1) Feminisms: histories and values1) Feminisms: histories and values

It is important to understand that feminism is not a monolithic concept or movement, and that it has takenon different forms for different cultures and parts of the world. This week we will be focusing on theformation of and ideas making up Western feminism—particularly its incarnations in the US.

The history of US feminism can be broken up into several periods or “waves.” The first wave grew out ofthe women’s suffrage movement of the 1920s, which eventually won women citizens the right to vote. Thesecond wave of the 60s and 70s was dominated by LIBERAL FEMINISM, a set of discourses thatemphasize social prejudices and stereotypes about “natural” male and female gender roles. Its definingtenet is that women are essentially the same as men but are not treated equally in society. The word“liberal” comes from liberalism as a political stance—one which stresses equality and freedom based indemocratically organized societies. Liberal feminism can be characterized by several common beliefs andplatforms:

● Women are encouraged assume non-traditional social roles and occupations, i.e. to take ontraditionally masculine positions of power. More women in positions of power can counteractlong-held patriarchal beliefs that women’s proper place should be in the home mothering andcaretaking.

● Mainstream cultural discourses—especially mass media—reflect dominant patriarchal genderideologies and act as socialization agents that influence our opinions and self-perceptions. Itplays a determining role in our notions of what is appropriate and normal regarding gender.

Its proposed solutions focus on achieving equality with men:

● Women should obtain more positions of power and enter male-dominated occupational fields. Asmore women acquire power that has historically been concentrated in the hands of men,eventually media will reflect these social changes.

● Cultural and media discourses can contribute to social change by representing women innon-traditional gender roles and positions of power.

● Consumer pressure should be placed on producers and products representing sexist materials.

Some drawbacks and consequences of the liberal feminist approach include:

● New stereotype is emerging of the “Superwoman” in mainstream media culture.● Tends to stress women’s role reversals (i.e. women should take on more masculine positions of

power) while male role reversals are rarely advocated.● Neglects socioeconomic structures and power relations in favor of women entering into

traditionally male-dominated fields.

There are two other strains of feminism that have been less dominant in the US: radical and socialist.RADICAL FEMINISM is characterized by the fundamental belief that women are essentially different frommen and are not treated equally in our patriarchal culture. Some of its major tenets include:

● In patriarchal societies, men dominate and oppress women—a situation that emergedfrom men’s innate dispositions toward violence and genetic tendency to dominatewomen due to their greater strength.

● Women are fundamentally different, more peaceful, and virtuous, and should aim to buildfeminist utopias without men.

● Most prominent media and cultural institutions are controlled by men who necessarilyfurther patriarchal dominant interests.

● Its proposed solutions include women producing their own culture with different valuesand distinctly feminine perspectives. Working conditions should be collaborative,non-hierarchical collectives that are not profit-driven.

SOCIALIST FEMINISM, unlike either radical or liberal feminism, believes that gender is not the primarydeterminant of women’s subordinate position. Instead, women’s relative powerlessness can be attributedto other socioeconomic factors such as modern capitalism and nuclear family structures. Its main tenetsinclude:

● Capitalist societies are dependent on women’s unpaid domestic labor, which maintains the paidmale workforce.

● Capitalist economies should be fundamentally restructured, with special emphasis on thedisadvantages of traditional gender ideologies as well as analysis of material and economicconditions.

● Mainstream culture and media are tools for perpetuating patriarchal and capitalist ideologies.● Its proposed solutions involve reforming sexist cultural representations and producing feminist

media, but with the added component of structural changes in work and labor.

There are, of course, problems with all three types of feminism, including:

● Dichotomous conceptions of gender: that gender is either male/female.● Instrumental view of culture and media: that mainstream culture influences a passive audience

that is easily manipulated to accept dominant interests.● Claims to realism and more realistic representations of women: women are not a homogeneous

group and are fragmented by multiple differences.

