Critical readings: The Media and Gender Reader

in C U L T U R A L

and

MEDIA

STUDIES

Series editor: Stuart Allan

Published titles Moral Panics and the Media Chas Critcher

News Culture Stuart Allan Modernity and Postmodern Jim McGuigan

Culture

Sport, Culture and the Media, 2nd edition David Rowe Television, Globalization and Cultural Identities Chris Barker Ethnic Minorities and the Media Edited by Simon Cottle Cinema and Cultural Gill Branston

Modernity

Cities and Urban Cultures Deborah Stevenson Cultural Citizenship Nick Stevenson Culture on Display Bella Dicks Critical Readings: Media and Gender Edited by Cynthia Carter and Linda Steiner Critical Readings: Media and Audiences Edited by Virginia Nightingale and Karen Ross

Compassion, Morality and the Media Keith Tester

Media and Audiences Karen Ross and Virginia Nightingale

Masculinities and Culture John Beynon

Critical Readings: Sport, Culture and the Media Edited by David Rowe

Cultures of Popular Music Andy Bennett Media, Risk and Science Stuart Allan Violence and the Media Cynthia Carter and C . Kay Weaver

Rethinking Cultural Policy Jim McGuigan Media, Politics and the Network Society Robert Hassan

CRITICAL READINGS: MEDIA AND GENDER Edited by

C y n t h i a C a r t e r and Linda Steiner

OPEN UNIVERSITY Maidenhead

PRESS

Open University Press McGraw-Hill Education McGraw-Hill House Shoppenhangers Road Maidenhead, Berkshire England SL6 2 Q L email: [email protected] world wide web: www.openup.co.uk First published 2004 Copyright © Cynthia Carter and Linda Steiner 2004 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, W I T 4LP. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0 335 21097 X (pb)

0 335 21098 8 (hb)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for

Typeset by Y H T Ltd, London Printed in Great Britain by Bell 5c Bain Ltd., Glasgow

CONTENTS

O

I

SERIES EDITOR'S EOREWORD

i x

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

x i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FOR READINGS

xiii

I N T R O D U C T I O N TO (IIIJKAL MDMA. Him AND mil Cynthia

O

I

o

l

Steiner

M A P P I N G T H E C O N T E S T E D T E R R A I N O F MEDIA AND G E N D E R R E S E A R C H Cynthia

Carter and Linda

PART I

TEXTS IN CONTEXT

11

Steiner

37

F R O M MRS H A P P Y M A N TO K I S S I N G C H A P S G O O D B Y E : A D V E R T I S I N G R E C O N S T R U C T S FEMININITY Myra

© O

Carter and Linda

I

41 Macdonald

T H E P O L I T I C S O F T H E S M I L E : ' S O F T N E W S ' AND T H E S E X U A L I / A T I O N O F T H E P O P U L A R PRESS Patricia Holland

68

M U R D E R , G E N D E R AND T H E M E D I A : S E X U A L I Z I N G P O L I T I C S AND V I O L E N C E

87

Saraswati

Sunindyo

O

I CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

O

O L D S T R A T E G I E S F O R N E W T E X T S : H O W A M E R I C A N T E L E V I S I O N IS C R E A T I N G AND TREATING LESBIAN CHARACTERS Marguerite

O

I

104

Moritz

P R E T T Y T O U G H : T H E C U L T O F F E M I N I N I T Y IN W O M E N ' S M A G A Z I N E S

123

Sberrie A. Inness

I O

I

PART II (REPRODUCING GENDER T N F IMPACT O F M O N I T O R I N G MEDIA I M A G E S O F W O M E N Margaret

O

143 148

Gallagher

T H E G R E A T ROCK AND R O L L S W I N D L E : T H E R E P R E S E N T A T I O N O F W O M E N IN T H E B R I T I S H ROCK M U S I C P R E S S Helen D

I

L O S I N G F E A R : V I D E O AND RADIO P R O D U C T I O N S O F NATIVE AYMARA W O M E N Carmen

o I

O

I

W O M E N AND T H E I N T E R N E T : T H E NATURAL H I S T O R Y O F A R E S E A R C H P R O J E C T

O

I

218

Willoughby

PART III AUDIENCES AND IDENTITIES KNOWING PORNOGRAPHY Robert

o

198

Beynon

Anne Scott, Lesley Semmens and Lynette

I

179

Ruiz

T H E C O M M E R C I A L I Z A T I O N O F M A S C U L I N I T I E S : F R O M T H E ' N E W MAN' TO T H E 'NEW LAD' John

O

162

Davies

241 246

Jensen

S A P P H I R E S , S P I T F I R E S , S L U T S AND S U P E R B I T C H E S : A F R A M F R I C A N S AND L A T I N A S I N CONTEMPORARY HOLLYWOOD FILM Elizabeth Hadley Freydberg

265

W O M E N AND S O A P O P E R A : R E S I S T I V E R E A D I N G S

287

Mary Ellen

Brown

F R E U D VS. W O M E N : T H E P O P U L A R I Z A T I O N O F T H E R A P Y ON D A Y T I M E T A L K S H O W S Jane

Shattuc

307

CONTENTS WHAT G I R L S WANT: T H E I N T E R S E C T I O N S O f L E I S U R E AND P O W E R IN F E M A L E C O M P U T E R G A M E PLAY Heather Gilmour

|

328

GLOSSARY

345

MEDIA AND G E N D E R V I D E O R E S O U R C E S

353 355

SCRIES EDITOR'S

Critical

Readings:

Media

and Gender

FOREWORD

offers a n exciting introduction to a

wide range of research approaches, each of w h i c h continues to shape the ongoing development of feminist and gender-sensitive scholarship. C a r e has been taken by C y n t h i a C a r t e r and L i n d a Steiner, the editors, to select contributions w h i c h demonstrate the conceptual and methodological richness of these diverse approaches. W h i l e no one volume c a n c l a i m to be comprehensive in its scope, this one succeeds in highlighting important interventions while, at the same time, providing a sound basis for future enquiries. T h i s Reader begins w i t h a n introductory essay by the two editors, both of w h o m are leading figures i n the field. T h i s essay maps the contours of feminist media theory f r o m the 'images of w o m e n in the m e d i a ' approaches prevalent in the 1970s through to contemporary discussions of masculinity, globalization and cyberculture. N e x t , the R e a d e r divides into three sections, each engaging w i t h issues central to critical investigations into gender and media forms, practices, institutions a n d audiences. T h e contributions to Part I , Texts

in Context,

provide a historical analysis of configurations of

femininity i n advertising, a n examination of the feminization a n d sexualization

of

the

popular

press,

news reporting

of

sexual

violence,

portrayals of lesbian characters o n television, a n d 'tough' images of femininity i n w o m e n ' s magazines. Part II, (Reproducing

Gender,

focuses o n the

various w a y s in w h i c h gender is continuously reconstructed across different media sites. Chapters address the impact of media monitoring o n media imagery of w o m e n , the representation of w o m e n in the rock music press, how

w o m e n reflect o n their o w n media practice, the commercialization of

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

contemporary masculinities, and w o m e n ' s involvement in the development of the Internet. Part I I I , Audiences

and Identities,

explores men's use of

pornography, A f r a m e r i c a n and L a t i n a w o m e n ' s depiction in H o l l y w o o d cinema, w o m e n ' s negotiation of soap opera narratives in everyday life, daytime talk s h o w s , a n d girl gamers in the brave n e w w o r l d of cyberspace. L o o k i n g across the range of the Reader's chapters, spanning as they do some thirty years, it is readily apparent h o w strategically significant this kind of w o r k is for ongoing efforts to improve the quality of w o m e n ' s a n d men's lives today. The

Issues in Cultural and Media Studies series aims to facilitate a diverse

range of critical investigations into pressing questions considered to be central to current thinking and research. I n light of the remarkable speed at w h i c h the conceptual agendas of cultural a n d media studies are changing, the series is committed to contributing to w h a t is a n ongoing process of reevaluation and critique. E a c h of the books is intended to provide a lively, innovative a n d comprehensive introduction to a specific topical issue from a fresh perspective. T h e reader is offered a thorough grounding i n the most salient debates indicative of the book's subject, as w e l l as important insights into h o w n e w modes of enquiry m a y be established for future explorations. T a k e n as a w h o l e , then, the series is designed to cover the core components of cultural a n d media studies courses in a n imaginatively distinctive a n d engaging manner. Stuart A l l a n

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

C y n t h i a Carter w o u l d like to thank L i n d a Steiner for agreeing to co-edit this Reader without hesitation and w i t h great excitement. H e r passionate commitment to feminist politics and the importance of her scholarship has been central in the development of feminist media research. I especially appreciate her friendship, her tireless efforts to see this Reader through a n d her unquestionable expertise i n juggling! I a m extremely grateful, as a l w a y s , to Stuart and Geoffrey for their love and support throughout. I w o u l d like to dedicate this Reader to m y grandmother, M e t a Stairs, w h o is one of the strongest w o m e n I k n o w . L i n d a Steiner wishes to thank C y n t h i a C a r t e r for her patient good humour in explaining U K vernacular and popular culture references, and especially for her intellectual seriousness; collaborating w i t h her o n this project has been challenging in the very best sense of the w o r d . I w i s h to express appreciation to E d w a r d Salomon, S a r a h Salomon a n d P a u l Salomon,

for, among many other things, their c o m b i n e d and individual success

in subverting a range of role expectations. I dedicate this to the m e m o r y of Frank Steiner and to H e l e n Steiner. W e w o u l d both like to express our sincere thanks to L i s a M c L a u g h l i n for her significant contribution to the development of the Reader in its early stages. H e r political commitment to feminist media studies and her intellectual integrity is unquestionably evident here. W e are also grateful to Justin V a u g h a n , w h o w a s w i t h O p e n University Press w h e n the R e a d e r w a s contracted, for

his early commitment

to

this project,

and to

Cathy

T h o m p s o n , Shona M u l l e n a n d finally to Christopher C u d m o r e for his help in seeing it through to completion. T h a n k s also go to M i r i a m S e l w y n w h o

I was

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER editorial assistant at O p e n University Press when we started this book.

M i r i a m w a s of invaluable help, particularly in the early stages, answering the sometimes staggering number of questions we had about the process of putting together a Reader. T h a n k s also go to Eleanor H a y e s w h o guided us through the treacherous waters of editing, proofreading and indexing. L a s t , but certainly not least, our warmest thanks go to our series editor Stuart A l l a n , for his intellectual guidance, encouragement and unfailing enthusiasm for the project.

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S FOR R E A D I N G S

The

authors a n d publishers w i s h to thank the following for permission to

use copyright material: M y r a M a c d o n a l d for ' F r o m M r s H a p p y m a n to Kissing C h a p s G o o d b y e : Advertising Reconstructs Femininity', i n Representing femininity

in the Popular

Media,

Women:

Myths

of

A r n o l d ( 1 9 9 5 ) . Reproduced by permis-

sion of H o d d e r A r n o l d a n d the author. Patricia H o l l a n d for ' T h e Politics of the Smile: " S o f t N e w s " a n d the Sexulization of the Popular Press', i n News,

Gender

Carter, C ,

and Power,

Branston, G . a n d A l l a n , S. (eds), Routledge ( 1 9 9 8 ) . Reproduced by permission of Routledge a n d the author. Saraswati Sunindyo for 'Murder, Gender and the M e d i a : Sexualizing Politics and Violence', in Fantasizing

the Feminine in Indonesia,

Sears, L . J . (ed.),

©

1996, D u k e University Press. A l l rights reserved. Reproduced with permission. Marguerite J . M o r i t z for ' O l d Strategies for N e w T e x t s : H o w A m e r i c a n Television is Creating a n d Treating L e s b i a n C h a r a c t e r s ' , in The Reader on Lesbians

and Gay Men in Media,

Society

and Politics,

and W o o d s , J . D . (eds), © 1 9 9 9 , C o l u m b i a University Press.

Columbia Gross, L .

Reproduced

with the permission of the publisher. Sherrie A . Inness for 'Pretty T o u g h : T h e C u l t of Femininity i n W o m e n ' s Magazines', i n Tough Popular

Culture,

Girls,

Women

Warriors

and

Wonder

© 1999 University of Pennsylvania Press.

permission of the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Women

in

Reprinted by

d>

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

Margaret Agendas

Gallagher for ' T h e Final Analysis', for Media

Monitoring

and Advocacy,

in Gender

Setting:

New

Z e d Books in Association

w i t h W A C C (2001), reproduced by permission of Z e d Books and the author. H e l e n Davies for ' A H R o c k and R o l l is H o m o s o c i a l : T h e Representation of W o m e n in the British R o c k M u s i c Press', in Popular pp.

301-19, ©

2001,

V o l . 20, N o . 3,

Music,

Cambridge University Press. Reproduced by per-

mission of the author. C a r m e n R u i z for ' L o s i n g Fear: V i d e o and R a d i o Productions of Native A y m a r a W o m e n i n B o l i v i a ' , in Women Furthering

Social

Change,

in Grassroots

R i a n o , P. (ed) ©

1994,

Communication:

Sage Publications, I n c .

Reproduced by permission of Sage Publications, I n c . John Beynon for ' T h e Commercialization of Masculinities: From the " N e w Man"

to the " N e w L a d " ' , in Masculinities

and Culture,

O p e n University Press

(2002). Reprinted by permission of O p e n University Press and the author. Anne Scott, Lesley Semmons and Lynette Willoughby for ' W o m e n and the Internet: the N a t u r a l History of a Research Project', in Information, mutation

and Society,

Com-

V o l . 2, N o . 4 (1999), pp. 5 4 1 - 6 5 . Reprinted w i t h

permission of T a y l o r & Francis, L t d . and the authors. Robert Jensen for ' K n o w i n g Pornography', in Violence Vol.

Against

Women,

2, N o . 1 ( 1 9 9 6 ) , pp. 8 2 - 1 0 2 , 1996, Sage Publications, I n c . Reprinted

by permission of Sage Publications, Inc and the authors. Elizabeth H a d l e y Freydberg

for 'Sapphires, Spitfires, Sluts and Super-

bitches: Aframericans and L a t i n a s in Contemporary H o l l y w o o d F i l m ' , i n Black

Women

in America,

K i m M a r i e V a z (ed.), ©

1995,

Sage Publica-

tions, I n c . Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications, I n c . M a r y E l l e n B r o w n for 'Resistive Readings', in Soap Talk,

1994,

Opera

and

Women's

Sage Publications I n c . Reprinted by permission of Sage Pub-

lications I n c . a n d the authors. Jane Shattuc for 'Freud vs. W o m e n : T h e Popularization of T h e r a p y o n D a y time T a l k S h o w s ' , in The Talking

Cure:

TV Talk Shows and Women,

1997,

Routledge, I n c . Reproduced by permission of Routledge, I n c . , part of the T a y l o r & Francis G r o u p . Heather G i l m o u r for ' W h a t G i r l s W a n t : T h e Intersections of Leisure a n d Power in Female Co mp u t er G a m e Play', in Kid's M.

(ed) 1999,

Media

Culture,

Kinder,

D u k e University Press, reproduced by permission of D u k e

University Press. E v e r y effort has been made to trace the copyright holders but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers w i l l be pleased to m a k e the necessary arrangement at the first opportunity.

o

I N T R O D U C T I O N T O (MIKAL HAVinS: HEDIA AND CiNDiS Cynthia Carter and Linda Steiner

Why Study Media and Gender? The media are important for many reasons, including their long a c k n o w l edged power to represent 'socially acceptable' w a y s of being or relating to others, as well as to allocate, or more usually w i t h h o l d , public recognition, honour and status to groups of people. A l r e a d y in the 1860s, for example, feminists in the U K and U S A w h o were arguing for more progressive and egalitarian definitions of w o m a n h o o d complained bitterly that the newspapers a n d magazines of the day either ridiculed or ignored the so-called 'New W o m a n ' - w o m e n w h o sought greater social, educational, political and economic rights. T h e suffragists (or 'first w a v e ' feminists) of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were nearly unanimous in calling for the establishment of their o w n periodicals - w h i c h many regarded as being crucial to the political campaigns around increased rights for w o m e n , one of the most important being the vote (see H o l l a n d , Chapter 4 in this volume, for a discussion of w o m e n ' s historical relationship to the news). A century later, U S feminist Betty Friedan's The Feminine

Mystique

(1963)

emphasized the impact of popular w o m e n ' s magazines, whose articles, fiction and advertising celebrated a very particular form of domestic, suburban femininity, one that operated in a sphere almost completely separate from that of men. I n so doing, magazine content naturalized the idea that women's ' n o r m a l ' sphere of operation and influence is not only completely separate from that of m e n , but also less socially valued (see M a c d o n a l d , Chapter 3 in this volume). It w a s not until the 'second w a v e ' of the w o m e n ' s movement in the 1960s

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

that systematic research into media images of w o m e n flourished. A l m o s t immediately, feminist scholars a n d activists began to examine h o w w o m e n were being portrayed in a wide array of media forms - including films, prime-time television dramas, newspapers, pornography, news magazines, Saturday morning cartoons, w o m e n ' s and girl's magazines, popular music, comic books, advertising and soap operas. T h e concern w a s that the sexist messages of these media forms socialized people, especially children, into thinking that dichotomized a n d hierarchical sex-role

stereotypes

were

'natural' a n d ' n o r m a l ' . Feminists q u i c k l y realized that effective challenges to certain standard w a y s of representing w o m e n i n the media and popular culture depended on being able to provide empirical evidence of sexism. Scholars following this line of inquiry intended to use their research to help explain w h y more w o m e n were not successful in the public w o r k w o r l d , especially in professions that were dominated by men. T h e y also hoped that their studies might elucidate w h y so m a n y w o m e n apparently felt unable to transcend their second-class citizenship i n society, a status based o n a prevailing assumption that unpaid domestic labour w a s less socially and economically valuable than paid labour in the public sphere. C r i t i c a l forms of feminist inquiry emerging in the 1970s went even further by examining the w a y s in w h i c h media representations supported the interests of t w o interlocking systems: patriarchy a n d capitalism. A highly productive concept informing some of this research w a s that of hegemony. F o r Italian political theorist A n t o n i o G r a m s c i (1971), the notion of hegemony provides a n explanation of h o w and w h y 'dominant' classes i n society have to constantly renegotiate their powerful positions in relations to the 'subjugated' classes. T o m a i n t a i n power, these élites must rule by winning public consent for a n economic system that privileges those already in

dominant positions, rather

than maintaining their control

through

coercion or repression. W h e n the hegemonic definitions a n d w a y s of being of the powerful are naturalized a n d made to seem ' n o r m a l ' , they are presented to everyone as if no other definitions are possible - i n other w o r d s , as ' c o m m o n sense'. The

media are instrumental in the processes of gaining public consent.

M e d i a texts never simply mirror or reflect 'reality', but instead construct hegemonic definitions of w h a t should be accepted as 'reality'. These definitions appear to be inevitable, ' r e a l ' and commonsensical. T h u s , media images dissemble the extent to w h i c h they are aligned w i t h the interests of powerful groups in society. Feminists have redeployed the notion of hegemony in order to argue that most of us cannot see h o w patriarchal ideology is being actively made to appear as 'non-ideological', 'objective', 'neutral' and

'non-gendered'.

I N T R O D U C T I O N TO CtlJIUL IUHH6S: MM AND 6 f W f i

|

That said, hegemonic realities must be continuously renegotiated, conlested, reconstructed and renaturalized. A l o n g w i t h the media, other social institutions are central to these processes, including the education system, religion, and the family. E v e n w i t h considerable propping up, however, (here are ideological seams through w h i c h leak out evidence of flaws in the system and of the politically constructed nature of hegemonic ideology. (iounter-hegemonic impulses of resistance a n d struggle are a l w a y s possible. I or instance, oppositional forces such as the w o m e n ' s movement

may

attempt to recast media definitions of femininity in order to advance the political objective of gender equality. O n e w a y that they have achieved this is through the establishment of alternative media forms where the a i m is to offer more progressive and positive representations of w o m e n a n d girls. Nevertheless, as critical feminist media research has s h o w n , the mainstream media have increasingly incorporated or co-opted this counter-hegemonic view, particularly w h e n it has proven to be i n their economic interest. I n so doing, the media have at times unwittingly contributed to the support and advancement of oppositional gender realities (see G i l m o u r , C h a p t e r 17 in this volume, for a consideration of girls' use of computer games i n the formation of non-traditional feminine identities). In any case, media texts, institutions and audiences have changed, i n part, because of feminists' persistent advocacy over m a n y years. Feminists have deployed their research o n behalf of an enormous range of interventions, from boycotts and letter-writing campaigns, to lobbying for legal and regulatory changes. Some campaigns have been dramatic but episodic, such as the feminist take-over of the male publisher's office at the Ladies journal

Home

in 1970 (most of the other major U S w o m e n ' s magazines also h a d

male publishers at the time). Longer-term a n d more consistent changes have resulted from w o m e n ' s vehement insistence that media organizations hire and

promote on the basis of gender-fair procedures (often backed up by

formal 'affirmative action' or 'equal opportunities' policies). Another important

development

that shaped feminist activism a n d

scholarship in the 1970s w a s that a distinction w a s made between (based o n biological differences - male/female) a n d gender

sex

(masculinity/

femininity). Gender, it w a s argued, is a social construction rather than a 'natural' fact. T h u s , gender cannot be reductively 'read o f f from sexual difference (male/female), nor c a n it be assumed that there are universal and homogenous definitions of gender that apply to all cultures across time. T h i s insight led to a n explosion of feminist research across academic disciplines a n d has been a central feature of media studies research for over thirty years n o w . F o r a long time, however, investigations into the media construction of masculinity did not undergo the same k i n d of scholarly

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

scrutiny in media and cultural studies that had been given to femininity. Research w a s rarely undertaken, in part, because one principle of the w o m e n ' s liberation movement of the 1970s w a s to take w o m e n ' s issues seriously and to redress a historical lack of interest a n d research into them. H o w e v e r , the situation is changing. T h e r e is n o w a fast-growing scholarly interest in understanding h o w masculine identities are produced, represented and made sense of by audiences (see Beynon, Chapter 11 in this volume; C r a i g 1992; Jackson et a l . 2 0 0 1 ;

K a m a 2 0 0 2 ; T i n c k n e l l et a l .

2 0 0 3 ) . W h a t is particularly interesting (and heartening) is that a n increasing number of male media scholars appear to be taking gender m u c h more seriously n o w , rather than simply continuing to leave critiques of masculinity to their female colleagues. In

part, the growth of research o n gender issues has been linked to the

entry of substantial numbers of w o m e n into media a n d communication departments in the U S A and U K over the course of the past 30 years. U p o n entering the academy, many w o m e n from this post-war 'baby

boomer'

generation insisted upon the importance of research that w o u l d explore all aspects of w o m e n ' s relationships to the media - a n area that had largely been ignored by their male colleagues up to that time. N o t surprisingly, there is also a n economic dimension to the proliferation of this scholarship. The

gender/media nexus is one of those important issues that c a n be studied

without huge, expensive research laboratories, a consideration that has been crucial for many w o m e n scholars, since most have h a d limited or no access to such research facilities or financial support (van Z o o n e n 1 9 9 4 ) . What

we

understand as the

'media' has also undergone

dramatic

rethinking over the past 30 years. I n that time, major n e w technologies have emerged, including desktop computers, the Internet, satellite television, video recorders and games, cable television and mobile phones, to name only a few. M o r e o v e r , the academic study of the media has become a n extremely popular field of study i n schools and universities, and the growth of scholarly research over this period has been enormous. T h e r e has also been an increasing convergence of various media technologies. F o r e x a m ple,

television services n o w often include Internet a n d e-mail access; mobile

telephones are n o w able to transmit images across satellite links around the w o r l d . O f course, w i t h the development and circulation of each of these new

technologies, issues around gender access and participation have been

at the forefront. Let

us be clear about one thing - sexism is not merely a n issue of media

representations. It cannot be remedied simply by the inclusion of more 'realistic' a n d 'positive' images of w o m e n and girls in the media. Official statistics gathered by governments, unions, non-governmental organiza-

I N T R O D U C T I O N TO (HIJKÁL IUHH6S: HÍÚIÁ ANÚ C f l W f l P \ lions, businesses and pressure groups document the continuing material rllectivity of sexism in employment. I n both the U K and the U S A , for example, w o m e n continue to earn less, per capita, than men. I n 2 0 0 2 , the New

Earnings

Survey

published by the British N a t i o n a l Statistics Office

( N S O ) reported that the gap in pay between m e n a n d w o m e n h a d widened I m m the previous year. Specifically, w o m e n w h o are w o r k i n g full time earn H 1.2 per cent of the average full-time male wage (compared to 81.5 per cent in 2 0 0 1 ) . Moreover, 1 8 0 , 0 0 0 of the part-time jobs done by w o m e n pay less i han the m i n i m u m wage, compared to 5 0 , 0 0 0 of those by m e n . I n the U S A , we

find a similar story. A c c o r d i n g to U S C e n s u s Bureau (2000) data, in

1999 w o m e n were paid 7 2 . 2 per cent of men's annual wages ( $ 2 6 , 3 2 4 for women, $ 3 6 , 4 7 6 for men). T h e U S Department of L a b o r ' s (2002) statistics lor 2001

are only slightly better, w i t h w o m e n w o r k i n g full-time earning

$511 a week or 76 per cent of a male full-time w o r k e r ' s weekly salary of $672. W i t h respect to U S media, the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the I Iniversity of Pennsylvania reported in 2 0 0 2 that men continue to dominate key

decision-making positions. F o r example, in the top

entertainment

conglomerates, w o m e n make up only 13 per cent of executives a n d 14 per cent of the directors, while they are 14 per cent of U S newspaper publishers and

32 per cent of the news executives in the seven national commercial

television broadcasting corporations. Such inequalities are even more severely m a r k e d in some 'developing' countries, where w o m e n often lack certain basic h u m a n rights - rights to an

education, economic security, political enfranchisement, freedom from

domestic violence, access reproductive

control.

to high quality, affordable healthcare,

F e m i n i s t scholars i n these countries have

and long

argued for the need to engage w i t h the w a y s i n w h i c h the m e d i a help to shape the n o r m s , values a n d beliefs that u n d e r p i n these gender inequalities. O v e r the past decade or so, critiques of the media are becoming increasingly globalized i n their orientation (see S u n i n d y o , G a l l a g h e r and R u i z , C h a p t e r s 5, 8 a n d 10 respectively i n this v o l u m e ) . F o r example, when the h a r s h and extreme sexism of the former T a l i b a n government recently w a s brought to p u b l i c attention in the Western m e d i a , m a n y people a r o u n d the w o r l d became involved i n campaigns to raise public awareness further. Some lobbied through l o c a l , national a n d international governmental bodies to put pressure o n the T a l i b a n government;

others

created global support n e t w o r k s w i t h A f g h a n i w o m e n ' s groups, sometimes

using

the

Internet

to

organize

quickly and

create

effective

opposition. So, while the media have unquestionably contributed to the (re)production of sexist n o r m s , values a n d beliefs, they are also capable of playing a significant role i n bringing to w o r l d - w i d e attention the material

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

h a r m s that w o m e n m a y suffer as a result (see Scott, Semmens a n d W i l loughby, C h a p t e r 12 in this v o l u m e , for a discussion of w o m e n ' s historical relationship to the Internet).

This Reader's Structure and Organization Instead of trying to define the media/gender c a n o n of the last thirty years, this Reader reflects a particular political agenda. T h a t is, our allegiances are closely linked w i t h research that attends to the w a y s i n w h i c h

gender

inequalities are both structurally (re)produced as w e l l as negotiated, contested and challenged by audiences. F o r us, to engage w i t h

questions

around gender, power and social inequality necessarily means that one must attend to societal structures, social divisions a n d inequitable distributions of social and economic power. W h a t we are trying to do w i t h this Reader is to construct a different k i n d of narrative - one that is openly critical in its orientation. T h a t said, w e are not in any w a y attempting to offer an alternative canon. Aside from the fact that a book of this length could not hope to achieve this goal, our a i m is a very different one - to offer our readers a critical resource that is broadly indicative of the current state of critical, gender-sensitive research and that directly addresses our o w n concerns around the role that the media play in (re)producing structural inequalities. T h i s book provides a sense of h o w rich and exciting this area of research is, given that its readings engage w i t h diverse theories as w e l l as a variety of media audiences and genres. W e have also taken care to present a fairly wide array of research methods, from large-scale surveys to textual analysis and

ethnography a n d studies of media forms that have long interested

feminist researchers, as w e l l as more recent media texts and sites. C u r r e n t attention goes, o n the one h a n d , to the institutional, financial a n d organizational structures a n d procedures affecting h o w a n d w h y specific texts are produced, a n d , on the other, to the specific technological, interpersonal a n d even physical contexts in w h i c h audiences are situated. N o single Reader c a n encompass the entire trajectory of research o n gender a n d media. Research findings from the 1970s and 1980s m a y no longer be relevant to w h a t is happening today,

including those

from

important studies w h i c h have been enormously influential in shaping the research agenda of media a n d cultural studies research. M a n y early studies that provided essential quantitative evidence about gender differences i n media employment are n o w largely outdated too. A rapidly changing media environment (technological developments, media convergence, media glo-

I N T R O D U C T I O N TO (IIJIUl IUDIH6S: HiDIA AND f f W f f

|

luli/.ation, changing media employment a n d ownership patterns, media education and so on) m a y also undermine the relevance of m u c h more leeent

research

from

the

1990s.

Even

the

methodological

tools

of

iesearchers have changed since the 1970s a n d 1980s, w h e n m a n y studies involved fairly simplistic a n d literal 'counting' of individual w o m e n and men appearing in a body of media text. I n such studies, scholars tended to assume that these texts were 'transmitted' to 'receivers' essentially intact, and that researchers' understandings of texts corresponded, more or less exactly, w i t h h o w receivers understood them. N o r c a n one simply assume ihat the 'meaning' of a media text is embedded w i t h i n it and merely needs lo he uncovered by a n astute semiologist. Such analyses have been largely supplanted by a range of more nuanced methods, often used in conjunction with each other, including ethnography, historical/archival research, participant observation, focus group interviews a n d discourse analysis, to name only a few. Kven w i t h respect to the current generation of scholarship, no single book can tackle all of the theories or methods that are being used i n gendersensitive research, across all media forms a n d genres. Regrettably, w e could not include all of the essays that we had envisaged w h e n w e first proposed t his Reader and have h a d to redact some of the readings republished here so that w e w o u l d not go over our ' w o r d limit'. I n part, it is the economic logics of academic publishing i n the W e s t that have been central in constraining what w e have been able to include in this Reader. A longer book w o u l d not have been affordable. W e hope that y o u w i l l agree, however, that w i t h i n these structural constraints, w e have been able to put together a volume that w i l l provide our readers w i t h a useful starting point for the study of media and gender research. T u r n i n g then to the Reader's contents, essays i n Part I explore the very narrow w a y s in w h i c h femininity typically has been represented i n m a i n stream media texts. T h e first reading (Chapter 3), by M y r a M a c d o n a l d , provides a lively a n d expansive historical examination of the advertising industry's construction of domesticized, consumerist forms of femininity over the past century. Patricia H o l l a n d ' s essay (Chapter 4) refutes the c l a i m made by publishers of the Sun, a n U K tabloid newspaper, that its increasing emphasis on sexualization has been a force for gender democratization. Sexualization is also the central theme for Saraswati Sunindyo (Chapter 5 ) , who

demonstrates

h o w the Indonesian press construct

sexually active

w o m e n as 'bad w o m e n ' w h o are to blame for any violence that m e n use against them. Despite significant changes in social attitudes to

homo-

sexuality over the past few decades, Marguerite M o r i t z (Chapter 6) shows how U S television portrays lesbian characters as 'asexual' a n d therefore

O

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : H E D I A AND GENDER

non-threatening

to

heterosexuals,

thus

undermining the

political sig-

nificance of such social change. Part I of the Reader ends w i t h a n essay by Sherrie Inness (Chapter 7) in w h i c h she argues that although w o m e n ' s magazines are increasingly apt to represent strong, independent w o m e n , such images actually undermine w o m e n ' s potential toughness by clearly linking it to restrictive, socially acceptable feminine identities. F r o m investigations into media texts, w e turn in Part I I to a n examination of some of the w a y s in w h i c h media institutions and production processes contribute to unequal gender relations. Margaret Gallagher's research into w o m e n ' s employment and representation in the news around the w o r l d makes the case for media monitoring as a w a y of accumulating crosscultural evidence of w o m e n ' s stereotyping a n d marginalization (Chapter 8). In a classic case of the double bind, H e l e n Davies argues in Chapter 9 that the heavily male-dominated U K rock music press sexualizes female musicians and female rock journalists. T h i s then fuels a belief that these w o m e n are less serious than their male counterparts, and thus less worthy of press attention in the case of female musicians, or space to write their reviews in the case of female rock journalists. T o counter such barriers, some w o m e n have argued that w o m e n ' s alternative media appear to be the only place where the voices of w o m e n c a n be heard. Supporting this c l a i m , C a r m e n R u i z (Chapter 10) reports o n a w o m e n ' s grassroots communication project in Bolivia that enabled a group of r u r a l w o m e n to produce their o w n media forms, a project that left the w o m e n involved feeling empowered and active participants i n the public sphere. T h e production of masculine identities is the focus of J o h n Beynon's review of contemporary young men's magazines in

the U K (Chapter 11). Beynon concludes that while these publications

incorporate a wider, more open range of masculine identities, the least progressive masculine identity, ' l a d d i s m ' , appears to dominate, an identity in w h i c h 'real m e n ' are defined by their consumerism. O u r attention turns in the final paper in Part I I from the formation of masculine identities i n magazines to femininities and cyberspace. A n n e Scott, Lesley Semmens a n d Lynette W i l l o u g h b y conclude in Chapter 12 that one of the most pressing issues that feminists n o w need to address is h o w the n e w social geographies of Internet access are being gendered in w a y s that m a y severely constrain w o m e n ' s computer use a n d , perhaps, ultimately, their participation in the public sphere. Part I I I of the Reader documents h o w gender matters w h e n audiences try to m a k e sense of media texts. Robert Jensen's article (Chapter

13)

offers a critical, reflexive analysis of his o w n experiences of using pornography, concluding that it constructs a n ideology of male dominance a n d female subordination that naturalizes men's control over w o m e n in society.

I N T R O D U C T I O N TO (MIKAL iUHIHdS: HiDIA AND

mill \

I li/abcth H a d l e y Freydberg (Chapter 14) makes a similar c l a i m , arguing tli.it in H o l l y w o o d cinema Aframericans a n d L a t i n a s have been typically portrayed in stereotypical w a y s - as lustful, sexual objects of white men's desire, as ' b a d ' w o m e n w h o m white men need to exploit sexually as w e l l as i ontrol. T u r n i n g to soap opera audiences, M a r y E l l e n B r o w n demonstrates m (ihapter 15 that w o m e n ' s knowledge of this television genre c a n form the basis of female support networks through w h i c h such knowledge is legitimated and where w o m e n are empowered to resist its often constrictive messages about femininity. Similarly, Jane Shattuc (Chapter 16) argues that the discursive space provided by U S television talk shows offers their predominantly female audiences a unique opportunity

to form

collective

leminine identities from w h i c h they are able to articulate their shared experiences of gender subordination in society. I n the final paper i n Part I I I , I leather G i l m o u r insists i n C h a p t e r 17 that the gaming software currently being developed for girls contributes to the reproduction of hierarchical gender difference between boys and girls rather than to breaking it d o w n . At the same time, however, she notes that girl gamers are resisting these restrictive definitions of femininity and finding pleasure in the formation of more heterogeneous, alternative identities. In this brief introduction, we have attempted to s h o w w h y the field of media and gender research is important, interesting and exciting. Some people might think that gender equality has been achieved and therefore that the issues we are addressing in this Reader are no longer relevant. W e would agree that m u c h progress has been made a n d that most w o m e n enjoy more personal, political a n d economic p o w e r a n d freedom. H o w e v e r , women as a group are still i n a structurally subordinate position to most men. A r o u n d the w o r l d , w o m e n continue to m a k e less money than do men; they often endure appalling experiences of a criminal justice system that fails to support them w h e n attempting to press rape charges; they still have a m u c h more difficult time getting promoted in their jobs than men; women's domestic labour a n d motherhood

is undervalued i n relation

to paid labour in the public sphere; w o m e n continue to be sexualized, dehumanized and objectified in most mainstream media content. There is still a great deal to learn about the w a y s in w h i c h the media contribute to w o m e n ' s secondary social and economic status. I n any case, a now substantial and fast-growing array of n e w journals, edited volumes, monographs, conference presentations and special conventions is clearly evidence of an ongoing interest in the field of media and gender research, l eminist insights have clearly had a transformative effect o n the fields of media and cultural studies. L o s i n g sight of this fact is rather easy to do, ^iven that most scholars n o w take for granted that their research must be

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

sensitive to questions of gender, as w e l l as those of class, 'race', ethnicity and

sexuality, among other forms of identity. A s recently as 15 to 2 0 years

ago, m a n y researchers still regarded these assumptions to be questionable, if not problematic. F r o m the vantage point of today, however, such views seem almost anachronistic. T h i s change has been a n important one for feminist a n d critical media scholars. It has provided them w i t h the institutional support needed to undertake systematic studies into a range of important issues a n d problems a r o u n d gender - although such research does not itself solve them. C l e a r l y , m u c h more w o r k remains to be done.

References Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania (2002) The Glass Ceiling in the Executive Suite: The 2nd Annual APPC Analysis of Women Leaders in Communication Companies. Craig, S. (ed.) (1992) Men, Masculinity and the Media. London and Thousand Oaks: Sage. Friedan, B. (1963) The Feminine Mystique. New York: Norton. Gramsci, A. (1971) Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, ed. and trans. Q. Hoare and G . Nowell Smith. New York: International Publishers. Jackson, P., Stevenson, N . and Brooks, K . (2001) Making Sense of Men's Magazines. Cambridge: Polity. Kama, A. (2002) The quest for inclusion: Jewish-Israeli gay men's perceptions of gays in the media, Feminist Media Studies, 2(2): 195-212. National Statistics Office (2002) New Earnings Survey 2002, www.statistics.gov. uk/pdfdir/nesl002/pdf (accessed 1 November 2002). Tincknell, E . , Chambers, D . , van Loon, J . , and Hudson, N . (2003) Begging for it: 'new femininities', social agency and moral discourse in contemporary teenage and men's magazines, Feminist Media Studies, 3(1): 47-63. US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labour Statistics (2002) Highlights of Women's Earnings 2001. van Zoonen, L . (1994) Feminist Media Studies. London: Sage.

HAPPING l û t CONTESTED T E R R A I N OF M E D I A AND G E N D E R RESEARCH

o

Cynthia Carter and Linda Steiner The whole point of gender dimorphism, as it has been constructed for centuries, is that it means that someone - almost invariably someone who isn't female gets to judge what is and isn't acceptable for women It is still much harder for women than for men to express themselves as individuals and the penalties for failing to conform remain h i g h . . . (Smith 1997: 166-7) Most men are still culturally propelled to incorporate dominance, whether in terms of crude physical strength or displays of 'masculine' rationality and competence, into the presentation of self. Of course, by presenting gender as cultural and performative, the paradigm that holds that masculinity and femininity are straitjackets into which all biological males and females are automatically fitted, begins to be severely undermined. (Beynon 2002: 11)

This introductory essay maps out w h a t w e believe to be the most important and

relevant conceptual concerns around gender i n the fields of media a n d

cultural studies today. Since w e understand media in terms of a highly interstructured or 'articulated' relationship among texts, institutions a n d audiences,

we

offer

brief accounts

of

current

scholarly debates

around

representation found in Part I : T e x t s in C o n t e x t ; w e examine media economics a n d w o r k p l a c e issues i n Part I I : (Re)producing Gender; a n d outline a range of insights generated

by critical audience research in Part I I I :

Audiences a n d Identities. G i v e n the triangular relationships among texts, media organizations a n d industries, and audiences' practices, at some level, one cannot discuss one theme without raising the other two. T h a t said, the sections below sketch key terms and issues, broadly outlining the historical,

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

theoretical a n d methodological contexts for w h a t is n o w a wealth of gender-sensitive research.

Texts in Context Central to the stereotypes of masculinity a n d femininity i n the Western media is the idea that they are opposites, a n d that boys a n d girls are 'naturally' a n d fundamentally different. N o t surprisingly, children's media - like their toys - are among the first contexts that each of us encounters for demonstrating h o w masculinity a n d femininity 'ought' to be performed. Boy's action figure 'GI

Joe' in the U S A or ' A c t i o n M a n ' in the U K depicts a

muscled, tough a n d aggressive character armed w i t h the latest guns, missiles and explosives. Currently, popular films such as Gladiator, Rings, mal'

Men in Black and Spiderman

Lord of the

indicate w h a t are deemed to be 'nor-

or 'appropriate' forms of masculine behaviour. W h i l e a 'real m a n ' m a y

use his intelligence to outwit a n opponent, i n the e n d , the most valued attribute of a m a n in these films is his physical prowess. T h e threat of violence is often all that is needed to reconfirm one's masculine credentials, although a willingness a n d ability to use it must necessarily a n d credibly back up that threat. O n children's television, cartoons such as Digital Monsters who

and Yu-gi-oh

Digimon:

combine images primarily of boys and m e n

use their smarts, strength a n d superhuman monsters to exert their will/

superiority over others. E a c h w e e k , the cast of characters must employ certain masculine skills a n d repertoires of expertise to defeat similarly inclined enemies a n d , finally, to confirm their superiority. F o r girls, quite opposite points of identification were already apparent i n early fairytales, m a n y of w h i c h date to the seventeenth century. F o r example, female characters in Cinderella,

Rapunzel

a n d Sleeping

Beauty are

portrayed as being beautiful, emotional a n d timid, waiting for a m a n to come along to rescue them (preferably a prince or a knight i n shining a r m o u r ! ) . Nineteenth-century industrialization a n d the relocation of w o r k from the family and farm to the factory and the t o w n shop contributed to the development of unequal, gendered spheres of w o r k (the 'public' sphere of m e n a n d political affairs versus the 'private' sphere of w o m e n a n d domesticity). G i r l s were raised to be the consumers of the future - domestic, caring, a n d objects of beauty - rather than producers. T h i s idea w a s widely cultivated a n d promoted by newspapers a n d w o m e n ' s magazines. C o n tinuing through the twentieth century, the modern media contrasted good girls (pretty, quiet, sensitive, selfless and nurturing) w i t h 'evil' girls, w h o are assertive, sexual, stubborn a n d selfish. Since 1 9 5 9 , the 'Barbie' doll has

MAPPING THE C O N T E S T E D TERRAIN OF MEDIA AND GENDER R E S E A R C H | provided several generations of girls with a n image of 'ideal' (white, heterosexual) femininity - a figure w h o is attractive, impossibly thin, long legged a n d big breasted - accessorized w i t h the latest fashions, accommodation, transport a n d boyfriend K e n .

1

Although m a n y clearly gendered stereotypes still inform media content loday, the rigidity of such hierarchical feminine gendered identity has nevertheless begun to break d o w n . A n increasingly varied array of feminine images a n d role models is n o w available, some of w h i c h offer progressive and

sometimes challenging alternatives. F o r example, i n Star Wars:

Episode

I (1999) one of the m a i n female characters is the teenaged Q u e e n A m i d a l a who,

through a combination of intelligence a n d exceptional

military

planning a n d fighting skills, is able to help defeat the evil that threatens her

people. Harry

Potter and the Chamber

pre-teen character

of Secrets

(2002) features the

H e r m i o n e Granger, w h o is portrayed as possessing

knowledge of magic superior to her closest friends, H a r r y Potter a n d R o n Weasley. Nevertheless, socialization into not merely different but also unequal gender

roles a n d behaviours has not disappeared

altogether.

Likewise, it is important to keep i n m i n d that such socialization continues lo have real, negative material (economic, social, political) effects o n the life chances of girls (as well as boys) as they grow up (Mattelart 1 9 8 6 ) . T u r n i n g to a consideration of the historical development of gender a n d media content research, it is important to note that as early as the 1960s media scholars influenced by concepts emerging from early 'second w a v e ' icminism sought to understand a n d explain h o w the media depicts unequal gendered relations. T h e reason for this, of course, w a s to collect evidence of media sexism i n order to intervene a n d substitute more positive a n d realistic images - ones that did not confine w o m e n to passivity a n d inferiority. A key concept generated by a n early generation of media content researchers w a s that of 'symbolic annihilation'. T h i s term w a s initially used by U S mass communication

scholars

George

Gerbner (1978)

and Gaye T u c h m a n

(1978) to describe the c l a i m that powerful groups i n society suppress the less powerful by marginalizing them to such a n extent that they are rendered virtually invisible as a representable group. T h e media function - at least i n the period they were describing -

by either effectively erasing

women's presence, by fundamentally denying their humanity, trivializing or mocking them, or by reducing them to a single 'feminine' characteristic, even if that characteristic c o u l d be regarded as 'positive' (like 'innocent', 'nurturing' or 'concerned for others'). M u c h of the generation of research inspired by these notions confirmed that media images through to the end of the 1980s tended to stay w i t h i n a narrow set of sex role stereotypes, primarily limiting w o m e n to a domestic/

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

private sphere that experienced uncertain, if not l o w social status compared to that of men. Studies often concluded that men were usually depicted in a wider range of occupational roles, primarily in the public sphere, w h i c h enjoys higher social status. Feminist researchers generally assumed that the limited portrayals of w o m e n contributed to sexist a n d therefore harmful attitudes. F o r example, scholars argued that sexist stereotypes

encourage

people to believe that w o m e n are suited only (and always) to so-called 'traditional' female sex roles and discourage people from accepting w o m e n who

are strong, assertive, independent and self-confident, thus inhibiting

women's ability to realize their full personal and professional potential. Scholars and activists joined in a movement to challenge the media to depict w o m e n more fairly, in a wider array of occupational roles and w i t h variation in intellectual and emotional traits. M e a n w h i l e , pressure w a s also brought to bear on the media to portray m e n in w a y s that suggest that they c a n be sensitive, emotional and interested in and committed to their parenting and domestic responsibilities (see C r a i g 1992). Some changes did result from these efforts, although m u c h w o r k remains to be done. I n any case, role reversals are not the point. Altering mediated images of w o m e n a n d m e n to portray them in a wider range of roles is at best a start. Certainly the point of advocating change is not merely to argue that primetime dramas should feature w o m e n as career-driven attorneys or that music videos should portray w o m e n as w h i p - w i e l d i n g dominatrices. T h a t a n e w U S television series The Bachelorette The Bachelor,

w i l l counter a n existing one for men,

is not really a sign of gender progress. Analyses and critiques

of media forms, institutions a n d production practices need to be very carefully constructed to s h o w h o w media discourses contribute to,

or

conversely, challenge the structural (re)production of gender inequalities. T h a t is, the political issue to be addressed is not merely either 'positive' or 'negative' images of a given fictional character's occupational role and surface-level indicia of their emotional stability (or lack thereof). Ideology researchers argue that the analysis of media texts c a n shed important light not only o n the ideologically gendered assumptions underpinning their narratives but also on the gendered mode of address to their audiences. W h i c h audiences are being served? A r e w o m e n a n d m e n addressed differently, v i a texts w i t h different varieties of intellectual a n d

emotional

content? T o understand h o w gender difference is (re)produced ideologically in the media, attention needs to be paid to the w a y s in w h i c h media forms aimed at m e n are regarded as normatively the 'correct' ones, while those for w o m e n are m a r k e d as 'different', 'alternative', ' m a r g i n a l ' or, i n other w o r d s , as non-normative. F o r example, the national television news a n d broadsheet press in both the U S A and U K are w i d e l y considered to be

MAPPING THE C O N T E S T E D TERRAIN O f MEDIA AND GENDER R E S E A R C H | 'objective' (non-ideological/non-gendered = masculine) while television talk s h o w s like Oprah in the U S A or Richard

and Judy i n the U K are regarded as

'subjective' (ideological/gendered = feminine) (see A l l a n 1999). Recently,

feminist researchers

have

been more

insistent about

the

importance of analysing media texts produced primarily for female audiences (see Inness, B r o w n a n d Shattuc - C h a p t e r s 7, 15 and 16 in this volume). D a y - t i m e talk shows (Shattuc 1 9 9 7 ) , w o m e n ' s films ( L l o y d a n d |ohnson 2 0 0 3 ; Stacey 1994; V a r e s 2 0 0 2 ) , w o m e n ' s magazines (Ballaster et ,il.

1991; B a s u 2 0 0 1 ;

Beetham 1996;

operas (Brunsdon 2 0 0 0 ; B r o w n 1994;

C u r r i e 1999;

H e r m e s 1 9 9 5 ) , soap

Geraghty 1990)

and other texts

primarily intended for w o m e n have long been w i d e l y regarded as marginal ,md

trivial, not only by m a n y in the media audience, but also in ' m a i n -

si ream' media scholarship. W h y is this the case, these researchers enquire, ,md l

w h a t is the significance of these perceptions? M e d i a forms coded as

);endered'/feminine have tended to be regarded by the academic adminis-

irators in positions of p o w e r over hiring a n d promotion as tangential to 'real' media scholarship - for a long time largely synonymous w i t h studies of journalism and the news (see Brunsdon 2 0 0 0 ) . T h i s effectively discouraged some from focusing o n analysis of ' w o m e n ' s genres'. M u c h like the

system of r e w a r d and punishment associated w i t h boys' a n d girls'

compliance to traditional gender roles, an academic system based o n gender difference w a s used to construct a n d maintain a system of unequal scholarship relations (see Shirvani et a l . 2 0 0 2 ) . A g a i n , as essays in this volume show, this is n o w (slowly) changing. A lively a n d productive generation of scholarship taking these forms seriously is n o w beginning to thrive. Representations in the media of people, events and relationships never simply appear from 'no place'. A t some level, of course, this assertion that media messages do not simply appear like V e n u s emerging from the sea is obvious, but often discussions of content either begin a n d end w i t h that content, or acquire explanations that turn immediately to highly m a c r o l e v e l societal conditions: patriarchy accounts for sexist content. M e d i a organizations and the gendered issues attendant to those organizations are certainly responsive to social-political movements - and to the reactions against them - as w e l l as to broad economic a n d social changes. H o w e v e r , between the very broad, general conditions a n d power relations in the world a n d the ideological messages w h i c h shape media texts that are delivered to audiences is a n important system of production. Messages emerge from complex - indeed, extremely complex and often hierarchical co-ordinated activities of increasingly globalized media organizations. T h e next section of this essay turns to examine the processes of producing media texts a n d the impact of gender difference w i t h i n media institutions.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND G E N D E R

(Re)producing Gender How

gender is (re)produced i n the media demands a consideration of the

w a y s i n w h i c h media forms are p r o d u c e d . Just as gender itself cannot be 2

understood i n isolation from 'race', class a n d sexuality, so media production cannot be seen as solely a result of media w o r k e r s , or owners. N o r , as catchy as M c L u h a n ' s idea w a s i n Understanding Man

Media:

The Extensions

of

(1964), is the sole answer that 'the m e d i u m is the message'. W h a t is

critical is the complex interaction of institutional structures, organizational/ corporate constraints, the basis of financing and the possibility of advertiser pressure, the regulatory context, as w e l l as the predispositions of individual workers a n d owners. F o r social movements trying to create alternative media, certain technical, technological a n d socio-economic

factors also

l o o m large. C a n a newspaper or magazine physically get distributed to its potential readers? W h a t kinds of skills a n d equipment are necessary to produce content? W h a t is the cost of access to a m e d i u m - not so m u c h the cost to consumers of purchasing or consuming a single 'issue' than the cost of buying (or starting) a n d operating a media organization such as a newspaper or radio station? A r e potential audiences literate? Furthermore, like the analyses of texts, the analyses of media organizations (from hiring and

promotion patterns to structures for decision making) need to be

grounded in a dual systems approach that takes note of both 'gender biases' and

the interests of commercial organizations i n m a x i m i z i n g profit. A brief historical detour to assess w o m e n ' s long presence i n newsrooms

raises m a n y of the questions that are relevant to h o w w o r k routes, divisions of labour, the need to find practical financing structures and a host of other features of textual production interact i n the media construction of gender difference. T o succeed economically, editors and especially publishers have long understood that newspapers need to obtain enough subscribers of a k i n d that w o u l d attract a sufficient number of advertisers. By this logic, it is perhaps not surprising that early newspapers in both the U S A and U K (and in other industrialized countries) were largely masculine enterprises. M e n were the most desired readers, so newspapers were written to attract them. The

assumption w a s that w o m e n writers w o u l d be unable to cover issues of

interest to m e n or to write in w a y s that m e n w o u l d find appealing. Initially, the few w o m e n w h o managed to enter newsrooms were nearly always the sisters, daughters or wives of newspaper a n d magazine publishers a n d editors (Sebba 1994). Later, a few w o m e n were hired specifically to write about things of interest to that somewhat marginalized audience, w o m e n (Mills 1 9 9 0 ) . It w a s assumed that female journalists were best suited to writing about fashion, domestic chores and social news. M o r e to the point,

MAPPING T H E C O N T E S T E D TERRAIN OF MEDIA AND GENDER R E S E A R C H | i he w o m e n ' s page has a l w a y s been regarded as a 'low-rent ghetto' w i t h i n journalism. ' W o m e n ' s j o u r n a l i s m ' is not ' r e a l ' journalism (see Stott

1973;

Mills 1997; v a n Z o o n e n 1 9 9 8 ) . M e n did not w a n t to write about things of interest to w o m e n nor, as their autobiographies attest, did w o m e n w a n t to write for w o m e n ' s pages (Steiner 1998). W o m e n in the U S A w i t h access to money and the ability to make purchases

for

themselves

and

markets. T h e Delineator, by

their

families eventually became

Ebenezer Butterick to promote tissue patterns

McCall's.

for sewing, as w a s

I n 1837, Sarah Josepha H a l e merged her Ladies

her competitor's

desirable

w h i c h lasted until the 1930s, w a s started in 1872

Godey's

Lady's

Book,

Magazine

women's magazines have lasted for more than a century - the Ladies' journal goes back to 1883, Good

with

and r a n it for 40 years. Other

Housekeeping

Home

to 1885. T h e point is not

i hat 'refined' middle-class w o m e n were in particular need of m o r a l uplift, but that magazine publishers became convinced that they needed to ensure ihis. These magazines were not only cheap to produce and easy to read, but their staffs w o r k e d hard to convince w o m e n that they needed the magazines' models of 'proper' w o m a n h o o d . W o m e n

became

an ever

more

attractive market for advertisers as their spending power increased (see also Bcetham 1996). W o m e n ' s magazines continue to raise a host of crucial issues for a consideration

of

gender.

First, a

logic

within

capitalism demands

femininity be defined and continually re-defined in w a y s that are

that

financially

profitable (see M a c d o n a l d , C h a p t e r 3 in this v o l u m e ) . Particular definitions are tied to specific products that w o m e n are told that they need or that they can be made to desire and need through advertising. T h e emergence in the t wenty-first century of multiple identities for w o m e n constitutes a boon to publishers and advertisers. T h e r e are n o w more niche markets. M a r k e t i n g consultants have identified a growing number of feminine identities, each of which c a n be sold a range of products, although m a n y of these identities are soon abandoned after they turn out not to be profitable ( M c C r a c k e n 1 9 9 3 ) . Kach member of a niche market - whether defined by age, size, career, 4

race', hobbies or even marital status - is handed her o w n set of problems

and

challenges w h i c h c a n be explained and solved by subscribing to the

magazine and by using the products and services it advertises. I n some cases, readers might not even k n o w that they h a d such problems until discovering them in the magazine. Recently, m a n y of the same issues have emerged in the new men's magazines, including the invention of successive styles of masculinity (see B e y n o n , Chapter 11 i n this volume; see also |ackson et a l . 2 0 0 1 ) . Nevertheless, the intense pressure from advertisers o n women's magazines to offer complementary copy - essentially free adver-

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

rising disguised as editorial copy r u n in conjunction w i t h advertising - may signal both a particular lack of respect for w o m e n a n d the idea that w o m e n ' s anxieties about femininity c a n continue to be manipulated for financial

gain.

Feminists w h o have tried over the last 150 years to establish their o w n media institutions have not necessarily avoided these financial pressures and constraints, even w h e n they have been w h o l l y uninterested in m a k i n g a profit (Steiner 1 9 9 2 ) . Suffrage newspapers of the 1870s and 1880s, sex education journals of the 1920s a n d radical separatist magazines of the 1970s found it difficult or impossible to operate without some advertising revenue, but also found it difficult or impossible to attract this revenue w h e n they w a n t e d it. E v e n w h e n the labour is donated,

production,

transmission a n d distribution of media forms c a n cost a lot of money. Questions revolving around funding and advertising have continued to be particularly troublesome

for alternative media organizations, including

those produced by feminists hoping to offer alternative definitions of femininity and portray non-hierarchical gender relations. Potential advertisers often assert that the readership of such media are not sufficiently interested in

consumption, or at least i n the specific products a n d services that

advertisers have been accustomed

to aiming at w o m e n . Alternatively,

advertisers have pressured the feminist media to r u n certain kinds of stories, covers and illustrations, often i n w a y s that were inconsistent w i t h the politics of these organizations. In the U S A , certain feminist newspapers, magazines, radio shows and cable television programmers have succeeded, but usually only w h e n they are the brainchild of a n individual w o m a n or because they are produced by relatively non-hierarchical collectives. G l o r i a Steinem (1990), one of the co-founding editors of M s . , w h i c h is by far the largest feminist periodical published in the USA, by

famously described h o w the magazine's refusal to let itself be co-opted advertisers meant the loss of many potential accounts. I n 1980,

for

example, R e v l o n halted its plans to advertise in M s . after four Soviet w o m e n exiled for publishing underground samizdat (self-published, usually photocopied news written by political dissidents) appeared on a M s . cover without make-up. I n another incident, w h e n M s . not only refused to provide c o m plementary copy but also reported that hair dyes might be carcinogenic, Clairol stopped advertising in the magazine. Relying on high subscription rates, from 1990 until 2 0 0 2 M s . r a n no advertising at a l l . Its current owner, the U S feminist organization Feminist Majority, however, has decided to accept some advertisements from progressive organizations and businesses. Although the gatekeeping function of news media is w e l l k n o w n , the gendered character of gatekeeping processes w i t h i n news organizations is

MAPPING THE C O N T E S T E D TERRAIN OE MEDIA AND GENDER R E S E A R C H | rarely systematically studied (van Z o o n e n 1 9 9 8 ) ^ T h a t is to say, little attention

has

been p a i d to

the

extent to

which

organizational

and

bureaucratic procedures by w h i c h stories are selected and assigned are male dominated. W h i l e news decisions reflect certain institutional decisions about 'newsworthiness', exclusivity and the availability of credible sources, among other considerations, gendered power dynamics are also inflected when stories are changed to fit legal standards, editors' and o w n e r s ' prejudices, community culture a n d advertiser demands (Christmas 1997; M i l l s 1997; R h o d e s 2 0 0 1 ) . Outside the news, there are even fewer systematic studies of the organizational impacts of gender, although anecdotal stories circulate about how,

o n one h a n d , individual politicians or feminist groups have c o m -

plained about television or film plots, and o n the other, h o w scripts have been changed w h e n something seems too controversial. T h e structure of media institutions - in terms of the relative flexibility and adaptability of various technologies as w e l l as the constraints imposed by certain economic and

financing

systems - has necessarily figured in debates about gender. T h e

point of such w o r k is to encourage a critical examination of h o w and w h e n gender matters to media professionals and i n media workplaces. The

production of messages also involves questions of genre, given media

organizations' preference for a n d reliance on well-established ones like soap operas, daytime television talk shows and w o m e n ' s magazines, since these are seen to have enduring audience appeal. E v e n here, it is w o r t h noting that the production of these a n d other gendered media genres has specific consequences for w o m e n . F o r example, i n television soap operas, narrative time rarely follows clock time; plots continue for years, constituting the television soap as a serial form that resists narrative closure ( M o d l e s k i 1982). I n addition, soaps emphasize dialogue, problem solving, intimate conversation and domestic settings. O n one h a n d , then, it c a n be argued that these devices are deployed to offer familiarity a n d thereby provide pleasure to w o m e n viewers i n the home. H o w e v e r , one could also argue that these features are specifically employed as a commodity i n order to hook a market for the commercials, to keep w o m e n watching, day after day, and m o n t h after m o n t h (see Brunsdon 2 0 0 0 ) . John Fiske (1987: 308) has made a similar point about television news, referring to it as a 'masculine soap opera'. L i k e soaps, television news relies on

a serial/continuous format for its stories about the w o r l d of men a n d

resists narrative closure. So too does the news emphasize dialogue (through journalist/source interviews, for example) a n d problem solving (how to manage post-war I r a q as the focus of seemingly endless discussions, for instance). W h e r e conversation is intimate in soap operas and related to

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

w o m e n ' s experiences in the private sphere, the news instead emphasizes collective conversation in a public (masculine) setting. T h e discursive devices used i n television news are ones that are well k n o w n to their (largely male) audiences, providing viewers w i t h pleasures associated w i t h their familiarity of the genre and its largely masculine mode of address. So too does the news discursively invite male viewers to return to the narrative, day i n , day out, to follow stories as they unfold. I n the U K , the evening news bulletins attract some of the largest audiences of the viewing day. These audiences are not only highly attractive to advertisers on the c o m mercial television stations (because of their large numbers and relatively high disposable income), but also to the B B C , w h i c h needs to bring in large audiences in order to justify its continuing reliance on funding from the television licence fee. In

the context of commercial television in the U S A , maintaining a n d

expanding audiences for soap operas is driven by the commercial logics of advertisers w h o demand reliable a n d consistent access to this consumer market. H e r e the central interest of television producers is to sustain a market on behalf of advertisers, while serving the particular interests of a n audience is of secondary importance ( M o d l e s k i 1 9 8 2 ) . Similarly, popular romance novels - w h i c h major publishing houses like H a r l e q u i n and M i l l s & B o o n produce several times a week, nearly by a n assembly line, using simple and standardized narrative formats - are designed to keep their fans buying. T h e point is, as a particular popular culture genre, the romance novel is written to be consumed easily a n d quickly so that the reader shortly needs to buy yet another one (a similar logic to that of w o m e n ' s magazines). The

actual story m a y be displaced w i t h i n this scenario by the act of con-

suming the product itself. T o put this point more bluntly, although it is tempting to think that media products are not produced in the same w a y s and

for the same reasons as toothpaste and chairs, as commodities, the logic

is pretty m u c h the same. Indeed, whether the media product is a soap opera, romance novel, women's magazine or newspaper, it is not the product that is the central commodity, but the audience itself - an audience that c a n be sold to advertisers w h o w a n t to sell to that audience other commodities. The

institutional processes a n d systems that give rise to media forms are

largely indiscernible to their audiences. Such invisibility w o r k s to the economic a n d ideological advantage of media organizations, w h i c h face fewer challenges and enjoy greater resonance w h e n audiences cannot step back to think w h o is responsible for the selection and production of texts but instead merely accept texts as 'mirrors of reality'. Nonetheless, students - in the broadest sense of the w o r d - are becoming increasingly interested not only in the texts that media producers are currently providing for audiences

MAPPING T H E C O N T E S T E D TERRAIN O f MEDIA AND GENDER R E S E A R C H | hut also w h o are producing them, w h a t or w h o is missing, and w h o is not being addressed. Sometimes analysis of the sexist a n d capitalist interests of media institutions m a y be disruptive a n d m a y even spoil the f u n of (unthinking) media consumption. T h a t said, understanding the issues c a n also stimulate new ideas a n d political interventions i n media institutions. We w o u l d argue that i n most cases, as the next section o n gendered audiences s h o w s , understanding h o w the media operate, and w h y , a n d h o w they produce

certain

content

c a n enormously

enhance

one's

pleasure a n d

appreciation of specific media genres.

Audiences and Identities Media a n d cultural studies scholars understand audiences as comprising human actors w h o are necessarily active meaning-makers, although there is some debate over the extent to w h i c h viewers c a n be described as selfdetermining individuals. T h e messages of media texts never simply mirror or reflect 'reality', but instead construct hegemonic definitions of w h a t should be accepted as 'reality'. T o understand h o w audiences

'decode'

media texts, it is important to understand h o w the hegemonic conditions of iheir encoding encourage

audiences to make sense of them i n certain

'preferred' w a y s - ones that help to (re)produce hegemonic definitions of 'reality'. Stuart H a l l ' s (1980) 'encoding/decoding' model of c o m m u n i c a t i o n underscored h o w audiences might accept hegemonic definitions of 'reality' although they might also partially resist them, o r indeed read

messages

oppositionally. D u r i n g the 1980s and 1990s, feminist and critical scholars variously investigated the conditions of production a n d reception of television soap

operas,

popular romance

fiction,

H o l l y w o o d cinema a n d

women's magazines, often w i t h the ambition o f showing h o w female audiences negotiate the media's hegemonic constructions of the 'reality' of gender difference. Quite often this research argues against the c o m m o n assumption that femininity is inferior to masculinity in popular culture, a n d advocates a revaluing of so-called feminine media forms and a reassessment of female audiences. Audience scholars have been quite innovative i n borrowing from other disciplines a range of methodological tools, including letters from readers and

fans, ethnography, questionnaires, personal a n d focus group interviews

and

participant observation. T h e brief sketches of some key studies i n this

held that follow below also s h o w h o w this still-emerging body of research lakes seriously the genres a n d audiences that h a d been ignored or marginalized by previous generations of research. These studies are broadly

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

grouped, first, into those that were undertaken w i t h i n the context of the household, where researchers were seeking to understand h o w everyday interactions a m o n g family members shaped the gendered dynamics of media consumption. Second, w e examine those studies that were conducted in

other settings, such as in w o r k p l a c e s , university classrooms and cafes,

where comprehending h o w gendered household dynamics shaped audience reception w a s not central to the study. Two

relatively early examples of British media research that address

media use in domestic contexts include important studies by D o r o t h y H o b s o n and D a v i d M o r l e y . I n H o b s o n ' s (1980) pioneering research on housewives' use of the media in their everyday lives, she interviewed young, working-class w o m e n w i t h small c h i l d r e n . H o b s o n discovered that these 3

young mothers tended to prefer those media genres related to a ' w o m a n ' s w o r l d ' . F o r example, soap operas, popular radio programmes and w o m e n ' s magazines were all viewed favourably for their focus o n w o m e n ' s problems in relationships, w i t h the family a n d i n dealing w i t h the gendered dynamics of social relations outside the home. Conversely, the w o m e n showed little interest in media that they understood as more closely related to concerns i n a 'man's w o r l d ' (the news, current affairs and scientific and documentary television programmes). and

T h e y considered such texts to be 'both alien

hostile to the values of w o m e n ' , although they also viewed them

as important a n d serious ( H o b s o n 1980: importance

109). H o b s o n emphasized the

of w o m e n ' s o w n distinction between media related to

a

' w o m a n ' s w o r l d ' and a 'man's w o r l d ' . W h i l e w o m e n ' s use of the media provides them w i t h a connection to the 'outside' w o r l d , it also reinforces 'the privatised isolation by reaffirming the consensual position - there are thousands of other w o m e n in the same situation, a sort of "collective isolation"'

(1980:

9 4 - 5 ) . By discursively positioning w o m e n w i t h i n

the

private sphere, she concluded, the media actively (re)produced a hierarchical sexual division of labour. D a v i d M o r l e y ' s research o n household media consumption

patterns

involved detailed interviews w i t h 2 0 families in southeast E n g l a n d a n d observations of their media use i n their homes. H e reported his findings i n the book Family

Television

(1986) where he argues that the micro-politics

of the household fundamentally shape h o w individual members make sense of media messages. Understanding h o w men a n d w o m e n relate to each other w i t h i n the household a n d h o w sexual politics influences media consumption (in terms of genre preference, style and length of viewing, w h o has control of the remote, a n d so on) helps explain h o w the relations of gender inequality in both the private and public spheres are reproduced i n everyday life. W h i l e gender identities are never permanently fixed a n d are

MAPPING THE C O N T E S T E D TERRAIN OE MEDIA AND GENDER R E S E A R C H | open to contestation, there are nevertheless certain patterned w a y s in w h i c h family members are interpolated w h i c h are largely tacit and therefore difficult to resist. F o r instance, like H o b s o n , M o r l e y found that m a n y w o m e n were not interested in the national news, largely because they did not see how

it might link in any meaningful w a y to their daily lives. H o w e v e r , a

number of w o m e n indicated that they liked to w a t c h local television n e w s . I hey were interested in w h a t these programmes could tell them about local crimes, for instance, w h i c h 'they feel they need to k n o w about [...] both for their o w n sake and their children's sakes' ( 1 9 8 6 : 169). It seems clear that women's interest in this type of story forms part of w h a t H o b s o n referred to as a ' w o m a n ' s w o r l d ' . T h a t is, w o m e n regard local news outlets as relevant to their family roles and duties (the care and protection of family members, particularly children, being fundamental). Said one of M o r l e y ' s respondents: 'Sometimes I like to w a t c h the [national] news if it's something that's gone on - like where that little boy's gone a n d w h a t happened to h i m . Otherwise, I don't, not unless it's local only w h e n there's something that's happened l o c a l ' (1986: 169). Ann

G r a y ' s (1992) Video

Playtime

followed up on this line of argu-

mentation through a n examination not only of the gendered patterns of media preferences (soap opera, family drama) but also of media technology use. G r a y discovered that w o m e n displayed a particular affinity for the 4

video recorder and the telephone. V i d e o s , she concluded, enable w o m e n to record programmes to be played back w h e n daily household labour is complete or at times w h e n they c a n be shared w i t h female friends. T h e telephone is also important because it allows w o m e n to keep in touch w i t h other w o m e n in the household and to maintain familial r e l a t i o n s h i p s . I n 5

terms of the w o m e n ' s media preferences, w o m e n use soap opera,

for

example, as a w a y of facilitating their female friendships a n d validating the importance of the genre i n w o m e n ' s lives (men tend to dismiss soaps as t rivial). T h e programmes w o m e n enjoy provide them w i t h periods of escape from the mundane routines of everyday life a n d , however temporarily, normative definitions of femininity. M o v i n g to audience research conducted outside the household, w e note that some of the most important studies have combined analysis of texts and

political economy of media industries w i t h feedback from fans or

audience questionnaires. Janice R a d w a y ' s (1984) Reading

the Romance,

example, conducted focus group a n d long interviews w i t h romance

for

fiction

fans in a U S M i d w e s t e r n t o w n she called ' S m i t h t o n ' . R a d w a y also pro6

vided her o w n interpretation of the typical plots of romance novels, a n d she studied the institutional processes by w h i c h those novels were written, published a n d distributed. Instead of relating to romance plots i n the

©

I CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER 'preferred' w a y (accepting the patriarchal definitions of love, marriage a n d w o m e n ' s subordinate position in marriage), w h a t she found w a s that these w o m e n regarded the female heroines as independent, assertive and p o w erful. Additionally, they all seemed able to incorporate these traits into their own

(positive) self-image as w o m e n . I n other w o r d s , these fans managed to

read 'against the grain' of the n a r r o w definitions of femininity on offer in romance texts, using the novels as a w a y of claiming a space for personal leisure. R o m a n c e reading constituted their declaration of independence from family and domestic responsibilities. F a m i l y members understood that w h e n a wife or mother w a s reading a romance, she w a s to be left alone (even if they then violated this tacit understanding). Despite the discursive spaces that the romance genre provides for w o m e n to challenge normative assumptions about a w o m a n ' s ' n a t u r a l ' roles in life (wife and mother), however, these texts do not offer a critique of patriarchal hegemony. A s R a d w a y (1984: 217)

reasons:

Because it refurbishes the institution of marriage by suggesting h o w it might be viewed continuously as a courtship, because it represents real female needs w i t h i n the story a n d then depicts their satisfaction by traditional heterosexual relations, the romance avoids questioning the institutionalised basis of patriarchal control over w o m e n even as it serves as a locus of protest against some of its emotional consequences. In

the end, romance

fiction

does nothing to undermine the

structural

(re)production of the patriarchal control in the public sphere of w o r k and political decision m a k i n g . Television talk shows provide another example of a feminized media genre that has undergone feminist analysis in recent years. Jane Shattuc's (1997) investigation of U S daytime talk shows begins in a n interesting w a y by offering a short cultural history of 'sob sister j o u r n a l i s m ' of nineteenthcentury tabloids, w h i c h she regards as a possible forerunner of today's television talk shows. She also

undertakes

an extensive

analysis of

the

industrial production requirements for these shows, including the logic of choosing themes, steering guests a n d experts, and manipulating audience members at home and in the s t u d i o . T h e narratives of daytime talk shows, 7

like soap operas, are woman-centred a n d celebrate w o m e n ' s agency a n d assertiveness. Still, the goal is to manufacture a n expert consumer, not a feminist critic of capitalism. A l t h o u g h , as w i t h R a d w a y , little w a s made i n the book of her survey data, Shattuc also distributed questionnaires to healthcare a n d hospital workers a n d visitors at t w o Boston hospitals. T w o focus groups discussions gave Shattuc more thoughtful (and more critical) notions of h o w viewers use the talk shows than did her survey data,

MAPPING T H E C O N T E S T E D TERRAIN OF MEDIA AND GENDER R E S E A R C H | exposing a n understanding of the s h o w s ' manipulative sensationalism a n d even some anger at h o w the shows construct people as 'trash'. Y e t another example of such triangulated, rigorous research is A m y Krdman FarrelPs tough-minded critique of M s . as a magazine offering a popular version of liberal feminism, indeed the first a n d perhaps only commercial magazine i n the U S A to espouse feminism. Farrell interviewed magazine staffers, went through its archives a n d examined a l l issues, including the ' N o C o m m e n t ' section that w a s contributed by readers. But a key

feature of Yours

in Sisterhood

(1998) is her analysis of a l l the letters

published i n M s . from 1 9 7 2 to 1989, as w e l l as a significant portion of the unpublished letters. Farrell shows h o w M s . readers wrote, or rewrote, the magazine for themselves, specifically w o r k i n g to 'right' the magazine, to return it to the promise they h a d seen in it as a feminist resource. N o t surprisingly for a magazine that w a s explicitly intended to be readercentred, its readers developed a relationship of reciprocity a n d identification w i t h the magazine

that w a s reinforced by a second a n d highly

adversarial relationship of resistance and contestation. Ultimately, Farrell was pessimistic about the likelihood of success for hybrids of feminism a n d commercial popularity, but they do provide crucial - a n d necessary - sites of intervention. O t h e r research has been m u c h more specifically grounded o n gathering audience data. Ien A n g based Watching

Dallas (1985) o n letters written by

42 D u t c h fans of the U S night-time dramatic (or melodramatic)

serial

Dallas. She placed a n advertisement in a D u t c h w o m e n ' s magazine asking women to write to her to tell her w h y they like to w a t c h the programme. The

m a i n premise of her study w a s that programmes

like Dallas

had

'feminist potential'. T h e y could be analysed by feminists to highlight some of the pleasures generated by such programmes as well as other forms of popular culture produced for largely female audiences that media scholars often derided as trivial or that were condemned, especially by international media critics, as symbolizing U S cultural imperialism. I n Ang's v i e w , Dallas and

similar 'weepies' could n o longer be simply condemned, given the

pleasure they inspired i n fans, for their psychological realism, albeit one based o n a deeply tragic structure of feeling a n d focus on domestic horrors, similar to the daytime soap operas. T h e visual stylization of Dallas a n d its extreme degree of external 'unrealism' are acknowledged, but she argues that the pleasure i n the fantasy of Dallas

need not necessarily lead to

political passivity or anti-feminism. To

examine more closely some of the w a y s i n w h i c h the media construct

feminine identity a n d h o w w o m e n respond to these constructions, A n d r e a Press conducted extensive open-ended interviews w i t h 2 0 working-class

I and

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND GENDER 21 middle-class w o m e n of different generations. Reporting the results 8

of her study in the book Women how

Watching

Television

( 1 9 9 1 ) , Press showed

class and generational differences influence h o w w o m e n m a k e sense of

television programming. She refuted the then academically fashionable c l a i m that audiences always resist mediated cultural hegemony as well as the c l a i m that the media determine h o w audiences make sense of their messages. Instead, she insisted that gender, social class a n d generation are fundamental factors, among others, influencing audiences' perceptions. F o r example, she found that the working-class w o m e n tended to relate to television most closely in terms of their class identity rather than their gender. F o r middle-class w o m e n , the reverse turned out to be true. E x a m i n i n g generational differences, both the youngest a n d oldest w o m e n , however, largely identified w i t h gender aspects of television programming rather than those related to social class. A s Press ( 1 9 9 1 : 177) notes: ' Y o u n g e r w o m e n [are] more critically suspicious of television's images picturing w o m e n ' s changing social positions, and older w o m e n more hopeful a n d accepting of the stories these images tell.' Phillip Schlesinger et al.'s U K study provides a n examination of women's responses to violent film and television c o n t e n t . this research, Women

Viewing

Violence

9

T h e book coming out of

( 1 9 9 2 ) , w a s based o n focus group

interviews and surveys w i t h female audiences of varying cultural backgrounds, personal experiences of male violence and social class; they were asked to respond to media representations of violence against w o m e n . F o r some of the w o m e n in the study, media violence made them remember terrible incidents of violence i n their lives. F o r others, it contributed to a general fear of being attacked. Still others, w i t h no personal experience of violence, regarded the mediated violence as abstract a n d distant from their everyday lives. H o w w o m e n viewed the violence very m u c h depended on their social background a n d any direct experiences of violence. I n other w o r d s , the study provided clear evidence for the argument that audiences should never be seen as a homogeneous group. T h a t said, while ethnicity, social class a n d experience of violence tended to differentiate w o m e n from one another, a strong similarity a m o n g w o m e n w a s a fear of male violence in general, a n d rape i n particular. A s active critics of media violence, the group of w o m e n i n the study insisted that the media must portray violence realistically a n d w i t h the a i m of educating the public about

women's

everyday experiences of violence. W h a t must be taken into consideration i n all

media portrayals of violence against w o m e n is h o w they might affect

w o m e n w h o have been victims of violence or w h o fear such violence. A s the authors conclude, 'the issue is not whether the likelihood

of similar

violence

among

depictions potential

of violence perpetrators,

increase but

the

MAPPING THE C O N T E S T E D TERRAIN O f MEDIA AND GENDER R E S E A R C H | feelings and reactions potential

that it creates among

victims of violence'

those

who are the actual

or

( 1 9 9 2 : 170, emphasis in the original, see also

Carter a n d Weaver, 2 0 0 3 ) . F o r more than four decades, a n enormously popular television genre, particularly w i t h female audiences, has been the soap opera. M a r y E l l e n B r o w n ' s focus group discussions w i t h U S soap opera fans published i n Soap Opera and Women's

Talk (1994) concludes that, despite a widespread v i e w

that this is an exploitative genre that simply reproduces hegemonic notions of femininity, female fans often use soap narratives as a w a y of resisting restrictive forms of feminine i d e n t i t y . ment

about

romance

novels,

10

soaps

Similar to R a d w a y ' s (1984) argucreate

opportunities

for

their

predominantly female audiences to construct social networks where their talk about the programmes c a n be seen as a n instance of resistive pleasure against patriarchy. Resistance to patriarchy, B r o w n insists, need not only be theorized at the macro level - that is of social changes in w o m e n ' s gender roles. Instead, it m a y also be achieved through micro-level changes i n people's consciousness about gender - through a 'constant awareness of contradiction a n d the struggle to secure a space for the voice of the female spectator w h o speaks as w e l l as sees' (1994: 182). Female spectators are at the centre of Jackie Stacey's investigation into feminine identification, published as Star Gazing: Female Spectatorship and

Hollywood

Cinema

and

(1994). Stacey's study is based on a n analysis of letters

questionnaires sent to her by w o m e n w h o were avid cinema spectators

in the 1940s and 1 9 5 0 s .

