Showing papers in "Journal of Gender Studies in 2011"
TL;DR: This article examined the meaning of food and foodwork for first-generation Canadian Goan women in Toronto, Canada, and the role of food in creating and maintaining distinctly gendered ethnic identities.
Abstract: Foodwork and women's primary responsibility for foodwork have long been interpreted by feminist scholars as a site of gender oppression for women; yet the gendered meanings of foodwork are complicated when race, diaspora and ethnic identity are also taken into account. This article examines the meaning of food and foodwork for Goan women in Toronto, Canada, and the role of food in creating and maintaining distinctly gendered ethnic identities. Catholic Goan identity, born from Portuguese colonization of an area in what is now Western India, has few unique markers of ethnic distinction from other Indians. In this context Goan cuisine takes on a particular symbolic significance. In this qualitative study with first-generation Canadian Goan women (N = 13) the gendered role of women in foodwork was seen as having particular power or ‘currency’ within the family and community, valued for fostering and supporting Goan identity. We argue that the same foodwork practices that constitute gendered oppression for wo...
82 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the explanations and justifications offered by dual-career heterosexual couples in defence of an unequal division of housework within their relationships, concluding that while couples continue to expend their time and effort in defending and justifying inequality, rather than in worki...
Abstract: This paper examines the explanations and justifications offered by dual-career heterosexual couples in defence of an unequal division of housework within their relationships. The article draws on individual semi-structured interviews conducted with 12 couples aged between 20 and 35, identified as a sample of the population that has the resources to capitalise on modern opportunities for gender equality in heterosexual relationships. Although all of the couples claim to aspire to equality, this translates into practice for only one of the couples interviewed. The research findings indicate that a number of the couples employ similar justifications, with both male and female respondents arguing that women have higher standards and are more competent performers of household chores, and that the division of labour is practical, based on the hours worked by both partners. The paper concludes that while couples continue to expend their time and effort in defending and justifying inequality, rather than in worki...
65 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the relationship between the extent of democracy and the representation of women in politics appears, at first glance, to be non-existent but turns out to be a curvilinear one.
Abstract: This article investigates, both theoretically and empirically, the relationships between democratization, gender equality and peace. We argue that there is a need to scrutinize both the level of democracy as well as the level of masculine hegemony in societies. Methodologically, we use a combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses to support our argument. We employ regression analysis to show that the relationship between the extent of democracy and the representation of women in politics appears, at first glance, to be non-existent but turns out to be a curvilinear one. We also show that democracy can facilitate peace, but only in interaction with the level of political gender equality, so that more democratic societies are more peaceful only if there have been moves to gender equality. Our interpretation of these findings is illustrated by the contemporary politics of Thailand. Recent political violence in southern Thailand can be accounted for in the context of it being only partly democratize...
58 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the strategic and systematic transformation of young femininity into cultural content as national resources in contemporary girl industries in their global-local articulation is discussed, and three aspects of girl industries are discussed.
Abstract: This paper examines the strategic and systematic transformation of young femininity into cultural content as national resources in the contemporary girl industries in their global–local articulation. Three aspects of girl industries are discussed. Firstly, girl idols are de-humanized and become cultural content of girl industries and girl bodies are objectified as normative commodities under corporate government mentality. Next, girl bodies are re-sexualized and their sexuality is featured as the sexuality of ambiguity in split and doubling modes of visualization. Finally, the national governance of girl bodies is examined in terms of the building up of the idol republic and the emergence of Lolita nationalism. The three interrelated aspects of commercialization, re-sexualization and nationalization suggest that girl industries are intrinsic to the strengthening of the neoliberal governmentality of girl bodies on a global scale. This reality calls for a renewed global perspective of critical feminism in o...
43 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the dominant approach to gender in alcohol research still conceives of gender in terms of binary roles and looks for explanations for gender differences in drinking, and this paper challenges the binar...
Abstract: The dominant approach to gender in alcohol research still conceives of gender in terms of binary roles and looks for explanations for gender differences in drinking. This paper challenges the binar ...
38 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, membership categorisation analysis is deployed to explore how the relatively new (and perhaps alternative) category for men (metrosexual) is presented and received, and suggests that masculinity concerns are central in debates about metrosexuality.
