Feminist theory - blog tasks

Feminist theory: blog tasks

Media Magazine reading - two articles on feminism and theory

Read Playing With The Past: Post-feminism and the Media (MM40, page 64 - our Media Magazine archive is here). This is a great example of sophisticated media analysis and an indication of the level we want to be writing at by the end of the two-year course.

1) What examples are provided from the two texts of the 'male gaze' (Mulvey)?

Pan Am and Beyonce

2) Do texts such as these show there is no longer a need for feminism or are they simply sexism in a different form?

Media texts like Pan Am and Beyoncé can seem to suggest feminism is no longer needed because they present women as confident, successful and in control, fitting a post-feminist idea of empowerment. However, this empowerment often still relies on beauty, sexualisation and the male gaze, showing that sexism hasn’t disappeared but it has just taken a subtler, more modern form.

3) Choose three words/phrases from the glossary of the article and write their definitions on your blog.

Post-feminism – An ideology in culture and society that society is somehow past needing feminism and that the attitudes and arguments of feminism are no longer needed.

Male Gaze – The gaze referring to Laura Mulvey’s seminal article ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ which argues that main stream Hollywood films subject female characters to the ‘male gaze’ of the camera, fragmenting and objectifying their bodies.

Nostalgia – A sentimental longing for the past, often only remembering the positives of the time.

Now read The Theory Drop: Gender Performativity (MM69, page 25) and answer the following questions.

1) How does the writer suggest gender performativity is established from a young age?

She argues that gender is a social construction: it is taught to us by external influences and it’s ingrained at such a young age that we often mistake it as ‘nature’ rather than ‘nurture’. In short, having male genitalia has no bearing on whether or not you like cars, nor does having a womb make you obsessed with unicorns and mermaids. Children are taught to perform their gender from early on so that they align themselves with certain tastes and behaviours befitting their gender category.

2) What does the phrase 'non-binary' refer to and how does it link to Butler's theory?

When Butler wrote Gender Trouble in 1990, she used transvestism as an example of an identity which upsets the status quo of manly men and ladylike women. But in the 30 years since, society has come a long way and there is significantly more ‘trouble’ when it comes to binary notions of gender. The phrase ‘non-binary’, referring to someone who doesn’t define themselves as either wholly male or female, is increasingly in common usage. The younger generation are gradually becoming more comfortable using the gender neutral pronoun ‘they’ to refer to people who do not identify as either ‘he’ or ‘she’ and increasingly media products made for the younger generation deal more openly with LGBTQ issues with more variety in the representations of multiple genders.

3) How and why does the media help reinforce gender stereotypes? The writer provides several examples in the final section of the article.

It is clear to see how media products contribute to the social construction of gender roles because most products do conform to stereotypes. Whilst there have been more progressive representations on some platforms (online, on demand services), the mass media still has a way to go. It’s worth thinking (as always) about whose interests are served by perpetuating these roles. Of course the mainstream media relies on gender stereotypes for other reasons, mostly as a shortcut to meaning. Narratives (in film, TV, print, online) are easier for audiences to understand if the characters, subjects and storylines conform to a set of ideas that are already fixed in our minds form an early age.

Music video analysis

Finally, write up our analysis of the two music videos we studied in class. This is your opportunity to develop your own opinions on these crucial media debates. If you're not sure on any of these theories, look at the theory notes above to help you.

Watch the Beyonce video for ‘Why Don’t You Love Me?’: 

1) How might this video contribute to Butler’s idea that gender roles are a ‘performance’?

In the video, you can see some shots where Beyonce is shown in the role of a housewife while wearing heavy makeup, red lipstick, styled hair, heels and posh body language, which is a traditional, stereotypical role for women, emphasising the idea that her femininity is shaped by her actions rather than biology.

2) What might Van Zoonen suggest regarding the representation of women in this video?

He may suggest that the video is a visual representation of how women are sexualised as objects in the media but at the same time he may agree that Beyonce has full control over her revealing clothes and how she is portrayed in her video, suggesting a sense of independence for women.

3) What are YOUR views on this debate – does Beyonce empower women or reinforce the traditional ‘male gaze’ and oppression of women? 

I think it's a both as her role fits into traditional and stereotypical views of women and their role, emphasising their need to be housewives and dependent on men but at the same time Beyonce portrays a different perspective while choosing the way she acts and looks in her music video as she is the lead role and the main singer, which gives her a bit of power while expressing her femininity to subvert stereotypes.

Watch Will Jay's video for ‘Gangsta’:



1) How does the video suggest representations of masculinity have changed in recent years?

The music videos challenges traditional patriarchal views that forced men to be independent and take care of their responsibilities without showing any care or emotion as the video expresses many emotions with the changing colours and lyrics. This subverts masculine ideas of being tough and shows that all human beings are allowed to express themselves no matter their gender.

2) What does David Gauntlett suggest about representations of men in the media over the last 20 years?

He suggests that the media now allows men to explore their identities and not be restricted to forms of traditional patriarchy, which limited their ability to express themselves and forced them to care more about power and dominance than about themselves.

3) What is YOUR view on the representation of men and masculinity? Are young men still under pressure from the media to act or behave in a certain way?

I think in some ways they are because gender roles are still portrayed in the media as different performances connected to each gender, for example girls liking the colour pink and boys liking the colour blue or any colour but pink. However I think that while most teenage boys still have their masculine image to maintain, this idea has evolved greatly throughout the years and little progress has been made.