Third Wave Feminism?

I read the article "Mediating Third-Wave Feminism: Appropriation as Postmodern Media Practice," and there were some points that I agreed with and some I did not agree with.

For example, the authors mention how Alanis Morissette is very strong and vocal in her songs. They point out how her lyrics are feminist because the heroes of her songs, all females, are generally confronting a lover who exploited her and she is sick of it. I do not agree with the part about how the media is the one that is making Morissette's album Jagged Little Pill seem like a product of anger. With the information I was given from this article, I believe Morissette and her band are the ones that make the album look like a product of anger, since the band is the one that gets to write the music and the lyrics. If the media is involved with making Morissete's own music seem like that of an angry woman's, I would like to know how, because this point is not clarified in this writing.

I do agree with the writers on how Jagged Little Pill is a perfect example on how third wave feminists tend to contradict themselves. Some of the songs are about a woman who is confronting her antagonistic lover, suggesting that the woman is very strong and powerful. However, there is another song involving a situation with a woman who is worn down and feeling hopeless, indicating a weak side to a woman. And yet, there is another song where a woman expresses gratitude to her lover, the man is not even antagonistic. Even though these songs contradict each other, there can still be arguments to justify these contradictions. For example, the songs where she confronts the antagonistic lover could simply be about her ex-lover, while the song about devotion to her lover could be a current boyfriend who treats her a lot better than the last one did.

I noticed that these songs are in first-person, indicating that she could be talking about herself. The song about the beaten-down woman is titled a feminine name that is not Morissette's: "Mary Jane." This song is also in second-person, which could mean that she is talking to and, in the audience's case, about someone else who is in a situation very similar to her own but is handling it differently, in a not-so-feminist way.

This article had a few other examples of feminism, but I believe Morissette was the best example because she is such a strong character. She knows how to express her strentgh within her music and gives the message that she will not tolerate being put down by a man.

Shugart, Helene A., Catherine Egley Waggoner, and D. Lynn O'Brien Hallstein. "Mediating Third-Wave Feminism: Appropriation as Postmodern Media Practice." p.194-210.

Gender Roles in 90's Television

According to the works of Nancy Signorielli and Susan Kahlenberg, television seems to portray a never-ending dilemma for women. "Either have a respectable job or have a family, you can't have both" appears to be the theme for the women in many of the shows during the 1990s, as indicated by a "content analyses of programming in the 1970s and 1980s" (5). These studies showed that women who were married were less likely to work outside of the domestic realms and single, divorced, and widowed women were the ones more likely to be employed outside the home(5).
Sure, shows like Ally McBeal, Chicago Hope, and Veronica's Closet show successful and independent businesswomen that would suggest feminist ideals, but according to this article, these women also seem to struggle for fulfillment for their personal lives (5). By "personal lives", I do not know if the authors mean starting a family or if they mean personal goals such as going to Europe before they die or trying rock-climbing by the age of thirty. Whatever the authors were trying to suggest in this sentence, they emphasize the point that, on television, working women are less likely to have families. They also point out that men with families are the ones that are working while the single men made up a small percentage of the working men(5).
The television shows are more feminist in the sense that between the years of 1966 and 1990, more and more women in shows were beginning to occupy professional careers and managerial positions and less were taking on the traditional jobs of secretary, nurse, or teacher (6). However, the statistics are still there concerning the correlation between martial status and having a career. Just looking at the charts constructed from the studies done, many of the working women were single, divorced, or widowed. Many of the married women were not working. But the men who were married were working while not so many single men were working.
I believe these television shows go along with the traditional gender role ideal of women staying at home with the family while the father goes to work, even though the feminist ideals are starting to break through. It makes perfect sense that these shows would have the married men work, because they have to provide a financial base for their family. The married women fulfill the traditional housewife roles by staying home instead of working. The single women are breaking from the old norms of society and working instead of staying home. And the women who are divorced or widowed would be forced to work anyway in order to support themselves, especially if they have children to take care of, too. So, the two extremes in these television shows would be the tradional role women (the married ones) and the independent feminists (the working ones). The widows and the divorcees would be in the middle ground.

Signorielli, Nancy and Susan Kahlenberg. "Television's World of Work in the Nineties." p. 4-21.