1 1

O n e of its aims w a s to challenge w h a t she per-

ceived to be universalistic arguments of psychoanalytic theorizing around female spectatorship prevalent at the time - m u c h of w h i c h assumed that w o m e n v i e w film through a 'male gaze' (Mulvey 1 9 7 5 ) . T h i s c l a i m , Stacey argued, largely ignored the historical realities of w o m e n ' s experiences as film audiences. Centred for analysis in her study w a s the historical a n d contextual place and importance of female movie stars in female spectators' memories of war-time and post-war Britain. T o understand the relationship between sexual difference, spectatorship and visual pleasure, Stacey argued for the need to provide historical accounts of the relationship between female spectators and stars. T h i s meant abandoning the assumption that female audiences passively accept w h a t they see at the cinema. T h i s c l a i m was

borne out in her audience research, where she found that w o m e n were

aware of the impossibility of attaining the feminine ideal image as presented in H o l l y w o o d cinema. Nevertheless, they all took real delight i n looking back to the youthful pleasures they experienced i n the cinema - of identification (with the star), commodity consumption, glamour and escape from the monotony of everyday life. W h a t these w o m e n highlighted w a s their

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

contradictory experiences of the restrictiveness as well as the fluidity of feminine subjectivities - thus challenging claims around w o m e n ' s almost complete subordination in patriarchal war-time and post-war Britain. W h i l e most critical audience research from the late 1980s and 1990s assumed that audiences are active a n d critical daily consumers of media, Joke H e r m e s ' s study of w o m e n ' s magazine use, published in her book Reading on

Women's

Magazines

(1995), makes a very different p o i n t .

1 2

Based

interviews w i t h w o m e n of various ethnic, social class, educational

backgrounds a n d ages, H e r m e s concluded that w o m e n ' s magazines might not be terribly important in their lives after a l l . W h i l e most of the w o m e n to w h o m she spoke find these publications to be accessible and pleasurable, they also regard them as having little cultural value or meaning. T h i s finding,

H e r m e s insists, challenges the v i e w that media texts are always

deeply significant to audiences. T h e place and importance of these magazines in w o m e n ' s lives is that they are easily incorporated into the demands of everyday life. She concludes, ' W o m e n ' s magazines as a text [sic] are not highly significant, but as an everyday m e d i u m they are a means of filling a small break and of relaxing that does not interrupt one's schedule, because they are easy to put d o w n ' (1995: 144). T h e s e publications are perhaps the easiest to pick up w h e n time permits a n d put d o w n w h e n the demands of childcare leave 'little time or energy, a n d accordingly n a r r o w s d o w n your choice of media to relax w i t h , to learn from or to be diverted by' (1995: 152). T h e speculation, then, is that perhaps their importance to w o m e n has been overestimated in previous research into this genre. E a c h of the studies sketched out here is used to highlight the need to examine the taken-for-granted assumptions about communication processes in

order to make apparent the often subtle and uneven w a y s in w h i c h

unequal gender relations structures are (re)produced w h e n audiences make sense of media texts. T h i s is where audience research comes into its o w n - in the w a y that it c a n render problematic taken-for-granted ideas and beliefs circulating in society about gender. Such investigations s h o w us h o w constructed these preferences are (in the name of audience differentiation, niche marketing and so on). Audience research contributes to a 'denaturalization' of gender difference and demonstrates i n whose interest it tends to operate. In

other words, it shows us that gender is a social construction and that

while the media play a role in (re)producing gender norms, audiences do not automatically accept w h a t they are seeing as the 'truth' of gender identity. The

research outlined here shows that the w a y s in w h i c h audiences make

sense of messages about gender in the media varies, sometimes considerably, from largely accepting traditional definitions of femininity to

outright

rejection (and somewhere in between). A t its best, it contributes to efforts to

MAPPING T H E C O N T E S T E D TERRAIN Of MEDIA AND GENDER R E S E A R C H | challenge common-sense assumptions about gender by providing a wealth of empirical evidence that sometimes turns these assumptions on their head. As

such, audience research is able to make apparent the fact that gender

identities are culturally constructed, and therefore open to challenge, rather than 'natural', unchangeable and inevitable.

Conclusion In explaining the extent to w h i c h the media contribute to the perpetuation of hierarchical forms of gender difference, m a n y scholars are increasingly attentive to the interlocking interests of t w o ideological systems: capitalism and

patriarchy. Interests in m a x i m i z i n g profit, it is argued, combine w i t h

male dominance, thereby shaping quite fundamentally the production of mainstream media texts' norms, values and beliefs. T h e power of these systems, however, c a n be challenged and contested.

Indeed, i n m a n y

industrialized societies the rigidity of masculine a n d feminine identity has diminished in recent years. T h e view currently prevailing may be that w o m e n 'have it a l l ' and m e n are experiencing a 'crisis in masculinity'. Indeed, m a n y media producers are n o w more alive to feminist thought a n d in developing the feminist sensibilities of their audiences. M e d i a forms often 'play' w i t h sexist imagery, for example, in a ' k n o w i n g ' or reflexive manner, implicitly acknowledging the media's past complicity in portraying w o m e n in n a r r o w , demeaning a n d sometimes offensive w a y s . On

the flip side, it is w o r t h examining not only w h a t has changed but also

w h a t remains problematic and as yet uncontested. Gender, a l w a y s socially constituted, continues to be ruled by conventions, albeit in d y n a m i c processes a n d expectations that have changed over the years. A s W h i t e h e a d and

Barrett ( 2 0 0 1 : 23) point out w i t h regard to masculine identity: ' N o

matter h o w definitions of masculinity change, they are always in contrast to some definition of femininity a n d always elevated over this. I n this w a y . . . anti-femininity lies at the heart of masculinity.' Pointing to examples of 'hard m e n ' such as U S boxer M i k e T y s o n a n d V i n n i e Jones, the former British soccer player turned film actor, they ( 2 0 0 1 : 7) add: Countless numbers of m e n still act dominant a n d ' h a r d ' , deny their emotions, resort to violence as a means of self-expression, and seek to validate their masculinity in the public w o r l d of w o r k rather than the private w o r l d of family a n d relationships. M o r e o v e r , such performances not only often go uncriticised, they are i n fact lauded by m a n y , both w o m e n and other m e n .

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND GENDER

T h a t is, the concept of masculinity is no more a biological given or standardized certainty than is femininity, a n d no less a problem. M a s c u l i n e identities are becoming increasingly complex and fractured, a n d perhaps no less unhealthy, as the percentage of young men w i t h eating disorders and body distortion problems seems to suggest. M a n y researchers connect boys' muscle dysmorphia (also called bigorexia) to the proliferation of media images of m e n w i t h 'perfect' and highly muscular bodies (Pope et al. 1999; Beynon 2 0 0 2 ) . T r y i n g to buck conventions about femininity or masculinity continues to be scary and even risky for both girls and boys. Sexism has not yet been eliminated f r o m the media, as several essays in this volume s h o w . I n particular, the continuing proliferation of pornographic representations in print, film a n d more recently on the Internet points to a continuing objectification a n d dehumanization of w o m e n . Sincere people m a y disagree about whether particular representations

are

pornographic, whether particular forms of pornography c a n be said to have 'pro-social' uses a n d , more generally, whether pornography c a n be defined neatly enough to be legally regulated. But people do not sincerely disagree that most pornography promotes a highly n a r r o w and even false sexual script, suggesting that w o m e n are a l w a y s sexually available a n d that even w h e n w o m e n say ' n o ' they mean 'yes'. Furthermore, although both woman-centred texts a n d female audience members have a n e w found status in the academy, scholars are right to highlight the p o w e r of commercial a n d consumer values that constrain and limit audience agency. I n a climate of complacency a r o u n d issues of gender inequality, we w o u l d argue that n o w , perhaps more than ever, feminist and critical gender research investigation is needed of the w a y s in w h i c h the media perpetuate

n a r r o w gender identities and sexual hierarchies. T h e

authors' w o r k included in this Reader contributes to a political agenda that seeks to deconstruct

and subvert these conventions a n d

challenging taken-for-granted

expectations,

assumptions about their inevitability and

paving the w a y for genuinely democratic gender relations. W e hope that our readers w i l l find this Reader to be a n intellectually exciting a n d indispensable resource for the important task of m a k i n g sense of the gendered structures of media texts, production a n d audience reception.

Notes 1.

For a discussion of the globalization of Barbie, see Hegde (2001).

2.

We use the term '(reproduction* rather than 'reproduction' to signal that while the media may represent femininity in certain narrow and restrictive ways, none

H A P P I N G T H E C O N T E S T E D TERRAIN O f HEDIA AND G E N D E R R E S E A R C H

|

the less gender identity is constantly being redefined, renegotiated and struggled over in the processes of production and reception of media texts. While we acknowledge that gender binarisms continue to disadvantage women and girls, we also think that gender identity has always been (to varying degrees) more open, fluid and challengeable than some feminists have suggested. 3.

Hobson (1980) undertook tape-recorded interviews and participant observation in the women's homes, asking them about a wide range of experiences in their everyday lives, including their use of the media.

4.

There were 30 women of various ages and social classes interviewed in their homes. Gray began her study in 1984 when video technology was still in its infancy and thus little research had yet been undertaken. Interviews were organized around a set of loosely structured questions, with each interview lasting approximately \Vi hours.

5.

Lana Rakow's (1992) ethnography of telephone use in a Midwestern rural community which found that women relied on the telephone in distinctive ways - ways that were often very different to men's telephone use.

6.

Radway's (1984) audience research consisted of two four-hour focus group interviews in a US Midwestern town she called 'Smithton' with 16 female romance fiction fans and long individual interviews with five of the most articulate women out of this group. She also used obtained information about female romance fans from 'Dorothy Evans' who also provided her with names of romance readers she might interview. Radway also described the institutional production of these novels and analysed the typical plots.

7.

Shattuc's (1997) fieldwork involved distributing questionnaires to healthcare workers and visitors to cafeterias at two Boston hospitals in March 1995. Her sample of 118 responses includes 79 women, 32 men. Sixty-four per cent of the women in the same were aged 21-40 years old and college educated; around 60 per cent of the same identified as 'white', 27 per cent as 'black', 5 per cent 'Hispanic', 2 per cent Native Americans and 1 per cent Asian. Nursing, social work, hospital administration and medical technology were the most frequently cited occupations.

8.

Press's (1991) research was based on open-ended, long interviews with 20 working-class and 21 middle-class women of different generations (from 17 to 78) in the San Francisco Bay area in 1985-86. Additional interviews were undertaken during 1986-88 in Southern Florida and Lexington, Kentucky to strengthen her findings.

9.

Schlesinger et al. (1992) included interviews with 91 women, 52 of whom had directly experienced violence. The women were organized into 14 viewing groups, based on experience of violence and national background, ethnicity and class and were shown Crimewatch UK, Update, one episode of the soap opera EastEnders, and the television drama Closing Ranks or the feature film The Accused. Group discussions lasted for seven hours. They were also asked to fill out a questionnaire containing their personal data and another questionnaire asking them about each of the programmes that they were viewing that day.

O

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

10. Brown's (1994) fieldwork consisted of focus group interviews with 30 US daytime television soap opera fans, 26 of whom were female and 4 male. Out of these, 11 were adults, 9 were young adults in their early twenties and 10 were teenagers. She broke this larger group into seven smaller ones. In all of the groups she included people who were related to one another or who were living in the same household for other reasons (college students) in order to be able to say something about kinship and friendship networks. 11. Stacey's (1994) audience study consists of 350 letters and 280 long questionnaires sent to her by British women who were keen cinema goers from the 1940s and 1950s in response to her advertisement in two weekly U K women's magazines. 12. Hermes (1995) interviewed 80 people who read a fairly wide variety of Dutch women's magazines (from weeklies to glossies), both men and women, of different ages, economic backgrounds, ethnicities in both Amsterdam, where Hermes lives, and in rural areas. Interviews largely took place where she found people reading these magazines, in railway stations, coffee shops and other public places. Interviews were semi-structured and were audio-taped for later transcription and analysis. In addition to this interview material, she also undertook textual analysis of selected women's magazines.

References Allan, S. (1999) News Culture. Buckingham and Philadelphia: Open University Press. Ang, I. (1985) Watching Dallas: Soap Opera and the Melodramatic Imagination. London and New York: Methuen. Ballaster, R., Beetham, M . , Frazer, E . and Hebron, S. (1991) Women's Worlds: Ideology, Femininity and the Woman's Magazine. London: Macmillan. Basu, S. (2001) The blunt cutting-edge: the construction of sexuality in the Bengali 'feminist' magazine Sananda, Feminist Media Studies, 1(2): 179-96. Beetham, M . (1996) A Magazine of Her Own? Domesticity and Desire in the Woman's Magazine, 1800-1914. London and New York: Routledge. Beynon, J . (2002) Masculinities and Culture. Buckingham and Philadelphia: Open University Press. Brown, M . E . (1994) Soap Opera and Women's Talk. Thousand Oaks and London: Sage. Brunsdon, C . (2000) The Feminist, the Housewife and the Soap Opera. Oxford: Clarendon. Carter, C . and Weaver, C . K . (2003) Violence and the Media. Buckingham and Philadelphia: Open University Press. Christmas, Linda (1997) Chaps of Both Sexes? Women Decision-makers in Newspapers: Do They Make a Difference? London: B T Foruni/Women in Journalism.

MAPPING THE C O N T E S T E D TERRAIN OE MEDIA AND GENDER R E S E A R C H | Craig, S. (ed.) (1992) Men, Masculinity and the Media. London and Thousand Oaks: Sage. Currie, D . (1999) Girl Talk: Adolescent Magazines and Their Readers. Toronto, Buffalo and London: University of Toronto Press. Farrell, A . E . (1998) Yours in Sisterhood. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Fiske, J . (1987) Television Culture. London: Methuen. Gerbner, G . (1978) The dynamics of cultural resistance, in G . Tuchman, A . K . Daniels and J . Benêt (eds) Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media. New York: Oxford University Press. Geraghty, C . (1990) Women and Soap Opera. Cambridge: Polity. Gray, A. (1992) Video Playtime: The Gendering of a Leisure Technology. London and New York: Routledge. Hall, S. (1980) Encoding/decoding, in Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, (ed.) Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies, 1972-79. London: Hutchinson. Hegde, R. (2001) Global makeovers and manoeuvres: Barbie's presence in India, Feminist Media Studies, 1(1): 129-33. Hermes, J . (1995) Reading Women's Magazines. Cambridge: Polity. Hobson, D . (1980) Housewives and the mass media, in S. Hall et al. (eds) Culture, Media, Language. London: Hutchinson. Jackson, P., Stevenson, N . and Brooks, K . (2001) Making Sense of Men's Magazines. Cambridge: Polity. Lloyd, J . and Johnson, L . (2003) The three faces of Eve: the post-war housewife, melodrama and home, Feminist Media Studies, 3(3): 7-25. Mattelart, M . (1986) Women, Media, Crisis. London: Comedia. McCracken, E . (1993) Decoding Women's Magazines: From Mademoiselle to Ms. London: Macmillan. McLuhan, M . (1964) Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. New York: McGraw-Hill. Mills, K . (1990) A Place in the News: From the Women's Pages to the Front Page. New York: Columbia University Press. Mills, K . (1997) What difference do women journalists make?, in P. Norris (ed.) Women, Media, and Politics. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 41-55. Modleski, T . (1982) Loving with a Vengeance: Mass-Produced Fantasies for Women. New York: Methuen. Morley, D . (1986) Family Television: Cultural Power and Domestic Leisure. London: Comedia. Mulvey, L . (1975) Visual pleasure and narrative cinema, Screen, 16(3): 6-18. Pope, H.G., Olivardia, R., Gruber, A. and Borowiecki, J . (1999) Evolving ideas of male body image as seen through action toys, International Journal of Eating Disorders, 26: 65-72. Press, A. (1991) Women Watching Television: Gender, Class and Generation in the

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER American

Television

Experience.

Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia

Press. Radway, J . (1984) Reading the Romance:

Women, Patriarchy and Popular

Lit-

erature. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press. Rakow, L . F . (1992) Gender on the Line: Women, the Telephone, and Community Life. Urbana, 111: University of Illinois Press. Rhodes, J . (2001) Journalism in the new millennium: what's a feminist to do?, Feminist Media Studies, 1(1): 49-53. Schlesinger, P., Dobash, R . E . , Dobash, R. and Weaver, C . K . (1992)

Women

Viewing Violence. London: BFI. Sebba, A. (1994) Battling For News: The Rise of the Woman Reporter.

London:

Sceptre. Shattuc, J . (1997) The Talking Cure: TV Talk Shows and Women. London and New York: Routledge. Shirvani, S., Carter, C , Ross, K . and Byerly, C . (2002) Media associations project, International Communication Association annual conference, through Communication,

Reconciliation

Feminist Scholarship Division Panel, Seoul, Korea,

15-19 July. Smith, J . (1997) Different for Girls: How Culture Creates Women. London: Chatto & Windus. Stacey, J . (1994) Star Gazing:

Hollywood

Cinema and Female

Spectatorship.

London and New York: Routledge. Steinern, G . (1990) Sex, lies and advertising, Ms., July/August. Steiner, L . (1992) Conceptions of gender in reporting textbooks, Journalism Monographs,

1890-1990,

135.

Steiner, L . (1998) Newsroom accounts of power at work, in C . Carter, G . Branston and S. Allan, (eds) News, Gender and Power. London and New York: Routledge. Stott, M . (1973) Forgetting's No Excuse. London: Faber & Faber. Tuchman, G . (1978) Introduction: the symbolic annihilation of women by the mass media, in G . Tuchman, A . K . Daniels and J . Benêt (eds) Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media. New York: Oxford University Press. van

Zoonen, L . (1998) One of the girls? The changing gender of journalism, in C . Carter, G . Branston and S. Allan (eds) News, Gender and Power. London: Routledge.

Vares, T . (2002) Framing 'killer women' films: audience use of genre,

Feminist

Media Studies, 2(2): 213-29. Whitehead, S.M. and Barrett, F.J. (2001) The Masculinities Reader. Cambridge: Polity.

MAPPING T H E C O N T E S T E D TERRAIN OF MEDIA AND GENDER R E S E A R C H | Further Reading Douglas, S. (1994) Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media. New York: Random House. Macdonald, M . (1995) Representing Women: Myths of Femininity in the Popular Media. London: Arnold. Lont, C . (ed.) (1995) Women and Media: Content/Careers/Criticism. Belmont, C A : Wads worth. Meyers, M . (ed.) (1999) Mediated Women. Cresskill, N J : Hampton Press. Ross, K . (2002) Women, Politics, Media: Uneasy Relations in Comparative spective. Cresskill, N J : Hampton Press.

Per-

MIT

TEXTS IN CONTEXT

Understanding the power of mediated images to shape social perceptions about gender has been a central focus of feminist media scholarship for over three decades. E a r l y researchers (during the 1960s and 1970s) examined media content in order to provide quantitative proof that the media typically rely on a stock of stereotypical images of w o m e n . W o m e n , they found, were recurrently portrayed as being pretty, passive, nurturing a n d concerned w i t h the domestic. M o r e o v e r , they argued, these reinforced sexist attitudes and behaviours t o w a r d w o m e n inhibiting w o m e n ' s full participation in public life (Epstein 1978; T u c h m a n 1 9 7 8 ) . A second tradition in feminist media scholarship, one that developed approximately t w o decades ago, shifted the conceptual emphasis from the surface 'message' of media content to the ideological role of media texts i n reproducing male dominance ( C o w a r d 1985; W i n s h i p 1987). Analyses of media representations of w o m e n sought to expose h o w patriarchal ideology structured their messages a n d contributed to the (re)production of hierarchical gender relations. T o d a y , feminist scholars assume that it is not enough to examine media texts in isolation. M e d i a texts must a l w a y s be analysed w i t h i n the contexts of both their production as well as the w i d e r cultural circulation of gender discourses in society. T h e first reading in this section, M y r a M a c d o n a l d ' s ' F r o m M r s H a p p y m a n to Kissing C h a p s G o o d b y e : Advertising Reconstructs F e m i n i n i t y ' , illustrates this n e w approach to textual analysis. H e r history of the w a y s i n w h i c h discourses around consumerism have constructed feminine identities over the past century argues that the advertising industry provided multiple forms of feminine identity i n order to reach n e w markets a n d increase

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

corporate profits. If w o m e n could be convinced to identify w i t h a range of feminine subjectivities, advertisers reasoned, they might be tempted

to

devote more of their household budget to the ever-expanding range of consumer goods. M e a n w h i l e , despite the number of feminine identities w i t h w h i c h w o m e n might identify, M a c d o n a l d suggests, the range has been stagnant for more than 100 years. I n our postmodern era, she concludes, advertising that ironically critiques earlier forms of feminine identities m a y seem progressive, but in the end it undermines neither the traditional devaluation of the 'feminine' nor w o m e n ' s secondary social a n d economic status in society. Patricia H o l l a n d ' s ' T h e Politics of the Smile: " S o f t N e w s " and the Sexualization of the Popular Press' traces the heavily sexualized content

of

m a n y British tabloid newspapers to the late nineteenth century, w h e n increasing competition among newspapers for mass readerships spurred many publications to broaden their appeal to include w o m e n . T o attract this feminine audience, at the time newspaper publishers and

editors

believed that all they needed to do w a s increase their 'soft' news content (for example, human-interest news, family, fashion, beauty, relationships). Some refer to this early attempt to appeal to w o m e n readers as a 'feminization' of the news. I n the process, newspapers opened up public spaces for w o m e n to discuss issues closely related to their lives as w o m e n . A l m o s t 100 years later, in the 1970s, increasing competition for dwindling newspaper readerships again contributed to a shift in newspaper content,

argues

H o l l a n d - from feminization to sexualization. T a b l o i d newspapers like the Sun,

for instance, changed from being a 'serious' broadsheet

newspaper

w i t h mostly ' h a r d ' news to a sexualized tabloid regularly featuring a seminaked 'Page T h r e e G i r l ' and advice about sex life. T h e emphasis o n sexualization (the increasing inclusion of sexual stories or sexual angles) has spread from these particular features to shape most of the paper's news stories. H o l l a n d concludes that the use of w o m e n ' s bodies a n d sexuality in the Sun undermines the democratic potential of the British popular press. Sexualized gender difference w o r k s as a form of discipline on w o m e n ' s speech and activities, inhibiting their full participation in the public sphere. Sexualization is also a central theme i n Saraswati Sunindyo's chapter, ' M u r d e r , Gender a n d the M e d i a : Sexualizing Politics a n d V i o l e n c e ' . A n a lysing news coverage of separate incidents of murder or attempted murder of three Indonesian w o m e n in the 1980s by w e l l - k n o w n men w h o h a d been their former lovers, Sunindyo shows that coverage sexualized the victims. I n each case, the press distinguished between 'good' w o m e n and ' b a d ' . G o o d w o m e n uphold a bourgeois ideology of motherhood - a w o m a n w h o places the desires of her family before her o w n . A ' b a d ' w o m a n is one w h o has

T E X T S IN C O N T E X T | sexual desires to w h i c h she yields. T h e i r male attackers, nevertheless, were exclusively portrayed as ' d r i v e n ' to violence to protect their family's h o n our. W h i l e condemned for their violence, each of the m e n w a s portrayed sympathetically. T h e i r infidelity w a s treated as understandable because 'a natural m a n . . . needs more than one w o m a n to have sex w i t h ' . These m e n were represented as being ' n o r m a l ' . T h e i r female victims, however, were depicted as ' a b n o r m a l ' - not at all like 'good', ' n o r m a l ' w o m e n , w h o are asexual. T h e overall message, concludes Sunindyo, is that the victims deserved their fate - they brought it upon themselves because of their 'unnatural' sexual desires. Sexuality also provides the focus for Marguerite M o r i t z ' s essay, ' O l d Strategies

for N e w T e x t s : H o w A m e r i c a n T e l e v i s i o n is Creating a n d

Treating L e s b i a n Characters', w h i c h looks at h o w lesbian identities have recently been constructed in U S television. A c k n o w l e d g i n g that the media are increasingly offering a wider variety of

fictional

lesbian characters,

M o r i t z nevertheless argues that i n the end, the visual and narrative codes of television restore these female characters to their 'proper place'. W h i l e some individual lesbian characters achieve personal or professional success, 'that victory is balanced out by other messages, both in the text a n d in the visual content'. A s M o r i t z concludes, this suggests that 'these

characters

have a long w a y to go before achieving equal status w i t h their heterosexual counterparts'. W h i l e early feminist researchers

concluded that w o m e n are

stereo-

typically portrayed as pretty, passive a n d domestic, Sherrie A . Inness's chapter, 'Pretty T o u g h : T h e C u l t of Femininity i n W o m e n ' s M a g a z i n e s ' , confirms that today, images of tough and determined-looking w o m e n are n o w fairly commonplace. She has found evidence for this c l a i m i n her analyses of w o m e n ' s magazines, comic books, cartoons, science fiction films and television programmes. Y e t the potential strength of these images is almost a l w a y s discursively undermined, says Inness, because assumptions about ' n a t u r a l ' biological differences between m e n and w o m e n r e m a i n largely unchallenged. M a g a z i n e s create a fantasy of toughness

where

w o m e n 'perform' toughness as a style of femininity. Moreover, w o m e n ' s toughness is almost a l w a y s connected to sexual appeal. T h i s reassures readers that even a tough w o m a n remains sexually objectified a n d available for m e n . Inness concludes that the articulation of toughness a n d sexuality 'diminishes the threat that tough w o m e n pose to the dominant social order by suggesting that a w o m a n ' s sexual availability a n d physical attractiveness w i l l be i n no w a y diminished by her tough actions a n d appearance'.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

References Coward, R. (1985) Female Desires: How They are Sought, Bought and Packaged. New York: Grove Press. Epstein, L . K . (ed.) (1978) Women and the News. New York: Hastings House. Tuchman, G . (1978) Introduction: the symbolic annihilation of women by the mass media, in G . Tuchman, A . K . Daniels, and J . Benêt (eds) Hearth and Home: images of Women in the Mass Media. New York: Oxford University Press. Winship, J . (1987) Inside Women's Magazines. London: Pandora.

Further Reading Carter, C , Branston, G . and Allan, S. (eds) (1998) News, Gender and Power. London: Routledge. Davis, S.W. (2000) Living Up to the Ads: Gender Fictions of the 1920s. Durham: Duke University Press. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Helford, E . C . (ed.) (2000) Fantasy Girls: Gender in the New Universe of Science Fiction and Fantasy Television. Lanham: Rowman &c Littlefield. Kitch, C . (2001) The Girl on the Magazine Cover: The Origins of Visual Stereotypes. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Mayne, J . (2000) Framed: Lesbians, Feminists and Media Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Stevenson, N . , Jackson, P. and Brooks, K . (2001) Making Sense of Men's Magazines. Cambridge: Polity.

o

F R O M MRS H A P P Y M A N 1 0 KISSING CHAPS GOODBYE ADVERTISING RECONSTRUCTS FEMININITY Myra Micdonald

Shopping is to a woman what getting drunk is to a man. (Columnist Dorothy Dix, in Daily Mirror, 19 December 1935) A new traditionalism, centered on family life, is in the offing . . . Romance and courtship will be back in favor, so sales of cut flowers are sure to rise . . . A return to home-making will mean a rise in supermarket sales. (Jib Fowles, in New York Times, 1988, quoted in Faludi, 1992, p. 36)

W o m e n , since at least the late nineteenth century, have been particularly associated w i t h consumerism. T h e 1980s film Pretty Woman

is only one i n

a long list of cultural celebrations of the link between shopping a n d w o m e n ' s sexual desires. I f food is reputedly the route to the male heart, shopping, preferably o n a n unlimited budget, is the imagined p a t h w a y to a w o m a n ' s . T h e French language makes the point succinctly:

'consommation

9

refers equally to consuming a n d sexual c o n s u m m a t i o n . A s evidence grew i n the early decades of the twentieth century that the developing arts of retailing a n d advertising were attracting a predominantly female clientele, marketers a n d advertisers became significant definers of twentieth-century w o m e n ' s desires a n d aspirations. T h e media's interest i n attracting w o m e n as readers or viewers w a s often motivated first by their perceived c o m mercial value as consumers. T h i s chapter w i l l explore the part that consumer discourses have played in endorsing a n d reproducing particular models of femininity i n the course of this century.

A s early

as the interwar

period, long before

post-

structuralism h a d been heard of, advertising w a s constructing multiple possible identities for w o m e n i n a n effort to enhance their spending power.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

W o m e n w h o s a w themselves as self-sacrificing mothers and as occasionally self-indulgent pleasure-seekers were going to be better consumers than those w h o related to one persona only. W h e r e consumerism s a w increased purchasing potential, feminism s a w the creation of a multifaceted and artificial feminine mystique. A n x i o u s to

explore

instead the

common

experiences that united w o m e n , a n d , more gradually, the real political differences that separated them, such as class, sexuality a n d ethnicity, second-wave feminism in the 1960s a n d 1970s had little i n c o m m o n w i t h consumerism. Postfeminism, in the 1980s a n d 1990s, has been hailed as a n accommodation, however uneasy, between these two old enemies. T h e last part of this chapter w i l l consider h o w persuasive this theory is.

Women, the Media and Consumption in the Interwar Period W i t h the growth i n department (established as early as 1860)

stores, such as M a c y ' s in N e w Y o r k

and Selfridge's in L o n d o n (established in

1 9 0 9 ) , middle-class w o m e n were enticed out of their domestic cloisters and into the public sphere. Outings by bourgeois w o m e n h a d long been legitimate in the interests of finding a marriage partner,

as Jane Austen's

exquisitely detailed a n d witty early nineteenth-century accounts of balls and

promenades as methods of feminine self-display demonstrate.

Ven-

turing out of the home w a s also allowed i n the course of that century for the dispensing of philanthropy to the poor or the sick. G o i n g out to indulge in the pleasure of looking a n d buying, w i t h w o m a n the surveyor rather than the surveyed, m a r k e d a revolutionary innovation (Bowlby 1 9 8 5 ) . W o m e n ' s supremacy in the field of consumption quickly h a d its effect on the emerging mass media both i n Britain a n d the U S A . 1930s advertising trade journals in the United States regularly attributed between 80 a n d 85 per cent of all consumption to w o m e n , a n d as early as the 1920s identified w o m e n as a coherent target group. T h e class-differentiated ' C o l o n e l ' s L a d y and

Judy O ' G r a d y ' were, advertisers were pithily k n o w n to remark, 'sisters

under the s k i n ' ( M a r c h a n d 1985, pp. 6 5 - 6 ) . T h e growing band of press advertisers eagerly exploited opportunities to c o a x w o m e n out of their feminine caution into a desire to spend. B y 1926, the high-selling Home

Journal

Ladies'

w a s already devoting over half its 2 7 0 pages to advertise-

ments ( M a r c h a n d 1985, p. 7). In

Britain, Alfred H a r m s w o r t h (later L o r d Northcliffe) w a s the first to

capitalize o n the attraction of w o m e n to advertisers. I n the 1890s, he launched two popular w o m e n ' s weekly magazines, one w i t h a title,

Home

Chat, w h i c h neatly encapsulated current thinking about the feminine sphere

FROM MRS HAPPYMAN TO K I S S I N G ( H A P S G O O D B Y E | and

feminine discourse/jin 1903 he took the more pioneering step of setting

up the Daily commercial

Mirror success

as a newspaper 'for gentlewomen'. T h e a i m w a s rather

than

support

for

feminism, even

though

Northcliffe's entrepreneurial zest persuaded h i m to appoint a majority of female journalists. T h e failure of this project reputedly enhanced N o r t h cliffe's disillusionment w i t h w o m e n ' s intelligence and abilities: ' W o m e n can't write and don't w a n t to read', he is alleged to have 'growled' ( W i l liams 1969, p. 93). T h e immediate result w a s the sacking of the female staff, a n d the transformation of the Daily Mirror

into a successful general-

interest picture paper. T h i s experience did not deter Northcliffe f r o m including a w o m e n ' s section i n his newspapers. H e h a d initiated this in the Daily Mail i n 1896, and

by 1909 w a s w a r n i n g its editor, M a r l o w e , to ensure the continuing

femininity of

the magazine

page,

intensified from the Daily Express

as competition

for w o m e n

readers

( L e M a h i e u 1988, p. 33). T h e i r function

as bait for advertisers encouraged women's pages (particularly i n the more popular papers) to experiment w i t h layout a n d typography ahead of the rest of the paper. Northcliffe's alleged c l a i m that ' w o m e n are the holders of the domestic purse-strings. . . . T h e y are the real buyers. M e n buy w h a t w o m e n tell them to' (quoted in L e M a h i e u 1988, p. 34) w a s to find m a n y echoes as the twentieth century progressed, in the film as w e l l as the press industry. C h a r l e s E c k e r t (1978), Jane Gaines and Charlotte H e r z o g (Gaines a n d H e r z o g 1990; H e r z o g a n d G a i n e s 1991), amongst others, have documented the interaction between the selling of movies a n d the selling of goods i n 1930s A m e r i c a . W o m e n , again, were the principal target. H o l l y w o o d films acted as showcases for the latest feminine fashions, w h i c h , by the 1930s, were being promoted a n d sold i n tandem w i t h the film's opening. N e w s papers a n d magazines, on both sides of the A t l a n t i c , helped to promote the fashion of

the stars by running features on

their dresses or

costume

designers, a n d by treating female stars as the first source of glamour pictures. In the mid-1930s, the Daily Mirror,

reviewing the fortunes of w o m e n

over the previous 30 years, identified film stars as the most powerful influence. ' H e r e we are', commented the writer Cecile Leslie, 'thanks to the Dietrichs, H a r l o w s , G a r b o s a n d C o l b e r t s . . . . F o r it is the film stars w h o are in great degree responsible for us of 1935. T h e y have s h o w n us h o w to make the best of whatever type of face and figure w e possess'. Stars were, i n the w o r d s of the article's introduction, responsible for defining the rules of 'that amusing game - the game of being a W o m a n ' (Daily

Mirror,

17

December 1935). Films also helped to promote cosmetics and beauty products. L u x soap w a s the most widely publicized product in the 1930s to use star appeal to sell

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

itself to admiring fans. Daily newspapers in Britain, as well as film magazines, carried a series of advertisements extolling the benefits of the brand to named actresses, including Bette Davis and M y r n a L o y . T h e unrelenting rigours of the cinematic close-up were cited as evidence of the soap's ability to prove its qualities of gentleness and deep-cleansing softness. F i l m idols set standards of appearance that influenced many w o m e n ' s choices as consumers. Jackie Stacey's (1991) fascinating discovery of the extent to w h i c h female fans of the 1940s and 1950s identified w i t h the stars beyond the screen, constructing them as objects of desire a n d imitating their hairstyles a n d clothes, w o u l d almost certainly have been true of the interwar period also. F i n a n c i a l incentives prompted radio, too, to dream up w a y s of targeting w o m e n listeners, especially in the United States, where commercial motivation flourished earlier than in the regulated British environment. Soap opera w a s the most obvious result, c o m b i n i n g the selling of the sponsor's products (Procter & G a m b l e toiletries) w i t h a narrative structure designed to keep w o m e n compulsively tuned i n . B y the 1930s the custom of equating w o m e n w i t h domestic consumption a n d control of the family budget w a s so w e l l established that it w a s etched into most forms of media, a n d w a s almost single-handedly responsible for the burgeoning of the w o m e n ' s magazine press. It encouraged the establishment in Britain of t w o increasingly successful w e e k l y magazines (Woman's 1 9 3 7 ) , while in the United States McCalls

Own in 1932 a n d Woman

in

changed its format in 1932

to

improve the visibility of its advertisements ( M c C r a c k e n 1993, pp. 6 5 - 6 ) . C o n t e m p o r a r y statistics about gender a n d purchasing decisions, taken together w i t h the plethora of diverse products n o w being manufactured for domestic use, made w o m e n the obvious group to become the first holder of the successful 'market niche' a w a r d , even if marketing terminology h a d not yet evolved the term.

That Amusing Game of Being a Woman Advertising discourses of the interwar period evolved a personal style of appeal, or personal mode of address, to their assumed readers. Whereas in everyday life w e adapt the w a y s w e talk according to our knowledge of the people w e are speaking to, being playful or ironic w i t h some and formal and

serious w i t h others, media modes of address have to rely on assump-

tions about their intended audiences. F o r this reason, they have been described as addressing a n implied, rather than an actual, reader and as playing a significant role in constructing readers (Brunt 1 9 9 0 ) .

subjectivities for the audience or

FROM MRS HAPPYMAN TO K I S S I N G CHAPS G O O D B Y E | D u r i n g the interwar period, three constructions of feminine identity dominated in advertising discourse: the capable household manager;

the

guilt-ridden mother: and the self-indulgent 'flapper'. These were not selfcontained categories of actual w o m e n , but manufactured versions of feminine responsibilities or

aspirations that h a d particular resonance

for

w o m e n of the period. W h i l e the first t w o principally spoke to w o m e n i n the domestic sphere, they also h a d wider ideological influence in sustaining the importance of the home against the new libertarianism of the 'jazz era'. T h e pleasure-seeking 'flapper' most obviously addressed a generation of young w o m e n exploring the n e w leisure opportunities of the period, but it also provided a dream of escape for the housebound married w o m a n . T h e modes of address, as we w i l l see, were sometimes directed at m e n rather than w o m e n , but the constructions of femininity remained constant.

The capable household manager In

the interwar period, a number of developments conspired to redefine

w o m e n ' s domestic responsibilities as a science or a skilled craft. W o m e n had

to be enticed back to the home, whether from their brief taste of

industrial life during W o r l d W a r I , or from their pre-marriage employment in the professions, m a n y of w h i c h operated a marriage bar. T h e g r o w t h of suburbia

broke

up w o m e n ' s

traditional

social networks, a n d

sparkling n e w homes into potential shrines, just as domestic

turned servants

became increasingly hard to find. If this w a s not enough to motivate a n e w ideological

status

for

household management,

domestic

chores

were

potentially shrinking because of the increasing production of labour-saving devices, a n d the growing availability of ready-made clothing a n d prepackaged foods. W h i l e working-class w o m e n still juggled jobs outside the home w i t h domestic responsibilities, unaided by either servants or electrical gadgets, middle-class w o m e n were ready to take a novel pride in managing their homes w i t h m i n i m u m outside help. T r a i n i n g for this new 'career' mushroomed during the period, w i t h the growth of domestic science courses and a steady stream of manuals offering advice a n d instruction. Some of these made explicit links between the time and

motion studies being carried out in the industrial sphere a n d the

desirability of introducing similar principles of efficiency into the domestic realm ( L e w i s 1984, p. 116). W o m e n themselves, still largely accepting their prime responsibility for hearth and home, applied pressure for better access to the n e w technologies

a n d improved training through

campaigning

organizations such as the Electrical Association for W o m e n , founded by

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND GENDER

C a r o l i n e Haslett in 1924

(Davidson 1 9 8 2 , pp. 4 0 - 3 ) . W o m e n in Britain

were conscious that they were not gaining m a x i m u m advantage out of the rapid spread of the electrical supply i n the 1930s. W h i l e i n the United States, refrigerators a n d v a c u u m cleaners were already w e l l established, in Britain only relatively small percentages of the population o w n e d these by 1939

(although the possibility of hiring equipment increased their dis-

tribution to some extent). C o o k e r s (electric and gas) and small appliances such as irons were more widely available. Analogies between w o m e n ' s domestic skills and the qualities expected i n industry a n d the professions began to appear i n newspapers a n d w o m e n ' s magazines as early as the 1920s. H e l e n a N o r m a n t o n , described as a l a w student and a brilliant young feminist, wrote i n the Daily Express

(6 Sep-

tember 1920) of the discipline and discrimination involved i n cookery: ' T h e same gifts that enable a w o m a n to be a methodical and balanced teacher, writer, doctor, or nurse w i l l make her into a good cook if she wishes them to do so. E c o n o m y , p l a n , method, judgment, a n d proportion are all called into play'. H e r v i e w w a s echoed by a 1925 article in the same newspaper (this time on the w o m e n ' s page) entitled ' W h a t is H o u s e h o l d Science?' T h e writer, M a r y E v e l y n , comments that 'the kitchen is the cook's laboratory or place where experiments

are

made'

(Daily

Express,

17

June

1925).

H o u s e w o r k h a d never before been a w a r d e d such a high status. Advertising discourses caught the m o o d , using flattery to hail w o m e n as experts well versed in the finer points of household management. Advertisements for E l e c t r o l u x v a c u u m cleaners turned the housewife into a scientific educator, able to interpret diagrams explaining the advantages of the Electrolux filter and dust-collection system: To

the ordinary eye clean and dirty air look m u c h the same. But sci-

ence has proved, as y o u c a n see from these diagrams, w h a t a difference there is - and the Electrolux made the difference! B y means of its chemically-treated p a d through w h i c h all the air in the r o o m is passed, the Electrolux removes the dangerous germs and bacteria a n d leaves the air germ-free and wholesome. (Daily Express,

27 M a r c h

1930)

Science w a s evoked repeatedly in advertisements for n e w cleaning agents. 'Do

y o u use Persil the right w a y ? ' , advertisements asked, as the product's

chemical properties were outlined: 'it's the oxygen set free by Persil w h i c h does the w o r k ' (Daily Mirror,

9 June 1 9 2 5 ) . Advertising also acknowledged

that w o m e n shared information a n d ideas as w e l l as gossip. H o u s e h o l d tips from female friends, relatives or n a m e d experts were regularly included i n

FROM MRS H A P P Y M Ä N TO K I S S I N G CHAPS G O O D B Y E

|

w o m e n ' s pages and frequently used i n advertisements to endorse products. Of

obvious commercial value, these also suggested a bank of feminine

knowledge and information w h i c h w a s recognized and valued in no other public discourse of the time. Science in the kitchen became symptomatic of modernity. Advertisements for cleaning agents particularly stressed the connection between the modern and

the scientific. W o m e n , freed from 'drudgery' (the advertisers' favourite

'boo' w o r d for domestic chores) could enjoy the modern pastimes of the age.

Repeatedly,

advertisements

for

labour-saving

machines

such

as

vacuum-cleaners and thermostatically controlled cookers implied that the w o m a n released periodically from the kitchen w o u l d make a more exciting c o m p a n i o n . M e n were cajoled into purchasing (or hiring) v a c u u m cleaners to save their wives (often described, w i t h a nuanced reminder of sexual delights, as 'brides') from the toil of h o u s e w o r k . A n advertisement

for

G o b l i n cleaners asked pointedly, ' S I R ! Is your wife cheerful w h e n y o u get home tired?' (Daily Mail, 14 M a r c h 1930). If not, the solution w a s obvious. H o o v e r enticed husbands, too, by claiming that leisure w a s w h a t a w o m a n needed 'to keep herself daintily dressed and up-to-date' (Daily Record,

15

December 1930). N e w W o r l d Regulo-controlled gas cookers a l l o w e d a n elegantly dressed w o m a n to provide her o w n testimonial: T used to spend half m y morning in the kitchen (looked and felt like it, too . . . ) . N o w . . . I can just leave the whole dinner to cook i t s e l f . . . whilst I trot out a n d do m y shopping or see m y friends, or enjoy myself i n lots of w a y s I never h a d time to do before'. T h e advantages were palpable: 'John says it's made a N e w W o m a n of m e ! ' (Scottish

Daily Express,

4 M a r c h 1935).

Redesigning housework as scientific management did not quite succeed i n m a k i n g it glamorous, but it did make it compatible w i t h the spirit of modernism. T h e contrasting subjectivities of the 'housewife' a n d the ' N e w W o m a n ' could be blended into one. ' M r s H a p p y m a n ' embodied the c o m bination. She w a s the m o d e r n advocate for Electrolux, responsible as w e saw

earlier for demonstrating its scientific advantages, but her priorities

were unashamedly conventional: ' L o o k , everybody', she exclaimed w i t h delight, ' H o m e s transformed a n d beautified - the servant problem solved and

every husband a H a p p y m a n , like mine. T h a t ' s w h a t this really w o n -

derful machine w i l l do for y o u ' (Daily Express, As

2 5 M a r c h 1930).

C h r i s t i n a H a r d y m e n t ruefully points out, the 'businesslike gloss' that

discourses of household management

put ' o n the mundane matter

of

h o u s e w o r k ' helped to distract w o m e n from dreams of participating more fully in the public sphere ( 1 9 8 8 , p. 187). M a n a g e m e n t skills in w o m e n , a n d familiarity w i t h science a n d technology were to be encouraged as long as they remained confined w i t h i n the home. A l t h o u g h the time released by

I

(R i 11 (AI RIA DIN G S: MEDIA AND GENDER

labour-saving foods, ready-made clothes or domestic appliances w a s frequently depicted as enhancing w o m e n ' s leisure opportunities, it w a s rarely seen as enabling w o m e n to combine the roles of homemaker and w o r k e r outside the home. A 1930 advertisement for V i m w a s a n exception. ' O u r M o t h e r s ' , its advocate explained, 'could not have managed both housekeeping and business', but n o w it w a s possible to combine both w i t h ease and w i t h a cleaning lady employed for only 'a couple of hours' (Daily

Mail,

6 M a r c h 1930).

Guilty mothers W h i l e technology reconstituted housework for modernity, w o m e n ' s roles as mothers invited a more traditional approach. W o m e n ' s capacity for guilt w a s ruthlessly exploited by advertisers in the interwar period. E v e n w h e n the problem to be solved by the advertised product w a s w o m e n ' s exhaustion, w o m e n were

invited to

take

the

blame. A n advertisement

for

W i n c a r n i s tonic stressed that a relaxed a n d stress-free atmosphere in the home w a s the w o m a n ' s responsibility. Based on worries that female 'fatigue and anaemia' were capable of w r e c k i n g marriages, the first-person text repeatedly underlined this thesis. O n e 'young M a y f a i r w i f e '

admitted,

'Although I didn't realise it, I w a s to blame. N i n e times out of ten the w o m a n is' (Daily Express,

6 December 1 9 3 5 ) .

I n both Britain a n d the U S A , advertisers homed in on mothers' insecurities about the quality of their childcare. R u t h Schwartz C o w a n cites a content analysis of advertisements in the Ladies' w a r s w h i c h demonstrated

Home Journal

between the

that appeal to guilt w a s a favourite

tactic

( C o w a n 1983, footnote, p. 187). T h e tricky economic situation, together w i t h the growing attention to child psychology, provided a fertile breeding ground for maternal anxieties. T h e quality of nourishment mothers were providing for their children w a s one of the worries advertisers encouraged, especially in advertisements for the n e w breakfast cereals and food supplements. W h a t R o l a n d M a r c h a n d refers to in the States as the parables of the 'Unraised H a n d ' i n the classroom and the 'Skinny K i d ' ( 1 9 8 5 , pp. 2 9 6 ¬ 9) were echoed in British advertising, as w o m e n were urged to identify w i t h the mother whose son w a s not 'good enough for the team' until she fed h i m G r a p e - N u t s (Daily Mail, 17 June 1925) or the mother whose baby did not look as strong as others (advertisement for Scotts B r a n d E m u l s i o n , Mirror,

Daily

6 December 1935).

Fears about hygiene were a second a n d potent source of concern. A t a time w h e n penicillin h a d not been heard of, and diseases such as tuberculosis claimed m a n y young lives, this anxiety w a s readily e v o k e d . , Since

FROM MRS HAPPYMAN TO K I S S I N G ( H A P S G O O D B Y E | germs, as advertisers frequently emphasized, were invisible, the housewife could never be totally sure that she h a d exterminated them. I n Britain throughout the 1920s a n d 1930s, Lifebuoy soap advertisements vividly described dust as the 'invisible enemy', a n d graphically enacted domestic scenes where children were at risk from lurking microbes, while V i m piously declared 'it's not original sin but original dirt we have to (Daily Mirror,

fight'

19 M a r c h 1930). T h e V i c t o r i a n m o r a l crusade h a d moved

unceremoniously from the temperance hall to the kitchen floor. W h e n motherly angst w o r e thin, fear of scorn from neighbours or friends could be equally effective. H a r p i c advertisements i n the 1930s featured a pair of disapproving eyes, w i t h a caption guaranteed to strike terror into the reader: ' A r e y o u S U R E your lavatory never offends? Friends w o n ' t tell y o u about your lavatory' (Scottish in and

Daily Express,

7 M a r c h 1935). Shock tactics

advertising discourse were softened, however, by reassurance. Experts advisers were frequently quoted w i t h i n the advertisement, encouraging

trust. Doctors and nurses (real or

fictitious)

were favoured sources

of

confidential advice. W i t h such support, w o m e n could embrace the caring burden w i t h confidence a n d enthusiasm.

Flappers invade the public sphere F o r the n e w generation of cosmetic and luxury products coming onto the market i n the interwar period, a thoroughly modernist version of femininity needed to be constructed. T h e unmarried 'modern miss', designated in the 1920s as the 'flapper' w o m a n , loved to enjoy a n d indulge herself, participating i n sport, dancing or driving open-topped motor cars. H e r spending power w a s earned by w o r k i n g in the public sphere, most probably as a n office employee, or sales assistant. W i t h bobbed hair, and clothes w h i c h gave a n androgynous look to her svelte figure, her sophistication w a s symbolized by her elegantly displayed cigarette. A s Billie M e l m a n (1988) observes, the term 'flapper' shared the history of other w o r d s that acquired pejorative connotations w h e n applied to w o m e n . Although outgoing and lively, the flapper w a s also irresponsible and flighty. She occupied the public d o m a i n of the street or the dancehall while her married sister kindled the domestic hearth. A l t h o u g h a creature of modernity, the flapper w a s often caricatured as replaying the traditional characteristics of femininity in new garb. H e r display of feminine manipulation, narcissism and coquettishness was

a frequent theme in Haselden's cartoon strips in the Daily

Mirror,

published prominently o n the editorial page. H e r association w i t h leisure pursuits rather than serious activities helped to devalue her social a n d , especially, her political status.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER T h i s process w a s particularly visible i n the public discourses surrounding

the introduction of votes for all w o m e n over 21 in late 1920s Britain. Pejoratively referred to in the press as the 'Flapper B i l l ' or the 'Rule-byW o m e n B i l l ' , this long overdue extension of the franchise raised spectres of incompatibility between femininity and citizenship rights. T h e age-group to be enfranchised (21 to 2 9 , w o m e n over 30 having already been given the vote in 1918) provided the excuse for forgetting about women's capacities and selflessness in the domestic sphere and for highlighting instead their fickleness and self-indulgent silliness. T h e disdain i n w h i c h the n e w voter w a s held w a s typified by a cartoon in the Scottish Daily Record

(18 M a y 1929) during the

election campaign. 'Here is the latest election story', it quipped: ' A canvasser calling on a w o m a n elector asked if she w a s interested in the Liberal Party. " Y e s , of c o u r s e ! " she replied. " W h e r e are they having i t ? ' " (18 M a y 1929). F o r the advertisers of the expanding range of cosmetic a n d beauty products, or of artificial fabrics such as r a y o n , the flapper w a s the ideal icon. The

selfless concerns of the wife a n d mother were replaced by a self-

directed attention to image. Soap advertising exemplified both approaches, w i t h a clear dividing line between those brands (such as Lifebuoy a n d Sunlight) destined to offer protection to others by fighting household germs, and those (such as L u x or Knight's Castile) guaranteed to stimulate personal

fantasies.

Cartoon

strips

were

frequently

deployed

in

1930s

advertisements as a popular means of indulging desires already fanned by romantic

fiction

a n d w o m e n ' s magazines.

G e r m s m a y have been the

obstacle to Utopia confronting the mature w o m a n , but the obstacles to romance were more intimidating to the young, competing (because of the wartime toll on available men) for a marriage partner. B a d breath, body hair and body odours were graphically depicted as m a j o r hazards to be defeated by the array of chemical remedies being produced i n the new lightindustry factories. Blemishes bestowed by nature c o u l d also be masked by seductive lingerie, silk stockings or careful attention to dress. T h e flapper image of the 'new w o m a n ' as playful, self-indulgent, sexually aware, and adventurous also suited the advertisers of cigarettes, perfume, chocolates, motor-cars and other luxury goods. A l t h o u g h m a n y of these targeted male purchasers, the association of the product w i t h w o m e n helped to enhance its seductive a u r a . Advertising for N i p p y chocolates i n newspapers of the 1930s featured female open-topped car drivers a n d female motor-cyclists. T h i s daring outdoor image contrasted w i t h the version of femininity on offer from R o w n t r e e ' s advertisements i n the run-up to Christmas in 1935.

Addressed to m e n , the text focused o n box appeal:

' C h o o s e among the hundreds of delightful designs, k n o w i n g that R o w n tree's Chocolates are those w h i c h a girl loves best, a n d that long after they

FROM MRS HAPPYMAN TO K I S S I N G ( H A P S G O O D B Y E | have vanished the box w i l l be used for her little personal k n i c k - k n a c k s ' (Daily Record,

21 December 1 9 3 5 ) .

Although the flapper image accorded ill w i t h w o m e n ' s increasing claims for political recognition, her outgoing modernity allowed advertisers to align her independence of spirit w i t h w o m e n ' s rights campaigns. A s a n advertisement in the States for toothpaste suggested in the early 1930s, deciding w h i c h brand to favour could become a surrogate political act ( M a r c h a n d 1985,

pp. 1 8 6 - 7 ) . F o l l o w i n g a lead caption ' W h e n lovely

w o m e n vote', the text concludes that their inevitable choice is Listerine toothpaste. T h e w o m a n romantically represented in the illustration is, w e are told, 'charming, educated, well-to-do' a n d 'prominent

in the social

and

civic life of her city' (my italics). T h a t her m a i n concern should be her choice of a n appropriate brand of toothpaste is not meant to surprise us. When

the

American

Tobacco

Company

consulted

Edward

Bernays

(nephew of Sigmund F r e u d a n d pioneer of public relations) about the best method of encouraging w o m e n to smoke, he suggested equating cigarette smoking w i t h women's rights. W i t h the support of feminist R u t h H a l e , he negotiated the inclusion of ten cigarette-smoking young w o m e n in the 1929 Easter Parade in N e w Y o r k 'as a protest against w o m e n ' s inequality' ( E w e n 1976,

pp. 1 6 0 - 1 ) . E q u a l i t y might be co-opted as a device to sell

goods, but it gained little practical support from the period's emphasis on female consumerism. A s Christine Frederick, a contemporary home economist and advertising adviser, observed i n Selling

Mrs Consumer

(1929),

' W o m a n is . . . powerful i n buying because of her secondary position to men'

( E w e n 1976, p. 170).

In the interwar years, the different subjectivities constructed for w o m e n in

consumer discourses coexisted without friction. T h e technology-freed

housewife could become the ' n e w w o m a n ' i n her newly discovered leisure hours, while the youthful flapper might mature contentedly into the caring, guilt-ridden mother. M o d e r n i t y added excitement to the domestic role, without fundamentally disturbing its status. T h e G r a m s c i a n theory

of

'hegemony' offers some help i n understanding this process. G r a m s c i argues that dominant ideologies do not impose themselves coercively o n our consciousness: instead, they dovetail into w a y s of thinking that w e are comfortable w i t h , that m a k e sense to us and may even seem to acknowledge important truths about our lives. W o m e n ' s role in the domestic sphere w a s given a new lease of life i n advertising discourses that turned unpaid labourers into technologically sophisticated craft-workers competencies

w i t h special

and skills. B y redrafting discourses of domestic

labour,

advertising both brought them into line w i t h modernity a n d flattered w o m e n into taking pride i n their traditional place w i t h i n the home.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER T h a t hegemony, given a further boost by the advertising and w o m e n ' s

magazine discourses of the consumer b o o m years of the 1950s, w a s sharply challenged by the second wave of feminism in the 1960s and 1970s. L e d by Betty Friedan's The Feminine

(first published in 1963), feminism

Mystique

charged consumerism w i t h constructing identities for w o m e n that were deeply conservative. Initially adopting Friedan's manipulative model of the media, feminists set up consciousness-raising groups to extend w o m e n ' s awareness of the relationship between their o w n experiences and the social structures underpinning these. By this means, they also extended politics to include the subjective and the experiential. W i t h the slogan 'the personal is political', a new agenda w a s set to include personal relationships, sexuality, and

even fashion and personal style. T h r o u g h o u t the 1970s, feminist a n d

consumerist ideologies and discourses were ranged implacably against each other, sparring from time to time, but occasionally also learning each other's tricks.

Independent but still feminine D u r i n g the 1970s, feminists began to wage guerrilla w a r on advertising's sexism. Stickers accusing advertisers of degrading w o m e n appeared on the L o n d o n Underground and graffiti slogans were sprayed o n street posters, humorously and effectively parodying consumerism's masculine discourse. A Fiat advertisement, sporting an elegant w o m a n lying o n the car roof and exclaiming 'it's so practical, darling', attracted the riposte, ' W h e n I ' m not lying on cars I ' m a brain surgeon' (Posener 1986). Feminist

appeals

for change

were

less successful w h e n channelled

through the official advertising monitoring bodies. T h e Advertising Standards Authority, responsible in Britain for all advertisements other than broadcast ones, w a s unimpressed by feminist complaints in the 1970s. Retaliating w i t h its o w n research, published in 1982 as Herself the A S A demonstrated representations.

that most

w o m e n were content

with

Appraised, current

Although accused of bad faith for focusing solely o n

advertisements printed in w o m e n ' s magazines, w h i c h were least likely to cause concern, this report fuelled suspicions that feminists were paranoid whingers, totally lacking, despite their witty graffiti campaigns, in a sense of humour. Feminists were criticized for ignoring 'the existing facts of life, i.e. that the majority of w o m e n still see themselves as housewives and that a high proportion rather

than

Guardian,

of products

in their

are aimed at women

business

26 June 1978,

role'

in their traditional

( A S A spokesperson quoted in

role The

my italics). T h e second part of this defence

FROM MRS HAPPYMAN TO K I S S I N G CHAPS G O O D B Y E | confirms that the prime motivation keeping the domestic emphasis alive was commercial rather than purely ideological. Advertising in the 1970s w a s not, however, entirely impervious to the debate about w o m e n ' s changing roles and aspirations. Despite its reluctance to accede to feminist demands, the Advertising Standards Authority did

c l a m p d o w n on the most blatant abuse of w o m e n ' s bodies as sales

gimmicks for products such as motor cycles or industrial tools.

More

subtly, advertising itself began to take stock of the evidence that w o m e n wished to be regarded as individuals rather than as roles. T h e tone w a s set by the up-beat modes of address in the new generation of 'liberated' young women's magazines (such as Honey

( I 9 6 0 ) , 19 (1968) and

Cosmopolitan,

making its British début in 1 9 7 2 ) . Advertisers w h o addressed young w o m e n as unique i n their style a n d aspirations encouraged wider consumption of cosmetics a n d fashion. By blending harmoniously w i t h the environment and discourse of the new magazines, advertising also benefited from the intimacy and trust that these publications established w i t h their readers. Recognition advertisements,

of w o m e n ' s

individualism

although it became

began

to

feature

in

1970s

more pronounced in the following

decades. I n the 1970s, T r i u m p h advertised bras 'for the w a y y o u are', but the images were still of feminine w o m e n , ' w o m a n - s h a p e d a n d p r o u d of it' (Cosmopolitan,

N o v e m b e r 1978)

or 'the very picture of serenity'

(She,

November 1978). By the mid-1980s, the caption remained the same, but the images identified a wider range of subjectivities, from tender mother, to sun-seeking holiday-maker, to art-loving sophisticate. T h e Daily Mail, in its campaign to w o o more w o m e n readers, also exploited a varied set of identities to illustrate its caption 'behind every successful w o m a n there's a Daily Mail\ I n a n odd inversion of readership expectations, a n advertisement for that paper in Cosmopolitan

(November, 1978) depicts a mother

being applauded by adoring children as she bears a three-tiered birthday cake to a table already groaning w i t h labour-intensive goodies; while in the same

month,

the more

domestically orientated

She

features

a

young

w o m a n , w i t h two male companions, participating enthusiastically in a yachting expedition. Perfumes, too, caught the individualistic fever. C a c h e t featured snap-shot images of eight different w o m e n to accentuate its caption: ' A fragrance as individual as y o u are' (She,

November 1978). M a x

Factor's Blasé also featured a range of individualistic w o m e n to bear w i t ness to its slogan: 'It's not w h a t y o u wear: it's the w a y you w e a r it'. The

other hint that feminism w a s in the air came from the advertising

agencies'

sudden cultivation of stylistic androgyny.

This

began

with

Revlon's fragrance, C h a r l i e , launched first in the U n i t e d States in February 1973 a n d soon established as a n international brand leader. ' C h a r l i e ' w a s

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

clad in trousers, a l w a y s striding confidently along, but aware of her o w n sexual appeal. O n film or in still pose, her gaze w a s directed knowingly towards the camera. She w a s to be seen, as the caption instructed us, as 'gorgeous, sexy, young'. R e v l o n w a s careful to retain C h a r l i e ' s feminine credentials: 'Independent and not needing a m a n , but still feminine, not into w o m e n ' s l i b ' (cited i n M y e r s 1986,

p. 77). Although C h a r l i e wafted a

breath of fresh air across Revlon's other creation of the period, the 'sensual, but not too far from innocence' w o m a n of Jontue's cloyingly romantic campaign, her femininity w a s never i n doubt. O t h e r feminine w o m e n in masculine attire followed, most notably in C h a n e l N o . 19's Gentleman's C l u b campaign, where the sophisticated young w o m a n takes the male club by storm, literally letting her hair d o w n as she capsizes into the traditional leather armchair to read her Financial

Times.

T h i s use of male dress w a s novel i n advertising, but, i n c o m m o n w i t h its appearance in the cinema, it w o r k e d to increase the sexual appeal of the w o m a n rather than the reverse. It h a d little to do w i t h a feminism that w a s already w a r y of trick suggestions that w o m e n ' s equality meant becoming more like a m a n . F e m i n i s m may ultimately have been more influential in the 1970s in encouraging advertisers to expand the product areas that were thought appropriate to female consumption. N e w arrivals included cars; drinks previously thought of as male; a n d banks, building societies a n d insurance companies. W i t h the eye-catching caption 'Sex has never been a problem for us', a n advertisement for the British L e y l a n d M i n i in the m i d - 1 9 7 0 s makes heavy weather of the attributes of the car (such as stylishness, or the luxury that 'pampers the gentle sex') that cannot be talked about in a n era conscious of 'sex discrimination' {Observer

Magazine,

13 June 1 9 7 6 ) . C a r advertise-

ments in w o m e n ' s magazines often appealed to w o m e n as mothers, trying to pack the family shopping and baby gear into inadequately sized boots. A Citroën Estate advertisement used the image of a toddler w i t h the caption 'she takes up more r o o m than t w o adults' to catch the reader's eye

(She,

N o v e m b e r 1 9 7 8 ) . Guinness w a s marketed for w o m e n w h o had already 'pinched' men's pullovers, aftershave and trousers (She, February 197A), for w o m e n w h o could even 'look stunning dressed i n a boiler suit' September 1 9 7 5 ) . M o n e y management

or

(Nova,

advertisements used more tradi-

tional appeals either to w o m e n ' s concern about their families' well-being or to their romantic desires. At

the same time, many advertisements of the 1970s ignored feminism

entirely, reproducing the caring images of good wives a n d mothers, or the sexually titillating images of w o m e n that were familiar from other media discourses of the decade such as the 'page three girls' in the Rupert M u r -

FROM MRS H À P P Y M A N TO K I S S I N G CHAPS G O O D B Y E | doch Sun. Although advertising h a d not yet caught up w i t h the notion of the ' s u p e r w o m a n ' identified i n Shirley C o n r a n ' s book of that title i n 1 9 7 5 , it h a d begun to extend the repertoire of feminine subjectivities likely to encourage consumption. Advertising remained uncertain about the direction that w o m e n themselves w i s h e d to follow. Confident that feminism w a s not the favoured route, they toyed w i t h a variety of contrasting identities. Advertisers generally lagged behind w o m e n ' s magazines i n the cultivation of n e w modes of address, even w h e n the evidence suggested that commercial advantages could be gained from modernizing their approach. Shortly before the publication of the A S A ' s report i n 1 9 8 2 , the E q u a l Opportunities C o m m i s s i o n i n Britain published its o w n research

into

w o m e n ' s thoughts o n contemporary advertising ( H a m i l t o n et a l . 1 9 8 2 ) . T h i s research, humorously entitled Adman

and Eve, compared w o m e n ' s

reactions to four 'traditional' a n d four ' m o d e r n ' advertisements for the same products. Its a i m w a s to measure their relative persuasiveness i n encouraging w o m e n to m a k e a purchase. Including among the four test cases the Daily Mail 'birthday mother' advertisement, it found, not surprisingly, that w o m e n preferred the more up-to-date approach. Advertisers were not persuaded. O n e of the campaigns tested as a n example of the modern 'category' w a s the early 1980s television advertisement for C a m a y soap, i n w h i c h a young, elegant and affluent w o m a n steps from her Porsche into her executive flat, a n d ignores a ringing telephone to lavish attention o n herself in the bath. T h i s advertisement, written by a n a l l - w o m a n team, a l l o w s the answering machine to deal w i t h her male friend's telephone call i n the intermission between the two-part slogan, spoken by a male voice-over: 'rich creamy C a m a y . . . for w o m e n w h o choose to please themselves'. Despite the finding o f the E O C study that this was

m u c h preferred to a n earlier, non-narrative, campaign, the advertising

agency h a d by 1983 reintroduced a m a n to this advertisement, in response to their o w n market research

findings

that most w o m e n w a n t e d its

romantic connotations to be more explicitly articulated (cited i n B B C 2 programme, Washes

Whiter,

2 2 A p r i l 1990). Pleasing oneself, if one w a s a

w o m a n , w a s still not acceptable within advertising discourse, especially if this involved rejecting a m a n .

Postfeminist Utopias By

the later 1980s a n d 1990s, consumer discourses were taking a n e w

approach to feminism. Believing both that feminism's battles h a d been w o n , and

that its ideology w a s n o w harmless by virtue of being out of date,

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

advertisers invented 'postfeminism' as a Utopia where w o m e n could do whatever they pleased, provided they h a d sufficient w i l l a n d enthusiasm. The

feminist's overburdened w o m a n juggling the demands of career a n d

childcare w i t h the pleasures on offer in the gym or bedroom w a s magically transformed into the executive s u p e r w o m a n , always on the move a n d always in complete control. Jet-setting, caring for children, revelling in a n exciting social life were all easily compatible. Y e t another i n the procession of twentieth-century ' N e w W o m e n ' h a d been born. Pleasing oneself, freedom a n d self-sufficiency all m o v e d up the copywriting hierarchy. ' M a k i n g the most of oneself became as mandatory a consumerist goal as looking after others. T h o s e w i t h goods and services to sell to w o m e n caught up w i t h the message of freedom a n d self-fulfilment advocated by feminism and rejoiced, before the political implications of its demands

could ricochet

off the w a l l s .

C o n s u m e r discourses in both

advertising a n d the w o m e n ' s monthly magazine press n o w eagerly absorbed the terminology of self-assertiveness a n d achievement, 'transforming feminism's challenging collective programme into atomized acts of individual consumption. F o r the new s u p e r w o m a n to combine career and home, cultivate independence while maintaining family relationships, remain sexually alluring but also convincingly businesslike, a panoply of material aids and services w a s required. F r o m microwave ovens to massage oils, from linen suits to silk lingerie, from aerobics to assertiveness-training classes, her iconography depended on spending money. T h i s new version of consumerism,

claiming feminist credentials,

undoubtedly

strengthened

m a n y w o m e n ' s perception that feminism w a s an essentially middle-class movement. Advertisers' slogans w h i c h picked up surface aspects of feminist discourse muddied the waters of feminist campaigning. B o r r o w i n g from a n alternative discourse to add zest to your creativity is a regular trick in advertising and other forms of popular culture. K n o w n in cultural studies as a process of 'recuperation' (Brunsdon 1986, pp.

119¬

2 0 ) , 'co-option' or 'incorporation', this manoeuvre pretends to respond to the competing ideology but ignores its ideological challenge. E n v i r o n m e n t a l and

ecological concerns have been subject to similar treatment. H a p p y to

incorporate 'green' issues w h e n they aid consumption (whether of unleaded petrol

or

of eco-friendly toilet

cleaners),

advertising agencies

under-

standably baulk at the more radical suggestion that w e should all reduce our consumption or abandon our cars in order to protect the future of the planet. Ignoring counter-discourses such as those of feminism or ecology has never made good commercial sense, especially in media aimed primarily at young people: fully accepting a n d integrating their implications is, however, equally unsound

financially.

T h e compromise is to adopt the

FROM MRS HAPPYMAN 1 0 K I S S I N G ( H A P S G O O D B Y E | surface terminology, without taking on board the ideology that underpins it.

A s Charlotte Brunsdon claims, the effects of 'recuperation' are mis-

leading: ' N o t only do the oppositional ideas and practices lose their bite, but they c a n function to m a k e it appear as if change has been effected' (1986, p. 120). The

concept

of 'recuperation'

is not universally accepted.

Foucault

rejected it as giving too concrete and definitive a form to the continuing process of struggle between discourses (Foucault 1980, pp. 5 6 - 7 ) . H i s v i e w is coloured by a misperception of the finality of the recuperative process. Recuperation is not a single action, but a n ongoing process, subject to constant review. W h a t Foucault does rightly suggest, however, is that recuperation may be viewed more ambiguously than Brunsdon implies. C o opting even selective elements of feminist discourses might also be regarded as a gesture in their direction. ' M a k i n g the most of y o u r s e l f does begin to transform the passivity of narcissistic self-contemplation into the dream of active a n d dynamic self-fulfilment even as it reins that dream back into the feminine activity of 'going shopping'. A l t h o u g h my o w n preference is for Brunsdon's position, I also accept that for m a n y w o m e n feminism is n o w thought of as a historical rather than a current ideology, and their primary contact w i t h its objectives m a y often be through the discourses of consumerism. If this is a distorted refraction, it may nevertheless be significant in stimulating debate about gender roles a n d expectations. Against this background, the remainder of this chapter w i l l consider three forms of co-option of feminist ideas and ideology that emerged in consumer discourses in the 1980s a n d 1990s. These are as follows: •

the appropriation of quasi-feminist concepts;

•

the redrafting of 'caring' to make it compatible w i t h self-fulfilment; a n d

•

the acknowledgement of female fantasies.

Freedom to kiss the chaps goodbye Advertisers i n the later 1980s and 1990s happily made use of concepts that had

acquired new status thanks to the feminist and other civil liberties

movements.

'Freedom',

'independence' and 'pleasure', all problematic

terms w i t h i n political a n d cultural theory, were reduced to matters of lifestyle a n d consumption. W o m e n could n o w 'do their o w n thing', without worrying about male reactions, even though men often continued to hover anxiously in the background. T h e fast cutting of television advertisements was

especially suited to capturing the panache of the latest 'new w o m a n ' in

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

action. Supersoft hairspray proved its ability to protect and hold the hair against the elements as its owner jetted between H e a t h r o w a n d same-day appointments i n Berlin and R o m e . Sunsilk styling mousse a l l o w e d w o m e n to 'take control' a n d put an end to 'wrestling' w i t h their hair. Self-confident w o m e n dominated the action in both these commercials, but the voice-over was

still distinctively male. W o m e n were occasionally, however, granted

the last w o r d , as in the V o l k s w a g e n G o l f 1980s advertisement where a jilted w o m a n discards the jewellery a n d fur coat given to her by her lover, but keeps the car keys as her passport to independence. In

magazine advertising, connotations of feminist influence were more

subdued, but being 'comfortable w i t h w h o y o u are' (a caption o n H u s h Puppies shoe advertisements in 1994) w a s a c o m m o n implicit injunction. The

accompanying aspirational images made it clear that this w a s a c o m -

m a n d to fulfil your potential, not rest o n your laurels. M e n

became

commodities w h o could help or hinder progress, but they were not yet superfluous to requirements. A Boots 17 advertisement aimed at young w o m e n in 1992 teased its readers by running two images in sequence: one, a facial close-up of a beautiful young model w i t h her lips pursed in a kiss, a n d the caption ' h o w to kiss chaps'; the second, a n extreme close-up of her nose and

mouth, w i t h lipstick being applied nonchalantly to the lips, and the

caption n o w reading, simply, 'goodbye'. Before the reader h a d time to w o n d e r at a campaign advocating celibacy or lesbianism, the word-play on 'chapped' lips w a s revealed. T h i s advertisement offers alternative subjectivities to the reader. T h e immediate address is to the conventional heterosexual desires of young w o m e n , anxious to learn h o w to please their men. But over the page, w e are projected momentarily into a contrary universe of independence, self-reliance and self-sufficiency. Before a b l o w c a n be struck for feminism, however, the joke takes over. T h e playfulness of this a n d other advertisements of the 1980s a n d 1990s encourages us to laugh at traditional versions of femininity, but stops well short of openly challenging them. T r i u m p h adopted a similar strategy in the 1990s. Its 1993

campaign featured a n

ecstatically cheerful model, sporting a n independently-minded new hairstyle, new look a n d n e w bra. A l t h o u g h the small print tells us that the black lace product is called 'Amourette', the m a i n caption declares men to be part of the trappings of lifestyle that c a n be readily exchanged w h e n desired: 'New

hair, n e w look, new bra. A n d if he doesn't like it, n e w boyfriend'.

T h i s is more jocular and tongue-in-cheek than T r i u m p h ' s earlier c a m paigns, but, while it departs from the c o m m o n l y romantic or sexually servile discourse of lingerie advertising, the independence of spirit that is captured here still implies that a boyfriend is a necessary part of the image.

FROM MRS HAPPYMAN TO K I S S I N G ( H A P S G O O D B Y E | In the postfeminist era, traditional female preoccupations such as m e n or body-care were not abandoned, but w o m e n were n o w urged to travel light and

indulge themselves, not others. T h i s perspective also dominated in the

health a n d fitness discourses of the period. W h i l e w o m e n of earlier decades were invited to spend hours in front of the mirror, the n e w instruction w a s , in the w o r d s of the V i d a l Sassoon advertisements, to ' W a s h and G o ' . T h e encouragement

to be oneself did, however, have limits. I n contrast

to

feminism's d a w n i n g recognition of the importance of cultural difference, consumerism offered choices that were supposedly universal. M o s t of the models in British advertising remained white a n d young: in the U n i t e d States, because of the greater commercial power of the non-white ethnic communities, there w a s somewhat greater diversity. Y e t even i n that country, the balance in the general w o m e n ' s magazine press w a s unevenly struck, a n d tensions often erupted between the white-look aspirations of beauty

features

and A f r i c a n - A m e r i c a n s ' desire to celebrate

their o w n

appearance. I n Britain, where black models were used, they tended to appear i n advertisements

for clothes, not beauty products. A s in the

shopping mall that promises to each and everyone that it w i l l satisfy a variety of tastes, but is the most uniform transnational space that most of us w i l l ever encounter, conformity is exciting only w h e n it masquerades as difference.

Caring for me, too In the interwar years, caring w a s still associated w i t h guilt and self-sacrifice. E v e n though labour-saving advances in the kitchen released spare time for w o m e n , their n e w leisure activities remained firmly off-stage. I n the 1950s, in the w a k e of W o r l d W a r I I , official rhetoric encouraged w o m e n to desert the public sphere and devote their energies once more to being ideal wives and

mothers. Advertisers a n d w o m e n ' s magazines, supported by more

sophisticated market research a n d an economic

boom that stimulated

spending on the home, readily colluded w i t h this campaign, even though its ideological hegemony bore little relation to the realities of life for m a n y w o m e n , financially driven to part-time, l o w - p a i d w o r k . Feminist thinking questioned w o m e n ' s ' n a t u r a l ' talent for caring, a n d reconstructed it as a social imposition placed o n w o m e n for men's convenience. Feminists encouraged w o m e n to get out of the home to develop their full potential. W h i l e feminism's criticism w a s targeted at the structural and

social roots of the problem, a n unintended a n d paradoxical by-product

was

to lower yet further the status of the domestic sphere. Initially derided

by

feminism, the area of fashion has been recently integrated w i t h i n a

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

feminist perspective . . . N o similar reconstruction has been carried out on w o m e n ' s domestic role, cast too ail-inclusively as the infection that stops the w o u n d of male oppression from healing. I n contrast

to

fashion,

domesticity's subversive power appears restricted. C a k e moulds m o c k i n g the phallus or celebrating the lesbian symbol do not form part of the average ironmonger's stock. If domestic activity is characterized solely as cleaning the toilet, doing the w a s h i n g up, as endless cooking for unappreciative families or changing nappies o n unresponsive babies, pleasure is easily omitted from the reckoning. But more creative aspects of domestic life do exist, a n d are seen by some w o m e n w h o have chosen to stay at home, or w h o find domestic chores a relaxing alternative to w o r k outside the home, as rewarding and pleasurable. Baking, decorating and interior design, entertaining or gardening are amongst these. F r e n c h novelist a n d essayist A n n i e Leclerc w a s attacked by fellow feminists for arguing in the 1970s that the denial of the pleasures of domestic activity o w e d m u c h to the power of a male-led language

to

devalue

w o m e n ' s interests (1987, pp. 7 6 - 7 ) . A similar point w a s made by British journalist M a r y Stott, commenting o n television quiz s h o w s ' readiness to include questions o n male hobbies (such as sports or w o o d w o r k ) , but not o n women-related domestic crafts such as embroidery or baking Guardian,

(The

9 January 1992). T h e former, she claimed, were regarded as

'general knowledge'; the latter as too specific and esoteric. Christine D e l phy,

on the other h a n d , accuses Leclerc of ignoring the role of housework in

sustaining w o m e n ' s

oppression

(1987, pp. 8 0 - 1 0 9 ) . W h i l e this is a n

important argument, it is not incompatible w i t h recognizing the possibility of pleasure in domestic activity w h e n that is consciously chosen by w o m e n rather than structurally enforced. I n recent years, w o m e n ' s creativity in crafts such as tapestry and weaving has been reclaimed by feminists (e.g. Parker 1984)

anxious to ensure these achieve the same recognition and

status as traditional male h a n d i w o r k , but female creativity in domestic management continues to be seen as tainted by the pejorative connotations of the private sphere itself. I n this sense, feminism a n d dominant ideology appear curiously united. Partly because of this problem, feminism gained limited support from those w o m e n w h o identified positively w i t h the domestic sphere. M i s t a k i n g its attack on structural inequalities for a n assault o n their interests a n d preoccupations, and

they felt doubly devalued: both by dominant

ideology

by a movement purporting to support them. Advertising, still anxious

to sell domestic products primarily to w o m e n , w a s able to exploit these feelings and offer its o w n compensations. T h e reinstatement of the home w a s achieved in part by

filling

it w i t h rounded h u m a n beings,

more

FROM MRS HAPPYMAN Ï O K I S S I N G ( H A P S G O O D B Y E | emotionally complete than the stultified if glamorous models w h o , in the w o r d s of the L ' O r é a l Plénitude advertisements 'moved w i t h the times'. I n the U n i t e d States in particular, this movement w i t h i n consumer culture quickly infected other areas of popular culture. D u b b e d 'new traditionalism',

it has been seen as part of the backlash against w o m e n ' s advances

(Faludi 1 9 9 2 ) . In

Britain, the O x o family w a s recreated in the mid-1980s after market

research suggested that the terms most w o m e n associated w i t h the family were not 'love', 'peace' or ' h a r m o n y ' but 'squabbling', 'isolation', 'fatigue' and

'drudgery'. Katie, whose tasty casseroles had been simmering on a n d off

the boil since the 1950s, n o w held together a family prone to bickering and selfishness, w h o treated their home as a hotel and their mother as a piece of the furniture. Often harassed and constantly undervalued, K a t i e , granted a vaguely defined life of her o w n outside the home, constantly retains the sparkle in her eye, at least to share complicity w i t h the viewer at home. H e r pride in her lively but unregenerate family is at once deeply conservative, but potentially vindicated by audience memories of cardboard

cut-out

children from earlier commercials. I n the manner of soap opera characters, the O x o family has evolved, but left the ideology of the family intact. The in

soap opera techniques of the O x o narratives have also been adopted

other caring advertisements of the 1980s a n d 1990s. A l l o w e d secret

access to the mother's point of v i e w , w o m e n viewers c a n identify w i t h her frustrations as well as her triumphs. A H o t p o i n t advertisement for state-ofthe-art domestic appliances presents a mother busy in the kitchen while her self-absorbed family leave one by one to pursue their o w n interests. O n l y then do w e realize that she, too, is planning her escape to play tennis w i t h her girlfriend while the preprogrammed machines get to w o r k . T h i s scarcely amounts to liberation, but it does allow a minute crack to appear in the selfsufficient pleasures of caring. M o t h e r s were beginning to ask to be noticed, even if the sound-level had barely risen above a whisper. Changes in F l o r a margarine advertising typify the trend. Its advertising campaign in the early 1980s became

famous

for persuading the public that polyunsaturated fats were m u c h healthier than butter. It achieved this w i t h graphic images of male torsos,

and

captions addressed to w o m e n , such as 'Is it time to change your h u s b a n d ? ' , or ' H o w soon w i l l all your men be F l o r a m e n ? ' By 1986,

however,

F l o r a advertisements featured sensible-looking 'thirty-something' w o m e n photographed against a backdrop of fresh flowers. T h e verbal text n o w took a different tack: ' O f course, I like the light, delicate taste of F l o r a . M y whole family does. But I have a m u c h better reason for eating it. T h a t reason is m e . '

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER The

'reason that w a s m e ' w a s concurrently being shouted from the

rooftops in cosmetics a n d body-product advertising. W i t h i n the domestic sphere, traditionalism seemed hardly to have been challenged sufficiently to be dubbed already as ' n e w ' . If there w a s a noticeable change in 1980s consumer signifiers of caring, it came through the depiction of caring men, rather than through a redrafting of w o m e n ' s role. Y o u n g ' n e w m e n ' were s h o w n wheeling baby buggies and shopping trolleys, or popping L e a n Cuisine menus for t w o into the m i c r o w a v e . . . . [I]t is w o r t h noting . . . that w h e n men became carers in advertisements, caring w a s suggested either to be beyond them, or to be so simple that anyone could do it. E v e n though the appearance of m e n in the kitchen w a s to be welcomed, it perversely reinforced the belief that w o m e n complained unduly about their lot.

