Showing papers in "Feminist Media Studies in 2004"
TL;DR: The authors presents a series of possible conceptual frames for engaging with what has come to be known as post-feminism, which is defined as an active process by which feminities change over time.
Abstract: This article presents a series of possible conceptual frames for engaging with what has come to be known as post‐feminism. It understands post‐feminism to refer to an active process by which femini...
988 citations
TL;DR: This paper reported that women's increasing alcohol consumption has come under intense scrutiny recently within the UK press and, as this paper will report, the coverage on the whole can be seen to present women who drink...
Abstract: Women's increasing alcohol consumption has come under intense scrutiny recently within the UK press and, as this paper will report, the coverage on the whole can be seen to present women who drink ...
209 citations
TL;DR: The rescue of Private Jessica Lynch was one of the most extensively covered events of the 2003 US-led war on Iraq as mentioned in this paper, and in the 14 days after her rescue, Lynch drew 919 references in major newspapers.
Abstract: The “rescue” of Private Jessica Lynch was one of the most extensively covered events of the 2003 US‐led war on Iraq. In the 14 days after her rescue, Lynch drew 919 references in major newspapers. ...
78 citations
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TL;DR: A more radical reconfiguration of the relationship of (woman/)woman/machine rather than solely concentrating on man/man/machine/machine is proposed in this paper, where women's Web presences can be a way of construc...
Abstract: We are in need of a more radical reconfiguration of the relationship of (woman/)woman/machine rather than solely concentrating on man/woman/ machine … Women's Web presences can be a way of construc...
51 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors use the Criticism and Commentary section to highlight gender as a crucial variable in the popularity of reality TV shows, and suggest that women are being targeted for what they are worth to advertisers.
Abstract: “Reality” shows have exploded on television screens around the world. The latest “hot commodity” dominating television programming, these shows have captured astonishing viewer ratings. While a decade ago MTV’s Real World inaugurated this genre of programming—accentuating a voyeuristic gaze among audiences and an exhibitionistic streak among participants—in the last two years it has moved from being a fad to become a staple on television lineups. US television, for instance, has focused on creating ever more (apparently) unscripted “human experiment” type shows, at the expense of other genres such as the prime-time serial. Journalistic accounts indicate that audiences are either riveted by what their supporters describe as compelling insights into the human condition, or find them boring and unattractive. Given the voyeuristic impulse of this genre and the vastly divergent responses it evokes, we seek to use the Criticism and Commentary section to highlight gender as a crucial variable in this phenomenon. The economics of “reality television” production—cheap telly—might explain why programmers rely on them to capture the “ideal” youth audience. But what accounts for their popularity with viewers? Among the many questions which are thrown up by the preponderance of “housemate” shows such as Big Brother and Survivor, as well as the more traditional dating shows, are: Do these shows reflect changing social mores, especially of relationships between women and men who meet as strangers? When a nation of viewers selects the ideal mate for a contestant, what does this practice signify? Does the prevalence of these shows alter modern conceptions of heterosexual romance, and do viewer preferences reinforce or challenge traditional stereotypes about the ideals of femininity and masculinity? Why do the embarrassment and humiliation that are an important part of the format of such shows enthrall audiences and are there gendered dimensions to this phenomenon? One producer asserts that the shows appeal to a “female-oriented audience and the females want to see the romance.” Is the ubiquity of this genre on prime-time schedules an industry acknowledgment, albeit tacitly, of the significance of the female viewer or are women being cynically targeted for what they are worth to the advertisers? Does the popularity of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy herald a new openness to gay male identity or does it recapitulate gay stereotypes packaged in a new format? Television programming’s ability to cross national and cultural borders has long been acknowledged by scholars. What sense then can we make of the international
47 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the significance of the terms objectification and pornography in three key approaches to analysing pornographic texts; an anti-pornography feminist approach, an historical approach focused on pornography and regulation, and an approach which details pornography's aesthetic transgressiveness.
Abstract: This paper examines the significance of the terms objectification and pornography in three key approaches to analysing pornographic texts; an anti-pornography feminist approach, an historical approach focused on pornography and regulation, and an approach which details pornography’s aesthetic transgressiveness. It suggests that while all three approaches continue to be productive for the analysis of sexual representations, their usefulness is limited by a tendency towards essentialism. A discussion of the public controversy around an advert for Opium perfume in 2000 is used to argue that an attentiveness to the context of particular images, and to the variety of reactions they provoke, provides a useful way of developing the analysis of sexual representations and their contemporary significance.
