Feminism

Definition
• Feminism is the belief that women should have
equal rights to men. In consequence, the
feminist movement fights for equal rights and
opportunities for women.
• There are many different kinds of feminism and
feminists themselves tend to disagree about the
ways in which women are disadvantaged and
what exactly should be done to get equal rights.
For example, ‘social feminists’ believe that
women are exploited by the capitalist system
both at work and in the home.
 Improvements?
• It can be argued that there have been real
improvements in the way that women are now
represented in the media possibly because of the
increase in women working in the
media, sometimes in positions of power.
However, many would argue that women are still
represented in a negative and stereotypical way
and are still a long way from enjoying equal
power in media institutions. Feminists would
argue that this reflects and reinforces the
unequal social, economic and political position of
women.
 The First Wave
• 19th century and early 20th century UK & US
• It won improved rights for women in marriage
and property. Its biggest achievement was
winning some political power. In the UK the
Suffragettes and Suffragists campaigned for
the women’s vote.
• In 1918, women over thirty who owned
property won the vote and in 1928 it was
extended to all women over twenty-one.
 The Second Wave
• 1960s & 1970s
• It extended the fight beyond political rights to
education, work and the home.
• In ‘The Feminine Mystique’ (1963) Betty Freidan
argues women were unhappy because of the
feminine mystique. She said this was a damaging
ideal of femininity which she called, “The Happy
Housewife” and it restricted women to the role of
housewife and mother, giving up on work and
education.
Betty in Mad Men
The Female Eunuch – Germaine Greer
(1970)
• Greer argued women are ‘castrated’, the eunuch
of the title, by society. In particular she attacked
the nuclear family, romantic role and the limits on
women’s sexuality. She argued that gender roles
were not natural but learned. They conditioned
girls to conform to a very restrictive femininity.
The book has been criticised for not offering any
realistic solutions to women’s
oppression, because it proposed action by
individual women rather than organised political
action.
 The Third Wave
• 1990s – present
• Widened the feminist movement and its ideas beyond
middle class, white women, addressing the different
disadvantages women experience because of, for
example their race, ethnicity and class.
• Some argue that seeing the history of feminism in just
these three waves can ignore the fight for equal rights
and the end to discrimination by women outside the
large feminist movements in the UK and US, including
working class women and black and ethnic minority
women.
 Post-feminism
• 1980s – present
• Includes a wide range of reactions to the feminist
movement and is often critical of the feminist ideas. The
word ‘post’ suggests that feminism isn’t relevant anymore
because women have won equal rights. Other post
feminists ideas argue that younger women don’t see
feminism as relevant to them now. The may still believe in
equal rights for women, but either see themselves as
individuals, not part of a feminist movement or don’t want
to use the word ‘feminist’. This has been criticised by
feminists as a way of ‘manufacturing consent’ for the fact
that women are still unequal, by getting women to accept
their unequal position in society.
 Angela McRobbie
• McRobbie has written several books, especially about young
women and the media. She argues that many feminist ideas from
the past aren’t seen as relevant by young women now. Her first
famous study was on the teenage girls magazine ‘Jackie’. Then in
‘Feminism and Youth Culture: From Jackie to J17’(1991), she came
to a more positive conclusions about media representations of
young women. She argued that there were some positive aspects
to women’s magazines, with ideas that could empower their young
female audience, for example how to enjoy sex or learning about
their bodies.
• In ‘The Aftermath of Feminism’(2008), she explored how the media
encouraged women to consent to and play a part in negative media
representations, for example lads mags competitions to appear on
front covers or makeover programmes that ask the female audience
to be critical of other women’s bodies.
 What are the
positive and
negative
representations
of women?
The Beauty Myth – Naomi Wolf (1991)
• Wolf argues that women are oppressed by the
pressure to fit into a myth or false ideal of beauty.
Feminism may have won new rights, but they are
still held back by an obsession with physical
appearance and a very narrow definition of
beauty, for example to be white, thin and made-
up. This beauty myth is socially constructed and
helps to maintain patriarchy, where men still have
power in society. Women buy into this
myth, helping to create hegemony, where the
values are accepted even by those that are
harmed by them.
Why did the American public object to
Liz Miller’s photo?
• This unrealistic body ideal has been accused
of contributing to women’s negative body
image and leading to physical and
psychological problems, such as eating
disorders. It has been argued that young
women in particular use the media to
construct their identity and are especially
vulnerable. It is very difficult to prove a direct
causal link between the media and audience
behaviour and many audience theories argue
against it.
• 1. Does the representation of women in the media lead
to women having a negative body image?
• 2. Is the representation of women’s bodies in the media
one of the causes of eating disorders? What other
contributing factors could there be?
• 3. Is there an increasing pressure on men now to live up
to a masculine body ideal created by the media?
• 4. Are there alternative representations of women in the
media or does one body type dominate to the exclusion of
others?
• 5. Why is it in the economic interests of the media for
women to feel inadequate and insecure about their
bodies?
• 6. Do you think young women are especially vulnerable
to the effects of the beauty myth or not?
• 7. What could be the solution to the problem?
 Raunch culture - Andrea Levy 2005

• In her book Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women

and the Rise of Raunch Culture, Levy attacks
the increasingly sexualised culture that
objectifies women. She argues that women
are encouraged to see themselves as objects
and to see sex as their only source of
power. This can be seen in lads’ magazine like
Nuts and music videos of female artists like
Shakira and Christina Aguilera.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b0okuftq
ng
• 1. How is Christina Aguilera represented in
this video?
• 2. What can we tell about the ideology of
her record company?
• 3. Does the video enhance or detract from
the music? Why?
• http://www.katieprice.co.uk/
• 1. Is Katie Price a good role model for young women? Is
she a successful and wealthy business woman who uses her
body on her terms? Or does she show that society only
values those women who see and sell themselves as sex
objects?

• Zoe Williams in The Guardian in November 2009 argues,

“She colludes with – no, encourages – the commodification
of her body, values it out by the pound to whoever pays the
most in whatsoever state of undress, and this makes her a
very neat icon of raunch culture.”

• In Media, Gender and Identity (2002), David Gauntlett

argues that audiences are active and that role models
“should not be taken to mean that a person wants to
copy. Instead, role models serve as navigation points as
individuals steer their own personal routes through life.”
• Feminists argue that sexualised images of girls
and young women now saturate the media
and are widely available in mainstream
media, such as advertising, magazines and
television. This damages women’s self-image
and it also distorts men’s view of women. The
internet has led to increased and easier access
to pornography, whose message is that
women are sexually available and their bodies
are for sale.
 Have we been desensitised to
sexualised images of women’s bodies?

Playboy
1960s
Playboy 1970s
Playboy 1980s
Playboy 1990s
Zoo
2010
Nuts 2010