How Feminism Is Portrayed in Law and Order

I just read this article on how feminism is portrayed in television and basically, the article just made two points and extended it over eighteen pages. The two points were that Law and Order SVU was feminist in that the female detective was an independent woman who did not have much of a domestic life and the television show was anti-feminist in that most of the rape and murder crimes were the woman's fault. Even if she was beaten and had an encounter with a sex offender, the evidence would point to the supposed victim setting up the perpetrator for personal gain, mostly for money from his wallet or a lawsuit.
Role reversal was discussed in this article. Detective Benson was first mentioned. She is an unmarried female (and the only on the team!), and hardly has a personal life outside her work life (305), so she does not fit into the stereotypical "family woman". However, it is mentioned that she dates a reporter, which means she is not too much of an uptight worker (309). Her partner, Detective Stabler, on the other hand, has a family of his own and that aspect brings out a somewhat more feminine side to him when he is at work. Whenever he is investigates a crime, such as one that involves a woman murdering a man when he was supposedly trying to rape her, he thinks of what would have happened if it was his own daughter in that situation. This trait sometimes gets in the way because there is usually a loophole in the crime, such as the perpetrator being set up. In those cases, Benson is the one that is right because she does not have a family that she could relate the crime to, so she is always trying to dig deeper in the other direction (312). Benson would be the more masculine of the two partners because she goes by facts and Stabler goes by emotions.
This article also discusses how when parents are blamed for the crimes of their children, most of the time, it is the mother who is framed. Mothers who do not adequately raise their children are more of a target then fathers who do not adequately raise their children, because it is the mother who is supposed to be the loving one and give up everything for her child (314).
Another aspect of the show is how many of the episodes blame the women. Like I mentioned in the first paragraph, most of the female victims actually come out to be the perpetrator due to setting the rapist up on purpose or taking a date rape drug.
Well, I somewhat accomplished the same thing this article has done except I stretched my point over four paragraphs instead of eighteen pages. Basically, the show would only be considered feminist because of Detective Benson being an independent woman. Otherwise, women in that show are usually played off as the "bad guys."

Cuklanz, Lisa M. and Moorti, Sujata (2006). 'Television's "New" Feminism: Prime-Time Representations of Women and Victimization', Critical Studies in Media Communication, 23:4, 302-321.

"Mediating Hillary Rodham Clinton"

I just finished reading "Mediating Hillary Rodham Clinton" by Shawn J. Parry-Giles, and I must say, it almost put me to sleep. I found it really hard to keep up with what his point was, expecially since he just jumps from Hillary being criticized for being a feminist to how camera people zoom in on her face to make the picture seem more "intimate." I also don't like how this writer uses pictures of her as examples, but never shows these pictures to us so that we can inerpret them for ourselves. Half the time, I did not even know what his opinions were because half of his paper was quotes from other sources expressing their opinion.
I don't completely agree with this guy about the how the zooming in of a picture of video clip makes that form of media seem more personal because the only thing that zooming in is doing is allowing viewers to see more details such as the speaker's facial expression or how she is balling up her fist. We can "become recipients of her anger" looking at her from one hundred feet away or two inches away(384). If I'm watching a video segment of somebody on television, I will feel their anger or pain whether or not I can see every little wrinkle on their face.
However, this article did give me some insight into how the media can manipulate pictures from one event to make them look like pictures about another event, such as the time NBC aired a picture of Hillary crying and made it seem like it was her reaction after her husband confessed about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Then we find out that the picture was actually taken at a memorial service for those "killed in the Tanzania and Kenya Embassy bombings," where many people there, including President Clinton and Hillary, wept. This ceremony took place four days before President Clinton's confession (382).

Parry-Giles, Shawn J. "Mediating Hillary Rodham Clinton." p.375-89

Gender Dominance in Advertising

Kilbourne: "The poses and postures of advertising are often borrowed from pornography... such as bondage... (456)"

Me: "Looking at this advertisement, this point makes a lot of sense. Not only is this woman on top of the man in an explicit pose, but she also has him bound by the neck with a belt as if she is trying to choke him. The shape of her eyebrows, the way she looks up, and how she sets her mouth give the impression that she is dangerous and is probably about to do something violent with him. The man is grasping on to her legs, almost in a clawing manner, and looking at her face, as if pleading with her for more action. This advertisement is also set in a desert, which gives off the element of isolation. They probably want to be isolated so they can do whatever they want or there just might be something really kinky about doing the act in a desert."

