Labelled whiners

Emo Gender
Emo boys are cool, i personally am one :) i DO have long black hair dat i swoosh
across my face and i do wear tight jeans and band t shirts but i am definitly NOT
a faggot anyone hu thinks otherwise (usually other guys) is clearly wrong :) me
and my friends are all emo and i dont think any of us cut our wrists but i do write
poetry wen i feel down and i often get called "sweet" and "nice" and i tend to
look at relationships more for love dan just sex like a lot of uther guys do :)
Metrosexual
A heterosexual, single male, with concerns for his appearance, and a lifestyle or
attributes stereotypically associated with gay men
Metrosexual men had to reclaim their masculinity that theyre different
than gay men
Associated with male version of female narcissism; known as the mirror men
concerned with image
Looks better than the male
Consumes and shops better than the women
Considered evidence of the deconstruction of masculine norms due to the
mainstreaming of gay culture and lifestyle through
same-sex marriage legislation (Canada; 2006)
media (Queer Eye for the Straight Guy; 2003-2007)
A shopper associated with the feminine pleasures and choices of consumerism
and identity construction
A guy putting himself together
Takes ground away to be able to reinforce heterosexual white sexuality
Metrosexual in pop culture
Examples:
Ryan Seacrest
David Beckham
Ubersexual:
created by marketers to counter the ambiguous gender and sexual
orientation of the metrosexual
very built physic
emphasis on male potency
if males want to fit in then they have to take Viagra

women are usually the ones making fun of them

takes away the market from the metrosexual
Colonization of the Feminine:
Colonization of the new feminine power associated with consumption

Bear Masculinity
Rooted in gay culture:
Mid-1980s
Began in leather clubs
Pocketing teddy bears in place of coloured handkerchiefs to indicate
sexual preferences
Symbol of snuggling and intimacy
Bears:
Facial/body hair
Mature, larger bodies
Didnt need to be masculine 6 packs
Masculine aesthetic
Not faeries or leathermen
Bear Culture
Little racial distinction
Favours white body aesthetic
Panda: Asian bear
Age
Cub: younger, passive bear partner
Polar bear: aging, greying bear
Gender
Ursula: Lesbian bear
Increasing inclusion of transgender bears
Bears in pop culture
Magazines:
Bear Magazine:
1987-2008
Comedy:
Bear with Me:
Online comic strip
Movies:
Bear City and Bear City 2: The Proposal
Peter Hennen
Bear Bodies, Bear Masculinity: Recuperation, Resistance or Retreat (2005)
Bear represents body as cultural text

Resistive to phallocentric sexual practice

Broadens gay body image
Addresses masculine self-confidence and self-esteem; part of
politics of fat
Allowed to be fat
repudiating effeminacy:
Reinforces hegemonic masculinity
Big gay men who didnt support random sex
Power with the big body

Bro Culture
15-24 males from mid-1980s
Frat boy aesthetic:
Pop-collared polos, caps, Birkenstocks
The Bro Code:
Disciplining by other males into hegemonic masculinity
Rape and sandwich jokes; jackass humour
Beer and sports markets
Movies:
The Hangover

Menstruation : the politics of representation

Kotex ads:
Symbolic Annihilation of menstruation
Whipping it out of our vocab and discourse
Social construction of the body
We end up socially constructing the female body as though we dont menstruate
We never show anything
Dominant Discourses
Religious:
Cross-culturally considered pollution
Women spiritually becomes unclean
Cultural:
Intersecting oppressions of gender and class
mean laundry to be done by maids and laundresses for the
upper class
Moral (advertising):
Kotex concerned that copy in initial ads would not be published for
ethical reasons
Albert Lasker, the advertising genius who resolved the problem of
advertising something you could not talk about in the 1950s

Persistent themes in menstrual advertisements:

Concealment and shame
Comfort and ease
Social Scientific (medical):
Pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS)
Medicalization: illness to be cured
Pill prescribed now to eradicate womens menstrual cycles

Classism Represented in Advertising

Medicalization in Advertising
History of Menstrual Products
Kotex
Disposable products to replace laundered rags from the late 19th century
more visible due to ad campaigns by the 1920s and new technologies
Made from cellucotton, the absorbent materials used to dress soldiers
wounds in WWI
Symbolic Annihilations
KOTEX marketing:
Name:
shorthand for cotton-like textile and adopted to make it easier for
women to order at the counter without embarrassment
symbolic annhiliation
short word to say it without being embarrassing