From secret gardens to women on top W h e n feminism declared that the personal w a s political, it triggered a n e w interest in w o m e n ' s desires. If psychoanalysis w a s the m a i n tool in the cultural theorist's enquiry, a more populist approach w a s taken by N a n c y Friday. Starting w i t h My

Secret

Garden

in 1973,

she documented

the

hitherto unspoken evidence of female sexual fantasies, relying to a large extent on w o m e n ' s o w n accounts. H e r first volume, as its title implies, found guilt a m a j o r obstacle to free expression, turning the dominant voice into that of the confessional. By her 1991 Women

on Top,

volume, indicatively titled

confession and guilt have given w a y to celebration of

w o m e n ' s right to sexual pleasure. F r i d a y takes a n uncomplicated and positive view of this, perceiving fantasy as a self-contained gold-mine waiting to be quarried. Fantasies, and particularly w o m e n ' s fantasies, become more complex if we

ask where they come from and w h o has shaped them. If the formation of

our fantasies is linked, as the formation of our conscious thoughts is, to the culture in w h i c h w e operate, then the ownership and origins of ' w o m e n ' s ' fantasies become problematic. A s L i s a T i c k n e r points out, it is a mistake to argue that w o m e n ' s sexual feelings a n d desires were merely repressed by a dominant male culture, w h e n their very articulation w a s conducted historically in male terms. After centuries of male definition, w o m e n have difficulty, for example, in reclaiming the discourse through w h i c h they have been encouraged pp.

to

think about

their o w n sexuality

(Tickner

1987,

2 3 7 - 8 ) . T h i s is also acknowledged, in stridently evangelical terms, i n

the attempts of M a r y D a l y (in, for example, Gyn/Ecology,

1978) to exor-

cize the demonology of patriarchy a n d restore positive energies to the hags, crones, harpies, furies and amazons w h o have become embodiments of

FROM MRS HAPPYMAN 1 0 K I S S I N G ( H A P S G O O D B Y E | men's fears about w o m e n . W h i l e N a n c y F r i d a y believes i n the value of unlocking fantasies repressed w i t h i n the female psyche (even w h e n these include the notorious accounts of 'rape fantasy'), M a r y D a l y argues that in order to reclaim metaphors a n d symbols for w o m e n ' s o w n self-expression we

must first appropriate them. W o m e n ' s fantasies have historically been represented in advertising dis-

courses as private, mysterious a n d incommunicable. D i s e m b o d i e d , a n d u n k n o w a b l e , these fantasies intensify connotations of the feminine w o m a n as enigmatic a n d narcissistic, inhabiting a private universe that makes her a convenient repository for male rather than female imaginings. . . . I n recent years, w o m e n ' s fantasies played out in advertising mini-narratives, and indeed in the longer narratives of films such as Thelma

and Louise,

have

incorporated more active revenge themes. N a n c y Friday remarks o n this shift in Women

on Top,

noting that the fantasies that w o m e n h a d in the

1970s of being seduced by strong powerful men (the controversial 'rape' fantasy) had given w a y increasingly to fantasies of female retaliation, including the scenario of the w o m a n forcing the m a n to have sex w i t h her. The

degree to w h i c h these c a n be seen as a response to feminist discourses is

less certain. T h e ambiguity of the revenge fantasy is indicated in t w o recent advertisements on British television. O n e (an advertisement for

shoes)

depicts a w o m a n metaphorically castrating her boss: the other (for a bra) creates a micro-narrative around female vengeance classically produced by jealousy over a m a n . The

advertisement for K Shoes casts the avenger i n smart office suit

severing the balls on her boss's executive toy. T h i s is a w o m a n w h o hands in her notice w i t h panache, style a n d a sardonic sense of h u m o u r . A s she makes her final exit from the office, her triumph is momentarily undercut as a close-up focuses on her heel trapped in a grid i n the floor. U n l i k e the film noir, where such a n event w o u l d signal the beginning of the end for the w o m a n , this dilemma m a r k s the start of a further victory. N o n c h a l a n t l y lifting the grid, detaching it from her shoe, a n d handing the offending item to her boss's secretary, she inspires revolt in her, too. I n a striking b l o w for solidarity, the secretary grimaces in the direction of her boss, turns o n her K Shoe heels, and marches out i n dignified step w i t h her new-found sister. If this narrative has a feminist m o r a l , its humorous touches modify its threat to the masculine viewer. T h e excessively m i m e d reactions of the boss a n d his

male partner, squirming w h e n metaphorically under attack, s m i r k i n g

w h e n appearing to t r i u m p h , act like the c l o w n ' s extravagant gestures to deflect male pain and humiliation. The

G o s s a r d Ultrabra fantasy rejects any feminist trappings. H e r e the

heroine, distinguished by her striking cleavages/seeks her revenge o n the

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND GENDER

w o m a n w h o is trying to steal the affections of her boyfriend at a select party. H u m i l i a t i o n strikes the interloper w h e n she is 'rescued' from an incipient sneeze by the U l t r a b r a w o m a n reaching into her rival's bosom and extracting

yards of tissue that have been used for artificial padding.

T h r o u g h o u t , the complicity between the heroine and her boyfriend is maintained through his refusal to have his gaze distracted from her U l t r a bra-adorned cleavage. T h e fantasy is one of jealous bitchiness rather than feminist-inspired self-assertiveness. In new

the postfeminist era, romantic fantasies are enacted, as here, w i t h a playfulness or w i t h a new style and sophistication. C h a n e l N o . 5 tele-

vision advertisements resorted to hyperreal settings and enigmatic narrative structures in the late 1980s in a bold attempt to span the c h a s m between romance and postmodernism. Fantasies of doing without men entirely are rarer in consumer discourses, but exceptions

are beginning to

appear,

particularly in car advertisements. E v e n i n the interwar period, the car could symbolize escape for w o m e n . I n the w a k e of Thelma

and

Louise's

box-office success, Peugeot's agency devised a campaign for its 106 model featuring t w o British w o m e n discarding the trappings of their consumer lifestyles and the security of their past for a carefree life on the open road in the A m e r i c a n West.

In Conclusion Postfeminism takes the sting out of feminism. T h e subjectivities of femininity, presented seriously earlier i n the century, are reincarnated towards its end w i t h a twist of h u m o u r and a dash of self-conscious parody. T h e outwardly caring w o m a n willingly shares the lapses in her devotion, w i t h a w i n k in the direction of the audience. T h e s u p e r w o m a n is so sophisticated that she looks poised to leave the planet and return as a Blade

Runner

replicant. Fantasies of taking our revenge against men, a n d getting a w a y w i t h it, are the most daring dreams on offer, but allying this w i t h the selling of feminine heels undercuts the euphoria. W h a t this chapter suggests is that w i t h i n advertising discourses, the range of w h a t it means to be feminine has been surprisingly stagnant throughout the century, despite the profound cultural a n d social changes, and despite the commercial advantages to be gained from brand-differentiating the consumer as m u c h as the product. W h a t most clearly distinguishes the advertising discourses of the postmodern era from their modernist predecessors is the jokiness of their approach and their willingness to cast w o m e n as heroines of their mini-narratives. It is difficult to describe either

FROM MRS HAPPYMAN TO K I S S I N G ( H A P S G O O D B Y E | of these as a postmodernist development. W o m a n ' s long history of acting as a depthless sign, responsive to masculine w h i m , makes her peculiarly resistant to sharp transformation from modernist meaningfulness to postmodern emptiness. T h e fantasies in w h i c h she appears may have become more exciting, less mundane, as special effects a n d visual tricks replace the heavy-handed techniques of early print advertising, but her kaleidoscopic ability to whet whatever appetite the viewer fancies stretches like a continuum f r o m the 1920s to the present. W h a t is n e w , however, is the advertiser's recognition that the perception of the viewer, and especially of the female viewer, has undergone a radical transition in this time. N o longer easily coaxed to believe that her life mission is to scrub grates or even to spend dreamy afternoons driving along country lanes, w o m e n , it is assumed, w i l l n o w respond more favourably to constructions that collude, however superficially, w i t h their upbeat, outgoing perception of their lives. H e n c e the w i n k a n d the joke, the refusal to take motherhood too seriously, that sets the gap between the 1950s Persil advertisements (risible to a contemporary

audience in their zealous and

class-bound moralizing) and the 1990s O x o family. Advertisers, too, a l w a y s i n tune w i t h aspirational thinking, k n o w that w o m e n increasingly w a n t to be 'on top'. It is h a r d to imagine a contemporary advertiser choosing to replay in any straight form the romantic strip cartoon narrative favoured by toilet soap advertisers in the 1930s, w i t h the w o m a n in a purely passive role, awaiting male attention. R o m a n c e still features, but it has either been rendered exotic, or spiced w i t h danger. O c c a s i o n a l l y , as we have seen, w o m e n c a n step into the shoes of the heroine, a n d get the better of m e n ; a safe strategy i n selling products aimed uniquely at w o m e n , but deploying it in car advertising is more daring, and, as a means of changing the image of a traditionally masculine drink, bolder still. A recent advertisement for Tennent's Lager depicts four young w o m e n on a lunchtime outing sending up the amorous attentions of a n Italian waiter. A l t h o u g h the stereotyping of the male allows the sensibilities of traditional Tennent's drinkers to be protected

from the ridicule of the

young w o m e n ' s laughter, this m a r k s a new approach in lager advertising. A l l o w i n g w o m e n sporadic triumphs may have begun to blur the gender boundaries, but reversing femininity's value as a malleable sign is not readily accomplished. Unsettling masculinity's stability as a sign might speed up the pace of change. T o date, masculinity has been extended by men appearing foolish (usually in role reversal contexts), occasionally caring (especially of babies), or displaying virile bodies emphasizing their strength a n d carefully developed physique. If the last reverses the pattern of the 'male gaze', it does not

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND GENDER

reverse the status of masculinity. M r H a p p y w o m a n , delighting i n his partner's pleasure, is still some w a y off.

,

References Bowlby, R. (1985) Just Looking. London: Methuen. Brunsdon, C . (ed.) (1986) Films for Women. London: BFI. Brunt, R. (1990) Points of view, in A. Goodwin and G . Whannel (eds) Understanding Television. London: Routledge, 60-73. Conran, S. (1975) Superwoman.

London: Sidgwick & Jackson.

Cowan, R.S. (1983) More Work for Mother: the Ironies of Household

Technology

from the Open Hearth to the Microwave. New York: Basic Books. Daly, M . (1978) Gyn-Ecology:

the Metaethics of Radical Feminism. Boston: Beacon

Press. Davidson, C . (1982) A Woman's Work is Never Done: a History of Housework in the British Isles 1650-1950.

London: Chatto & Windus.

Delphy, C . (1987) Protofeminism and antifeminism, in T . Moi (ed.) French Feminist Thought: a Reader. Oxford: Blackwell, 80-109. (First published 1976.) Eckert, C . (1978) The Carole Lombard in Macy's window, Quarterly Review of Film Studies, 3(1): 1-21. (Also reprinted in Gaines and Herzog 1990.) Ewen, S. (1976) Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture. New York: McGraw-Hill. Faludi, S. (1992) Backlash: The Undeclared War Against Women. London: Vintage. Foucault, M . (1980) Power/knowledge: 1972-1977.

Selected Interviews and Other

Writing,

Brighton: Harvester Wheatsheaf. Translated by C . Gordon et al.

Friday, N . (1973) My Secret Garden. New York: Trident. Friday, N . (1991) Women on Top. London: Hutchinson. Friedan, B. (1965) The Feminine Mystique. Harmondsworth: Penguin. (First published 1963.) Gaines, J . and Herzog, C . (eds) (1990) Fabrications: Costume and the Female Body. London: Routledge/AFI. Hamilton, R., Haworth, B. and Sardar, N . (1982) Adman and Eve: a Study of the Portrayal of Women in Advertising Carried out for the Equal Commission.

Opportunities

Lancaster: University of Lancaster marketing consultancy and

research services. Hardyment, C . (1988) From Mangle to Microwave:

the Mechanization

of House-

hold Work. Cambridge: Polity Press. Herzog, C . and Gaines, J . (1991) 'Puffed sleeves before tea-time': Joan Crawford, Adrian and women audiences, in C . Gledhill (ed.) Stardom: Industry of Desire. London: Routledge, 74-91. Leclerc, A. (1987) Parole de femme, in T . M o i (ed.) French Feminist Thought: a Reader. Oxford: Blackwell, 73-9. (First published in 1974.)

FROM MRS HAPPYMAN TO K I S S I N G ( H A P S G O O D B Y E | Lemahieu, D . (1988) A Culture for Democracy: Mass Communication and the Cultivated Mind in Britain Between the Wars. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Lewis, J . (1984) Women in England 1870-1950: Sexual Divisions and Social Change. London: Wheatsheaf. Marchand, R. (1985) Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity, 1920-1940. California: University of California Press. McCracken, E . (1993) Decoding Women's Magazines: from 'Mademoiselle' to 'Ms.'. London: Macmillan. Melman, B. (1988) Women and the Popular Imagination in the Twenties: Flappers and Nymphs. London: Macmillan. Myers, K . (1986) Understains: the Sense and Seduction of Advertising. London: Comedia. Parker, R. (1984) The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine. London: Women's Press. Posener, J . (1986) Louder than Words. London: Pandora. Stacey, J . (1991) Feminine fascinations: forms of identification in star-audience relations, in C . Gledhill (ed.) Stardom: Industry of Desire. London: Routledge, 141-63. Stuart, A. (1990) Feminism: dead or alive?, in J . Rutherford (ed.) Identity: Community, Culture, Difference. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 28-42. Tickner, L . (1987) The body politic: female sexuality and women artists since 1970, in R. Betterton (ed.) Looking on: Images of Femininity in the Visual Arts and Media. London: Pandora, 235-53. Williams, F. (1969) The right to know: the rise of the world press. London: Longman.

o

T H E P O L I T I C S OF T H E S M I L E SOFT NEWS' AND THE SCXUALtZATIOH OF THE POPULAR PRESS Patricia Holland

'What Makes a Woman Smile?' T h e Sun newspaper aims to make w o m e n smile. Where it has total control, in the photographs w h i c h give its pages such graphic impact, its success is, literally, spectacular. Smiling w o m e n appear on the news pages and the celebrity pages. T h e y appear in the glamour pictures; the pictures of royalty a n d of television personalities; in the pictures of ordinary people whose everyday lives have brought them good fortune, a n d , above a l l , they appear o n Page T h r e e . T h e w o m a n w h o proudly displays her breasts is almost always smiling. T h e Sun gave a decisive twist to the very meaning of a popular paper w h e n , following its purchase and re-launch by Rupert M u r d o c h in 1969, editor L a r r y L a m b set about exploiting entertainment values w i t h unprecedented panache. H e based the paper's appeal on irreverence, scandal, 'saucy' humour and sex. Above all he introduced the daily image of a halfclad w o m a n . T h e Page T h r e e girls, 'those luscious lovelies y o u drool over at breakfast time' (Sun,

2 0 September 1 9 8 2 ) , became a shorthand reference

for all the paper stood for. Popular newspapers seek to amuse as m u c h as to inform, to appeal to the emotion as m u c h as to the intellect. T h e smile has been established as part of a package w h i c h continues to reach out to real w o m e n a n d men in an invitation to buy the paper and engage w i t h its informal address. Increasingly over the twentieth century the a i m of the popular press has been to 'tickle the public' w i t h entertainment values. M a t t h e w E n g e l took the title of his book on the history of the British popular press from a n anonymous

THE P O L I T I C S Of THE S M I L E | verse that went round Fleet Street in the nineteenth century: T i c k l e the public, make 'em grin, T h e more you tickle the more y o u ' l l w i n . T e a c h the public, y o u ' l l never get r i c h , Y o u ' l l live like a beggar and die in a ditch. (Engel 1996:

17)

F r o m the 1880s and 1890s, the introduction of lightweight features a n d all types of trivia, including the domestic, as w e l l as a move to a 'softer', more ticklish type of news, has been seen as a feminization

of the new mass-

circulation press, brought about by its desire for a broad appeal. I n seeking out a mass audience, there w a s a need to recognize w o m e n as an influential segment of the potential readership, and the feminine h a d long been identified w i t h the popular and accessible. But the changes initiated by the Sun in the 1970s pushed the meaning of 'popular' in a new direction. T h e Sun w a s no longer feminized, but sexualized.

1

C e n t r a l to its appeal w a s the

provocative image of a w o m a n ' s body. Breasts were added to the smile. Instantly this implied a readership sharply divided along gender lines. M e n and w o m e n readers were separately addressed, through a language a n d imagery that carried the full power of sexual, as w e l l as gender, difference. T h e smile o n the face of the Page Three girl conveyed a double message: 'After a lifetime of learning to establish eye to eye contact during conversation, the glamour girl has to learn to accept eye to breast contact' explained ex-Page Three girl Jackie Sewell (Wigmore 1986:

13).

A changing relationship between public and the private spheres activity has been acted out in the pages of the twentieth-century

of

press.

Areas of life constructed as private in the nineteenth century were n o w d r a w n back into public v i e w . A t first, the n e w mass-circulation papers sought to make visible the domestic and the personal. T h e y circulated gossip,

scandal, human-interest

household management,

stories

and a wealth of material

cooking, childcare a n d other domestic

on

issues.

'Softer' news brought a more personal, more h u m a n face. T h e n , in the last decades of the twentieth century, the even more private w o r l d of sexual activity became uninhibited, publicized. Sexual material had long been part of popular imagery, but the nineteenth century a n d early twentieth century had taken for granted that this w a s something for men only, and it w a s concealed from general public v i e w . N o w sex brazenly invaded the news columns and dominated the entertainment pages. T h e concept of 'privacy' can no longer imply 'invisibility', although the terms of its visibility remain hotly contested.

2

W o m e n ' s democratic participation, a n d the role of a newspaper i n furthering democratic involvement, is also at issue. A democratic press must

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

also appeal to w o m e n a n d , by the end of the nineteenth century, w o m e n were

already demanding the space

to express

their public concerns.

Democratization entails feminization. B y the 1970s, the Sun w a s claiming that the sexualization of the press also brought greater democratic freedoms - for w o m e n as w e l l as for men. B u t the pivotal image of a w o m a n ' s body brought those claims up against the boundaries of sexual difference. I n 1986 M P C l a r e Short introduced a Parliamentary Bill to ban the use of the Page Three pin-up o n the grounds that it w a s embarrassing a n d degrading for w o m e n . I n the heated debates that followed - i n Parliament, in the media a n d a r o u n d the country - the relationship of w o m e n ' s sexualized image to w o m e n ' s public presence became a n issue that divided feminists as w e l l as the public at large. M a n y suggested that the circulation of the image made w o m e n less secure in a l l sorts of public arenas, from the daily experience of w a l k i n g in public places to the wider sense of playing a role i n public life ( T u n k s a n d H u t c h i n s o n 1 9 9 1 ) . Since w o m e n were ever more assertively establishing their presence i n all spheres of public life, including journalism, it w a s clear that the movement from feminization to sexualization

i n the pages

of the d o w n m a r k e t

tabloids h a d a political

dimension. The

shift i n emphasis poses questions about the nature of w o m e n ' s

presence i n the public sphere of discourse a n d decision m a k i n g i n a n e w way.

It also poses questions about the nature of news itself. T a b l o i d editors

continue to ask, ' w h a t makes w o m e n smile?', but we should be asking, h o w do w o m e n participate? W h a t w o u l d it m e a n for the presentation of news to be properly 'engendered' - to use the term that A n n e Phillips (1991) used of democracy - i n order to achieve a popular media that w o u l d be equally potent and meaningful for both sexes? Some years ago I wrote a n article w h i c h looked at Page T h r e e from the point of view of w o m e n readers, a n d suggested that its claims to address ordinary w o m e n in a n e w w a y had some foundation ( H o l l a n d 1983). I n o w w a n t to explore more fully the politics of those claims.

The Feminization of the Press The

evolution of the popular press has brought w i t h it a changing rela-

tionship between readers a n d text. It has also, from its earliest days, helped to create a n expanding sphere of public discourse w h i c h , of necessity, involved increasing numbers of w o m e n . A s part of the mass audience, w o m e n were to make a public appearance o n terms that h a d hitherto been denied (Benhabib 1 9 9 4 ; R y a n 1 9 9 6 ) .

THE P O L I T I C S O f THE S M I L E | T h e n e w technologies of the late nineteenth century for the first time enabled daily newspapers to address a huge and varied readership spread across the nation. Editors a n d interventionist proprietors aimed to please a wider range of people, m a n y of w h o m had little time and less inclination to plough through the convoluted metaphors

a n d classical allusions that

characterized nineteenth-century newspaper prose. Readers were n o w to be pampered and 'tickled' rather than challenged or patronized. T h i s ' n e w j o u r n a l i s m ' moved a w a y from writing that indulged in ponderous selfimportance towards a clearer, more accessible use of language, seeking to eliminate the sense of strain between readers a n d text created by more demanding reading. ' W e shall do a w a y w i t h the hackneyed style of obsolete journalism: and the m e n and w o m e n that figure i n the forum or the pulpit or the l a w court shall be presented as they are - living, breathing a n d in blushes or in tears - a n d not merely by the dead words that they utter,' wrote the editor of the Star, T . P O ' C o n n o r in January 1888. (Engel 1996: F o r E v e l y n M a r c h Phillips w r i t i n g in the New

Review

45)

(1895), the n e w

journalism meant 'that easy personal style, that trick of bright, colloquial language, that determination to arrest, amuse a n d startle' (Hunter 1 9 9 1 ) . V e r b a l attractiveness w a s accompanied by a move towards a more visual mode of presentation, led by the needs of advertisers. T h e n e w dailies depended on advertising revenue to keep their prices to a level their readers could afford ( C u r r a n and Seaton 1991). Advertising in itself w a s becoming an important new m e d i u m as the modern consumer-based, leisure economy began to get under w a y . T h e mosaic layout of a popular newspaper developed partly to accommodate illustrated a n d boxed advertisements, while the use of exclamatory a n d hortatory advertising slogans prefigured the use of striking headlines. T h e r e w a s a recognition that the newspaper purchaser 'doesn't read, he [sic] glimpses' (Engel 1996: 132; see also A l l e n and Frost 1981; Postman 1 9 8 5 ) . It w a s thought that the less educated readers in the wider market w o u l d respond to a 'direct appeal to the eye'. T h e editor of the Daily Mirror,

Illustrated

the first British newspaper to use photographs, wrote, in J a n u a r y

1904: O u r pictures do not merely accompany the printed news, they are a valuable help to the understanding of i t . . . the direct appeal to the eye, wherever it is possible, w i l l supplement the written w o r d , w h i c h is designed in a more cumbrous fashion to penetrate the m i n d . (Quoted in W o m b e l l 1986: 76; see also H o l l a n d 1 9 9 7 a , 1997b)

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND GENDER

Importantly, a more visual style w a s also thought to appeal to that other group of n e w readers, w o m e n . A contemporary commentator is o n record as saying ' M e n naturally think in abstract concepts, w o m e n think in pictures' ( R y a n 1 9 9 6 ) . W o m e n found themselves at the heart of the new society. T h e i r economic influence w a s growing, as the aspirant w o r k i n g and lower-middle classes gained more purchasing power. T h e ' n e w w o m a n ' of the turn of the century was

more independent, more likely to have a job that w o u l d bring her

enough money to follow fashion, to m a k e trips to the seaside and to buy magazines and other reading matter. A t the same time, w o m e n were at the centre of a consumer economy w h i c h w a s increasingly based i n the home. A more comfortable domestic life w a s becoming possible for those lower d o w n the social scale, and homes began to be furnished w i t h labour-saving and

leisure goods. E v e n if they did not control the purse strings, w o m e n

were the home-makers, and advertisers were anxious to reach a n ever larger number of them. A permissive address to w o m e n as consumers helped to open up the space for their public participation as readers. A t the same time, w o m e n journalists were campaigning for recognition. Barred from the raucous male w o r l d of the newsrooms, w o m e n w h o aspired to a journalistic career lacked the means to acquire a basic training. I n response, Atlanta magazine r a n a 'school of practical j o u r n a l i s m ' for w o m e n in 1896 and organized writing competitions. A Society for W o m e n Journalists w a s set up in 1884

to

challenge w o m e n ' s exclusion from the clubs and societies through w h i c h members of the journalistic fraternity built up their networks and secured their status. T h e Society had its o w n offices and a club i n Pall M a l l for the benefit of the 2 , 0 0 0 w o m e n estimated to be practising (Hunter 1991; Sebba 1994; see also C a l h o u n 1992: 115, The

284).

changes in editorial policy opened the w a y for w o m e n writers, w h o

could n o w be valued for bringing a personal touch to the pages of a paper. The

powerful editor W . T . Stead, proponent of the 'new j o u r n a l i s m ' , w a s

among the first to employ w o m e n writers, appointing a w o m a n , H u l d a Friederichs, as chief interviewer o n the Pall Mall Gazette

in 1882. It w a s a

short step from the personal to the disreputable. I n the 1890s, the A m e r i c a n Elizabeth L . B a n k s became notorious for her scandalous reporting of her life as a maid ' i n cap and a p r o n ' for the Weekly

Sun. ' " O h , but w e do not

w a n t the ordinary sort of writing from y o u , " the editors w o u l d say,' she wrote in her Autobiography

of a Newspaper

Girl (1902). ' " Y o u ' v e started

this newer and more entertaining k i n d of journalism over here and y o u must keep it u p ! " ' The

mass-circulation press began to explore w a y s of appealing to dif-

THE P O L I T I C S Of THE S M I L E | ferent strata of w o m e n . T h e pioneer Daily Mail, launched in 1896,

sought

out the middle-class wife in the expanding suburbs through its personality and gossip pages. Discreet and respectable in appearance, it was designed to attract the upwardly mobile - or at least u p w a r d l y aspirant - w i t h features on h o m e m a k i n g and household management for 'intelligent w o m e n ' . I n 1908 the paper set up the Ideal

Home

exhibition as a celebration of the

domestic values to w h i c h the paper still adheres. ' A l l the w o r l d a n d her husband' flocked to its displays of domestic goods and consumer fantasies (Ryan 1996). F o l l o w i n g the success of the Daily

Mail,

its proprietor Alfred H a r m s -

w o r t h , soon to become L o r d Northcliffe, w a s ready to move into new territory. I n 1903, he launched the Daily Mirror

specifically as a w o m e n ' s

paper. It h a d a w o m a n editor, M a r y H o w a r t h , a n d an a l l - w o m a n staff. T h e experiment did not last long, killed by w h a t sounds very m u c h like misogyny as well as by the failure of its n a r r o w formula of tittle-tattle and gossip for wealthy w o m e n . ' W o m e n can't write a n d don't w a n t to read' w a s Northcliffe's sour comment. T h e paper w a s denied the opportunity to live through its teething problems, a n d the replacement editor described sacking the female staff as 'a horrid experience - like d r o w n i n g kittens' (Engel 1996: 150; Allen and Frost 1 9 8 1 ) . Northcliffe's impatience w a s symptomatic. T h e aim appears to be to include 'feminine' values without handing over any power to w o m e n . I n a memo to the editor of the Daily Mail he once wrote, 'the magazine page is getting less feminine. It should be a w o m a n ' s page without saying so' ( R y a n 1996). But while the appeal of the popular press w a s opening up the democratic scope of news information and w i d e n i n g the base of public debate to w o m e n as well as m e n , a link between femininity and a l o w public status w a s already ingrained. Andreas H u y s s e n has described the 'notion w h i c h gained ground in the 19th century that mass culture is somehow associated w i t h w o m e n , w h i l e real, authentic culture remains the prerogative

of m e n ' . W o m e n were seen as readers of 'inferior

literature,

subjective, emotional and passive, while m a n . . . emerges as a writer of genuine authentic literature - objective, ironic a n d in control of his aesthetic means' (Huyssen 1986: 4 7 , 46). T h e 'feminine' remained linked to the visual, w h i c h seemed more easily accessible and less susceptible to rational thought than the verbal. Feminine discourse w a s not only outside the discourse of the educated classes, but w a s marginal to the universal claims of modernity and the political and public w o r l d . T h e 'vulgar' tastes of a w o r k i n g class that w a s gradually acquiring facilities for leisure and cultural activities seemed equally separate from the masculine seriousness of the middle classes. F o r H u y s s e n , 'the problem is

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

...

the persistent gendering as feminine of that w h i c h is devalued' (1986:

5 3 ) . T h i s judgement falls into the very trap that H u y s s e n is describing, since 'gendering as feminine' is seen to be a 'problem'. F o r us the reverse problem is of concern, not the 'gendering as feminine of that w h i c h is devalued', but the devaluation of that w h i c h is gendered as feminine a n d , indeed, the devaluation of any move towards the incorporation of w o m e n ' s concerns, especially if this is done under the control of w o m e n themselves. At

issue is not just the seriousness a n d authenticity of popular news

media, but the nature of their address to the reader. T h e move towards accessibility i n the n e w journalism developed along t w o parallel paths, as the split between fact and opinion, reporting and feature writing, accuracy and

'colour' began to gape more widely, dividing the 'serious' papers from

the tabloids as w e l l as m a r k i n g divisions w i t h i n each individual newspaper. An

informational address w h i c h claimed to be gender-neutral

w a s set

against a n entertainment address w h i c h developed as feminized, lighter, less demanding a n d more entertaining. F o r 'factual' reporting, ' h a r d news', a language that w a s clear and to the point came to replace rolling V i c t o r i a n clauses a n d circumlocutions. T h i s w a s a language that made plain its claims to truth, accuracy a n d universality. T h e 'soft news' of the entertainment sections and the feature pages w a s to be judged by different criteria. Y e t , despite the c l a i m that 'hard n e w s ' made for universality, the distinction remained gender-marked, w i t h w o m e n providing the colour a n d the h u m a n touch and men seeking out the reliable facts (Sebba 1994). M o r e complex difficulties arose as the century progressed a n d increasing numbers of w o m e n insisted o n their right to be part of the w o r l d of 'hard news'. I n a quite different w a y , 'softer' entertainment values continued to invade the news pages.

The Sexualization of the Sun ' W h a t I like to do first thing i n the m o r n i n g is to sit up i n bed and have a really good look at V a n y a , ' wrote C o l i n D u n n e i n the Sun i n September 1977. 'Sometimes she has a rose in her hair. Sometimes she wears a dainty necklace. O c c a s i o n a l l y , the odd ribbon. T h o s e apart she is always naked and

I wonder h o w it is that she a n d E n a Sharpies c a n possibly share the

same sex.' A sea change i n the very definition of a newspaper came about w h e n Rupert M u r d o c h bought the Sun i n 1 9 6 9 and decreed that its selling points should n o w be 'sex, sport a n d contests' (Engel 1 9 9 6 : 2 5 3 ) . A year later, editor L a r r y L a m b introduced the topless models, w h o became the paper's best-known feature. Its predecessor, the trade-union backed

Daily

THE P O L I T I C S OF THE S M I L E | Herald,

h a d endeavoured to create a sense of tough working-class c o m -

munity a m o n g its readers i n the interwar years ( C u r r a n and Seaton 1 9 9 1 ) . F r o m the 1970s, the Sun set out to create a different sort of communality by addressing the n e w working-class prosperity, in w h i c h pleasure w a s legitimized a n d the culture of deference put aside. T h e promise of uninhibited personal gratification w a s compatible w i t h a rapidly expanding consumerbased economy, and went together w i t h an open contempt for established authority a n d those w h o w o u l d keep y o u in your place ( H o l l a n d 1 9 8 3 ) . L a r r y L a m b decreed that sex in the pages of the Sun w a s to be linked not to pornographic images, nor to highly groomed models, not even, primarily, to celebrities, but to tastefully posed, ordinary young w o m e n , smiling at the reader and revealing their breasts. T h e y must be 'nice girls', he is on record as saying (Chippendale and H o r r i e 1 9 9 2 ) . I n those days of innocence, the Sun's brash hedonism seemed to be sharing something of the freedoms argued for by feminism. Despite its unashamed c o m m e r c i a l i s m , the change in style and content w a s in tune w i t h the liberatory m o o d of the times. T h i s w a s the era of Cosmopolitan

magazine w h i c h opened up a

public discussion of sex for w o m e n . Sex w a s explicitly dealt w i t h i n feminist magazines, notably Spare

Rib,

and even Parents

magazine, w h i c h dealt

w i t h childcare issues, indulged i n daring presentations featuring natural childbirth and a considerable amount of nudity. R u p e r t M u r d o c h w a s said to admire the 'serious' broadsheet, the Guardian,

because of that news-

paper's readiness to deal w i t h issues of sexual behaviour on its w o m e n ' s pages. (The Guardian

w a s later referred to by Sun writers as 'the W o r l d ' s

Worst'.) T h e Sun's

class and gender realignments echoed a wider set of social

changes, resisting the 'discourses of sobriety', trade unions, B B C news a n d old-fashioned politics. It valued itself as a rebel, i n reaction to the remnants of post-war stringency a n d n a r r o w morality. Page T h r e e w a s launched as an image of defiant liberation. Its message to m e n w a s age-old, but its message to w o m e n w a s that w o m e n are n o w free to be sexual. Generations of Page T h r e e 'girls' encouraged w o m e n readers to join them, to be p r o u d of their bodies and to have f u n . T h e address to w o m e n , often i n m a j o r features such as the amply illustrated adaptation of J o a n G a r r i t y ' s Loving

Total

(July 1977), w a s along the lines of 'loosen up, discover sexual

pleasure'. Images of naked m e n joined those of n a k e d w o m e n . T h e brashness, visual excitement and d o w n m a r k e t appeal of the

Sun

meant that no newspaper that aimed for a mass readership could ignore it. It w a s imitated by the long-established Daily Mirror

- w h i c h introduced

Page Three-type topless models for a brief period - a n d the newly established Daily Star w h i c h determinedly scattered bulging breasts throughout

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

its pages. Finally it opened the w a y for the Sport, a tabloid that claimed to be a newspaper but w h i c h dispensed w i t h all pretence to offer anything but fantasy a n d soft p o r n . T h e 'softening' of the news had taken a new turn w i t h the reassertion of the female body as spectacle. T h e sexualization of the popular press h a d brought a different set of alignments between public and

private domains, and between masculine and feminine concerns in its

pages. On

the one h a n d , sexualization could be seen as a logical development of

feminization, continuing to d r a w into the wider debate issues of sexuality and

sexual relations that had been hidden but w h i c h w o m e n themselves,

not least in the feminist movement, n o w insisted were of public importance. On

the other h a n d , there w a s a deep contradiction in the presentation.

Although w o m e n were invited to enjoy themselves, to follow their desires and

to drop their inhibitions, the divided address, accompanied by many a

nudge and a w i n k , made it clear that this w o m e n ' s pleasure is above all a pleasure for men. I n this context, the visual is no longer associated w i t h w o m e n and w i t h a less linear style of understanding, but w i t h a masculine insistence on the inalienable right to a lustful gaze. The

Sun's visible culture of sex invaded every part of the paper, including

the pages it has from time to time r u n for w o m e n . I n the paper's o w n version of its history: The

Sun called its w o m e n ' s pages "Pacesetters" a n d filled them w i t h

sex. T h e y were produced by w o m e n for w o m e n . But they were subtitled " T h e pages for w o m e n that men can't resist", acknowledging that there are plenty of topics that fascinate both men a n d w o m e n . L i k e sex. (Grose 1989: But

94).

the sex remained male oriented. C h i p p e n d a l e and H o r r i e write of the

'laddish' culture a m o n g young w o m e n journalists on the paper, outdoing the m e n (1992). As

the years progressed, the Sun's assertive vulgarity became differently

aligned to the cultural a n d political m a p of the day. W h e n K e l v i n Mac¬ Kenzie took over the editorship in 1981

the paper became strident in its

radical Conservative sympathies, expressed as two fingers to the establishment and a n insolent individualism. T h e Page T h r e e image w a s part of a rightward move i n a political and cultural consciousness confirmed by the years of Conservative government. T h e central image of the semi-naked 'nice girl' and her w e l c o m i n g smile w a s developed as a politics of disengagement. 'Page T h r e e is good for y o u ' w a s the caption that headed a Page T h r e e picture in 1984.

'P3's titillating tit-bits are just w h a t the doctor

ordered - as a tonic against the w o r l d ' s gloomy news. R e s e a r c h has s h o w n

THE P O L I T I C S Of THE S M I L E | that the Sun's famous glamour pictures are a vital bit of cheer for readers depressed by strikes, deaths a n d disasters.' ' A L o n d o n psychologist' is quoted as saying: W h e n y o u think h o w gloomy and threatening most of the news has been lately - strikes, assassinations, hijacks, starving millions and the falling p o u n d - y o u need Page T h r e e as a shot in the a r m . I a m sure the Sun's

famous beauties are a vital safety valve for the country's m e n

w h e n things in general seem to be getting out of h a n d . T h e embrace of the 'loadsamoney' culture, of jingo and bingo, w a s i n tune w i t h a m o o d that crossed the social classes. O t h e r popular papers a n d the burgeoning magazine market h a d followed suit. T h e culture of sex-for-fun w a s echoed in advertisements a n d on television. B y the mid-1990s, the Sun had lost its rebellious spice. N o w its sexual obsessiveness had been overtaken by a host of ' l a d d i s h ' magazines on the news-stands, and by raunchy imagery o n the advertising hoardings. O n television The Good

Sex

Guide

( 1 9 9 3 - 9 4 ) h a d kicked off the schedules of the n e w I T V company C a r l t o n , and inaugurated a genre of trash television w h i c h w a s partly youth-oriented, partly masculine sex fantasy. K e l v i n M a c K e n z i e himself left the and launched Topless

Darts

Sun

(1996) on the cable channel L i v e T V . I n the

pages of the Sun the h u m o u r could all too easily harden into malice a n d the sexual fun into a leery, sneery soft misogyny. A relaxation of restraint also came to mean less restraint o n intolerance. It made possible the intemperate abuse of those whose sexuality a n d lifestyle does not conform. I n the daily mosaic of the newspaper, the image of the sexy w o m a n continues to be laid against female demons like single mothers, lesbian teachers a n d ugly w o m e n , such as E n a Sharpies, the Coronation

Street

character w h o m C o l i n D u n n e h a d thought c o u l d not

possibly share the same sex as Page T h r e e girl V a n y a . Although the excesses of the K e l v i n M a c K e n z i e years are n o w rare, the obverse of the culture of hedonism remains a theatre of cruelty, w h i c h takes pleasure in the distress of the targeted individual. W o m e n ' s visibility in the public realm has involved repeated reminders that heterosexuality is a l w a y s a n issue between m e n and w o m e n , from the demand to see newsreader Angela R i p p o n ' s legs ( H o l l a n d 1 9 8 7 ) , to a preoccupation w i t h Prime M i n i s t e r Margaret T h a t c h e r ' s wardrobe. W h i c h brings us back to the image of the smile and to the relationship between the body a n d the face in the iconic Page Three image.

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

Body and Face M u c h has been written about the use of the female body as spectacle and as commodity (Mulvey 1 9 8 9 ; C o w a r d 1984). Carole Pateman has d r a w n the issue even more firmly into the political realm i n the unlikely context of the theory of contract w h i c h , for liberal thinkers, secures the legitimation of civil society. T h e theory proposes that free social relations take the form of a series of contracts freely entered into between autonomous individuals. Contracts, such as those involving employment, are governed by law, and structure daily life. Pateman points out that w o m e n have been largely overlooked by classical contract theorists, and that, although a contract is seen as the paradigm for an equal agreement, i n those contracts that are of necessity between w o m e n and men

- as in marriage - the parties begin from a n unequal position. Such

contracts always imply a politicized sexual difference and reinforce what she describes as men's sex-right' over women's bodies (Pateman 1988: 3). c

It is important for her argument that w e should not lose sight of this potent sexual

inequality, as its specificity c a n too easily be lost i n a dis-

cussion of other categories of inequality less subject to taboo, such as those of power or gender. M e n ' s sex-right is central to contracts, f r o m marriage to prostitution a n d surrogacy, ' i n w h i c h the body of the w o m a n is precisely w h a t is at issue' (Pateman 1 9 8 8 : 2 2 4 ) . Despite the liberal doctrine that 'everyone o w n s the property i n their capacities a n d attributes', m e n still 'demand that w o m e n ' s bodies i n the flesh a n d i n representation should be publicly available to them' (1988: 1 3 - 1 4 ) . A fanciful analogy might pose the Page T h r e e smile as a form of contract w h i c h reaches out to the male reader. It appears to secure a n unproblematic agreement between m e n and w o m e n w h i c h promises access to a sexualized body. T h e r e are m a n y possible types of smile. T h e Sun specializes i n the 'lovely to see y o u ! ' smile, one that comes straight off of the page, the gaze of the smiler entangling w i t h that of the viewer. It is cheerful, commonplace and relaxed, and it aims to elicit smiles from the readers, men a n d w o m e n . ' T r y to avoid a toothy grin o r a Bardot pout. T h i s sort of expression c a n m a k e you

look self-conscious. It's best not to copy anyone. Just be yourself,' w a s

the advice given to aspiring Page Threes (Sun, 2 7 October 1 9 8 1 ) . T h i s smile is familiar from the snapshots of friends and family treasured by

almost everyone i n the Western w o r l d . E v e r since the introduction of the

B o x Brownie i n 1 9 0 0 , the domestic snapshot, taken 'as quick as a w i n k ' , has sought to capture a smile that builds a bond of companionship between photographer and subject, quite different f r o m the confrontational tension created i n formal portraits taken by a professional photographer ( H o l l a n d 1 9 9 7 a ; Parr 1 9 9 7 ) .

THE P O L I T I C S OF THE S M I L E | T h i s pictured smile is part of the familial ritual, a family masquerade. It is a welcome convention w h i c h expresses a longing for happiness a n d togetherness even w h e n , tragically, it m a y conceal the opposite (Williams 1994; Spence a n d H o l l a n d 1991). It is a n affirmation of belonging and fitting into place, a n acquiescence underpinned by pleasure. T h e w o r k of the newspaper smile is to create a n engagement w i t h its o w n special public, built o n the analogy of family w a r m t h . M u c h of the text of the Sun is organized around the presence a n d absence of such a smile. I n the tradition of the popular press it seeks out good news in contrast to the 'gloomy a n d threatening' news of the 'serious' broadsheets. A s a n object lesson to its readers it offers contrasting images of w o m e n w h o w i l l not smile - ' M r s M i s e r y ' , a betting-shop cashier, ' w a s sacked because she w a s so grumpy she drove punters a w a y ' (Sun,

3 Sep-

tember 1 9 9 6 ) . Such surly refusal on the part of spoilsports, moralists a n d the bad tempered deprives everyone else of their pleasure and undermines the security of the metaphorical family structure. W i t h this relaxed and familiar smile firmly i n place, the Sun has gone on to forge a n indissoluble link between the w e l c o m i n g face and the revelation of w o m e n ' s breasts. ' L o v e l y to see y o u ! ' w a s the headline over a Portsm o u t h c r o w d greeting the fleet on its return f r o m the F a l k l a n d s in June 1982. A smiling young w o m a n , a n ordinary girl, just one of the c r o w d , pulls up her shirt to reveal her breasts. ' A pretty girl reveals h o w happy she is to see Britain's heroes home - by baring her charms for the delighted sailors', the text confirms (Sun,

12 June 1 9 8 2 ) . Sexuality is both affirmed

and its danger defused in the ordinariness of the presentation. F o r those w h o refuse the link between smile a n d female sexuality, the threat of humiliation is a l w a y s present. W h e n , in 1986, L a b o u r M P C l a r e Short brought in a Parliamentary Bill to ban Page T h r e e , the response w a s personalized abuse against 'killjoy C l a r e ' . T h e News

of the World,

at the

time edited by ex-Page T h r e e caption writer Patsy C h a p m a n , set out to find a picture of the M P i n her night-dress ( T u n k s and H u t c h i n s o n

1991;

Snoddy 1992: 110). T h i s metaphorical attempt to undress C l a r e Short w a s symptomatic. W o m e n w h o refuse to smile tend to be fully clothed, but once the clothes come off the message of the body cannot be denied. A face, even a smiling face, carries the potential of speech. T h e revealed body calms a n d defuses the challenge of that potential. The

Page T h r e e image

is a n active, w o r k i n g image,

layered

with

mythological resonance (Warner 1987). It displays a 'body that matters', to echo the title of Judith Butler's exploration of the discursive construction of real, material bodies. It w o r k s to reiterate the 'regulatory norms w i t h w h i c h sex is materialised'. But, as Butler goes on to point out, 'sex is both

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

produced and destabilized i n the course of this reiteration' (Butler

1993:

10). T h e exposure of a w o m a n ' s breasts needs strong legitimation, a n d that legitimation is achieved by the acquiescent smile. Page T h r e e models repeatedly emphasize the point by speaking of the pleasure they take in the role. Page T h r e e has changed over the years. T h e models have become more k n o w i n g and the presentation has lost something of the exuberant celebration of the early days. Perhaps more importantly, the context i n w h i c h it is to be understood is different. T h e w o m e n in the pictures are no longer timeless. T h e w e l l - k n o w n models have g r o w n older, and their public personae have developed. Some have h a d children; some, like L i n d a L u s a r d i and

S a m F o x , have tried to build up show-business careers; others have

become unemployed a n d disillusioned. T h e i r personal accounts of their experiences, published from time to time in newspapers as diverse as the News of the World a n d the Guardian

Weekend,

range from the m a u d l i n to

the insightful. M a n y give a very different picture from that portrayed in the jokey features that fill the pages of the The

Sun.

highly visible image of a sexualized w o m a n has brought into ques-

tion the role of the popular press as a potential space for the expression of w o m e n ' s democratic aspirations and public participation. A n d yet a n army of invisible w o m e n , journalists, photographers, researchers a n d editors, has been steadily encroaching

into hitherto-protected

masculine preserves.

C o u l d it be that the reassertion of the irreducible differences on w h i c h sexual relations are based is partly a response to a n increasing equality in gender

relations?

Democracy, Women and the Public Sphere R o z s i k a Parker a n d Griselda Pollock have documented the historic relationship through w h i c h the status of male painters has depended on a distinct role for w o m e n in the w o r l d of art. W h i l e w o m e n were excluded as artists -

the eighteenth-century

R o y a l A c a d e m y banned them from its

prestigious life classes - their visible presence w a s necessary to the very concept of 'art'. T h e idealized image of ' w o m a n ' for centuries represented the archetypal subject for easel painting (Parker and Pollock 1981). Just like the painted odalisque, the baroque visibility of w o m e n in the Sun is

part of a fantastic excess w i t h w h i c h the paper engages its readers.

Repeating many similar ironies, the transformation of the popular press into a more accessible, more democratic m e d i u m - potentially more femi-

THE P O L I T I C S O f THE S M I L E | nine -

has been carried out through an image that w o r k s to

temper

w o m e n ' s equal participation in those public spaces./ A vocal feminist opposition to Page T h r e e has argued that the circulation of the image, as a fantasy for men, w o u l d put real w o m e n at risk i n the physical spaces of the streets. M y argument is that by reinforcing sexual difference, the nature of the democratic discursive space is brought into question. D e m o c r a t i c discourse, w h i c h needs to be feminized, reaches a different sort of limit w h e n it becomes sexualized. T h i s limit w i l l a l w a y s need to be negotiated,

but

negotiation is closed off if sexual difference is a l w a y s presented in a w a y that reinforces sexual inequality. It has been demonstrated in relation to a variety of historical contexts that the exclusion of w o m e n from public activities has been structural rather than a mere contingency. T h i s means that the imbalance cannot easily

be rectified by equal opportunities

crimination programmes,

legislation or

however important

positive

such initiatives m a y

disbe.

C a r o l e Pateman has mapped out the w a y s i n w h i c h the very concept of a liberal 'individual' implies a notion of sexual subordination, and 'civil freedom depends on patriarchal right' (Pateman 1988: 38, 2 1 9 ) . I n H a n n a h Arendt's account of the G r e e k polis, the private domestic base w a s needed to create a public space in w h i c h m e n could participate as citizens (Arendt 1989). F o r N a n c y Fraser, the concept of a 'public sphere', w h i c h could make possible a free and equal exchange ideological notion ( C a l h o u n 1992:

of views, w a s a masculinist

116). J o a n L a n d e s argued that 'the

exclusion of w o m e n w a s constitutive of the very notion of the public sphere' in the age of the F r e n c h Revolution ( T h o m p s o n 1995:

254).

It is consistent w i t h these analyses that the 'serious' broadsheets, w i t h their claims to objectivity and universal values, have excluded w o m e n even more firmly from positions of power. T h e first w o m e n to become editors of national newspapers (apart from the first, abortive, Daily Mirror)

have r u n

the most scandalous of scandal sheets, rather than upmarket papers w i t h liberal credentials. W e n d y H e n r y and Patsy C h a p m a n , both editors of

News

of the World, learned their trade on the Sun. H e n c e the paradoxical position that w o m e n w h o lay c l a i m to the exercise of p o w e r in the public arena of tabloid news must themselves oversee the fantasy image of a sexy w o m a n . T h e entertainment values that, i n the popular press, n o w invade all parts of the paper, need to be reconciled w i t h 'public sphere' objectives, where participation depends o n the restrained statement of competing opinions, and where there is an assumption that all c a n contribute without regard to status or other identity factors ( C a l h o u n 1 9 9 2 ) . A viable 'public sphere' w o u l d be a democratic space where, in the w o r d s of A n n e Phillips, w e c a n 'leave ourselves behind':

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER W e do w a n t to 'leave ourselves behind' w h e n w e engage in democratic politics: not in the sense of denying everything that makes us the people w e are, but i n the sense of seeing ourselves as constituted by a n often contradictory complex of experiences a n d qualities, and then of seeing the gap between ourselves a n d others as i n many w a y s a product of chance. (Phillips 1 9 9 1 : 59)

The

sexualized image of a w o m a n is a constant reminder of the Utopian

nature of this goal.

Excess and the Politics of Fun A consideration of the position of w o m e n i n the popular press points to the need for a n evaluation of the political implications of this interplay between fact a n d fantasy, 'information' a n d entertainment.

T h i s means that the

visual presentation of a newspaper, the size of the headlines, the style of language used are never side issues. H a r d news is always dependent o n soft. F o r that reason, rather than exploring the accuracy, bias or otherwise of the popular press, I have, i n this chapter, been concerned w i t h other aspects of its democratic

role. Its role i n circulating vocabularies, images a n d

concepts w i t h w h i c h to make sense of the contemporary w o r l d a n d the place of men a n d w o m e n w i t h i n it, is of prime importance, but it also plays a role i n offering a space i n w h i c h people m a y see themselves, their views and

their interests reflected, both as individuals and as groups. Bearing i n

m i n d these t w o aspects, rather than trying to isolate the informational content of the popular press from its entertaining presentation, a political critique w o u l d note the w a y s i n w h i c h the news content is structured a n d shaped by entertainment

values, while the information is itself filtered

through the entertainment material ( C u r r a n a n d Sparks 1 9 9 1 ) . ' N e w s ' and 'entertainment' become ever more entwined as the entertainment matter colours the reader's understanding a n d itself carries important forms of information. James C u r r a n has made this point i n relation to the media i n general, arguing that ' M e d i a entertainment is one means by w h i c h people engage at a n intuitive and expressive level i n a public dialogue about the direction of society. M e d i a entertainment is in this sense a n integral part of the media's " i n f o r m a t i o n a l " role' ( C u r r a n 1 9 9 1 a , 1991b: 1 0 2 ) . F a r from neglecting the political role of newspapers, this refocusing of attention is essential to a n understanding of the d o w n m a r k e t tabloids as the most influential media of political c o m m u n i c a t i o n . The

relentless push towards entertainment values has meant that the

THE P O L I T I C S O f THE S M I L E | definition of w h a t makes ' n e w s ' is itself constantly changing. T h e carefully established distinction between fact and opinion is n o w less easy to m a i n tain. T h e need for accuracy has become dissolved into the excess of the headline, through a joke, a n ironic exaggeration or an expression of outrage. It is part of m y argument that, in the d o w n m a r k e t tabloids, the 'Page T h r e e principle' has been a crucial element in this transformation. Images of w o m e n - seductive, spectacular yet naturalistic - have been central to a cultural and economic change w h i c h is also a political one. 'Samantha w a v i n g from the top of a n armoured car as it w a s driven through the picket lines at W a p p i n g w a s one of the defining moments of the 1980s', wrote journalist Peter M a r t i n of Page T h r e e icon Samatha F o x ( M a r t i n 1 9 9 7 : 1 6 ) . T h e long association made by the Sun between spoilsports, sexual puritans a n d a L a b o u r Party n o w rejected as ' o l d L a b o u r ' has been a highly political campaign,

filtered

through the association of sexuality a n d a

hedonistic lifestyle. A s part of its violently a n t i - L a b o u r stance during the 1992 election, the Sun replaced its usual Page T h r e e w i t h a bulgingly fat 'flabbogram lady', captioned ' H e r e ' s h o w Page T h r e e w i l l look under K i n n o c k ! F a t chance of f u n ' (Seymour-Ure 1 9 9 5 ) . Political discourse of this k i n d appears to transcend party politics. T h e Sun dramatically changed allegiance for the 1997 election, supporting the L a b o u r Party in its ' m o d ernized' form under T o n y Blair. O n that occasion, its latest Page T h r e e 'superstar', M e l i n d a Messenger, 'Blairs a l l ' a n d tells readers w h y she backs T o n y Blair. C l e a r l y the party-political switch h a d had no impact on the 'Page T h r e e principle'. A politics of sexual fantasy w h i c h opens up a gap between w o m e n and m e n by reinforcing men's 'sex-right' over w o m e n ' s bodies continues to imply a political allegiance w h i c h ultimately undermines democratic participatory rights, and w h i c h continues to link the feminine w i t h the trivial. The

Sun

continues to reiterate that w o m e n ' s bodies matter, a n d it

repeatedly demonstrates that the materiality of those bodies w i l l a l w a y s subvert w o m e n ' s claims to seriousness in a w o r l d where they need not smile. A n d yet, in the spirit of a sexuality that aims to be less under male control, m a n y ordinary w o m e n have made it clear that they value the right to smile, even if, for the moment, they cannot smile entirely o n their o w n terms. I n a 1987

television debate, ex-Page T h r e e model L i n d a L u s a r d i

asserted that she h a d turned the Page T h r e e image to her o w n advantage. She used it as a sign of the p r o u d independence it h a d brought to her, rather than a sign of subordination to men's fantasies ( B B C C o m m u n i t y Programmes U n i t 1987). T h a t smile continues to be directed at w o m e n , too, even if it is instantly recuperated into the service of a masculine f r a m e w o r k of understanding (Norris 1 9 9 7 ) .

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER But while real, embodied - if invisible - w o m e n continue to have only

m i n i m a l roles i n the shaping of our popular media, the m e n w h o produce the pages w i l l continue to build their power on the decorative excess of the w o m e n w h o are pictured o n them - just like the eighteenth-century

aca-

demicians a n d their voluptuous models. Interestingly, a debate i n the pages of the serious broadsheets during June a n d July of 1 9 9 7 o n whether a lightening of the news content of those papers constituted a 'dumbing d o w n ' or a feminization, w a s largely conducted by w o m e n journalists a n d quickly took up the issue of w o m e n ' s writing. Smiling or not, the need is for participation o n w o m e n ' s o w n terms. T h i s , of course, w i l l have consequences for the concept of ' n e w s ' a n d for that of 'entertainment'.

Notes 1.

It is possible that 1998 will prove to be another turning point in the history of the Sun and the popular press in general. Following an underlying decline in the number of readers, which accelerated alarmingly from 1996, the Sun decided to change direction once again. It appointed a young woman, 29-year-old Rebekah Wade, as deputy editor, abandoned the Page Three pin-up and moved to a generally less laddish approach. The Sun felt the need to seek a new niche as, on the one side, magazines such as Loaded developed the raunchy style with spectacular success and, on the other, the mid-market Daily Mail, with its more serious journalism, increased its readership.

2.

The Press Complaints Commission, the self-regulatory body which monitors the ethics of the British press, covers issues of privacy in its Code of Practice. The Commission responds to complaints from members of the public. Disputes regularly arise over the ethics of such issues as intrusive photography and intrusion on grief or shock. These issues are important, but the point that I am making here is a broader one about the general tenor of news values.

References Allen, R. and Frost, J . (1981) Daily Mirror. Cambridge: Patrick Stephens. Arendt, H . (1989) The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Banks, E . L . (1902) The Autobiography of a 'Newspaper GirV. New York: Dodd, Mead. Benhabib, S. (1994) Models of public space: Hannah Arendt, the liberal tradition and Jiirgen Habermas, in C . Calhoun (ed.) Habermas and the Public Sphere. Boston, M A : Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Butler, J . (1993) Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of 'Sex'. London: Routledge.

THE P O L I T I C S OF T H E S M I L E | Calhoun, C . (ed.) (1992) Habermas and the Public Sphere. Cambridge, M A : M I T Press. Chippendale, P. and Horrie, C . (1992) Stick it Up Your Punter: The Rise and Fall of The Sun. London: Mandarin. Coward, R. (1984) Female Desire: Women's Sexuality Today. London: Paladin. Curran, J . (1991a) Rethinking the media as a public sphere, in P. Dahlgren and C . Sparks (eds) Communication and Citizenship. London: Routledge. Curran, J . (1991b) Mass media and democracy: a reappraisal, in J . Curran and M . Gurevitch (eds) Mass Media and Society. London: Arnold. Curran, J . and Seaton, J . (1991) Power Without Responsibility, 4th edn. London: Routledge. Curran, J . and Sparks, C . (1991) Press and popular culture, Media, Culture and Society, 13: 215-37. Engei, M . (1996) Tickle the Public: One Hundred London: Indigo.

Years of the Popular

Press.

Grose, R. (1989) The Sun-sation. London: Angus & Robertson. Holland, P. (1983) The 'Page Three Girl' speaks to women too, Screen, 24(3): 84-102. Holland, P. (1987) When a woman reads the news, in H . Baehr and G . Dyer (eds) Boxed In: Women and Television. London: Pandora. Holland, P. (1997a) 'Sweet it is to scan': personal photographs and popular photography, in L . Wells (ed.) Photography: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge. Holland, P. (1997b) T h e direct appeal to the eye? Photography and the twentieth century press', in A. Briggs and P. Cobley (eds) Introduction to Media. Harlow: Addison Wesley Longman. Hunter, F. (1991) The society of women journalists, in G . Cevaso (ed.) The Eighteen Nineties: Encyclopaedia of British Literature, Arts and Culture. New York: Garland. Huyssen, A. (1986) Mass culture as woman, After the Great Divide. London: Macmillan. Martin, P. (1997) The sad tale of M r Fox, Observer Life, 16 February. Mulvey, L . (1989) 'Visual pleasure and narrative cinema', Visual and Other Pleasures. London: Macmillan. Norris, P. (ed.) (1997) Women, Media and Politics. New York: Oxford University Press. Parker, R. and Pollock, G . (1981) Old Mistresses: Women, Art and Ideology. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Parr, M . (1997) 'August Sander: A personal perspective', talk given at the National Portrait Gallery, London (March). Pateman, C . (1988) The Sexual Contract. Cambridge: Polity. Phillips, A. (1991) Engendering Democracy. Cambridge: Polity. Postman, N . (1985) Amusing Ourselves to Death. London: Methuen. Ryan, D . (1996) All the world and her husband: the Daily Mail and women readers. Paper given at Institute of Contemporary British History Conference (September).

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : H E D I A AND G E N D E R

Sebba, A. (1994) Battling for News: The Rise of the Woman Reporter. London: Sceptre. Seymour-Ure, C . (1995) Characters and assassinations: portrayals of John Major and Neil Kinnock in the Daily Mirror and the Sun, in I. Crewe and B. Gosschalk (eds) Political Communications: The General Election Campaign 1992. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. Snoddy, R. (1992) The Good, the Bad and the Unacceptable. London: Faber &c Faber. Spence, J . and Holland, P. (eds) (1991) Family Snaps: The Meanings of Domestic Photography. London: Virago. Thompson, J.B. (1995) The theory of the public sphere, in O . Boyd-Barrett and C . Newbold (eds) Approaches to Media: A Reader. London: Arnold. Tunks, K. and Hutchinson, D . (1991) Dear Clare ... This is What Women Feel about Page Three. London: Radius. Warner, M . (1987) Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form. London: Picador. Wigmore, N . (1986) The Page Three Connection, Guardian, 27 March. Williams, V . (1994) Who's Looking at the Family} London: Barbican Art Gallery. Wombell, P. (1986) Face to face with themselves: photography and the First World War, in P. Holland, J . Spence and S. Watney (eds) Photography Politics Two. London: Comedia.

O

M U R D E R . G E N D E R AND T H E MEDIA SCXUALIZING POLITICS AND VIOLENCE Saraswati Sunindyo

T h i s paper focuses on three cases of wife a n d mistress murder that gained media a n d public attention i n Indonesia i n the 1990s. I n contrast to some other, less publicized cases of the murder of w o m e n , these three seemed to 1

entail political scandal; the perpetrators were (or were r u m o u r e d to be) functionaries of a state c o m m o n l y criticized for corruption a n d oppressiveness. It w a s this that d r e w attention to the cases and obscured the male violence against w o m e n that w a s involved. T h e media and public discourse in these cases, however, engaged representations of sexuality: the victims were 'sexualized' while the aggressors were s o m e h o w 'desexualized' by attributing their motives to a desire to protect their families. I w i l l argue that the representation of these three cases

reconstructs

gender ideology by attempting to control w o m e n ' s sexuality, distinguish 'good' w o m e n from ' b a d ' w o m e n , and exclude w o m e n w h o do not fit into the typology of a good mother. Such construction or reconstruction of gender did not take place i n a political v a c u u m . It w a s linked to the substantiation of the bourgeois ideology of motherhood - that is, w o m a n as nurturer of her offspring, her h u s b a n d , and finally of the community a n d national spirit; that is, the w o m a n ' s role that w a s officially sanctioned by the N e w O r d e r state of I n d o n e s i a .

2

The Political Context Prior to 1980, Indonesian society w a s the site of persistent political dissatisfaction expressed i n events such as the 1 9 7 4 student protests k n o w n as

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

the M a l a r i A f f a i r , a wave of student activism and the first mass protest during the N e w O r d e r era. T h e students focused on the dependency of Indonesian economic development a n d foreign aid and investment (largely from Japan). I n their analyses, such development w a s closely tied to the interests of the political elite and its business collaborators. T h e demonstrators demanded, among other things, the dissolution of the presidential panel of personal advisers and the eradication of c o r r u p t i o n . T h e student 3

demonstration w a s followed by violent riots in Pasar Senen, one of the major commercial districts and shopping areas in J a k a r t a . T h e M a l a r i Affair resulted i n mass arrests of student leaders and the banning of eleven newspapers and one magazine, w i t h five of the newspapers still under ban 2 0 years later. Social dissatisfaction continued and another wave of student protests broke out in 1977-79, k n o w n as Buku

climaxing w i t h the publication of a student manifesto

Patih (White

T h e book criticized the N e w O r d e r

Book).

government, again focusing on its abuse of power, corruption and economic inequities, w i t h a very strong appeal for political changes. It w a s banned shortly after it appeared and the students' arrests and trials f o l l o w e d .

4

In addition to the student protests, there were many other manifestations of a generalized protest consciousness. O n e of the major sources of dissatisfaction w i t h the regime w a s the problem of corruption and the state's incompetence i n handling it despite official claims to the contrary. T h e police were a n obvious target for the public's general resentment. O n e of the expressions in everyday public conversation prior to 1980 phrase prit-jigo,

5

w a s the

a derogatory expression for the police. A l t h o u g h a specific

term, the meaning reflects a wider discontent, against the whole military and

the regime i n g e n e r a l . Corruption,

6

commonly

the eliciting a n d acceptance of bribes, h a d

become a w e l l - k n o w n attribute of public officials. Another w a y to influence an

official w a s to offer h i m sexual companions. H o t e l s , bars, massage

parlours and other tourist facilities were sites for such 'immorality' associated w i t h corruption and b r i b e r y . H o w e v e r , anti-corruption campaigns 7

usually cling to the conservative position that w o m e n a n d sex are the m a i n corrupting factors, rather than instruments of the m a i n corrupting factor, the official abuse of power. In

1979, a national newspaper, Sinar Harapan,

published a series called

'Remang-remang J a k a r t a ' , a report on prostitution in J a k a r t a . T h e reports were published daily, and both the content and the character of the stories made the series (later published as a book) into a sensational subject of c o n v e r s a t i o n . T h e articles m i x e d sensation and sexual inquisitiveness w i t h 8

exposure of decadent and corrupt bureaucrats.

MURDER, GENDER AND THE MEDIA

|

A m o n g the articles were interviews w i t h those involved in the prostitution business, providing information about the clients and the w o m e n , including some w e l l - k n o w n figures identified only by initials. F o r example, the paper ran the confession of a pimp w h o h a d started out as a n independent construction contractor. I n order to w i n contracts, he h a d to provide w o m e n to government officials a n d businessmen. T h e story of a m a d a m revealed that she h a d seven powerful m e n backing, or supporting, her (backing

financially

is also the term used i n I n d o n e s i a ) . T h e same 9

series revealed that a popular magazine had served as a sales catalogue for high-class prostitutes during the 1 9 7 0 s .

1 0

T h i s provocative series, however,

even w h e n published as a book, offered no in-depth analysis of prostitution.

1 1

A s a result, the public reaction to the e x p o s é s remained rooted in

m o r a l puritanism and sexism.

The Politics of Gender T h e N e w O r d e r government more strictly enforced the ideology concerning the role of w o m e n ; w o m e n ' s organizations and their voices were transformed into ' N e w O r d e r fashion'. Shortly after the N e w O r d e r took power in 1966,

m a n y existing w o m e n ' s organizations were banned, left-leaning

w o m e n activists were jailed or had died in massacres, and the national w o m e n ' s organization K o w a n i (Kongres W a n i t a Indonesia, Indonesian W o m e n ' s Congress) w a s paralysed. T h i s last effect resulted from the fact that K o w a n i ' s leadership has been dominated w o m e n ' s movement Party).

by G e r w a n i (the leftist

influenced by the P K I , the Indonesian C o m m u n i s t

Consequently, m a n y w o m e n ' s issues raised by the ' o l d ' order

1 2

w o m e n ' s organizations a n d activists, such as childcare and sexual harassment, were also seen as tainted and were dropped from all practical agendas.

13

A n e w w o m e n ' s organization w a s formed i n 1974 called D h a r m a W a n i t a (Women's D u t y ) , a national organization headed by the First L a d y of the republic, w h i c h functioned

as a n umbrella organization

for

women's

organizations in all government offices. D h a r m a W a n i t a membership is mandatory for every w o m a n w o r k i n g in a government office and for all wives of government

employees. T h e leadership structure parallels the

hierarchy of the husbands' offices and positions. T h e more outspoken w o m e n ' s organizations were paralysed, and D h a r m a W a n i t a clearly did not a i m to articulate w o m e n ' s rights i s s u e s .

14

T h e N e w O r d e r government also

launched a programme for w o m e n described as the P K K or F a m i l y Welfare G u i d a n c e . Described as a movement to promote 'community well-being',

©

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

the programme started by concentrating o n w o m e n i n r u r a l areas. E v e r y village head's office displays a poster listing the P K K programme and the five precepts or Panca Dharma

Wanita (Five Responsibilities of W o m e n ) : a

wife is to (1) support her husband's career a n d duties; (2) provide offspring; (3) care for a n d rear the children; (4) be a good housekeeper; and (5) be a guardian of the c o m m u n i t y .

1 5

Clearly the ideology of w o m e n as offspring producers, mothers a n d guardians of the national interest did not first appear w h e n the N e w O r d e r government took power, nor did it exist only because the state reinforced it through D h a r m a W a n i t a and its family welfare programme. T h e post-1965 state, however, put its weight behind these notions. W h i l e w o m e n ' s organizations that were concerned w i t h w o m e n ' s rights issues were banned a n d their activities stigmatized as a result of the abortive coup of 1965, the P K K and

D h a r m a W a n i t a were w e l l placed, w o r k i n g from the top government

offices to the grassroots level, promoting their creed and c a u s e s .

16

The Supadmi Case On

2 6 M a r c h 1 9 8 1 , the military high court of E a s t J a v a sentenced t w o

police intelligence officers, Lieutenant C o l o n e l Suyono a n d C a p t a i n Bastari, to prison, the former for s i x years a n d s i x months, a n d the latter for five years. Mrs

1 7

Both were found guilty of attempting the premeditated murder of

Supadmi.

1 8

Suyono, w h o w a s about to be appointed as a

bupati

(regent) i n a n E a s t Javanese district, w i t h the help of his subordinate, Bastari, botched a n attempt to kill his mistress. T h e case attracted unrestrained media fascination. Mrs

Supadmi, a 'high-class' call girl, w h o w a s sitting beside her lieute-

nant colonel 'lover a n d protector' i n the front seat of a police jeep, w a s first hit

o n the head by the captain from the back seat. T w o shots were fired

w h e n she grabbed at the gun pointed at her head. W h e n she realized that her 'protector' actually meant to murder her, she held her breath a n d pretended to be dead. T h e assailants took her out of the c a r a n d fired another shot at her throat. Stripped n a k e d and t h r o w n into a pit over 15 metres deep (the location is called J u r a n g G u p i t , the deep pit), her body caught o n some bushes before it hit the bottom. W h e n she heard the c a r leave, she c r a w l e d back to the road. Mrs way

Supadmi w a s found by a truck driver and a forest engineer. O n the to the hospital, fearing that she w a s going to die, she asked her rescuers

to write d o w n the names, titles, ranks a n d the office addresses of her t w o killers. She did not die, and the whole media craze began.

MURDER, GENDER AND I H E MEDIA Media construction:

|

contradiction

T h e first news concerning the matter broke four days later in Sinar

Har-

apan, one of the major national newspapers, after a press conference by the East J a v a police c o m m a n d . T h e story stated that on 23 August 1980,

the

forest police of Bojonegoro, E a s t J a v a , found a naked w o m a n , bloody a n d w o u n d e d in the neck, both thighs a n d palms. T h e Police C o m m a n d of E a s t J a v a , accordingly, had arrested Lieutenant C o l o n e l Suyono a n d C a p t a i n Bastari, w h o confessed to shooting the v i c t i m .

1 9

T h i s news became a big

and juicy issue - two police officers had attempted to murder a w o m a n in a brutal w a y . H o w e v e r , the same story also released the police finding that the motive w a s extortion. 'Unexpectedly, the v i c t i m , w h o had been mistress of Lieutenant C o l o n e l Suyono, h a d demanded a large amount of allowance, a house, a n d a car. If Suyono refused to give her all she asked for, she w o u l d tell his wife about their relationship. A l l of these demands c o u l d not be fulfilled by Suyono by any m e a n s . '

2 0

T h u s four days after M r s Supadmi w a s

rescued a n d while she w a s still in the hospital, recovering from surgery to remove a bullet from her j a w , a statement w a s published attributing a very sympathetic

motive to her assailant: a m a n i n a high-ranking police

department wanted to protect his family from a n anita tuna susila (immoral w o m a n , i.e. the formal term for prostitute) w h o threatened to 'destroy' his peaceful household. T h i s analysis parallels C a m e r o n a n d Frazer's interpretation of the hegemonic construction of sex a n d serial murder cases: w h e n a m a n kills a w o m a n - especially one vulnerable to being labelled loose or i m m o r a l - the act itself is unforgivable, but the motive can be understood by society at large. T h e attempted

murder by these t w o policemen w a s clearly con-

demned by Indonesian society, yet the motive - to protect one's family w a s upstanding and therefore comprehensible. T w o weeks after the event, an editorial 'analysis' of the ' s c a n d a l ' appeared i n Berita Buana,

a Jakarta

newspaper. T h e editor drew a n analogy to the British political sex scandal involving Christine Keeler a n d Secretary for W a r J o h n Profumo, ignoring the dissimilarities - the P r o f u m o - K e e l e r affair ended w i t h Profumo losing his important political position and had nothing to do w i t h murder, or protection of f a m i l y .

2 1

T h e editorial underscored the fact that in both cases

the couple w a s in a relationship outside marriage, a n d that in the S u p a d m i case such behaviour presented a danger to both the police corps a n d the country. ' T h e lesson to be d r a w n from this is that personal relations, sexual and such, should not entangle us i n extortion, a n d most importantly should not lead to the revelation of the country's s e c r e t s . '

22

T h e editors went o n :

' W e hope that the incident in Bojonegoro w i l l r e m a i n confined to those w h o

O

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

committed the crime and w i l l not contaminate the image of the Police Department as the protector of the society, w h i c h w e labored so long and hard to achieve. D o not let one drop of poison ruin the w h o l e jug of m i l k . ' N o t only w a s sympathy denied to the victim because of her profession and her w a y of treating 'our' m a n , but also the brutal assault she experienced was

submerged into 'just another sexual scandal between a state official and

a prostitute'. T h i s , according to the media, could endanger not only the persons involved, but also the country. T h e fact that the t w o assailants were members of the police department contributed, on the one h a n d , to the media's eagerness to cover the case. O n the other h a n d , it obscured the violence of the crime because it w a s felt necessary to protect the image of the police corps and to ensure the people's continued 'trust'. The

media were eager to print any piece of information they could get on

this case. Soon after M r s Supadmi w a s released from the hospital, journalists crowded her house in her home t o w n and interviewed her on w h a t had happened.

23

Stories appeared about the relationship, h o w she survived the

attack, and h o w she w a s the flower of her village, that she had an uncle w h o was

a retired military officer, that she had married more than once. Three

weeks after the incident, the national news agency A n t a r a reported that M r s Suyono had hired a defence lawyer for her husband and C a p t a i n Bastari. I n a press conference, the lawyer appealed to the media not to further publicize the case, 'to help reduce the suffering of the assailants' f a m i l i e s ' . The

trial took place in M a r c h 1981.

24

Seven months after the incident,

people had not forgotten the case - testimony to the media's tenacity. T h e courtroom w a s full; people c r o w d e d the courtyard, listening to the proceedings, w h i c h were broadcast

over loudspeakers. M r s Supadmi w a s

cheered at her first appearance. T h e people came as spectators, to witness the process of 'justice', but also to see i n person their 'heroine', M r s Supadmi, w h o tried to hide her face during her first appearance but not thereafter. She w a s a heroine w h e n people needed a symbol of their desire for j u s t i c e ,

25

but she seemed, at least at first, w a r y of the voyeurism that

drew the c r o w d to the court building. Pictures taken of her during the trial were informally sold in the courtyard, different prices for different angles, cheaper prices for black and white than colour. But, in spite of M r s Supadmi's function as a symbol for justice, her profession (and therefore her gender and her sexuality) created contradictions. F o r example: Mrs.

Supadmi s h o w e d up in a dazzling outfit and looked sexy. She w a s

wearing a light b r o w n kebaya,

b r o w n high heels, and a bun hairdo. A n

officer in charge commented, ' M r s . L u d e w i j i is definitely a n extraordinary beauty, better than a movie star.'

MURDER, GENDER Ä N D THE MEDIA |

After the third day of the trial, the young a n d 'sexy' divorcée continued being guarded, but no longer covered her face as w h e n she first entered the courtroom.

M a n y of the policemen's wives w h o attended the trial said, 'She k n o w s h o w to dress herself up a n d be s e x y . '

2 6

T h e media, however, were not the only party w h o sexualized the victim: the people (mostly young men) w h o went to the trial fell into the same contradiction. A m o n g the remarks addressed to M r s Supadmi were 'Sister! C o m e o n out and let's get acquainted!' and 'Salut! Y o u c a n expose the P O L R I m a i n P O L R I officer's w o m a n i z i n g ! '

2 7

M r s Supadmi w a s the pro-

secution's key witness a n d w a s the m a i n attraction for both spectators and commentators. H e r strength as a w o m a n w h o h a d survived a brutal attack and w a s able to bring her attackers to court w a s repeatedly attributed to her 'difference' from w o m e n outside her profession; she w a s seen simply as a sensual a n d sexual being. W h e n a case like this happens, again a n d again w o m e n ' s sexuality is constructed: the 'loose w o m a n ' category is filled w i t h desire a n d sensuality; the 'good or ordinary w o m e n ' category is totally emptied of sexuality. A s the trial progressed a n d the defence lawyer started to challenge M r s Supadmi's credibility as a 'responsible witness', the characterization of the victim becomes clearer. She w a s depicted not only as a primarily sexual being, but also as a vengeful person w h o did not value love and d e v o t i o n .

