Media and Gender:

Course Review
• Feminism:

1. sociopolitical movements: aimed at

→ establishing equal rights / legal protection for women

2. theories/philosophies: concerned with

→ issues of gender discrimination / women's oppression

• Feminist schools of thought:

- shared goal

→ the abolition of gender discrimination

- diverge in defining

→ the cause of and solution to gender discrimination

• Paradigm shift:

- from the modern to the postmodern

- linguistic turn:

→ from referential to constructivist view of language

Modernism Non/Post-modernism

reason and science: reason and science:

→ provide accurate, objective, →
reliable foundation of knowledge

language: language:
→ refers to or reflects objective reality →

the self/identity: the self/identity:

→ determined by authentic →
characteristics →
→ stable and coherent
Modernist Feminisms: Non/Post-modernist Feminisms:
liberal, radical, socialist post-structuralist/modern/colonial

= Cause of women’s oppression: = Cause of women’s oppression:

1. liberal - The three post-schools: problematize

→ →
→ prejudice against women

2. radical = the categories of masculinity/femininity,

→
→ men’s control over women’s heterosexual/homosexual:
reproductive processes → culturally constructed

3.socialist →
→ sexual division of labor and
patriarchy
→
Modernist Feminisms: Non/Post-modernist Feminisms:
liberal, radical, socialist Post-structuralist/modern/colonial

= Solution to women’s oppression: = Solution to women’s oppression:

→ disruption of essentialism & dualistic
1. liberal thinking
→ create/reform laws
→ = The three post-schools:
(1) how diverse social categories
or identities are produced
2. radical
→ abolition of patriarchy through (2) what meanings are given to them

(3) how power relations are embedded

3. socialist in the construction of identity
→ comprehensive changes in → within (post-modern)
capitalist material conditions
→ within (post-colonial)
Liberal, radical, socialist Post-structuralist/modern/colonial
feminist media studies feminist media studies:

1) gender: 1) gender:
- a dichotomous category with - a sociocultural construction
a stable and universal meaning - meaning →

2) transmission model 2) cultural model

- communication: - communication:
→ a process of delivering already → a process of sharing ideas and
fixed meanings among people creating common meanings/culture

- the media(representation):
- the media(representation):
→
→
- the audience:
- the audience:
Liberal, radical, socialist
feminist media studies
1. liberal feminists:
1) studies of sex-role stereotyping
2) effects studies of stereotyped
images of women
2. radical feminists:
1) pornography studies
2) psychoanalytic film studies
3. socialist feminists:
1) ideological analysis
2) materialist approach
→ media policy-oriented studies, etc.
Post-structuralist/modern/colonial
feminist media studies
= Cultural studies:
- encompasses socialist &
three post-schools of thought
- critical media studies through
redefinitions of concepts
→ identity, the media, representation,
culture, popular culture
1) textual analysis
2) audience studies