Telephone ordering:
Telephoning in your order in advance
Counter display and coin box:
deposit 60 cents for a box of 12; products wrapped in plain white paper
and tied with a blue ribbon
Silent purchase coupons:
Coupons that could be cut out of advertisements to request a box of
napkins from the clerk without having to speak out loud

Contemporary Symbolic Annihilations

Tampax Pearl: has an absorbent braid to help protect against unexpected
leaks.
discreet and durable wrapper with easy-to-open tabs.
Tampax: A discreet protection experience like never before.
Always: Help keep your period out of sight!
Playtex: Have peace of mind with the perfect fit for your unique flow

Peace of mind means that were supposed to have anxiety

Stayfree: You guard your movements, trying to protect against nighttime
leaks.

Social Construction of the body

The Rely Tampon and
Toxic Shock Syndrome
Created by Proctor & Gamble in 1975
Superabsorbent, would absorb even your worry
Studied by Dr. Philip Tierno, Jr.
Removed from the market by 1980 for leading to toxic shock syndrome,
the growth and spread of staphylococcus aureus in the vaginal wall due
to the use of synthetic material, which could lead to death
Were willing to die to be able to conceal
Tampon makers still use synthetic materials in smaller quantities
Counter Discourses
Religious:
Rachel and her camel bags
Jewish feminist ritual reconstructions
Cultural:
Museum of Menstruation and Womens Health
Tween/Teen Message Boards on sanitary product sites
Kotex Girlspace
Tampax BeingGirl
Advertising:
Red Dot ad campaign by Kotex
UbyKotex Social Experiment Ads
Always #LikeAGirl

Ws203Exam:
50 MC
Blue:
119-120
Blue period where the characters are transitioning
o What matters to them where they can offer something authentic
o Transition from university to work
o Mild depression as everything is chaotic
o Still sees it as productive
Tries to be hopeful

Build something very beautiful from something that is a mess

o Period is a risk
Pop culture is a site of struggle, but as we read it with communities it starts to be
resistive
o We could be in the wrong communities
Reading for teen and tween girls is a productive site of identity production

Teen and Tween Fiction:

Identity under construction
Bad romance: Radway
People can imagine themselves outside of their readings of a bad romance
Mild shock of realization of patriarchal relationships
o Want it to work for characters as it doesnt work for them
Holly Virginia Blackford
Out of this World: Why Literature Matters to Girls (2004)
Fantasy matters as it allows us to imagine things differently
To address explosion in girls literature from the nineties
Reader-response/reception theorist (like Radway)
Polled girl readers
Tween and teen lit. is a site for identity construction
We ask questions about identity as a teen
Read with mothers and teachers
90s third wave movement
Appropriate site because identity is a focus of adolescence
Blackfords Findings:
Girls do not identify with the female protagonist
Not over-identification or female narcissism
Opposite of other theory (done)
We dont want to be the princess
Focus on difference, or differance/play (Derrida), among available
identities
Play between possibilities as literature is fantasy
Cf. to Jackie Staceys theory on the fascination between women
Women should step back from text, not always trying to be
the princess
Girl readers identify with the fantasy
Not realism, but reelism
Going off world for insight
Imagining oneself outside of the text
Not in the story
Blue period is productive
Active identity construction
Beyond the Romance: Popular Genres for Identity Construction

Genre promotes active reading practice

Suspense
Action
Quest
Gothic form

Read Madonna link in ares

Sexualized violence gives the shock of recognition that women go through in a
patriarchal society
Madonna plays with the cyborg image
o Resistive against the intelligent female body
o Techno body
Reversing gender roles
o Does it work?
o If I were a boy?
o Allows girls to see the power of a male
Madonna violence
o Image is sexualized of patriarchal femininity, but she is trying to be
manly
o Re-appropriation of language
Pussy
Cunt
Women now say bitch (not successful)
o Women are punished at the end for killing men
Cant have women killing and allowing them to survive
Cant allow them to have power
Video was banned
o Not resistive
LADY GAGA PHOTO ESSAY MUST LOOK AT POWERPOINT
Princess Diana struggle in lady gaga song
How much is mental illness and how much is there just patriarchal creation
o We dont fit into the box that society has created
Identify princess dianas problem with all of societys problems
If I were a boy song
Girl in a country song
Exaggeration of a parody of femininity
Gender role reversal
Simple anthem
Popular Feminism and the Limits of Resistance
Current Debates within the Feminist Study of Popular Culture