Abstract: Since the launch of men's lifestyle magazines in the 1980s, academic literature has predominantly focused on them as a cultural phenomenon arising from entrepreneurial and commercial initiatives and/or as cultural texts that proffer representations of masculinity such as ‘new lad’ and ‘new dad’. This paper steps aside from the focus on culture and, instead, treats magazine content as a discursive space in which gender and sexuality are oriented to, negotiated, and accomplished within and beyond the magazine itself (i.e. through readers' responses). Specifically, membership categorisation analysis is deployed to explore how the relatively new (and perhaps alternative) category for men – ‘metrosexual’ – is presented and received. Our analysis suggests that masculinity concerns are central in debates about ‘metrosexuality’, with self-identified ‘metrosexuals’ invoking heterosexual prowess and self-respect on the one hand, and critics (e.g. self-identified ‘real men’) lamenting ‘metrosexuality’ for its percei...
38 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a qualitative study was conducted to explore people's experiences of living with an ‘anorexic’ voice, which was collected in the form of written reflections produced by those with the condition.
Abstract: People living with anorexia nervosa (AN) often report experiencing an inner voice that dominates their thinking and behaviour, and prevents them from progressing towards recovery. Little systematic investigation has been made of this entity. A qualitative study was conducted to explore people's experiences of living with an ‘anorexic’ voice. Data were collected in the form of written reflections produced by those with the condition. A thematic analysis, involving the two authors, was employed, and the computer programme Atlas-ti helped with data management. Poems, letters, and reflective narratives were provided by 21 females with AN. A key theme from these data was the toxic relationship participants described with their inner voice. This idea was explored by considering and comparing their writings with research investigating the perspectives of women enduring domestic violence; parallels between the two groups became clear during analysis. A novel way of considering AN outlined in the paper, as someone...
29 citations
TL;DR: The Work Sharing Couples Study as mentioned in this paper was an action research project conducted in the early 1970s to reconcile work, family and gender equality in families, which involved both spouses working part-time.
Abstract: The Work-Sharing Couples Study was an action research project conducted in the early 1970s to reconcile work, family and gender equality in families. Its design involved both spouses working part-t ...
26 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a qualitative, non-medical analysis of pregnancy bed rest is presented to contribute to feminist scholarship on women's experiences of embodiment and reproduction, focusing on women who have experienced it.
Abstract: This article provides a qualitative, non-medical analysis of pregnancy bed rest to contribute to feminist scholarship on women's experiences of embodiment and reproduction. Drawing on surveys and interviews, I examine pregnancy bed rest from the perspective of those who have experienced it. I argue that pregnancy bed rest significantly disrupts women's sense of control over their bodies, and that this disruption is partly manifested through feelings of failure and self-blame. Women's feelings of failure are heightened within a cultural context that emphasizes the importance of individual control over reproductive processes and ignores marginalized experiences of pregnancy. I then examine how women strategize ways to momentarily regain some control over their self and lives and thereby reduce feelings of failure. Analysis of women's pregnancy bed rest experiences furthers our understanding of an experience that drastically alters women's sense of control and self-discipline as well as their relationship to...
26 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines the confluence of body image and expert girlfriendship in the conduct books, What not to wear (Susannah Constantine and Trinny Woodall) and Skinny bitch (Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman).
Abstract: Postfeminist popular culture celebrates women's entitlement to makeover and female sociality. This article examines the confluence of body image and expert girlfriendship in the conduct books, What not to wear (Susannah Constantine and Trinny Woodall) and Skinny bitch (Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman). These co-authors brand themselves ‘best friends’ and market this female relating as evidence of expertise. Extending their friendship to their readers, they create an intimate female site in order to guide the reader into making normative choices around body image. In particular, they employ strategies of policing and surveillance, appealing to self-responsibility. The girlfriends write the body through an ethical code, employing the rhetoric of guilt, punishment and humiliation if the consumer fails to conduct herself and those around her correctly. I ask what happens when policing is applied to female friends: how far is female friendship, or girlfriend culture, governed by the neoliberal market forces int...
20 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that kinship is an ambiguous and contingent concept, and that rituals done in connection with death and mourning have consequences for how people are acknowledged as bereaved.
