a2: feminist critical perspective

FEMINIST THEORY

Key Areas to Feminist Theory

•Laura Mulvey ‘The Male and Female Gaze’

•Naomi Wolf, ‘The Beauty Myth’

• Jackie McRobbie, ‘Jackie Girl’

The Female Gaze – Laura Mulvey• A patriarchal construction of female representations in the media – basically, men are the ones who decide how women should be portrayed in the media. Bear in mind that the origins for this theory were formed in 1975!

• Essentially Mulvey suggests that the way that women are represented in various media forms (though she was primarily concerned with moving image) is created as though they were being viewed by a male audience – regardless of what the actual audience is.

• She stated that media industries were highly male dominated and controlled, evidenced by an imbalance between how often ‘female’ and ‘male’ gaze techniques were used

DISCUSS: Is the ‘male gaze’ still relevant today in your opinion? Are we living in a patriarchal media society where all our texts are constructed by men for a male audience?

Naomi Wolf ‘The Beauty Myth’

• Suggests that ‘Beauty’ has two functions:

• A social function – the idea of being ‘beautiful’ acts to ‘discipline’ women into certain kinds of competitive conformity (wanting to look more attractive than that cow on Facebook…but by doing so conforming to social expectations…)

• An ‘economic’ function – Here ‘beauty’ is a commodity. It can be bought and sold (figuratively speaking) and by being closer to the accepted standards of beauty you are more ‘rich’ and appealing.

“Today, one of the most desirable demographics among news customers is affluent women, and stories that create anxiety over women and achievement sell well to that demographic.

The news media today sell anxiety to women the way that advertising sells insecurity about their faces, bodies, and sex appeal. Tell women that their children are going to be wrecks if they take their work seriously or that men will reject them if they get a good job and you’ll get their attention fast.”

Caryl Rivers

Selling Anxiety: How the News Media Scare Women

Jackie McRobbie ‘ Jackie Girl’

• Magazines aimed at women, specifically teenage girls, promote an isolating, individualistic approach. These magazines suggest that women and girls should strive to find themselves a boyfriend and prioritise this over female companionship.

• The readers of these magazines – the ‘Jackie girls’ – should also submit to an ideological system whereby they should focus on ‘beauty’ and acquiring it, along with being a strong, independent woman…

Are these ideas relevant today?