Kilbourne: "...there is a world of difference between the objectification of men and that of women. The most important difference is that there is no danger for most men, whereas objectified women are always at risk (464)."

Me: "I agree with what you are saying. This Gucci advertisement is considered acceptable because it is the woman who is the 'violently dominant' one. We know everything is okay and if the woman really was a danger to him, he could defend himself. If the roles were reversed, and it was the woman who was being bound on the neck by the man on top, then the advertisement would look like a rape scene. The element of isolation in the desert would add to the discomfort of the viewer because nobody is around to help the woman as she is probably being choked to death. Men are physically stronger than women, so they should be able to avoid physical abuse and rape, but that also gives a male predator advantage when he attacks a woman. Women like me are constantly worried about predators watching us and attacking us, so we go around carrying knives and other forms of defense and avoid going anywhere alone after dark. If the advertisement had a role reversal, it would just be another reminder of why we are always wary."

Kilbourne, Jean. "Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt: Advertising and Violence." p.455-475.

Gender Depictions in Media

Bordo: "Women, for their part, were expected not only to provide a comfortable, well-ordered home for men to return to but to offer beauty, fantasy, and charm for a man to 'escape' to and restore himself with after the grim grind of the working day" (195).

Me: "This element of looking beautiful for the men is evident in many advertisements. The women I've looked at in advertisements are always attractive, young-looking, and dressed up for sexual appeal. Especially when I look at the advertisements from the 1950s that portray housewives not only doing work around the house, but they are always wearing a dress, their hair is styled, and they are wearing jewelry, most of the time a necklace and a ring. However, that housewife aspect is long gone. None of the advertisements I see these days are about keeping a nice, orderly home. Instead, I just see advertisements about how the latest product will make a woman look more attractive and desirable for her boyfriend, lover, or husband. In many of the advertisements where there is both a man and a woman, the woman is often pleased because the man is giving her attention and letting her know that she accomplished something with her looks."

Messner: "Women are sexy props or prizes for men's successful sports performances or consumption choices" (479).

Me: "I do agree that this seems to be what sports advertisements want us to think. While men in advertisements are seen as trying to be the best player in their sport or picking the best brand of beer, the women are always in the background, thin and scantily clad in bikinis, shorts, and halter tops. These women only go to the men who make the highest score or buy the best brand of clothing or alcoholic drinks. They are also the ones who are cheering from the sidelines as the strong, manly players are making a score. Some sports broadcasters use young and attractive women to promote prestigious product brands and to welcome viewers back to the show after commercial breaks."

Bordo, Susan. “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body.” Ways of Reading. 8th ed. Eds. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky,Boston: Bedford/St. 168-Martin’s, 2008. 188-205.

Messner, Michael. “Center of Attention: The Gender of Sorts Media.” Introduction. Rereading America. 6th edition. Eds. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004. 1-15.

Gender, culture, and media

Devor: "Five-year-olds, for example, may be able to accurately recognize their own gender and the genders of the people around them, but they will often make such ascriptions on the basis of role information, such as hair style, rather than physical attributes, such as genitals, even when physical cues are clearly known to them."

Me: "I completely agree with this statement. I remember when I was that age, I never understood gender being identified by their genitals and I believed that all long-haired people were females, even though my dad had long hair."

Devor: "Those who tend to speak more loudly, use less polite and more assertive forms, and tend to interrupt the conversations of others more often also communicate masculinity to others."

Me: "I disagree with you on that one. Many of the loud-talking people I know are female and they are usually the ones that do the interrupting. If a guy interrupts, he is considered rude. What age are you from, dude? Although I do agree that males are usually the less polite ones."

Devor: "Fortunately, our training to gender roles is neither complete nor uniform. As a result, it is possible to point to multitudinous exceptions to, and variations on, these themes."

Me: "That, I agree with you on. When I watch couples in a relationship, the characteristics between the male and the female vary. In somerelationships, the female is the quiet one while her guy does all the talking and vice versa for other relationships. The breadwinner in the relationship varies, too. Sometimes the husband is a 'sugardaddy' and other times the wife is the one bringing in all the money."

Devor, Aaron H. "Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender." Rereading America. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2004. pp. 424-431.