34 citations
23 citations
TL;DR: In the late 1930s, the Stratemeyer Syndicate sold the movie rights for its popular Nancy Drew novels (Carolyn Keene 1930−79) to Warner Bros., which quickly released four films based on the teen novels.
Abstract: In the late 1930s, the Stratemeyer Syndicate1 sold the movie rights for its popular Nancy Drew novels (Carolyn Keene 1930–79) to Warner Bros., which quickly released four films based on the teen‐gi...
20 citations
TL;DR: Feminist study of media encompasses a variety of media forms, each of which possesses a distinct set of issues determined by the medium and how it is used, as well as by the variant theoretical and methodological traditions through which scholars have studied the medium US feminist film and television criticism have maintained distinct methodological and theoretical emphases as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Feminist study of media encompasses a variety of media forms, each of which possesses a distinct set of issues determined by the medium and how it is used, as well as by the variant theoretical and methodological traditions through which scholars have studied the medium US feminist film and television criticism have maintained distinct methodological and theoretical emphases—yet the two areas of study are closely related For example, feminist television studies developed from a synthesis of theoretical and methodological work in a range of fields, including feminist film criticism and theory, and remains at once connected to and distinct from feminist approaches to studying film
19 citations
TL;DR: For instance, online journalism scholarship has become a fixture at communications conferences and in the pages of the most visible journals in the field of media studies as discussed by the authors, and it has been widely recognized as a promising area of research.
Abstract: Over the past decade, online journalism scholarship has become a fixture at communications conferences and in the pages of the most visible journals in the field of media studies. Although the rese...
16 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the dancing body as shaped through the dynamics of race, class, and gender as well as through the tensions between popular and classical dance, focusing on race, gender, and class.
Abstract: This article explores the dancing body as shaped through the dynamics of race, class, and gender as well as through the tensions between popular and classical dance.1 Specifically, it focuses on th...
TL;DR: Advertising borrows from other contemporary discourses in circulation in a society as well as contributing to these other discourses as discussed by the authors, and advertising as an ideological site is examined in this paper.
Abstract: Advertising borrows from other contemporary discourses in circulation in a society as well as contributing to these other discourses. In this study, we examine advertising as an ideological site th...
Journal Article•
TL;DR: For example, having a million does not in itself make one able to live like a millionaire; and parvenus generally take a long time to learn that what they see as culpable prodigality is, in their new condition,...
Abstract: Having a million does not in itself make one able to live like a millionaire; and parvenus generally take a long time to learn that what they see as culpable prodigality is, in their new condition,...
TL;DR: The Hide and Hide, a contemporary Israeli community theatre production, performed by a group of six women and one man as mentioned in this paper, focuses on the process by which these women appropriated the concept of hide and seek.
Abstract: This article focuses on Hide and Seek, a contemporary Israeli community theatre production, performed by a group of six women and one man We present the process by which these women appropriated c
TL;DR: Since the AIDS epidemic began two decades ago, industrialized nations have spent millions of dollars on AIDS research, prevention, and education programs in so-called Third World countries, yet, in spite of programs to educate men and women about AIDS, efforts to empower women to protect and preserve their sexual health, and research aimed at finding a definitive cure, AIDS remains a devastating problem in Africa.