2) Postfeminism and "sexy" bodies2) Postfeminism and "sexy" bodies

Since the 80s, there have been debates over what to call the incarnations of contemporaryfeminism—third wave, backlash, or postfeminism. In “Postfeminist Media Culture: Elements of aSensibility,” Rosalind Gill opts to regard the dominant cultural sensibility as “postfeminist.” She argues thatpostfeminism is a philosophical position internal to feminism that names contemporary transformations inboth feminism and media culture. A postfeminist sensibility, according to Gill, characterizes many mediarepresentations of gender today. The major features of this sensibility are:

● Femininity as a bodily property and a resurgence in ideas of natural sexual difference● Shift from female objectification to subjectification● Self-surveillance and discipline

● Focus on individualism, choice, and empowerment● Increased sexualization of culture● Emphasis on consumerism

In regards to the emphasis on femininity as a bodily property, Gill notes a growing cultural preoccupationwith the ideal feminine body—especially the “sexy” body as a woman’s key source of identity. Culturalpressures for women to cultivate a sexy body are evidenced by the extraordinary degree of self-scrutinyand the intensification of stringent standards of attractiveness that are not the same for men (on femalecelebrities’ bodies is one prominent example of this).

Cultural emphases on women’s sexy bodies has to do with the increasing sexualization of culture in thepast thirty years. While it is true that women’s bodies have been sexually objectified at least since themid-nineteenth century in the Western world, some critics say that it has grown in intensity and becomemore pervasive in recent years—so much so that we can label ours a “striptease culture” in which scantilyclad female bodies are frequently eroticized, and to a lesser extent, male bodies as well.

4) Sexual subjectification4) Sexual subjectification

Rosalind Gill says that one of the key shifts from older to more contemporary media has to do with achange in the representation of women as active, desiring sexual subjects (a key feature of a postfeministsensibility) versus older media representations of women as passive sexual objects for heterosexual men.These sexually liberated and confident women choose to objectify themselves (e.g. dressing “sexy”) sincethey actively want to attract men and be looked at as sexually desirable. This kind of sexual“subjectification” is linked with female empowerment and individual choice—being sexy is what womenwant for themselves. What this position also does is to foreclose the space for feminist critique, sinceobjecting to the sexualization of women nowadays is to be risk charges of conservatism and prudishness.

Gill argues, however, that to critique is not to be prudish, since the contemporary sexual subjectification ofwomen is deeply flawed. She says that this sexually liberated woman may now also be subject to adeeper kind of exploitation than the male gaze, for she has internalized a kind of “self-policing” gaze thattailors her sexuality to dominant male standards of what makes a sexy woman. This marks a shift in howpower works—it operates less from an external heterosexual male gaze than from the internalization ofheteronormative standards of attractiveness.

As Gill puts it: “Girls and women are invited to become a particular kind of self, and are endowed withagency on condition that it is used to construct oneself as a subject closely resembling the heterosexualmale fantasy found in pornography” (138). In mainstream media, when a woman does not meet thisheterosexual male fantasy, she is excluded from sexual subjectification: only certain kinds of women getto be desiring sexual subjects, and they are usually heterosexual, white, and slender.

QUESTIONS -1

DISCUSSION PROMPT 1: Feminisms – histories and valuesCOLLAPSE

(Please note: this prompt is not associated with an assigned reading, but read the entire prompt beforeresponding.)

It is important to understand that feminism is not a monolithic concept or movement, and that it has takenon different forms for different cultures and parts of the world. This week we will be focusing on theformation of and ideas making up Western feminism—particularly its incarnations in the US.

The history of US feminism can be broken up into several periods or “waves.” The first wave grew out ofthe women’s suffrage movement of the 1920s, which eventually won women citizens the right to vote. Thesecond wave of the 60s and 70s was dominated by LIBERAL FEMINISM, a set of discourses thatemphasize social prejudices and stereotypes about “natural” male and female gender roles. Its definingtenet is that women are essentially the same as men but are not treated equally in society. The word“liberal” comes from liberalism as a political stance—one which stresses equality and freedom based indemocratically organized societies. Liberal feminism can be characterized by several common beliefs andplatforms:

● Women are encouraged assume non-traditional social roles and occupations, i.e. to take ontraditionally masculine positions of power. More women in positions of power can counteractlong-held patriarchal beliefs that women’s proper place should be in the home mothering andcaretaking.

● Mainstream cultural discourses—especially mass media—reflect dominant patriarchal genderideologies and act as socialization agents that influence our opinions and self-perceptions. Itplays a determining role in our notions of what is appropriate and normal regarding gender.

Its proposed solutions focus on achieving equality with men:

● Women should obtain more positions of power and enter male-dominated occupational fields. Asmore women acquire power that has historically been concentrated in the hands of men,eventually media will reflect these social changes.

● Cultural and media discourses can contribute to social change by representing women innon-traditional gender roles and positions of power.