28

T h e t w o assailants, in contrast, were represented as asexual beings - m e n w i t h no lust, respected, restrained and loving fathers and husbands. W h i l e the victim w a s characterized as sensual a n d alluring, the assailants were depicted as ordinary m e n w h o happened to panic and get confused under overwhelming pressure. T h e y were also pictured as asexual a n d upstanding -

at least, C a p t a i n Bastari, w h o w a s not the lover of M r s

Supadmi, was: T h e second defendant said that M r s L u d e w i j i is bigger than he is, so instead of h i m pulling her, she w a s the one w h o successfully pulled h i m t o w a r d her. W h y didn't y o u let yourself be pulled to her lap? D o n ' t y o u think it w o u l d feel good? asked the judge. W e l l , she is not my wife. If she were my wife, I w o u l d just have fallen into her lap! said the second defendant.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

T h e judge himself fell into sexualizing the courtroom by m a k i n g the violent attack laughable a n d sexy, yet emphasizing the ' a s e x u a l ' nature of the attackers. E v e n w h e n the sexual relationship between the lieutenant colonel and M r s Supadmi w a s acknowledged, the m a n w a s not v i e w e d as having sexual desire parallel to that of M r s S u p a d m i . Either Suyono's sexuality w a s taken for granted as a 'natural m a n w h o needs more than one w o m a n to have sex w i t h ' or the sexual relationship between h i m a n d the victim w a s just khilaf (at that moment he w a s not himself a n d w a s carried a w a y by evil persuasion). Unfortunately for the defence, certain facts were clear: M r s S u p a d m i w a s still alive and h a d brought her case to light. T h e judge, the media and the public were a w a r e that the two assailants were guilty. Despite the defence l a w y e r ' s attempts to ridicule her a n d the media representation of her, i n her testimony M r s S u p a d m i rejected their m o n o p o l y of the m o r a l high ground: JUDGE: If y o u felt terribly hurt, w h y didn't y o u cry? M R S SUPADMI: I pretended I w a s dead. If I cried I might have been dead by n o w . JUDGE: SO this is a case of unsuccessful murder? M R S SUPADMI: It is not that it merely faded, but that G o d protected ™~ 29 me. Her

famous line ' G o d protected m e ' represented

her resistance

to

the

normative tone inside a n d outside the c o u r t r o o m .

The Cases of Siti Rahmini and Dietje Six weeks after the trial of M r s Supadmi's assailants, J a k a r t a w a s rocked by another case. A murder took place about the time of the S u y o n o a n d Bastari trial,

a n d involved D e w a n t o ,

a h i g h - r a n k i n g official from

Sekretariat

N e g a r a (the state secretariat). D e w a n t o w a s secretly m a r r i e d to a second wife, the victim, w h o w a s his former babysitter. T h i s case w a s also widely publicized, and statements about the motive were released almost immediately: Siti R a h m i n i w a s murdered

because

between herself a n d the first w i f e .

she demanded

'equal

rights'

3 0

A c c o r d i n g to the confession of D e w a n t o , Siti often undermined h i m by demanding this a n d that. She k n e w D e w a n t o ' s position, she k n e w

MURDER, GENDER AND THE MEDIA | D e w a n t o ' s weakness in marrying her without his first wife's k n o w l edge. She used this weakness to pressure h i m . H i s evil intentions sprang from his fear that his wife w o u l d discover w h a t he h a d d o n e .

3 1

A c c o r d i n g to Police Lieutenant A . T o n a n g , D e w a n t o admitted that he w a s behind the murder of his second wife. T h e motive given by D e w a n t o w a s that he h a d a l w a y s felt uneasy since he married her, that she often threatened to tell the whole affair to his first wife a n d the State Secretariat office. Furthermore, Siti w a s killed because she w a s too demanding. First she asked for a house a n d furniture, then she asked to be formally married, and finally she asked that he devote equal time to her - one night w i t h his first wife, and one night w i t h her.

3 2

Both this case and the case of M r s Supadmi involved 'respectable' a n d socially powerful men. M e d i a coverage of both cases blamed the victim for her demands and threats to unveil the identity of the key aggressor. Both claimed that the defendants acted to 'save' the family. H o w e v e r , there w a s a major difference between the courts' handling of these cases. M r s Supadmi's case w a s taken to the military high court, w i t h a strong w a r n i n g from the police commander of E a s t J a v a that it w a s the accused persons w h o were to be held responsible a n d not the police corps. D u r i n g the trial, the discourse w a s very m u c h characterized by the desire of the military-dominated government both to clear itself of any blame and to s h o w that there w a s justice to be had i n Indonesia by holding the individual defendants accountable. T h e judge from the military high court even admitted that M r s Supadmi's case gained the people's attention

not just because of M r s

Supadmi's profession but because of people's yearning to see justice done to those w h o committed c r i m e s .

3 3

T h e judge expressed concern that the two

assailants were members of the police corps (and thus of the military), w h o were supposed to protect the people. I n contrast to M r s Supadmi's case, the theme of sexual scandal w a s absent from press coverage of Siti R a h m i n i ' s murder, although it also involved violence against a mistress (except that Siti R a h m i n i w a s married to D e w a n t o under Islamic l a w ) . R a h m i n i ' s case did not celebrate a protagonist or involve sentiments of dissatisfaction w i t h the state, military or police force. Although media coverage w a s extensive, crowds did not fill the courtroom. Whereas the judge in M r s Supadmi's case condemned the t w o assailants for the immorality of stripping the victim after they thought she w a s dead, the judge in Siti R a h m i n i ' s case cautioned ' a l l second wives . . .

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

housemaids, a n d especially all mothers to be cautious w i t h their daughters and

towards their m a i d s ' relations w i t h their husbands - more so since

narcotics are widely available in the underground market - [so as] not to repeat the same i n c i d e n t ' .

34

A l t h o u g h D e w a n t o w a s prosecuted, it w a s

w o m e n w h o were w a r n e d by the judge. Another case that w a s equally dramatized by the media w a s the murder of Dietje, a w e l l - k n o w n model a n d w i n n e r of several beauty contests. She w a s killed in 1986.

Although her death generated

rumours about

her

involvement w i t h some politically and economically powerful men, she w a s not portrayed as a voluptuous b e i n g .

3 5

H e r status as a mother and the wife

of a respected m a n and her fame as an image of traditional Javanese femininity in her w o r k appeared to shield her from the media effort to demonize her.

3 6

Still, like M r s Supadmi and Siti R a h m i n i , Dietje w a s constructed as a

'natural' victim of male violence because of her 'profession' and the presumption that she h a d sexual liaisons w i t h very important m e n . C o n t r a r y to the Supadmi case, the target of sensation in the media w a s the possible involvement of a powerful person in the killing. M e d i a and public attention w a s higher than for the previous t w o cases. D a i l y and weekly papers printed speculation and gossip surrounding the case. I n the first week of the case, the media conjectured that this famous model might have h a d affairs w i t h a respected Jakarta figure a n d pointedly mentioned that her husband w a s p a r a l y s e d .

37

T h e media were eager to find

any crumbs of information, and rumours about the reason for the murder and

the person behind it spread rapidly. Letters to the editor, an important

source of media democracy killer.

in Indonesia, urged the police to find the

3 8

Dietje's case involved questioning the police department's ability to solve the c a s e .

3 9

I n the Supadmi case, the wife of the assailant appealed to the

media to stop the uproar that humiliated her family; in Dietje's case, both her husband a n d the police commander demanded that the media stop publishing

sensational

and speculative

news, claiming that

sequences, obstructing the investigation, were too g r e a t ' .

40

'the

con-

W h e n the police

found a suspect, the media r a n numerous articles about the alleged killer. I n response, the president of D e w a n K e h o r m a t a n P W I (Persatuan W a r t a w a n Indonesia, H o n o r a r y C o u n c i l of the Indonesian Journalist Association) appealed to the press to keep the media attention objective and respect the right to presumption of innocence of the alleged killer until a guilty verdict w a s brought: 'Journalists are particularly w a r n e d to keep in m i n d the journalists' ethical code on presumption of innocence; so that it is assured that journalists w i l l not just c o m p o u n d the errors committed by the legal »41 system.

MURDER, GENDER AND THE MEDIA

|

I n comparison the most sympathetic analysis of M r s Supadmi's case levelled a broader social critique and inquired whether the circumstances surrounding her attempted murder were not a sign of disappearing social responsibility in Indonesian society. Tt could be the reality of the very w o r l d of the intelligence agency w h i c h made it possible for a subordinate person to blindly follow the w i l l of his s u p e r i o r . '

42

B o t h cases, Supadmi's a n d Dietje's, involved appeals to the media to restrain publication of findings. T h e family of the m a i n perpetrator

in

Supadmi's case did so to protect his and his family's image, and the victim's family i n Dietje's case appealed for the same reason. Moreover, the H o n orary C o u n c i l of the Indonesian Journalist Association cautioned the media not to j u m p to conclusions about a particular suspect, somehow suggesting that the police might have found the w r o n g person. These three cases are not the only ones of their k i n d ; there are other cases w h i c h the police are still unable to s o l v e .

4 3

T h e s e three, however, involved

public discourse and were sensationalized by the media because

they

highlighted issues of corruption a n d social dissatisfaction t o w a r d the state. T h e murders or attempted murders of these w o m e n gained public attention not for reasons of gender but because of the involvement of public officials.

The Discourse of Sex, Courage and Family T h e courts issued guilty verdicts in all three cases. Suyono and Bastari served prison terms. D e w a n t o w a s granted leave every Independence D a y for his good behaviour i n prison, where he taught English to the inmates and is once again a free m a n . Dietje's case w a s officially solved, but gossip prevails concerning the actual killer and the 'tangible' motive. H o w e v e r , these three cases show again a n d again the construction a n d reconstruction of female (and male) sexuality and the family. I n the Supadmi and R a h m i n i cases, the assailants were involved sexually w i t h the victims. A c c o r d i n g to his testimony, Suyono had a sexual relationship w i t h Supadmi for t w o years. D u r i n g the w h o l e media craze about his wrongdoing, he w a s not portrayed as an 'extraordinary m a n ' in needing more than one w o m a n to fulfil his needs. T h e r e w a s no question of his male sexuality. T h e underlying premise w a s that a n affair such as his w a s natural for a m a n . Suyono, a n d to some extent his subordinate Bastari, were simply regarded as soldiers w h o happened to forget their A r m e d Forces o a t h ,

4 4

so

they c o u l d not be considered 'courageous' soldiers. T h e importance of the verdict, according to the judge, w a s that it gave a cautionary example to the police and military corps a n d to the society at l a r g e .

45

®

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER Mrs

Supadmi's actions, however, were not regarded as exemplary, even

though her struggle to hold her breath, pretending she w a s dead, concealing the pain she experienced, and realizing that the t w o men she trusted wanted her dead, were acts of incredible courage. F o r M r s Supadmi herself and for those w h o sympathized w i t h her, her phrase ' G o d still protected m e ' w a s a means of resistance. H o w e v e r , this phrase gave credit to G o d rather than to her o w n strength. Because of her profession, her courage w a s not assumed to be something that people could learn f r o m . After the trial w a s over, the Indonesian F i l m Artist Association ( P A R F I , Persatuan Artis F i l m Indonesia) successfully protested a n attempt to have her play herself in a movie about her case. T h e association argued that by m a k i n g M r s Supadmi a movie star, the image of the police department w o u l d be devastated. M r s Supadmi brought a lawsuit against P A R F I through the L B H (Lembaga Bantuan H u k u m , L e g a l A i d Organization) but to no a v a i l .

4 6

D u r i n g the time w h e n Suyono and Bastari were being sentenced, and the news broke about the murder of Siti R a h m i n i by her 'respected' husband, a w o m a n activist came to me and asked, ' D o n ' t y o u think w e need to give a " f a m i l y h e r o " medal . . . to Suyono and D e w a n t o for protecting

their

families?' In both cases - the attempted murder of M r s Supadmi a n d the murder of Siti R a h m i n i - the perpetrators gained some sympathy for w h a t they did to save the 'good family' from destruction. Subconsciously, violence against w o m e n and even the act of murder were i n these circumstances thought to be understandable, if not justified. H o w e v e r , 'saving the family' seems to have been seen as solely a male motivation. Helping, protecting and saving the family could well be the very reason that M r s Supadmi, a village girl, became a call girl, w h y Siti R a h m i n i secretly married a m a n of high status a n d economic stability, and w h y Dietje w a s involved in modelling a n d planned to move into the real estate business. These w o m e n ' s sacrifices for their families were never mentioned nor credited. Instead, they were - to a lesser degree i n Dietje's case perceived as ' w o m e n w h o lusted to destroy the f a m i l y ' . As

-

4 7

for D e w a n t o ' s devotion to family, there w a s a contradiction unex-

plored by both the media and the public. If he w a s understood to have plotted the murder of his second wife (the mother of t w o of his children) in order to protect his 'first' family, then there must be more than one category of family: one that is to be protected, a n d one 'that is not so important', regardless of the offspring.

MURDER, GENDER AND THE MEDIA |

Blaming the Victim and Beyond The

N e w O r d e r government's

policy on wives and w o m e n

of

civil

employees emphasized a n d reformulated the role of w o m e n as mothers whose responsibility it is to conserve the order of the nation and its c o m munity.

4 8

T h e media never mentioned whether Supadmi and R a h m i n i were

good mothers. Both fell into the category of 'the other w o m a n ' , a n d both were daughters of poor parents from remote villages. I n contrast, Dietje w a s represented as a feminine w o m a n and w o n d e r f u l mother a n d wife. H e r alleged affairs w i t h numerous powerful business and political figures did not taint the image that the media drew. I n Dietje's case, her marital status and her o w n and her husband's class background protected her from a vicious media attack on her character. Supadmi w a s identified by judges, defence lawyers and the media as 'different' from other w o m e n . R a h m i n i ' s death w a s m a r k e d as a w a r n i n g to wives of their husband's secret marriages w i t h 'other' w o m e n . A n e w regulation barring polygamous marriage for all civil service men w a s enacted after this case. A l t h o u g h m a n y w o m e n , among them members of D h a r m a W a n i t a a n d K o w a n i , supported the regulation, some found that it also made it harder for wives of government employees to file for a divorce. T h e lesson popularly d r a w n from Dietje's death, i n contrast, concerned the dangers of ambition in a w o m a n . T h e three w o m e n were delineated as being outside the n o r m , w o m e n w h o have crossed the line d r a w n by tradition and the state's ideology

of

w o m a n h o o d . I n media representations and in public gossip concerning these three cases, w o m e n were again reminded that there are t w o distinct categories based on sexuality: the good a n d the bad. T h i s parallels the finding

of N o r t h A m e r i c a n a n d E u r o p e a n feminists w h o have examined

themes i n the cases of sex murders and serial killings: female prostitutes are portrayed as the 'natural' victims of their k i l l e r s .

4 9

T h e acts of the killers are

unforgivable, but their motivations are understood by society at large a n d are portrayed as not having anything to do w i t h misogyny or p a t r i a r c h y .

50

H o w e v e r , there are major differences between the construction of the killer in sex and serial murder cases a n d in the wife-mistress murders examined here. T h e serial a n d sex murderers analysed in Western studies are depicted as half-beast, half-men - sexual deviants, not n o r m a l men. T h i s is i n sharp contrast to the w a y the accused i n the cases discussed here were looked at; their normality w a s not questioned. T h e c l a i m that their motives were to protect their families assumed that they were ' n o r m a l ' , even upstanding family m e n . I n these cases, it w a s the victim w h o w a s demonized. T h e victim w a s ' a b n o r m a l ' a n d different from respectable w o m e n . She w a s

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

pictured as greedy, nagging, loose, over-sexual; a l w a y s demanding the impossible, she w a s kurang

pasrah

(not submissive enough). T h i s w a s true

for all of the w o m e n i n these cases except for Dietje w h o , because of her class, escaped this stigmatization. E v e n though the media made the attempted murder of M r s Supadmi a n example of h o w corrupt a police officer could be and demanded a c o n viction to discourage similar crimes of corruption, it simply could not refrain from also blaming the victim. Although Dietje w a s not overtly portrayed as a 'bad w o m a n '

5 1

her death w a s seen as containing a lesson: 'if

she had been more like any other wife, she might still be alive today'. A m y t h w a s constructed that these w o m e n were i n some sense deserving victims of male violence. Anti-government sentiment and resentment against army and bureaucratic corruption fuelled the media's frenzied interest i n the Supadmi and Dietje cases a n d to some extent the R a h m i n i case. A l t h o u g h there were other sex murder cases during this period, only these three attracted media attention. Because the defendants were politically prominent, the cases afforded the media a rare opportunity for covert criticism of the power structure. Y e t precisely this focus acted to obscure the equally important issue of male violence against w o m e n .

Notes 1.

2. 3.

There were some other cases, either solved or unsolved: the murder of Dewi, a career woman whose office was in the Sahid-Jaya Hotel, Jakarta; the murder of Julia Jarsin, a film actress, also in Jakarta; and that of an unknown woman in Makasar, Sulawesi. These three cases gained media attention when first discovered, but inspired less public discourse and political gossip than the three cases discussed in this chapter. In my opinion, this was because they lacked a political dimension with state officials as perpetrators. In 1989 there was another brutal killing in a style known as mayat dipotong tujuh (a corpse chopped into seven). The media sensationalized the case, the murderer was quickly arrested, put on trial and convicted. This case was a classic representation of violence against women: the victim's husband had a secret wife, and claimed that he had to kill his first wife because day in and day out she treated him with disrespect, i.e. she never cooked breakfast and made him clean her shoes every morning before she left for work. The victim was represented as a bad wife, although the husband was convicted. The New Order is the term used by the military government to refer to its regime, officially established in 1966 See Hans Thoolen (ed.) (1987) Indonesia and the Rule of Law: Twenty Years of

MURDER. GENDER AND THE MEDIA | New Order Government:

A Study, pp. 86-8. London: Pinter.

4.

Ibid., pp. 90-1.

5.

Frit is the sound of a whistle; jigo is a slang term, originally from Chinese, for 'five hundred'. 'Prit-jigo* means that once a policeman blows his (they are mostly men) whistle, he extorts 500 rupiahs.

6.

When René, a student from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), was killed after a soccer match between the police academy and I T B , sentiment against ABTI (the Indonesian armed forces, which includes the police) increased. Among the banners carried by students of I T B during the funeral procession was 'Prit-jigo' and 'ABRI Mana Janjimu' ['ABRI, what about your promises?').

7.

During the Malari Affair, for example, during the riot following the student demonstration, Jl. Blora, a street known for its steam-bath and massage parlour houses (covert prostitution operations), was one of the targets of mass anger for its sex business.

8.

See Yuyu A . N . Krisna (1979) Menyelusuri Remang-Remang Jakarta, Sinar Harapan.

9.

Ibid., pp. 42-4.

10. Ibid. 11. It adhered to the traditional distinction between male and female sex drives. The book's introduction by Indonesian novelist Ashadi Siregar merely offered some views about how prostitutes, in pursuit of their own dreams, exchanged sex for money and a glamorous life. He implies that such an exchange is unacceptable to 'normal' women. 12. See Sukanti Suryochondro (1984) Potret Pergaraken Wanita di Indonesia. Jakarta: Rajawali; Saskia E . Wieringa (1985) The perfumed nightmare: some notes on the Indonesian women's movement, Working Paper, Sub-Series on Women's History and Development, no. 5. The Hague: Institute of Social Studies. 13. This was especially true during the first decades of the New Order. In the beginning of the 1980s non-goverment organizations appeared voicing feminist issues. See Wieringa, op. cit. 14. According to the New Order government, the rationale for forming Dharma Wanita was to strengthen national unity, to secure the loyalty of government employees, to increase political stability, to concentrate the energy of the civil service on assisting the economic development plan, and to encourage the wives of government employees to support their husbands' careers and responsibilities. Other goals of this organization formulated by the New Order government included: giving guidance in promoting and strengthening women's consciousness and responsibility toward the nation, promoting the channelling of 'sisterly' sentiments under one national banner, mobilizing all wives' organizations in the direction of service to the nation. Kongres Wanita Indonesia (Kowani) (1978) Sejarah Setengah Abad Pergerakan Wanita Indonesia. Jakarta: Balai Pustaka; Suryochondro, op. cit.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

15. See Wieringa, op. cit; Hardijto Notopuro (1984) Pernan Wanita dalam Masa Pembangunan di Indonesia. Jakarta: Ghalia Indonesia; Slamet Widarto Prodjohadidjo (1974) Pengertain Gerkan P.K.K. dan Strktur Organisari. Yogyakarta: D P R D - D I Y . 16. The New Order state ideology concerning women is not without contradictions. In the late 1970s the government, through its Ministry of Women's Affairs, campaigned for a 'women and development' programme, and encouraged women to participate in the labour force through their perain ganda wanita (double roles of women). In the 1980s the New Order government promoted the sending of women to work in the Middle Eastern countries. Unmarried and married women were eligible for this employment opportunity, leaving their families for long periods. The Panca Dharma Wanita precept of being a good mother and caring for children was apparently irrelevant in this case. 17. They both had been jailed from the day they surrendered to the police until the day of the sentencing. The six-year, six-month period was counted from the first day they were jailed, not from the day of the verdict. 18. Kompas, 3 April 1981. 19. Sinar Harapan, 27 August 1980. 20. Bedta Budnd, 4 September 1980; Kompas, 8 October 1980; Sinar Harapan, 27 August 1980. 21. See Bedta Budnd, 4 September 22.

1980.

Ibid.

23. See, for example, Sinar Harapan, 4 October 1980. 24. Antara, 12 September 1980. 25. O n the other hand, her case was also useful for the state's campaign, showing its attempts to eradicate corruption. 26. Sinar Harapan, 15 March 1981. 'Mrs Ludewiji' is another name for Mrs Supadmi. 27. Sinar Harapan, 27 March 1981. 28. See Kompas, 12 March 1981. 29. Kompas, 12 March 1981. 30. Title of an article in Suara Karya, 8 May 1981. 31. Kompas, 3 May 1981. 32. Sinar Harapan, 17 May 1981. 33. Kompas, 24 March 1981. 34. Kompas, 7 December 1981. 35. Interviews with her relatives, families and people in modelling and the fashion business, conducted soon after her death, pointed out that she really loved her husband and children and was a very soft-hearted, sweet and hard-working woman. Kompas, 25 September 1986; Sinar Harapan, 1 October 1986; Tempo, 20 September 1986. 36. This might not be the case in terms of the rumours circulating around her death, but the media themselves did not represent her the way they sexualized Mrs Supadmi.

MURDER, GENDER AND TME MEDIA 37. Jakarta Post, 3 October 1986; Kompas, October 1986; Tempo, 4 October 1986.

25 September 1986; Merdeka,

| 3

38. See Sinar Harapan, 8 October 1986. 39. See Depari, 'Kasus Diege dan Ciltra Polri', in Kompas, 11 October 1986, Merdeka, 10 December 1986. 40. Sinar Harapan, 30 September 1986. 41. Berita Buana, 30 December 1986. 42. Soenarto Sukartono, 'Lagi tentang Kasus Mahmilti III di Surabaya', Kompas, 11 April 1986. 43. Other murder cases, such as that of Mrs Dewi, a professional woman who was killed in her office, and that of Julia Jarsin, a film actress, did not provoke as much media attention or public gossip as the three cases discussed in this chapter. They lacked the political dimension, as no state officials were implicated as perpetrators. 44. 45. 46. 47.

Kompas, 27 March 1981. See Kompas, 27 March 1981. See Kompas, 25 July 1981. After the trial ended, a female journalist interviewed the wife of Suyono. She was being pictured as a soft-hearted, soft-spoken and understanding wife. About Mrs Supadmi, Suyono's wife said, T feel sorry for her. T o have to live by disturbing the peace of other people's households and looking for a husband from door to door. Certainly there should be many ways to go to Rome.' Sinar Harapan, 14 July 1981.

48. See Wieringa, op. cit. 49. Jane Caputi (1989) The sexual politics of murder, Gender and Society, 3(4); Wendy Holloway (1981) 'I just want to kill a woman'. Why? The Ripper and male sexuality, Feminist Review, 9 October; Drew Humphries and Susan Carringelia-MacDonald (1990) Murdered mothers, missing wives: reconsidering female victimization, Social Justice, 17(2); Judith R. Walkowitz (1982) Jack the Ripper and the myth of male violence, Feminist Studies, 8(3). 'Sickness' (of the murderers) and 'sin' (of the victim) are the two discursive ingredients in the construction of victim, gender and sexuality. 50. See Deborah Cameron and Elizabeth Frazer (1987) The Lust to Kill, p. 14. New York: New York University Press. 51. There were no startling revelations, no sexual scandal with important people involved.

CE>

O l D S T R A T E G I E S EOR NEW TEXTS

O

HOW AMERICAN TELEVISION IS CREATING AND TREATING LESBIAN CHARACTERS Marguerite Moritz

In response to the w o m e n ' s liberation movement, H o l l y w o o d in the 1970s began producing w h a t came to be called N e w W o m e n ' s films. Alice Live and

Here Anymore Starting

(1975), Julia

( 1 9 7 7 ) , An

Unmarried

Woman

Doesn't (1977)

Over (1979) are among the most popular of that genre, w h i c h

is generally characterized by its focus on w o m e n seeking n e w definitions of themselves and their personal relationships. T h o s e movies a n d m a n y more like them have been the centre of several important discussions among feminist critics w h o have demonstrated the m a n y w a y s in w h i c h the visual and

narrative codes of cinema have often w o r k e d to restore female char-

acters to their 'proper place', often w i t h i n the traditional family structure. These film strategies have direct application to the portrayal of w o m e n on

A m e r i c a n television. Prime-time television programming, like H o l l y -

w o o d cinema, c a n be considered 'the limiting case, the ideal-type', so pervasive that it serves as a 'model for modes of production and modes of representation' all over the w o r l d ( K u h n 1982:

2 1 ) . Just as dominant

cinema relies o n fictional characters playing out their roles in a narrative context, so too does A m e r i c a n television find its entertainment value in storytelling. T h e similarities and connections between film and television are also clear from a n institutional standpoint. Indeed, m a n y H o l l y w o o d studios n o w routinely produce television programming while aspiring Hollywood

film-makers

often begin their careers in television. A n d most

significantly, these industries share a long a n d well-documented history of being white, male, heterosexual a n d capitalist both in terms of w h a t they produce and h o w they produce it ( K u h n 1982:

25).

Just as feminist film critics have demonstrated that the post-liberation

OLD S T R A T E G I E S FOR NEW T E X T S | w o m e n created by H o l l y w o o d are often not so liberated after a l l , this essay w i l l s h o w that lesbian characters created for prime-time A m e r i c a n television m a y offer viewers little more than new texts created w i t h old strategies in m i n d .

Recuperation and Ambiguity in Hollywood Cinema E a r l y H o l l y w o o d cinema in its classic era of big studio and big star films provided several stories i n w h i c h strong w o m e n characters defy convention, only to be brought to the brink of ruin by their bold behaviour. Before the closing credits, however, they are rescued from their shaky precipice and repositioned in a more socially acceptable space. Mildred

Pierce

(1945), a

melodramatic murder mystery starring Jean C r a w f o r d , offers perhaps the most analysed example of h o w this kind of recuperation plays out. T h e m a i n character, in the person of C r a w f o r d , is possessed of traits not typically

associated

with

her

wife-mother-homemaker

status.

She is

ambitious, aggressive, determined and decisive. W h e n her unemployed husband fails to provide sufficiently for her and her daughters, she asserts herself, proceeding to banish h i m from their home and to accomplish w h a t he apparently cannot. W i t h i n a short time the uneducated but savvy M i l dred builds up a booming restaurant business. But then success begins to take its toll. M i l d r e d ' s personal life starts to unravel. H e r youngest daughter succumbs to a tragic illness. H e r oldest daughter is defiant a n d deceitful. A n d w h e n it looks as though M i l d r e d herself w i l l be revealed as a murderer, the real culprit is uncovered a n d a devastated M i l d r e d is taken back by her husband, presumably ready to retreat from her role in the outside w o r l d . M i l d r e d ' s take-over of the place of the father has brought about the collapse of all social a n d m o r a l order in her w o r l d . . . . I n the face of impending chaos and confusion the patriarchal order is called upon to reassert itself and take the L a w back into its o w n hands, divesting w o m e n completely of any power they m a y have gained while the patriarchal order w a s temporarily impaired. T h i s involves establishing the truth without a doubt, restoring ' n o r m a l ' sexual relationships and reconstituting the family i n spite of the pain and suffering w h i c h such repressive action must cause. ( C o o k 1978: T h e outcome presented in Mildred

75)

Pierce is seen by many feminist critics as

prototypical of classical H o l l y w o o d films portraying strong female characters. ' O f t e n narrative closure itself seems to necessitate the resolution of problems and ambiguities brought up by the desire of w o m e n characters to

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

go to w o r k , to be sexual beings, or both. T h e end of the story becomes the solution of that story w h e n the w o m a n is returned to her " p r o p e r " place, i.e.,

w i t h her husband, at home' ( W a l k e r 1982: 167). W h i l e other narrative

closures for these kinds of stories do exist, they r u n a n a r r o w range. K u h n suggests that recuperation is inevitable a n d is accomplished 'thematically in a limited number of w a y s : a w o m a n character m a y be restored to the family by

falling in love, by "getting her m a n , " by getting m a r r i e d , or otherwise

accepting a " n o r m a t i v e " female role. If not, she may be directly punished for her narrative a n d social transgression by exclusion, outlawing or even death' ( K u h n 1982:

34).

G i v e n that they were prompted by the women's rights movement and directed t o w a r d a more liberated female audience, it might be expected that the N e w W o m e n ' s films of the 1970s w o u l d deal differently w i t h narrative closure. But like history, H o l l y w o o d has a w a y of repeating itself.

Klute

(1971), starring Jane F o n d a as prostitute Bree Daniels, is one of the first of this genre and, like Mildred

Pierce,

one of the most analysed. A t the time of

its release, some feminists hailed the film for its gripping portrayal of a strong w o m a n by a politically active star. 'Klute

became a focus of critical

attention because of the questions it raised about audience pleasure. It immediately attracted feminist approval for the powerful image of Jane F o n d a ' s Bree Daniels. She seemed to be, at last, a positive H o l l y w o o d heroine, a n " i n d e p e n d e n t " w o m a n for other w o m e n to identify w i t h ' (Lovell and F r i t h 1981: 15). But m a n y other feminist writers developed a far different reading of the film. Gledhill argues that precisely because of its contemporariness, this film text is more able to mask its real message. F o r her, the Bree D a n i e l ' s role is simply a n updated version of the evil w o m a n created in 1940s film noir. The

film

is trying to articulate, w i t h i n the ambience of the thriller, a

modern version of the independent w o m a n , conceived of as

the

sexually liberated, unattached, hip w o m a n and without mentioning feminism or w o m e n ' s liberation arguably trying to cash i n on these concerns to enhance the modernity of the type. (Gledhill 1978: I w o u l d argue that Klute's

114)

production of the stereotype is no different in its

ultimate effect, and that the film operates i n a profoundly anti-feminist w a y , perhaps even more so than the 1940s thrillers from w h i c h it derives. N o t all of H o l l y w o o d ' s efforts to w o o the N e w W o m e n ' s audience relied on

the restoration of male dominance. I n fact, one of the m a r k s of these

films is their use of textual ambiguity. Julia is a case in point. T h e film is an account of writer L i l l i a n H e l l m a n (played by Jane Fonda) a n d her revolutionary friend Julia (Vanessa Redgrave). T h e film clearly raises a question as

OLD S T R A T E G I E S FOR NEW T E X T S

|

to whether the t w o w o m e n h a d a romantic sexual relationship, yet deliberately

avoids

answering

it.

' W h i l e most

reviewers

agree

that

the

relationship portrayed between the w o m e n is central to the film . . . there are almost as m a n y opinions as there are reviews concerning the precise nature of that relationship' ( K u h n 1982: 38). I n An Unmarried Alice

Doesn't

Live

Here

Anymore,

Woman

and

ambiguity itself becomes a form of

resolution. B y m a k i n g the future of the female protagonist unclear, these texts provide a w a y in w h i c h the narrative c a n simultaneously appeal to audiences that w a n t to see patriarchy challenged and those that expect to see it restored. It w o u l d be problematic for a cinematic institution whose products are directed at a politically heterogeneous audience overtly to take up positions w h i c h might alienate certain sections of that audience. F i l m s whose address sustains a degree of polysemy - w h i c h open up rather than restrict potential readings, in other w o r d s - may appeal to a relatively broad-based audience. Openness permits readings to

be

made w h i c h accord more or less w i t h spectators' prior stances o n feminist issues. Julia illustrates the point quite w e l l : while lesbians m a y be free to read the film as a n affirmation of lesbianism, such a reading just as it is not ruled out - is by no means privileged by the text. ( K u h n 1982:

139)

If strong female characters have typically been dealt w i t h through recuperation or ambiguity by cinema in earlier decades, are the same strategies finding their w a y into A m e r i c a n television portrayals today? T h e question is of particular interest w h e n it is raised about stories w i t h lesbian characters because these scripts might be seen as network television's most progressive efforts.

Homosexuality and American Television D u r i n g most of its history, A m e r i c a n television effectively banned the portrayal of homosexuals. T h e three major networks were never legally bound to do so, but claimed instead that they were governed by w h a t they termed matters of public taste. ' I n the '50s, they couldn't use the w o r d pregnant w h e n L u c y w a s expecting a baby [on I L o v e L u c y ] , ' explains D i a n n a B o r r i , N B C ' s manager

of standards a n d practices i n C h i c a g o

(quoted i n M o r i t z 1989: 13). T h e networks contend that they reflect societal trends rather than set them. Therefore, as homosexuality has become more socially acceptable, so have gay characters.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER It w a s only i n 1973

that A m e r i c a n television offered its first fictional

portrayal of homosexuality w i t h the m a d e - f o r - T V movie That Summer,

Certain

starring H a l H o l b r o o k as a gay father coming out to his son

(Henry 1987: 4 3 ) . A few other shows w i t h homosexual themes followed, but that abruptly changed in 1980

w h e n a more conservative national

m o o d gave rise to the M o r a l M a j o r i t y ' s campaign against television shows w i t h too m u c h sex and violence. A B C a n d C B S cancelled their plans for four separate productions w i t h gay themes and N B C revamped its

Love,

sitcom to eliminate virtually any reference to the m a i n character's

Sidney

homosexuality ( M o r i t z 1989: 14). By the second half of the 1980s, network attitudes appeared to be shifting once again, this time t o w a r d a more liberal approach to both language and story themes. T h e emergence of A I D S , the relatively marginalized position of broadcast

television brought on by

increasing cable penetration and home video ownership, the demonstrated commercial viability of gay-themed material in other mass media, and the appeal of emerging social issues i n general as a backdrop for broadcast productions all contributed to the creation of a climate in w h i c h homosexuality w a s once again permitted to emerge on A m e r i c a n television. L e s b i a n characters, a l w a y s a rarity in the past, were no longer invisible. Starting in the mid-1980s, lesbian characters and story lines began their fictional

coming out, the result at least i n part of a changing institutional

context in w h i c h w h a t w a s once taboo h a d become potentially viable and sellable. Golden

Girls,

lighting,

and Hotel - some of the most popular s h o w s on T V - all

Hunter

Kate and Allie, LA Law, Hill Street Blues,

have h a d episodes (since 1985) w i t h lesbian parts. My Two Loves,

Moonan A B C

M o n d a y Night M o v i e , explored in u n c o m m o n l y explicit visual detail two w o m e n involved in a love affair. I n addition, A B C introduced a series in the spring of 1988 that featured prime time's first regular cast member w i t h a lesbian identity: Heartbeat,

an hour-long drama about a w o m e n ' s medical

clinic, presented actress G a i l Strickland as M a r i l y n M c G r a t h . H e r role as a n older w o m a n , a nurse practitioner, a mother a n d a lesbian no doubt gave her considerable demographic appeal. After its initial six-episode spring run,

A B C renewed the s h o w and put it o n its fall 1988 schedule. It w a s

cancelled later that season because of consistently w e a k ratings. Of

course, the fact that lesbians are n o w being portrayed may simply

reflect the industry's current attempt to give a contemporary look to its standard fare of sitcoms, cop shows a n d night-time soaps. I n fact, if these portrayals do nothing more than extend negative stereotypes about w o m e n in general and about lesbians in particular, then they are neither indicators of pro-social programming nor of progressive politics at the networks. It is w i t h that in m i n d that w e look at h o w five recent prime-time A m e r i c a n

OLD S T R A T E G I E S FOR NEW T E X T S television shows construct a n d frame lesbian characters. T h e y are beat (two episodes), Hunter,

Hotel

and Golden

Girls.

|

Heart-

These episodes were

selected because the lesbian characters in them are central rather than peripheral to the structure of the narrative.

Recuperation and Narrative Closure The

most striking case of recuperation to bring about narrative closure is

seen in ' F r o m San Francisco w i t h L o v e ' , an episode of the detective s h o w Hunter

in w h i c h the m a c h o L o s Angeles cop for w h o m the s h o w is n a m e d

tries to unravel the murders of a millionaire a n d his son. A s the story unfolds, H u n t e r goes to the scene of the first murder in San Francisco a n d meets Sgt Valerie Foster, w h o originally investigated the case. She is more than cooperative, sharing not only her police files w i t h h i m , but her bed as w e l l . She claims to be eager to help break the case a n d introduces H u n t e r to the millionaire's cool, cunning, very young w i d o w . But Sgt Foster is really trying to throw H u n t e r off the track. She is also plotting to murder the millionaire's son and in fact w e see her calmly shoot h i m in the head, her way

of eliminating his c l a i m to his father's fortune. Why

is Sgt Foster doing all this? Because she is the lesbian lover of the

millionaire's w i d o w and together they plan on getting a w a y w i t h murder and

an $80 million fortune. Eventually H u n t e r uncovers the fact that the

cop a n d the w i d o w are actually lovers, but he still cannot prove that they are murderers. H u n t e r n o w prepares a p l a n in w h i c h he plays on the w o m e n ' s basic distrust of each other. T h e p l a n w o r k s , and the w i d o w turns the cop i n . But the cop has herself covered. She produces a tape recording she secretly made on the night that the w o m e n planned the killings. Both w o m e n are therefore implicated, both are caught, and both are guilty. T h e recuperation i n this denouement is both unambiguous and complete. T h e w o m e n lovers prove to be their o w n undoing. T h e y have, in fact, been cunning enough to get a w a y w i t h murder, but their deceitfulness a n d lack of trust is so total that they are doomed to fail in any venture that requires mutual reliance. T h u s they have transgressed by being lesbians, murderers and

disloyal lovers. T h e y obviously are beyond restoration to a 'normative'

female role. F o r these actions, they must a n d w i l l be removed from society and

properly punished. T h i s episode of Hunter

w a s considered to portray lesbians so negatively

that it drew a protest from the Alliance of G a y a n d L e s b i a n Artists ( A G L A ) , an

activist group based i n L o s Angeles w h i c h has been w o r k i n g to improve

the image of homosexuals o n television. ' T h e network realized w h y [we

I

C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

protested] a n d afterwards came to us a n d asked us to submit scripts [that w o u l d be acceptable],' A C L A member Jill Blacher says ( M o r i t z 1989: i / T h e episode of Hotel,

11).

a n hour-long d r a m a about the people w h o w o r k i n

a l u x u r y S a n F r a n c i s c o hostelry, takes a far different a p p r o a c h to its narrative closure,

but the recuperation

of its lesbian subjects is no less

complete. H e r e the sexual involvement of hotel c o - w o r k e r s C a r o l B o w m a n and Joanne L a m b e r t comes out only after Joanne tragically dies i n a car c r a s h . C a r o l is left not only to grieve her lost mate but also to deal w i t h Joanne's father, w h o comes from the E a s t C o a s t to take home his daughter's body a n d her personal effects. T h e father has no idea that his daughter has been living w i t h a female lover, but he finds out w h e n a hotel attendant brings h i m a package f r o m his daughter's employee locker that is addressed to h i m . T h e package contains a videotape that he watches f r o m his suite. JOANNE (ON VIDEOTAPE): H a p p y birthday, D a d . M y gift to y o u this year is a heart-to-heart

talk, at least m y half of it. I k n o w it's never been

easy between us. . . . I k n o w y o u never meant to be so stern, so unapproachable. . . . [ C a r o l a n d I have] been together for six years now,

D a d . L i k e they say, I guess it must be love.

E n r a g e d , the father storms into the office of the hotel's top executive, M r M c D e r m o t t , a n d accuses C a r o l B o w m a n of corrupting his daughter. LAMBERT: M y daughter w a s a l w a y s a good girl. Unfortunately, she a n d I were not very close. A t home, she w a s rather shy, quiet. I a l w a y s felt she w a s too easily led, influenced by others. O n e of her friends, a member of your staff, took advantage of Joanne, corrupted her. . . . Whatever our problems might have been at home, m y daughter w a s not a b n o r m a l . She dated a great deal. She w a s not interested i n other women. M C D E R M O T T : W h y are y o u telling me this? LAMBERT: G o o d L o r d , m a n , isn't it obvious? T h i s B o w m a n w o m a n w o r k s w i t h the public every single day representing y o u a n d your hotel. M C D E R M O T T : W h a t do y o u w a n t me to do? Fire her? LAMBERT: Y O U certainly aren't going to leave her i n a position of being able to prey on other unsuspecting y o u n g w o m e n . G i v e n M r L a m b e r t ' s distinct disapproval, C a r o l B o w m a n decides that he c a n have everything; she w i l l be satisfied w i t h her memories. I n the

final

scene, w e see C a r o l a n d M r L a m b e r t p a c k i n g up Joanne's things. T h e opening shot has the camera positioned high above them, shooting d o w n , w h i c h both diminishes their presence a n d suggests that the deceased lover,

OLD S T R A T E G I E S FOR NEW T E X T S

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Joanne, m a y be looking o n f r o m above. W h e n M r L a m b e r t finds a doll that he gave his daughter at age 5, he begins to cry a n d C a r o l comes to his side to comfort h i m . LAMBERT: M a y b e you're right. M a y b e memories are the most important things. I w a s a l w a y s a better talker than a l i s t e n e r . . . . M a y b e it's time I started listening a little. C A R O L : W h a t do y o u mean? LAMBERT: Y o u ' r e the only one w h o c a n help me fill i n all the b l a n k s . K e e p w h a t ' s important to y o u . . . . Just do me a favour. Just take me through them, tell me w h a t they m e a n t . . . a n d maybe I c a n understand w h o Joanne grew up to be while I w a s n ' t l o o k i n g . T h e y embrace and the c a m e r a begins a long s l o w pull-out, again f r o m the perspective of Joanne, l o o k i n g on from above. T h i s narrative closure is ambiguous i n that it does offer a degree of hope and acceptance for the lesbian lover. T h e irate father does, after a l l , admit that he w a n t s a n d needs to k n o w about his daughter's life, a n d that he w i l l rely o n her lover to give h i m that very personal information. E v e n though the daughter a n d her lover are both granted a measure of acceptance, that happens only after their relationship has been irrevocably terminated. T h e daughter is recuperated by virtue of her ultimate exclusion, a n d her lover is restored only n o w that she n o longer is i n the illicit relationship. I n other w o r d s , the terms of their acceptance are based o n their separation by death. In

two

episodes of Heartbeat

with

lesbian themes,

recuperation

is

achieved not through punishment or death but through the reaffirmation of patriarchy as it plays out i n the lives of the other characters i n the s h o w . T h e fifth a n d sixth episodes, the final two programmes of the s h o w ' s first season, were aired o n t w o consecutive nights during the critical M a y ratings sweeps. T h e narrative involves four separate story lines, each one tracking a problematic relationship i n w h i c h medical staff members are embroiled. One

follows a n impotent

doctor and his impatient

fiancée,

a

second

involves the resident psychiatrist's efforts to deal w i t h his life after his marriage falls apart, a n d the third deals w i t h a jealous romance between t w o doctors o n the staff. T h e lesbian story centres o n nurse practitioner M a r i l y n M c G r a t h a n d her unresolved relationship w i t h her daughter A l l i son. A l l i s o n is c o m i n g back to C a l i f o r n i a to be m a r r i e d i n the home of her father, w h i c h her mother h a d left a decade earlier after revealing her lesbian identity. She makes it clear that she does not w a n t her mother's lover, Patti, to attend the wedding, that she does not accept her mother's lifestyle, a n d that she is embarrassed by it.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER ALLISON: D a d a n d E l a i n e [his new wife] w o u l d be more comfortable if you sat in the front r o w but didn't w a l k d o w n the aisle. M A R I L Y N : I see. Is that w h a t y o u w a n t ? ALLISON: I w a n t things to go smoothly. M A R I L Y N : SO do I . Patti a n d I w i l l do anything w e c a n to help. ALLISON: I don't w a n t there to be any tension. I don't think it w o u l d be a good idea for y o u to bring her. I ' m sure she's a lovely person but a lot of m y friends don't k n o w about y o u .

M a r i l y n agrees to her daughter's request but later feels guilty a n d upset. ('She doesn't w a n t y o u to come to her w e d d i n g a n d I agreed,' she confesses to lover Patti. T don't w a n t to go w i t h o u t y o u . I w a n t to be w i t h my partner.') H e r lover, however, assures her that she has done the right thing. It is Patti w h o urges M a r i l y n to m a k e amends w i t h her daughter ('It's your daughter a n d it's the biggest piece of unfinished business in your life. Y o u ' v e got to try to get through to her. G o a n d see her.') M a r i l y n indeed does go back to the family home she once left a n d has a painful exchange with Allison. ALLISON: It's not that you're a lesbian. T h a t ' s not w h a t bothers me. It's, w h y did y o u m a r r y D a d ? W h y did y o u have me? M A R I L Y N : I thought I c o u l d m a k e a life w i t h your father. I w a s n ' t in love, but I liked h i m a n d I w a n t e d children. A n d I decided I c o u l d keep those different feelings buried deep w i t h i n me. ALLISON: But y o u left me. M A R I L Y N : I didn't have a choice. It w a s the hardest thing I ever d i d , but believe me it w o u l d have been more devastating for y o u if I h a d stayed. After M a r i l y n assures A l l i s o n that she w i l l not turn out to be a lesbian too, the mother and daughter cry, embrace a n d apparently patch up their differences. Patti is a l l o w e d to go to the w e d d i n g , and it is here that all four story lines are resolved. T h e scene opens w i t h a shot of M a r i l y n a n d Patti seated next to each other i n the front r o w , as the organist plays ' H e r e C o m e s the Bride'. After the ceremony, the story turns to the still impotent doctor a n d his increasingly uninterested fiancée as they line up at the buffet table. W h e n she strikes up a conversation w i t h another m a n , the impotent doctor asserts his proprietary rights a n d tells the m a n to 'take a h i k e ' . A t this, the

fiancée

stalks out but the doctor catches up w i t h her i n the bedroom w h e r e she has left her coat. T h e y quarrel. She slaps h i m . H e grabs her, kisses her, throws her d o w n o n the bed a n d begins m a k i n g passionate love to her, his potency obviously restored. T h u s ends one story line.

OLD S T R A T E G I E S FOR NEW T E X T S

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N e x t , w e see the two doctors w h o have been h a v i n g a difficult time w i t h their n e w l y established relationship. She has accused h i m of being secretly involved w i t h E v e , the sexy blonde breast-implant surgeon at the clinic. O n l y n o w , as they dance cheek to cheek at the reception, does she accept his pledge of love a n d loyalty. H e kisses her fingers, she strokes his hair; they smile lovingly and embrace. T h u s ends the second story line. T h e third narrative concludes w i t h the psychiatrist waiting for his car to be brought around by the attendant so he c a n leave the reception. T h e seductive E v e appears, makes sarcastic note of his depression, a n d strikes a very responsive chord. EVE:

W h a t ' s the matter Stan? N o one to dance w i t h ?

STAN (THE PSYCHIATRIST): I don't feel m u c h like dancing. EVE:

W e d d i n g ' s a little painful, huh?

STAN: Y O U really like to k i c k 'em w h e n they're d o w n , don't you? EVE:

Y O U call this d o w n ? N o , you've got a lot more r o o m to drop.

STAN (LOOKING ANGRY): T h i s must be your w a y of showing affection, right? T h e c a m e r a cuts to a close-up of E v e looking at Stan alluringly. T h e n w e see him grab her, w r a p his arms a r o u n d her and kiss her. A t that moment, the attendant drives up w i t h Stan's car. Stan opens the door and pushes E v e inside. STAN: G e t i n . EVE:

SO doctor, where are w e going?

STAN: Y o u ' l l k n o w w h e n w e get there. The

s h o w credits start to roll as he screeches out of the d r i v e w a y , appar-

ently off to a place where they c a n continue w h a t they've started. The

narrative

closure

in

Heartbeat

is

accomplished

through

the

restoration of the patriarchal system not just once, but four separate times, beginning w i t h the ceremony most symbolic of patriarchy: the w e d d i n g . I n direct succession w e see the three heterosexual couples w h o have shared the narrative's focus w i t h the h o m o s e x u a l couple. I n each case, the resolution of their problems revolves a r o u n d a n overtly sexual exchange i n w h i c h the men

exert their virility a n d dominance over the w o m e n in their lives. T h e

impotent doctor rekindles his m a n h o o d by confronting another

suitor,

calling his girlfriend a 'slut', a n d having a sexual response to getting slapped in the face. T h e ever-collected a n d rational psychiatrist finally lets loose, getting physical a n d assertive w i t h a colleague w h o m he treats like a y o u n g thing he has picked up at a party. E v e n L e o , the gentle pediatrician, m a k e s

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

it clear he is in charge as he tells his jealous mate o n the dance floor, T f you're looking for a fight baby, y o u ain't gonna find it here.' W h i l e the heterosexual couples find resolution in romance, passion a n d d r a m a , the lesbian couple is depicted as utterly p r i m and proper, completely self-contained a n d unobtrusive. T h e narrative closure of Heartbeat

clearly

s h o w s that w h a t does not happen to the lesbian couple is more important than w h a t does. The

script is open-ended or ambiguous to the extent that the lesbian

couple, after a considerable struggle, has achieved a victory. But even though they have obtained permission to come to the w e d d i n g , this narrative closure does not permit them to participate i n the event. M a r i l y n has one line of dialogue ( T think I ' m going to c r y ' ) . She a n d Patti are seen in one shot as the processional starts and in a second shot as the ceremony opens, then they become

invisible. W h i l e the heterosexual

couples exhibit a n

outpouring of desire as the w e d d i n g reception plays out, the lesbians are politely kept f r o m our v i e w , never intruding o n the s h o w ' s vision of w h a t it is to be a couple or to be i n a romantic relationship. T h e y agree to accept a limited place, not w a l k i n g d o w n the aisle, apparently not dancing, eating or mingling w i t h any one but nicely tucked back in the closet, out of v i e w from the rest of the guests a n d from the audience as w e l l . T h e overall effect is to reaffirm the patriarchal order and to tell the audience that w h a t really counts goes on i n the heterosexual w o r l d , the arena of passion, desire a n d drama. It is interesting a n d perhaps not simply coincidental that the one situation comedy i n the group of television s h o w s under discussion is the one s h o w i n w h i c h the narrative closure does not rely o n punishment, death or exclusion to bring about narrative closure. Golden

Girls is a half-hour sitcom that

regularly features four w o m e n characters - three friends i n late middle age and

one of their mothers w h o is i n her eighties. A l l four w o m e n live

together i n a n upmarket M i a m i home. T h i s particular episode opens w i t h D o r o t h y telling her elderly mother that she's expecting a visit from her college friend Jean. The

crusty old mother, one of the more knowledgeable of this group,

immediately recalls Jean as a lesbian, astonishing D o r o t h y . DOROTHY: H O W did y o u k n o w ? M O T H E R : A mother k n o w s . Now

D o r o t h y a n d her mother have to decide whether to tell R o s e a n d

Blanche, the other w o m e n in the house, about Jean's sexual identity. W h e n Jean arrives, D o r o t h y a n d her mother take up the topic w i t h her.

OLD S T R A T E G I E S EOR NEW T E X T S | D O R O T H Y : I w a n t e d to m a k e sure it w a s o k a y w i t h y o u before I told them. JEAN: I f y o u think they c a n handle it, I prefer to tell them. A t this moment R o s e w a l k s i n w i t h a tray of her special ' c l o w n sundaes', w h i c h she makes w i t h raisin eyes a n d chocolate chip noses. T h e gesture epitomizes R o s e ' s lack of sophistication and general inability to grasp w h a t is going o n a r o u n d her a n d prompts Jean to deliver this aside to D o r o t h y : 'It'll just be our little secret.' A s the s h o w unfolds, Jean finds herself increasingly d r a w n to the k i n d hearted R o s e . T h e y both grew up on farms, a n d both like sad movies a n d staying up late playing c a r d games. Eventually, J e a n tells D o r o t h y that she thinks she has fallen in love w i t h R o s e . D o r o t h y passes on the information to her mother and together they reveal the story to Blanche. N o w only R o s e is u n a w a r e that Jean is a lesbian a n d that Jean is i n love w i t h her. W h e n Jean tries to tell her h o w she is feeling ( T ' m quite fond of y o u ' ) , R o s e finally begins to suspect something. I n the final scene, Jean asks to speak w i t h R o s e alone and she explains some of w h a t she has been going through. Since her long-time lover died last year, Jean says, she has been in mourning. JEAN: I thought I could never care for anyone again, until I met y o u . R O S E : W e l l I have to admit I don't understand these kinds of feelings. But if I did understand, if I were - y o u k n o w - like y o u , I think I ' d be very flattered a n d p r o u d that y o u thought of me that w a y . A s the t w o w o m e n put their arms a r o u n d each other, the crotchety old mother enters a n d they hasten to explain lest she get the w r o n g impression. But she is still one step ahead of them. JEAN: T h i s isn't w h a t it looks like. M O T H E R : I k n o w . I w a s listening at the door. R O S E : W h y were y o u listening at the door? M O T H E R : Because I ' m not tall enough to see through the w i n d o w . T h e c a m e r a cuts to D o r o t h y a n d Blanche, w h o have obviously been listening i n at a n open w i n d o w all along. T h e y give a sheepish w a v e , i n effect admitting their intense curiosity over the Jean a n d R o s e affair, a n d bring the s h o w to

its conclusion. T h i s narrative closure exhibits little need

for

recuperating the lesbian character. Jean w i l l go back home and go on w i t h her life a n d her lifestyle a n d w i l l be better off k n o w i n g that she is once again willing to take risks and to engage w i t h people. T h a n k s to R o s e , she n o w realizes she c a n have feelings for w o m e n other t h a n her deceased lover.

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

R o s e w i l l also carry on w i t h her life but w i l l be enriched a n d enlightened by her experience w i t h Jean. T h i s is a story ending where differences are allowed to exist. T h e message to the audience is that a lesbian a n d a straight w o m a n can have a friendship and c a n accept each other without finding fault or choosing sides. T h r o u g h o u t the s h o w , however, the subject matter is never treated seriously. Instead, lesbianism is represented as outside the experience of these w o m e n , something they do not even k n o w about. O n e of them confuses lesbians w i t h Lebanese people, saying they cannot be so bad because D a n n y T h o m a s is one. Another says she m a y not k n o w w h a t a lesbian is but she could look it up i n a dictionary. O n l y the tough old mother, w h o often speaks of connections w i t h the C o s a N o s t r a in her native Sicily, k n o w s about w o m e n like that. Since the topic is never treated seriously, it cannot pose a serious threat and therefore does not require any serious redress. L i k e the rest of the s h o w , the ending is permitted to be basically lighthearted and humorous.

Recuperation and Cinematic Structures O n e of the chief contributions of feminist film scholars to cinema studies is their w o r k on textual analysis. T h i s approach attempts to uncover the w a y s in w h i c h cinema specifically creates meanings through its visual as well as its spoken story. T h e analysis therefore looks not just at character and plot but also at lighting, camera framing a n d movement editing, and other aspects of the visual, to see h o w it operates in conjunction w i t h character and plot to create specific cinematic meaning. T e x t u a l analysis is pertinent in television studies because television has adopted m a n y of its codes directly from H o l l y w o o d cinema. It is pertinent here since i n both film and television texts, at least some aspects of recuperation and ambiguity are carried out visually, not simply i n accomplishing closure, but in structuring and positioning the lesbian characters throughout the narrative. Feminist film theory asks h o w w o m e n are not represented in a script; it also asks h o w w o m e n are represented visually, w h a t fixed images of w o m e n are appealed to, and h o w these images operate interactively in the story line and in the visual structuring ( K u h n 1982: 81). W e n o w look at these same five television programmes w i t h these questions in m i n d , examining specifically how

television treats lesbian characters w i t h respect to three significant

areas of depiction: sexuality, personal rights and publicity or public disclosure.

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Sexuality W i t h the exception of the conspiring murderers i n Hunter,

none of these

lesbian characters is permitted to be sexual or even romantic. T h e contrast between the lesbian lovers a n d their straight counterparts in Heartbeat

is

stark. T h e lesbian couple never even approaches getting physical, but the male-female

couples

are

frequently

shown

in

close-up

passionately

embracing, kissing and alluding to their love-making plans. I n one instance a couple is s h o w n undressed in the bed where the guests have left their coats at an afternoon wedding reception. A t the same time, in the entire two-hour course of the s h o w , the lesbian lovers are limited to one m e d i u m shot in w h i c h they share a limp, passionless embrace. T h a t comes at a moment w h e n they are reassuring each other that their problems w i l l w o r k out. T h u s w h e n they embrace, rather than being sexual w i t h each other, they really are consoling each other. I n the final scene there is a close-up of their hands touching, one w o m a n ' s h a n d resting on top of the other's. A g a i n , the context of the story makes it clear that this also is not a sexual moment. It is a tender moment and a reassuring gesture, but sexual it is not. I n Hotel,

to

cite another example, the lesbians are never s h o w n together. T h e script uses a videotape as a device through w h i c h to bring the dead lover on camera. It could have used that same device to show the w o m e n together. Similarly, it could have used flashback to accomplish the same purpose. But it did not. The

only shot of the lesbians together is in the still photos that remain in the

apartment they shared and even here there is not a hint of sexuality or romance. W e see close-ups of very innocent 'vacation' pictures; the t w o w o m e n might just as easily be companions a n d friends as lovers a n d partners for the previous six years. O n e photo shows the t w o w o m e n bicycling w i t h t w o men, as heterosexual a depiction as possible given the story line. I n Golden and

Girls,

recuperation is carried out in the looks, dress

demeanour of the lesbian character. First, the lesbian part is played by

L o i s Nettleton, a w e l l - k n o w n a n d respected actress. She is feminine, quiet, soft a n d soft-spoken. She wears pretty dresses a n d high heels. L i k e the C a r o l B o w m a n character i n Hotel,

like M a r i l y n a n d Patti in Heartbeat,

she

is depicted visually as distinctly feminine. T h i s k i n d of visual rendering combines w i t h narrative story lines that produce characters w h o basically are desexualized. The

exception are the lesbian killers in Hunter.

These characters

are

clearly not d r a w n in the timid fashion used w i t h the other lesbians. T h e y are at the opposite end of both the visual a n d the emotional spectrum. These w o m e n are obviously sexual. T h e y dress i n sophisticated, revealing clothes. ('The w a y she's dressed,' says H u n t e r ' s partner of Sgt Foster, 'she's

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

got herself a date.') O f all the lesbian characters under discussion, these t w o are the only ones w h o are s h o w n expressing their sexual passion for each other. T h e f o l l o w i n g exchange, for example, takes place as w e see a closeup of the t w o w o m e n , facing each other, their bodies touching as C a s e y runs her h a n d s l o w l y d o w n V a l e r i e ' s cheek, throat a n d l o w - c u t blouse. CASEY: It's c o l d out, V a l . VALERIE: W h e n do I get m y m i n k ? CASEY: A S soon as the dust clears. But y o u w i l l look better in sable. T h e y have been given narrative permission to be sexual because they are evil and w i l l i n g to use their sexuality to achieve evil ends. T h e young w i d o w , after a l l , ensnared the millionaire into marriage, not for his love, but for his money. H e r lover, Sgt Foster, slept w i t h H u n t e r to see w h a t he w o u l d reveal about his investigation ('She thought I w a s going to be one of those after-sex talkers,' H u n t e r tells his partner.) T h e connection

seems

clear: if they are sexual then they must also be vicious, greedy, deceitful, cunning, a n d direct inheritors of the film noir genre.

Personal rights In both Heartbeat

a n d Hotel

the lesbian characters discover that they have

limited personal rights a n d go on to accept that limitation without c h a l lenge. M a r i l y n , for example, agrees to her daughter's d e m a n d that lover Patti stay a w a y from the wedding. W h e n she confesses that to her lover, Patti not only shows no anger or resentment but tells M a r i l y n that she should agree to whatever her daughter wants so as to seize this 'golden moment'. A t another point i n the s h o w , M a r i l y n recounts w h a t happened w h e n she revealed her identity to her h u s b a n d several years earlier. H e effectively banished her f r o m their home a n d demanded that she give up any c l a i m o n custody of their daughter. She agreed because she h a d little choice. N o w , years later, M a r i l y n is still agreeing a n d feeling as though she has little choice. N o t once does she insist o n having the same rights as her ex-husband, w h o is bringing his n e w mate to the w e d d i n g without hesitation. Indeed, M a r i l y n ' s demeanour throughout conveys her sense of responsibility for having caused heartache in the daughter. W h i l e she is continually agonizing over w h a t she did i n the past a n d w h a t she should do to m a k e things better i n the present, it is the daughter w h o is given the right to be angry a n d enraged. If the daughter is mature enough to m a r r y , one might argue that she is mature enough to accept her mother's choices. Y e t her mother never makes that demand. E v e n though M a r i l y n admits that she is

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'terrified' to do it, w e see her returning to her ex-husband's home to find her daughter a n d once again apologize for being w h o she is. M a r i l y n is positioned as the person w h o is at fault, a position w i t h w h i c h she never takes issue. H e r daughter is positioned as the person w h o w a s injured or w r o n g e d and that gives her every right to vent her considerable anger both publicly and privately. A similar k i n d of inequity of rights plays out i n Hotel,

only n o w it is the

parent w h o is given the right to be angry a n d enraged and the lesbian daughter a n d her lover w h o must seek forgiveness for their transgression. First w e see, via videotape, the deceased daughter trying to explain to her father w h o she is and h o w she lives her life. It is a n explanation she c o u l d never bring herself to m a k e i n person. A s in Heartbeat,

it is the lesbian

whose appearance conveys nervousness and guilt, positions that carry over to the m a i n character i n the s h o w , her lover C a r o l B o w m a n . T h i s character emerges as a person without p o w e r or knowledge. W e see her proceed through a series of steps, all attempts at discovering the real limitations of her w o r l d , her situation, herself. H e r first step is to seek advice a n d emotional support f r o m a friend a n d c o - w o r k e r . T h e 'tell me w h a t to do, Julie' scene sets the stage for her encounters w i t h the three individuals w h o really c a n determine her future a n d describe her personal rights. C a r o l goes to three m e n i n succession to find out her fate. First, she meets w i t h her boss, M r M c D e r m o t t , to ask if her job is in jeopardy n o w that he k n o w s about her sexual relationship w i t h Joanne. C A R O L : W i l l this affect m y job? I k n o w people c a n be, w e l l , oversensitive about . . . [pause] . . . things. M C D E R M O T T : Y O U should k n o w by n o w : the only thing M i s s Frances and I are sensitive about is the w a y our guests are treated. N e x t C a r o l goes to her dead lover's father and briefly puts up her one fight. She tells M r L a m b e r t that his daughter never got up the courage to actually send h i m that videotape because she w a s afraid of his rejection. She accuses him of rarely phoning, never visiting, and n o w w a n t i n g to stake his c l a i m on a daughter he barely k n e w . C A R O L : Y O U think y o u c a n just sail i n here a n d p i c k up the pieces. W e l l , some of those pieces belong to me a n d y o u can't have t h e m . . . I ' m going to fight y o u o n this. LAMBERT: D o n ' t do it, M i s s B o w m a n . I w i l l use the courts. I w i l l use publicity, whatever it takes, a n d y o u w i l l regret it. I swear y o u w i l l . Finally, she consults w i t h a l a w y e r , but his advice is not encouraging.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER LAWYER: It's not w h a t y o u or M r L a m b e r t wants, but w h a t state l a w dictates. I n the absence of a w i l l , Joanne's family becomes her sole heir. . . . Realistically, the most y o u c o u l d hope for is some sort of nuisance settlement, y o u k n o w , to make y o u go a w a y . C A R O L : But it's not fair. LAWYER: But it is the l a w . Y o u k n o w , m y advice to y o u is to ask yourself whether a court fight w o u l d be w o r t h it. T h e time, the money, and [he gives her a k n o w i n g look] the public exposure.

It is only after these three men have spoken that C a r o l k n o w s w h a t she c a n and cannot do, w h a t her rights are. H e r lack of power a n d control over her o w n fate is reiterated three times over. E v e n though she is a lesbian she is a character very m u c h living in a n d dominated by a m a n ' s w o r l d . A n d this she is neither w i l l i n g to challenge nor to fight. R a t h e r than expressing anger at her lack of legal standing, she acquiesces. She not only agrees to give up any c l a i m to her s m a l l , personal treasures, but she also helps the m a n w h o is determined to take them a w a y from her. A n d w h e n he experiences the grief that she has been dealing w i t h all along, it is she w h o unhesitatingly comforts h i m , her subservience to h i m emphasized all the more by her kneeling at his feet.

Public disclosure The

idea of public disclosure appears in the scripts of a l l five shows. I n the killer cop assures her lover that the w o r s t that c a n happen to

Hunter,

them is a little bad publicity. I n Hotel,

the father threatens to use publicity

to w i n his case a n d the l a w y e r cautions that a court fight might not be w o r t h the 'public exposure'. I n Heartbeat, mother's

the daughter w i l l not a l l o w her

lesbian lover at her w e d d i n g because she w a n t s things to

go

smoothly a n d because some of her friends do not k n o w about her mother's sexual identity. T h e idea of keeping the lesbian character's sexual identity secret comes up i n Golden

Girls as w e l l . A n d indeed, the decision is made to

keep that identity private, even though the character says she prefers to be open about w h o she is. Implicit i n each of these constructions is the idea that public disclosure is likely to result i n public scorn. T h i s has interesting parallels in J Passed White,

for

a H o l l y w o o d film in w h i c h a light-skinned black w o m a n tries to

keep her identity hidden i n an effort to w i n social approval or at least to avoid social rejection. W h y , if being h o m o s e x u a l necessary

for

any of these

characters

to

is acceptable,

keep their

identities

is it secret?

O b v i o u s l y , the implied message i n all these scripts suggests that it is not

OLD S T R A T E G I E S FOR NEW T E X T S

|

socially acceptable to be a lesbian, that caution is always advised i n revealing these matters. Just as the lesbian characters s h o w little heart for fighting for their personal rights, they show little inclination to reveal their personal identities. T h a t message is revealed as m u c h i n h o w they look as i n w h a t they actually do. I n Hotel,

w h e n her lawyer suggests that she consider

the public exposure, the c a m e r a cuts to a close-up of C a r o l to s h o w her horrified countenance.

Conclusion W e began this examination by asking whether the same strategies that have been used in constructing strong w o m e n characters in both early a n d later H o l l y w o o d films are being used today by A m e r i c a n television in its recent introduction of lesbian characters to prime-time television. O u r e x a m i n a tion makes it clear that the answer is yes. E x c e p t for Hunter,

in w h i c h

recuperation is total, these scripts employ a certain amount of ambiguity i n that lesbian characters are permitted some degree of victory i n their o w n personal battles. But in almost every instance, that victory is balanced by other messages, both i n the text and in the visual content of the s h o w , that suggest these characters have a long w a y to go before achieving equal status w i t h their heterosexual counterparts. W h e n w e ask a question that has become central to feminist film criticism -

h o w are these characters not depicted? -

several interesting answers

emerge. T h e y are not depicted as sexual or passionate, even w h e n they are labelled as lovers in the script. T h e y are not depicted as angry, even though their circumstances suggest that they have m a n y reasons to be so. T h e y are not s h o w n as independent or assertive, particularly w h e n it comes

to

securing their o w n personal rights. T h e y are not s h o w n m a k i n g demands but

rather are seen continually agreeing to the demands of others. W h e n w e ask h o w they are depicted visually, the other part of the

equation falls into place. I n dress a n d manner both, they are s h o w n to be feminine but not sexy, never daring. A n y k i n d of physical exchange w i t h a female partner is either omitted altogether or d r a w n in the most timid w a y (a hand resting atop another h a n d , a sweet but sexless hug). Close-ups of their faces often reveal a n agonizing look, a repeated suggestion that their sexuality has caused others problems and for this they must take the blame and

suffer the consequences. These are not scripts that argue for the rights, legal or otherwise, of

homosexuals. T h e y are, instead, productions designed to attract mass audiences w h o w i l l have varying degrees of willingness to accept any les-

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

bian depictions i n the first place. Just as H o l l y w o o d producers have been careful to incorporate a degree of polysemy into their cinematic texts, so too are A m e r i c a n television producers careful to avoid alienating audience members by producing scripts that might be construed as too strident. W h i l e it m a y be argued that these scripts are by design relatively unconcerned w i t h gay rights a n d more concerned w i t h ratings, it is also true that once-taboo subjects i n both cinema a n d television have gained acceptance only gradually. T h i s m a y not be the first choice of feminists a n d lesbians, but it is a first step i n w o r k i n g t o w a r d at least a small measure of social change.

References Cook, P. (1978) Duplicity in Mildred Pierce, in E . A . Kaplan (ed.) Women and Film Noir. London: British Film Institute. Gledhill, C . (1978) Klute: Part 2: Feminism and Klute, in E . A . Kaplan (ed.) Women and Film Noir. London: British Film Institute. Henry, W . (1987) That certain subject, Channels, April: 43-5. Kaplan, E . A . (1982) Women and Film. New York: Methuen. Kuhn, A. (1982) Women's Pictures: Feminism and Cinema. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Lovell, T . and S. Frith (1981) H o w do you get pleasure? Another look at Klute, Screen Education, 39: 15-24. Moritz, M . (1989) American television discovers gay women: the changing context of programming decisions at the networks, Journal of Communication Inquiry, 13(2): 62-78. Walker, J . (1982) Feminist critical practice: female discourse in Mildred Pierce, Film Readers: Feminist Film Criticism. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.

PRETTY TOUGH °

THE CULT OF FEMININITY IN WOMEN'S MAGAZINES Sherrie A. Inness

W h i l e thinking about the representation of toughness in A m e r i c a n culture, I recently visited my local Barnes & N o b l e bookstore to peruse its extensive collection of women's magazines. G a z i n g at bank after bank of magazines with

covers

experience. Vanity Woman's

portraying American

Fair,

Mademoiselle,

Own,

Black Beauty,

nearly identical female Woman,

New

Pride,

Woman, Ladies'

Glamour,

She,

Seventeen,

American Home

models w a s

Cosmopolitan, Allure,

Cheerleader,

Journal

an

eerie

Self,

Vogue,

Redbook,

Belle,

Marie

Claire,

File,

- some of these I recognized,

others I did not, but all of the cover models looked remarkably alike, despite having a variety of hair styles and clothes, and sometimes different racial backgrounds. O n e attribute these models h a d in c o m m o n w a s their lack of toughness. T h e y were glamorous, beautiful, feminine, and graceful but not tough. Studying the faces that stared back at me from the display racks led me to think about the role of toughness in today's w o m e n ' s magazines. Is toughness as completely excluded from the pages of these magazines as their covers w o u l d lead me to believe? Flipping through the magazines, I discovered that despite the lack of tough girls on their covers,

tough w o m e n do appear in the articles,

advertisements, and photographs in these magazines - especially in highfashion magazines such as Vogue and Vanity Fair. I n one copy of Vogue,

a

heavily tattooed w o m a n glares at readers from a C a l v i n K l e i n advertisement ( T o Be September 1 9 9 6 ) . I n another issue of Vogue, a w o m a n garbed in boxing gear confronts the reader, as if challenging her to a match (Evolution M a r c h 1996). I n a n article from File, androgynous models w e a r clothing

that

combines

'[mjasculine tailoring

and

feminine

touches'

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND GENDER

('Masculine' 1997: 352). A s I studied w o m e n ' s magazines from past years, I discovered numerous other images of tough w o m e n from the 1980s and 1990s. O b v i o u s l y , tough w o m e n were not as rare as I had first assumed. E x a m i n i n g these 'tough' w o m e n more closely, however, I identified a variety of w a y s in w h i c h their toughness w a s undermined. Although these magazines have recently begun to s h o w more tough-looking w o m e n , this does not mean that they are questioning the innate biological differences between men a n d w o m e n and their ' n a t u r a l ' relationship to masculinity and femininity, respectively. T h e magazines present a fantasy of toughness. T h e y create a N e v e r N e v e r land where models can present a performance of toughness - but it is only a performance. I n this imaginary universe, w h i c h is clearly demarcated as a fantasy, w o m e n c a n appear dressed up w i t h all the

accoutrements

of toughness,

but the

models' location

in fashion

magazines undermines their toughness, reminding readers that everything they see is a fantasy of style. I n addition, the magazines perpetuate

the

notion that toughness in w o m e n is sexy, w h i c h assures the audience that w o m e n are not abandoning their traditional roles as sex objects for men just because they are tough. T h i s equation between w o m e n ' s sexuality and toughness w o r k s in a similar fashion in The Avengers, The

Bionic

Woman.

Charlie's

Angels,

and

T h e relationship between toughness and sexuality

diminishes the threat that tough w o m e n pose to the dominant social order by suggesting that a w o m a n ' s sexual availability and physical attractiveness w i l l be in no w a y diminished by her tough actions and appearance. W o m e n ' s magazines are an especially intriguing m e d i u m to study w h e n reflecting on the essence of toughness because they play a n important role in helping to formulate gender in our culture. Y e t they are still typically viewed as unworthy of scholarly attention because they are popular reading material aimed at w o m e n . I n her w e l l - k n o w n study of w o m e n ' s popular literature, Loving

with a Vengeance:

Mass-Produced

Fantasies

for

Women

(1982), T a n i a M o d l e s k i discusses the typical critical response to popular w o m e n ' s texts: ' W o m e n ' s criticism of popular feminine narratives

has

generally adopted one of three attitudes: dismissiveness; hostility - tending unfortunately to be aimed at the consumers of the narratives; or, most frequently, a flippant kind of m o c k e r y ' (14). She wrote these w o r d s in 1982, but they remain germane today. T h i s perspective is gradually changing as a greater number of feminist scholars have begun to recognize the importance of w h a t M a r j o r i e Ferguson calls 'one of the most significant yet least studied social institutions of our time' ( 1 9 8 3 : l ) .

1

W o m e n ' s magazines are an important source of information for anyone interested in our society's changing gender roles. A s N a o m i W o l f writes, 'women's magazines are the only products of popular culture that (unlike

PRETTY TOUGH | romances) change w i t h w o m e n ' s reality, are mostly written by w o m e n for w o m e n about

w o m e n ' s issues, and take w o m e n ' s concerns seriously'

(1991: 71). Because of this, w o m e n ' s magazines show h o w millions of w o m e n construct their identities according to the feminine norms touted by the magazines. It is difficult for any w o m a n in A m e r i c a n society to avoid these magazines: even w o m e n w h o argue that they never read them are still influenced by their omnipresent images. Because of their prevalence and popularity (many of the most popular ones have readerships i n the m i l lions), w o m e n ' s magazines h o l d a powerful position w h e n it comes

to

negotiating the relationship between w o m e n a n d toughness because they prescribe h o w tough their readers and other w o m e n should look a n d act. T h e advertisements that compose the bulk of most w o m e n ' s magazines are just as important as the stories and their accompanying photographs in determining the construction of gendered identities. Advertising i n w o m e n ' s magazines plays a n influential role in formulating, maintaining, a n d altering h o w readers understand the construction of socially acceptable gender norms. Advertisements function in a w a y similar to their surrounding text, but they also have different rules: Advertisements use the material of everyday life, but they d r a w upon this material in a highly selective fashion. T h a t w h i c h is chosen for inclusion is reintegrated

into the signifying system of advertising,

where this material then provides the basis for the creation of n e w meanings. . . . Advertisements do not, therefore,

simply reflect the

social w o r l d but re-create it, reconstitute it, a n d communicate this manipulated version to the a u d i e n c e . (Budgeon 1994: 2

56)

Advertisements develop a unique universe that might contain different messages about gender than the articles and photo spreads that accompany them. W e must study advertisements and their surrounding texts together, analyzing the concurrent a n d convergent messages they convey about the constitution of toughness. Advertisements in w o m e n ' s magazines often seem most adventuresome about portraying challenging and controversial images of tough w o m e n because advertising is a l w a y s happy to use controversy to sell underwear, perfume, cosmetics, w o m e n ' s suits, or other commodities. Advertising's 'very staying power derives from its ability to m i m i c the social. A s society changes, advertising becomes the happy chameleon, always delighted to don spring's new colors' (Barthel 1988:

13). Advertising might act like a

chameleon that follows social change, but we need to be alert to the w a y s that advertising c a n also lead to social change. N o t only advertisements, but w o m e n ' s magazines in general do more

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

than alter h o w gender is constituted in A m e r i c a n society. T h e y c a n also change h o w gender is perceived. A s W o l f observes, women's magazines have long been 'one of the most powerful agents for changing women's roles' (1991: 64). She suggests that the magazines can change w h a t is considered acceptable or unacceptable behavior for w o m e n . A s w o m e n ' s magazines are widely read, they have ample opportunity to convince millions that the views expressed by the magazines are just, fair, and truthful. T h e magazines depict a monolithic perspective on the w o r l d , presenting their contents as 'the truth', leading readers to believe that these texts present a mimetic view of the w o r l d ; the magazines do not suggest that there is a w o r l d full of people w i t h different perspectives. I n Subculture:

The

Meaning

of

Style

(1979), D i c k Hebdige describes the importance of the media in changing how

their audience members perceive the w o r l d : ' T h e media play a crucial

role in defining our experience for us. T h e y provide us w i t h the most available categories for classifying out the social w o r l d . It is primarily through

the

press, television,

film,

etc.

that experience

is organized'

(1979: 8 4 - 5 ) . W o m e n ' s magazines are very m u c h a part of this process. W o m e n ' s magazines c a n deliver messages that encourage social change either progressive or conservative (and often both). Because of the c o m plexity of w o m e n ' s magazines a n d their various target markets, a magazine might convey m a n y messages w i t h i n a single issue. T h u s , it should come as no surprise that a magazine might feature a picture of a short-haired w o m a n astride a H a r l e y and a decidedly feminine w o m a n w i t h long, flowing

locks i n the same issue. O n e critic writes, ' W o m e n ' s magazines

posit a collective and yet multivalent female subjectivity, w h i c h

they

simultaneously address and construct' (Ballaster et a l . 1991: 172). W e shall discover that m a n y messages

are contained

in w o m e n ' s high-fashion

magazines concerning w o m e n and their relationship to toughness, not all of them consistent. A l t h o u g h they play w i t h tough images of w o m e n , w o m e n ' s magazines often use those images to affirm the desirability of femininity for w o m e n and to help maintain traditional gender divisions between men a n d women.

The Cult of Femininity ' W o m e n must " p e r f o r m " femininity, and fashion is part of that performance,'

write

C a r o l i n e E v a n s and M i n n a T h o r n t o n

(1989:

13).

To

understand the role that w o m e n ' s magazines play i n perpetuating femininity as the ideal for w o m e n , it is helpful to turn to M a r j o r i e Ferguson's book Forever

Feminine:

Women's

Magazines

and the Cult of

Femininity

PRETTY T 0 U 6 H

|

(1983), i n w h i c h she discusses the association between femininity and w o m e n ' s magazines. A c c o r d i n g to Ferguson, ' W o m e n ' s magazines collectively comprise a social institution w h i c h fosters and maintains a cult of femininity. T h i s cult is manifested both as a social group to w h i c h all those born female can belong, and as a set of practices and beliefs: rites a n d rituals, sacrifices and ceremonies, whose periodic performance reaffirms a c o m m o n femininity and shared group membership' (1983: 184).