Abstract: In the southern African country of Zimbabwe, there are posters on the trash cans that line the streets of Harare, the capital city. They show a man and woman dancing, with a message that cautions: “No condom. No sex. Play safe.” In Kenya, the Ministry of Health distributed posters that read, “Anyone can get AIDS: Take care” (Kim Witte 1998). In Tanzania, at some of the truck stops frequented by long-distance drivers, signs carried a picture of a skull and crossbones with a two-word warning below: “AIDS here” (Ted Conover 1993). Messages declaring the dangers of AIDS are everywhere in Africa and with good reason: Africa is the heartland of the AIDS epidemic. “In most sub-Saharan African countries, adults and children are acquiring HIV at a higher rate than ever before” (Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS [UNAIDS] 1999). Of the 42 million people worldwide living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS, more than half—29.4 million—live in sub-Saharan Africa (UNAIDS 2003). While AIDS has declined in the east African country of Uganda, it remains a critical problem. In 12 sub-Saharan countries, at least 10 percent of the people aged 15–49 have AIDS; the prevalence rates are greater than 20 percent in seven countries, including Botswana and Zimbabwe where more than one-third of the population is HIV-positive (UNAIDS 2002a, 2002b). Health experts have issued a grim forecast: “There was hope that southern Africa’s epidemic—the most severe in the world—had reached its ‘natural limit,’ beyond which HIV prevalence rates would not rise. New data show this is not the case...” (UNAIDS 2002b). Since the AIDS epidemic began two decades ago, industrialized nations have spent millions of dollars on AIDS research, prevention, and education programs in so-called Third World countries. These campaigns and programs have been part of larger international development efforts, begun by the USA in the 1950s, to encourage stronger economies in developing nations (Gustavo Esteva 1993) and expanded in the 1970s to include social well-being (Srinivas R. Melkote 1991). Mass media have been critical forces in these development programs, including efforts to improve health care. Yet, in spite of programs to educate men and women about AIDS, efforts to empower women to protect and preserve their sexual health, efforts to promote AIDS prevention, and research aimed at finding a definitive cure, AIDS remains a devastating problem in Africa.
TL;DR: In this paper, women's efforts to influence public policy in Palestine especially hard Palestinian women have had and still have to act against the traditional patriarchal society has made women efforts to Influence Public Policy in Palestine.
Abstract: Having to act within a traditional patriarchal society has made women's efforts to influence public policy in Palestine especially hard Palestinian women have had and still have to act against the
TL;DR: The World Social Forum for a discussion of media and globalisation recognises the intricate and complex relationship between media in the broadest sense of the word and the global powers as discussed by the authors, and it is time that we recognise and give strong resistance to what transnational corporations and governments have long understood that seizing power may require guns and military and political machinations, but ultimately staying in power is about conquering the hearts and minds of people.
Abstract: I feel particularly hopeful today because, as a feminist activist interested in questions of media, information, and communications, the space that has been given in the World Social Forum for a discussion of media and globalisation recognises the intricate and complex relationship between media in the broadest sense of the word and the global powers. It is time that we recognise and give strong resistance to what transnational corporations and governments have long understood—that seizing power may require guns and military and political machinations, but ultimately staying in power is about conquering the hearts and minds of people—which is why the corporatisation and control of media and communications systems has been crucial. I will try to examine this notion of conquered minds and hearts that takes place through media manipulation and the project of cultural domination—which I believe has merely changed in form but not essence since the period of global colonialism. I will do so by reflecting on some of the experiences that feminists have had in their brave challenge to media corporations, the high priest of the patriarchal capitalist enterprise. I will also try to reflect upon the colonising effect of Western-dominated media with a viewing from the margins. By the margins, I mean a space where there is an intimate and politicised struggle of identity and self-determination taking place, whether it be the struggle of indigenous people, the struggle of Dalit communities, the struggle of various ethnic, social, or religious minority groups which are being brutally suppressed by totalitarian regimes. There are multiple homogenisation projects taking place, not just that of cultural homogenisation most apparent through the large media enterprises of the West. Within many countries of the South, there has been a forcible attempt to stitch together national boundaries and make us all “One People” by a purposeful playing down of cultural, social, and political diversity in the name of National Unity. In countries where the pretence of
TL;DR: With the mainstreaming of feminism, one enduring assumption has been that women's success is to be measured by virtue of the extent to which we have been able to overcome exclusion from spaces as women as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: With the “mainstreaming” of feminism, one enduring assumption has been that women's success is to be measured by virtue of the extent to which we have been able to overcome exclusion from spaces as...
TL;DR: The language and logic of “right” and “wrong,” as used by Brockovich and Masry in the 2000 film "Erin Brockovich" as mentioned in this paper, is similar to ours.
Abstract: “You're doing the right thing, Mr. Masry,” legal secretary Erin Brockovich assures her boss, lawyer Ed Masry, in the 2000 film based on actual events. The language and logic of “right” and “wrong,”...
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Sara-Marie Fedele, an entrant in the 2001 TV reality series "Big Brother" functions as a role model for young women anxious about body image as mentioned in this paper, and she was the winner of the first season of the show.
Abstract: Sara-Marie Fedele, an entrant in the 2001 TV reality series "Big Brother" functions as a role model for young women anxious about body image.