Abstract: This article discusses kinship practices in connection with death and mourning. It argues that kinship is an ambiguous and contingent concept, and that rituals done in connection with death and mourning have consequences for how people are acknowledged as bereaved. The discussion is based on data from a Swedish study of bereavement. Besides evincing the salience in death practices of a notion of kinship based on conjugal relations and blood ties, the results of analyses of participant observations in a grief group and in-depth interviews with gay widowers reveal that the dominant kinship norm both constrains and enables differing positions as primary mourners. Drawing on Judith Butler and discourse theory, the study shows that claiming a position as bereaved can entail struggles concerning acknowledgment of kinship, and that examples of denunciation simultaneously stand out as resistance and subversion. To avoid marginalizing prospective mourners, it is important to be aware of how these practices of kins...
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of participants' gender, gender role and the target's sex on the perception of an intelligent person and attitudes towards disclosing high IQ were investigated, finding that more negative consequences were predicted for female than male targets.
Abstract: This study looked for evidence of cultural stereotypes regarding the different intellectual abilities of men and women. The effects of participants' gender, gender role and the target's sex on the perception of an intelligent person and attitudes towards disclosing high IQ were investigated. Some 121 participants wrote a story following a verbal lead about a highly intelligent male or female. They then answered three questions about IQ disclosure and filled out a Bem Sex Role Inventory. Content analysis showed most differences emerged in participants' views about consequences of high intelligence for one's intimate interpersonal relationships. More negative consequences were predicted for female than male targets. This bias was especially strong for females and feminine participants.
TL;DR: It is argued that media coverage of the Worrall murder case mirrors the cornerstone of the medicalisation of intersex; that is, the institutionalisation of silence.
Abstract: In 2010 the New South Wales (NSW) Supreme Court imprisoned Kathleen Worrall for the murder of her sister Susan Worrall. Worrall pleaded guilty to manslaughter ‘by reason of … a mood disorder associated with her non-compliance with medication prescribed for the treatment of her underlying medical condition, namely congenital adrenal hyperplasia’ (R v Worrall [2010] NSWSC 593). Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is one of five significant configurations of the body which come under the broad rubric of ‘intersex’. Intersex is a contemporary term to refer to what is historically known as hermaphroditism. To date no sufficient analysis has been undertaken of the representation of intersex in the media, largely because the term intersex fails to make its mark in the media. To address this imbalance this paper analyses the representation of this case in several of the leading Australian media outlets. What is evidenced is that intersex is often omitted in preference for euphemistic alternatives. Thereby, it is...
TL;DR: It is argued that pregnant women and their male partners find themselves caught in a gender paradox whereby the desire for greater equality in pregnancy and screening has yet to be fully realised in practice.
Abstract: Men's involvement in pregnancy has become an increasing area of interest in research on gender and reproduction. However, little attention has been given to men's roles when their partners are undergoing prenatal screening. Drawing on the findings of qualitative research with pregnant women and their male partners in a northern city in the UK, this paper aims to explore the increasing significance of men's roles in prenatal blood screening. Findings reveal that men occupy a range of important roles in screening both as supporters of their pregnant partners and as potential fathers. They also revealed however that men's participation is often inhibited by existing institutional and organisational factors including the attitudes of health professionals and workplace norms, both of which continue to be influenced by traditional gender role ideology. The paper concludes by arguing that pregnant women and their male partners therefore find themselves caught in a gender paradox whereby the desire for greater eq...
TL;DR: The authors argue that, withstanding the liberating effects of the women's movement, the contraceptive revolution, the equal opportunities revolution, and the increase in equal access to information, there is a serendipitous form of societal policing of women's actions that may be linked to ongoing patriarchal views.
Abstract: This article argues that, withstanding the liberating effects of the women's movement, the contraceptive revolution, the equal opportunities revolution, and the increase in equal access to information – which have all helped to increase women's mobility within society – is a serendipitous form of societal policing of women's actions that may be linked to ongoing patriarchal views. We attempt to explain our analysis by reviewing historical developments, such as women's movement from the private domain of domestic life to the more public domain of work as well as the many changes in the forms of mass media since the 1950s, and by presenting findings from research across generations of pregnant women who shared with us their experiences of being pregnant.
TL;DR: This qualitative study is based on interviews with young Irish men living in London, regarding their diets and their views on healthy eating, and analysis of thematic analysis found red meat was considered ‘masculine’, while lighter foods associated with healthy diets were considered “feminine”.