If w e

concur w i t h Ferguson, w o m e n ' s magazines (and also men's, such as

GQ)

are deeply invested in perpetuating the idea that femininity is aligned w i t h w o m e n a n d masculinity is aligned w i t h men. W o m e n ' s magazines base their appeal on being the vehicles that provide the entryway into the mysterious w o r l d of femininity, providing 'the syllabus and step-by-step instructions w h i c h help to socialise their readers into the various ages a n d stages of the demanding - but rewarding - state of w o m a n h o o d ' (Ferguson 185).

1984:

Ferguson describes the rituals w o m e n undergo to perpetuate

the

ideology of femininity: 'Individual members are socialised into their personal and collective identities through shared rites, rituals, parables, maxims, catechisms, badges and totems, in the same w a y that they are habituated into making the monthly or weekly dues they contribute towards the maintenance of the edifice itself (186). T h e cult is kept alive by its millions of adherents and the social apparatus, such as women's magazines, that these w o m e n support. A s long as the primary purpose of w o m e n ' s magazines is to sell the m a n y commodities that are essential elements in the creation of femininity, they w i l l be hostile to w o m e n w h o too openly flaunt the fact that femininity is not the 'natural' and right state of w o m e n but is, instead, only one of m a n y choices that a w o m a n c a n m a k e in creating her subjectivity and self-presentation is a dangerous notion to a magazine empire built on selling the products needed for a w o m a n ' s endless pursuit of femininity. W o m e n ' s magazines offer a fantasy that fosters in their readers a desire for a state of being that c a n never be achieved. I n their pursuit of the spectre of perfect femininity, w o m e n are encouraged to buy both the products that the magazines promote a n d the magazines themselves. Since toughness is strongly associated w i t h a lack of femininity, tough girls are a threat to this capitalist edifice; thus, female toughness must be carefully controlled so that it poses little danger to the cult of femininity that w o m e n ' s magazines help to build and reinforce. W o m e n ' s magazines are also successful in strengthening the connection between femininity and w o m e n because they m a k e femininity alluring to m a n y readers. I n her book Decoding moiselle

Women's

Magazines

From

Made-

to Ms. (1993), E l l e n M c C r a c k e n provides an accurate description

of h o w w o m e n ' s magazines persuade their audience that the magazines'

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

vision of femininity is highly desirable a n d deserves to be emulated: Readers are not force-fed a constellation of negative images that naturalize male dominance; rather, w o m e n ' s magazines exert a cultural leadership to shape consensus in w h i c h highly pleasurable codes w o r k to

naturalize social relations of power.

agreement

about

w h a t constitutes

the

T h i s ostensibly

common

feminine is only achieved

through a discursive struggle in w h i c h w o r d s , photos, and sometimes olfactory signs wage a semiotic battle against the everyday w o r l d w h i c h , by its mere presence, often fights back as a n existential corrective to the magazine's ideal images. ( 1 9 9 3 : 3) In

other w o r d s , entire magazines are designed to offer readers a highly

enjoyable reading experience that functions to perpetuate femininity as the n o r m ; even the cagiest reader finds it difficult to resist the fantasy w o r l d of femininity in these magazines. I n a similar fashion, a men's magazine like functions to heighten the appeal of conventional masculinity.

GQ One

m a y ask why tough w o m e n appear at all in w o m e n ' s magazines, if

the magazines are intent on maintaining the notion that femininity is the n o r m for w o m e n . O n e w o u l d think that images and narratives about tough w o m e n w o u l d undermine the emphasis o n femininity. W e shall find that the opposite is actually true. T o u g h girls do appear, but typically w o m e n ' s magazines use toughness to reaffirm the connection between w o m e n and femininity. I n addition, toughness is often associated w i t h w o m e n ' s sexuality, w h i c h makes toughness less threatening to the dominant social order than it might first appear to be - a strategy already described in the previous chapter. Another reason tough girls appear i n w o m e n ' s magazines is because the magazines promote more than one version of w o m a n h o o d . T o d a y , perhaps even more so than i n the past, no single representation of w o m a n h o o d expresses w h a t it means to be female, a n d w o m e n ' s magazines prosper from the growing complexity of w h a t w o m a n h o o d entails: ' T h e journal and fashion industries thriv[e] on the instability of the very idea of w h a t a w o m a n [is]: the " n e w " w o m a n , the w o r k i n g w o m a n , the sports w o m a n , the family w o m a n , the sexually liberated a n d educated w o m a n [are] all as m u c h created a n d exploited by the journals as by the advertising apparatus' (Griggers 1990:

96). T h e w o r l d of w o m e n ' s magazines has always been

open to different depictions of w o m a n h o o d - a strategy that helps to sell the magazines a n d the commodities that they advertise to the broadest audience possible. I n creating a complex, multifaceted image of w h a t it means to be a w o m a n today, w o m e n ' s magazines have made r o o m for m a n y n e w images of w o m a n h o o d , including those that apparently emphasize toughness. N o

PRETTY TOUGH

|

matter h o w varied these images might seem, however, they must function w i t h i n n a r r o w boundaries. T h u s , a 'tough' w o m a n might appear, but she must be model-beautiful a n d slender. These superficially tough images of w o m e n do not seriously endanger the dominant cult of femininity because tough w o m e n are only a minute percentage of the w o m e n w h o appear in the magazines. Studying hundreds of different magazines, I found that tough w o m e n were a tiny minority, despite their growing prevalence in recent years. T h e magazines I perused had dozens of pictures, advertisements, and articles that featured feminine w o m e n w h o did not appear remotely tough; w o m e n w i t h teased manes of hair, long lacquered nails, a n d slinky dresses were impossible to miss. I had to search for tough girls; I w e n t through m a n y magazines that did not picture a single one. T h e more traditional magazines such as Family Good

Housekeeping,

Ladies'

Home

a n d Woman's

Journal,

Circle, rarely

Day

contained images of tough w o m e n . E v e n lifestyle and fashion magazines (Cosmopolitan,

Essence,

Glamour,

Mademoiselle,

and Redbook)

portrayed

few tough w o m e n . N o t surprisingly, images of toughness were apparent in Elle,

more

Vanity Fair, a n d Vogue - magazines that feature daring,

risk-taking high fashion -

but this does not m e a n that these magazines

necessarily have a more progressive attitude about w o m e n ' s roles. W e need to recognize

that

high-fashion magazines

are

careful to

distance

the

toughness they display from the reality of everyday. T o gain a comprehensive image of the tough girl i n w o m e n ' s magazines, this chapter studies a variety of w o m e n ' s magazines, concentrating on the high-fashion magazines because tough w o m e n appear more c o m m o n l y in them. T h e paucity of tough w o m e n in all of these magazines is disturbing because it suggests that little support exists in the popular media for w o m e n w h o dress a n d act in w a y s that are regarded as tough. Although some of their traits are portrayed as desirable, tough w o m e n are depicted as outsiders to the cult of femininity and are shunted to the edges of the

fictional

universe of the w o m a n ' s magazine. T h i s marginalization of the tough girl presents her as a n anomaly. T o u g h w o m e n rarely appear in television advertisements, for instance, i n contrast to the c o m m o n appearance

of

tough m e n . E v e n the television commercials that could logically portray a tough w o m a n generally do not. F o r instance, the endless advertisements for home gyms usually feature a m a n whose pumped-up pecs bulge impressively; his leotard-clad partner is far less muscular, and she often sports lipstick a n d carefully coiffed hair. T h e dearth of tough w o m e n is one of the most visible (or invisible) signs that tough w o m e n are not socially acceptable. T h i s chapter primarily focuses on w o m e n w h o appear

tough, a n d

despite their increasing appearances in w o m e n ' s magazines, they still are

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

marginalized and have i n no w a y gained the same societal acceptance as more feminine, softer-looking w o m e n . W o m e n ' s magazines marginalize tough w o m e n by rarely depicting them. M o r e c o m m o n l y , the magazines depict w o m e n w h o adopt a few attributes associated w i t h toughness. T h i s lack of ' r e a l ' tough w o m e n is one sign of a magazine universe that is uncomfortable w i t h the masculine coding of toughness. These magazines only represent tough attributes that c a n be toned d o w n i n one w a y or another, assuring readers that displays of toughness pose no serious challenge to the cult of femininity that the magazines uphold. T h e magazines present a feminized version of toughness, w h i c h is not genuinely tough. Instead, w o m e n ' s toughness is depicted as a masquerade. I n some w a y s , the magazines present an inverse to the image of toughness presented in Charlie's

Angels

and The

Bionic

Woman,

in

w h i c h the central w o m e n acted (somewhat) tough, but did not look tough. I n w o m e n ' s magazines, the w o m e n look (somewhat) tough, but it is clear that their image is only skin-deep. B y exploring h o w w o m e n ' s magazines describe and portray leather fashions a n d mannish or masculine clothing for w o m e n , this chapter w i l l offer readers a better understanding of h o w the popular media manipulates the signifiers of toughness.

Leather and Lace: Undercutting Tough Styles T o understand the depiction of w o m e n ' s toughness i n fashion magazines, it is important to consider h o w they describe w o m e n ' s leather f a s h i o n s .

3

F a s h i o n magazines often portray w o m e n w e a r i n g leather attire and must i n some w a y negotiate the aura of toughness associated w i t h leather. I n A m e r i c a n culture, leather is strongly associated w i t h masculinity and tough men.

M e n t i o n the w o r d 'leather' and images of motorcycle-straddling

H e l l ' s Angels are apt to spring to m i n d . Leather is tough a n d masculine. How,

then, do w o m e n ' s magazines present leather fashions for w o m e n ?

4

Does the bad boy image of leather m a k e it too tough, too rough for the glamorous models w h o fill w o m e n ' s magazines? The

representation of leather is interesting because, like all clothing,

leather does far more than keep a person w a r m . Leather signifies a great deal about its wearer. I n 'Fragments of a Fashionable D i s c o u r s e ' K a j a Silverman (1986) discusses the multiple purposes of clothing: ' C l o t h i n g and other kinds of ornamentation m a k e the h u m a n body culturally visible' (1986: 145). She observes, 'Dress is one of the most important cultural implements for articulating and territorializing h u m a n corporeality - for mapping its erotogenic zones and for affixing sexual identity' (1986: 146).

PRETTY TOUGH | N o form of attire makes a body more visible than leather, w h i c h suggests both toughness and sexuality. Valerie Steele writes about the appeal of leather, ' M a n y people find black leather sexy for both men and w o m e n . . . . N o t only does leather have a certain tactile appeal as a " s e c o n d s k i n , " but it may also carry a variety of erotic connotations. F r o m M a r l o n Brando's black leather jacket to Saint L a u r e n t ' s black leather miniskirt, the message combines seduction and danger' (1989: 62). Steele adds that leather has acquired 'tough, even sado-masochistic connotations' (62). Leather signifies m a n y characteristics, but it is a l w a y s linked to toughness, particularly i n men. Leather must be presented w i t h care in w o m e n ' s magazines because it potentially threatens the magazines' dominant feminine imagery w i t h its tough connotations. M a n y articles a n d photo spreads explicitly tone d o w n the association between leather and toughness. O n e article i n Glamour

entitled 'Leather or

N o t ' states, 'Bikers, hit your brakes. T h e n e w leathers are coming through and they're miles from tough. T h i s year's keepers are refined, tailored' (1995: 2 5 4 ) . A n article i n Seventeen

titled ' T h e Leather R e p o r t ' assures

its readers that leather is not as tough as they might assume, commenting 'Bye-bye, biker chick: Leather's n e w look is more tender than tough' ( 1 9 9 5 : 137). C a l l i n g into question the c o m m o n linkage between bikers' culture a n d leather is one w a y that w o m e n ' s magazines try to reshape leather's image, m a k i n g it kinder and gentler. W h e n leather does appear, magazines soften its tough image by posing leather-clad w o m e n w i t h m e n , especially in w h a t appears to be a romantic entanglement. A n article i n Mademoiselle,

' Z i p ! T h e Motorcycle Jacket -

T r u l y C o o l A g a i n ' (1988), depicts four w o m e n i n motorcycle jackets. T h r e e are portrayed in sexually suggestive poses w i t h m e n , a n d one w o m a n is photographed alone. I n this article and others, the m a n acts as a signifier of heterosexuality and limits the toughness of the w o m e n models by disa v o w i n g the implicit linkage between toughness a n d lesbianism. Another c o m m o n technique for diminishing leather's connection

to

toughness is to emphasize the femininity of the w o m a n wearing the leather clothing. F o r example, in a n advertisement for C a l v i n K l e i n f r o m

Vanity

Fair, a female model wears leather gloves a n d has a black leather biker's jacket flung over her shoulders (September 1 9 9 2 ) . She wears a l o w - c u t black dress, has long hair, a n d is classically beautiful a n d feminine. I n this interplay between masculinity a n d femininity, femininity is the dominant signifier. T h e r e is no suggestion that this statuesque beauty is threatening traditional gender roles, despite her masculine leather jacket. T h e m a s c u linity of the jacket only heightens and accentuates her predominantly feminine appearance. I n a n advertisement for C a l v i n K l e i n jeans, a model

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

wears a tough black leather jacket a n d rides a motorcycle, but her long hair and

flawless face suggest that she is still all w o m a n (August 1 9 9 4 ) . Simi-

larly, in a story from Vogue that describes fashion trends, a model straddles a motorcycle and wears a black leather jacket that w o u l d m a k e the F o n z envious, but the large gold earrings she wears and her m a k e u p reveal that the model has not abandoned her femininity, despite her biker's garb ('Best & the W o r s t ' 1996: 122). I n another fashion spread from Cosmopolitan,

a

boyish model wears a biker-style leather jacket ( ' R u n w a y ' 1996: 2 2 3 ) . She has a short boyish haircut, but her eye m a k e u p is quite evident, as is her lipstick. I n our society, m a k e u p and lipstick are two important markers of hetero-femininity, undermining the model's potentially lesbian-masculine presentation. I n another article from Cosmopolitan,

a model wears leather

pants, w h i c h come across as far more sexy than tough because she has a sultry, come-hither look ( ' R u n w a y ' 1996: 2 1 9 ) . By stressing the femininity and

heterosexuality

of

models

who

wear

leather

fashions,

women's

magazines convey to readers that leather attire, despite its tough tradition rooted in images of James D e a n and other bad-boy heroes, only enhances a w o m a n ' s femininity. Another w a y w o m e n ' s magazines mitigate the toughness of leather attire is by frequently including pictures, fashion spreads, and articles that stress the importance of combining a leather item w i t h a more feminine piece of clothing. In one picture, a frilly top accompanies a black leather mini-skirt w i t h the reassuring caption: 'Bad-girl black leather looks sweet w h e n it meets a tiny top or ruffled shirt' ('The Leather Report' 1995:

139).

A

fashion spread from Vogue suggests that even 'the traditional leather jacket softens up for spring' w h e n made from white leather instead of black ('Pale' 1996: 316). I n a fashion spread from Vanity Fair, a tough-looking leather bustier is combined w i t h a silk skirt ('Funny' 1997:

91). N o t only is the

toughness attributed to the leather undermined w h e n presented i n the form of a bustier, a piece of clothing very m u c h attached to femininity and sexuality, it is also undermined by associating it w i t h the softness and femininity of silk. C o m b i n i n g styles associated w i t h masculinity and femininity sends out

a complex

signal to

viewers because

the

'values

of

" m a s c u l i n e " and " f e m i n i n e " in style are ultimately bound up w i t h the values placed o n actual male and female roles in social a n d sexual life' (Williamson 1986:

53). Masculine styles are connected w i t h

authority,

prestige, and power - attributes associated w i t h men. Feminine styles are connected w i t h softness, delicacy, and powerlessness, w h i c h is w h y w o m e n in business often w e a r outfits that have masculine characteristics. Feminine and

frilly outfits w o u l d typically be interpreted as wielding less power.

T h u s , combining the masculinity of leather w i t h the femininity of other

PRETTY TOUGH

|

clothing is one w a y to diminish the masculine strength and authority that are often conveyed by leather. W o m e n ' s magazines frequently combine masculine and feminine styles, and not only w i t h leather f a s h i o n s . F o r example, Mademoiselle 5

contains a

fashion spread that displays 'tough but pretty party clothes that w e a r as well as West Side Story' Mademoiselle,

('Stay C o o l ' 1995:

159). Another spread from

' W h i t e - C o l l a r C o o l , ' portrays one model i n a denim jacket

combined w i t h a frilly lace collar and another model in a leather jacket paired w i t h big earrings a n d a flouncy blouse. T h e spread has semi-tough headings such as ' W a n t to m a k e something of it? P u n c h up a pastel shirt w i t h a tight, streetwise skirt' ('Stay C o o l ' 1995: entitled 'Pretty T o u g h ' from Seventeen

161). I n a photo spread

magazine, jean jackets are combined

w i t h bikinis to give a look that is attractive but cool. O n e model is dressed in a 'beat black' jacket that 'cruises over a pretty polka-dot maillot' (1988: 169). Another wears a 'bleached-out denim jacket (skimming the midriff) [that] toughens up a sweet peach b i k i n i ' (170). I n a fashion spread from Cosmopolitan

entitled 'Feminine D e n i m ' ( 1 9 9 3 ) , a classic men's-style

denim shirt is paired w i t h high heels and bikini underwear (158). T h e s e examples s h o w h o w customary it is for w o m e n ' s magazines to combine tough clothing w i t h feminine, frilly attire - a sign of a culture that is ill at ease w i t h w o m e n adopting too m a n y characteristics associated w i t h m e n and masculinity because of their association w i t h lesbianism. T h e fashion styles that fill w o m e n ' s magazines suggest a great deal about h o w m e n a n d w o m e n have been segregated into separate spheres by gender. E v e n w h e n tough fashions are not s h o w n , their absence speaks as loudly as their presence, a sign that being tough is still not perceived as acceptable for w o m e n .

Being a Boy: Girls in Drag W e a r i n g men's clothing or severely masculine clothing is another signifier of toughness that w o m e n have adopted. F o r centuries w o m e n have w o r n men's clothing for m a n y reasons: to travel more safely, to find employment, to express themselves, and for physical comfort and ease of movement. ' W o m e n have opted periodically - a n d during certain periods w i t h great fervor - to incorporate into their personas insignia of male status a n d masculinity' (Davis 1992: 33). W e a r i n g men's clothing or very masculine clothing is also a fashion trend that has appeared and reappeared i n w o m e n ' s fashion throughout m u c h of the twentieth century becoming more popular than ever in the 1980s a n d 1990s.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER W h e n I initially began thinking about this subject, I assumed that

magazines w o u l d be hostile to w o m e n w e a r i n g men's clothing or very masculine-style attire. After a l l , A m e r i c a n culture has long been uneasy about cross-dressing for both m e n a n d w o m e n , a n d for centuries crossdressing has been tightly controlled a n d p o l i c e d . E v e n today, a w o m a n 6

who

dresses in extremely masculine attire is likely to meet w i t h public

ridicule. But w o m e n dressed in men's clothing or m a n n i s h clothing do make appearances in w o m e n ' s magazines, particularly those devoted to high fashion. C l e a r l y , w o m e n ' s magazines a l l o w for gender play a n d even gender bending. A s the authors of Women's Woman's

Magazine

(1991)

Worlds:

suggest,

Ideology,

Femininity

and the

'the w o m e n ' s magazine must be

understood as a cultural form in w h i c h , since its inception, definitions a n d understandings of gender difference have been negotiated a n d contested rather than taken for granted or imposed' (Ballaster et a l . 1 9 9 1 : 176). Despite the space that w o m e n ' s magazines devote to different images of womanhood,

the same

magazines

make

sure that cross-dressing a n d

wearing m a n n i s h clothing are carefully contained. W o m e n w h o garb themselves in masculine-style clothing are a distinct minority i n w o m e n ' s magazines, a n d cross-dressing w i l l probably never be more than a n oddity. In addition to challenging gender roles, one of the reasons m a n n i s h attire is

potentially dangerous is because A m e r i c a n culture assumes a strong

correlation between lesbianism a n d masculine clothing for w o m e n . I a m not arguing that w o m e n ' s magazines always w i s h to squelch the possibility of lesbianism. I n ' C o m m o d i t y L e s b i a n i s m ' , D a n a e C l a r k points out the relatively frequent appearance of w o m e n i n the fashion industry w h o look like lesbians: ' I n fashion magazines such as File order catalogs such as Tweeds,

J. Crew

a n d Mirabella,

a n d Victoria's

and in mail-

Secret,

advertisers

(whether k n o w i n g l y or not) are capitalizing upon a dual market strategy that packages gender ambiguity a n d speaks, at least indirectly, to the lesbian

consumer

market'

(1991:

186).

Clark

discusses the w a y s

that

magazines use a strategy she refers to as 'gay w i n d o w advertising' i n order to appeal to a larger audience: ' G e n e r a l l y , gay w i n d o w ads avoid explicit references to heterosexuality by depicting only one individual or samesexed individuals w i t h i n the representational frame. I n addition, these models bear the signifiers of sexual ambiguity or androgynous

style'

(1991: 183). C l a r k builds a persuasive argument about gay w i n d o w dressing a n d h o w magazines seek to appeal to the largest possible audience of consumers, whatever their sexual orientation might be. It is equally important to recognize that magazines that might sometimes, whether k n o w i n g l y or not, use a n image that c o u l d be interpreted as lesbian are also deeply invested i n maintaining the heterosexuality of their focus. A

PRETTY TOUGH

|

few images that c o u l d be interpreted as lesbian do not interfere w i t h the countless images that are strongly coded as heterosexual. I n a similar w a y , m a n n i s h or masculine clothing c a n appear i n w o m e n ' s magazines, but it is still o v e r w h e l m e d by the more feminine attire that is far more prevalent. W o m e n ' s magazines must carefully negotiate h o w to present w o m e n i n attire that appears m a n n i s h . I n New

Woman,

one fashion spread featuring

masculine-style clothing assures readers, ' T h o u g h inspired by classic menswear fabrics and tailoring, this fall's fashions are anything but m a n n i s h ' ('Men's Department' 1995:

106). Being m a n n i s h must be avoided at all

costs, w h i c h is w h y an article from Essence

entitled ' M y Style' suggests that

a w o m a n might soften up a m a n ' s suit by combining it w i t h 'a lacy camisole and pretty jewelry' (1996: 142).

Another article from Harper's

Bazaar

about menswear for w o m e n proclaims, ' M e n s w e a r influences are being seen

again,

1998:

208).

now

with

distinctly

feminine

interpretations'

(Lebowitz

T h i s article also emphasizes the femininity of w o m e n by

focusing on the makeup that a w o m a n should have o n while wearing men's clothing or clothing influenced by men's styles. M a g a z i n e s w a l k a tightrope. T h e y w i s h to feature clothing and styles c o m m o n l y associated w i t h m e n because this is one mildly scandalous w a y to sell a new look, but they do not w a n t to suggest that w o m e n are usurping men's roles. Because w o m e n ' s magazines are built on maintaining femininity as the cultural n o r m , portraying w o m e n w h o appear too m a n n i s h , too masculine, or too tough is antithetical to the magazines' entire a i m . Dressing in men's clothing is such a delicate issue to negotiate that numerous

fashion spreads in Mademoiselle,

Cosmopolitan,

and

other

w o m e n ' s magazines address the subject of h o w girls should w e a r boys' clothing. I n the Mademoiselle spread is developed

article ' F u l l Pants A h e a d ' 1988

a photo

around w o m e n wearing masculine-style

clothing,

showing that such clothing need not interfere w i t h a w o m a n ' s femininity. T h e most peculiar story I have read o n w o m e n wearing men's attire appeared i n Essence.

I n this photo spread, the actor M a r i o V a n Peebles,

dressed as a private eye, tracks d o w n a group of w o m e n w h o have been stealing suits from men's wardrobes. T h e last page of the piece features a photograph of V a n Peebles w e a r i n g only his boxer shorts as he flees from the w o m e n he has been pursuing. T h e y flaunt his clothing, w h i c h they have stolen. T h e caption reads: 'Seems the " g a m e " h a d to teach Sonny a lesson. There's nothing w r o n g w i t h w o m e n wearing m e n s w e a r ' ('The G r e a t Suit' 1988:

91). Notice that the w o m e n , not the m a n , end up w i t h the pants,

w h i c h represent power a n d authority. T h i s article suggests a great deal about society's fears concerning w h a t happens i n a topsy-turvy w o r l d

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

where the girls w e a r the pants. Fifty years ago such a portrayal w o u l d have been unthinkable. T o d a y , w h e n a w o m a n ' s magazine makes such a statement, it encourages readers to think about the significance of clothing and to rethink their relationship to it, perhaps even to wonder whether men's clothing is also acceptable for w o m e n . W h e n w o m e n i n men's clothing do m a k e a n appearance in w o m e n ' s magazines, a variety of strategies are used to defuse the danger they pose to the divisions between men and w o m e n ordained by society: Notwithstanding

fashion's frequent

encouragement

to

women

to

b o r r o w items a n d modes of men's dress, the norms of Western society demand that gender identity be grounded finally in some irreducible c l a i m that is clearly either male or female, not both or some indeterminate middling state. . . . It is characteristic, therefore, for crossgender

clothing signals, even the

more

common

and

variegated

w o m e n ' s borrowings from men, to be accompanied by some symbolic qualification, contradiction, jibe, irony, . . . that in effect advises the viewer not to take the cross-gender representation at face value. (Davis 1992:

42)

O n e w a y to assure readers of the femaleness of a subject is to include a touch of femininity to limit the toughness of men's clothing or mannish clothing w o r n by w o m e n . A s long as the femaleness and the femininity of the models is evident, then the cross-dress attire becomes nothing more than a costume. F o r example, the w o m e n w h o model the male-style clothing in ' F u l l Pants A h e a d ' are all notably feminine. T h o u g h they are wearing such traditionally male clothing as ties, trousers, and pin-striped men's shirts, there is no possibility that a reader could mistake these w o m e n for m e n . A few of the models even flaunt clear signs of femininity, such as a purse. Similarly, a fashion article in Essence

that describes 'suits w i t h soldier c h i c '

makes sure to inform its readers that girls w i l l still be girls, even while wearing highly masculine attire: 'Whether military-inspired w i t h epaulets, multiple pockets, gold buttons and a n a r m y green-and-khaki palette, or borrowed from the boys w i t h tweeds a n d pinstripes in grays and camel, these n e w uniforms speak of power a n d a strong w o r k ethic. A formfitting turtleneck sweater or a low-buttoning shirt becomes the perfect complement'

('What's N e w ' 1996:

114).

W o m e n ' s magazines are masters

at

presenting an image or a description that both suggests and undermines masculinity and toughness. Another w a y to reduce the threat posed by w o m e n dressing like men is to suggest that such behavior is sexy a n d fits neatly into a heterosexual context. A number of high-fashion magazines feature photographs and articles

PRETTY TOUGH

|

about cross-dressing w o m e n that acknowledge the sexual allure of such behavior. I n one example, a fashion spread from Cosmopolitan,

pantsuits

for w o m e n that highlight the sexual desirability of the w o m e n are featured. T h e designer R a l p h L a u r e n includes a picture of a w o m a n model wearing a severely masculine blazer, complete w i t h tie a n d handkerchief ( ' R u n w a y ' 1996: 2 2 4 ) . T h e r e can be little doubt that L a u r e n and the other designers w h o create clothing for w o m e n are trying to attract an audience that finds such male designs appealing. Y e t another

example

of an article

that

emphasizes the sexual allure of men's attire, from Vanity Fair, describes the Parisian fascination for 'girls w i t h a penchant for dressing up in boyish attire. T h e i r hair Eton-cropped, their legs trouser-clad, they stride along the boulevards w i t h all the loose-limbed assurance of the young Kate H e p b u r n . T h i s , too, is the tomboy spirit w h i c h informs the best of fall's fad for masculine-style w o m e n ' s clothes' ('Tailor' 1984: 68). E v e n a magazine like Vanity Fair, recognized for pushing the boundaries of w h a t it can represent, is quick to reassure its readers: ' N o matter h o w tailored, tweedy, or manly they are, one is always aware of the female beneath' ('Tailor' 1984:

68).

H e r e , again, being perceived as too masculine or too mannish is the ultimate taboo. E v e n the most androgynous of cross-dressed w o m e n must be careful to reveal that they are biologically female. A l o n g w i t h emphasizing the heterosexual desirability of cross-dressed w o m e n , w o m e n ' s fashion magazines diffuse the toughness a n d genderbending threat of cross-dressing by the very nature of their form. Because fashion magazines in our culture are closely linked w i t h maintaining the myth of femininity, it is almost impossible to avoid

reading the cross-

dressing segments as brief theatrical interludes between w h a t the magazines represent as the 'reality' of femininity. T h e w h o l e structure of the magazines prepares readers to recognize that anything other than femininity for w o m e n is only a theatrical display. W e also need to recognize that fashion magazines are able to

take

something potentially threatening (wearing men's clothing) and turn it into nothing more than the latest fashion of the w e e k : Because

style is a cultural construction,

it is easily

appropriated,

reconstructed and divested of its original political or subcultural signification. Style as resistance becomes commodifiable as chic w h e n it leaves the political realm a n d enters the fashion w o r l d . T h i s simultaneously diffuses the political edge of style. Resistant trends (such as wearing men's oversized jackets or oxford shoes - w h i c h , as a form of masquerade, is done in part for fun, but also in protest against the fashion w o r l d ' s insistence upon dressing w o m e n in tightly-fitted gar-

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER merits a n d dangerously unstable footwear) become restyled as highpriced fashions. ( C l a r k 1 9 9 1 : 193)

M a i n s t r e a m w o m e n ' s magazines appropriate the tough girl a n d turn her into a n unthreatening commodity that c a n be bought a n d sold. L i k e the 1970s television shows examined i n the previous chapter, w o m e n ' s magazines limit the threat posed by toughness i n w o m e n by suggesting that toughness should not and does not interfere w i t h a w o m a n ' s adherence to femininity. Neither C h a r l i e ' s Angels n o r the leather-clad models that fill w o m e n ' s magazines like Mademoiselle

a n d Vogue are going to overthrow

the cult of femininity, because both the s h o w and the magazines are deeply interested i n perpetuating the mythology of femininity.

'Tough and Tender' W e have discovered h o w w o m e n ' s magazines use the imagery of toughness to create n e w fashions and to sell commodities ranging f r o m leather jackets to silk shirts. H o w e v e r , these magazines are not suggesting that it is acceptable for w o m e n to be tough - rather, they repeatedly undermine the idea that w o m e n c a n be tough by linking toughness to femininity. A n article i n Mademoiselle

describes the c o m b i n a t i o n of toughness a n d soft-

ness that w o m e n should strive to achieve: 'Femininity used to be thought of as soft, frilly, a n d - all too often - ineffective. But n o w a d a y s there's nothing w e a k about it. I n fact, some of the most admired w o m e n a r o u n d are the ones w h o manage to combine qualities both tough a n d tender' ('Pretty' 1991: 1 6 8 ) . Mademoiselle

and other magazines do not w a n t femininity to

be reconceptualized too dramatically. T h e s e magazines demonstrate h o w the popular media create new images for w o m e n , yet simultaneously perpetuate traditional roles. It is a mistake to perceive the images o f tough w o m e n i n magazines as only

perpetuating stereotypical views of w o m e n . I [have] argued [pre-

viously] that E m m a Peel, Charlie's Angels, and the Bionic W o m a n , despite the w a y that their toughness w a s undermined, could still be perceived as possible strong role models for w o m e n , particularly w h e n they

first

appeared. E v e n the general societal reaction of the 1970s that the Angels were nothing more than bimbos did not prevent viewers past and present from understanding the Angels as positive models for w o m e n . Similarly, although I have argued that the majority of high-fashion w o m e n ' s magazines w o r k to undermine the toughness of w o m e n , there is n o reason that readers cannot carry a w a y very different messages from these texts. It is

PRETTY TOUGH

|

entirely possible to read the magazines' portraits of non-traditional tough w o m e n as empowering to w o m e n . M y interpretation of the magazines, I hope, reveals the complexity of the depiction of tough w o m e n in w o m e n ' s magazines and other popular sources. Despite creating images of tough w o m e n that some readers might find empowering, w o m e n ' s magazines also maintain the gender status quo by insisting o n obeisance

to the cult of femininity. W o m e n ' s

magazines

undermine toughness because it threatens the foundation upon w h i c h they are built, a n d they are not the sole media form that suggests toughness in w o m e n is merely skin-deep

Notes 1.

For additional critical work on magazines for women and girls, see Ros Bal¬ laster, Margaret Beetham, Elizabeth Frazer, and Sandra Hebron, Women's Worlds: Ideology, Femininity and the Woman's Magazine; Shelley Budgeon, 'Fashion Magazine Advertising: Constructing Femininity in the "Postfeminist" Era'; Kerry Carrington and Anna Bennett,' "Girls' Mags" and the Pedagogical Formation of the Girl'; Kalia Doner, 'Women's Magazines: Slouching Towards Feminism'; Margaret Duffy and J. Michael Gotcher, 'Crucial Advice on H o w to Get the Guy: The Rhetorical Vision of Power and Seduction in the Teen Magazine Y M ' ; Gigi Durham, 'The Taming of the Shrew: Women's Magazines and the Regulation of Desire'; Marjorie Ferguson, Forever Feminine: Women's Magazines and the Cult of Femininity-, Elizabeth Frazer, 'Teenage Girls Reading Jackie'; Ellen McCracken, Decoding Women's Magazines from Mademoiselle to Ms. and 'Demystifying Cosmopolitan: Five Critical Methods'; Kathryn McMahon, 'The Cosmopolitan Ideology and the Management of Desire'; Angela McRobbie, Feminism and Youth Culture: From 'Jackie' to 'Just Seventeen'; Kate Peirce, ' A Feminist Theoretical Perspective on the Socialization of Teenage Girls Through Seventeen Magazine'; Jennifer Scanlon, Inarticulate Longings: The Ladies' Home Journal, Gender, and the Promises of Consumer Culture, and Janice Winship, Inside Women's Magazines.

2.

Other studies of advertising and its influence include Diane Barthel, Putting on Appearances: Gender and Advertising; Stuart Ewen, All Consuming Images: The Politics of Style in Contemporary Culture and Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture; and Judith Williamson, Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising.

3.

Additional articles on leather fashions in popular women's magazines include 'The Leather Forecast' and Nell Scovell, 'Leather Perfect.'

4.

Leather is so potentially dangerous for women to wear because of its association with masculinity that articles in women's magazines spend a great deal of time discussing exactly how and when women should wear leather attire. See 'Do's and Don'ts.'

I

C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G S : H E D I A AND G E N D E R

5.

Combining a feminine style with a more masculine one is not the only way to limit the tough image of masculine clothing. Another tactic appears in an advertisement for Calvin Klein jeans in which a woman wears clothing associated with toughness and masculinity - ripped jeans, hiking boots, and a worn denim shirt. She has short hair and is standing in a rugged outdoor setting, but her tough image is reduced because her shirt is completely unbuttoned, revealing a glimpse of her breasts (Calvin Klein Jeans 3). As previously mentioned, emphasizing a woman's sexuality reduces her tough image.

6.

Studies on the social anxieties aroused by cross-dressing include Marjorie Garber, Vested Interests: Cross Dressing and Cultural Anxiety; Corinne Holt Sawyer, 'Men in Skirts and Women in Trousers, from Achilles to Victoria Grant: One Explanation of a Comedic Paradox'; and Julie Wheelwright, Amazons and Military Maids: Women Who Dressed as Men in the Pursuit of Life, Liberty, and Happiness.

References Ballaster, R., Beetham, M . , Frazer, E . and Hebron, S. (1991) Women's Worlds: Ideology, Femininity and the Woman's Magazine. New York: Macmillan. Barthel, D . (1988) Putting on Appearances: Gender and Advertising. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. T h e Best & Worst Looks of the '90s' (1966) Vogue, January, 122-31. The Best & Worst Looks of the '90s' (1966) Vogue, January 122-31. Budgeon. S. (1994) 'Fashion Magazine Advertising: Constructing Femininity in the "Postfeminist" E r a ' , in L . and A. Manca (eds) Gender and Utopia in Advertising: A Critical Reader. Lisle, II: Procopian Press. Carrington. K . and Bennett, A. (1966) 'Girls' Mags' and the Pedagogical Formation of the Girl, in C . Luke (ed.) Feminisms and Pedagogies of Everyday Life. Albany: State University of New York Press. Clark, D . (1991) Commodity Lesbianism, Camera Obscura 25-6: 181-201. Davis, F. (1992) Fashion, Culture, and Identity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Doner, K . (1993) Women's Magazines: Slouching Towards Feminism, Social Policy 23: 37-43. Duffy, M . and Gotcher, J . M . (1996) Crucial Advice on How to Get the Guy: The Rhetorical Vision of Power and Seduction in the Teen Magazine YM, Journal of Communication Inquiry 20(1): 32-48. Durham, G . (1996) The Taming of the Shrew: Women's Magazines and the Regulation of Desire, Journal of Communication Inquiry 20(1): 18-31. Ewen. S. (1988) All Consuming Images: The Politics of Style in Contemporary Culture. New York: Basic. (1976) Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture. New York: McGraw-Hill.

PRETTY TOUGH | Feminine Denim (1996) Cosmopolitan,

August, 156-67.

Ferguson, M . (1983) Forever Feminine: Women's Magazines Femininity. London: Heinemann. Full Pants Ahead! (1988) Mademoiselle, July, 102-7. Funny Face (1987) Vanity Fair, July, 90-3.

and the Cult of

Garber, M . (1992) Vested Interests: Cross-Dressing and Cultural Anxiety. New York: Routledge. The Great Suit Caper (1988) Essence, November, 84-91. Griggers, C . (1990) A Certain Tension in the Visual/Cultural Field: Helmut Newton, Deborah Turbeville and the Vogue Fashion Layout, Differences 2(2): 76-104. Hebdige, D . (1979) Subculture: The Meaning of Style. New York: Methuen. The Leather Forecast (1994) Vogue, October, 386-91. Leather or Not (1995) Glamour, September, 254-9. The Leather Report (Nov. 1995) Seventeen, 136-41. Lebrowitz, L . (1988) Genteel Dapper Dandy Appeal, Harper's Bazaar, April, 208-11. Masculine Tailoring and Feminine Touches (Mar. 1997), Elle, 352-61. McCracken, E . (1993) Decoding New York: St Martin's.

Women's Magazines from Mademoiselle

to Ms.

McMahon, K . (1990) The Cosmopolitan Ideology and the Management of Desire, Journal of Sex Research 27(3): 381-96. McRobbie, A. (1991) Feminism and Youth Culture: From 'Jackie' to 'Just Seventeen.'' Boston: Unwin Hyman. Men's Department (1995) New Woman, November, 106-10. Modleski, T . (1982) Loving with a Vengeance: Mass-Produced Women. Hamden: Archon Books. My Style (1996) Essence, November, 142.

Fantasies for

Pale Fire (1996) Vogue, April, 312-17. Peirce, K. (1990) A Feminist Theoretical Perspective on the Socialization of Teenage Girls Through Seventeen Magazine, Sex Roles 23(9-10): 491-500. Pretty, Powerful: The New Sexy is Strong (1991) Mademoiselle, March, 168-71. Pretty Tough (1988) Seventeen, May, 168-71. Runway (1996) Cosmopolitan, September, 213-25. Sawyer, C . H . (1987) Men in Skirts and Women in Trousers, from Achilles to Victoria Grant: One Explanation of a Comedie Paradox, Journal of Popular Culture, 21(2): 1-16. Scanlon, J . (1995) Inarticulate Longings: The Ladies' Home Journal, Gender, and the Promises of Consumer Culture. New York: Routledge. Scovell, N . (1993) Leather Perfect, Mademoiselle, November, 94-6. Silverman, K . (1986) Fragments of a Fashionable Discourse, in T . Modleski (ed.) Studies in Entertainment: Critical Approaches to Mass Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Stay Cool, Girl (1995) Mademoiselle, March, 158-65. Steele, V . (1989) Clothing and Sexuality, in C . B . Kidwell and V . Steele (eds) Men and Women: Dressing the Part. Washington, D C : Smithsonian Institution Press.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

Tailor Maid (1984) Vanity Fair, July, 68-75. What's New in Suits (1996) Essence, September, 114. Wheelright, J . (1989) Amazons and Military Maids: Women Who Dressed As Men in the Fur suit of Life, Liberty, and Happiness. London: Pandora. White Collar Cool (1988) Mademoiselle, October 126-19. Williamson J . (1986) Consuming Passions: The Dynamics of Popular Culture. London: Marion Boyars. Winship, J . (1987) Inside Women's Magazines. London: Pandora. Wolf, N . (1991) The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women. New York: Morrow. Zip! The Motorcycle Jacket - Truly Cool Again (1988) Mademoiselle, November, 220-5.

PART

o

( R E P R O D U C I N G GENDER

O n e of the major questions of concern to those interested i n h o w media systems (re)produce gender concerns the social identities of media w o r k e r s . A s feminist standpoint theorists D o r o t h y S m i t h (1987) a n d N a n c y H a r t sock

(1983)

have

explained,

taken

together,

women's

individual

experiences of gender represent a n historical accumulation of knowledge about social inequalities based o n sexual difference. T h o s e experiences are shaped not only by gender, though, but also by other forms of identity based o n 'race', ethnicity, sexuality, class a n d nationality, among others. C o n t e m p o r a r y media research attends

to the w a y s i n w h i c h social

identities change over time, i n response to n e w experiences a n d a range of interactions, including those i n the w o r k p l a c e itself. A t least since the nineteenth century,

for example,

m a n y w o m e n have experienced the

n e w s r o o m as a hostile environment, one i n w h i c h they often have been marginalized a n d patronized. A l t h o u g h the w o r k i n g conditions for w o m e n journalists has considerably improved i n the past 3 0 years, historically w o m e n have been painfully a w a r e that m a n y of their male colleagues doubted their ability to do 'serious' j o u r n a l i s m merely because they were w o m e n . Some also believed that any female journalist w h o achieved success did so primarily through her sexual availability (Stott 1 9 7 3 ; Steiner 1 9 9 6 , 1 9 9 8 ) . T h e stated view n o w prevailing among m a n y reporters a n d editors, both male a n d female, is that gender does not matter at a l l , although it is also clear that w o m e n are still rarely found i n the most prestigious, influential jobs i n the profession. Institutional socialization occurs i n journalism i n m u c h the same w a y as other media a n d non-media occupations. E v e r y n e w s r o o m employs orga-

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

nizational and bureaucratic processes for selecting and assigning stories. N e w s accounts are changed to fit legal standards, editors' a n d owners' prejudices, community culture, governmental pressure and advertisers' demands. T h i s k i n d of internal gatekeeping has often w o r k e d against reporters w h o are trying to produce complicated stories; some researchers have argued that this is particularly true a r o u n d issues related to race, class and

gender (Cottle 2 0 0 0 ; Dines and H u m e z 2 0 0 3 ; hooks 2 0 0 0 ) . Some workers resist socialization into w h a t they view as the m a c h o ,

middle-class, white culture of most n e w s r o o m s . A f r i c a n - A m e r i c a n journalist Jill N e l s o n ( 1 9 9 3 ) , for example, claims that for four years she resisted socialization into the news culture of the Washington

Post magazine sec-

tion, but in the end resigned because she w a s unable to effect any changes that w o u l d make the culture more hospitable to her. J o u r n a l i s m studies researchers have argued that the combination of several years' university education and ongoing professional training a n d socialization teaches new reporters about their employers' standards, expectations, notions of the audience and professional routines (Rhodes 2 0 0 1 ) . N e w reporters learn and internalize the conventions of the w o r k p l a c e before they have a chance to challenge or contest them. A s a result, increases in the hiring a n d promotion of w o m e n and people of colour have not necessarily transformed media organizations, especially as they have yet to reach critical mass or the top ranks of the editorial hierarchy. Indeed, whether because of the strong commitment of w o r k i n g journalists to the norms of the profession or the success of professional training and socialization, recent large-scale studies of U S journalists have found few significant gender differences in styles of reporting ( L a f k y 1991; W e a v e r a n d W i l h o i t 1 9 9 6 ) . T h e readings in this section illustrate both h o w production of texts is constrained by institutional norms and socialization processes

a n d h o w some groups

have

managed to circumvent or subvert limitations in order to produce countermessages. F o r several decades, Margaret G a l l a g h e r has undertaken to monitor the international news media's employment of w o m e n as news reporters and anchors as w e l l as the representation of w o m e n in the news more generally. The

reading included i n this section, T h e Impact of M e d i a M o n i t o r i n g ' , is

from Gallagher's book Gender ing and Advocacy

Setting:

New

Agendas

for Media

Monitor-

( 2 0 0 1 ) . I n the essay, Gallagher summarizes the results of

several international media monitoring projects in w h i c h she has been engaged, including the G l o b a l M e d i a M o n i t o r i n g Project where data were collected from 70 countries on a single day i n 1995, a n d w i t h a similar number of countries i n 2 0 0 0 . Such international projects are remarkable; in 1 9 9 5 , for example, 1 5 , 0 0 0 stories were included in the analysis. A m o n g the

(RE)PRODUCING GENDER

|

findings of the 1995 study w a s that w o m e n constituted only 17 per cent of the w o r l d ' s news subjects (this rose to 18 per cent in 2 0 0 0 ) . W o m e n were least likely to be news subjects in stories about politics, government and business, and most likely to make the news in stories about violence, health and social issues, and in arts a n d entertainment news. Gallagher argues the case for global media monitoring because it provides a diachronic record of the differences and similarities of w o m e n ' s representation in the news and their employment as journalists around the globe. H e l e n D a v i e s ' s chapter, T h e G r e a t R o c k a n d R o l l Swindle: T h e Representation of W o m e n in the British R o c k M u s i c Press', shifts our attention from the news to the rock music press. M a l e rock journalists, D a v i e s argues, are unable to take w o m e n seriously as musicians, as fans or as rock journalists. O n e result of this is that female musicians are rarely featured as serious artists. W h e n they are the focus of a story, male journalists tend to define them in sexual terms, or, at best, as poor versions of male stars. She relates this point to w o m e n ' s subordinate status as rock journalists, arguing that they are similarly faced w i t h an industry in w h i c h they are sexualized, marginalized and regarded as secondary to male rock reporters. I n a final section of the original article w h i c h could not be reprinted here for reasons of space, D a v i e s offers a highly detailed and sophisticated analysis of h o w the rock music press also trivializes and ridicules female music fans, especially so-called teenyboppers. T h e music press often refers to all w o m e n fans as 'groupies', consistent w i t h the implication that w o m e n fans are merely motivated by their sexual attraction to the male performers. Producing alternative media appears to be a n important w a y in w h i c h w o m e n c a n address their subordinate status as media producers. I n C a r m e n R u i z ' s essay, ' L o s i n g Fear: V i d e o and R a d i o Productions of Native A y m a r a W o m e n ' , she emphasizes h o w w o m e n c a n be empowered by participating in projects where they produced their o w n media content. Describing one such project, w h i c h she directed w i t h a group of rural Bolivian w o m e n w h o had recently moved to the city of L a Paz, R u i z tells us h o w the w o m e n learned to produce radio plays, television dramas and educational videos around a diverse range of subjects, such as domestic violence, the prevention of cholera

and environmental issues. A l t h o u g h w o m e n ' s

voices,

particularly those of indigenous w o m e n , were largely absent in the Bolivian media a n d in the wider culture (even in grassroots activist organizations), the A y m a r a w o m e n participating in R u i z ' s project said after their training, ' O u r throats came alive.' Apparently, this project continues to train w o m e n to produce their o w n media. O v e r the years it has enabled a growing number of Bolivian w o m e n to have a greater impact in political debates in the public sphere.

©

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER J o h n Beynon's book, Masculinities

and

Culture

(2002), looks at h o w

w a y s of being a m a n are shaped by socio-historical forces, by specific institutional settings a n d by the media. I n the chapter used here, ' T h e C o m m e r c i a l i z a t i o n of Masculinities: F r o m the " N e w M a n " to the " N e w L a d " ' , Beynon explains that the loss of certain m a n u a l labouring jobs i n the 1970s a n d 1980s w a s mourned not merely for the loss of millions of jobs, but also because it m a r k e d the end of a particular form of British w o r k i n g class masculinity. Several new masculine identities have emerged in the British media since this period - for example, the 'new m a n ' . T h e 'new m a n ' of the 1980s w a s represented either as a 'nurturer' - a pro-feminist m a n w h o admitted having feelings and rejected macho behaviour - or as a 'narcissist' - a n effeminate m a n w h o celebrated high style a n d consumerism.

I n the 1990s, a 'harder' masculinity reappeared in the form of the

football-playing ' l a d ' w h o rejected the feminized identity of the 'new m a n ' . T o d a y , the new young men's magazines s u c h as FHM a n d Loaded

are at the

forefront in developing 'laddism', argues B e y n o n , promoting and exporting this form of m a c h o masculine identity to sell consumerism to 'real' men. The

politics of gender, identity a n d access in cyberspace forms the focus

of the final reading i n this section, ' W o m e n a n d the Internet: T h e N a t u r a l H i s t o r y of a Research Project' by A n n e Scott, Lesley Semmens a n d Lynette W i l l o u g h b y . T h e article begins by outlining the history of their study of w o m e n and the Internet. Initially, their thesis w a s that w o m e n have been relatively marginal in the development a n d use of the Internet. T h i s , they argued, w o u l d have long-term negative consequences for equality in gender relations in the future. T o understand w h i c h factors were limiting w o m e n ' s use of and access to the Internet, the authors surveyed w o m e n about their relationship to the Internet. Instead of supporting their original thesis, their findings

made them realize that they needed to engage in some

'basic

rethinking'. T h e w o m e n they interviewed interpreted their questions about Internet use in divergent w a y s and displayed a wide understanding of computer technologies. W h a t the authors realized w a s that their initial assumptions about w o m e n ' s relationship to the Internet reflected a particular feminist predisposition in terms of telling the ' w o m e n a n d Internet' story -

one that assumed that w o m e n were largely excluded or self-

excluding from the development and use of computers. T h i s turned out not to be the case w i t h the w o m e n they interviewed. I n rethinking the ' w o m e n and

Internet' story, the authors concluded that any follow-up study w o u l d

need to address t w o key questions. First, ' h o w are the n e w social geographies of I C T access being gendered?' Second, ' h o w c a n w e [feminists] intervene to direct the shaping of n e w techno-social relations in more democratic, inclusive a n d neutrally gendered w a y s ? '

(RE)PRODUCING GENDER

|

References Cottle, S. (ed.) (2000) Ethnic Minorities and the Media. Buckingham and Philadelphia: Open University Press. Dines, G . and Humez, J . M . (eds) (2003, 2 edn) Gender, Race and Class in Media. London, New Delhi and Thousand Oaks, C A : Sage. Gallagher, M . (2001) Gender Setting: New Agendas for Media Monitoring and Advocacy. London: Zed Books. n d

Hartsock, N . (1983) The feminist standpoint: developing the ground for a specifically feminist historical materialism, in S. Harding, and M . R . Hintikka (eds) Discovering Reality. Dordrecht: Reidel. hooks, b. (2000) Where We Stand: Class Matters. London: Routledge. Lafky, S. (1991) Women journalists, in D . H . Weaver and G . C . Wilhoit (eds) The American Journalist. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Nelson, J . (1993) Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience. Chicago: Noble Press. Rhodes, J . (2001) Journalism in the new millennium: what's a feminist to do?, Feminist Media Studies, 1(1): 49-53. Smith, D . (1987) The Everyday World as Problematic: A Feminist Sociology. Boston: Northeastern University Press. Steiner, L . (1996) Sex, lives, and auto/biography, American Journalism, Fall, 206-11. Steiner, L . (1998) Newsroom accounts of power at work, in C . Carter, G . Branston and S. Allan (eds) News, Gender, and Power. London and New York: Routledge. Stott, M . (1973) Forgetting s No Excuse: The Autobiography of Mary Stott. London: Virago. Weaver, D . H . and Wilhoit, G . C . (1996) The American Journalist in the 1990s: U.S. News People at the End of an Era. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Further Reading Allen, D . , Rush, R . R . and Kaufman, S.J. (eds) (1996) Women Transforming Communications: Global Intersections. Thousand Oaks, C A : Sage. Beadle, M . E . and Murray, M . D . (eds) (2001) Indelible Images: Women of Local Television. Ames: Iowa State University Press. Burt, E . (ed.) (2000) Women's Press Organizations, 1881-1999. Westport: Greenwood Press. Christmas, L . (1997) Chaps of Both Sexes? Women Decision-makers in Newspapers: Do They Make a Difference? London: B T Forum/Women in Journalism. Holmlund, C . and Fuchs, C . (1997) Between the Sheets, In the Streets: Queer, Lesbian, Gay Documentary. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Shade, L . R . (2002) Gender and Community in the Social Construction of the Internet. New York: Peter Lang.

©

o

T H E IM P A C T OF M O N I T O R I N G M E D I A I M A G E S OE W O M E N Margaret Gallagher

It's like riding a tiger: once you get on you cannot get off. This is a continuous process. You cannot stop it. There is no beginning, there is no end. (Manisha Chaudury, Centre for Advocacy and Research, in Making a Difference, 1999)

The

results of the second G l o b a l M e d i a M o n i t o r i n g Project

(GMMP),

carried out in 70 countries on 1 February 2 0 0 0 , suggested that the news w o r l d might have, been standing still for five years. O n that day w o m e n accounted for just 18 per cent of news subjects, compared w i t h 17 per cent in 1995 (Spears et a l . 2 0 0 0 ) . T h e degree of concordance between the m a i n results from the t w o global monitoring projects w a s remarkable. Y e t it w a s hardly surprising. T o have expected a perceptible shift in the w o r l d ' s news over the time period w o u l d have been naive. T h e embedded nature of news values and news selection processes

is such that the overall

patterns

detected by quantitative monitoring are unlikely to change appreciably even over the medium term. Indeed the apparent universality of prevailing news definitions obliges advocates to question the extent to w h i c h it is realistic to expect a fundamental 'gender shift' in news agendas a n d priorities. Reflecting on their 1997

news monitoring experience, R e d - A d a , a w o m a n ' s organization in

Bolivia, posed a number of salient questions w h i c h highlight the constraints on change. T o w h a t extent do journalists actually construct

the news

agenda? Is it feasible to divert news values a w a y from coverage of government and politics? T o w h a t extent is it really possible for other actors, linked to aspects of daily life, to find a place in the news? Is it possible in the short term for the press to reflect a gender perspective a n d to move a w a y

THE IMPACT OE M O N I T O R I N G MEDIA IMAGES OE W O M E N | from a masculine-as-universal vision of the w o r l d ? T o w h a t extent c a n the press contribute to the construction of w o m e n as citizens, based o n a vision of equality? F o r R e d - A d a , the answer to this k i n d of question lies in the fact that i n contemporary Bolivian society the press plays a n important investigative a n d watchdog role o n behalf of citizens - uncovering corruption, exposing people a n d events that contravene the l a w , a n d highlighting violations of h u m a n rights (Flores Palacios 1 9 9 9 : 1 2 9 - 3 0 ) . F o r advocates in many countries, this is the c r u c i a l link. I n theory at least, it

should be possible to turn that critical, investigative journalistic per-

spective onto the issue of gender. Critical journalists do not unquestionably accept the official line or the press release. T h e y search for alternative sources of information not just as a check o n reliability, but also to a d d texture a n d tone to their reports. It seems logical that gender - i n terms of sources, priorities a n d perspectives - should be a m o n g the factors taken into account by journalists w i t h i n this tradition. Y e t it rarely seems to be. Media

activists have

begun to find w a y s of introducing this

gender

dimension into journalistic a n d indeed other media production routines. But

the process is just beginning. A s the experience of several media

advocacy groups shows, change is likely to be achingly slow. On

the other h a n d , the media industries themselves develop at a verti-

ginous pace, posing ever more complex problems for gender monitoring and

advocacy. Digitalization brings countless n e w channels to be kept i n

view. M a s s audiences fragment into many smaller units, each w i t h its distinct experience and interpretation of media content. Advertisers respond to video time shifting a n d consumer ad zapping by conceiving a radically different style of commercial that is interwoven w i t h content, rather than separately identifiable. T h e Internet presents a seemingly limitless arena for new

forms of imagery, as w e l l as n e w channels for the transmission of

traditional media content. A n d despite a l l the technological change, the same o l d patterns of gender representation apparently remain relatively intact. I n that sense there is n o sign of a radical break w i t h the past, a n d there is no end i n sight.

Riding the Tiger T h e y keep us o n our toes. A lot of times w e take certain things for granted or w e overlook them. (Editor-in-chief, The Gleaner,

J a m a i c a , speaking of

W o m e n ' s M e d i a W a t c h ; W a l k e r a n d N i c h o l s o n 1 9 9 6 : 100)

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

R i d i n g the tiger of gender media monitoring and advocacy demands skill, nerve and determination. Spills and upsets are a constant threat, while there is rarely a sense of crossing the line or reaching the finishing post. Keeping media people o n their toes means being able to keep them interested in the issues. T h i s involves a constant search for n e w angles a n d discussion points. Progress is h a r d to measure, and even w i t h the best planning, unexpected hazards c a n undermine gains already made. A s a n essentially political activity, media monitoring a n d advocacy is almost inevitably affected by shifts i n the wider political and economic environment. Sometimes these c a n overturn, almost overnight, painstakingly developed alliances. I n a highly publicized meeting in January

1996

held in collaboration w i t h the Indian W o m e n ' s Press C o r p s , three years of effort by the then M e d i a A d v o c a c y G r o u p were rewarded by a commitment from the D i r e c t o r - G e n e r a l of India's state television organization D o o r darshan.

He

agreed

to

the

development

of

gender

guidelines or

a

programme code for television producers. But almost immediately afterw a r d s , in anticipation of general elections to be held i n M a y , the ruling party made critical changes in the leadership of D o o r d a r s h a n . T h i s had a tremendous impact o n advocacy efforts. N o t only w a s there no followthrough regarding the proposed guidelines, but the changes

completely

disrupted a complex set of relationships that had been built up over the previous three y e a r s .

1

T h i s k i n d of setback c a n be devastating for small

groups. T h e Israel W o m e n ' s N e t w o r k w a s jubilant w h e n , after protracted discussions, it persuaded the Israel Broadcasting Authority ( I B A ) -

the

country's public service broadcaster - to sponsor courses on w o m e n ' s issues for its senior w o m e n . T h e agreement w a s regarded as a breakthrough (Sachs 1996). But only one course w a s ever held. Soon afterwards, changes in internal organization meant that the necessary w i l l a n d commitment at decision-making level disappeared w i t h i n the I B A (Sappir 2 0 0 0 ) . T h e overall political framework c a n have both direct a n d indirect effects on media advocacy w o r k . I n the m i d - 1 9 9 0 s Australia's change of government signalled a move from a system that, broadly speaking, supported regulation in the community interest to one that favoured deregulation a n d free-market

principles. T h i s transformed

the power relations

between

community a n d business groups, leaving little space for dialogue about solutions to c o m m u n i t y concerns a n d m a k i n g it extremely difficult even to maintain the gains of the early 1990s i n terms of gender-based media policies and codes. A n organization like the N a t i o n a l W o m e n ' s M e d i a Centre ( N W M C ) is affected by this k i n d of shift in political climate not just at the level of strategy - in terms of the available options - but also at the level of day-to-day practice. L i k e m a n y advocacy groups, the

NWMC

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|

depends o n a high level of voluntary input. M u c h of this comes from media students. T h e y learn something in return, so it is also a w a y of passing on the knowledge and skills that c a n bring about change. But the problem for the N W M C is that the brightest voluntary w o r k e r s move into junior media jobs where they can no longer be active advocates - not because of lack of time, but because they must protect their career prospects. 'Whereas a few years ago

there w a s often no problem, n o w even liberal media ask

employees w h a t affiliations they have. So for w o m e n w a n t i n g a media career, it's not viable to stay o n in any " c o m m u n i t y activist" c a p a c i t y . '

2

F o r W o m e n ' s M e d i a W a t c h , J a m a i c a , dependence on voluntary effort also puts the organization i n a vulnerable position. T h e country's deteriorating economic situation means that, to m a k e ends meet, most people have t w o or more jobs. Inevitably, the volunteers are less involved than they used to be. W i t h o u t a car, getting around K i n g s t o n is often difficult a n d dangerous at night for w o m e n . So the mere question of h o w to get home after a n evening w o r k s h o p w i t h a youth group is a problem. 'People think we are a big agency, but w e r u n w i t h t w o part-time staff and a semi-paid volunteer. W e have to struggle to r u n the programmes properly, because w e can't pay qualified people. It's h a r d to raise seed money for

capacity

building, a n d the w o r k (i.e. educational w o r k ) cannot generate i n c o m e . '

3

Finance is without doubt the most fundamental obstacle faced by most monitoring and advocacy groups. T h e battle to raise core funding for even a skeleton staff is constant. T h e N W M C in A u s t r a l i a currently relies almost entirely o n member support to keep going. F u n d i n g cuts have forced C a n a d a ' s M e d i a W a t c h into a n intensive restructuring process, cutting fulltime staff from three to t w o a n d m a k i n g changes to the w a y they w o r k . T h e group began a fundraising strategy, including a direct m a i l fundraising programme, applications to foundations a n d private funding sources for various p r o j e c t s .

4

Organizations may

spend endless time o n funding

applications, only to have them rejected. A n d w i t h o u t a clear fundraising policy, there is the risk that groups w i l l a l l o w their activities to become too dispersed by succumbing to

'donor temptation'

(TAMWA

2000:

43).

Project-based funding for specific monitoring activities c a n be useful, but it usually limits the amount of follow-up that is possible. G o o d w o r k is started, but there c a n be no continuity. Projects tacked onto existing structures, or added to individuals' w o r k l o a d s , c a n result in burnout a n d wasted effort. M o m e n t u m is built up, a n d then there is f r u s t r a t i o n .

5

T h e scarcity of funding makes partnerships c r u c i a l . M e d i a W a t c h points out that funding for related activities such as media literacy or violence prevention c a n sometimes be obtained in association w i t h another agency, on the understanding that gender portrayal issues w i l l be a central part of

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND G E N D E R

/

the w o r k i But partnerships are important in many other w a y s too. M e d i a W a t c h has devoted m u c h time to building partnerships w i t h organizations that w o r k in the areas of violence in the media, media literacy a n d diversity issues. T h i s brings them in-depth information and resources that they w o u l d not be able to get w i t h their o w n limited means. I n return, M e d i a W a t c h can add a gender perspective to the w o r k of partner organizations. C h i n a ' s M e d i a M o n i t o r N e t w o r k for W o m e n co-hosts meetings w i t h other w o m e n ' s N G O s such as the W o m e n ' s H e a l t h G r o u p , E a s t Meets West G r o u p , the W o m e n ' s Psychology C o n s u l t i n g Centre and the W o m e n ' s L e g a l Assistance Centre of Beijing University. T h e s e activities not only provide new

information a n d resources for w o m e n journalists, but also strengthen

cooperation between the N e t w o r k a n d other o r g a n i z a t i o n s . The

6

T a n z a n i a M e d i a W o m e n ' s Association ( T A M W A ) builds alliances

through networking, the media and c o m m u n i t y outreach. Besides the media institutions themselves, T A M W A w o r k s w i t h the M i n i s t r y of C o m m u n i t y Development, W o m e n ' s Affairs a n d C h i l d r e n , the M i n i s t r y of C o n s t i t u tional Affairs and Justice and the police force, as w e l l as other w o m e n ' s N G O s such as the T a n z a n i a W o m e n L a w y e r s Association, the T a n z a n i a Gender N e t w o r k i n g Programme a n d the W o m e n ' s L e g a l A i d Centre. These and

other partnerships w i t h , for example, the Legal and H u m a n Rights

Centre and the T a n g a n y i k a L a w Society, help T A M W A to meet its objectives: a wide cross-section of society is made to feel accountable, and thus gives support to T A M W A ' s activities. F o r its part T A M W A , through its access to the media, c a n play the role of 'mouthpiece' for the concerns of sister N G O s ( T A M W A 1999). Both the N W M C in Australia and W o m e n ' s M e d i a W a t c h ( W M W ) in South A f r i c a w o r k cooperatively w i t h organizations w i t h similar aims. A s the only national w o m e n ' s voice o n media policy and practice, the N W M C supports and networks w i t h other local a n d state groups, trying to help them stay afloat a n d united during w h a t has been a particularly difficult time to bring about change. T h e very different political climate of South A f r i c a offers W M W more scope for intervention. W M W believes that regularly raising gender issues w i t h media authorities such as the Independent Broadcasting Authority, the Advertising Standards Authority, the Press O m b u d s m a n and the Broadcasting C o m p l a i n t s C o m m i s s i o n of South A f r i c a helps to keep gender on their agenda. 'It has a tendency to slip off w h e n they are not actively confronted w i t h i t . '

7

Its links w i t h interest

groups can add weight to a complaint or action and c a n be a useful strategy in raising awareness. F o r instance, W M W w o r k s w i t h N G O s such as the N e t w o r k on Violence Against W o m e n , a n d w i t h national decision-makers including the C o m m i s s i o n on G e n d e r E q u a l i t y , the Parliamentary C o m -

THE IMPACT OF M O N I T O R I N G MEDIA IMAGES OF W O M E N

|

mittee on the Improvement of the Q u a l i t y of Life a n d Status of W o m e n , the Parliamentary W o m e n ' s WMW

C a u c u s and the A N C W o m e n ' s

Caucus. For

these contacts have proven helpful in putting pressure on media

producers to make changes. The

issue of links and partnerships becomes even more central in the

context of n e w technologies

and the Internet. M a n y monitoring and

advocacy groups already have websites, some of them interactive, often containing an enormous amount of information and providing links to other similar groups nationally and elsewhere. T h r o u g h their websites media advocates can reach infinitely more people than ever before - both nationally and internationally. T h i s area of activity is bound to increase, and

groups need to be ready to manage the change. C a n a d a ' s M e d i a W a t c h

found that w i t h the rise of n e w technologies, the scope of their w o r k increased dramatically. Y e t they had fewer staff than ever in their history. To

meet the challenge M e d i a W a t c h has turned to the new technologies

themselves for help. I n 2 0 0 0 it launched M O V E ( M e d i a W a t c h O n l i n e Volunteer E d u c a t i o n ) , a pilot project to use online tools to train a n d support a nation-wide network of volunteers. M u c h of w h a t M e d i a W a t c h has achieved over the past t w o decades has been due to a dedicated network of volunteers w h o are involved in all aspects of its operations. T h e M O V E project is designed to a l l o w this network to expand and

flourish.

The Impact of Media Monitoring and Advocacy It is essential to remember that change is s l o w and takes time. E v e r y success is important, no matter h o w small it might appear. (Melanie C i s h e c k i , M e d i a W a t c h ) The

8

specific achievements of gender media monitoring and advocacy are

relatively easy to identify. T h e development of codes and policies, successful complaints procedures, w o r k s h o p s a n d discussions w i t h the media industry, training in critical media analysis - there are many examples. H o w e v e r , it is more difficult to assess the impact of these efforts - the extent to w h i c h they have influenced practices and mentalities in an enduring w a y . Until n o w there has been little systematic research or evaluation, although with the passage of time groups themselves are increasingly in a position to reflect on their perceptions of change. T h e Centre for A d v o c a c y a n d Research ( C F A R ) in India has watched exchanges between members of the Viewers' F o r u m and media professionals becoming sharper, a n d audience perceptions becoming keener. / L o o k i n g back over almost a decade

of

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND GENDER

debate, it seemed that gradually a l l the passion about h o w television w a s threatening I n d i a n culture w a s largely forgotten. Instead, more down-toearth discussion about media representations of the family, male-female relationships, the institution of marriage a n d the marginalization of specific groups i n media content took o v e r . T h e extent to w h i c h viewers c a n i n fact 9

exercise control or influence media decisions m a y be unclear. But C F A R remains convinced that 'informed viewer opinion a n d activism is the only w a y to enlarge the area of viewer c h o i c e ' .

1 0

Assessing the extent to w h i c h feminist advocacy has succeeded in redefining media agendas is ' w o r k i n progress'. It requires retrospective

study

covering many years, a n d as yet few comprehensive analyses have been possible. H o w e v e r , some recently published research has begun to throw light o n the impact of feminism over the past t w o decades. A detailed analysis of the media strategies of the N a t i o n a l O r g a n i z a t i o n for W o m e n (NOW)

i n the United States between 1 9 6 6 a n d 1980 concludes that the

organization w a s able to transfer at least some of its key issues a n d frames of reference into the A m e r i c a n news agenda. O v e r the 15-year period of the study, the issues that came to be taken most seriously by the media - for example, the E q u a l Rights A m e n d m e n t a n d sex discrimination - ' d i d not begin as clear-cut public issues but were made into issues over time by feminist

communications'

(Barker-Plummer

2000:

153).

Initially,

for

instance, journalists did not see the issue of sex discrimination as a legitimate framework for w o m e n ' s experiences

a n d treated m a n y claims of

discrimination w i t h ridicule. It w a s not until the m i d - 1 9 7 0 s that the w o r k of N O W a n d other feminist strategists to persuade journalists that the general, systematic framework of 'discrimination' fit w o m e n ' s experiences, as it h a d fit those of minorities previously, could be seen i n the 'institutionalization' of sex discrimination as a serious news topic. Similarly, media acceptance of sexual harassment as a political issue i n the 1980s w a s the result of continual feminist c o m m u n i c a t i o n a n d framing that moved the topic from 'personal' to 'political' over time. T h e overall conclusion of this study is encouraging for media advocates.

Although news

management

fulfils a n ideological function by 'sorting' a n d prioritizing issues for audiences -

particularly i n terms of a public-private categorization

-

'the

influence of other discourses a n d actors c a n move some topics from one of these categories to the other' (Barker-Plummer 2 0 0 0 : 147). Some confirmation for this comes from a 12-country study of news coverage of the four w o r l d conferences o n w o m e n , spanning 1975 to 1 9 9 5 . T h i s also detected positive movement a n d change i n the nature a n d content of reporting, w i t h a m a r k e d reduction i n simplistic, sensationalist a n d sexist coverage over the period. T h e sheer number of editorials published i n 1 9 9 5

THE IMPACT O f M O N I T O R I N G MEDIA IMAGES OF W O M E N

|

(65, compared w i t h 17 i n 1975) is some indication of h o w far the issues of the w o m e n ' s movement h a d m o v e d up the news agenda i n the course of 20 years. T h e point w a s directly addressed i n a 1995

Washington

torial describing the international w o m e n ' s movement

Post edi-

as 'one of

the

striking social developments of recent decades. It has given voice a n d a measure of coherence to a previously neglected set of global and cultural concerns'

(Gallagher 2 0 0 0 :

16).

It w o u l d be difficult to find a better

example of the shift - in both media perceptions a n d political reality - that had

taken place since 1975. L i k e the broad concerns of the women's movement, it takes time for

issues raised by media monitoring and advocacy groups to gain legitimacy. W h e n the N O S Gender Portrayal Department began its w o r k i n

1991

'gender portrayal in the media w a s widely seen as m a k i n g a m o u n t a i n out of a molehill, not something to fuss about in the emancipated nineties' (NOS

Gender Portrayal Department 1996:

14). G r a d u a l l y this perception

changed. A n evaluation carried out five years later showed that

the

department's research a n d presentations h a d been a revelation to most programme-makers. By 1996 the department c o u l d c l a i m that 'the standpoint that

"the

way women

a n d men are

portrayed

is one

of

the

professional aspects that determines the quality of a p r o g r a m m e " is n o w widely a c c e p t e d .

11

T h e favourable reactions w e have received from various

quarters makes it clear that a process of change has been set in t r a i n ' ( N O S Gender Portrayal Department 1996:

15).

1 2

It seems undeniable that, at the very least, the process of media m o n i toring has an impact on the w a y people 'see' or understand the media. According to one of the C a n a d i a n monitors in the 1995

Global Media

Monitoring Project: I'd

been studying in this area for some time, but things really hit me

that day that hadn't hit me before. A lot of news stories that c o u l d have included gender information didn't. . . . Since that monitoring day, I've noticed myself looking at the media differently. I look at w h a t ' s not there as m u c h as I look at w h a t ' s there, and I notice w h a t makes for the gap between w h a t ' s there a n d w h a t ' s not. ( T i n d a l n . d . : 11) Or

in the w o r d s of one of the young D u t c h journalists involved i n the 2 0 0 0

( i M M P : 'It's as if the news suddenly tipped o n one side, as if y o u were reading the newspaper through 3 - D spectacles' (in v a n D i j c k 2 0 0 0 : 2 9 ) . Whether monitoring a n d advocacy initiatives have helped to bring about change in media performance itself is a m u c h more difficult question to answer u n e q u i v o c a l l y R e f l e c t i n g o n the first five years of the N O S G e n d e r v

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

Portrayal Department, Dorette K u i p e r s , the first head of department, put it as follows: We

hope we've gained more

gender

portrayal awareness i n pro-

gramme-makers through our w o r k , though it's hard to measure . . . because we're w o r k i n g o n a change of mentality. . . . F o r instance, at a recent 50th anniversary celebration for the United N a t i o n s , the news presenter noted that there were 180 people in attendance from all over the w o r l d - of w h i c h only eight were w o m e n . A d d i n g that sentence is becoming more a rule n o w than a n exception, d r a w i n g attention to imbalance. . . . W e suspect we've played a role in this. ( T i n d a l n . d . : 17) Another example

from the Netherlands points i n the same

direction.

Amateur cyclist R u d i K e m n a w o n the D u t c h championship for the third time in a r o w . After the race, i n a n interview w i t h senior journalist Jean Nelissen, he w a s asked whether he n o w planned to join the professionals. No,

replied the cyclist. H e w a s a 'househusband: I do the housekeeping and

a bit of cycling'. 'So you do the cooking? . . . A n d house cleaning as w e l l ? ' Nelissen asked i n astonishment. B a c k i n the studio, the programme anchor joked gently that his veteran colleague w a s 'hearing for the first time that m e n also cook a n d clean' (Screening

Gender

2 0 0 0 : video 1, item 9).

Such small gains - the addition of a sentence, a comment of appraisal may seem negligible. But if they spring from a n awareness that gender representation in the media is something to be questioned rather than taken for granted, they have the potential to transform public perceptions.

Gender is Not a Women's Issue Gender

is not a women

thing.

(Placard used i n ' L a b e l s are r u b b i s h ' protest, W o m e n ' s M e d i a W a t c h , South A f r i c a , 1998) The

example of the D u t c h cyclist contains some lessons for gender media

monitoring groups. H o w w o u l d a n item like this be coded i n a straightf o r w a r d monitoring exercise? N o w o m a n appears i n the story. T h e news subject, reporter a n d studio announcer are all male. T h e story topic w o u l d be classified as sports, as w o u l d the occupation of the news subject. T h e standard coding grid w o u l d reveal a n item w i t h three m e n , i n a story about sport. Y e t this story is very centrally 'about' gender issues, a n d this is precisely w h a t the coding fails to register. T h e fact that the cyclist describes himself as a 'househusband', the amazement of the reporter at the inter-

THE IMPACT Of M O N I T O R I N G MEDIA IMAGES OE W O M E N

|

viewee's preference for 'house cleaning' rather than professional cycling, and

the w r y comment of the studio anchor on his colleague's attitude (in

turn implying that the anchor himself has a different point of v i e w ) , are all hidden behind the numbers. H e r e we have a n extremely clear example of the limitations of quantitative monitoring. Percentages and distributions may seem very clear and precise. I n reality they usually hide a quite c o m plicated pattern

of gender

representation,

whose

attributes

are

often

extremely difficult to fit into predetermined categories. T h i s is not to say that the figures produced by quantitative analysis of media content are ' w r o n g ' or that this k i n d of monitoring should not be carried out - on the contrary. A s groups in m a n y countries have discovered, these overall figures are invaluable in sketching out the broad parameters of gender portrayal. T h e y provide inescapable evidence of the imbalance in media representations

of w o m e n and m e n -

in terms

of status

and

authority, and indeed just sheer numbers. T h e y c a n be extremely useful as a w a k e - u p call, forcing those w h o maintain that 'things have changed' to face reality. Studies of this k i n d w i l l a l w a y s be needed, to keep track of general trends and patterns. But they are not sufficient to change media representations of gender. Faced w i t h the fact that only 18 per cent of news subjects are w o m e n , w h a t c a n a n individual media professional do? A t best, she or he m a y m a k e an

individual effort to shift the balance i n specific programmes.

But

numerical imbalance is only one small facet of the overall problem. G e n d e r representation in the media is constituted in countless, more subtle w a y s through the angle from w h i c h a story is approached, the locations in w h i c h w o m e n and m e n are s h o w n , the choice of questions, the type of interview style adopted, and m u c h more besides. L o o k i n g at the issue from this perspective, it becomes clear that the focus of research and action on ' w o m e n ' as opposed to 'gender' is extremely limiting. It is in the comparison of h o w w o m e n and

m e n are portrayed in the media that insights

emerge, a n d change c a n ensue. ' G e n d e r is not a w o m e n thing.' A s a c o n cept, it actually depends on a n interpretation of the relationships between w o m e n a n d men. A s a n analytical tool, it needs to be applied to the study of both masculinity a n d femininity. A s a platform for advocacy, men as w e l l as w o m e n must adopt it. F r o m the perspective of gender media monitoring a n d advocacy, therefore, the old question 'do w o m e n make a difference?' - for instance, to media content - is not the most relevant one. M o r e crucial is the question of how

to involve the m a x i m u m number of citizens - w o m e n a n d m e n - in

recognizing the imbalances in gender portrayal i n media content.

Most

central of all is the question of h o w to persuade the m a x i m u m number of

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

media professionals - w o m e n and m e n - that fair and diverse gender portrayal w i l l contribute to higher-quality output, w h i c h is likely to appeal to a wider range of audiences. T h e involvement of men i n gender monitoring and analysis is important, not just in the sense of getting them ' o n board' but - more critically - because their readings a n d interpretations need to be debated. Recent monitoring projects such as the Gender M e d i a M o n i t o r in T r i n i d a d and T o b a g o a n d the W o m e n a n d M e d i a Observatory in Italy have made a point of including boys and young m e n on an equal basis w i t h girls and young w o m e n . T h i s seems a n obvious next step for media advocates because, if gender representation is to change, that implies the representation of men as well as w o m e n . M a l e stereotyping is also a n issue, as Justice M l a l a of South A f r i c a has put it: ' W e m e n are trapped in a d a r k a n d secret w o r l d called M e n T a l k , where we s w o p tales of conquest a n d plunder but never of failure or perceived failure' (Le R o u x 1999: 2 4 ) . D u r i n g the 1990s, w i t h i n the academic w o r l d a small field of men's studies began to explore issues of masculinity and male identity. But as yet these questions hardly feature on the agenda of media monitoring and advocacy groups, a matter of concern to the young w o m e n in M e d i a W a t c h ' s 'tween' consumer literacy project: ' L i k e there is so m u c h stuff for girls

T h a t is great. But w h y don't guys have any stuff like

that? W h y don't they say like y o u need help w i t h your

self-esteem? L i k e

guys aren't perfect. T h e y don't have a wonderful life' ( M e d i a W a t c h 2 0 0 0 : 13). O f course it is true that prevalent representations of femininity and female sexuality maintain unequal power relations in a w a y that is particularly pernicious to w o m e n . But one w a y of ensuring that m e n , as well as w o m e n , understand this is to analyse the construction of both masculinity and femininity i n media content a n d to debate the differences. A s long as 'gender representation' remains synonymous w i t h ' w o m e n ' s

representa-

tion', gender media advocates w i l l find it difficult to m a k e the media alliances that are necessary to bring about lasting change. Alliance building w i t h other public interest groups does not require the abandonment of principles or objectives. But it may provide more leverage in pursuing them. I n m i d - 1 9 9 8 N O W created a task force to research and develop a Feminist C o m m u n i c a t i o n s N e t w o r k - a television, cable, radio and w e b broadcast network - to deliver news, talk s h o w s and content delivered from a feminist perspective. A dream nurtured for decades, this had proven elusive. After almost a year of deliberation a n d consultation, i n May

1999 N O W announced the l a u n c h of its Digital Broadcast Project.

T h e organization h a d concluded that the opening up of n e w channel space through the digital spectrum offered ' a n unprecedented opportunity make a dramatic c h a n g e ' .