Popular Feminism: Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards

- Popular means big on social media
American feminist writers
2004: Feminism and Femininity: Or How We Learned to Stop Worrying and
Love the Thong
Popular, girlie feminism as challenge to patriarchal definitions of a weak and
subordinate femininity
Consumerism interpreted in positive feminist terms as political choice
Not passive, but active identity function
Third wave of feminism
Revisiting motherhood as a choice
Identity is now available
Mother in a different way- she can be active and make choices
No longer just a stay at home mother
The Debate: Jennifer L. Pozner and Jessica Siegel
2005: Desperately Debating Housewives
Jennifer:
tired cultural clichs trumped up as feminism
poking fun at housewives
not actually really empowered
Jessica:
effective satire aimed at the myth of motherhood
making a parody and an exaggeration of the mother
poking fun of the past
takes patriarchal myths of motherhood
ABCs Desperate Housewives
Post feminism
Post-feminism:
Popular thesis that feminism has done its job and women have achieved
economic equality and a new sexual power
Feminism that has done its job
Assumes women have achieved sexual rights and power
We have not yet achieved workplace equality
Reproductive years
90% before children
80% max equal pay after children
Depends on the emerging neo-liberal consensus that economic equality
has been achieved and other factors of social oppression will dissipate in
the wake of this new workplace equality
Angela McRobbie: (British Communications Professor at Goldsmiths University
of London)
Post-feminism:
New femininity-focused feminism
Seems empowered but is supporting the post feminist idea
that we dont need a serious idea of feminism
We dont need it anymore

She questions popular

Popular is part of post feminism
Popular feminism and the mainstreaming of (patriarchal,
hierarchically-structured) pornography
Not talking about erotic images
Porn is structured by hierarchical relationships
No theory about sexual power within the feminist study of
popular culture
Sexual power leads to commodification
Need theory to understand the problem
suspension of the critique of capitalism in theories of
consumption: the end of socialist feminism

Angela McRobbie
The Aftermath of Feminism: Gender, Culture and Social Change (2009)
new form of sexual contract:
Sexual contract under patriarchy: second-wave theories of womens political,
social and economic subordination
Used to sell sexualized image for babies
Now use sexualized image to get equal pay and to be hired
faux-feminism: words like empowerment and choice are used particularly
by the media and popular culture to sell a false brand of feminism that ensures
that feminism will never re-surface
we wont have a sense of girl power feminism
Womens subordination and experience of inequality, though changed, remains
unequivocal and substantial
Looks like its changed
Very serious
The Berenstein Bears and the Bully

Who has power on each page, who doesnt get to tell the story, what rolls are not
reflected
Not about equality, only a code and structure of manliness
Names reinforce the roles of who is doing what, but then in the bathroom he is
not chivalrous (doesnt give her credit)
Violent masculinity is the only thing that scars us
Were no consequences for not remembering his manners
this is a book that is about cubs manners, but its really about boys showing
chivlery and girls manners. Boys dont have consequences