● Consumer pressure should be placed on producers and products representing sexist materials.

Some drawbacks and consequences of the liberal feminist approach include:

● Tends to stress women’s role reversals (i.e. women should take on more masculine positions ofpower) while male role reversals are rarely advocated.

● Neglects socioeconomic structures and power relations in favor of women entering intotraditionally male-dominated fields.

There are two other strains of feminism that have been less dominant in the US: radical and socialist.RADICAL FEMINISM is characterized by the fundamental belief that women are essentially different frommen and are not treated equally in our patriarchal culture. Some of its major tenets include:

● In patriarchal societies, men dominate and oppress women—a situation that emerged from men’sinnate dispositions toward violence and genetic tendency to dominate women due to their greaterstrength.

● Women are fundamentally different, more peaceful, and virtuous, and should aim to build feministutopias without men.

● Most prominent media and cultural institutions are controlled by men who necessarily furtherpatriarchal dominant interests.

● Its proposed solutions include women producing their own culture with different values anddistinctly feminine perspectives. Working conditions should be collaborative, non-hierarchicalcollectives that are not profit-driven.

SOCIALIST FEMINISM, unlike either radical or liberal feminism, believes that gender is not the primarydeterminant of women’s subordinate position. Instead, women’s relative powerlessness can be attributedto other socioeconomic factors such as modern capitalism and nuclear family structures. Its main tenetsinclude:

● Capitalist societies are dependent on women’s unpaid domestic labor, which maintains the paidmale workforce.

● Capitalist economies should be fundamentally restructured, with special emphasis on thedisadvantages of traditional gender ideologies as well as analysis of material and economicconditions.

● Mainstream culture and media are tools for perpetuating patriarchal and capitalist ideologies.● Its proposed solutions involve reforming sexist cultural representations and producing feminist

media, but with the added component of structural changes in work and labor.

There are, of course, problems with all three types of feminism, including:

● Dichotomous conceptions of gender: that gender is either male/female.● Instrumental view of culture and media: that mainstream culture influences a passive audience

that is easily manipulated to accept dominant interests.● Claims to realism and more realistic representations of women: women are not a homogeneous

group and are fragmented by multiple differences.

What type of feminism (liberal, radical, or socialist) are you most in agreement with and why? Does theabove description of the three strains of feminism enhance your understanding of what feminism means?How does your new understanding of feminism compare to your previous understanding?

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DISCUSSION PROMPT 2: "Postfeminist media culture" – Rosalind Gill"COLLAPSE

Since the 1980s, there have been debates over what to call the incarnations of contemporaryfeminism—third wave, backlash, or postfeminism. In “Postfeminist Media Culture: Elements of aSensibility,” Rosalind Gill opts to regard the dominant cultural sensibility as “postfeminist.” She argues thatpostfeminism is a philosophical position internal to feminism that names contemporary transformations in

both feminism and media culture. A postfeminist sensibility, according to Gill, characterizes many mediarepresentations of gender today. The major features of this sensibility are:

● Femininity as a bodily property and a resurgence in ideas of natural sexual difference● Shift from female objectification to subjectification● Self-surveillance and discipline● Focus on individualism, choice, and empowerment● Increased sexualization of culture● Emphasis on consumerism

In regards to the emphasis on femininity as a bodily property, Gill notes a growing cultural preoccupationwith the ideal feminine body—especially the “sexy” body as a woman’s key source of identity. Culturalpressures for women to cultivate a sexy body are evidenced by the extraordinary degree of self-scrutinyand the intensification of stringent standards of attractiveness that are not the same for men (on femalecelebrities’ bodies is one prominent example of this).

Cultural emphases on women’s sexy bodies has to do with the increasing sexualization of culture in thepast thirty years. While it is true that women’s bodies have been sexually objectified at least since themid-nineteenth century in the Western world, some critics say that it has grown in intensity and becomemore pervasive in recent years—so much so that we can label ours a “striptease culture” in which scantilyclad female bodies are frequently eroticized, and to a lesser extent, male bodies as well.

Do you agree with Rosalind Gill that much of our contemporary media culture is characterized by anemphasis on femininity as a bodily property? Do you think that women are subject to more culturalpressures to have a “sexy” body than men? What do you make of cultural standards of the “sexy”body—do they conform to a narrow vision of attractiveness or do you think there is room for diverse bodytypes?