13

to

N a t i o n - w i d e access might at last be possible for

THE IMPACT OT M O N I T O R I N G MEDIA IMAGES O f W O M E N

|

non-commercial, public service media such as the feminist communications network envisaged by N O W . But this access depended o n a

statutory

requirement that the broadcasters already licensed to operate the digital channels should - by reason of their 'public interest' obligations - set aside channel space for public service media. T h e 1996 Telecommunications A c t that h a d opened up broadcasters' access to digital television did reaffirm the 'public interest' principles of A m e r i c a n broadcasting, but did not legislate on

specific public interest obligations. W h e n the G o r e C o m m i s s i o n , set up

in m i d - 1 9 9 7 to determine w h a t obligations D T V o w e d the public, reported in December 1998, the report w a s excoriated in the press. ' A l m o s t none of the debate about the report or the process that created it occurred i n public view, because television stations - perhaps fearing regulation - kept the issue off the local and national n e w s . ' had

1 4

N o t surprisingly the broadcasters

no interest in sharing their channels, or in reducing their advertising

revenue. T h r o u g h its Digital Broadcast Project N O W joined forces w i t h People for Better T V ( P B T V ) , a coalition of over 100

groups pushing for clearly

defined and enforced public interest obligations for broadcasters in the digital television era. A l t h o u g h the Federal C o m m u n i c a t i o n s C o m m i s s i o n (FCC)

h a d started issuing digital licences in 1 9 9 7 a n d some operators began

digital transmissions in late 1998, it had s h o w n no signs of taking up the question of h o w D T V broadcasters were to be held to public service obligations. T h r o u g h o u t 1999 N O W and the other organizations involved in P B T V pushed h a r d - for example, via letters to Congress - for the F C C to be required to convene public hearings so that citizens could express their views. Finally in December 1999 the F C C announced that it w o u l d seek public c o m m e n t . FCC

1 5

Buoyed by their success i n getting the attention of the

a n d of Congress, P B T V members planned a very extensive series of

actions i n the run-up to the 2 0 0 0 national elections. T h i s promised to be a lengthy struggle. But whatever the outcome for NOW,

the decision to link up w i t h a broader social movement whose

public interest goals could encompass its o w n w a s strategically sound. I n the context of A m e r i c a n broadcasting, it promised a better chance of success than might have been expected if N O W h a d single-handedly pursued an

exclusively feminist agenda. A s the business and commercial interests

controlling the media continue to concentrate a n d coalesce, riding the tiger of gender media monitoring and advocacy w i l l increasingly call for such alliances among public interest groups - not just w i t h i n but also across national boundaries.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND GENDER

Notes 1. 2. 3. 4.

Media Advocacy Group, Consolidated Three-Year Final Narrative Report, 1995-1998: 8. This and other information in the chapter: Helen Leonard, personal communication to author, July 2000. This and other information in the chapter: Hilary Nicholson, personal communication to author, July 2000. This and other information in the chapter: Melanie Cishecki, personal communication to author, July 2000.

5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Uca Silva, personal communication to author, July 2000. Media Monitor Network (1999) Annual Narrative Report. Women's Media Watch, Final Report, 1999: 4. Melanie Cishecki, personal communication to author, July 2000. Akhila Sivadas, personal communication to author, July 2000. Understanding media: a training of the trainers, Viewers' Voices, November 1999: 6. 11. In 2000 the mandate of the Gender Portrayal Department was broadened to include ethnicity and age. It is now known as the N O S Diversity Department. 12. N O S is the national broadcast organization of the Netherlands. 13. N O W Foundation broadcast project: see www.nowfoundation.org/communications/tv/project.html 14. Mark Huisman (1999) Take back our T V ; see People for Better T V website: www. bettertv. org/takebacktext. html

15. ' F C C begins proceedings to seek comment on public interest obligations of television broadcasters as they transition to digital transmission technology', F C C News release, 15 December 1999: see www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/ News_Releases/1999/nrmm9030.html

References Barker-Plummer, Bernadette (2000) News as a feminist resource? A case study of the media strategies and media representation of the National Organization for Women, 1966-1980, in Annabelle Sreberny and Liesbet van Zoonen (eds) Gender, Politics and Communication, pp. 121-59. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. Flores Palacios, Patricia (1999) La Mirada Invisible: La Imagen de las Mujeres en los Medios de Comunicación de Bolivia, L a Paz: Red de Trabajadoras de la Información y Comunicación R E D - A D A . Gallagher, Margaret (2000) From Mexico to Beijing - and Beyond: Covering Women in the World's News. New York: United Nations Development Fund for Women ( U N I F E M ) . Le

Roux, Gabrielle (1999) The least-reported crime, Rhodes Journalism December: 24-5.

Review,

THE IMPACT O f M O N I T O R I N G MEDIA IMAGES OE W O M E N | Making a Difference (1999) Video produced by the Centre for Advocacy and Research, 10 mins, Delhi: Centre for Advocacy and Research. Media Watch (2000) Media Environment: Analysing the Tween' Market, Toronto: Media Watch. NOS Gender Portrayal Department (1996) Getting Through: Five Years of the NOS Gender Portrayal Department, Hilversum: N O S . Sachs, Lesley (1996) The missing gender: the portrayal of Israeli women in the media, in Rina Jimenez-David (ed.) Women's Experiences in Media, pp. 62-7. Manila: Isis-International and World Association for Christian Communication. c

Sappir, Shoshana London (2000) The Israel Women's Network: progress in the status of women in Israel since the 1995 Beijing conference. Paper submitted to the Beijing +5 conference, New York, 5-9 June. Screening Gender (2000), audio-visual training toolkit produced by Y L E (Finland), NOS (Netherlands), N R K (Norway), S V T (Sweden) and Z D F (Germany); videos (total 80 mins) and text; Hilversum: N O S Diversity Department. Spears, George and Kasia Seydegart with Margaret Gallagher (2000) Who Makes the News? Global Media Monitoring Project 2000, London: World Association for Christian Communication. T A M W A (1999) Annual Report 1998, Dar es Salaam: Tanzania Media Women's Association. T A M W A (2000) Annual Report 1999, Dar es Salaam: Tanzania Media Women's Association. Tindal, Mardi (n.d.) A Day in the News of the World: A Study Guide for the Global Media Monitoring Project. London: World Association for Christian Communication. van Dijck, Bernadette (2000) Changing images: a long road, Media Development, X L V I I ( 3 ) : 28-9. Walker, Melody and Hilary Nicholson (1996) Revisioning the Jamaican media: the experience of Women's Media Watch 1987-1996, in Rina Jimenez-David (ed.) Women's Experiences in Media, pp. 96-101. Manila: Isis-International and World Association for Christian Communication.

T H E G R E A T R O C K AND R O L L SWINDLE

O

THE REPRESENTATION OE WOMEN IN THE BRITISH ROCK MUSIC PRESS Helen Davies

T h e British rock music press prides itself o n its liberalism a n d radicalism, yet the discourses employed i n music journalism exclude w o m e n from serious discussion both as musicians a n d as fans. I n particular, the notion of credibility, w h i c h is of vital importance to the 'serious' rock music press, is constructed i n such a w a y that it is almost completely unattainable for women. T h e most important a n d influential part of the British music press w a s until recently its t w o weekly music papers, Melody New NME,

Musical

Express

(NME),

Maker

(MM) a n d the

both published by I P C magazines. T h e

launched i n 1 9 4 9 , contains reviews, concert information a n d inter-

views w i t h performers a n d describes itself as ' a unique blend of irreverent journalism a n d musical expertise' ( w w w . i p c . c o . u k ) . MM, w h i c h started life in 1926 as a paper for jazz musicians, h a d similar content but a greater emphasis o n rock, as opposed to pop, music. It w a s relaunched i n 1999 as a glossy magazine, before ceasing publication or, as I P C put it, merging w i t h the N M E , i n December 2 0 0 0 . T h e r e are also a number of glossy, monthly magazines such as Q a n d Vox. It is to these weekly a n d monthly publications that I w i l l be referring w h e n I talk of the 'music press', but I w i l l also occasionally refer to music writing i n broadsheet newspapers such as the Guardian pendent,

a n d the

Inde-

as this writing tends to share the same assumptions, a n d often the

same journalists, as the dedicated music press. T h e type of music covered by the music press is constructed there as 'serious' pop music, to differentiate it from chart p o p w h i c h , presumably, is not serious. Such a term illustrates the cultural capital (Bourdieu 1984) that accrues to fans of music viewed as

THE GREAT ROCK AND ROLL S W I N D L E

|

cerebral. Despite these problems w i t h the terms 'serious rock m u s i c ' or 'serious pop m u s i c ' , I w i l l use them here purely for the lack of a more suitable alternative. T o describe this music as 'rock', as opposed to 'pop', is inappropriate as there is often little generic difference between

artists

viewed as 'serious' and 'not serious', and it is misleading and inaccurate to describe such music as 'alternative' or 'independent' since some of the artists covered by the music press sell hundreds of thousands of records, a n d m a n y are signed to major record labels. T h e vast majority of m u s i c journalists in B r i t a i n are male - m e n at

MM

outnumbered w o m e n by more than t w o to one - a n d female journalists are often relegated to the least important parts of the paper, such as reviewing readers' demo tapes. T h e music press assumes that all its readers are male as w e l l , so that the situation is often one of male journalists writing for male readers, a fact reflected in the mode of address of m u c h music writing. It is therefore hardly surprising that m u c h music writing tends either to ignore w o m e n entirely or to treat them in a n extremely sexist w a y . It has been w e l l documented that w o m e n are discouraged from becoming performers a n d from taking other roles in the m u s i c industry (Bayton

1997;

C o h e n 1 9 9 7 ) . I w i l l mainly be looking at h o w the music press constructs concepts of credibility a n d authenticity that w o r k to exclude w o m e n , a n d particularly feminist w o m e n , from the w o r l d of serious music.

Female Performers T h e British music press employs a range of tactics to obscure a n d denigrate the w o r k of female artists. Perhaps the most c o m m o n w a y i n w h i c h music journalists treat female performers is to ignore them completely.

This

attitude is particularly noticeable in retrospective writing on rock history, w h i c h often obliterates any trace of all but a token few w o m e n . T h i s discourse has influenced other media coverage of r o c k and pop, including T V shows. F o r example, a n hour-long I T V documentary on androgyny in pop, s h o w n in 1999, mentioned only one female performer, A n n i e L e n n o x . She was

mentioned ten minutes before the end, a n d w a s the only featured

performer not to be interviewed ('Walk on the W i l d Side', I T V , 17 February 1999). As D a v i n (1988: 4) writes: ' T h e dominant version of history in any society w i l l reflect the general assumptions a n d concerns of the dominant group.' T h e vast majority of music journalists are male, and it is unsurprising that they should tend to admire most the artists w i t h w h o m they c a n most identify, i.e. other m e n . T h i s exclusion of w o m e n from history means

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

that, as G a a r (1993) puts it, 'there is little sense of a n ongoing tradition of w o m e n in the music industry'. W o m e n are a perpetual novelty, and each new

group of successful female performers is heralded as the first. 'Break-

throughs' for w o m e n were declared i n the 1970s, w h e n Julie Burchill a n d T o n y Parsons claimed that 'punk rock i n 1976 w a s the first rock and roll phase ever not to insist that w o m e n should be picturesque topics and targets of songs' (Burchill and Parsons 1978:

79), a n d again i n the 1980s, w i t h

L u c y W h i t m a n declaring 'there has been a spectacular

change on the

popular music front over the last couple of years. T h e r e are more w o m e n i n bands than ever before' ( W h i t m a n 1981: 6). M o r e recently, M M ' s review of 1996 stated that 'for years, W o m e n I n R o c k w a s not really an idea taken seriously . . . 1996 s a w it finally happen' ( M M , 21/28 December 1996:

41).

1

' T a k e n seriously by w h o m ? ' is a question well w o r t h asking. It should be noted that none of these writers is neutrally reflecting the situation as they see it. O n e reason that writers m a y continue to announce

the

'new'

opportunities for female musicians is to create images of themselves a n d their publications as liberal and non-sexist. T h e third quotation is particularly interesting, as it has been the music press itself that has refused to take w o m e n seriously. T o write in this w a y obscures this fact and implies that some other agency has been responsible. W h e n w o m e n are mentioned, they are nearly a l w a y s represented primarily as w o m e n , rather than as musicians. It is commonplace for awards ceremonies and readers' polls to differentiate between the 'Best M a l e Artist' and

'Best Female Artist', and w o m e n are often described as female versions

of a male star. F o r example, a n MM

live review i n 1998

referred

to

Courtney L o v e of H o l e as 'Jon B o n Jovi w i t h tits'. T h i s w a s intended as a compliment. T h e R i o t G r r r l movement has often been described as a female version of p u n k a n d its 'zines' equated to p u n k fanzines in a w a y that ignores the political elements of the movement a n d thus manages to defuse any threat that it may have presented (Kearney 1 9 9 7 ) . Any

threat posed by female artists is neutralized by their unfavourable

comparison w i t h men. A t the same time, female artists, even those performing completely different styles of m u s i c , are treated as a homogenous group. T h e i r very femaleness is deemed to give them something in c o m m o n ; an

assumption reinforced by feminist rewritings of rock history (see, for

example, Steward and Garratt 1984;

G a a r 1993; M c D o n n e l l a n d Powers

1 9 9 5 ) . T h i s marginalization as ' w o m e n in r o c k ' is a w a y of keeping w o m e n as outsiders and of implying that there are many artists belonging to this genre. I have seen Alanis Morissette compared to J e w e l , Meredith Brooks, Paula C o l e , Suzanne V e g a , Celine D i o n , Joni M i t c h e l l , M a d o n n a , Alisha's Attic, Siobhan Fahey and many others. W h i l e in some cases the compar-

THE GREAT ROCK AND ROLL S W I N D L E

|

isons m a y be legitimate, most of the time they were a w a y of suggesting that one or other of the artists w a s superfluous or derivative: w h y w o u l d w e need another female artist? T h i s w a s made explicit in an interview w i t h Natalie Imbruglia in the Independent,

w h i c h began: ' Y o u might have

thought that after Alanis Morissette and J o a n O s b o r n e and F i o n a Apple and

M e r e d i t h Brooks the attraction of wailing troubled beauty w o u l d have

w o r n ultra-slim. It seems not' ( C o m p t o n 1998). Another c o m m o n trend is for female artists to be asked about topics that stress their femininity. F o r example, whole articles have concentrated

on w o m e n ' s experiences

of

motherhood, whereas I have yet to find more than a couple of sentences on male stars' experiences of fatherhood. E v e n these were inevitable i n interviews w i t h K u r t C o b a i n , w h o made a point of emphasizing the importance of his family to h i m . M o s t offensively, female artists are insulted as w o m e n . I n one singles review page of M M , the only w o m e n referred to or reviewed were described as,

respectively, 'slappers', a 'hippy c o w ' and a n 'old s o w ' , while criticism of

male artists w a s confined to their music ( M M , 2 0 February 1999). T h i s k i n d of casual misogyny appears to be acceptable: it w a s not criticized elsewhere in that issue of the magazine or in the letters pages of subsequent issues. W r i t i n g about female artists as w o m e n first a n d musicians second has the inevitable outcome of a constant stress on their appearance and sexuality. An

interview w i t h a female performer w i l l almost always begin w i t h a

description of her appearance and clothing. T h e following description of Natalie Imbruglia appeared without a trace of irony in a Guardian

inter-

view: She's y a w n i n g a n d rubbing her eyes. T h o s e eyes. A l o n g w i t h those eyes come that skin, that smile, those lips, that cute accent. If anything she's too perfect - like a tiny toy person . . . She doesn't sit still, but squirms about on the sofa like a playful kitten . . . W i n n i n g me over takes about seven seconds. (Wollaston

1998)

W o m e n are often described as being physically small and childlike - a l w a y s 'girls', never ' w o m e n ' - perhaps in order to further differentiate them from men. on

T h e sexuality of female artists is foregrounded. F o r example, articles w o m e n in rock music are given suggestive titles such as ' W o m e n on

Top',

A l a n i s Morissette is accused of 'sexual hysteria' (Observer

Review,

16 February 1997) and K y l i e M i n o g u e is asked i n great detail about her teenage sexual experiences ( H e a t h 1991). It is w o r t h mentioning in this context the photographic representation of women.- Critics aiming to illustrate the sexism of the music press have occasionally resorted to counting the pictures of male and female artists in a

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND GENDER

publication, expecting w o m e n to be hugely under-represented.

However,

although pictures of w o m e n are slightly less frequent than those of men, it is more important to examine h o w the w o m e n are represented. C e r y s M a t thews of C a t a t o n i a appeared on the cover of MM on 2 0 M a r c h 1999, then the cover of the NME

the following week. T h e fact that a w o m a n w a s o n

t w o front pages w i t h i n two weeks c o u l d be hailed as a triumph for female performers, yet i n both photographs terms. I n MM

she is portrayed in overtly sexual

she is described as 'gorgeous' and is portrayed leaning for-

w a r d in a low-cut top, while in the NME

she is wearing a dress w i t h a n

extremely tight a n d low-cut bodice. A l t h o u g h her sneer in the latter photograph

is clearly

intended

to

illustrate

the

'ironic'

nature

of

this

representation, this does not alter the fact that this is still a photograph of a w o m a n w i t h most of her breasts exposed. Indeed, her breasts are the most eye-catching aspect of this photograph a n d , even w h e n this is juxtaposed w i t h a n ironic sneer, the cover gives the impression that the most important things about this w o m a n are her breasts. T h e r e is a great similarity between these photographs and the representation of w o m e n o n the covers of men's magazines such as Loaded NME

( w h i c h w a s , incidentally, founded by former

journalist James B r o w n ) , particularly i n M M ' s description of Cerys as

'gorgeous' - again, her talent is less significant than her appearance. A

simplistic explanation

for the highly sexualized representation

of

w o m e n w o u l d be that individual male music journalists are unable to view w o m e n as anything other than sex objects. H o w e v e r , female commentators also write a n d speak about female performers in terms of appearance a n d sexuality, perhaps illustrating that w o m e n seeking success in male-dominated spheres such as music journalism have to accept the assumptions and prejudices of these spheres. T h e y must become 'one of the boys', identifying w i t h their male peers rather than w i t h the w o m e n on w h o m they comment. Sexist remarks c a n therefore not be viewed as demonstrative of the prejudices of individual journalists, but as part of w h a t is regarded as the only appropriate discourse for pop music writing. The

exception to the rule of focusing on a female artist's sexuality occurs

w h e n there is a suggestion of lesbianism. Kearney shows h o w reports on R i o t G r r r l failed to link it to lesbian feminism or to the queercore

move-

ment, a n d ignored the implications of the phrase 'girl love', preferring to define it as friendship, as 'childish play rather than adult sexuality' (Kearney 1997:

223). Although Kearney overstates the extent to w h i c h R i o t G r r r l

w a s a lesbian movement, it is true that the music press found this aspect threatening and therefore chose to ignore it. Similarly, D u s t y Springfield's 'difficult' reputation c a n largely be explained by the fact that the music industry found her lesbianism difficult to accept.

THE GREAT ROCK AND R O L L S W I N D L E The

|

constant stress o n w o m e n ' s attractiveness a n d sexuality is easy to

identify and criticize. H o w e v e r , a more subtle f o r m of sexism operates around issues of credibility. I n the eyes of the serious music w o r l d , credibility is the most important factor in determining the value of a performer or piece of music. It c a n be equated w i t h critical a c c l a i m , and I w i l l use the t w o terms interchangeably. A s C h a m b e r s explains, the idea of 'a thinking person's rock m u s i c ' emerged in the late 1960s, at the same time as the professional rock critic 'appeared to legitimate the whole affair' ( 1 9 8 5 : 84). R o c k critics have been responsible ever since for deciding w h i c h artists are credible, and therefore good a n d valuable, and w h i c h are not, a n d therefore bad

a n d worthless. It is unsurprising that credibility has almost a l w a y s been

denied to female artists. I w a n t to examine exactly w h a t constitutes credibility a n d w h y w o m e n c a n never fulfil this definition. W h e t h e r or not the music press w i l l grant a n artist credibility depends to a

great extent o n whether she is viewed as authentic. T h e notion of

authenticity is, of course, highly subjective, as some element of performance is

a l w a y s involved: as F r i t h a n d H o m e (1987) point out, ' E r i c C l a p t o n

didn't g r o w up black, A m e r i c a n or poor and Bruce Springsteen long since ceased to be a w o r k i n g m a n ' (1987: 74). H o w e v e r , the idea that some performers are 'fake' while some are not is a n extremely pervasive one. In order to be viewed as 'authentic', a performer's music must be seen as an

accurate representation of h i m - or herself, produced for personal self-

expression rather than financial gain, and it is for this reason that performers w h o do not write their o w n material are dismissed. Perhaps the most widely cited example of such performers are the female artists associated with Svengali figure Phil Spector i n the 1960s, a n d female performers have been viewed w i t h distrust ever since. F o r example, K y l i e M i n o g u e w a s hated by the music press i n the late 1980s because her association w i t h the song-writing a n d producing team of Stock, A i t k e n a n d W a t e r m a n meant that she w a s viewed as completely inauthentic. O n e factor i n the granting of critical approval to K y l i e w a s that she w a s perceived to have seized greater control over her music, i n w h i c h light her earlier w o r k w a s reassessed a n d gained a measure of credibility retrospectively. H o w e v e r , a w o m a n w h o insists o n such control is often depicted, i n the music press as i n popular culture more generally, as a 'difficult', hysterical, insecure, control freak. W o m e n w h o seize control of their careers - w h i c h can

be defined, for example, as writing their o w n material, insisting o n their

choice of producer, or attempting to control their photographic representation - risk forfeiting their femininity. A n article o n N a t a l i e Imbruglia portrayed her as completely unreasonable w h e n she attempted to assert a n extremely moderate amount of power over her image:

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER [T]he preamble to the shoot h a d been something of a farce. Effecting a control more suitable to someone w i t h the stature of Barbara Streisand, Natalie wanted to choose the photographer, as w e l l as her o w n hairdresser a n d make-up artist. She then requested a letter from the Times promising not to airbrush or tamper w i t h the pictures in

Sunday

any w a y . N a t u r a l l y , w e didn't comply. (Jones

1998)

Magazines are often forbidden even to crop images without approval, so this refusal to comply is not in the least natural. L i n k e d to the idea of authenticity is the importance of the image of the performer as a unique personality expressing their o w n individual truth. It is for this reason that Natalie Imbruglia w a s so vehemently attacked w h e n it emerged that her first hit w a s actually a cover version and had not been written by h e r .

2

If w o m e n are viewed as being manipulated by Svengali

figures, then the performers are replaceable a n d dispensable, and therefore of no value. W o m e n are traditionally assumed to be passive and so are constantly suspected of being the victims of such manipulation. In

order to be viewed as credible, a performer's music must also be

viewed as intelligent and serious. T h e association of masculinity w i t h the cerebral

and femininity w i t h

the

physical perhaps

explains

women's

exclusion from credibility on these grounds. W o m e n attempting to present themselves as intelligent are regarded as pretentious, w i t h the music press's treatment of A l a n i s Morissette a case i n point. She is criticized for 'sixthform self-indulgence' (Observer

Review,

2 9 October 1995)

because 'her

lyrics have the ring of a teenager w h o has just discovered Philip L a r k i n ' (Guardian,

6 M a y 1996). W h e n the M a n i c Street Preachers, a n all-male

band, quote directly from Philip L a r k i n i n both their lyrics and on their a l b u m sleeves, this is taken as a sign of their high levels of intelligence a n d education. W o m e n are not felt to be capable of any deep thought or feeling, so are viewed as particularly pretentious w h e n expressing any k i n d of pain or angst. W h e n N a t a l i e Imbruglia expresses

feelings of depression, she is

corrected and told that she has not been depressed but simply 'a bit d o w n ' (Wollaston 1998) and Alanis Morissette is instructed to 'fuck off and have some kind of life' (Guardian,

18 A p r i l 1 9 9 7 ) .

3

A g a i n , a comparison w i t h

the sympathetic a n d serious treatment that R i c h e y E d w a r d s of the M a n i c Street Preachers

received w h e n speaking of his depression is relevant

here, as is the image of the male rock star as a R o m a n t i c hero, discussed below. The

degree to w h i c h an artist's music is viewed as 'serious' is often

inversely proportional to the extent to w h i c h their image is foregrounded.

THE GREAT ROCK AND ROLL S W I N D L E

|

M a l e bands wishing to be taken seriously almost without exception adopt the d o w d y indie uniform of jeans and T - s h i r t s , in order to imply that their music is the most important thing to them. T h i s is in itself, of course, one type of image. H o w e v e r , it is unusual for female performers to take this approach, perhaps partly because w o m e n in general tend to put more time and

effort into their appearance than men, a n d female musicians are as

m u c h a product of their society as anyone else. A l s o , as noted above, interviewers inevitably focus on the appearance

of female

performers

a n y w a y , so dressing d o w n is likely to have little effect on the prominence of their visual image. Natalie Imbruglia's dishevelled look - no more or less contrived than O a s i s ' s similarly unkempt appearance - is apparently 'rather like a young M a r i l y n M o n r o e ignoring her ample bosom and declaring, " F o r g e t H o l l y w o o d , it's a career d o w n the c o a l mines for m e ! " ' (live review, M M , 14 N o v e m b e r 1 9 9 8 ) . The

perception of an artist's talent is vital to her credibility, and it is here

that w o m e n ' s traditional role as singers is extremely relevant. Singing is generally regarded as natural. A n y o n e can do it a n d it is wrongly perceived as not requiring practice a n d w o r k , and therefore undervalued. A s Coates (1997) points out, this does not explain w h y male singers are valued a n d female ones are not, but I w o u l d argue that it is generally assumed that singing is a feminine skill, and a female singer is therefore unremarkable, whereas a male singer is regarded as being exceptionally talented. A final important element of credibility is the extent to w h i c h a performer is regarded as rebellious and differentiated from 'mainstream' entertainment. T h i s often involves being seen as part of a subculture: 'authenticity is dependent o n the extent to w h i c h records are assimilated and legitimated by a subculture' ( T h o r n t o n 1995: 66). It is difficult for female performers to separate

themselves from the mainstream because, as Sarah T h o r n t o n

shows, the mainstream is often defined precisely as music associated w i t h girls a n d w o m e n : 'the oft-repeated, almost universally accepted stereotype of the chartpop disco w a s that it w a s a place where " S h a r o n and T r a c y dance a r o u n d their h a n d b a g s ' " (Thornton 1995:

99). T h i s association of

the mainstream w i t h w o m e n is not unique to rock music: H u y s s e n points out that 'pejorative feminine characteristics' have been ascribed to mass culture since the nineteenth century (1986: 193). F r i t h a n d H o m e illustrate h o w the emerging image of rock music i n the 1960s w a s based to a large extent on its being 'unlike pop' and representing 'the usual bohemian rebellion against domesticity a n d the bourgeois family, the assertion that the artist is, by his nature, stifled by family life' (1987: 90, their emphasis). T h e y point out that w o m e n were often taken to personify the conservative domesticity against w h i c h these m e n were rebelling.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER H o w e v e r , the mainstream is not simply music for w o m e n , but music for

working-class w o m e n , as is implied by the choice of the unmistakably working-class names 'Sharon and T r a c y ' . It is interesting that music journalists and male musicians almost universally attempt to project a n image of working-class masculinity, to the extent that artists w h o deviate from this - for example, Suede or the D i v i n e C o m e d y - do so extremely selfconsciously and are seen almost in terms of rebellion. H o w e v e r , the female musicians of w h o m the music press approves do not project an image of working-class femininity but rather represent the same type of w o r k i n g class masculinity that is appropriate for male stars. T h e clearest example of this is C e r y s M a t t h e w s of C a t a t o n i a , w h o appears to be accepted by the music press largely because of her heavy drinking, frank discussion of sex and

criticism of the English upper classes, w i t h her Welshness adding to this

image. T h e NME

even went so far as to describe her as a ' R e a l l y N i c e

B l o k e ' ( N M E , 2 7 M a r c h 1999). Subcultures do not generally welcome w o m e n , and those that have, tend to accept them only in very limited roles. T h i s , coupled w i t h the association of femininity w i t h the mainstream, means that female artists c a n rarely hope to gain the sense of excitement, rebellion and therefore credibility that comes from a n association w i t h a subculture. Instead, perhaps from a realization of the unlikeliness of ever attaining credibility, w o m e n have tended to go to the opposite extreme, becoming family entertainers and gaining complete acceptance into the 'mainstream' so despised by the serious music press (Frith 1988). The

music press is only too happy to assist female artists w i t h this move.

Perhaps the reason that Natalie Imbruglia largely escaped the unpleasant and

hysterical attacks reserved for A l a n i s Morissette w a s because she

represented a n incorporation of the image of the female singer-songwriter. T h i s image has previously contained some threatening elements, particularly its association w i t h feminism, a n d for it to become associated w i t h a family entertainer a n d ex-soap opera star helps to contain this threat. In order to be perceived as rebellious, it is helpful if a performer is seen as being angry, whether this be in political terms or just a generalized rage against the w o r l d . Anger is regarded as a masculine trait, so that even w h e n w o m e n do dare to express their anger it is not seen in these terms: an angry w o m a n is unreasonable or even insane, 'a gross caricature w i t h no nobility, intellect or ethics' (Love 1993). An

angry image, w i t h the hint of self-destructive tendencies that this

implies, is viewed as heroic and exciting in a m a n , but w o m e n w i t h such an image are pathologized. A s R e y n o l d s and Press put it: ' W h e r e male artists who

w a l k a high-wire over the abyss of self-destruction tend to present a

THE GREAT ROCK AND ROLL S W I N D L E

|

spectacle of mastery, female performers w h o flirt w i t h disaster tend to elicit different responses: a m o r b i d mixture of voyeurism, pity and sadistic delight at the possibility that she might fall' (Reynolds and Press

1995:

2 6 9 ) . T h i s could perhaps be due to the perception that angry w o m e n are 4

usually angry because of things that have been done to them by m e n ; for example, R i o t G r r r l ' s emphasis on abuse and incest. A s noted above, being in control is important to the attainment of credibility, and as R e y n o l d s a n d Press point out, rebellious m e n are still seen to be in control of themselves while rebellious w o m e n are protesting at their o w n lack of control ( 1 9 9 5 : 329). It w o u l d therefore appear that credibility is, in the eyes of the music press at least, a male trait, a n d one that w o m e n are rarely, if ever, able to live up to entirely. Natalie Imbruglia's attainment of a small measure of credibility was

so remarkable that The Big Issue dedicated a whole article to detailing

how

she achieved it (Crossing 1998). H o w e v e r , it is possible for female performers to gain some measure of

credibility. First, a w o m a n m a y be able to fulfil some of the criteria listed above. P J . H a r v e y ' s perceived intellectualism means that she is regarded as a credible and authentic artist. Y e t the fact that she is still not equal w i t h male stars is illustrated by the continued stress o n her appearance and sexuality. A

second approach is to gain credibility by association w i t h a m a n , as

Kylie M i n o g u e is widely viewed as having done. H e r relationship w i t h M i c h a e l Hutchence enabled her ' S e x K y l i e ' image to be viewed as more authentic: ' O n e moment she w a s the brainless, sexless soap star, the next, after caressing the raging loins of I N X S ' s w i l d m a n , she w a s the flirty sex goddess w h o w a s out to get w h a t she w a n t e d i n the w o r l d ' ( H e a t h

1991:

48). M o r e recently, she has gained credibility by w o r k i n g w i t h m e n such as N i c k C a v e and James D e a n Bradfield. H o w e v e r , this c a n bring accusations that the w o m a n is simply a puppet. Every early article o n Natalie Imbruglia gave a list of the male musicians who

w o r k e d o n her a l b u m : 'She even managed to employ the services of

Radiohead producer N i g e l G o d r i c h , Eels writer M a r k Goldenber a n d Phil Thornalley, once of the C u r e . A n d recently, she's been w o r k i n g w i t h D a v e Stewart. Y o u don't get m u c h more credible than that' (Wollaston 1 9 9 8 ) . The

flippant tone of W o l l a s t o n ' s last sentence suggests the difficulty of

including Imbruglia in the discourse of credibility. Attempting to gain status through w o r k i n g w i t h 'credible' m e n c a n thus simply increase suspicion that the w o m a n is being manipulated or is using her sexuality to further her career.

/

Female artists c a n also achieve credibility through m e n in another w a y ,

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

w h e n stars w h o have been taken up for their c a m p qualities by gay men are viewed w i t h a k i n d of ironic approval. C a m p is defined by R i c h a r d D y e r as involving

'irony,

exaggeration,

trivialisation, theatricalisation

ambivalent m a k i n g fun out of the serious and respectable'

and

(Dyer

an

1987:

178). A w o m a n willing and able to m a k e fun of herself i n this w a y c a n gain an element of critical acclaim, as has happened recently w i t h K y l i e . It w o u l d seem that some female artists deliberately court such approval; for example, M a d o n n a has incorporated images from gay culture into her videos, most notably that for ' V o g u e ' . T h i s does, however, involve m a k i n g sacrifices, as this type of ironic credibility means that the artist's w o r k is not really taken seriously. A third w a y for a w o m a n to gain credibility is by becoming masculinized: 'one of the lads'. A n MM interview w i t h A l l Saints spoke very favourably of them because their continual swearing a n d joking meant that ' A H Saints are - hold back the sneers - Just L i k e U s ' ( M M , 7 February 1998: 28). Such a n approach

can

be remarkably

successful. Charlotte,

guitarist

and only

female member of N o r t h e r n Irish indie band A s h , has been accepted to the extent that the band are continually referred to in interviews and reviews as 'the lads', w i t h no reference to her femaleness being made at a l l . T h i s could be seen as a positive development, but does involve the artist distancing herself from other w o m e n either implicitly or explicitly, and has been regarded

by R i o t G r r r l bands, for example,

as 'assimilationist' and as

'selling out' - playing by the music industry's rules ( M o r r i s 1993). Finally, a female artist c a n be granted credibility w i t h time if she is no longer viewed as a threat. M a d o n n a ' s recent, more conservative 'grown-up' image has certainly been viewed w i t h less a l a r m than her previous incarnations, and the fact that she is n o w a mother is extremely relevant here. It w o u l d seem that in becoming a mother and wife, albeit a

somewhat

unconventional one, she has sufficiently conformed to acceptable feminine behaviour to no longer be viewed as threatening. To

summarize, w h e n music journalism fails to exclude w o m e n from

popular music history altogether it excludes them from the w o r l d of serious music by constructing a notion of credibility w h i c h is extremely difficult for a w o m a n to obtain. T h e music press then attempts to play d o w n the exclusion of femininity from rock music using the notion that 'the feminine' c a n be provided by men. T h e figure of the Byronic, bohemian, feminized m a n as a R o m a n t i c hero has been a staple of rock music since J i m M o r r i s o n in the 1960s, and its most recent manifestation has been R i c h e y E d w a r d s of the M a n i c Street Preachers. M e n such as E d w a r d s , K u r t C o b a i n of N i r v a n a and Brett A n d e r s o n of Suede are praised for their exploration of the feminine and, particularly in the cases of E d w a r d s and C o b a i n , are described as

THE GREAT ROCK AND ROLL S W I N D L E

|

emotional a n d tortured figures/ E d w a r d s w a s praised for his open discussion of his anorexia

a n d self-mutilation, w h i l e the same topics

were

unpalatable w h e n spoken of by female R i o t G r r r l s . If men c a n provide 'the feminine' then w o m e n are redundant.

Feminist Women G i v e n the intense sexism of the music industry a n d particularly of the music press, it is unsurprising that those w o m e n w h o do manage to become successful and/or credible are rarely willing to risk losing their position by m a k i n g explicitly feminist statements. Female artists are continually asked about feminism in interviews, and this is one w a y in w h i c h they are spoken about as w o m e n first a n d as musicians second. H o w e v e r , very few female musicians openly declare themselves to be feminists. A n j a l i of the V o o d o o Q u e e n s , best k n o w n for the single Superficial

Supermodel

- a song w i t h a specifically feminist agenda - said i n a n MM

interview: T think w e have something to say. O t h e r people w o u l d probably call us feminists. It's a really difficult area. I m e a n , w h a t does the w o r d m e a n ? ' ( M M , 2 9 January 1 9 9 4 ) . Such coyness c o u l d be explained by a lack of interest i n politics i n favour of concentrating

o n music. H o w e v e r , I

w o u l d argue that such reluctance to talk about feminism is based o n the w a y that the music press treats feminist w o m e n . The

music press places great emphasis o n the discourse of 'coolness',

w h i c h largely consists of a k i n d of adolescent w o r l d - w e a r y cynicism a n d dictates that to become too passionate about a n y subject is potentially embarrassing. W h i l e journalists are able to w a i v e these rules w h e n they w a n t to write enthusiastically about a n e w male band or artist, a major w a y in w h i c h feminists are ridiculed is by m o c k i n g them for having any f o r m of strong belief. A s R u m s e y a n d Little put it, ' R o c k ' s vocabulary dictates that being a feminist is not the w a y to be c o o l ' ( 1 9 8 5 : 2 4 3 ) . The

vitriolic abuse heaped o n A l a n i s Morissette c a n only be explained

by her openly feminist views, although this is, of course, never explicitly stated. M o r e generally, w o m e n w i t h overtly feminist beliefs are simply ridiculed. Sara M a n n i n g wrote i n MM: The

best thing that any R i o t G r r r l could do is to go a w a y a n d do some

reading, a n d I don't m e a n a grubby little fanzine. W h e n the topic of French feminist theory w a s raised i n one of the discussions, there were blank looks a n d hostile reactions. R e a d K r i s t e v a , C i x o u s , Irigaray. R e a d Freud's essays o n sexuality and then come back w i t h a reasoned

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER understanding of w h o the enemy m a y or m a y not be . . . F o r n o w y o u c a n be a R i o t G r r r l or y o u c a n be a feminist - y o u can't be both. ( M M , 2 9 January

1994)

T h i s untenable v i e w illustrates the pressures put on w o m e n w h o define themselves as feminists and helps to further exclude the issue of feminism from music - few w o m e n could possibly meet such criteria, and therefore they cannot really be feminists. It is also a n example of the music press employing a female journalist to criticize female performers w i t h impunity, as w e l l as of the music press using a self-consciously 'intellectual' discourse to suggest that forms of music of w h i c h it does not approve are inherently less intelligent. A n equally c o m m o n reaction of female journalists to R i o t G r r r l w a s to assert that they personally 'don't

need saving' (see,

for

example, M o r r i s 1993: 11). Feminist musicians are both expected to speak for all w o m e n a n d asked to c l a i m that they do in order that they c a n be repudiated. H o w e v e r , the music press usually prefers to ignore feminism altogether. First-hand accounts of R i o t G r r r l conventions make clear their similarity to the consciousness-raising meetings of 1 9 7 0 s feminists, yet writing on R i o t G r r r l i n the music press often ignores its specific politics, turning it into, as K e a r n e y puts it, 'just another anarchic pose of youth' (Kearney 1997: The

224).

N M E ' s 'Definitive guide to R i o t G r r r l ' managed to imply that the only

thing people involved in the movement were 'rioting' against w a s boredom (Wells 1993). T h i s cannot be justified by the argument that the role of the music press is to focus primarily o n the music because male bands w i t h outspoken political beliefs are praised. A n edition of the NME

carried the

headline ' E v e r G e t the Feeling Y o u ' v e Been Cheated?' a n d featured a range of (almost all male) artists criticizing the government, a n d the M a n i c Street Preachers have been widely praised for taking the title for their album This is My Truth To

Tell Me Yours

from a speech by A n e u r i n B e v a n .

5

summarize, a n admission of a feminist viewpoint c a n be extremely

harmful to a female performer's career. T h i s creates a n absurd situation whereby performers whose lyrics a n d images are explicitly feminist have to repeatedly deny this in interviews. T h i s helps to naturalize social relations in music, so that gender is not seen in political terms, but simply as part of h u m a n nature.

T H Ï G R E A T ROCK AND R O L L S W I N D L E

|

Female Performers: Conclusions The

music press abuses a n d trivializes female musicians in both explicit a n d

more subtle w a y s . I n recent years, there have been a number of attempts by female musicians to bypass the music press altogether. M o s t R i o t G r r r l bands refused to speak to the music press after 1993 out of fear of misrepresentation, preferring to give interviews w i t h small fanzines w h i c h they felt w o u l d give them a more sympathetic hearing. H o w e v e r , this tactic simply meant that whole articles on R i o t G r r r l were devoted to the journalist's difficulties in obtaining a n interview (see, for example, W e l l s 1993), so that the politics, a n d even the music, were even further sidelined. T h i s tactic of refusing to have anything to do w i t h the music press has led to the recent creation of a number of magazines and fanzines written by w o m e n and devoted entirely to female artists. O n e British example of this is Popgirls. had

T h i s w a s created by M a n d a R i n , lead singer w i t h Bis, because she

been angered at the treatment she and other female musicians h a d

received from the mainstream music press: T ' m fed up of articles o n girls in bands being purely descriptive of their looks rather than their attitude' (Popgirls

#1: 4 ) . W h i l e such publications are certainly a positive develop-

ment, they tend to concentrate

o n obscure alternative artists, to

have

limited distribution, a n d therefore to remain on a very small scale, a n d so pose little or no threat to the male domination of the rock music press.

Conclusion Julie Burchill (1998) writes of the staff at the NME

i n the late 1970s as a

'Boys' C l u b ' , and little has altered since then. T h e British music press uses its o w n very particular i d i o m , w h i c h differs little from that of more openly 'laddish' magazines such as Loaded.

T h i s means, for example, that a

w o m a n w i l l a l w a y s be referred to in terms of her appearance a n d described using sexist terms such as 'girl' - a term that the R i o t G r r r l movement attempted to reclaim as positive - or 'bitch' - w h i c h c a n be used positively or negatively. T h i s distinctive i d i o m is internalized by aspiring music journalists - those writing in student publications, for example - w h o realize that they must write in the correct

style to be successful. S u c h compliance a n d con-

servatism mean that the sexism of the music press is self-perpetuating, and that there are few differences between individual writers. It is ironic that a n industry that regards itself as creative a n d progressive should reproduce

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND GENDER

such unoriginal a n d antiquated beliefs: 'the music press reflects the attitudes of most of the music w o r l d in being liberal, by and large, about racism, but densely reactionary as regards s e x i s m ' ( W h i t m a n 1981:

21).

W o m e n w a n t i n g to enter this B o y s ' C l u b must conceal their femininity. T h e y use the same sexist discourses as male journalists to distance themselves from the type of w o m e n w h o m the music press despises - w o r k i n g class w o m e n or w o m e n perceived as some k i n d of threat. O f course, there are w o m e n w h o have resisted doing this, one prominent example from the UK

being Julie B u r c h i l l . T h e occasional w o m a n w i t h a strong

enough

writing style c a n be accepted into the B o y s ' C l u b on her o w n terms, but examples of this are few and far between. Journalism is a highly competitive career. O n c e a n e w journalist finds a job on a paper or magazine, they are quickly expected to learn to write in the style of that particular publication. It takes both courage and a great deal of writing talent to challenge such expectations successfully. The

sexism of the music press m a y discourage w o m e n from becoming

musicians or music journalists, or from taking other jobs w i t h i n

the

industry. H o w e v e r , it may also have effects outside the music business. MM had

and the NME

still has a relatively large circulation, w i t h the majority of

their readers being teenage boys. It is arguable that the sexism of such publications legitimates sexist views i n their readers, especially as there are few alternatives to these t w o papers. M u s i c fans w h o w a n t to read interviews w i t h performers and get information on new releases c a n turn to the Internet, but websites generally share the same discourses as the music press. R u m s e y a n d Little point out the shallowness of the rebellious images of many male stars, noting: 'Feminists k n o w that if rock/pop w a s really revolutionary, they w o u l d be embraced as the greatest rebels of all - real rebels, the genuine article, not just another piece i n the jigsaw of popular ephemera' ( 1 9 8 5 : 2 4 4 ) . H o w e v e r , the British music press prefers to concentrate on male bands following the same old tried a n d tested routes to success, and acting out a rebellion that usually just consists of a complete contempt for w o m e n . T o admit w o m e n to the ' B o y s ' C l u b ' w o u l d question the assumptions on w h i c h music writing has been based for decades.

Notes 1.

The same article gives a list of 'those who paved the way', including Polly Harvey and Tanya Donelly, implying that there were no female pop musicians before the late 1980s.

2.

However, it should be noted that the type of pop performance she had adopted

THE GREAT ROCK AND ROLL S W I N D L E

|

- the female singer-songwriter - certainly made the situation worse because the fact that she had not written the song appeared as a betrayal of this image. 3.

4.

5.

The satirical 'Alanis Morissette lyric generator' on the Internet at www.brunching.com is an illustration of the fact that the image of her as pretentious and foolish created by the music press has largely gone unquestioned: there are no Manic Street Preachers or Nirvana lyric generators. For an illustration of this phenomenon see, for example, the comments about Courtney Love in M M and NME during 1994. She was continually described as mad, pathetic and attention-seeking when expressing her anger at the death of her husband. Minister of Health in Clement Attlee's government of 1945, responsible for establishing the N H S .

References Bayton, M . (1997) Women and the electric guitar, in S. Whiteley (ed.) Sexing the Groove: Popular Music and Gender. London: Routledge. Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. London: Routledge. Burchill, J . (1998) J Knew I was Right. London: Pluto. Burchill, J . and Parsons, T . (1978) The Boy Looked at Johnny: The Obituary of Rock and Roll. London: Pluto Press. Chambers, I. (1985) Urban Rhythms: Pop Music and Popular Culture. London: Macmillan. Coates, N . (1997) (R)evolution now? Rock and the political potential of gender, in S. Whiteley (ed.) Sexing the Groove: Popular Music and Gender. London: Routledge. Cohen, S. (1997) Men making a scene: rock music and the production of gender, in S. Whiteley (ed.) Sexing the Groove: Popular Music and Gender. London: Routledge. Compton, N . (1998) Natalie Imbruglio, Independent on Sunday, 8 February. Crossing, G . (1998) Pretty vacant?, The Big Issue, 5-11 October. Da vin, A. (1988) Redressing the balance or transforming the art? The British experience, in S.J Kleinberg (ed.), Retrieving Women's History. Oxford: Berg. Dyer, R. (1987) Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society. London: Routledge. Inch, S. (1988) Music For Pleasure: Essays in the Sociology of Pop. Cambridge: Irith, S. and Home, H . (1987) Art Into Pop. London: Methuen. (iaar, G . (1993) She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock and Roll. London: I loath, C . (1991) In bed with Kylie, The Face, 37. I leath, C . (1994) Kylie's cool world, The Face, 69. I luyssen, A. (1986) Mass culture as woman: modernism's other, in T . Modleski (ed.) Studies in Entertainment: Critical Approaches to Mass Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

Jones, D . (1998) Meet the fussiest pop star in the world, The Sunday Times, Style, 25 October. Kearney, M . C . (1997) The missing links: Riot Grrrl - feminism - lesbian culture, in S. Whiteley (ed.) Sexing the Groove: Popular Music and Gender. London: Routledge. Love, C . (1993) Revolution rebel style, in Melody Maker, 17 July. McDonnell, E . and Powers, A. (eds) (1995) Rock She Wrote. London: Plexus. Morris, G . (1993) Girls just wanna bait scum, New Musical Express, 20 March. Reynolds, S. and Press, J . (1995) The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion and Rock'n'Roll. London: Serpent's Tail. Rumsey, G . and Little, H . (1989) Women and pop: a series of lost encounters, in A . McRobbie (ed.) (1989) Zoot Suits and Second-Hand Dresses: An Anthology of Fashion and Music. London: HarperCollins. Steward, S. and Garratt, S. (eds) (1984) Signed, Sealed and Delivered: True Stories of Women in Pop. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Thornton, S. (1995) Club Cultures. Cambridge: Polity. Wells, S. (1993) The definitive guide to Riot Grrrl, New Musical Express, 6 and 13 March. Whitman, L . (1981) Women and popular music, Spare Rib, June, 107. Wollaston, S. (1998) The girl next door, Guardian, 15 May.

Internet Sites IPC Magazines: www.ipc.co.uk. The Almost Official Natalie Imbruglia Web Site: www.imbruglia.com. What I did on my Summer Vacation: www.ernie.bgsu.edu/_ckile/rgomaha.html longer available). First-hand account of a Riot Grrrl convention.

(no

LOSING FEAR ®

VIDEO AND RADIO PRODUCTIONS OF NATIVE AYMARA WOMEN Carmen Ruiz

I n both u r b a n a n d peasant communities i n Bolivia one frequently encounters groups of residents discussing a n d debating their affairs. M e n form the closed part of the circle, expressing opinions, suggestions a n d disagreements. W o m e n are often found i n the open part of the circle, behind the centre of discussion, together, as if seeking protection; present, yet at the same time absent; listening, but without a public voice. T ' m a f r a i d , ' say the w o m e n . 'Perhaps I w o n ' t use the right w o r d s , or maybe they'll laugh at m e . ' Although half the membership of most of B o l i v i a ' s w o r k e r , merchant or neighborhood associations are w o m e n , these organizations are usually represented by men, not only i n the executive but also i n the public sphere. Organizations such as the guilds that represent street vendors a n d small businesspeople m a y have up to 80 per cent female membership, a n d yet the majority of their leaders are m e n . It is not only i n grassroots organizations in w h i c h the voices of w o m e n do not appear very often or are badly represented. Social, economic a n d political indicators of daily life i n the country

also demonstrate

this

absence. F o r example, the lack of w o m e n ' s representation is evident i n the different expressions of formal political power, such as political parties, the government a n d the parliament as well as i n diverse expressions of civil society a n d the mass media. According to the indigenist position that recognizes the native population as a fundamental part of the n a t i o n ,

1

Bolivia is a country unfinished as a

nation. T h e native population has been marginalized economically, politically and culturally since colonization. According to politicians, Bolivia is a country lacing the contradictions arising from poverty a n d from external and internal

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

colonialism; a n d according to the different expressions of the women's movement, Bolivia is a country affected by gender-based oppression. In this country of m a n y a n d diverse faces, i n the relations of everyday life, and

i n the mass media, the voice of w o m e n is not only one more absent

expression but clear testimony of h o w silence a n d oppression coexist. T h i s chapter summarizes a project initiated i n 1 9 8 4 by the Gregoria Apaza

Centre for the Advancement

of W o m e n

(CPMGA)

2

called A

Thousand and One Voices: Communication W i t h Urban Aymara W o m e n . The

3

project w i t h A y m a r a w o m e n has three lines of action: training, pro-

duction and reception of mass media, particularly radio a n d video. W e use mass media to help bring about a change i n the discrimination a n d subordination of urban A y m a r a w o m e n . T h i s project developed mainly w i t h groups of A y m a r a w o m e n a n d residents of the different neighborhoods of the city E l A l t o , a region of predominantly A y m a r a immigrants located 15 miles a w a y from the capital La

Paz.

4

O u r communication experience w i l l be retold here i n chrono-

logical order, including explanations of the groups involved a n d of the methodological criteria developed throughout the p r o c e s s . The •

5

c o m m u n i c a t i o n programme of the centre consists of:

a daily radio programme - La voz de las Kantutas

- w h i c h broadcasts

testimonies, interviews a n d dramatizations of the daily life of A y m a r a w o m e n w h o have migrated to the city •

educational video productions for a variety of campaigns such as violence

against

women,

cholera

prevention,

reforestation

of the

neighborhood, a n d so o n •

the popular reporters project, w h i c h trains A y m a r a w o m e n i n reporting techniques for radio a n d television

•

a community short-range radio station that is a k e y aspect of a local development plan for the enhancement of w o m e n a n d the defence of their rights.

Urban Aymara Women and Communication Our

throats come alive

The

first time w e evaluated the results of the c o m m u n i c a t i o n project, it

became clear that there were t w o different social actors, each w i t h different expectations: the urban A y m a r a w o m e n a n d the group that w o r k e d at the w o m e n ' s centre.

L O S I N G FEAR

|

A y m a r a w o m e n were interested i n the processes of media production a n d in the possibility of training themselves in the use of modern a n d u r b a n language: ' W e lost the fear of speaking' w a s one of the most c o m m o n expressions used in the self-evaluation of their participation. ' O u r throats came alive,' said some. ' W e ourselves direct our w o r d s , and in this w a y everyone k n o w s that w e c a n , ' said others. T h e most succinct evaluation w a s given by a w o m a n w h o h a d participated in various radio plays and in the presentation of a staged theatrical w o r k in front of a large audience. She said, ' N o w I speak better, I a m more sure of myself in front of people from the city [ L a Paz] w h e n I enter a n office. I ' m losing the fear of s p e a k i n g . '

6

T h e experience revealed a diversity of achievements. O n one h a n d w a s the institutional perspective, closer to a c o m m u n i c a t i o n strategy, i n w h i c h the use of the radio as a mass m e d i u m w a s thought of as a w a y to achieve more social impact o n larger numbers of listeners. O n the other h a n d were the expectations

of the trainees w h o were learning to use w o r d s , as

instruments of n e w relations a n d communicative exchanges w i t h the urban, modern a n d mestizo w o r l d . T o understand these t w o dimensions and the expectations held by each group of w o m e n , it is necessary to outline the social and cultural realities of E l Alto a n d the history of the institution.

Impact of the national crises on poor women Bolivia is experiencing a period of intense economic crisis for w h i c h no short-term solution is foreseen. T h i s crisis, w h i c h has placed 80 per cent of the Bolivian population in a state of critical poverty, affects poor w o m e n i n a distinct manner. Poor w o m e n are responsible for the administration of family income and are increasingly responsible for subsidizing a deteriorating household economy through diverse survival strategies. T h i s situation of crisis is felt i n E l A l t o and particularly in V i l l a 16 de Julio, a barrio in the northern section of the city of E l A l t o . Since its creation in 1946, this barrio (with a population of 3 0 , 0 0 0 or 10 per cent of El Alto's population) has been a focal point of A y m a r a migration from rural areas to the city. T h e conditions of scarcity force the population of V i l l a 16 de Julio to live by a logic of subsistence, for w h i c h the key phrase is 'survive day by day', and to put their energies into diverse activities that together form w h a t has been called strategies of survival. T h e w o m e n of V i l l a 16 de Julio play a n important role as administrators of scarce family resources. T h e y w o r k i n the informal sector of the economy or participate i n organizations seeking lo increase family incomes. F o r example, w o m e n group together to accept

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND G E N D E R

donated food, to participate in educational programmes, to be in service activities a n d to be in labour unions. T h i s participation of w o m e n in a diversity of organizations is combined w i t h w o r k in more strictly economic activities such as small-scale commerce, family enterprises a n d , occasionally, salaried w o r k i n small factories. M o r e frequently, w o m e n are to be found w o r k i n g as housemaids in the center of L a Paz. The

inhabitants of V i l l a 16 de Julio f o r m a k i n d of small city, a mestiza

society that d r a w s sustenance - a n d not in a harmonious manner but rather in

constant tension and conflict - from w h a t is traditional A y m a r a a n d

w h a t is modern, urban and mestizo. E v e n if it seems easy to distinguish the various elements that feed it, the result of this mixture is a unique culture of conflicting codes. The

strategic proposal of the centre for a plan of local development based

on the perspective of gender is the result of eight years of w o r k in the city of E l A l t o . T h e proposal is based on the premise that there is no possibility of transformation in the situation of subordination of poor w o m e n if at the same time one does not fight against poverty. E q u a l l y , it w i l l be impossible to eradicate poverty if simultaneously action is not taken to make substantial changes i n the situation of subordination and oppression of w o m e n .

Identity: a game of mirrors and reflections One

of the distinctive characteristics of the community of V i l l a 16 de Julio

is the strong relations maintained between residents a n d their originating communities (90 per cent of w h i c h are rural communities in the altiplano region of the department of L a P a z ) . L i n k s w i t h the communities of origin are maintained through frequent travel to the countryside, participation i n planting a n d harvesting, exchange of products, and through participation in festivals and rituals. Consequently, the barrio of V i l l a 16 de Julio maintains a particular place in the urban w o r l d . T h e community's daily life evolves in a syncretic m i x of two worlds that attract each other but that relate i n a conflicting, sometimes antagonistic, manner: the A y m a r a a n d the Western/mestizo w o r l d . G i v e n its population density, E l A l t o has considerable importance in the spatial distribution of the altiplano region and its politics. T h i s , however, has no correlation w i t h the amount of attention

given it in terms

of

necessities or urban services. A s E l A l t o became a target for the different social a n d political expressions of local and central authorities, local outlets of the mass media and particularly commercial radio were established.

L O S I N G FEAR | Daily language and expression T h e living conditions of w o m e n in V i l l a 16 de Julio are characterized by economic and social subordination and the absence of political representation. Part of the living conditions are the 'conditions of expression'; those that are latent in daily verbal or non-verbal language as well as in the codes of mass media. I n this sense, the silence of w o m e n c a n be seen simultaneously from various perspectives. O n e of these is that verbal silence is compensated by a non-verbal language expressed in the domestic environment. T h e communicative expression of A y m a r a w o m e n is limited by their precarious mastery of the official language (Spanish), their migrant status, their use of traditional costume (skirt, s h a w l a n d hat), their l o w level of education a n d their condition of poverty. These factors inhibit them from establishing a n efficient relationship w i t h the public, urban, mestizo w o r l d : ' W h e n they see that we're w e a r i n g a traditional skirt they ask: " W h a t do y o u w a n t ! ? " then they m a k e us w a i t and leave us there for an hour. If a señorita [a w o m a n dressed in modern, Western clothes] comes in they attend to her first' (Centro Para la M u j e r G r e g o r i a A p a z a 1 9 9 1 ) . I n this context, the use a n d control of w o r d s takes on vital importance, as vital as the satisfaction of basic needs.

Social silence I n E l A l t o as in L a Paz, most w o m e n w o r k for themselves in intermediary activities. Reinforcing a circle to meet daily necessities, w o m e n do w h a t 7

they k n o w best and w h a t also permits the continuation of daily life: domestic labour. T h e fulfilment of domestic responsibilities constitutes for these w o m e n a reference point for their identity, w h i c h proposals for participation a n d social communication cannot afford to ignore. Poverty a n d scarcity goes deeper than the obvious material conditions. T h e y affect the most intimate construction of identity for urban A y m a r a w o m e n . Such notions as self-esteem, the exercise of power, representation and the carrying out of roles that give one a place in society are all profoundly m a r k e d by their contradictory

position -

domestic role and function of motherhood

the

highly valued

o n one h a n d and the dis-

crimination a n d an overload of responsibility o n the other. T h e discourse of urban A y m a r a w o m e n about their o w n family a n d community roles and responsibilities is very sensitive to this contradiction. O v e r l a i d w i t h a profound experience of ethnic/cultural discrimination, the contradiction is expressed both i n the relation between w o m e n a n d mass media a n d i n w o m e n ' s mastery of public speech.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

The Institutional Programme The

communication proposal of the C P M G A arose i n 1 9 8 5 , w i t h the idea

of designing a n d carrying out a project that could respond to the critical period that Bolivia w a s facing. T h i s w a s a period of deep economic a n d political crisis characterized by the emergence of diverse expressions of w o m e n ' s movements around the need to find solutions to the severe consequences of the crisis. D u r i n g this period, a number of N G O s were created that were oriented to collaborating w i t h the w o m e n ' s movement, while alternative c o m m u n i c a t i o n proposals were promoted

to recognize this

movement. These programmes s a w the use of c o m m u n i c a t i o n media as a n arena to discuss the situation of w o m e n , as a motivator of participation a n d as a denouncer of oppression. T h e c o m m u n i c a t i o n proposal of the centre was •

generated o n the following premises: the necessity of incorporating groups of w o m e n (their

experiences,

struggles, sentiments a n d daily lives), as the protagonists a n d broadcasters of a n alternative message to the traditional images transmitted by the mass media •

the need for the use of radio as social c o m m u n i c a t i o n , a n d as a n alternative to the traditional radio practices i n the history of both Bolivia a n d of popular organizations

•

the implementation of a methodology that w o u l d combine group a n d mass aspects w i t h i n a n educational perspective for the promotion of women.

W e began w i t h a weekly 15-minute radio programme for w o m e n , called La voz de las Kantutas,

w h i c h eventually became a twice-weekly 30-minute

programme broadcast by three stations. Simultaneously, w e w o r k e d o n video programmes, educational pamphlets a n d articles i n the press.

Radio production: The

La voz de las

Kantutas

C P M G A chose radio as the mass m e d i u m to initiate the project. R a d i o

reaches virtually the entire urban a n d r u r a l population, overcoming scarcities of infrastructure a n d electrical power. It corresponds to a strong oral tradition i n A n d e a n cultures a n d has played a n important role i n the struggles of Bolivian popular movements, such as the miners' stations, the 8

E d u c a t i o n a l R a d i o of Bolivia ( E R B O L ) a n d the labour union radio. In Bolivia, traditional radio broadcasting has privileged the use of native languages. Its programming fits the schedules a n d habits of people's daily life, becoming a permanent c o m p a n i o n i n domestic spaces a n d w i t h w o r k

L O S I N G FEAR | outside the home. Its traditional uses have led to the development of unique formats based on A n d e a n culture such as messages, greetings, congratulations

and

story

telling. Finally,

radio

has

lent

itself to

a

strategic

combination of group a n d interpersonal means articulated as a mass medium. Initially, La voz de las Kantutas flower)

(named after the Bolivian national

h a d a radio magazine format. It included interviews, music a n d

commentary by t w o hosts (a m a n and a w o m a n ) , professional speakers, and sociodramas pre-recorded by groups of w o m e n a n d later edited to follow a central theme put together by the hosts. T h e sociodramas were produced in w o r k s h o p s . T h e y were seen as a connection between the educational w o r k of the centre's teams a n d the centre's

development

communication production. Stories were

later

recorded following various forms of expression: from stories to dramatizations or, more simply, the recording of testimonies, commentary

and

opinion. R a d i o production followed thematic cycles that were decided according to the thread of reflection in the w o r k of the centre w i t h different groups of w o m e n . T h e process of production began from the moment of data collection, through discussion w i t h the community a n d organizations, to field recordings of radio dramas, debates, interviews and testimonies, script writing, processing of information, broadcasting, a n d finally to the moment of evaluation and planning. O u r starting point w a s the recognition of w o m e n ' s reality, through testimonies,

documentation

and

interviews. F o l l o w i n g that, there w a s a reflection on the data or

stories,

dramatizations,

second-hand

more

qualitative information on the reality in w h i c h w o m e n find themselves. T h i s debate w a s carried out w i t h motivational elements such as games, paintings, sociodramas and simple conversations. L a s t , there w a s the design of a material proposal, its editing and broadcast. D u r i n g the design and execution of these steps, w e took into account criteria such as the recognition of the principles and values of urban A y m a r a culture, the role of radio as a mass m e d i u m in the daily life of the urban A y m a r a population, the relationship between urban A y m a r a w o m e n and their consumption of radio as a mass m e d i u m , and the self-training of w o m e n in the use of radio. I n this process, w o m e n became active broadcasters of their o w n discourse. T h i s last element w a s intended as a w a y to subvert the traditional relationship that w o m e n h a d w i t h radio by locating them as active broadcasters of their o w n w o r l d - v i e w and using their o w n language. H o w e v e r , this format did not identify the impact that our programmes

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

were having o n the audience. W h i l e in producing the programme there w a s a very close relationship w i t h the participant w o m e n , the circle w a s artificially closed w i t h the transmission of the programme. I n the closing of the first cycle of radio programming w e identified numerous conflicts regarding the relationship between our programming goals, the methods of participation and the relation w i t h the audience. W e referred to the goals guiding the practices of the institution, that is, the promotion of w o m e n and the focus on gender, culture and poverty. The

w o m e n participants perceived the programme as a n opportunity for

participation, training in expression, a n d the possibility of broadcasting their group experiences, advances a n d achievements. T h e i r emphasis o n practical gains reflects their strong feelings about the potential of becoming their o w n broadcasters of messages. T h i s self-recognition means that these w o m e n value themselves as possible educators of other w o m e n . I n conclusion, the perception of the programme held by these w o m e n w a s very m u c h related to their participation, a n d from that a sense of ownership developed. T h e y recognized themselves as broadcasters a n d educators of other w o m e n . F o r the centre, the educational potential of radio broadcasting

was

related to the possibility of orienting the community's thoughts and attitudes about the demands of daily life a n d the possibility of establishing a connection between the domestic and the community's public activities. H o w e v e r , various difficulties hindered a more widespread continuation of the programme. A Our

conventional

analysis of the programme's

impact

impact analysis had not gone beyond w h a t is conventionally analysed

in mass c o m m u n i c a t i o n (i.e. audiences, tendencies a n d opinions). W e did not take into account the impact of participation (as producers or audience) on

the daily behaviour of w o m e n , o n attitudinal change and on social

relations. T h e focus of this alternative approach is o n evaluating less measurable effects a n d intangible achievements, such as the increase i n selfesteem, the development of creativity a n d the opening of opportunities for pleasure, or, i n short, the evaluation of w o m e n ' s experience of moments that are rare i n lives dominated by the need for survival. F o r the u r b a n A y m a r a w o m e n , the project has stimulated and strengthened their selfesteem. T h e r e is no doubt that the project has achieved a n improvement i n the expressive capacities of the popular w o m e n involved. T h e project has trained them to control resources better, incorporating them in the production of materials that adequately describe their daily problems.

L O S I N G FEAR | The planning

and evaluation

of the objective

of influencing

public

opinion

W e identified a n excessive emphasis on activities designed for strengthening individuals and groups, and a relative disregard of proposals directed at public opinion a n d the mass media. W e can say little about achievements in terms of social circulation of ideas or of the institution itself, where the success of a project of c o m m u n i c a t i o n must also be measured. T h e emphasis of the project on the personal growth of small groups of popular w o m e n presented a number of concerns. T o w h a t extent w a s such production and broadcasting under-utilizing a mass medium? T o w h a t extent w a s the absence of institutional mechanisms for following up the audience reception ignoring a n important dimension of the project? W a s this disjuncture a result of a flaw in the design, or a result of h o w the c o m m u n i c a t i o n proposal found a place in the institutional proposal? I n part the answers to these concerns c a n be found in the theoretical contributions of those w h o underline the importance of examining social uses and consumption of mass media. T h e y refer to the fundamental role that the use of mass media, i n a strategy of development, can have i n the construction of collective identities and in linking the strategic interests of various popular groups (Alfaro 1988; M a t a 1 9 8 5 ,

1990).

From magazine to drama O n e of the most important practical recommendations participants in La voz de las Kantutas

by the w o m e n

w a s to increase a n d improve the

space given to radio dramas. A s a consequence, w e set up a d r a m a w o r k shop. T h e format of radio dramas breaks w i t h the academic tone that dominated the magazine style and responds to the demands of the w o m e n . T h e w o r k s h o p focuses o n the construction of collective stories that reflect the lives of the participants. T h e goal is to look critically at these stories w i t h the intention of discovering the causes of problems and to propose concrete actions to resolve them. T h e content of the dramas presents a w i d e range of events from daily life; w o m e n are the protagonists,

but also

examined are their most intimate family relations, their desires, their expectations and their problems. I n the w o r k s h o p s , the following steps are incorporated: brainstorming to select a theme, a round-table discussion to relate stories based on the selected idea, the determination of the central message, plot construction, the selection of characters, the division of the story by chapter and scene, direct lineal recording, the recording of the narration, editing, adding m u s i c and effects, a n d the broadcast. T h e s e radio dramas are fictitious narratives that represent the scenarios and situations of daily life i n E l A l t o .

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER The

principal achievement i n the production of radio dramas is the

method developed for plot construction. It puts emphasis o n participation, on

the A n d e a n narrative, a n d o n the expression of feelings, while at the

same time it makes spaces for pleasure, reflection a n d spontaneity. H o w ever, in the evaluation, participants noted that the themes are not developed enough in terms of d r a m a . T h e y were seen to be superficial, both in terms of content and i n the format itself. T h e i r perception w a s that the radio drama is

slow a n d linear a n d that it does not produce a sufficient degree of

empathy w i t h a mass audience. Another important element is that the expectation of production w i t h a competitive quality (in commercial terms) has not been reached. T h e production is by amateurs a n d has the logic of a w o r k s h o p formation or production.

The second stage of L a v o z de las K a n t u t a s Beginning in 1 9 8 8 , and as a consequence of the evaluation of La voz de las Kantutas,

it w a s decided to put more emphasis o n both participation a n d

training i n specific skills. T h i s w a s the origin of the w o r k s h o p s o n radio drama production that allowed for the production of messages more relevant to the problems, interests a n d forms of expression of the target audience. In

1 9 8 9 , the same principle w a s applied to the production of La voz de

las Kantutas

through the training of a group of popular reporters. T h e

intent w a s to promote a format that responded better to the language of the audience, facilitated greater participation a n d met the demands of the audience, a l l through the creation of spaces for information, advice a n d open d i s c u s s i o n .

9

W e intensified activities in this period, moving from t w o to four hours of programming a week. T h i s w a s accompanied by a diversification of format, by

adding radio drama to the radio magazine space. A t first the recording

studios, technicians and announcers of R a d i o San G a b r i e l were contracted to produce the programme. W i t h the purchase and installation of a studio in

E l A l t o , production passed into the hands of the C o m m u n i c a t i o n Pro-

gramme of the centre, w h i c h a l l o w e d for popular groups' participation. F r o m 1 9 8 9 , the services of an A y m a r a announcer and a radio operator were contracted part-time. D u r i n g the last three years, there were a total of 120 broadcasts of La voz de las Kantutas.

A total of 89 hours were broadcast

through the Aymara-language radio station R a d i o San G a b r i e l . T h e radio magazine w a s also broadcast through commercial radio stations such as A v a r o a , M e n d e z a n d C h u s q u i s a d a , doubling the number of hours broadcast. T o date, four radio soaps have been produced, w i t h a n average of 2 0

L O S I N G FEAR | episodes of 15 minutes each. T h e r e have also been 12 drama series. By the number of spontaneous visitors to the recording studio i n the first half of 1 9 9 0 , it is clear that there is growing interest i n radio a n d television production. grammes

M a n y w o m e n a n d youths interested

offered

by the centre

indicated

that

i n educational they

pro-

h a d found the

information through the radio magazine. Furthermore, the Research Center on H e a l t h (the organization that collaborates i n the development of health issues for the radio magazine) has i n four months dealt w i t h 2 4 0 patients w h o arrived at the clinic as a result of information received o n the radio. Surprisingly, w e have even received A y m a r a visitors from the Peruvian border region of Puno. La voz de las Kantutas

also contributed to the diffusion of the health a n d

educational goals of the centre. T h i s occurred through the devotion of air time to practical advice a n d information o n the care a n d stimulation of children, o n maternal a n d infant health, and nutrition. T h e central theme of the programme

approaches

aspects

of the living conditions of u r b a n

A y m a r a w o m e n i n m u c h the same w a y as outlined by our institution. After six years, the project has achieved a close relationship between the communicational proposal a n d that of gender a n d neighbourhood development. T h i s goal is strongly influenced by the notion of participatory democracy. D u r i n g these years mass media (radio a n d television) have been used to communicate experiences of w o m e n . I n m a k i n g more powerful the expression of A y m a r a w o m e n , the training is designed to maintain a fluid circulation between the different components of communication, a l w a y s reinforcing the incorporation of a n A y m a r a perspective in the process of communication. A s a result, a c o m m u n i c a t i o n programme w a s designed a n d incorporated into the 1 9 9 0 - 9 3 plan for the centre. Its general objectives focused o n the strengthening of the expressive capacities of u r b a n A y m a r a w o m e n , the formation of public opinion o n w o m e n ' s issues, a n d the systematization and broadcast of debate o n the subordination of u r b a n A y m a r a w o m e n .

Video: a mirror of ourselves There is one television channel per 1 5 0 , 0 0 0 inhabitants in Bolivia. I n L a Paz, w i t h a population of approximately 1 m i l l i o n , there are nine channels. As one c a n see from advertisements i n the daily press, 75 per cent of the programming o n these nine channels are foreign produced. T h e 2 5 per cent that are nationally produced are generally news a n d debate programmes or musical variety shows. T h e genres that have been developed i n that small percentage of national

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

production are very limited. T h e most elaborate tend to be news shows. O t h e r programmes, such as those directed to children, limit themselves to a series of video clips produced in the U S A or in other L a t i n A m e r i c a n countries such as M e x i c o , Brazil or V e n e z u e l a . W h a t does this mean for w o m e n such as the urban A y m a r a in a city such as E l A l t o , where practically every household has a television set and the consumption of this m e d i u m is part of daily life? It means watching daily 19 telenovelas,

mostly of M e x i c a n origin, w i t h the remainder from V e n e -

zuela a n d B r a z i l . F r o m this massive consumption of melodrama

these

w o m e n are exposed to certain models of family relations, expectations of social ascent, a n d happy endings. V i d e o production at the C P M E A began i n 1986. V i d e o w a s introduced as an

educational tool in small groups to review aspects of the history of the

w o m e n ' s movement in the country. A t the end of 1989, the centre began to produce video reports along w i t h documentary dramas. T h e programmes, made by the w o m e n themselves, have a documentary frame that transcends anecdotal situations by presenting them as social facts. T h e y represent situations in the w o m e n ' s o w n reality. U p o n initiating video production the centre also began training A y m a r a w o m e n as video reporters

(popular reporters)

for participation in the

documentaries. T h e programmes began to be broadcast o n commercial stations on a weekly b a s i s .

1 0

V i d e o continues the communicational process begun by the centre w i t h radio, that is, a combination of the individual (in participation), the group (in

reflection) a n d the mass (in broadcast). I n this w a y , each stage in pro-

duction c a n be used as an educational opportunity. E a c h moment

of

production has been of mutual learning for both actors and producers. T h e production of news and fictional video has allowed the centre and groups of urban A y m a r a w o m e n the possibility of showing real images of themselves to the population. The

characteristics of the news genre permit w o m e n to examine the

realities of their daily lives, while at the same time giving a space where they themselves are in the leading roles. T h e form taken by the videos incorporates codes

from

A n d e a n culture:

the

language

( A y m a r a ) , music,

narrative r h y t h m , construction of text a n d articulation of sequences. The

systematic broadcast of the reports has a w a k e n e d m u c h interest in

the urban A y m a r a population, not only because of the themes but, more important, because the actors are barrio w o m e n . Y e t a key point remains to be evaluated, as in the case of radio production: the reception. The

C P M G A does not have current and rigorous data about the effect of

these television reports, other than through occasional visits, telephone calls

L O S I N G FEAR | and letters that the audience sends to the centre or broadcast

station.

Undoubtedly, as in the case of radio, an unbridged distance exists between the t w o components of our c o m m u n i c a t i o n project. O n one h a n d is the active participation of groups of w o m e n and individuals that learn a n d become empowered during the process of production, and o n the other is the mass audience that receives the finished product through the media or in group session. T h i s distance should be resolved from the point of design to the point of practice in the strategic c o m m u n i c a t i o n a l project being carried out by the w o m e n a n d the centre. W e c a n trust, as w e have from the beginning, that mass is not opposed to popular.

Popular reporters T h e poller a

11

w o m e n are divided into hierarchies based on their economic

situation a n d the extent to w h i c h they have integrated into the city. T h e r e is a difference between a w o m a n w i t h a borsalino gold topo

hat, silk s h a w l , nylons, a

and a long skirt, a n d a w o m a n from the countryside w i t h a

flannel skirt and leather hat a n d w h o speaks only A y m a r a .

1 2

T h i s stratifi-

cation, w h i c h originated w i t h the Spanish conquest, is conserved in various economic and social w a y s . Such is the case w i t h popular pollera w o m e n , w h o through participation in some popular media have achieved fame as social communicators. Some have found political positions as councillors a n d deputies. T h e numbers of these w o m e n remain small, but these w o m e n have become much-emulated role models. F o r more than three decades, the radio has broadcast programmes in the A y m a r a language w i t h m e n a n d w o m e n from the popular sector as literacy w o r k e r s , community promoters and announcers. T h i s has facilitated the formation of associations of popular communicators in native languages. I n contrast, television gives little coverage to the u r b a n A y m a r a w o m a n . If it does, it is from a conventional perspective, through telenovelas grams

that reaffirm their traditional roles as housemaids,

a n d proornamental

objects, symbols of abnegation a n d sacrifice. T o assist the participatory

and popular direction of national radio

broadcasting, the centre supported the creation of a network of popular reporters, initially for La voz de las Kantutas Warmin

and later for the programme

Arupa.

T h e team of popular reporters is made up of u r b a n A y m a r a w o m e n from the northern zone of E l A l t o w h o have attended seminars at the centre o n basic orientation and training in the use of radio a n d television a n d in the strengthening of expression. T h i s group of reporters consists mainly of

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : H E D I A AND G E N D E R

single mothers w h o are daughters of immigrants from the province. T h e i r ages range from 34 to 4 1 . T h e y have varied education levels and w o r k in domestic and informal activities. L i n k s w i t h other community organizations are strong: all are members of organizations related to parishes, literacy projects, food distribution or merchant associations. T h e reporters have said that their involvement in television aids them in acquiring useful knowledge for expression and participation in public events. O n e w o m a n said, Tt's helped me a lot because I've been trained. I n m y o w n group of w o m e n they say they w o u l d like to be like me. I ' m strong-willed, n o w I ' m motivated for anything, I ' m self-assured a n d I say h o w things should be.' The

reporters

also identify a more community-oriented result of their

experience. T h e y feel themselves to be spokeswomen for the demands of the zone and for the aspirations of other A y m a r a w o m e n : T t is w e w h o make k n o w n the necessities of the zone on television. O t h e r w o m e n like to see discussion of their problems on television.' There is a recognition of the undeniable increase in self-esteem and of the role that these w o m e n c a n play not only in their o w n organizations but also in the barrio, the city and society in general. T h e r e is also the recognition and

empathy that the reporters

a w a k e i n the audience. T h e messages

received from a w o m a n 'of the people' is given a greater degree of acceptance: she is part of reality, of daily life, a n d for that reason is seen to be legitimate. C o m m u n i c a t i o n is vital in a city like E l A l t o where the emergence of n e w social actors blurs the values of representation, power relations, alliance, contradiction and leadership. C o m m u n i c a t i o n c a n affect the flow of these social elements w h i c h , depending on the situation, join together on the force of electoral alliances and the possibility of political promises. I n these conditions the assumption is that by strengthening the role of popular reporters w e also strengthen female leadership in the city. But this is difficult to prove in the short term. F r o m the communicational process i n w h i c h the centre participates w e are left w i t h another concern: w h a t is the potential of the popular reporters to affect change? It must be remembered that we are only speaking of a group of 20 w o m e n - out of a population of 3 0 , 0 0 0 - w h o are in the process of claiming their o w n w o r d s . W e also speak of a conflict that continuously appears throughout the process: are individual achievements the engines of social change? I n w h a t w a y can the experience of c o m m u nication include both dimensions - the individual a n d the collective, the public and the private?