Abstract: This qualitative study is based on interviews with young Irish men living in London, regarding their diets and their views on healthy eating. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Interviewees gave various reasons for adopting unhealthy eating habits, including the cost of healthy foods, their lack of time and ability to cook, and their prioritisation of drinking alcohol. Views about the status of different foods also affected their eating habits: red meat, for instance, was considered ‘masculine’, while lighter foods associated with healthy diets were considered ‘feminine’.
TL;DR: The authors argue that Hull's representation of androgynous and cross-dressing women allows for her heroines to inhabit positions of relative power in relation to their male counterparts, and that these women were, in part, written in reaction to the uproar caused by this novel.
Abstract: In 1919 the now largely forgotten popular novelist E.M. Hull sparked a decade of infatuation with the ‘desert romance’ on the publication of her first book, The sheik. The obsession with the genre, fuelled by the release of Melford's 1921 film adaptation of the book, saw women swooning in the aisles at ‘screen god’ Rudolph Valentino's starring role. My aim here is to broaden the focus on Hull away from the much maligned novel, The sheik, by suggesting that Hull's subsequent novels, though never straying very far from the lucrative formula she cultivated with her first novel, were, in part at least, written in reaction to the uproar caused by this novel. I argue that Hull's representation of androgynous and cross-dressing women allows for her heroines to inhabit positions of relative power in relation to their male counterparts.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of socio-economic and socio-cultural variables on Indian women's preference for a son was investigated using the National Family Health Survey data of 2005-2006.
Abstract: Indian women usually crave at least one son and will continue to try for a son even if they have five or more daughters. The spatial variation of women's preference for sons has been studied in this paper. We have also investigated the effect of socio-economic and socio-cultural variables on son preference through use of the National Family Health Survey data of 2005–2006. The study is based on 81,844 reproductive-aged women (15–49 years old) from all states in India. The Central Zone of India has the highest percentage of son preference while the South Zone has the least. Son preference, which is very strong among Indian women, is mainly correlated with lack of education and socio-religious constraints. It is also seen more in families with an agro-based economy.
TL;DR: In this paper, an ethnographic study examining the gendering of jewellery production in the villages of Medinipur, West Bengal, India is presented, where women are rendered invisible as workers through discursive practices of control over their sexuality, restricting their mobility geographically and in the job hierarchy, and earn a low average wage of INR 1.35/hour for chain-weaving.
Abstract: The paper is an ethnographic study examining the gendering of jewellery production in the villages of Medinipur, West Bengal, India. The jewellery (primarily hand woven silver chains) is marketed nationally and internationally and the villages are linked to the domestic and the global markets through a series of subcontractors. The paper is a critical analysis and deconstruction of the gendered division of labour where women's work in chain-weaving is constructed as ‘leisure activity’, requiring little training and carried out at home. The women are rendered invisible as workers through the discursive practices of control over their sexuality, restricting their mobility geographically and in the job hierarchy, and earn a low average wage of INR 1.35/hour for chain-weaving. Men engage in the soldering and finishing of chains, which is constructed as ‘tough’, requiring long training, carried out in the visible spaces of the workshops and are paid an average wage of INR 5/hour. The discourses feed into the s...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine how William Trevor's novel, Felicia's journey, uses space to explore the marginalisation of the Irish woman within Irish and English society and examine how domestic interiors complement the narrative of entrapment and escape central to the novel, before going on to look at how Trevor engages with the social and cultural conditions that circumscribed the lives of Irish women in the second half of the twentieth century.
Abstract: Drawing on readings of ‘home’ in cultural and literary criticism, as well as on historical and social scientific analyses of the experiences of Irish women in England, this article will examine how William Trevor's novel, Felicia's journey, uses space to explore the marginalisation of the Irish woman within Irish and English society. It will begin by examining the ways in which domestic interiors complement the narrative of entrapment and escape central to the novel, before going on to look at how Trevor engages with the social and cultural conditions that circumscribed the lives of Irish women in the second half of the twentieth century. Finally, it will examine how Trevor's representation of the Irish emigrant experience foregrounds the historical dilemmas encountered by Irish women in England, specifically in the context of the ‘abortion trail’ of the 1980s and 1990s and in relation to how Irish women have been imagined in English culture.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: This article explored the post-feminist sensibilities of female sexual liberation in three contemporary erotic memoirs: Abby Lee's Girl with a one track mind, Catherine Townsend's Sleeping around, and Suzanne Portnoy's The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker.