Chapter 4: Nipple Mania

- Anti-mammy breasts nipple is pierced- doesnt represent a nuturing/maternal
part, rather an erotic/sexualized part
- The cupcakes show black female bodies as pieces and deters acknowledging
them as whole human beings
o Corporeal fragmentation- overemphasis of black female sexuality
- Women of african decent associated with animalistic, wild sexuality
fragmentation of black womens bodies into commodities that sanction corporeal
dimemberment
- Willis and Williams discusses how starting with Baartman, famous black female
bodies become a bona fide part of pop culture; eclipsing the rest of her career
- Iris Young- pierced nipple= most obvious example of a nonmaternal breast
o Hard to imagine a womens breasts as being her own
- Chris Rocks two categories of breast posession- 20 year old vs. 40 year old
(public boob vs. your mans boob)
- Jezebel- historically has an insatiable appetite for sex
o Prevents them from any kind of sexual self-expression and from
expressing themselves as healthy human beings
- Janet Jackson portrayed as a highly sexualized person committed to
autoeroticism as a form of sexual expression
- SuperBowl reinforces traditional notions of masculinity- aggression and
hypersexualized entertainers
o Audience has a sense of entitlement to a sexualized performance
- Beverly Guy Sheftall- private being made public enter performance as owning
her owning her sexuality and leaving as a victim of American gendered and
racialized discourse that validates the right of White males to enjoy sexually
suggestive performance
- Hypersexualized representations of women are successful only to the extent that
Black women can be viewed as immoral agent
- FCCs policies make it seem that the government has an investment in containing
the possibilities of Black female liberation
- FCC and Powell promote patriarchal notions
- Nipplegate about black women whose body parts are being consumed as
misogynist racist culture
Chapter 6: The Multiply Transgressive Body of Anna Nicole Smith
- Battle over Marshalls estate
- Body was seen as troublesome to the media
- Dominant ideologies of feminity, bodily dicipline and social class converge and
conflict
- Embodied hyper ad subversive femininity challenged and reinforced fominant
ideologies of feminity
- CNN insisted she explain the physical relationship with Marshall
- Reduced to her body in public discourse

Chris Rojek- celebrities private lives are part of the insistent cultural data that we
use to comprehend outselves and to navigate through the crashing waves of the
cultural sphere

Chapter 14: The Dialectical Relationship of Women and Media

- Persistence of the misogynist media
- Struggle to challenge the ideology of patriarchy operating in media policies and
routines to gain acces for women and to make media industries more egalitarian
in the treatment of women professionals and women as subject matter
- Feminist struggle has dodged mainstream media by establishing women-owned
media enterprises
- A dialectical process is a long term struggle in which progress and resistance to
progress occur simultaneously and over time
- Backlash I a predictable part of resistance (at structural and content levels)
- Media misogyny seen in the results of all three rounds of the global media
monitoring project which synchronized the monitoring of major electronic and
print news media on 1 day across more than 70 countries in 95,00,05 to explore
patterns of gender representation in the news
o Study 1- 19% women in featured stories- victims, mothers and wifes
o Study 2- identical results but number of women in new storied decreased
1%
o 2005 study- women= 21% of news subjects and mostly celebrties or
royalty
o Women as victim image is popular- two times as likely as male to be a
victim
o Female reporters cover only 32% of serious stories
o Signs of hope in 2005 study for USA where women =28% of economic
stories and 38% of science and health stories
- Ramona Rush- falling behind in professional media pursuits= flooring
effect/glass ceiling
- Feminism is by nature interventionist seeking to interrupt social practices that
lead to womens secondary status and to replace them with new practices that
better ensure womens ful participation
- Feminist intervention at an international level in 1975 in the World Plan of
Action
o Remove predjudices and stereotypes to promote womens full integration
into their societies
- Agenda setting has been used since early 1970s by mainstream mass media and
public opinion researcher to identify medias ability to define public issues,
generate public discourse about those issues and influence public policy
o Researchers give less attention to the possibility of reverse phenomenonpower of social change grops to set new agendas ie. which issues should
be covered/how to frame them
- Feminism was in developmental stages in the 1960s overlooked by the news
media, because its leaders emphasis was on hard-to-cover events like grass roots
organizing, identifying issues, and setting their own agendas for action