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Participation: Myth and Reality T h e point of view of w o m e n participating in the production of radio and video has been assessed i n t w o different e v a l u a t i o n s .

13

A c c o r d i n g to a

survey of R a d i o San G a b r i e l , the 59 w o m e n w h o had participated in the centre's projects perceive it as a n educational programme that allowed them to understand various aspects of their reality a n d that reflected facets of their o w n daily lives: Tt makes y o u realize w h a t the reality i s . ' Tt shows things f r o m our lives.' Participation in the programme is highly valued, underlining not only the importance of self-expression and m a k i n g k n o w n their reality but also the possibility of entertainment a n d losing the fear of speaking: ' W e ourselves direct our w o r d s . ' T h e y recognize the effect on both individual a n d group affirmation, w i t h phrases such as 'let's teach ourselves to respect ourselves' and 'let's value our w o r k ' . T h e r e is a consciousness of the need for social affirmation: ' W e k n o w that w e c a n do it.' T h e s e perceptions are based on k n o w i n g themselves to be broadcasters of a message, educators of other w o m e n w h o , it is hoped, w i l l 'realize w h a t their situation is a n d organize'. Participation in the programme represents a social space for recreation, reflection and sharing among w o m e n . T h e y confirm that they learn to speak openly, gain knowledge of the experiences of other organizations from other zones, a n d achieve a greater knowledge of their o w n situation through the search for themes and information for the radio dramas. A t the same time, they consider their activity as a n incentive for the development of w o m e n in general, to w h o m they try to reveal different aspects of their lives as A y m a r a w o m e n w i t h few resources. I n the case of radio dramas, the reflection about real lives and their o w n experiences is considered educational and exemplary. T h e aspect of self-affirmation is constantly mentioned: they say they feel secure and proud of their w o r k , of the fact that their voices are heard on the radio, and of their ability to express ideas a n d life experiences. I n general, we observe that w o m e n have a sense of ownership of the communication programme. I n the evaluation of 1988, the w o m e n declared h o w badly they w o u l d feel if La voz de las Kantutas

disappeared. I n 1990,

they declared they w o u l d find the means to continue the project o n their o w n , organizing and negotiating w i t h the media. Participation is a part of the myths and Utopias m u c h beloved by projects of c o m m u n i c a t i o n and popular education in L a t i n A m e r i c a . I n its mythological dimension it has been seen as a panacea, a n infallible remedy a n d a n unquestioned necessity. I n its utopic dimension it is a n evasive dream, a winning ticket, but w i t h a trick.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER I n the case of the project involving the C P M G A and the w o m e n from the

V i l l a 16 de J u l i o , a basic certainty is that participation w i l l be impossible if both groups of actors do not identify a n d practise c o m m o n territory of participation, one that does not exclude actors such as w o m e n and youth. A m i n i m a l agreement

on a discourse that incorporates

the strategic

demands of w o m e n must be made along w i t h the recognition that the interests of w o m e n are affected primarily by the well-being of the c o m munity.

Challenges and Perspectives I n a general sense, our project of c o m m u n i c a t i o n supports

grassroots

organization and the community, contributing to a democratization of the mass media a n d the development of popular expression. Special emphasis is given to the expression of w o m e n , yet without exclusion of other ages a n d men. T w o essential conditions for the achievement of this impact are participation through multiple training activities and the activity of selecting formats and genres that permit openness, flexibility and a n accurate picture of the present. T h e open forum of La voz de las Kantutas, popular expression a n d the democratization

for example, contributes to of media, permitting

the

spontaneous participation of those w h o have no other channel of communication. W h i l e the radio drama has no direct relationship to grassroots organizations or the community, it is an important vehicle for the reinforcement of popular values and expression. T h i s is because of the diversity of experience a m o n g its participants and because they do not lose sight of the problems faced in daily life. Consequently, the themes explored by the programme refer to, among other things, the rights of w o m e n ; the cultural and gender identity of A y m a r a w o m e n migrating to the city; a n d poverty, w o r k and other conditions of daily life. T h e w o r k of c o m m u n i c a t i o n serves as a n antenna that provides useful information to the institution about the social context in w h i c h it w o r k s . T h i s channel of c o m m u n i c a t i o n is fed by the reporters, actors and visitors to our programmes. T h e y give information o n events and on the problems and aspirations of the population. T h e y provide the elements that help to understand better the values of urban A y m a r a culture. H o w e v e r , the positive aspects a n d benefits of this c o m m u n i c a t i o n project should not make us forget the challenges yet to be met. T h r o u g h o u t the process, we identified elements that cannot be dealt w i t h overnight, especially in a small project carried out by a n N G O w i t h limited resources a n d reach.

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A simple enumeration leads us to projections such as the necessity for links between production, broadcast and reception, a link generally clearer in theory than in practice. Another challenge is the incorporation of cultural aspects i n every part of the communication process. If one understands culture to be a series of material facts that daily alter the physiognomy a n d habits of a social space such as the city (Savaria a n d Sandoval 1 9 9 1 ) , it is without doubt that the reconstruction and strengthening of the voice of w o m e n goes beyond training i n expression a n d coherence of discourse. It goes beyond this because such a process must blend w i t h w a y s of relating, the manner in w h i c h alliances are constructed, a n d conflicts declared. I n short, it must blend w i t h the basic and the daily relating of h u m a n beings, their c o m m o n sense, and the w a y s they establish the rules of the game. These challenges, together w i t h the objective of establishing meaningful links between the impact of this process on w o m e n as individuals and social persona, give the c o m m u n i c a t i o n experience a subversive dimension that goes beyond the physical use of w o r d s . I n this sense, the possibility of expressing feelings, desires, nonconformity a n d demands is not only a n effect of exchange between w o m e n a n d the state but also, and primarily, a dialogue that w o m e n can establish w i t h themselves and their reality.

Notes 1.

The 'indigenist position' proclaims the political proposal of the possibility of an Indian government and state - in Bolivia, a Quechua and Aymara state.

2.

The C P M E A organizes activities for the promotion of women in the areas of training, economic production, services, research and communication. The centre works with various groups of women but always with immigrant Aynim women in the popular barrios of L a Paz.

3.

The Aymaras are indigenous inhabitants of the Andean areas of Bolivia. They were first conquered by the Incas and later colonized by the Spanish. Bolivia has almost 7,000,000 inhabitants, of which 1,156,000 are Aymara, according to the statistical projection from the 1976 census. From this number, more than 800,000 are bilingual (Aymara/Spanish) and almost 300,000, mostly women, are monolingual Aymaras.

4.

E l Alto developed as a suburb for workers, acquiring city status in 1976. It is located at 4,000 metres on a highland plain at the foot of snowy peaks; geographically it dominates the larger city of L a Paz. Like many Latin American cities, called variously 'young towns', 'villas of misery' or 'land invasions', E l Alto consists of numerous barrios (208 registered), of which many are squatter settlements in the process of legalization. The majority lack basic services such as running water, sewage systems and conditions of basic hygiene. E l Alto is a

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : H E D I A AND G E N D E R youthful city, as 66 per cent of its people are below the age of 25. The number of children and youths that work is significant, as is the number of young women that work full-time. 5.

The diverse self-critical and analytical elements used to describe the experience are the fruit of the labour of many people, including the Aymara women, the residents of E l Alto and the people who work at the women's centre. Through reports, evaluations, articles and commentaries, they have facilitated the reconstruction of the process as well as identified the possible strategies for its enrichment.

6.

Aymara women face discrimination because they do not use the Spanish language well. Most of the time their knowledge of Spanish is so limited that they cannot effectively communicate for daily survival - asking for addresses and speaking in government offices (see Ruiz 1987).

7.

The economic activity of most Altiplano women is non-contractual (73.5 per cent). The

rest of the women (26.6 per cent) work under a contract. A total of 97 per cent

of working women are involved in commerce, services or informal industry. 8.

The miners' radio stations are located in the main refining centres of Bolivia. These stations function as support to the miners' social movement and are considered a model of the relationship between alternative media and the popular movement.

9.

The changes also followed the recommendations of the external evaluation of 1988, which signalled the need to reach beyond the small groups connected with the institution. This challenge implied more involvement in shaping public opinion than with the education of closed groups.

10. The production of each weekly 10-minute report has the following steps: (a) training workshops for urban Aymara women, generally community leaders or those interested in the social issues of their community; (b) pre-production, which includes research and collection of information on selected themes and the writing of a tentative script; (c) production and filming of the images and pertinent interviews; (d) post-production, which includes editing, final research and delivery to television stations for broadcast; and (e) broadcast to a mass audience by a television station. The video is used as educational material to aid in the work of assessment and reflection among different small groups. 11. The poller a is the traditional Aymara skirt. 12. The division and stratification of popular sectors are complex problems with roots in the Spanish Conquest. The conquistadors struck alliances with some of the defeated, who in turn enjoyed a series of privileges. 13. The first set of data is from 1988, making reference only to La voz de las Kantutas. The perceptions of women from small factories and day-care centres and groups connected to the centre are examined. The second evaluation, carried out in early 1990, looks at the radio magazine and radio drama and reflects the impact of the project on the participants of the workshops.

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References Alfaro, R. (1988) De la conquista de la ciudad a la apropiación de la palabra. Una experiencia de educación popular y communicación con mujeres. Lima, Peru: Calandria. Alfaro, R. (1990) Cultura de masas y cultura popular en la radio peruana. Diagnóstico para construer una alternative radial. Lima, Peru: Calandria. Centro Para la Mujer Gregoria Apaza (1991) Informe evaluación taller de radio novella. L a Paz, Bolivia: C P M G A (unpublished). Mata, M . (1985) Radio Enriquillo en diálogo con el pueblo (Serie Investigaciones No. 3). Quito, Ecuador: A L E R . Mata, M . (1990) Radios popularizes: Pensando en los receptors, Media Development, 37(4). Ruiz, C . (1987) Palabra de mujer, Cuadernos de Communicación Alternativa, 5: 23-40. Savaria, J. and Sandoval, G . (1991) Jacha Uru¿ La esperanza de un pueblo? L a Paz: ILDIS, CEP.

O

I D E C O M M E R C I A L I Z A T I O N OF MASCULINITIES FROH THE NEW MAN' TO THE 'NEW LAD' J

John Beynon

Introduction: Masculinity from the 1980s If the 1990s w a s the decade in w h i c h masculinity w a s extensively deconstructed by academics w o r l d - w i d e , then the 1980s w a s most certainly the decade in w h i c h it w a s extensively reconstructed. W h a t do I mean by this? M a s c u l i n i t y w a s more extensively transformed by economic and commercial forces in the 1980s than at any previous time. T h i s postmodernist transformation of masculinity has been extensively documented by three writers in particular, F r a n k M o r t ( 1 9 9 6 ) , Sean N i x o n (1996) and T i m E d w a r d s (1997). I refer to each repeatedly throughout this chapter and record m y debt to them at the outset. L e t me emphasize that this chapter is effectively theirs, not mine. I can only hope that I do their w o r k justice. I proceed as follows. First, I place the ' n e w m a n ' in a brief historical context before examining the 'nurturer' a n d 'narcissist' strands. Second, I explore the narcissist strand of n e w masculinity by d r a w i n g upon N i x o n ' s threefold model of analysis of the commercialization of masculinity i n the 1980s by reference to menswear, visual representations (including advertising) a n d the men's style press. T h i r d , I label the 1980s as the 'hello and goodbye' decade, specifically 'hello' to the yuppie and 'goodbye' to the 'old industrial man'.

F o u r t h , I then move into the 1990s a n d on to the present time and

examine the further commercialization of masculinity, this time in the form of the 'new l a d ' and laddism, a project particularly associated w i t h the magazine Loaded new

and the advent of ' l a d television'. Fifth, I then trace the

lad's ancestry and the considerable barrage of criticism that has been

levelled at h i m . Finally, a question is posed, namely: w h o w a s (or is) the

THE COMMERCIALIZATION Of M A S C U L I N I T I E S | 'new

m a n ' ? I d r a w upon the views of three influential commentators,

C h a p m a n (1988), M o r t (1996) and E d w a r d s ( 1 9 9 7 ) . I conclude by arguing that a generalized 'new m a n i s m ' has n o w emerged in w h i c h elements from both the nurturer and the narcissus strands have been scrambled together. 'How

" n e w " is the " n e w m a n " ? ' is a pertinent question to ask. H e h a s

been a r o u n d i n various guises for some considerable time. F o r example, George Bernard S h a w w a s musing about w h a t form he could assume in the twentieth century as early as 1 9 0 3 ! A l s o , the term has often been used by historians to indicate past shifts in masculinity. T w o examples are the n e w man

of the Renaissance (epitomized by L e o n a r d o a n d Michelangelo) or,

more recently, someone like the ecclesiastic E d w a r d White Benson, the subject of J o h n T o s h ' s (1991) fine biographical cameo. I n spite of c o m paratively humble origins, Benson h a d , through iron discipline a n d h a r d w o r k , risen to become one of the most respected public figures of his time. He

epitomized the n e w m a n of the latter half of the nineteenth century i n

that a self-made meritocracy w a s slowly beginning to emerge i n w h i c h social position w a s earned through effort rather than being dependent o n family background and inheritance. H o w e v e r , the term 'new m a n ' belongs firmly to the 1980s and c a n be both a term of o p p r o b r i u m (signifying a n e w and

improved version of masculinity cleared of some, if not a l l , of the less

endearing attributes of traditional, patriarchal masculinity) a n d one of jocular dismissal and h u m o u r (in w h i c h some of the alleged features of the new

m a n , such as connecting w i t h his inner self, are mercilessly l a m -

pooned). Some argue that there is little ' n e w ' about the n e w m a n a n d that under the veneer he is the very same 'old m a n ' . Some w o u l d even argue that he has never existed. Such a v i e w is trenchantly expressed by M o i r a n d M o i r ( 1 9 9 8 ) , w h o maintain that the n e w m a n is nothing more than the creation of intellectuals a n d that he does not exist outside the academic mind a n d G u c c i perfume a d s ! I n o w turn to the origins of the n e w m a n w h i c h is approached i n terms of t w o strands, the nurturer and the narcissist.

Strand 1: The 'New Man-as-Nurturer' The

first

strand i n new m a n ' s heredity is allied to men's reactions to social

change a n d the changing role of m e n i n the 1970s and 1980s, particularly men's reactions to first-wave feminism. I n the U K a n d U S A pro-feminist men,

sensing justice i n the feminist movement a n d eager themselves for

social change, attempted to raise both their o w n a n d their fellow men's consciousness a n d foster a more caring, sharing, nurturing m a n . T h e y

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

willingly supported the w o m e n ' s movement a n d taking a full role i n the domestic arena (particularly in respect of child-rearing). These men were usually middle-class, well-educated intellectuals: a n example i n the U K w o u l d be Seidler's (1989) early w o r k a n d contributors to the magazine Rib. F e m i n i s m attacked patriarchy a n d pathologized patriarchal

Spare

masculinity as arrested development a n d , as C h a p m a n (1988) makes clear, equated it w i t h rape, w a r , incest, pollution a n d m u c h else. C h a n g i n g patterns i n family life, w i t h m e n m a r r y i n g later or not at a l l , along w i t h a willingness to take o n a supportive role i n a w o m a n ' s career, resulted in the emergence of the n e w m a n as a n ideal. H e w a s the riposte to vilified 'old man',

his father, a n d a refugee from the hard-line masculinity epitomized by

the paranoid, m a c h o m e n w i t h stifled emotions. T h e y were enacted o n the screen by W a y n e , Bogart, Bronson a n d Stallone, w i t h Stallone's R a m b o character memorably depicted as 'bare-chested a n d alone, w a d i n g through the Vietcong s w a m p w i t h not even a tube of insect repellent for comfort' ( C h a p m a n 1988: 2 2 7 ) . Others reacted differently to the social changes taking place. O n e of the most lampooned images is of the n e w m a n as a tree-hugging,

back-to-nature

figure

desperately

searching

for his real

'masculine s e l f . H e w i l l always be associated w i t h Robert B l y , the A m e r i c a n poet whose Iron John and

(1981) is still the subject of considerable debate

controversy. I n it he calls o n m e n to journey into nature, the great

outdoors a n d engage i n rituals i n male-only groups to release long-suppressed emotions. Thereby, he feels, m e n c a n reclaim their souls and reclaim true manhood. H e laments the decline of the father's influence in inducting the son into the w a y s of the w o r l d a n d argues that young m e n need older male mentors to help them connect w i t h the w i l d , innate masculinity inside them. T h i s is something w i t h w h i c h modern m a n has lost contact but w h i c h is preserved i n ancient myths. M a n y read the book as part of a n anti-feminist backlash, accused Bly of blaming w o m e n for alleged male emotional distress and

discontent, feared it w o u l d distract anti-sexist m e n as they struggled

against gender oppression and argued that B l y had failed to distinguish between gender a n d sexuality. Although C h r i s t i a n ' s (1994) is a small-scale study, its outcomes, given the paucity of empirical evidence of any k i n d , are noteworthy. H e interviewed some 30 m e n (non-macho a n d mostly non-gay, i n the age range 2 1 ¬ 54) w h o were attempting to live non-sexist lifestyles because they believed in the justice of increased equality between the sexes. M o r e o v e r , many of these m e n were aware of sensitive a n d vulnerable feelings w h i c h they believed helped them have better relationships w i t h w o m e n a n d children as w e l l as w i t h other men. A m o n g the key early influences i n these men's lives were:

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non-identification w i t h traditional fathers and strong identification w i t h nurturing fathers and parents w h o did not conform to conventional domestic roles

•

a rejection of macho behaviour in school a n d a preference for the c o m p a n y of girls

•

the generalized influence of feminism but, often, a relationship w i t h one feminist i n particular.

C h r i s t i a n (1994) reveals some apparent contradictions concerning the male breadwinner role. Since the 1960s w o m e n have become less prepared to accept dependence and there has been a widespread erosion of the male breadwinner role. H o w e v e r , m a n y of the men in the study believed that a commitment to it w a s still compatible w i t h a non-sexist lifestyle and aimed for a m i x e d b r e a d w i n n e r - h o m e m a k e r role w i t h their partners. C h r i s t i a n depicts pro-feminist men as a minority w h o m a y not be active in anti-sexist groups. T h e i r importance lies in their attempts to relate to w o m e n in nonoppressive w a y s and try to be their allies i n the struggle against gender oppression. Similarly, K i m m e l and Messner (1992) depict anti-sexist men as active supporters of w o m e n ' s demands for equal opportunity, education, political participation, sexual autonomy and family reforms. Such men are clearly the product of recent economic, cultural a n d demographic changes w h i c h have rendered traditional masculinity less a n d less sustainable. A s C h r i s t i a n (1994: 3) puts it, ' m a n y men's experience and expectations of life and

traditional ideas of masculinity have been seriously called into question

in the late twentieth century'. W i d e l y criticized as being middle class, elitist, Western-centric

and

remote from the lived experience of most m e n , the stereotypical image of the anti-sexist, caring, sharing m a n nevertheless gained credibility a n d strength throughout the 1980s. But h o w deep or widespread w a s the change? W a s it no more than a media-driven illusion of change or, in fact, a genuine change in the consciousness and behaviour of men? W h a t evidence there is w o u l d indicate that, in spite of his survival into the new century of the 'new man-as-nurturer', men's involvement in domestic labour has not significantly changed. C h r i s t i a n argues that the situation has been c o m pounded by the increasing w o r k demands of employers w h i c h have made it even more difficult for m e n to change long-established masculine routines and

expectations.

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Strand 2: The 'New Man-as-Narcissist* Before exploring this topic further, let me acknowledge again m y indebtedness to M o r t ( 1 9 9 6 ) , N i x o n (1996) a n d E d w a r d s (1997). T h i s second strand of the n e w m a n is associated w i t h commercial masculinity a n d the spectacular expansion of consumerism since the end of the Second W o r l d W a r (Shields 1992). T h e ' n e w man-as-narcissist' is clearly the s o n of his father's 1950s a n d 1960s rock a n d hippy generation, w i t h its interest i n clothes a n d pop music a n d far removed f r o m the 'demob-suited', carbolic soap a n d O l d Spice-scented generation. A l t h o u g h the commercialization of masculinity accelerated i n the 1980s, the trend h a d its origins i n late 1950s pop culture, especially i n the United States, w i t h the emergence of Elvis Presley a n d others w h o dressed to be looked at a n d admired. M o r t (1996) pinpoints 1 9 5 3 - 5 4 as the time w h e n class-based masculinities started to be replaced by style-based ones as a series of take-overs a n d mergers set i n motion a gradual erosion of the status quo of mass male (Burton's) fashion. M e a n w h i l e , E h r e n r e i c h (1983) identifies the 1950s playboy as the ancestor of the 1980s yuppie. I n the 1950s early marriage a n d the subsequent support of a wife a n d children were visible proof of 'normal masculinity', any deviation from this preordained route rendering the individual vulnerable to imputations of homosexuality. H u g h H e f n e r ' s Playboy

magazine's het-

erosexual hedonism avoided this while still rebelling against the dominant norms of 1950s masculinity. Whereas mainstream 1950s masculinity w a s antithetical to the feminine aspects of consumerism, the 'playboy' revelled in

the acquisition of fancy clothes, fast cars a n d beautiful w o m e n . It w a s

this Utopian vision that w a s to be picked u p a n d exploited by 1980s consumerism. If the 1960s set the scene for the fragmentation of a hitherto relatively uniform masculine text, the 1970s, w h i c h H u n t (1998) terms 'the decade that taste forgot', took it a stage further. T h e 1970s witnessed a disintegration of the relatively unified youth culture of the 1950s a n d 1960s a n d , as a result, male fashion, propelled by creative advertising, became w h a t M o r t (1996: 2 5 ) terms ' a h y d r a ' a n d stimulated a 'desire to play about w i t h masculinity, to re-arrange traditional icons of maleness' ( M o r t 1 9 9 6 : 2 0 3 ) . Y o r k (1982) captured this w h e n he observed the proliferating expressions of young masculinities o n the streets of west L o n d o n . H u n t (1998) notes that the young male icons of the time (like the footballer C h a r l i e George and

the singer R o d Stewart) displayed a 'hard-soft' masculinity w h i c h w a s

easily copied. ' R o d n e s s ' , for example, w a s readily available i n that a l l a young m a n h a d to do to acquire it w a s to drink, sing, pull girls a n d like football. F o r H u n t the strike-strewn 1970s rather than the peacock 1960s

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m a r k e d the emergence in Britain of more varied, mobile masculinities. T h e rampant commercialization of masculinity that w a s to follow w a s founded on

a number of 1970s stereotypes ranging from the traditional ( ' O l d Spice

Man',

' T o b a c c o M a n ' , 'Bitter Beer M a n ' ) through to the new kids o n the

block (the permissive, swinging 'Safari M a n ' , ' H a i r Spray M a n ' , ' L a d F o p ' and

' T h e G a y ' ) . A s the 1980s got under w a y the commercial exploitation of

men-as-sex-objects became very big business. T h e voyeuristic sexualization of the female body, its packaging as visual erotica, w a s n o w transferred to the male body w i t h the same ultimate purpose in m i n d - to sell, sell, sell. M e n s w e a r shops proliferated, full of broad-shouldered 'body a r m o u r ' suits, w i t h l o u d ties and

flamboyant

shirts; the male body became the peg o n

w h i c h to attach new fashion codes in an unprecedented w a y . M e a n w h i l e , R o s s (1999) describes h o w football and fashion began, at least at the mass end

of the market, to be brought closer together, m a k i n g more concrete a

link already evident in the colourful career of the 'fifth Beatle', the footballer George Best, in the 1960s and 1970s. H e describes h o w the football terraces became c a t w a l k s : ' T h e football fan of the early Eighties w a s no longer a rattle-waving, scarf-wearing w a l l y or a toothless skinhead grunt, but a mass of label-wearing, style-coded casual w e a r freaks' (Ross

1999:

29). T h e 1980s witnessed a change in the politics of looking as the 'maleon-male' gaze joined the 'male-on-female' (along w i t h female-on-male a n d even female-on-female) as socially acceptable, especially among young, fashionable metropolitan m e n w i t h high disposable incomes. N i x o n ( 1 9 9 6 ) employs a threefold model to analyse h o w this came about: •

Clothing

outlets for men

M a l e retail outlets proliferated in the 1980s,

ranging from the exclusive, designer outlets to the merchandizing of cutprice labels. T h e middle-ranging N e x t chain w a s one of the great marketing successes of the decade, their clothes

'speaking' aspirational

lifestyle rather than class. I n N e x t ' s hands the outmoded suit made a spectacular comeback, w r e a k i n g 'a vengeance against all forms of softfocus effeminacy' ( E d w a r d s 1997: •

New

visual representations

21).

of men I n the 1 9 8 0 s new visual representa-

tions of masculinities appeared in advertising a n d on television. T h e male form began to be eroticized and objectified in w a y s that h a d previously been applied to the female body. I n the hands of photographers (for example, R a y Petri a n d K e v i n B r o d y ) , advertising agencies (like Bartle Bogle Hegarty) a n d in cards and posters (for example, those by Athena) a narcissistic n e w m a n emerged, self-confident, well groomed, muscular, but also sensitive). •

Style magazines

for men T h e emergence of the style press for m e n w a s

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER arguably among the most notable features of 1980s popular culture. I n their pages diverse a n d mobile masculinities were created: as E d w a r d s (1997) puts it, i n both layout a n d content these were n e w kinds of magazines for n e w kinds of m e n . T h e y constituted a n e w commercial project a n d were 'lifestyle manuals . . . offering n e w w a y s of experiencing the city' ( N i x o n 1 9 9 6 : 155), i n the process placing men-in-the-mirror, to b o r r o w a term from E d w a r d s ' s (1997) book. H e documents the growth of style magazine publishing a n d the clever crafting of a range of visually sophisticated masculinities for the first generation to be brought up o n colour television, one more visually literate than any before. Both M o r t (1996) a n d E d w a r d s (1997) are of the o p i n i o n that 1980s m e n were not changing because of sexual politics, but through commercial pressures. In fact, the style magazines h a d ' a lot more to do w i t h n e w markets for the

constant

reconstruction

of masculinity through

consumption'.

( E d w a r d s 1997: 82) Gay

m e n , predominant i n the image a n d fashion industries, were at the

forefront of these changes a n d were blamed for w h a t some perceived to be the 'feminization' of men's fashion. T h e s e critics strongly objected to w h a t they held to be the prioritization of the 'gay l o o k ' i n fashion, including the sending up of m a c h o masculinity i n terms of hyper-masculinity. C o n versely, some gay m e n resented w h a t they regarded as the cheapening of their o w n distinctive visual style by the fashion industry. It is easy to overemphasize the significance of these skirmishes for the general British male populace, most of w h o m live outside L o n d o n a n d for w h o m such metropolitan lifestyles are light years a w a y from their o w n daily experiences. Indeed, N i x o n (1996) concludes: W h i l s t it is true to say that the boundaries between gay a n d straight, or even between male a n d female, are becoming more blurred i n terms of media representations, the marketing of up-market fashion a n d the consumption patterns of some affluent a n d professional groups, this barely marks a sea change i n the entire population where the categories of male

a n d female,

straight

a n d gay, black or white,

remain

remarkably stable. ( N i x o n 1996: 117) The •

1980s were characterized by t w o masculine archetypes: T h e ostentatious C i t y a n d W a l l Street yuppie, at his most triumphant a D o n a l d T r u m p - l i k e character, famously portrayed o n screen by M i c h a e l Douglas in Wall Street

•

(1985).

O l d industrial m a n , rendered redundant by the decimation of heavy

THE COMMERCIALIZATION O f M A S C U L I N I T I E S | industry, forever symbolized by the angry figures of miners confronting lines of police during the pit closures of the m i d - 1 9 8 0 s . It is to these that I n o w turn i n order to provide a picture of the 1980s as the 'hello a n d goodbye' decade.

'Hello' to the 'Yuppie' Although the term 'yuppie' w a s also applicable to w o m e n , its connotations were (and remain) essentially masculine. A t his heart w a s conspicuous consumption a n d a ruthless, cut-throat determination to be seen to be successful, all 'driven by a n excessive desire to spend money. Whether it w a s property,

cars, clothes

or personal artefacts,

dominant feature of the yuppie lifestyle' ( M o r t financial

consumption w a s a

1996: 172). F o l l o w i n g

deregulation, the C i t y of L o n d o n became a n economic a n d style

centre a n d his w a s a n overtly commercial masculinity, w h i c h E d w a r d s (1997) captures vividly: The

yuppie w a s not only a product of the economic expansion of the

financial

sector, he w a s a n advocate of the most striking conspicuous

consumption since the Second W o r l d W a r , posing, parading a n d swaggering around the C i t y i n his pinstripe a n d power-look suits, ties and

accessories, swinging his a t t a c h é case, talking animatedly o n his

mobile phone, endlessly flicking the pages of his Filofax, sticking his hair a n d using every excuse to get into a n d out of his suit, his tie, his striped shirt a n d , of course, his Porsche. ( E d w a r d s 1 9 9 7 : vii) If he w o r k e d in the City, the yuppie lived (at least during the week) i n the redeveloped fantasia of the L o n d o n Docklands ( H a l l 1998) a n d patronized the chic n e w restaurants a n d café bars of the refurbished (some w o u l d say divested of character) Soho, newly invaded by a wave of young media a n d advertising executives. M o r t (1996: 163) recreates The Great Gatsby

ambi-

ence of this controversial 'regeneration' w h e n referring to the transformation of the old W e l s h Nonconformist chapel in Shaftesbury Avenue into a n upmarket nightclub where yuppies could show off their new-found wealth: Decorated w i t h murals a n d w i t h a strong emphasis o n art a n d architecture, the Limelight enshrined its o w n caste-like hierarchy w i t h i n the spatial environment. T h e V I P suite restricted access to celebrities or to those able to buy into celebrity status. F r o m a n elevated gallery the elite c o u l d either look out across L o n d o n , or gaze d o w n from a position of superiority o n the dance floor below. ( M o r t 1 9 9 6 : 162)

I

C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND G E N D E R

L o n d o n ' s Soho became the location for t w o distinct constituencies of 1980s 'imaged masculinity', namely yuppies a n d gays. I n this 'heterotopic w o r l d ' y o u n g m e n engaged i n w h a t M o r t (1996) terms as 'experiments i n masculinity': ' F o r the most part these were organised along a n axis separating heterosexual from homosexual behaviours. H o w e v e r , at moments hybrid forms of identity were generated,

more

as w a y s of being a n d acting

mutated from one group to another' ( M o r t 1996: 182). Outside L o n d o n ' y u p p i e d o m ' w a s comparatively thin o n the ground. Y u p p i e s , however, h a d their poor relations, w h a t E d w a r d s (1997) terms their 'underclass counterparts', w h o wore a uniform of trainers a n d d o w n - m a r k e t labels a n d counterfeits. E d w a r d s (1997) recalls t w o dominant lifestyle images of 1980s yuppie masculinity, resonant

w i t h virility, sexual prowess a n d

masculine sensuality: •

The corporate

power

look:

the image of the aspirational yuppie i n his

wide-shouldered, double-breasted suit, striped shirt, braces, personal phone a n d B M W , shot against a background of a D o c k l a n d s studio apartment. •

The outdoor

casual look: the image of a muscular torso, stripping off his

white T - s h i r t , or i n a n English gentleman's weekend clothes shot against his

rural retreat far from the cares of city life.

Similarly, N i x o n (1996) identifies t w o variants of the above, ' E d w a r d i a n Englishness' a n d Ttalianicity': •

Edwardian

Englishness

T h i s w a s a n image of masculinity associated

w i t h the urbane, aristocratic Englishness of E m p i r e , of class, colonial domination, prestige a n d power. T h i s nostalgia for a colonial past a n d an

Englishness tied to the E d w a r d i a n era w a s particularly strong i n the

1980s, w i t h a string of nostalgic films like A Passage Room

with a View

(1986) a n d Maurice

vision series, notably Brideshead Crown •

to India

(1985),

(1987) a n d a number of tele-

Revisited

(1981) a n d Jewel

in the

(1982).

Italianicity

T h i s encapsulated the swaggering bravado of m a c h o Italian

masculinity, celebrated i n numerous gangster movies a n d fashion photographs.

'Goodbye' to the 'Old Industrial Man' M i l l i o n s of m e n i n the advanced economies lost their jobs a n d economic authority i n the succession of recessions throughout the 1980s a n d early

THE COMMERCIALIZATION O f M A S C U L I N I T I E S

|

1990s. T h e message w a s clear: loyalty, faithfulness and dedication

to

employers no longer counted for anything w h e n it came to the operation of r a w capital. T h e turning point in Britain w a s the

1980s

Thatcherite

deregulation of the economy, her adoption of market-led policies a n d a refusal to provide state hand-outs to halt the all-too-evident decline of heavy industry. These policies reached their apotheosis in C h a n c e l l o r of the Exchequer N i g e l L a w s o n ' s 1988 budget in w h i c h he slashed the top rates of income tax a n d reduced the basic rate. T h i s fuelled consumption a n d led to the m u s h r o o m i n g of out-of-town

shopping malls, retail parks a n d the

promotion of shopping as a primary 'leisure-pleasure' activity. T h e n e w man-as-narcissist rode on the back of this post-industrialism a n d burgeoning 'image industries' like advertising, m e d i a , promotion and public relations. A s M o r t (1996: 113) puts it, he w a s the logical outcome of the 'commercial narrative of gender', established through 'the sexual politics of advertising'. F o r the ordinary w o r k i n g m a n i n areas of heavy industry (like the N o r t h E a s t of E n g l a n d and South Wales) the pact between employer and employee based on mutual loyalty to a c o m p a n y w a s finally broken in the increasingly global marketplace.

T h e traditional

male career

was

attacked at all levels, but at least down-layered executives enjoyed high redundancy packages. T h e shift from manufacturing to servicing, and from industrialization to electronic technology,

w a s immensely damaging

for

working-class men. T h e old industrial labourers, along w i t h skilled a n d semi-skilled workers, were rendered obsolete by the technological advances they h a d helped to implement. Jobs that depended upon physical strength vanished in their millions a n d in their place came, at best,

short-term

contracts a n d part-time w o r k . W h y w a s the loss of often i n h u m a n , exploitative jobs (like coal mining) so mourned? First, these were not just jobs, but benchmarks of w o r k i n g class masculinity. E c o n o m i c a n d social changes destroyed these patterns of employment and, in the process, 'status, self esteem and the old m o r a l authority w h i c h men used to have just by being m e n ' ( C o w a r d 1999: Second, this w a s not just a temporary

86).

'laying-off' as in past industrial

disputes: it w a s , rather, the end of the U K as a major venue for heavy manufacturing (for example, shipbuilding). Contracting out, downsizing and

de-layering

meant

the

end

to

stable

patterns

of

working-class

employment ( C o w a r d 1999: 4 8 ) . By the m i d - 1 9 8 0 s a rise in suicide figures and increasing male homelessness w a s evident. A s C o w a r d says of these men: F e m i n i s m h a d given the w o m e n the confidence to move into masculine areas, combining w o r k a n d motherhood, seeing new opportunities in

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER new

w o r k patterns. M e n , by contrast, were experiencing their w o r k

changes, this so-called feminization of labour, more like a smack in the eye. ( C o w a r d 1999:

51)

W h a t w a s going on in fashionable Soho w a s a million miles a w a y from the lives and experiences of such economically a n d socially marginalized men. W h i l e shifting masculine scripts have impacted on all men, they did so unevenly. Increasingly style m a r k e d off young men from old, rich from poor, powerful from powerless, gay from straight. W h a t emerged w a s a hierarchy of masculinities based on appearance a n d w h i c h abolished more traditional masculine divisions based u p o n w o r k roles, ownership and sexual orientation. It became clear that m e n do not participate equally in the consumer society. Indeed, since the 1980s: wealthy,

good-looking

and

well-located

young

men

[have

been]

increasingly socially valorised over older, uglier or poorer m e n

...

those w i t h the looks, the income and the time o n their side have never had

it so good in terms of the opportunities w h i c h the expansion of

men's style and fashion have to offer them

But those without the

luck, the looks or the time have never h a d it so bad and are consigned to looking and longing, or even exclusion and castigation for not playing the game. I n this sense fashion is fascism: conform in the mirror of judgements, or else take the consequences. ( E d w a r d s

1997:

133-4)

Welcome to the 1990s: 'The Lads are Back in Town' W e have seen h o w in the 1980s the male body w a s treated as a n 'objectified commodity'

(Healey 1 9 9 4 ) , m u c h as the female body h a d long been.

Appearance and possessions became vehicles to give off meanings. It w a s the growth point for a renewed consumerism and the niche marketing of a sensuous imagery of young, affluent masculinity. T h e n e w , glossy men's style magazines were the principal vehicles for this commercial

project

based o n male narcissism. A s w e shall n o w see, the 1990s m a r k e d something of a reversal, w i t h a n attack on the self-conscious gentility of the 1980s mags and the projection of a far harder and distinctly 'laddish' masculinity (Alexander 1997). W h a t they h a d in c o m m o n were that they were both overtly commercial ventures, carefully calculated to open up new markets and generate profits. M e n ' s magazines in the 1990s toned d o w n the masculine sensuality of the 1980s, although Attitude

has tried to retain

something of the sexual ambivalence opened up in the 1980s. Both

Arena

I H E C O M M E R C I A L I Z A T I O N OF M A S C U L I N I T I E S

|

and

GQ cast the 1980s aside by reintroducing a strong heterosexual script

and

stylish, soft-porn shots of w o m e n . But the great 1990s men's magazine

success w a s undoubtedly Loaded, by

a publishing phenomenon, conjured up

James B r o w n and T i m Southwell in 1993 as a n antidote to w h a t they

regarded as the effete style-based men's mags. In Southwell's (1998) lively a n d entertaining account of the Loaded

story

he talks of its genesis. I n Barcelona w i t h B r o w n for a E u r o p e a n C u p match, Southwell writes: We'd

just emerged from a fancy nightclub full of very attractive and

very accommodating Spanish nurses. W e were delirious w i t h the joys of life. W e were also very drunk. R a m b l i n g d o w n the R a m b l a s , I began a high octane recounting of the night's amazing events . . . Suddenly James comes over all unusual, grabs me by the arm and fixes me in the eye w i t h a strange, cold stare. ' W a i t a minute,' he says, ' W h a t you just said. There should be a magazine like this, moments like this . . . it should be all As

about the best moments y o u ever h a d . ' (Southwell 1998:

the dust cover of Southwell's book puts it, Loaded

2)

celebrated the fact

that 'the boys from the bike sheds were running riot all over the school'. It was,

claims Southwell (1998: 2 5 5 - 6 ) , about capturing 'the best time of our

lives for readers'. H e denies it h a d any political or social agenda, resented the w a y in w h i c h charges of ' l a d d i s m ' were levelled against them and is still angry that w h a t started out as 'blokes being honest' became confused w i t h yobbish behaviour and football violence. H e continues: T h e r e w a s no specific concept like 'let's abolish the " n e w m a n " a n d replace h i m w i t h the " n e w l a d " . . . ' [The magazine] existed to celebrate w h a t it w a s like to be a bloke in Britain from 1993 o n w a r d s . . . I've

never ever met a 'new l a d ' a n d the reason is quite simple: they

don't exist. (Southwell 1998:

107)

H o w e v e r , it is left to R o s s (1999) to attempt to explain Loaded's

popu-

larity. H e asserts that by the 1990s the high living that h a d been at the heart of the lifestyle of the elite and celebrities from the 1960s onwards w a s n o w available, albeit in a less lavish form, to everyone, whatever their means, o n the streets throughout Britain and the magazine captured this: men's lifestyles were [now] more concerned about good times than the stiff, fake 'new m a n ' crap that the other titles h a d been peddling in the Eighties . . . Britain w a s learning h o w to party . . . Loaded

w a s the

men's mag that w a l k e d it like it talked it. It spoke the language of the bars a n d clubs of the U K . (Ross 1999: 4 1 ,

44-5)

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

As

the 1980s moved into the 1990s, booming L o n d o n continued to dress

up,

while depressed L i v e r p o o l a n d Manchester dressed d o w n . H e con-

tinues: 'everyone w a s o n a blag, selling a lot of knock-off here, a bit of drugs there, robbing this a n d fiddling that. T h e r e w a s a huge black market economy going o n . . . [this w a s ] a million miles a w a y from the cosy w o r l d inhabited by T h a t c h e r a n d her T o r y cronies' (Ross 1999: 3 1 , 3 3 ) .

Loaded

left the needs of narcissistic n e w m a n to its competitors, turned its back o n metropolitan chic a n d returned to basics: ' L a d s into football, beer, rock a n d talking about birds were hardly m a r k i n g a n e w demograph . . . It w a s just that it h a d been ignored by the mass m a r k e t mags for years' (Ross 1999: 2 3 ) . Moreover, as C a l c u t t (2000: 2 7 1 ) observes, Loaded

w a s 'the ideal

format for boys w h o d i d not k n o w h o w to grow up a n d so acted out a pantomime version of traditional masculinity'. R o s s (1999) places Loaded

at the very forefront of young men's culture

in the 1990s, claiming nothing less than that the Loaded

effect has been one

of the key cultural influences of the decade. Sales figures certainly appear to substantiate this assertion. I n summer 1 9 9 7 , for example, the m a i n ' l a d mags' h a d between them a combined readership of some 1.5 million, as follows:

FHM

(504,959),

( 1 4 8 , 5 7 4 ) , Esquire

Loaded

(450,000),

(92,907) a n d Aretia

Maxim

( 7 7 , 1 0 7 ) . Loaders

(185,000),

GQ

popularity a n d

sales figures climbed steadily at first from a n average of 6 0 , 0 0 0 a month a n d then rocketed, m a k i n g magazine publishing history i n the process. I n October 1996, it w a s selling 3 0 0 , 0 0 0 monthly; in summer 1997, it w a s 4 5 0 , 0 0 0 ; by January 1998, this w a s up to a n astonishing 5 0 0 , 0 0 0 ; a n d the fiftieth anniversary number i n M a y 1998 topped 6 0 0 , 0 0 0 , w i t h FHM as its nearest competitor some w a y behind. B y the summer of 1994 Loaded

was

synonymous w i t h irreverence a n d faddishness w a s in the air as a backlash against 1980s over-dressed, narcissistic n e w m a n . But this w a s not solely attributable to Loaded.

L a d s ' programmes dominated television ratings,

most notably Men Behaving

Badly, w i t h its t w o male lead roles played by

N e i l Morrissey a n d M a r t i n C l u n e s , a n d Fantasy Football League. T h e n there w a s 'Brit P o p ' (in particular, O a s i s , Pulp a n d B l u r ) , C h r i s E v a n s , Gazza,

D a v i d Baddiel a n d N i c k

obsession, Fever

H o r n b y ' s (1992)

eulogy

to football

Pitch.

The 'New Lad': His Ancestors, Friends and Enemies The

n e w l a d w a s a t h r o w b a c k to a time w h e n m e n h a d been able to behave

badly a n d not w o r r y about censure. L a d d i s m w a s a reaction both to the 1980s men's style press a n d to the g r o w i n g assertiveness of w o m e n . H i s

THE C O M M E R C I A L I Z A T I O N Of M A S C U L I N I T I E S | distant ancestor w a s the George Best a n d Stan Bowles working-class hellraisers-made-good of the 1960s a n d 1970s, while his more immediate relative w a s the 1980s 'lager lout', the yuppie's lower-class alter ego w h o , as H u n t (1998) notes, q u i c k l y moved from a folk devil into a consumer category. Another immediate ancestor from the 1980s w a s the 'toyboy', a sexualized young m a n happy to be the sexual plaything of older w o m e n . O f him

M o r t (1996) writes: By

C h r i s t m a s , 1986, it h a d a l l got too m u c h for the tabloids. L u m p i n g

[these] disparate male markets together, they came up w i t h the 'toyboy'. Pics a n d tales of young, stylish lads snapped i n their boxer shorts, the supposed playthings of older w o m e n . . . After a l l , if forty eight year old

'rock granny' T i n a T u r n e r could 'boogie the night a w a y ' w i t h her

' G e r m a n h u n k ' , so c o u l d any ordinary w o m a n . ( M o r t 1996: 2 0 5 ) The

n e w l a d h a d his origins i n pop music a n d football a n d , as E d w a r d s

(1997: 83) comments, the link is hardly surprising 'as football has historically a l w a y s been a bastion of blow-drying, smut-swaggering, sharplooking E n g l i s h l a d d i s m ' . T h e link between football a n d laddism w a s further strengthened i n 'football fiction' by, for example, N i c k H o r n b y a n d J o h n K i n g . W h i l e the former is football for family consumption, the latter's version is about m a c h i s m o , violence a n d hooliganism. But although the new

l a d m a y be objectionable, selfish, loutish, inconsiderate, building his

life a r o u n d drinking, football a n d sex, he w a s just as concerned

with

consumerism a n d labels as his n e w m a n elder brother: If the ' n e w m a n ' sold muscles a n d scent, A r m a n i a n d C a l v i n K l e i n , the 'new

l a d ' sells t-shirts a n d trainers, H u g o by H u g o Boss a n d Prada . . .

the style m a y have altered, yet the drive to consume remains the same ...

' n e w lads' are just as m u c h a phoney marketing phenomenon as

'new The

men'. (Edwards 1997: 83, 249)

success of Loaded

w a s about selling magazines through the exploita-

tion of working-class m a c h i s m o . I n fact, the w h o l e 'lad phenomenon' w a s a profit-driven, middle-class version of the archetypal working-class 'jackthe-lad'. C a l c u t t (2000) also points out that 'the l a d ' w a s not o n his o w n . B y his

side w a s the 'ladette', girls behaving just like lads a n d , like Z o e B a l l ,

'willing to play ball w i t h the N e w L a d culture if it w i l l advance their celebrity' (Calcutt 2 0 0 0 : 2 6 3 ) . T h e r e w a s also a 'yobocracy' of celebrity lads made up of such 1990s luminaries as P a u l Gascoigne, D a n n y B a k e r and

C h r i s E v a n s . L a d d i s m w a s not just a reaction to constraints placed

upon male behaviour by feminism but, certainly i n the hands of Loaded,

a

counterblast to the stifling metropolitan chic of the 1980s men's style press.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

M a n y s a w the attraction of laddism a n d Loaded

(and the t w o have become

synonymous) lying i n the fact that young m e n were suddenly sanctioned to display the errant side of masculinity, a return to

unreconstructed

basics like flesh, fun and unselfconsciousness. A s Southwell (1998) puts it: h a d clocked on to the fact that there w a s another k i n d of Britain

'Loaded

other than the Beefeater, f * * * i n g a r o u n d in Florence, that k i n d of highb r o w Britain. Loaded

clocked on to w h a t w e all k n e w a n y w a y : there w a s

another E n g l a n d , but no one had ever championed it' (Southwell 1998: 61). Loaded

writers famously engaged in 'capers' by going out into the pro-

vinces or travelling w o r l d - w i d e i n order to find out w h a t w a s happening on

the streets and i n the clubs: It w a s about having a laugh . . . about self-deprecation . . . w h a t was

Loaded

really saying w a s that all those things that people like doing, things

like getting d r u n k , they were all right. Loaded

w a s all about being

h o n e s t . . . w e weren't trying to sell a lifestyle, we were having a laugh ...

If we did anything it w a s to m a k e berkish behaviour acceptable. It

was

a big celebration . . . W e were constantly receiving letters of thanks

from people w h o ' d followed the Loaded

path after reading articles

about travelling to the w o r l d ' s greatest festivals and cultural happenings. (Southwell 1998: 7 3 - 4 , 98,

175)

L a d d i s m w a s a celebration of the irresponsible, of unreconstructed youngmen-running-wild reduced to their crude basics and promoted in through jockstrap h u m o u r and 'bikini-style' photography.

Loaded

A s Benwell

(2000) shows, irony is at the heart of the 'new l a d ' discourse, an 'unrelenting omnipresence of a certain knowingness, self-referentiality and humour'. Inevitably, the w h o l e lad culture i n general a n d Loaded

i n particular w a s

charged w i t h gross sexism, a charge hotly rebutted by Southwell (1998): W e like football, but that doesn't m e a n we're hooligans. W e like drinking, but it doesn't mean that as soon as the pub shuts w e turn into wife-beating misogynists. W e like looking at pictures of fancy ladies sometimes, but that doesn't m e a n w e w a n t to rape them . . . M e n like looking at pictures of attractive w o m e n . Big D e a l . G e t over i t . . . It's a class thing. Loaded had

portrayed w o m e n i n a very mainstream w a y and

no shame about the fact that this basic element w o u l d appeal to

our readers, most of w h o m w o u l d be m e n and most of them w o u l d , if they were anything like us, appreciate the inclusion of such pictures. (Southwell 1998; 101,

212)

Critics were numerous, as Southwell recalls:

THE COMMERCIALIZATION Of M A S C U L I N I T I E S

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clubby-pubby, all lads together hedonism a n d a healthy disrespect for pretension a n d anything Soho . . . [a magazine] not for men-in-arms, but for m e n w h o are reverting to type and getting drunk on the profits. (Helen B i r c h , Independent,

quoted in Southwell 1998:

99)

T h e r e ' s a feeling w i t h lads that girls are fun; sex is great; and everyone is having a good time . . . sod the politically correct. (Rosie Boycott, Daily Express, In

quoted in Southwell 1998:

' l a d w o r l d ' , feminism a n d homosexuality

M o o r e , Guardian, The

105) barely exist.

quoted i n Southwell 1998:

(Suzanne

206)

choice facing men today is between simpering cissy and unrecon-

structed lout. (Tony Parsons, quoted in Southwell 1998: [Loaded

209)

is] a regression to a n infantile state of 'behaving badly' by

fetishising the behaviour a n d culture of their adolescence. ( M i c h a e l Bracewell, Guardian,

quoted in Southwell 1998:

209)

As the 1990s drew to a close the criticisms levelled at ' l a d d i s m ' increased in intensity. F o r example, D a v i d Baddiel (1999), himself a leading 'telly l a d ' , attacked the culture that he h a d in no small part helped to create, dismissing Loaded

as 'unreadably passé'. Others, for example

Margolis

( 1 9 9 5 ) , objected to the w a y i n w h i c h television has allowed itself to be engulfed by the vulgar a n d attacked the T o n y a n d G a r y figures in Behaving

Men

Badly as irresponsible, stupid, slovenly a n d disgusting. Indeed, all

the 'celebrity lads' (Paul M e r t o n , F r a n k Skinner, D a v i d Baddiel a n d C h r i s E v a n s , among others) have allowed themselves to be trapped inside laddist personas to such a n extent that they have become depressing, even tragic figures. Y e t others attacked the banality of the mags that both feed a n d feed off laddism. E a r l y in 2001 the announcement that a n all-party committee of M e m b e r s of Parliament w a s to examine the rising rate of young male suicides in Britain led to the c l a i m that the 'culture of l a d d i s m ' w a s largely to blame because it fed young m e n a diet of excitement that they c o u l d not possibly replicate in their o w n mundane lives ( B B C 1 , Breakfast, 2 0 0 1 ) . Surprisingly, one of the co-founders

of Loaded,

appears to concur w i t h m a n y of his critics: 'Loaded

James

7 March Brown,

w a s like being o n tour

w i t h the R o l l i n g Stones . . . W e were young a n d . . . irresponsible a n d w e were having the time of our lives. A n d w h e n you're having that y o u don't think of the m o r a l implications' (Jenkins 2 0 0 0 : 2 5 ) . H o w e v e r , if for most laddism is just another clever w a y of m a k i n g money out of young male consumers by resurrecting the appeal of the working-class jack-the-lad, hell bent o n having a good time, others still regard it as a genuine rebellion, a

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

reassertion of something 'fundamentally masculine'. But no one c a n deny its continuing influence, especially since it has been successfully exported to the U S A . I n August 2 0 0 0 , the A m e r i c a n edition of Maxim

broke the 2

million circulation level, m a k i n g it the most successful magazine launch ever i n the U S A . G i v e n their subject matter,

it w a s appropriate

that

G o o d w i n and R u s h e (1999) adopted a distinctly laddish tone to record the launch of the For Him Magazine

in the U S A :

The

troops are being assembled, the invasion plans are well advanced

and

the general is in place . . . to launch if not a full-frontal assault at

least a semi-naked one, to liberate the sensibilities of the all-American male . . . F o r Uncle S a m , the count d o w n to the acceptable face of tottytime has begun . . . a guy's a guy, wherever he lives . . . A testosteronecharged British sperm is swimming across the Atlantic . . . If the American 'new m a n ' w a s ever house-trained by feminism to be considerate, sensitive and interested in women's minds rather than their bodies, he is about to be led wildly astray. ( G o o d w i n and Rushe 1999:

32)

Who is (or was) the 'New Man'? The

' n e w man-as-nurturer' w a s a response to feminism, to male con-

sciousness-raising a n d the activities of men's groups a n d the influence of both male and female intellectuals. W i d e l y criticized as being middle-class, elitist, 'Western-centric' and remote f r o m the lived experience of ordinary men,

the stereotypical image of the anti-sexist, caring, sharing m a n never-

theless gained credibility and strength throughout the 1980s. But h o w deep or widespread w a s the change he initiated? W a s it a media-driven illusion of change or genuine change in the consciousness and behaviour of men? Similarly, if some s a w 'new man-as-narcissist' as an upholder of individualism and a bright n e w future for a more diverse masculinity, others dismissed h i m as little more than a gullible clothes horse. Indeed, there are sharply divergent views concerning the degree of actuality of the n e w m a n . M a n y , for example, w o u l d agree w i t h Y o r k a n d Jennings's (1995) opinion that he w a s nothing less than the advertising industry's dramatization of its own

self-image a n d driven primarily by commercial greed. M e a n w h i l e ,

Polly Toynbee (quoted in M o r t 1988: man

17) is of the opinion that the n e w

is 'not here a n d it does not seem likely that we shall see h i m in our

lifetime'. N i x o n ( 1 9 9 6 : 197) tends to concur, describing h i m as nothing less than a 'regime of representation'.

THE C O M M E R C I A L I Z A T I O N O f M A S C U L I N I T I E S

|

Conclusion: The Emergence of 'New Man-ism'

In

M a r c h 1998, Jeremy P a x m a n , one of the presenters of B B C 2 ' s

News-

night programme, included a n item o n the 'new m a n ' in the programme w h i c h revealed m u c h about the media's fascination w i t h categorizing a n d labelling of contemporary masculinity. F o u r m e n appeared, each fitting into a n a r r o w stereotype: •

A n angry 'old m a n ' , w h o vociferously argued that men h a d come off badly in the changes to the divorce laws and the activities of organizations like the C h i l d Support Agency.

•

A ' n e w m a n ' , M a r k 1, circa the 1960s a n d 1970s, w h o talked of his efforts to tap into his inner masculinity a n d feelings.

•

A ' n e w m a n ' , M a r k 2, a child of the 1980s, responding to the changing roles a n d responsibilities of m e n in the consumer society.

•

A ' n e w l a d ' , w h o expressed the view that the n e w m a n did not exist in real life but w a s little more than a ruse by m e n to get w o m e n into bed.

New up

'types' of men are constantly being invented by the media. I n the leadto J a n u a r y 2 0 0 0 , ' M i l l e n n i u m m a n ' w a s constantly mentioned, along

w i t h the ' d a d l a d ' (that is, the ' l a d ' g r o w n up a n d settled d o w n ) . A s I write this (in February 2001) I hear o n the radio a n d read in the press of ' C o l d i t z man',

w h o wants to escape f r o m 'dragon w o m a n ' and the onerous a n d

stifling pressures of contemporary family life. . . . [T]hese journalistic generalizations,

while

they

guarantee

their inventors

a

string of

media

appearances and might even put a finger on a n element of truth, usually have very little evidence to substantiate them. It is also salutary to r e m i n d ourselves of the possible disjuncture between discourse and actuality. Easthope (1986) perceptively pointed out in the m i d - 1 9 8 0 s that the relationship

between

'the

discursive' and

'lives-as-lived'

will

always

be

ambiguous because ' m e n do not passively live out the masculine myths imposed by the stories and images of the dominant culture' (Easthope 1986: 167). H o w e v e r , he then w e n t on to say: 'But neither c a n they live c o m pletely outside the m y t h since it pervades the culture. Its coercive p o w e r is active everywhere, not just o n screens, hoardings a n d paper, but inside [their] heads' (1986: 167). W h i l e there is widespread acknowledgement that masculinity has c h a n ged considerably during the 1980s a n d 1990s, there is, I believe no longer any clear consensus as to w h a t the new m a n actually stands for. It is m y contention that these t w o hereditary (in some w a y s antithetical) strands have been w o v e n together in the public m i n d into a pot-pourri, nebulous

I new

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER m a n - i s m . T h e only defining feature to w h i c h w e c a n point w i t h any

degree of certainty is that he is certainly not 'old m a n ' , his father. T h e present-day young have a l l been touched by this n e w m a n - i s m i n one form or another. C o n v e y e d by television, film, pop songs, radio, advertising a n d the press, as w e l l as i n everyday social interaction, n e w m a n - i s m remains a highly pervasive a n d masculine 'message' ( H a r r i s 1 9 9 5 ) , one that bombards men i n various forms from all angles.

References Alexander, J . (1997) Half a million men can't be wrong, You, 12 October. Baddiel, D . (1999) Come on, you lads, it's cool to grow up, The Times Weekend Supplement, 6 November. Benwell, B. (2000) Ironic discourse: masculine talk in men's lifestyle magazines, in Posting the Mael conference abstracts, John Moores University, Liverpool, August. Bly, R. (1981) Iron John. Rockport, M A : Element. Calcutt, A. (2000) Brit Cult: An A to Z of British Pop Culture. London: Prion. Chapman, R. (1988) The great pretender: variations on the 'new man' theme, in R. Chapman and J . Rutherford (eds) Male Order: Unwrapping Masculinity. London: Lawrence & Wishart. Christian, H . (1994) The Making of Anti-Sexist Men. London: Routledge. Coward, R. (1999) Sacred Cows. London: HarperCollins. Easthope, A. (1986) 'What a Man's Gotta Do : The Masculine Myth in Popular Culture. London: Paladin. Edwards, T . (1997) Men in the Mirror: Men's Fashions, Masculinity and Consumer Society. London: Cassell. Ehrenreich, B. (1983) The Hearts of Men: American Dreams and the Flight from 3

Commitment. New York: Anchor-Doubleday. Goodwin, C . and Rushe, D . (1999) Drool Britannia, Sunday Times, 1 August. Hall, P. (1988) Cities in Civilization. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Harris, I. M . (1995) Messages Men Hear: Constructing Masculinities. London: Taylor & Francis. Healey, M . (1994) The mark of a man, Critical Quarterly, 36(1): 86-93. Hornby, N . (1992) Fever Pitch. London: Gollancz. Hunt, L . (1998) British Low Culture: From Safari Suits to Sexploitation. London: Routiedge. Jenkins, D . (2000) It's a man's world, Daily Telegraph, 10 December. Kimmel, M.S. and Messner, M . A . (eds) (1992) Men's Lives. New York: Macmillan. Margolis, J . (1995) Last orders for the 'new lad' fad, Sunday Times, 23 April. Moir, A. and Moir, B. (1998) Why Men Don't Iron: The Real Science of Gender

THE COMMERCIALIZATION O f M A S C U L I N I T I E S | Studies. London: HarperCollins. Mort, F. (1988) 'Boys Own?' Masculinity, style and popular culture, in R. Chapman and J . Rutherford (eds) Male Order: Unwrapping Masculinity. London: Lawrence & Wishart. Mort, F. (1996) Cultures of consumption, Masculinities and Social Space in Late Twentieth Century Britain. London: Routledge. Nixon, S. (1996) Hard Looks: Masculinity Spectatorship and Contemporary Consumption. London: U C L Press. Ross, J . (1999) The Nineties. London: Ebury. Seidler, V . J . (1989) Rediscovering Masculinity. London: Routledge. Shields, R. (1992) Lifestyle Shopping: The Subject of Consumption. London: }

Routledge. Southwell, T . (1998) Getting Away with It: The Inside Story of 'Loaded'. London: Ebury. Tosh, J . (1991) Domesticity and manliness in the Victorian middle class: the family of Edward White Benson, in M . Roper and J . Tosh (eds) Manful Assertions: Masculinities in Britain since 1800. London: Tavistock. York, P. (1982) The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook. London: Ebury. York, P. and Jennings, C . (1995) Peter York's Eighties. London: B B C Publications.

O

W O M E N AND T H E I N T E R N E T THE NATURAL HISTORY OF A RESEARCH PROJECT

Anne Scott, Lesley Semmens and Lynette Willoughby

W e are three academics - a software engineer, a social scientist and a neuroprocessor engineer -

in the early stages of a research project o n

w o m e n ' s relationship to the Internet. W e

w i s h to

explore

means

of

increasing the access of ordinary w o m e n to some of the most powerful of the new information a n d communication technologies ( I C T s ) . W e also w i s h to discern w h y previous efforts to improve w o m e n ' s I C T access have been less than successful. W e are feminists, and all three members of our group have a history of involvement in projects to improve w o m e n ' s access to technology, to education and to social power. T h i s article is a reflection on the pilot stage of our questionnaire-based study. It w a s expected that the pilot study w o u l d generate, primarily, methodological refinements and empirical data, but the results presented a rather unexpected set of outcomes. R a t h e r than generating answers, it w a s found that the study w a s generating questions. I n analysing the preliminary results, w e began to reflect o n the assumptions w e h a d brought to this project, a n d o n the w a y these assumptions are embedded i n a story that is becoming established as the feminist account of w o m e n ' s relationship to the Internet and other n e w I C T s . T h i s narrative then became the primary focus of our attention. It is, perhaps, unsurprising that the 'facts' for w h i c h w e were looking could not be disentangled from a narrative i n w h i c h w e were deeply, if rather unreflexively, embedded. Feminist epistemologists have established that all knowledge, including our o w n , must be contextualized 1984; H a r d i n g 1991;

(Lloyd

C o d e 1995; A l c o f f a n d Potter 1 9 9 3 ) . A s H a r a w a y

(1986: 79) has noted: ' . . . the life a n d social sciences . . . are story-laden;

WOMEN AND THE I N T E R N E T

|

these sciences are composed through complex, historically specific storytelling practices. Facts are theory-laden; theories are value-laden; values are story-laden. Therefore, facts are meaningful w i t h i n stories.' I n this article, we w o u l d like to begin describing and deconstructing the political a n d academic story - a story w e have entitled ' w o m e n a n d the Internet' - w h i c h we brought to this research project. W e believe that this story has become familiar to feminists w i t h a n interest in gender and information technology; it is becoming - to b o r r o w another of H a r a w a y ' s terms - an 'origin story' ( H a r a w a y 1986). W e w i l l be representing ' w o m e n and the Internet' as a story w i t h a fixed beginning, a contested centre a n d a n open ending. It w a s an engagement w i t h this origin story that catalysed our research interests, and w h i c h informed our questionnaire design i n the study's pilot phase. A lack of firm results then inaugurated a process of reflection w h i c h has highlighted the discursive construction of that story. It is these reflections, and consequent rethinking of ' w o m e n and the Internet' as a narrative, that w i l l be the subject of the rest of this article.

Women and the Internet: A Women-and-Technology Origin Story ' W o m e n and the Internet' is a story that - notwithstanding a few feminist attempts to highlight the nineteenth-century activities of A d a Lovelace (Plant 1 9 9 7 a ; T o o l e 1996) - generally begins w i t h the military-industrial complex. N u m e r o u s histories describe the development of the first c o m puters, during the Second W o r l d W a r , to c r a c k enemy codes a n d to calculate missile trajectories. Large main-frames later began to be used for scientific research and i n business for payroll a n d databases. T h e linked network n o w k n o w n as the Internet is also described as having h a d its origins i n the U S military (Salus 1995;

Panos 1 9 9 5 ;

Quarterman 1993).

D u r i n g the early days of the space race the U S Department of Defense created the A d v a n c e d R e s e a r c h Projects Agency ( A R P A ) . Part of A R P A ' s remit w a s to improve U S military communications and, in 1969,

four

A R P A N E T computers were connected; these four nodes constituted the origin of the Internet. Supported by the N a t i o n a l Science F o u n d a t i o n i n the U S A (Loader 1997: 6), academics and industrialists began connecting to the network. B y the time N S F support ended i n 1995, the commercial potential of the Internet in the f o r m of the W o r l d W i d e W e b w a s beginning to be realized, a n d the Internet h a d emerged as a globalized c o m m u n i c a t i o n system ( H a r a s i m 1 9 9 3 a ; Castells 1996). It w a s catalysing n e w means of engaging i n politics

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

(Tsagarousianou et a l . 1998;

Castells 1997;

Schuler 1996;

Schmitz 1996), of constructing identity (Stone 1995;

Wittig a n d

T u r k l e 1995), of

managing business, and of organizing c r i m i n a l networks (Castells

1996;

Castells 1998; R a t h m e l l 1998). W i t h i n the feminist tale of its origins, this world-changing technology has been said to have had its origins in a male w o r l d w i t h four roots: the military, the academy, engineering and industry (Harvey 1997). Differing versions of this historical account have been used to underpin analyses of the exclusion of w o m e n and other minority groups from the Internet v i a , for example, search engine operation, Internet culture and

the netiquette that governs acceptable on-line behaviour ( M o r a h a n -

M a r t i n 1998; H a r v e y 1997; W y l i e 1995; Holderness 1998; Spender 1995). E m p i r i c a l surveys have consistently suggested that w o m e n are underrepresented as users of the Internet. T h e numbers w o r l d - w i d e using the Internet have been regularly surveyed by the G r a p h i c s , V i s u a l i z a t i o n and Usability Centre ( G V U 1 9 9 4 - 9 8 ) . T a b l e 1 shows the percentages of w o m e n participants over the period January 1994 to A p r i l 1998. T h e early figures s h o w a very l o w participation rate w h i c h rose, stabilized at about 30 per cent, and is n o w rising again. T h e U S A has the highest numbers of w o m e n o n the Internet; E u r o p e a n w o m e n , by contrast, represent only between 15 per cent and 25 per cent of Internet users while, according to M o r a h a n M a r t i n (1998: 3), only 5 per cent of Japanese and M i d d l e Eastern Internet users are female. O t h e r surveys have tried to get a picture of the 'average' user. Which?,

in its 1998

annual Internet survey, claimed that U K users

have a distinct profile: T h e y tend to be male, under 35, living in the South, more affluent, employed, with no children living in the household.' These data have played a pivotal role in grounding this tale of w o m e n ' s relative exclusion from the electronic networks.

Table 1 Women as percentage of users ( G V U 1994-98) Europe

USA

Jan. 94 Oct. Apr. Oct. Apr. Oct. Apr. Oct. Apr.

94 95 95 96 96 97 97 98

7 10 15 20 15 22 16

17 33 34 32 33 40 41

World-wide 5 10 15 29 31 31 31 38 39

WOMEN AND THE I N T E R N E T

|

W h i l e ' w o m e n and the Internet' has had a wide variety of re-tellings, the themes noted here tend to m a k e repeated appearances. T h e resulting narrative has acted as a coherent a n d motivating origin story for feminists w i t h an interest in the new information and c o m m u n i c a t i o n technologies. I n it, these technologies - w i t h enormous potential to diffuse information more widely, to increase democracy, to overturn the modernist conception of the sovereign (male) individual a n d to improve w o m e n ' s everyday lives - seem to have been misused, misappropriated and squandered. T h e point that the I C T s are reinforcing the very inequalities they should be combating is hammered home. A s Spender argues in her influential Nattering

on the

Net

( 1 9 9 5 ) , the I C T s represent the new literacy, therefore many w o m e n are being rendered as twenty-first-century illiterates.

What Should Be Done? A s noted in the introduction, we have been thoroughly immersed in this story. A s feminists, committed to democracy and to w o m e n ' s full inclusion in the contemporary socio-technological revolution, w e have been involved in practical efforts to change this situation . . . W e have all been involved in efforts to develop more women-friendly forms of I C T e d u c a t i o n . W e have 1

put our energies into these projects in the belief that, without positive action by interested feminists, the electronic networks w i l l soon be, as W y l i e put it, 'no place for w o m e n ' (1995). L i k e others w o r k i n g in this area, w e have used actor network theory and social constructionist analyses of technology to argue that technological development is, in itself, a social process; it is a n endogenous part of the wider development of society. T h e shape of technological artefacts is, in both subtle a n d not-so-subtle w a y s , influenced by cultural expectations, legal f r a m e w o r k s , institutional imperatives, global finance markets, implicit models of potential users a n d social beliefs (Pool 1997;

Franklin

1997;

C o c k b u r n and O r m r o d 1 9 9 3 ) . Historically, if n e w technologies are to gain acceptance they must, in some w a y , have acted to construct a social a n d cultural context in w h i c h they 'make sense', a n d i n w h i c h they are needed (Latour

1993;

C o c k b u r n a n d O r m r o d 1993;

Callon

1991).

2

Thus,

to

be successful, new technologies must be produced in conjunction w i t h new social practices, n e w social forms and n e w social networks w h i c h are able to receive and utilize them. W e have been committed to the construction of n e w socio-technical practices w h i c h are as gender-sensitive as possible. A s interrelationships between the actors developing the 'information

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND G E N D E R

society' become denser a n d more complex, the shape of the n e w actor network developing around the I C T s ( C a l l o n 1 9 9 1 ; L a t o u r 1993) w i l l become less malleable a n d less reversible; a n e w techno-social reality w i l l have been created. If w o m e n do not 'fit' w e l l w i t h i n the n e w technological standards n o w developing, they w i l l find themselves being marginalized w i t h i n developing social practices a n d social forms. A s H a r a w a y has noted, 'not fitting a standard is not the same thing as existing i n a w o r l d without that standard' ( 1 9 9 7 : 3 7 - 8 ) . T h e gender a n d I C T problem thus seems to be a n urgent one; once this new socio-technical reality has become firmly established, people who

fail to fit w e l l w i t h i n it must either adapt to it or accept margin-

alization. ' W o m e n and the Internet', as a narrative, is thus a story suffused w i t h anxiety. N e w technological standards, protocols, products a n d structures are being developed at a n incredible speed. N e w legal f r a m e w o r k s , social practices, economic models, organizational structures, institutional forms, cultural traditions, educational practices a n d forms of discourse are emerging to provide a context for them (Hills a n d M i c h a l i s 1 9 9 7 ; L o a d e r 1 9 9 7 ; Castells 1996). T h e process of development currently under w a y w i l l thus have direct a n d far-reaching material consequences.

L i k e m a n y other

feminists w o r k i n g w i t h i n this area, w e have seen it as imperative that w o m e n are not excluded from full involvement i n the design, use a n d adaptation of the I C T s during this formative phase of their development. So

this story forms a context i n w h i c h w e believe it important to learn

why w o m e n seem to be relatively excluded from the electronic networks. It was

decided that w e needed to ask w o m e n themselves h o w they felt about

the Internet, about their preconceptions

a n d , after trying the N e t for

themselves, their perceptions. T h i s w a s the starting place for the pilot study ' w o m e n coming to the N e t ' , in w h i c h w o m e n attending short courses o n the Internet or related subject areas were asked to complete a questionnaire. The

shape of the pilot study drew heavily o n a bid to the E S R C ' s virtual

society programme,

w h i c h h a d been submitted earlier by t w o of the

authors.

Story? Which Story? W h i l e ' w o m e n a n d the Internet' opens i n a reasonably cohesive fashion, this feminist tale then splits into at least three, semi-competing, v e r s i o n s . A t the 3

risk of over-simplifying a n d caricaturing a very complex literature, w e might designate these accounts as follows:

WOMEN Â N D THE I N T E R N E T •

|

the webbed Utopia

• flamed out, and •

locked into locality.

These three versions of the ' w o m e n and the Internet' narrative differ sharply i n the w a y they perceive w o m e n ' s relationship w i t h the Internet. T h e y range from an optimistic celebration of w o m e n ' s subversive activity via the electronic networks to tales of exclusion, harassment and violence. Indeed, these competing stories might be said to belong to different genres entirely.

Account 1: Hhe webbed Utopia

9

D r a w i n g on examples such as the famous case of the P E N network in Santa M o n i c a (Wittig and Schmitz 1996), Light argues that the electronic netw o r k s offer w o m e n new possibilities for n e t w o r k i n g and for participative democracy. L i g h t (1995: 13) insists that this vision is not 'a feminist U t o p i a like the science fiction w o r l d s of scholars such as Sally M i l l e r G e a r h a r t ( 1 9 8 3 ) . Rather, it is realistic and practical; at its core is the concept of seizing control of a new communications technology.' Whether, in fact, Light's assessment of practicality c a n carry the tale ' w o m e n a n d the Internet' all the w a y to its conclusion, she has correctly identified her genre. ' T h e webbed Utopia' is heavily influenced by the recent flood of feminist science fiction a n d fantasy. Sadie Plant (1997b: 5 0 3 ) , for example, recently stated that the ' d o o m ' of patriarchy is inevitable, and that it 'manifests itself as an alien invasion, a program w h i c h is already running beyond the h u m a n ' . T h e optimism of the webbed Utopians has been reinforced by a number of contemporary examples in w h i c h activists have successfully employed the Internet for political ends. Systers, cyber-grrls and other feminist netw o r k s , for example, have w o r k e d to open up women-friendly spaces on the electronic networks ( W a k e f o r d 1997; C a m p 1 9 9 6 ) . Political networking primarily via electronic m a i l - w a s successful in influencing the outcome of the F o u r t h W o r l d Conference on W o m e n in Beijing; the campaign influenced both the conference's p r i m a r y agenda a n d the scope of its associated N G O forum (Gittler 1999; H u y e r 1999). M e x i c a n Zapatistas have used the Internet to elevate a local dispute into a national a n d international political issue (Castells 1997). Political activists in C h i n a a n d M a l a y s i a have used Internet-based c o m m u n i c a t i o n to push the authorities into a corner, thus generating a political backlash (Independent,

1 9 9 8 a : 15, 1998b: 18, 1998c:

18). Computer-mediated c o m m u n i c a t i o n has been used to revitalize u r b a n

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

democracy in a number of cities (Brants et ai. 1996; D a y a n d H a r r i s 1997; T s a g a r o u s i a n o u et a l . 1998). T h e ease a n d cost-effectiveness of publishing on

the W o r l d W i d e W e b has also made it possible to develop a n interna-

tional w o m e n ' s listing magazine (Burke 1 9 9 9 ) . T h e use of the electronic networks has clearly enhanced both local and global networking, thus opening up n e w social and political possibilities. The

webbed Utopia' is a n account that c a n , however, remain wilfully

blind to dramatic differentials in access to, and control of, the electronic networks. Plant's c l a i m (1995) that the networked organization of the W o r l d W i d e W e b inherently supports feminist and democratic styles of w o r k i n g seems, in this Utopian tale, to give her epistemological logic of networking a precedence over the more material logics of economic and industrial power. W h i l e Utopian feminists are busy eulogizing the wonders of w o m e n - o n l y alternative public spaces, they are failing to challenge the contemporary use of cybertechnology - by industrial giants, global criminal networks, military strategists, wealthy financiers and international racists to evade social regulation, entrench political control and concentrate economic power (Castells 1996,

1998;

L o a d e r 1997;

Panos 1995;

Fischer-

H u e b n e r 1998; L y o n 1998; C a p i t a n c h i k and W h i n e 1 9 9 9 ) .

Account 2: 'flamed out If 'the webbed Utopia' belongs to the genre of science fantasy, 'flamed out' belongs to the horror genre, complete w i t h invisible lurkers, menacing intimidation, pornographers and even cyber-rapists (Spender 1995; man

Her-

1999; H i l t o n 1 9 9 6 ) . E v e n in feminist discussions of the I C T s that are

primarily devoted to other concerns, references to unprovoked sexual aggression on the Internet form a recurring theme. I n a passing reference to pornography on the N e t , t w o authors recently suggested that: In

these cases, n e w c o m m u n i c a t i o n technologies not only help to

immortalize the product of a distorted v i e w of sexuality w i t h i n patriarchal societies, but also help predators to find new victims, creating a reverse civil society, a community of the predatory violent. Rapists or paedophiles c a n connect w i t h their like-minded friends a n d together they c a n create a virtual w o r l d in w h i c h the ' a b n o r m a l ' n o r m a l . . . (Inayatullah and M i l o j e v i c 1999:

becomes

81)

In one study of 35 days' w o r t h of contributions to an e-mail list, both men and

w o m e n reported 'being intimidated by the bombastic a n d adversarial

postings of a small minority of male contributors w h o effectively dominated the discussions' (Herring et a l . 1992:

2 2 5 ) . M o r e o v e r , a two-day

WOMEN AND THE I N T E R N E T

|

discussion of a feminist topic - during a five-week period in w h i c h the other 33 days h a d been dominated by men - resulted i n angry accusations from some of the men that they felt silenced. I n fact, according to those narrating this version of ' w o m e n a n d the Internet', it is w o m e n w h o are being silenced. Studies by K r a m a r a e and T a y l o r ( 1 9 9 3 ) , H e r r i n g (1996) a n d Ferris (1996) suggest that men tend to monopolize on-line communication, even w h e n the topic of discussion relates closely to w o m e n ' s interests and experience. C l e m H e r m a n (1999) argues that sexual harassment on the electronic networks has the effect of silencing w o m e n users. These studies of on-line communication suggest that, to paraphrase K r a m a r a e a n d T a y l o r ( 1 9 9 3 ) , computer-mediated c o m m u n i c a t i o n is more a male monologue than a mixed-sex conversation. T h e tactic of flaming - directed at those w h o infringe a masculinized netiquette' (Sutton 1996) - c a n be used to harass and victimize w o m e n in cyberspace. Spender (1995) discusses at some length the hostile environment created

for w o m e n by

flaming

on the N e t and by the highly

masculinized atmosphere existing in some computer labs; these issues have also been highlighted by K r a m a r a e and T a y l o r ( 1 9 9 3 ) , Brail ( 1 9 9 6 ) , W y l i e (1995) a n d H e r r i n g (1994). ' F l a m e d out' is by no means, however, a story told exclusively by w o m e n . Rheingold (1994), M i l l e r (1996) and Seabrook (1997) have all pointed to the destructive influence of 'flaming' o n w o m e n ' s - a n d men's - ability to participate in computer-mediated c o m m u n i c a t i o n . These concerns have catalysed the creation of w o m e n - o n l y spaces w h i c h c a n act as a 'sanctuary o n a hostile net' ( C a m p 1996:

121).

' F l a m e d out' highlights the fact that the use of male violence to victimize w o m e n a n d children, to control w o m e n ' s behaviour, or to exclude w o m e n from public spaces entirely, c a n be extended into the n e w public spaces of the Internet. T h i s powerful a n d engaging story, however, is also rather onesided. W i t h i n the genre of horror, w o m e n are often presented as helpless victims of violence; in this respect, 'flamed out' is true to its literary roots. Such portrayals c a n be politically paralysing. Furthermore, they are highly misleading; most N e t users do have some means to control or avoid intimidation

and

violence

(Hamilton

1999;

Newey

1999).

Helpless

victimization is not the experience of most w o m e n , in cyberspace or elsewhere. T h i s version of ' w o m e n a n d the Internet' c a n be counter-productive for feminists; if cyberspace is so dangerous, w o m e n might well come to believe that their daughters w o u l d be safer spending their time somewhere else.