Abstract: This article explores the ‘postfeminist’ sensibilities of female sexual liberation in three contemporary erotic memoirs: Abby Lee's Girl with a one track mind: confessions of the seductress next door, Catherine Townsend's Sleeping around: secrets of a sexual adventuress and Suzanne Portnoy's The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. Analysing these texts' conceptual representations of sexual politics and their material representations of sexual practices, I argue that despite their celebration of women's autonomous sexual decision making these recent erotic memoirs nevertheless reflect a saturation of, and submission to, the male-dominated sexual values prescribed by the mainstreaming of the sex industry.
TL;DR: In this article, an introduction for the Journal of Gender Studies discussing the feminisms, sex, and the body debate is given, as well as a discussion of body debate and body acceptance.
Abstract: This is an introduction for the Journal of Gender Studies discussing the feminisms, sex and the body debate.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: The authors analyzed literary patterns of female subordination and focused on what the author terms "referred pain" by juxtaposing two early modern texts, William Shakespeare's Tit... and their Tit-Titles.
Abstract: This article analyses literary patterns of female subordination, and focuses in particular on what the author terms "referred pain." By juxtaposing two early modern texts, William Shakespeare's Tit ...
TL;DR: The Spring Fiestas in Murcia (Spain) present a special example of spontaneous transvestism, as every year young women dress in the local costume originally designed for men.
Abstract: The Spring Fiestas in Murcia (Spain) present a special example of spontaneous transvestism, as every year young women dress in the local costume originally designed for men. This practice has incurred the wrath of local authorities and the conservative sector, who have tried to counteract it through different campaigns. One example of these was the official poster advertising the Fiestas in 2008, which paradoxically displayed a transvestite couple. The current paper argues that through this poster the local government contributed to subversion, even if their original intention was to enforce tradition. This paper will look first at how the 2008 poster promotes conservative and essential ideals of masculinity and femininity, moving on to an analysis of the transgression intrinsic to it. Finally, the consequences that the 2008 poster has had for the local population will be examined and it will be suggested that Murcians read this picture to legitimate a ‘failure’ to conform to gender norms.
TL;DR: In this paper, a close reading of A.L. Kennedy's novel Original Bliss through the theories of Helene Cixous and Luce Irigaray is presented, highlighting the relationship between violence and Western religious notions of divinity, sexuality and the female body.
Abstract: This article investigates how female sexuality and desire can be refigured beyond dynamics of fear and subjugation. By offering a close reading of A.L. Kennedy's novel Original bliss through the theories of Helene Cixous and Luce Irigaray, this work highlights the relationship between violence and Western religious notions of divinity, sexuality and the female body. Kennedy's novel portrays, in violent detail, that the way in which the religious dimension has been conceptualised and articulated enforces negative views of female sexuality and justifies violence against the body. Rather than merely confronting the religious denigration of feminine sexuality, however, Kennedy's novel also attempts to refigure the connection between eroticism and divinity, and points toward the possibility of renewed relationships that cultivate ‘horizontal transcendence’ between women and men.
TL;DR: Lindholm's short story "Cut" as mentioned in this paper argues that the valuing of individual over collective action risks making effective activism appear impossible and leaves both writers unable to explore crucial means of collective response to the issues to which they rightly and astutely draw att...
Abstract: This article reads Megan Lindholm's short story ‘Cut’ alongside Judith Butler's work on legal structures as an intervention into debates about the relationship between the body and the state. Focusing on issues relating to female genital cutting, I argue that Lindholm's narrative draws attention to the ways in which pre-political conceptions of gender undermine attempts to establish women's rights over their bodies through legislation. By challenging the distinction between female genital cutting and cosmetic surgery, ‘Cut’ compels us to reconsider the ways and the purposes for which we make use of the law. The second half of the article will consider the ways in which ‘Cut’, much like Butler, frames its response to these tensions in primarily individual terms. I argue that the valuing of individual over collective action risks making effective activism appear impossible and leaves both writers unable to explore crucial means of collective response to the issues to which they rightly and astutely draw att...