Women in India mobilized public support and media attention in women-led

campaigns in the 1970s
o Chipko movement to protest deforestation and environmental degregation
o Rape of women by police while in custody
o Mathura rape case 1978 and Maya Tyagi 1980 both custodial rape
cases leading to protests
o Bombay Forum Against Rape formed
o Feminist action groups emerged to spearhead reform of rape laws and to
address issues such s sexualization of women in advertising and female
feticide
o Cancian and Ross said news coverage b/w 1900-1977 was highest when
US feminist movement had been strong and voiced specific goals rather
than general conerns
News content would also most likely have a feminist orientation
focusing on womens changing roles and new demands, during
movements strong periods
o By contrast, the news focused on womens role as mother and caretaker
when movement ended
- Tuchman and Gitlin showed news stories are framed to convey value-laden
messages about issues central to news events.
- This analysis reveals how new stories adopt, negotitate or reject philosophies and
feminist meanings about women and that the movement has sought to
institutionalize
- Butler and Paisley showed how ERA would strength womens legal protections or
would not weaken existing protections for women
o Second emphasized for readers the assurance that the ERA would leave
intact traditional arrangements between men and women
o Economic and legal issues framed around the first point- ERA stories on
marriage and family issues used the second point
- Rappings assessment of the news coverage is tht the news media arent
monolithic or static, but widely variable in their ability to incorporate
oppositional perspecties of feminism
o Similar to Entman, emphasizing significant power of reporters to promote
a particular problem, definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation
etc.
- New stories about violence against women have a feminist frame when victims
allowed to speak in their own words
o Anti-violence at the top of feminist agenda in 1970s
- Rape law refom, womens shelters, and rape crisis centers have come about
through news reporting
- Coverage of sexual assault increased more than 250% between 1972 and 1974
Feminist Media Struggles:
- Model of Womens Media Action recognized womens intrinsic right to
communicate and identified the media as a primary mechanism for women to
achiee that and participate in the modern day public sphere when citizens

debate their common interests free of economic and government interferences

and develop agendas for social action
The first path learned to do some form of media to reach mainstream audiences
with feminist ideas
The second path is media professionals who sought ways to expand women
related content or to reform the industrys policies to improve womens
professional status
The third path was advocates for media change, through nonprofit organizations
that pressure media to improve treatment of women
Outside advocates path is research and analyss about women and media
including publication of reports or articles, or it may mobilize a constituency to
write letters or take some other action
The fourth path includes women who have established their own media to assure
maximum control over message production and distrbution

Chapter 6:

No one could exactly describe what she was

Poster girl for transgressed behaviour
o Questionable performances of femininity, bodily discipline, and social
class
Playboy model, then Guess jeans model
Married billionaire Texas oil man 88 years old
o He died and she gained weight
o 88 million payout
Surgically altered boobs
Body got attention on her show: The Anna Nicole show
o Her body did not fit into what is normal, appropriate, or worthy of time
o Grotesque and disgusting when she gained weight
200 pounds, 6 foot
o Compared to Marilyn Monroe and jean Harlow
Body is transgressed
o Dominant ideologies of femininity, bodily discipline, and social class
converge and conflict
o Embodiment of both hyper and subversive femininity
o Both challenged and reinforced dominant ideologies of femininity
o Excessive need for food and sex discomforted audiences
Rich but represented as white trash
o Carnivalesque, low class
Body should be read as a site of cultural struggle
o Represents clash of contradictory ideologies and that ultimately enforce
hegemonic mandates of womanhood, body and self

Cartoon in her show is embodiment of excessive femininity, incapable of bodily

discipline as a low class person
o Huge boobs, and butt
o Used what she got- and that was a lot
Presented with in your face way of how she got to be a celeb
o Wore heavy makeup, bleached blonde coifed hair
o Ritual of being a women
o Practices that produce a female body
Hyper femininity becomes contradictory with her behaviour
o Boobs come out, she falls over
o No dignity of a disciplined femininity
o Very provocative display of sexuality
Open legs
o Compulsive eater
Pickles and cheeseburgers
o Lacked controllable id
Behaviour is driven by primal desires
o Ate branded food to show low class
She is the embodiment of hyper and transgressed femininity
o Adheres to some of the demands of disciplined femininity
o Overall lacks control
o Challenged current conceptions on how bodies should look
o Body was constructed outside of dominant ideologies
Positioned as a resistive force
o Not disciplined
o
Class convergence
o Celeb and economic status was undermined with her white trash habits
and Texas trailer trash actions
Weight gain
o Plus size and called fat
o Public didnt like her size or her performance of femininity
o Spectacle that was constitutive of outside the norm
Defined the boundaries of society
Gender norms
o Butler says they are performed as a stylized repetition of actions which is
a set of norms
Conclusion
o Transgressed many cultural norms and hinted at the abject, while
remaining intelligible
o Body defied and reinforced her socially prescribed positions