Postfeminismm

➢ Postfeminism
- a key term in feminists’ critical vocabulary

1. postfeminism as a paradigm shift within feminism

- a paradigm shift from the modernist feminism to

→

- intersection of feminism with “anti-essentialist/

anti-universalist movements”

- postfeminism → poststructuralist, postmodern, postcolonial feminism

2. postfeminism as a historical transformation in feminism

- a move into a new period “after” the second-wave feminism

- a period “after” (the height of) the second-wave feminism

➔
3. postfeminism as a backlash against feminism

- a political or normative position that is anti-feminist

- “post” →
- backlash discourses against feminist achievements or goals

- “In the Eighties, publications from the New York Times to Vanity Fair
to The Nation have issued a steady stream of indictments against
the women’s movement, with such headlines as
‘When Feminism Failed’ or ‘The Awful Truth About Women’s Liberation’.
They hold the campaign for women’s equality responsible for
nearly every woe besetting women” (Faludi, 1992)
4. postfeminism as “a process of undoing feminism”

- a process by which feminist gains of the 1970s and 1980s

→ come to be

- a subtle form of anti-feminism

→ a complexification of the backlash thesis

- associated with the ideas:

→ gender equality:
→ feminism:
⚫ popular feminism and postfeminism
as “a process of undoing feminism”

- feminism now:
→ part of the

- “popular feminism”:
“the entry of feminism into the popular culture texts and
the popularization of the images of ‘liberation,’ ‘freedom,’ and
‘independence’ for women in many media forms” (Kim, 2008)

- prevalence in the media of (young) women:

→
⚫ popular feminism and postfeminism

- dissemination of feminist issues and values in popular culture:

→ spread the idea of “feminist success”
→ feminism:

= a mark of a postfeminist identity:

- young women who refuse to condemn
→

- implication of being a postfeminist:

→ endorsing a new regime of sexual meanings
based on
⚫ Postfeminist moment

- “the incorporation of a series of typical elements of feminism

into popular culture, into media discourses and representations,
where they co-exist in a complex and contradictory relationship with
contrasting elements and tendencies to ‘re-traditionalize’ femininity”

= In postfeminist moment
- feminist ideas
→
(Gill, 2007)
➢ Recurring themes/constructions in postfeminist media culture

1) the notion that femininity is a bodily property

2) the shift from objectification to subjectification

3) a focus on individualism, choice and empowerment

4) the articulation of feminist and anti-feminist ideas

1) femininity as a bodily property

- postfeminist media culture:

→ obsessively preoccupied with
→ related to the

- possession of a sexy body:

→ a key source of

- women’s bodies:
→ evaluated, scrutinized across all media genres/forms
2) from sex object to desiring sexual subject

- a shift in sexualized representation of women in the media:

from passive, mute objects of male gaze
→ to

- women →

- active desiring sexual subjects:

→ “choose to present” themselves in
3) individualism, choice and empowerment

- enhancement of “choice”, “being oneself”, “pleasing oneself”

- emphasis on “women’s empowerment” & “taking control of their lives”
- sexualized images of women:
→ signify women’s

- women’s practices to meet the traditional beauty ideals:

→ depicted as
“Sexual display has developed more positive connotations in a culture
in which female celebrities routinely present their bodies
as objects of spectacle which indicate success, confidence,
assertive female sexuality and power.”
(Feona Attwood, 2004)
4) constructions of feminism

= postfeminist media culture:

- feminism:

- feminist and anti-feminist ideas:

→
→ “double entanglement” (McRobbie, 2004)

- “Feminism is taken into account,

but only to be shown to be no longer necessary” (McRobbie, 2009)
= postfeminist heroines and double entanglement:
- value autonomy, bodily integrity, freedom to make individual choices

- use their empowered positions in the ways

→

- co-option of the objectives and key words of feminism:

“agency, empowerment, choice”
→

➔ “This provides a focus for contemporary feminist critique”

(Budgeon, 2011)
➢ Other feature constituting postfeminist media culture

= celebrity and style feminism

- espousal of feminist values by celebrities →

= competing views regarding celebrity/style feminism

(1) celebrity statements about feminism or queer politics:
→ have a positive cultural impact

- feminism: shifted from being a derided and repudiated identity

→
(2) claiming a feminist identity without speaking
what that means in terms of politics ➔

= hot feminism:
“ … is prevailed with the relentless championing of heterosexuality,
fashion-love, and consumerism. It is contentless.
It is modern feminism with style, without judgement.” (Vernon, 2015)

= feminism:
- championed as a cheer word, a positive value in a way that
does not necessarily pose
→