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

Account 3: Hocked into locality' The

third version of ' w o m e n and the Internet' central chapters might well

find a home in the genre of domestic d r a m a developed by nineteenth-century feminist novelists. L i k e these novels of historical realism, 'locked into locality' is suffused by a melancholy awareness that, while the social, political and economic action is taking place in a distant public space, most w o m e n are still shut a w a y at home. The

electronic networks have been repeatedly described as a 'new public

space' or even as a n e w 'public sphere' (Samarajiva and Shields

1997;

H a r a s i m 1993b; Schuler 1996). W o m e n , however, are said to be underrepresented in these spaces, trapped in a shrinking 'private' sphere of print and

of proximate, face-to-face contact: After five hundred years, w o m e n were just beginning to look as though they were d r a w i n g even w i t h the men. T h e y have reached the stage in countries like A u s t r a l i a where, for the first time, more w o m e n than men

have been gaining higher education qualifications. But this success

has been achieved in an education system still based o n print. . . . A n d just w h e n it looks as though equity is about to be realized - the rules of the game are changed. T h e society (and soon the education system) switches to the electronic medium. (Spender 1995: In

185)

the nineteenth century, the w o r l d of print allowed geographically iso-

lated feminists to connect w i t h each other, and thus build nation-wide political networks (Alexander 1994; L a c e y 1987). By turning inwards w i t h a pen, V i c t o r i a n feminists could upturn the constraints of the private sphere, a n d m a k e a n impact on the public w o r l d of ideas. T h e y could subvert the geographies

of public a n d private. I C T -

by dramatically

redefining contemporary notions of public and private ( R i c h 1997:

226;

G u m p e r t and D r u c k e r 1998) - m a y offer similar opportunities to twentyfirst-century The

feminists.

heroines of 'locked into locality' must do battle w i t h the prejudices

of their contemporaries regarding w o m e n ' s place, w o m e n ' s capabilities and women's

desires.

They

must

struggle

to

acquire

necessary

material

resources: not a ' r o o m of their o w n ' ( W o o l f 1929), but a computer of their own

and the software, education, training, time and space needed to use it.

W o m e n are often identified w i t h local identities and the particularity of place (Castells 1997;

E n l o e 1989). A s these geographies

of place and

locality are subverted by new geographies of information flow, w o m e n face a double challenge: they must defend their local spaces against the threat posed by a disembodied globalization, and they must also create spaces

WOMEN AND THE I N T E R N E T | w i t h i n the new electronic media for their o w n voices (Escobar 1 9 9 9 ) . ' L o c k e d into locality', as a n account, is thus highly sensitive to the material constraints of time, space, money, educational background, cultural expectations

a n d employment

opportunities, w h i c h act

to

limit

w o m e n ' s opportunities a n d aspirations in relation to the I C T s . R e s e a r c h conducted by those constructing this tale suggests that the obstacles that w o m e n must overcome to gain full access to these networks are still substantial. G r u n d y (1996) points out that men are more likely than w o m e n to be i n jobs providing access to the Internet; A d a m a n d G r e e n (1997) further note that constructions of w o m e n ' s w o r k as 'less skilled' c a n be used to justify the granting of lower levels of autonomy i n w o m e n ' s use of I C T s at w o r k . T h e use of I C T s at w o r k c a n reinforce expectations of accessibility and flexibility, w h i c h are often imposed o n w o m e n ( M a r k u s s e n

1995;

W a g n e r 1995). Boys tend to dominate computer clubs and gaming netw o r k s ( H a d d o n 1992; Spender 1995). D u r i n g the Internet's recent growth spurt, there has actually been a decline in the numbers of w o m e n studying computing in universities (Wright 1997). I n a study of the use of domestically o w n e d P C s , W h e e l o c k (1992) found that wives/mothers made less use of the machines than other family members. I n an international survey of w o m e n ' s groups and individuals (Farwell et a l . 1999), the most frequently cited barriers to w o m e n ' s I C T access were lack of training a n d the cost of equipment. Respondents also mentioned problems relating equipment accessibility, lack of time, information overload,

to

language

constraints, lack of privacy a n d security, fear of backlash or harassment, skill deficiencies and alienation. V i c t o r i a n feminists pushed for a n extension of opportunities, so that a few w o m e n might be able to overcome the m a n y obstacles in their path a n d forge public careers. Similarly, 'locked into locality' is, as a narrative, closely associated w i t h the equal opportunities discourse of the W I T , the W I S E a n d the G I S T p r o g r a m m e s .

4

By w o r k i n g to create social support

networks, to institute cultural changes, and to induce higher expectations of, and by, girls and w o m e n , these programmes have been notably successful in enabling some w o m e n to pursue scientific and technological careers (Swarbrick 1987;

W h y t e 1986). T h e y have also, however, been

criticized for their individualism. I n assisting individual w o m e n w h o w i s h to ' m a k e it' in the male w o r l d s of science a n d technology without first problematizing economic a n d social structures, the public/private division and the gendered cultures of contemporary technology, they r u n the risk of reducing structural issues to problems of individual deficiency ( C o c k b u r n 1986; S w a r b r i c k 1997; W h y t e 1986; K e l l y 1 9 8 5 ) . I n spite of the problems associated w i t h it, it is i n the tale of 'locked into

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

locality' that w e have felt most at home. I n its steady focus o n material factor, both the dangers a n d the opportunities posed by the Internet are placed i n perspective.

Its historically a n d socio-economically

sensitive

individualism is highly usable w i t h i n a n educational context. A s a narrative it is both practical a n d flexible. O u r o w n research project w a s embedded i n this version of ' w o m e n and the Internet'.

Women and the Internet: Questioning the Tale Women coming to the Nef: a pilot study Some time w a s spent putting together a questionnaire for the pilot stage of this project. W e attempted to frame the questions i n a w a y that w a s sensitive to the problems of time, space a n d material constraint w h i c h w e believed w o u l d most affect w o m e n ' s experiences of the I C T s . I n addition to addressing a number of demographic

variables w i t h relevance to the

structure of m a n y w o m e n ' s lives, our questionnaire asked respondents to discuss their perceptions of enabling a n d disabling technologies. W e differentiated individual access a n d household, community-based and w o r k based access; questions were also asked about the control a n d ownership of ICT

equipment a n d software, in practice. Respondents were asked to

identify their preferred environments for using the Internet, their preferred contexts for training, a n d their preferences regarding types a n d quantities of external support. W e also asked our respondents to tell us for w h a t purposes they used their computers and for w h a t purposes they w o u l d like to use their computers. As

w e started

distributing our questionnaires, w e felt that w e h a d

developed a pilot research instrument of some sophistication. T h e questionnaires were distributed o n three short courses aimed at w o m e n w i t h differing levels of I C T ability and confidence. W h e n analysis began, h o w ever, w e found to our chagrin that w e h a d almost no data that w e could directly use. T h e answers o n completed questionnaires reflected widely divergent readings of the questions, as w e l l as a wide divergence in w o m e n ' s basic conceptualizations of I C T . T h e r e d i d not seem to be a n y patterns emerging at a l l .

Researching gender and IT At

this stage, some basic rethinking w a s required . . . Problems seemed to

stem from the fact that the question, as w e h a d originally framed it, w a s

WOMEN AND THE I N T E R N E T

|

unanswerable. T h e pilot study h a d been designed to address the question ' W h a t are the factors that limit and constrain w o m e n ' s access to the new I C T s ? ' T h i s is a question that emerges naturally from 'locked into locality', the version of the ' w o m e n and the Internet' story w e favoured. It assumes that w o m e n are a relatively homogeneous group, w h o have been prevented by material and cultural factors from gaining full access to a n unproblematized, electronic 'public sphere'. H o w e v e r , there are at least three problems hiding in this question. W h a t do w e m e a n by access? W h a t do w e mean by 'the Internet'? A n d which w o m e n ? W e w o u l d like to address each of these i n turn.

What do we mean by

access?

W e began our study w i t h a conceptualization of 'access' w h i c h challenged the notion that I C T users are - first and foremost - consumers . . . A s long as 'access' means, as W y l i e put it, access to 'the right to clerk a n d consume' (1995: 3), it is hard to counter the argument that greater equality of I C T opportunity can best be generated after

a w o r k i n g network has been

established by the more d y n a m i c private sector. B y contrast, w e have tended to configure I C T users as citizens - as social, political a n d cultural agents.

5

O u r conceptualization of 'access' thus owes a great deal to the

actor network analysis of technology, discussed previously. T h e question we have been asking might thus be rephrased as follows: are w o m e n to be admitted to the electronic public sphere as w o r k e r s a n d producers, or as full citizens a n d social agents? O u r conceptualization of 'access', however, has also been blind to concerns that do not fit naturally into this narrative. D u t t o n (1998) argues that we cannot think about I C T access in a manner that simply adds it to people's existing capacities a n d resources. Instead, w e must think about geographies of access: to w h a t are people gaining access, and for w h a t are these n e w connections substituting? People might surf the w e b instead of going to their local public library, for example; instead of putting their money in the N a t W e s t on the H i g h Street, they might do their banking w i t h First Direct; instead of spending their time chatting w i t h a neighbour, they might build a close friendship w i t h a n e-mail user i n T o k y o . I n short, social, economic and political networks that were once heavily based on geographic proximity are being replaced by a new 'space of flows' - networks based on affinity or the provision of specialized services (Castells 1996). H o w e v e r , since not everybody can afford 'tele-access',

6

this w i l l result in holes being

punched in communities of physical locality, while more socially a n d economically exclusive 'virtual' communities are created. These segmented

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

communities w i l l be less able to m a i n t a i n a shared culture (Escobar

1999:

35). T h e meaning of 'community' is thus changing w i t h those people fortunate enough to have access to the Internet n o w being able to create (in effect) privatized, fragmented a n d geographically dispersed communities. T h e question of access, therefore, cannot be addressed o n a n individualized basis. Rather, it must be transformed into a question about the social relations of technology. A s M a y puts it, 'technologies do not necessarily bring w i t h them specific social relations antagonistic or co-operative. It is the use to w h i c h technologies are put that develops their social relations' (1998: 253). H o w w i l l the new I C T s be integrated into everyday life? W h a t new social networks w i l l be created? W h o w i l l those networks include, a n d w h o w i l l be excluded? H o w w i l l everyday activities be transformed? H o w w i l l people w i t h varying levels of I C T equipment, software, training a n d interest find, or create, a w a y to manage the micro power relations w h i c h have been t h r o w n into some level of flux by the need to integrate these new techno-social forms? These questions cannot easily be addressed w i t h i n the 'locked in locality' narrative, w i t h its 'equal opportunities' focus on socially created material constraints that act o n a n individual level. Moreover, our analysis of the data in our questionnaires suggests that the question of 'access' - even if we could develop a n appropriate narrative frame for it - is simply too complicated to be usefully addressed via a short survey. T h e question of ' I C T access' must be embedded in a larger set of questions about I C T use w h i c h are, in turn, embedded i n a set of questions about social institutions, social practices and social networks. A s k i n g the respondents

about

the features

on their computers

told us little, for

example, because w e did not have contextualizing information relating to their reasons for having those features, the use they made of them, their conceptualizations of that use, and the w a y these practices were embedded in the larger structures of their lives.

What do we mean by the Internet? O u r questionnaire included a number of questions about the features that respondents h a d o n their computers, the features they wished to have, a n d the use they made of their computers. T h e s e questions were designed to differentiate between active and passive use of the Internet. I n keeping w i t h the emphasis in ' w o m e n and the Internet' o n enrolling w o m e n into a n active construction of n e w socio-technical relations, they were designed to differentiate

cyber-consumers

from

cyber-citizens. T h e data

collected,

however, came aground o n a simple but thorny problem. M o s t artefacts begin to carry a multitude of meanings as they are appropriated by users

WOMEN AND THE I N T E R N E T

|

a n d incorporated into their daily lives (Silverstone et a l . 1992). T h i s m u l tiplicity, however, is greatly magnified in the case of both the personal computer and the Internet, whose very raison d'etre is the manipulation and communication of symbolic meaning. W e h a d fallen foul of the 'black box' fallacy ( G r i n t and W o o l g a r 1997) - proceeding as if the Internet, a n d the equipment used to access it, could be conceptualized as 'things' w i t h a single, coherent and accessible meaning. A s w e began to analyse our data, we realized that we really c o u l d not make sense of the personal computer, or of the Internet, as a single thing. T h e respondents were clearly conceptualizing both the P C and the Internet in dramatically varying fashions; perhaps the P C is not a single thing. O u r reflection and analysis leaves us w i t h the uncomfortable conclusion that the computer/Internet

remains, at least, five different things. Politicians a n d

employers tend to think of the computer/Internet as a tool to keep track of money and stock, assist in marketing and publicity, transfer software and data, a n d improve management and administration. ' L o c k e d into locality' draws heavily on this conceptualization of the computer/Internet.

Artists,

musicians and writers, by contrast, think of the computer/Internet

as a

publisher. A l l three versions of ' w o m e n and the Internet' have analysed the implications of the fact that people c a n publish o n the w e b at little cost, and without going through publishers. T h i s makes public platforms available to more people and catalyses the development

of more democratic

epis-

temologies; however, it also allows pornography a n d hate literature to be produced a n d disseminated v i a the Internet. I n most homes, the computer/ Internet is, first and foremost, a toy; it is primarily used for playing games ( H a d d o n 1992; W h e e l o c k 1 9 9 2 ) . A s the computer/Internet-as-toy be male

dominated,

with

violent and misogynistic games,

tends to this

con-

ceptualization plays a key role in the 'flamed out' discourse. T o teachers, academics and parents, the computer/Internet is often conceptualized as a library, w i t h uses in information storage a n d dissemination, technologies of learning, a n d academic publishing. T h e implications for educational practice m a k e this conceptualization of key interest to the progenitors of 'locked into locality'. T h e computer-as-tool

conception - w h i c h reigned almost

undisturbed during the 1970s a n d 1980s - has come under pressure from a newly hegemonic understanding of the computer/Internet-as-soc/tf/-ce«ire. T h e astonishing development of lateral communicability - via fax, e-mail, conferencing,

electronic

bulletin boards,

discussion groups,

multi-user

domains, chat groups a n d the electronic transfer of large files - has, to a large degree, generated the optimism of the 'webbed Utopian' discourse.

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

Which women ? The

story of ' w o m e n and the Internet' is, at its core, a narrative about the

restricting of Internet access to men (and some women) of certain social groups. It highlights the problems created by the fact that Internet users tend to be male, white, younger than average, and to have high average incomes. E v e n w i t h i n these restricted social groups, however, there are major demographic issues - bearing particularly on the w a y that w o m e n organize their lives - that have been inadequately investigated. Are w o m e n , for example, w i t h school-age children more or less likely to independently use the W o r l d W i d e W e b than other w o m e n ? D o w o m e n living in same-sex households/relationships have more confidence w i t h the n e w technologies than do those living w i t h men? A r e w o m e n more likely to engage w i t h the new

information technologies if they are also involved in community

activities and/or in p a i d w o r k ? Are w o m e n Internet users more or less likely to be disabled than non-users, and are their impairments clustered within certain categories?

I n mixed-gender

households, w h o

loads

software,

organizes the desk-top and engages in other cyber-based nest-building tasks? The

'locked into locality' narrative, w i t h its deep sensitivity to the pro-

blematic construction of public and private in w o m e n ' s lives, is an ideal starting place from w h i c h to address these semi-demographic questions. W e began our research in the belief that a large survey might usefully address such issues and indeed w e found that these questions w o r k e d quite well on the questionnaire. A more widely distributed questionnaire that has come to terms w i t h the other difficult issues raised above could be invaluable in this respect. A more fundamental issue relates to our very choice of the Internet for study. W h y has the ' w o m e n and the Internet' discourse focused on the Internet? A s D u t t o n (1998) noted in his recent study of pager use, there are some I C T technologies w i t h a m u c h more even demographic spread of users, in relation to gender, social class a n d ethnicity. H i s research showed that these cheaper a n d less glamorous technologies are being creatively used by and

w o m e n to reshape local social structures, reorganize social geographies recreate social institutions. T h i s informal activity, however, has been

little studied; it has been tucked a w a y into the more peripheral corners of the information revolution. If w e are serious about exploring w o m e n ' s ability to remain socially and politically effective in a n information age, we cannot n a r r o w our attention too severely. W e need to think more carefully about the geographies of the information revolution itself.

WOMEN AND THE I N T E R N E T |

Conclusion: A Retelling of the Tale T h e story of ' w o m e n a n d the Internet' has served as something of a n origin story for feminists w o r k i n g i n this field. Although it has been deeply contested - in genre as w e l l as detail - this story has acted as a coherent and persuasive motivating m y t h . W e began our research project from a standpoint firmly embedded w i t h i n it. I n the course of our analysis, however, we have come to question the w a y this story has been framed. A number of questions have occurred to us: •

How

m u c h have

the

Internet's

m i l i t a r y - i n d u s t r i a l origins

actually

influenced w o m e n ' s current and future relationships w i t h this technology? •

W h a t does it mean to say that w o m e n have been excluded from this new medium?

•

Is there any point in talking globally about w o m e n ' s relationship to the Internet?

•

W h y has this tale focused so closely on the Internet (as well as virtual reality a n d other 'sexy' n e w technologies)

while tending to

ignore

cheaper, more pervasive a n d perhaps more democratic technologies such as the pager and the mobile phone? •

C a n w e conceptualize the Internet as a single thing?

•

H o w c a n w e integrate the complex and seemingly incompatible threads of discourse from w h i c h this story has been w o v e n ?

It m a y be necessary to begin formulating a more reflexive and variegated origin story in relation to w o m e n and I C T . T h i s new tale should address t w o key questions: •

H o w are the new social geographies of I C T access being gendered?

•

H o w c a n w e intervene to direct the shaping of n e w techno-social relations i n more democratic, inclusive and neutrally gendered w a y s ?

Although this n e w story should be extremely gender-sensitive, it might not begin w i t h w o m e n - as a homogeneous category - at a l l . T h e 'locked into locality' narrative is fundamentally concerned w i t h the w a y that citizenship is materially structured in relation to time, space a n d economic resources. A w o m e n a n d technology story that is adequate to its task should analyse the changing shape of these material geographies in the information age. T h e story of ' w o m e n a n d the Internet' has catalysed wide-ranging research and valuable developmental w o r k . T h u s , rather than abandoning this narrative, w e w o u l d suggest embroidering it w i t h new texturing and a new reflexivity. W e need to problematize the recurring themes that have

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

shaped this narrative. T h e narrative logic d r a w n o n i n our research matters greatly; it acts to shape the conclusions to be reached for, as noted at the beginning of this article, facts have meaning only w i t h i n stories.

Notes 1.

East Leeds Women's Workshop, Women into Technology (Open University), Curriculum-Women-Technology project (EU), 'Community Development and the Internet' short course and module (Bradford University).

2.

For an example of the way that this necessary process can be deliberately utilized to achieve social ends, see Randi Markussen's discussion (1996) of the Scandinavian participatory design tradition.

3.

In fact, there are surely more than three competing versions of this tale. However, some of its strands - such as those arising from studies of the impact of I T on women's work, of international development and I T , or of the participatory design tradition - have tended to be rather peripheral to the early formulation of our research project, and are thus not discussed in this article.

4.

Women into Technology, Women in Science and Engineering, Girls into Science and Technology.

5.

This conceptualization has found some expression in national I C T policy, where it has come into conflict with the dominant, more conservative conceptualizations ( L I C 1997; D C M S 1998). The Libraries and Information commission's New Library document ( L I C 1997) emphasizes that access must be free at the point of use if the I C T s are to be used to increase social inclusiveness and to strengthen representative democracy.

6.

O r desires it: see, for example, Umble's discussion (1992) of the Pennsylvania Amish communities' response to the telephone.

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WOMEN AND THE I N T E R N E T | Burke, K . (1999) A V I V A : the women's World Wide Web, in Liberty (ed.) Liberating Cyberspace: Civil Liberties, Human Rights and the Internet. London: Pluto Press. Callon, M . (1991) Techno-economic networks and irreversibility, in J . L a w (ed.) A Sociology of Monsters: Essays on Power, Technology and Domination. London: Routledge. Camp, L . J . (1996) We are geeks, and we are not guys: the systers mailing list, in L . Cherny and E . R . Weise (eds) Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace. Seattle: Seal Press. Capitanchik, D . and Whine, M . (1999) The governance of cyberspace: racism on the Internet, in Liberty (ed.) Liberating Cyberspace: Civil Liberties, Human Rights and the Internet. London: Pluto Press. Castells, M . (1996) The Rise of the Network Society. Oxford: Blackwell. Castells, M . (1997) The Power of Identity. Oxford: Blackwell. Castells, M . (1998) End of Millenium. Oxford: Blackwell. Cockburn, C . (1986) Women and technology: opportunity is not enough, in K. Purcell et al. (eds) The Changing Experience of Employment: Restructuring and Recession. London: Macmillan. Cockburn, C . and Ormrod, S. (1993) Gender and Technology London: Sage.

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Code, L . (1995) Rhetorical Spaces: Essays on Gendered Locations. London: Routledge. Day, R. and Harris, K . (1997) Down-to-Earth Vision: Community Based IT Initiatives and Social Inclusion. London: I B M Corp. D C M S (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) (1998) New Library: People's Network, The Government's Response. London: H M S O . Dutton, W . (1998) Society on the Line: Information Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Enloe, C . (1989) Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics. London: Pandora. Escobar, A. (1999) Gender, place and networks: a political ecology of cyber-culture, in W . Harcourt (ed.) Women@Internet: Creating New Cultures in Cyberspace. London: Zed Books. Farwell, E . , Wood, P., James, M . and Banks, K . (1999) Global networking for change: experiences from the A P C Women's Programme, in W . Harcourt (ed.) Women@Internet: Creating New Cultures in Cyberspace. London: Zed Books. Ferris, S. (1996) Women online: cultural and relational aspects of women's communication in online discussion groups, Interpersonal Computing and Technology, 4: 29-40. Fischer-Huebner, S. (1998) Privacy and security at risk in the global information society, Information, Communication and Society, 1(4): 420-41. Franklin, S. (1997) Embodied Progress: A Cultural Account of Assisted London: Routledge. Gearhart, S. (1983) The Wanderground: Women's Press.

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

Gittler, A. (1999) Mapping women's global communications and networking, in W . Harcourt (ed.) Women@Internet: Creating New Cultures in Cyberspace. London: Zed Books. Grint, K . and Woolgar S. (1997) The Machine at Work: Technology, Organization. Cambridge: Polity. Grundy (1996) Women and Computers. Exeter: Intellect.

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Gumpert, G . and Drucker, S. (1998) The mediated home in the global village, Communication Research, 25(4): 422-38. GVU (Graphics, Visualization and Usability Centre: Georgia Tech University) (1994-98). On-line. Available: http://wwwgvu.gatech.edu/user-surveys/survey1998-041#exce (17 January 1999). Haddon, L . (1992) Explaining ICT consumption: the case of the home computer, in R. Silverstone and E . Hirsch (eds) Consuming Technologies: Media and Information in Domestic Spaces. London: Routledge. Hamilton, A. (1999) The net out of control - a new moral panic: censorship and sexuality, in Liberty (ed.) Liberating Cyberspace: Civil Liberties, Human Rights and the Internet. London: Pluto Press. Harasim, L . (ed.) (1993a) Global Networks: Computers and International Communication, London: M I T Press. Harasim, L . (1993b) Networlds: networks as social space, in L . Harasim (ed.) Global Networks: MIT Press.

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Harding, S. (1991) Whose Science? Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women's Lives. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Harvey, L . (1997) A genealogical exploration of gendered genres in I T cultures, Information Systems Journal, 7: 153-72. Herman, C . (1999) Women and the internet, in Liberty (ed.) Liberating

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Miller, S. (1996) Civilizing Cyberspace: Policy, Power, and the Information Superhighway. New York: A C M Press. Morahan-Martin, I. (1998) Women and girls last: females and the internet. Bristol: IRISS '98 Conference. Newey, A. (1999) Freedom of expression: censorship in private hands, in Liberty (ed.) Liberating Cyberspace: London: Pluto Press.

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Panos (1995) The Internet and the South: Superhighway or Dirt Track? London: Panos. Plant, S. (1995) The future looms: weaving women and cybernetics, Body and Society, 1(3-4): 45-64. Plant, S. (1997a) Zeros + Ones: Digital Women + The New Technoculture.

London:

Fourth Estate. Plant, S. (1997b) Beyond the screens: film, cyberpunk and cyberfeminism, in S. Kemp and J . Squires (eds) Feminisms. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pool, R. (1997) Beyond Engineering: How Society Shapes Technology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Quarterman, J . (1993) The global matrix Global Networks: MIT Press.

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Rathmell, A. (1998) Information warfare and sub-state actors: an organizational approach, Information, Communication and Society, 1(4): 488-503. Rheingold, H . (1994) The Virtual Community: Finding Connection puterized World. London: Seeker & Warburg.

in a Com-

Rich, B.R. (1997) The party line: gender and technology in the home, in J. Terry and M. Calvert (eds) Processed Lives: Gender and Technology in Everyday Life. London: Routledge. Salus, P. (1995) Casting the Net: From IRPANET to Internet and Beyond, Wokingham: Addison-Wesley. Samarajiva, R. and Shields, P. (1997) Telecommunication networks as social space: implications for research and policy and an exemplar, Media, Culture and Society, 19: 535-55. Schuler, D . (1996) New Community ACM Press.

Networks:

Wired for Change. New York:

Seabrook, J . (1997) Deeper: A Two-year Odyssey in Cyberspace. London: Faber & Faber. Silverstone, R., Hirsch, E . and Morley, D . (1992) Information and communication technologies and the moral economy of the household, in R. Silverstone and E . Hirsch (eds) Consuming Technologies: Media and Information in Domestic Spaces. London: Routledge. Spender, D . (1995) Nattering on the Net: Women, Power and Cyberspace. bourne: Spinifex.

Mel-

Stone, A . L . (1995) The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age. London: M I T Press. Sutton, L . (1996) Cocktails and thumbtacks in the old west: what would Emily Post

W O M E N AND T H E I N T E R N E T | say?, in L . Cherny and E . R . Weise (eds) Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, pp. 169-87. Seattle: Seal Press. Swarbrick, A. (1987) Information technology and new training initiatives for women, in M.J. Davidson and C . L . Cooper (eds) Women and Information Technology. Chichester: John Wiley. Swarbrick, A. (1997) Against the odds: women developing a commitment to technology, in M . Maynard (ed.) Science and the Construction of Women. London: U C L Press. Toole, B. (1996) Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace, an analyst and metaphysician, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 18(3): 4-11. Tsagarousianou, R., Tambini, D . and Bryan, C . (eds) (1998) Cyber democracy: Technology, Cities and Civic Networks. London: Routledge. Turkle, S. (1995) Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. London: Phoenix. Umble, D . (1992) The Amish and the telephone: resistance and reconstruction, in R. Silverstone and E . Hirsch (eds) Consuming Technologies: Media and Information in Domestic Spaces. London: Routledge. Wagner, I. (1995) Hard times: the politics of women's work in computerized environments, The European journal of Women's Studies, 2(3): 295-314. Wakeford, N . (1997) Networking women and grrrls with information/communication technology: surfing tales of the world wide web, in J . Terry and M . Calvert (eds) Processed Lives: Gender and Technology in Everyday Life. London: Routledge. Wheelock, J . (1992) Personal computers, gender and an institutional model of the household, in R. Silverstone and E . Hirsch (eds) Consuming Technologies: Media and Information in Domestic Spaces. London: Routledge. Which? (1998) On-line. Available: http://www.which.net/nonsub/special/ispsurvey/ executive.html (17 January 1999). Whyte, J . (1986) Girls into Science and Technology. London: Routledge. Wittig, M . and Schmitz, J . (1996) Electronic grassroots organizing, Journal of Social Issues, 52(1): 53-69. Wright, M . (1997) Women in computing: a cross-national analysis, in R. Lander and A. Adam (eds) Women in Computing: Progress from Where to What? Exeter: Intellect. Woolf, V . (1929) A Room of One's Own. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Wylie, M . (1995) No place for women, Digital Media, 4(8): 3-6.

PART

A U D I E N C E S AND

For

IDENTITIES

m u c h of the twentieth century, media scholars were primarily con-

cerned w i t h demonstrating h o w the media affected people's behaviour. 'Effects' researchers assumed either that media messages h a d p o w e r f u l , direct effects or that quantifiable effects were very limited. I n this tradition of social science research, feminist mass c o m m u n i c a t i o n scholars sought to provide empirical proof of the media's direct, negative effects on people's attitudes t o w a r d w o m e n . By

the late 1960s, some researchers were beginning to express dis-

satisfaction w i t h the idea of direct, immediate media effects, even though they continued to believe that mass media are powerful. U S media scholar George G e r b n e r and his colleagues at the Annenberg School for C o m m u nication

at

the

University of

Pennsylvania, for

example,

developed

'cultivation analysis' as a n e w approach to studying the cumulative impact of television o n viewers' perceptions of society a n d its cultural values. Cultivation theorists argue that the plots and characterizations presented i n the media, whether or not they are representative, encourage audiences to adopt views about society that are i n line w i t h w h a t they have seen i n the media. Perhaps not surprisingly, these views are typically associated w i t h people w h o hold powerful positions in society. C u l t i v a t i o n scholars also argued that the more people w a t c h television, the more likely they are to adopt those w a y s of thinking. T h i s explains w h y , for example, the more people w a t c h violent television, the more violent they think the w o r l d 'really' is. M o r e to the point, cultivation theorists emphasize the ' m a i n streaming' or homogenizing impact of television watching. O v e r time, regardless of one's political views or political identity, people w h o w a t c h a

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

lot of television adopt views consistent w i t h conservative platforms. V a r ious feminist scholars have used this conceptual approach to explain h o w sexism is cultivated over time (see C a r t e r a n d W e a v e r , 2 0 0 3 ) . At

least since the 1970s, U K media a n d cultural studies scholars have

focused on the

ideological role played by the media i n maintaining

inequalities based o n class, gender, 'race' a n d sexuality, a m o n g others. H e r e the media are seen to be central to the reproduction of a system of d o m ination.

At

first,

feminist scholars

largely

implied

and

asserted

that

patriarchal ideology w a s an important influence o n audiences, but few attempts were made to demonstrate

such claims empirically. Certainly,

Stuart H a l l ' s (1980) 'encoding/decoding' model of c o m m u n i c a t i o n has h a d an

enormous impact on ideology research in the U K a n d elsewhere. T h i s

model emphasizes the need to acknowledge the complex and contradictory w a y s in w h i c h

audiences make sense of media messages,

sometimes

accepting, partially accepting or indeed rejecting the 'preferred' meaning of a media text. T h i s critical model of c o m m u n i c a t i o n prompted a number of scholars to undertake field research w i t h audiences. F o r example, Charlotte Brunsdon (1981) interviewed w o m e n w h o watched the U K soap opera Crossroads. in

O n e of the findings of her study w a s that w o m e n took pleasure

the soap's explicit acknowledgement of the value of the feminine and

w o m e n ' s knowledge and skills i n the home. Soap opera texts, Brunsdon argued, played a contradictory role i n w o m e n ' s lives, simultaneously providing a n interpretative position that gave them pleasure while at the same time reproducing their subordinate status. Sexual subordination forms a central focus in the first chapter i n Part

III,

Robert Jensen's ' K n o w i n g Pornography', w h i c h examines the place a n d significance of pornography in U S culture a n d in its construction of male sexuality. E x p l o r i n g both his o w n exposure to pornography and that of his male interviewees, Jensen argues that the sexual charge of pornography for heterosexual m e n is connected to a n ideology of male dominance and female subordination. M e n ' s use of pornography sexualizes a n d naturalizes this control over w o m e n . W h a t m e n find arousing about pornography, he claims, is the p o w e r dynamic of male dominance. M o r e o v e r , pornography does not need to be violent to reproduce a n d naturalize this domination. Says Jensen, 'once male dominance is eroticized, male violence becomes at least potentially erotic'. If male dominance is erotic, he adds, extending that dominance to violence against w o m e n must be erotic. Jensen's embodied, personal approach to the impact of pornography o n men's sexual imagination takes into account the actual experience of its users and testifies to the harmful impacts of pornography. Elizabeth H a d l e y Freydberg's chapter, 'Sapphires, Spitfires, Sluts a n d

A U D I E N C E S AND I D E N T I T I E S

|

Superbitches: Aframericans a n d L a t i n a s i n C o n t e m p o r a r y A m e r i c a n F i l m ' , continues w i t h this theme of representing men's dominance over w o m e n i n her exploration of the textual distinction between 'good' a n d ' b a d ' w o m e n historically found i n H o l l y w o o d cinema. She says that H o l l y w o o d has typically portrayed Aframericans a n d L a t i n a s as white men's sexual playmates, concubines or prostitutes. O n l y very rarely are they good enough to m a r r y a white m a n . Such stereotypes of w o m e n equate dark skin w i t h 'lustful debauchery' a n d associate white skin w i t h being pure, chaste a n d m o r a l . F o l l o w i n g this line of argument, Freydberg historically traces the careers of several A f r a m e r i c a n a n d L a t i n a actresses from the 1930s to the 1990s. She concludes that despite some recent positive developments i n the portrayal of Aframericans a n d L a t i n a s i n U S c i n e m a , few positive (nonstereotypical) roles are available to them. T h e problem, as Freydberg sees it, is that the white people w h o r u n H o l l y w o o d are primarily interested i n m a k i n g entertainment for other white people. M o r e o v e r , the people w h o dominate H o l l y w o o d do not care if minority w o m e n are limited to negative stereotypes if money c a n be made from such images. I n contrast, she agues, the independent

film-making

of Aframericans a n d L a t i n a s continues to

document the otherwise untold a n d diverse stories of minority w o m e n . W o m e n ' s voices also form a central focus i n M a r y E l l e n B r o w n ' s chapter, 'Resistive Readings', w h i c h examines h o w w o m e n m a y use discussions about soap operas as a w a y of connecting w i t h other w o m e n a n d creating discursive spaces i n w h i c h to share their experiences of gender subordination. A s such, soap operas m a y offer w o m e n a means through w h i c h they are enabled to find w a y s of resisting the often restrictive media representations.

T h e female fans w h o m B r o w n interviewed enjoyed

soaps

because they depicted characters that the fans perceived as being powerful and

active w o m e n - ones w h o stand up for themselves at home a n d i n the

w o r k p l a c e . M o r e o v e r , B r o w n adds, members of soap gossip networks produce a k i n d of critique of hierarchical gender relations. A s such, feminist media researchers might consider rethinking w h a t constitutes

feminist

political action i n order to recognize that soap opera gossip networks m a y offer w o m e n a n accessible w a y of engaging w i t h mainstream (patriarchal) culture i n politically subversive w a y s . The

construction of gender identity is also a central focus of Jane Shat-

tuc's book The Talking

Cure:

TV Talk Shows and Women

(1997) w h i c h is

a study of daytime television talk shows in the U S A . T h e chapter from her book included here is ' F r e u d v s . W o m e n : T h e Popularization of T h e r a p y on D a y - t i m e T a l k S h o w s ' i n w h i c h she analyses h o w these

programmes

encourage the formation of a collective feminine identity based o n the recognition of a shared experience

of w o m e n ' s subordinate status i n

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

society. T a l k shows are potentially radical a n d subversive, argues Shattuc, w h e n they offer public spaces for the voices of w o m e n rarely heard i n society - working-class w o m e n , w o m e n of colour a n d w o m e n of various sexual orientations. Y e t they are also potentially restrictive a n d exploitative w h e n such voices are used as a source of audience amusement or condemnation i n the name of corporate profit. Public confession, she suggests, has not only become a sign of power a n d control; it also affirms the 'active individual w i t h i n a shared c o m m u n i t y ' . Part I I I ends w i t h ' W h a t G i r l s W a n t : T h e Intersections of Leisure a n d Power i n Female C o m p u t e r G a m e Play', i n w h i c h Heather G i l m o u r argues that most computer software n o w being developed for girls helps reproduce hierarchical gender difference between boys a n d girls rather than breaking it

d o w n . I n most computer games, 'girls continue to be essentialized as

emotional, highly social, neo-Victorian subjects while males are defined as competitive a n d technologically inclined', G i l m o u r insists. N e w technologies, o l d binaries. Such assumptions about gender difference are not based on

any essential differences between boys a n d girls, but instead illustrate the

'ideologies a n d assumptions of researchers a n d developers'. H a v i n g surveyed 180 students (90 boys a n d 90 girls) about their genre preferences, G i l m o u r found that the differences between boy a n d girl gamers are primarily matters of 'cultural gendering of leisure a n d play', rather than inherent biological differences. W h i l e game software developers address girls as a homogeneous, gendered group, girls maintain a certain heterogeneity of game preference a n d use. G i l m o u r calls o n computing experts to go beyond conventional notions of femininity as a monolithic category, w h i c h inevitably w o r k to restrict feminine behaviour, pleasure a n d selfdefinition.

References Brunsdon, C . (1981) Crossroads: notes on soap opera, Screen, 22(4): 32-7. Carter, C . and Weaver, C . K . (2003) Violence and the Media. Buckingham and Philadelphia: Open University Press. Hall, S. (1980) Encoding/decoding, in Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (ed.) Culture, Media Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies, 1972-79. London: Hutchinson.

A U D I E N C E S AND I D E N T I T I E S

|

Further Reading Bobo, J . (1996) Black Women as Cultural Readers. New York: Columbia University Press. Brunsdon, C . (2000) The Feminist, the Housewife and the Soap Opera. Oxford and New York: Clarendon. Currie, D . (1999) Girl Talk: Adolescent Magazines and Their Readers. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Kinder, M . (ed.) (1999) Kids' Media Culture. Durham and London: Duke University Press. Ross, K. and Nightingale, V . (2004) Media and Audiences, Maidenhead: Open University Press. Seiter, E . (1999) Television and New Media Audiences. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

o

KNOWING PORNOGRAPHY Robert Jensen

History gets written with the mind holding the pen. What would it look like, what would it read like, if it got written with the body holding the pen? (Berman 1990: 110)

In this essay, I w a n t to let my body h o l d the pen. I have spent m u c h time i n the past few years trying to be in m y body as I have researched a n d written about p o r n o g r a p h y .

1

I have concluded that, in conjunction w i t h m a n y

other sources of information, I-in-my-body have insights into the role of pornography in the construction of male sexuality i n contemporary U S culture.

2

Part of the authority for that c l a i m comes from a simple observation: I get erections from pornography. I take that to be epistemologically significant; m y body understands the charge of pornography. Because I w a s raised in a sexist culture w i t h few (if any) influences that mitigated that sexism, I a m i n a position to explore h o w that sexual charge is connected to the ideology of male dominance and female submission that is central i n contemporary commercial pornography (Jensen 1 9 9 4 ) . I have focused o n this embodied, personal approach partly in reaction to the scholarly literature on pornography, so m u c h of w h i c h is written by men 1992;

and is distinctly disembodied (for exceptions, see Abbott 1990; Baker K i m m e l 1 9 9 0 ) . Political tracts, l a w review articles a n d reports of

social science studies written by m e n rarely include any acknowledgement of the position of the author in a pornographic w o r l d , let alone an examination of w h a t it means for h o w one comes to k n o w about pornography. T h a t kind of embodied exploration is rare because, as feminist theorists have long pointed out, in all those areas - philosophy, l a w , social science emotional detachment and objectivity are seen as virtues. But that stance actually has repressed m u c h of w h a t we might k n o w about pornography.

KNOWING P O R N O G R A P H Y As

|

B e r m a n puts it, 'to leave your body and believe that y o u c a n still k n o w

anything at all is quite literally a form of madness' (1990: 110). I n that sense, m a n y of the scholarly w o r k s o n pornography are quite m a d - misguided attempts to sever m i n d a n d body, reason a n d emotion - that lead to less, not more, trustworthy knowledge. T h i s article investigates the following question: does mass-marketed commercial pornography play a role i n the formation of a heterosexual man's sexual values and practices? M y hypothesis is that men's use of pornography is one w a y i n w h i c h men's dominance over, and control of, w o m e n is sexualized a n d naturalized. M y narrative method does

not

'prove' this, but attempts to explain h o w it has w o r k e d i n m y body. I conclude that m y life provides support for the radical feminist critique of pornography summarized below. F r o m there, I go o n to discuss the value of embodied narratives, describe m y o w n pornography use, and offer observations o n pornography's effects o n me and m e n . T h e chapter concludes w i t h some thoughts on the value a n d limits of such w o r k .

The Feminist Critique of Pornography The

radical feminist anti-pornography critique views pornography as a k i n d

of sexist hate literature, the expression of a male sexuality rooted i n the subordination of w o m e n that endorses the sexual objectification of, a n d sexual violence against, w o m e n . I n the 1980s, this v i e w w a s written into a n anti-pornography civil rights ordinance that w a s successfully passed i n some cities but rejected by the federal courts (see American Association

v. Hudnut

Booksellers

1 9 8 5 ) . I n that ordinance, pornography is defined as

the 'graphic sexually explicit subordination of w o m e n through pictures and/or w o r d s ' a n d identified as 'a practice of sex discrimination' a n d a 'systematic practice of exploitation and subordination based on sex that differentially harms a n d disadvantages w o m e n ' ( D w o r k i n and M a c K i n n o n 1988: The

138-42). h a r m s caused by pornography can be s u m m a r i z e d briefly as (a) the

h a r m to w o m e n in the production of pornography; (b) the h a r m to w o m e n who

have pornography forced on them; (c) the h a r m to w o m e n w h o are

sexually assaulted by m e n w h o use pornography; and (d) the h a r m to all w o m e n living i n a culture i n w h i c h pornography reinforces and sexualizes w o m e n ' s subordinate status (Itzin 1992; Russell 1 9 9 3 a ) . M y claims do not hinge on establishing a direct causal link between pornography a n d sexual violence; rather than talking of pornography as a cause, w e c a n identify it as one important factor i n sexual abuse a n d misogyny in general (Jensen 1995b, 1 9 9 4 ) .

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER T h i s view of pornography comes out of a more encompassing critique of

male sexuality i n patriarchy w h i c h suggests that male domination is the central dynamic i n sexual relations between men a n d w o m e n , a n d sometimes between men a n d men or w o m e n a n d w o m e n (Cole 1 9 8 9 ; D w o r k i n 1981, 1 9 8 8 ; Jeffreys 1 9 9 0 ; M a c K i n n o n , 1 9 8 7 , 1989). T h i s critique argues not only against the most offensive violent pornography i n w h i c h w o m e n are clearly abused, but also asserts that ' n o r m a l ' male sexuality is rooted i n male dominance. F r o m this perspective, cultural products such as pornography w o r k to naturalize male control, rendering a system of power a n d abusive practices less visible. The

feminist anti-pornography critique has been the subject of extended

debate for t w o decades, w i t h both civil libertarians a n d anti-censorship/ pro-pornography feminists raising objections to underlying assumptions and

empirical claims (e.g. Burstyn 1 9 8 5 ; Christensen 1 9 9 0 ; Segal a n d

M c i n t o s h 1 9 9 3 ) . W h i l e I do not w a n t to minimize the intensity and c o m plexity of the debate, I do not find the pro-pornography position compelling in

intellectual, personal or political terms, a n d it is important for me to

anchor m y w o r k clearly i n the radical critique of pornography. F o r the purposes of this discussion, I adopt the M a c K i n n o n / D w o r k i n definition of pornography, w h i c h includes most of the pornography that is marketed as pornography - that is, sexual material sold in adult bookstores that uses w o m e n for the purpose of sexually exciting men. T h e focus of this chapter is heterosexual pornography. M u c h of the radical critique c a n also be applied to gay pornography, but I w i l l not pursue that here (see K e n d a l l 1993). W h i l e the M a c K i n n o n / D w o r k i n definition has been widely criticized, especially i n the legal w o r l d , it is more than adequate here. It is also valuable to break a w a y from the quest for a bright-line definition and talk instead about the pornographic continuum, w h i c h includes some images in mainstream media. I find elements of the pornographic - varying levels of hierarchy, objectification, submission a n d violence 1988: 2 6 5 - 7 ) - i n everything from the Sports Illustrated

(Dworkin

swimsuit issue to

snuff films.

Embodied Narratives T h i s paper attempts to honour the feminist commitment to 'the trustworthiness of your o w n body as a source o f knowledge' a n d the possibility of 'intersubjective agreement' (Frye 1 9 9 0 : 1 7 7 ) . Consciousness raising for men

is loaded w i t h potential problems if done i n isolation from w o m e n , a

problem that c a n be seen i n various parts of the contemporary

men's

KNOWING PORNOGRAPHY

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movement, especially the mytho-poetic w i n g , where a focus on the personal often impedes social analysis a n d liberatory politics (Jensen 1 9 9 5 a ; K i m m e l and

K a u f m a n 1993). F o r m e n , that intersubjective agreement must include

w o m e n ; that is, w e have to pay attention to feminist criticism to help us make sense of our experience. T h i s need not require a n inflexible c o m mitment to feminist standpoint epistemology. But at the very least, I w o u l d argue that w o m e n have some sort of epistemic privilege - the idea that 'members of an oppressed group have a more immediate, subtle a n d critical knowledge about the nature of their oppression than people w h o

are

nonmembers of the oppressed group' ( N a r a y a n 1988: 35) - that m e n must honour. M y goal in this chapter is to examine m y life and compare it w i t h the narratives of other m e n , using feminist insights to make sense of it a l l . T h i s chapter is an attempt at the 'critical story-telling' that H e a r n calls for in the project of 'collective self-reflective theorising' ( 1 9 8 7 : 1 8 2 ) . Such w o r k is difficult to do w i t h integrity, but m y hope is, following Boone (1990: 12), that 'if the male critic c a n discover a position from w h i c h to speak that neither elides the importance of feminism to his w o r k nor ignores the specificity of his gender, he m a y also find that his voice no longer exists as an

abstraction, but that it in fact inhabits a body: its o w n sexual/textual

body'. Well-articulated defences of the value and limits of narrative method have been made, such as Stivers's (1992) discussion of 'postpositivist' social science. M y goal is not to contend that m y experience w i t h pornography can be generalized to all men. Instead, I v i e w this as a contribution to a n ongoing conversation about pornography. If I examine m y body a n d its pornographic history from a critical stance informed by feminist theory a n d practice, I c a n make claims about men, sexism, sexuality a n d sexually explicit material, and those claims w i l l be more valuable than the so-called 'scientific' research about pornography (Jensen 1995c). T h e task is not finding the answer, but, i n Frye's terms (1990: 179), perceiving patterns: The

experiences of each w o m a n and of the w o m e n collectively gen-

erate a new w e b of meaning. O u r process has been one of discovering, recognizing, and creating patterns - patterns w i t h i n w h i c h experience made a n e w k i n d of sense, or, in many instances, for the first time made any sense at a l l . Instead of bringing a phase of enquiry to closure by summing up w h a t is k n o w n , as other w a y s of generalizing do, pattern recognition/construction

opens fields of meaning and generates new

interpretive possibilities. Instead of d r a w i n g conclusions from observations, it generates observations. As

introduction to my story, I need to explain m y o w n journey to this

©

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : H E D I A AND G E N D E R

position. M y early w o r k on legal aspects of the pornography debate used traditional methods, w h i c h allowed me to distance myself from m y personal experience w i t h pornography. But a growing sense of dissatisfaction w i t h that w o r k led me to a project designed to confront the content of pornography through a n analysis of 2 0 pornographic paperback novels. I read the books, taking detailed notes about scenes, themes, portrayals and language used. I n the role of detached investigator, I tried to move through the books using m y 'rational' faculties but found m y body getting i n the way;

I kept getting erections.

Before I started that project I w a s aware that pornography still could produce intense sexual reactions in me, even though at that time it had been several years since m y last contact w i t h pornography (I stopped using pornography after returning to graduate school and c o m i n g into contact w i t h the feminist critique). Y e t , i n m y pursuit of intellectual knowledge I had

detached

from the emotional, embodied knowledge of my

past

experience w i t h pornography; the scholarly endeavour insulated me from those other w a y s of k n o w i n g about pornography. T h e deeper I got into the academic w o r k , the further I got f r o m that embodied knowledge until, finally,

I w a s forced to confront it through the reaction of m y body. A s I

read the books, intellectually I w a s able to identify a n d analyse the misogynistic images a n d messages. But physically, my body responded the w a y it h a d been trained. T h a t reaction threw into question assumptions w i t h w h i c h I h a d been smugly comfortable. T h i s h a d , and continues to have, a n important effect on

m y sexuality and m y personal life. M y concern here, however, is w i t h

the equally important effect that experience has h a d o n m y scholarly w o r k . I realized that c o u l d no longer deny that part of w h a t I k n e w about pornography w a s personal and embodied, a n d that I w o u l d have to explore those questions if I wanted to be a competent and ethical researcher. A s I planned a project to interview pornography users, I k n e w I w o u l d have to write my o w n narrative as w e l l as theirs.

A Personal History of Pornography Use I begin this account w i t h the understanding that m y interpretation of m y experiences c a n be challenged. C l e a r l y , I have a k i n d of access to m y emotions and sexual reactions that others do not. But i n any person, there can

be a host of personal and political roadblocks to a clear understanding

of self. M y interpretations have changed over time, a n d w h a t I offer is the best reading I have of them at this time, a reading that others may have grounds to challenge.

KNOWING PORNOGRAPHY The

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analysis that follows relies heavily o n m y experience, but is c o n -

structed i n conjunction w i t h other men's stories, w h i c h come from three m a i n sources. First, I have spoken informally w i t h a variety of m e n as I have w o r k e d o n this issue, a n d have learned m u c h f r o m those conversations. I also d r a w on published accounts of men's pornography use cited above. Finally, I have conducted interviews w i t h self-identified pornography users and

convicted sex offenders (Jensen 1995b). A l t h o u g h I refer to those m e n

rarely i n this paper, m y analysis of my pornography use is heavily influenced by those men, w h o h a d a variety of experiences w i t h , and opinions about, pornography and its potential harms a n d benefits. F r o m those sources, I believe that m y use of pornography is fairly typical for a male born after the Second W o r l d W a r , w h a t I call the

post-Playboy

generation. M y exposure to pornography began around second grade. I have hazy memories of a soft-core biker magazine, w h i c h included pictures of w o m e n naked from the w a i s t up, that a friend h a d found and h i d i n his b a c k y a r d . V i e w i n g the magazine w a s a l w a y s a group project; w e w o u l d pass it a r o u n d and comment o n the w o m e n ' s bodies. After that, someone in my

circle of friends almost a l w a y s had a copy of Playboy,

Penthouse

or

some similar magazine that h a d been found, stolen from a store or taken from d a d . O n e friend had a hiding place i n his attic, where w e occasionally w o u l d go to look at them. By

the time I w a s in junior high, I had found m y father's hiding place:

Playboy,

Penthouse

and Hustler,

i n his dresser, i n the second drawer, under

the T - s h i r t s o n the right. A t least one of m y t w o brothers, I found out later, also k n e w the spot, although w e never looked at them together. I n m y first year of high school, I w a s a friend of a boy w h o h a d perfected the art of getting into movies through exit doors. Usually w e went into mainstream films,

but

w h e n w e felt bold w e made a r u n at X - r a t e d movies. I also

remember having access to pornographic novels i n m y high school years and

finding In

them as intense a n experience as the visual material.

college I s a w a few X - r a t e d movies w i t h friends (both all-male a n d

m i x e d groups) w h o treated the outings as c a m p y f u n , and went to a couple of those movies o n m y o w n . W h e n I w o u l d go w i t h friends from our college in

a smaller t o w n to M i n n e a p o l i s , w e often w o u l d stop at pornography

shops to see w h a t the big city had to offer. I n m y twenties, m y use of pornography w a s episodic. A t various times I w o u l d feel d r a w n to X - r a t e d movies, a n d i n a six- or seven-year period, I probably s a w 10 to 15 of them, once or twice w i t h someone else, but usually alone. I s a w some of these movies at mainstream theatres, but more typically at adult theatres a n d bookstores, where I w o u l d browse among other material. T h e movies were w h a t is most often called hard-core pornography: graphic sex scenes built

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

around a contrived story line. I typically stayed for no more than 15 to 30 minutes; after the initial excitement w o r e off, feelings of guilt and shame made it uncomfortable to be in those theatres. I typically did not purchase pornography to use at home, although through the years I occasionally bought magazines such as Playboy Penthouse.

and

I never showed pornography to w o m e n w i t h w h o m I w a s

involved, w i t h the exception of one trip to a n adult theatre w i t h a girlfriend in

college. I never made home-made pornography or recorded sexual

activity. Although I did not use pornography i n a n active w a y w i t h partners, pornography w a s central to m y sex life at various times. F r o m grade school on,

I masturbated to pornographic images, either those o n paper i n front of

me or those retained in my mind f r o m earlier consumption. I focused o n certain kinds of images (women performing oral sex o n m e n , men penetrating w o m e n anally, group sex involving a w o m a n a n d more than one man),

and I c o u l d s u m m o n up those images easily.

Although I a l w a y s found pornography attractive, my heaviest use as a n adult came during periods w h e n I w a s not involved in a relationship w i t h a w o m a n . T h e last time I remember visiting a pornography shop w a s about 1987. I returned to graduate school a n d began my study of the issue i n 1988, and since then I have seen pornography only i n the context of m y academic and political w o r k , a n d I have kept that viewing to a m i n i m u m (the m a i n exception to that is one trip to a gay pornographic movie after coming out). I have also viewed a n anti-pornography slide s h o w , w h i c h includes explicit examples, and w h i c h I have helped to present a number of times to school a n d community groups. Although this brief summary of m y o w n pornography use leaves out details that are too painful to recount i n a public f o r u m , it still w a s difficult to write. I n m y anxiety and fear is a lesson about pornography. A t the macro level, pornography w o r k s to create, maintain a n d reinforce a system of male control. But for each individual w h o uses pornography, the story is more complicated and not just a n expression of the desire to control w o m e n . I continue to feel guilt a n d shame over m y past use of it, even though I realize that most men have h a d similar experiences. Some of the pornography

users I interviewed expressed the same feelings. Others

expressed no regrets over their use a n d were proud of w h a t they s a w as a transcendence of sexual inhibitions. W h i l e it is difficult to generalize about these emotions, I believe that, like me, most men w h o use pornography struggle w i t h the m i x e d messages from society. O n the one h a n d , pornography is widely accepted and c a n be used for male bonding; in other situations, a m a n ' s use of it c a n be turned against h i m w i t h the charge that

KNOWING P O R N O G R A P H Y | he can't get a 'real w o m a n ' . M e n w h o were raised i n sexually or emotionally repressive families, again like me, m a y use pornography but then confront those early internalized proscriptions. Although I have been arguing for the importance of narratives, these differences i n men's reactions to their o w n pornography use highlight h o w important it is to remember that no single narrative is the w h o l e story. M e n ' s accounts of their o w n use, including m y o w n , must be weighed against each other, against the accounts of w o m e n , and against the ideo3

logical content of pornography. M e n ' s use of pornography, a n d their interpretations of that use, vary greatly. T h a t does not m e a n that no coherent account of pornography in this society c a n be constructed. I t need not be s h o w n that a l l men use pornography i n exactly the same w a y for pornography to be a key component of a system of male dominance. I n this case, for instance, whether a pornography user feels guilt and shame or is proud of his use, the result is generally the same: the use of pornography continues.

Pornography and Me I focus n o w o n the effects that pornography h a d o n me. Based o n m y experience, I argue that: 1. 2.

Pornography w a s a n important means of sex education. Pornography constructed w o m e n as objects, w h i c h encouraged me to see w o m e n i n real life i n that same w a y .

3.

Pornography created or reinforced desires for specific acts, most of w h i c h focused o n male pleasure and c a n cause female pain.

4.

R a t h e r than unlocking sexual creativity, pornography shaped a n d constrained m y sexual imagination w i t h its standardized scripts.

5.

R a c e w a s a n important aspect of pornography, reinforcing m y view of w o m e n of colour as the 'exotic primitive'.

6.

V i e w i n g a large amount of overtly violent pornography w a s not neces-

7.

T h a t eroticization of violence h a d a tangible effect o n m y sex life.

8.

Pornography is most centrally about control, and I w a s attracted to it

sary for pornography to have the effect of eroticizing violence for me.

by

m y need for a sense of control over w o m e n and their sexuality.

Sex education Sex w a s not openly discussed i n m y home a n d , at the time I w a s growing up,

sex education in the schools w a s limited or non-existent. So, most of m y

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

sexual education came on the streets w i t h peers and w a s rooted in pornography. It w a s in that material that I first s a w nude adult w o m e n and figured out the mechanics of sex. T h e r e is nothing inherently problematic about learning about sexuality from a publication. T h e problem is w h e n those publications

construct

sexuality in a male-dominant framework a n d present w o m e n as sexual objects. These images were incredibly powerful for me a n d m y childhood friends. T h e y helped plant in me some basic assumptions about sex: that a certain kind of female appearance w a s most desirable, that w o m e n could be used for sex in w a y s portrayed in the magazines and movies (as w e l l as through m y use of those materials), that w o m e n ' s resistance to certain kinds of sexual activity w a s the result of prudish inhibitions that could, and should, be overcome. T h o s e messages were transmitted by other cultural products and institutions as w e l l , but it w a s i n pornography that I found them most explicitly expressed.

Objectification of women Assuming that most people w i l l not contest the assertion that pornography objectifies w o m e n , I w a n t to examine in more detail w h a t that means to men. A female friend of mine once told me that one of the things that infuriates her at w o r k is w a l k i n g into a business meeting and watching men in the r o o m size her up as she moves to her seat. She said she k n e w that I did it, that her husband did it, that men in general do it. I told her she w a s right. I do it. E v e n after several years of study of feminist theory and pornography, I do it. I don't do it as often as I used to, a n d I catch myself almost immediately. But

it happens, even after coming out as a gay m a n . A n d sometimes w h e n I

realize I a m doing it, I choose not to stop, w h i c h is a difficult admission to m a k e . It is those times especially that I realize h o w thoroughly w o m e n are constructed as objects i n this culture, h o w powerful that construction is, and

h o w it still has a strong hold o n me. Although I believe that the w a y in

w h i c h men apprehend w o m e n visually is a central part of the sexual subjugation of w o m e n , o n the street I a l w a y s have the option of ignoring m y own

convictions a n d using a w o m a n for m y o w n fantasy. Is this really a n act of male supremacy, or simply a n appreciation of

beauty or an acknowledgement of our sexuality? I do not m e a n to suggest that sexual attraction is inherently corrupt; to raise these issues is not to advocate a prudish repression of sexuality. But it is crucial to examine the power at w o r k i n sexual situations. Heterosexual men's sexuality in this culture is constructed around the domination of w o m e n . I n some other w o r l d , one not tainted by sexism, m y concerns perhaps c o u l d be m i n i m i z e d .

KNOWING PORNOGRAPHY But

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i n a culture that for centuries has defined w o m a n as object, it is

essential that men be aware of, a n d honest about, the w a y in w h i c h w e see women. A g a i n , pornography is not the only element i n this construction of w o m e n . But m y use of pornography w a s a central component of it. I n m y case, I have seen w o m e n on the street and created sexual scenes w i t h them that were taken directly f r o m pornography I h a d seen. T h a t has not happened in some time; it is one thing I no longer a l l o w myself. But the fact that it w a s once a routine part of m y sexual imagination tells me something about h o w pornography has affected my v i e w of w o m e n . Although some commentators have suggested that such objectification is unavoidable, even natural, I believe that resisting it is a fundamental step for m e n trying to avoid sexist behaviour. A s K a p p e l e r (1986: 61) writes: T h e fundamental problem at the root of men's behavior in the w o r l d , including sexual assault, rape, wife battering,

sexual harassment,

keeping w o m e n in the home a n d i n unequal opportunities and conditions, treating them as objects for conquest a n d protection - the root problem behind the reality of men's relations w i t h w o m e n , is the w a y men see w o m e n , is Seeing.

Desire A s the testimony of w o m e n has pointed out, men's desire for certain kinds of sexual activity c a n be taken directly from pornography. T h e r e w i l l always be a causation question: do the desires exist independently a n d then get represented i n pornography, or does pornography help to create the desires? O n e convention of pornography leads me to think that i n some w a y s , pornography c a n construct desire. Since the m i d - 1 9 7 0 s , the 'money shot' or ' c u m shot' - s h o w i n g the m a n ejaculating onto the w o m a n ' s body has been a standard of explicit pornography to provide visual proof of men's pleasure (Williams 1 9 8 9 ) . A s a veteran pornographic movie actor put it: ' T h e c u m shot i n the face is the stock-in-trade of orgasms. It's the ejaculation into a w o m a n ' s w a i t i n g face that gets the audience off more than anything else' (Bill M a r g o l d , quoted in H e b d i t c h a n d A n n i n g 1988:

31).

Some of the men I interviewed said they enjoyed that type of c l i m a x , a n d I c a n recall similar desires i n the past. C o n s i d e r this comment from a m a n ' s response to a sex survey (Hite 1982:

781):

' N u d e pictures f r o m men's

magazines turn me o n , a n d w h e n I finally ejaculate, I a i m right at the girl's breasts, pubic hair, or buttocks, whichever pleases me most. T h e more copious m y output of sperm, the more satisfied I a m . '

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER Did

that desire arise from some ' n a t u r a l ' source? F r o m the social con-

struction view of sexuality that I take, the concept of authentic sexual desire is problematic; there is no pure, natural sexuality that is not mediated by culture. H e r e I simply contend that pornography is a force that can shape desire and that w e should be concerned w i t h h o w men m a y be conditioned to desire sexual acts that are humiliating, degrading and painful for w o m e n .

Scripting sex Several men I interviewed argued that sexually explicit material helped open up their sexual horizons. F o r me, pornography constricted rather than expanded my sexual imagination. L o o k i n g back o n my experiences, I see no evidence that pornography fuelled sexual creativity or sparked creative fantasies. Fantasy implies a flight of imagination, a letting go of oneself, the possibility of transcending the ordinary. F o r me, pornography did none of those things. It constrained my imagination, helped keep me focused on sexual activity that w a s rooted in male dominance, and hindered me from moving beyond the ordinary misogyny of the culture. Instead of my imagination running w i l d , m y imagination w a s locked into a film loop, reproducing scripts a n d scenes from pornography. Pornographic sexuality as reproduced in pornography and throughout our culture - crippled my erotic imagination, and I have only recently begun the long project

of

recovering the erotic, in the expanded sense in w h i c h it is used by H e y w a r d (1989) and L o r d e (1984). A validation of this view comes, ironically, from the actor M a r g o l d , w h o saw In

no h a r m in pornography but understood the w a y it restricts the erotic. discussing w h y

people

need

pornographic

films,

he

said:

'We're

drowning in our o w n sexual quicksand because there's a lack of imagination' (quoted i n H e b d i t c h and A n n i n g 1988:

27).

Race F o r me, racial differences had erotic potential. Some of the men I interviewed, all of w h o m were W h i t e , said that they did not like pornography 4

that used w o m e n of colour and that they w o u l d fast-forward past it or pass over it in magazines. T h e r e w a s no pattern to these judgements; some men liked A s i a n w o m e n but not Black w o m e n , while for others the opposite w a s true. Some men only wanted to w a t c h W h i t e w o m e n . I n the pornography market, there are publications and films that cater to all these tastes. T h o s e t w o responses - fascination w i t h or distaste for w o m e n of colour are flip sides of the same racist c o i n . F o r White consumers, w o m e n of

KNOWING P O R N O G R A P H Y

|

colour c a n be even more sexually stimulating. F o r some, such as me, that connected to the stereotype of the 'exotic primitive' and conjured up images of a w i l d sexuality. So I found pornography that used w o m e n of colour especially attractive and have specific memories of pornographic magazines that featured B l a c k w o m e n a n d A s i a n w o m e n . T h a t reaction, of course, is hardly progressive. T h e pornography that highlighted non-White w o m e n played o n stereotypes of the subservient A s i a n w o m a n , the

hot-blooded

L a t i n a a n d the sexually promiscuous black w o m a n . Although I did not consider myself racist at the time, m y interest in such material grew out the racism I h a d learned (and a m continuing to unlearn), just expressed in a manner less overtly racist than those men w h o told me they found w o m e n of colour in pornography to be unattractive to them.

Violence and pornography I use the terms 'violent' a n d 'non-violent' hesitantly, because there is no clear line between the t w o categories in a misogynist culture. But in the c o m m o n use of those terms, violent pornography is usually taken to mean depictions of sexual activity that include overt violence, such as physical abuse, the use of restraints, the presence of weapons or strong verbal coercion. Non-violent pornography usually describes depictions of sexual activity without those elements. T h e feminist c l a i m that pornography fuses sex and violence is often rejected by men w h o say they do not use or enjoy violent pornography. But pornography does not need to be overtly violent to be part of a process by w h i c h violence is eroticized. I w a s never interested in violent pornography, yet I w a s conditioned by 'non-violent' pornography to accept violence as erotic. A g a i n , this is one of those claims that is difficult to prove because w e live i n a culture that in general sexualizes violence; no one c a n say for sure w h a t specific images or influences create a n appetite for sexualized violence. But pornography plays a n important role. I realized that violence h a d been eroticized for me w h e n reading the novels previously mentioned. A t the time, I w o u l d have vigorously denied any c l a i m that I found sexual violence erotic. But as I read those books, I w a s aroused by descriptions of sexual violence, such as a description of a man's sexual torture of a w o m a n w i t h whips and other paraphernalia. N o matter w h a t I thought about sexual violence, the eroticization of violence had

taken place i n my body; it w o r k e d on me. I responded sexually not only

to the descriptions of sex, but also to those portions that used explicit violence and coercion.

I found myself becoming

sexually aroused

by

material that violated w h a t I thought w a s my o w n sense of w h a t w a s

©

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

appropriate and healthy sex. I wanted to reject any experience of pleasure from those images, but m y body accepted them. W h a t I had learned to find arousing w a s a basic power d y n a m i c of male dominance and female s u b o r d i n a t i o n , w h i c h is m u c h the same in violent 5

and

non-violent pornography. O n c e male dominance is eroticized, male

violence becomes at least potentially erotic. I could have denied that, as I think m a n y m e n do, but m y sexual reaction to the novels uncovered the reality of m y erotic imagination. I heard strands of this same story from some of the men I interviewed. F o r example, one m a n w h o w a s convicted of sexually abusing young girls said that he never sought out violent pornography, but that w h e n he found himself w a t c h i n g such material by accident, he found it arousing and he 'got more into it'. H e had learned that male dominance w a s erotic, and so the extension of that dominance to violence was

also erotic.

Sex and violence in the world In

defence of pornography, Christensen (1990: 41) argued that 'the exis-

tence of violent sex in no w a y impugns nonviolent sex or its portrayal'. I disagree. W h e n the sex depicted i n pornography is conditioned by male dominance, the line between the violent a n d non-violent is not nearly as crucial as m a n y w o u l d like to believe. T h e hierarchical structure of nonviolent pornography trained my body to understand the erotic potential that this culture has assigned to rape. D u r i n g my study of pornography I learned that rape w a s sexy to me. T h a t reality had been living in m y body for some time, but it w a s disturbing to have to admit. It led to the inescapable conclusion that I a m capable of rape, even if I cannot imagine ever committing such a n act. T h e simple truth is that in this culture, men have to make a conscious decision not to rape, because rape is so readily available to us and so rarely results in sanctions of any k i n d .

6

I believe that pornography is implicated in - that is, not a direct cause, but a factor in - some men's acts of sexual v i o l e n c e . A n d , as I have made 7

clear so far, I do not see myself as exempt from being influenced by images that shape the sexuality of others. So, if that c l a i m about violence I just made is true - that both I and the sex offenders I interviewed learned to eroticize violence - then w h y have I never committed a sex crime? First, it is not m y contention, nor the contention of anyone in the feminist anti-pornography movement,

that pornography

alone causes rape or that all

pornography users commit rape. A complex network of factors lead a m a n to rape, and while pornography is a n important component, it is obviously not the only one.

KNOWING P O R N O G R A P H Y But

|

it is also important to remember that while I say I have never c o m -

mitted a sex crime, all I c a n really say is that I have not committed a sex crime under the male-defined sexual standards of this culture, w h i c h are similar to the standards set out i n pornography. M y o w n sexual definitions were framed by m y use of pornography, and according to those definitions I have not raped. Y e t , I do not k n o w if that is a n opinion that w o u l d be shared by every w o m a n I have k n o w n (Jensen 1995a). After trying to examine m y sexual history from a non-pornographic perspective, I still come to the conclusion that I never crossed the line into coerced sex. But the final answer to that question w o u l d have to come from those w o m e n .

Control The

single most important thing I have learned from analysing m y o w n

history a n d from the interviews is h o w central the concept of control - by men

over w o m e n - is to pornography. I n m y life, that is most clear from the

period in w h i c h I used pornography the most heavily. It came in m y m i d twenties after the break-up of a n intense relationship w i t h a w o m a n . O n e reason that I found the relationship so troublesome w a s that I w a s not in control. I n most of my intimate relationships before and after that one, I retained most of the power to m a k e basic decisions about the nature of the relationship. But in that situation, for a variety of reasons, I gave up control to the w o m a n . T h a t left me in a particularly volatile emotional state after the break-up, w h i c h I believe made pornography even more attractive. In

pornography, control remains in male hands in two w a y s . First, the

magazines and movies that I c a n recall seeing depicted sexual encounters in w h i c h m e n were in control, guiding w o m e n ' s actions to produce male pleasure. T h e images that stay w i t h me from that period are those in w h i c h the w o m a n w a s completely subordinate, performing sexual acts on and for the m a n . Second, by m a k i n g female sexuality a commodity, pornography allowed me to control w h e n a n d where I used it, and therefore used the w o m e n i n it. Brummett ( 1 9 8 8 : 209) makes this point in his analysis of pornographic movies viewed on a home V C R ,

pointing out h o w the control

offered by the text is reinforced by the control offered by the m e d i u m (the ability to fast-forward a n d r e w i n d to play b a c k ) : ' V C R s never say no to their users; neither do characters in pornographic films. People agree to requests for sex w i t h the same instant and uncritical willingness s h o w n by the television a n d the V C R . ' Brummett's point also applies at least partially to other forms of pornography. F o r me, retreating to a pornographic w o r l d allowed me to regain an

illusory sense of control over female sexuality that I had lost in real life.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER I return n o w to m y reference i n note 1 to a shift i n sexual orientation.

T h i s paper is about pornography marketed to heterosexual m e n , and at the time that I did the research and the majority of the writing, I lived and identified myself as heterosexual. A s I revise this paper for publication, I identify myself as a gay m a n in the process of coming out. O r I m a y be bisexual. O r I c o u l d go back to being heterosexual. O r I m a y choose to live my

life as a celibate gay m a n (or bisexual, or heterosexual). M y point is

that, at this time, I have no need, a n d no w a y , to fix m y sexual orientation in stone; perhaps I never w i l l . W h i l e this is not the place for a n extended discussion of the extent to w h i c h sexuality is determined by socialization and/or biology, certainly m y o w n life is a n example of h o w one's behaviour is shaped by social norms and expectations. M y use of heterosexual pornography w a s one w a y in w h i c h I , w i t h the help of a heterosexist culture, made myself heterosexual. N o matter w h a t k i n d of desire I felt for men during that time (and I did at times feel that desire), I ' w a s ' heterosexual i n a very real sense of the term. T h i s change i n my life is, of course, relevant to an

autobiographical paper, but I have left a discussion of it until the end

because the change does not undermine m y analysis of heterosexual pornography. My

increasing openness to m y o w n gayness does provide one important

additional insight into my pornography use. F r o m discussions w i t h other men

and m y o w n experience, it seems clear that one of the attractions of

explicit heterosexual pornography for some men is the presence of naked male bodies and erect penises. Such pornography is one place where men can

indulge homoerotic feelings without social sanction; after a l l , we are

there to see the w o m e n . Although I w o u l d have denied such a motive at the time that I w a s using pornography, I have a clear sense that I w a s looking at the men in pornography in that w a y . T h i s homoerotic feeling w a s no doubt compounded in situations where I viewed the pornography w i t h other men (either in public theatres or private groups) by the knowledge that around me were men w i t h erections.

Conclusion The

feminist anti-pornography critique has been tagged w i t h a variety of

negative and unwarranted labels: prudish, repressive, simplistic, theoretically totalizing, politically naive. I hope this chapter answers some of those criticisms. M y reflections and arguments are not based i n prudishness or disgust for sexuality. M y goal is not to repress sexuality or deny people's erotic potential. I a m not arguing a simplistic pornography-causes-rape

KNOWING PORNOGRAPHY

|

position. I do not believe that m y experiences a n d perspective c a n explain all men's use of pornography. A n d I a m fully a w a r e of the practical political problems in implementing the feminist critique through l a w . M o s t importantly, as a m a n , I a m not trying to tell w o m e n h o w to feel about pornography; this chapter is not a n attempt to settle the debate over pornography a n d sexuality w i t h i n feminism. So

I do not c l a i m to have proved anything about pornography i n any

definitive sense. M y intention w a s to argue for an expansion of w h a t counts as knowledge about pornography and to explain h o w and w h a t I have learned about pornography in those w a y s . If I have been successful, I have given m e n a n account against w h i c h they can compare and explore their own

experience w i t h pornography, w h i c h m a y or may not lead them to

conclusions similar to mine. A n d I have offered m e n and w o m e n possible explanations for w h y m e n use pornography and assertions about pornography's effects. W h e n I discuss this k i n d of w o r k , I often a m accused of shaping m y account of m y experience to fit the anti-pornography theory that I have endorsed. I agree that the theory has affected h o w I think about, remember and

understand m y experience. I w o u l d also point out that everyone's

account of their experience is shaped by such theoretical commitments. N o knowledge is pre-theoretical; no one has access to an account of their behaviour (or anyone else's behaviour) that has not been refracted through ideology. A pro-pornography

advocate's

account

of his experience

is

shaped by the ideology of sexual and expressive freedom, the idea that any sexual activity is by definition liberating. M y w o r k is 'tainted' by m y commitment to radical feminist ideology, but only to the degree that the w o r k of people w h o take a n opposing view is tainted by their sexual ideology. T h e question is not whether one has gone beyond ideology to get at the real truth, but whether one has constructed the account w i t h integrity and

offered a compelling interpretation. In m y early w o r k on pornography, w h e n I confined m y investigation to

more traditional modes of inquiry, I wrote a very different account

of

pornography's role in the w o r l d . I believe that account w a s incomplete a n d misleading because of w h a t I concealed, both f r o m myself and others. O u r experiences, especially w i t h things as powerful as sexuality a n d pornography, affect our view of the w o r l d ; that is one of the fundamental lessons of feminism. Ignoring or repressing those influences does not bracket them out of our research or politics, but simply hides them and impedes our inquiry.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

Notes 1.

The potentially relevant facts about who T am include, in no particular order: White, born in 1958, Midwestern born and living in the south, raised in the lower-middle to middle class and now residing in the middle class, married for five years until recent separation, father of a 3-year-old boy, living as a heterosexual most of my life until recent coming out (more on that later), antisexist/pro-feminist, the third of four children from a typically dysfunctional American family.

2.

I did not do this work, of course, in isolation. This article reflects the contributions of a number of friends and teachers, including Nancy Potter, Naomi Scheman and Donna McNamara. And a special note of appreciation to Jim Koplin. After seven years of friendship and collaboration, I am not always sure which ideas are mine and which are Jim's. Happily, neither of us worry much about that. I am sure, however, that my life would be far less rich, and my scholarship less valuable, if I did not know him.

3.

For such narratives, see Organizing Against Pornography (1983). The transcript of the Minneapolis hearings was also published as a book in England (Pornography and Sexual Violence, 1988). Also see Attorney General's Commission (1986). That report was published commercially as McManus (1986). Excerpts from the testimony before the commission have been published in a book edited by Schlafly (1987). My citation of the Meese Commission report, which was rooted in a conservative view of pornography, is not intended as support for its politics.

4.

The interview subjects were not all White by design. The work was done in Minneapolis, which is predominantly White, and I received responses to my requests for interviews from White men only.

5.

This is not meant to absolve the genre of pornography that casts women as dominant over men. The eroticization of power in that way does not give women real power in the world, and it does nothing to help us in the search for egalitarian models for sexuality that eroticize equality (a goal that, I realize, not everyone shares).

6.

This idea is taken from comments made by Donna McNamara, then the community education director for the Hennepin County Sexual Violence Center, at a college programme on pornography that she and I presented.

7.

I prefer not to talk about direct causation in such questions of human behaviour, but instead rely on narrative accounts of women and men for evidence of the relationship between, in this case, a cultural product and behaviour. Some anti-pornography feminists are more willing to identify pornography as a direct cause, often citing experimental research (Russell 1993b, 1988).

KNOWING PORNOGRAPHY | References Abbott, F. (ed.) (1990) Men and Intimacy: Personal Accounts of Exploring Dilemmas of Modern Male Sexuality. Freedom, C A : Crossing Press. American Booksellers Association v. Hudnut [1985] 771 F.2d 323.

the

Baker, P. (1992) Maintaining male power: why heterosexual men use pornography, in C . Itzin (ed.) Pornography: Women, Violence and Civil Liberties, pp. 124¬ 44. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Berman, M . (1990) Coming to Our Senses: Body and Spirit in the Hidden History of the West. New York: Bantam. Boone, J.A. (1990) O f me(n) and feminism: who(se) is the sex that writes? In J.A. Boone and M . Cadden (eds) Engendering Men: The Question of Male Feminist Criticism, pp. 11-25. New York: Routledge. Brummett, B. (1988) The homology hypothesis: pornography on the VCR, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 5(3): 202-16. Burstyn, V . (ed.) (1985) Women Against Censorship. Vancouver: Douglas & Mclntyre. Christensen, F . M . (1990) Pornography: The Other Side. New York: Praeger. Cole, S. (1989) Pornography and the Sex Crisis. Toronto: Amanita. Dworkin, A . (1981) Pornography: Men Possessing Women. New York: Perigee Books. Dworkin, A. (1988) Letters from a War Zone. London: Seeker & Warburg. Dworkin, A . and MacKinnon, C . A . (1988) Pornography and Civil Rights: A New Day for Women's Equality. Minneapolis: Organizing Against Pornography. Frye, M . (1990) The possibility of feminist theory, in D.L. Rhode (ed.) Theoretical Perspectives on Sexual Difference, pp. 174-84. New Haven: Yale University Press. Hearn, J . (1987) The Gender of Oppression: Men, Masculinity, and the Critique of Marxism. New York: St Martin's Press. Hebditch, D . and Anning, N . (1988) Porn Gold: Inside the Pornography Business. London: Faber & Faber. Heyward, C . (1989) Touching our Strength: The Erotic as Power and the Love of God. San Francisco: Harper & Row. Hite, S. (1982) The Hite Report on Male Sexuality. New York: Ballantine Books. Itzin, C . (ed.) (1992) Pornography: Women, Violence and Civil Liberties. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jeffreys, S. (1990) Anticlimax: A Feminist Perspective on the Sexual

Revolution.

New York: New York University Press. Jensen, R. (1994) Pornographic novels and the ideology of male supremacy, Howard Journal of Communications, 5(1 & 2): 92-107. Jensen, R. (1995a) Feminist theory and men's lives, Race, Gender & Class, 2(2): 111-25. Jensen, R. (1995b) Pornographic lives, Violence Against Women, 1(1): 32-54. Jensen, R. (1995c) Pornography and the limits of experimental research, in G . Dines

I

CRITICAL HEADINGS: MEDIA AND GENDER

and J . M . Humez (eds) Gender, Race and Class in Media: A Text-reader, pp. 298-306. Thousand Oaks, C A : Sage. Kappeler, S. (1986) The Pornography of Representation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Kendall, C . N . (1993) 'Real dominant, real fun!' Gay male pornography and the pursuit of masculinity, Saskatchewan Law Review, 57(1): 21-58. Kimmel, M.S. (ed.) (1990) Men Confront Pornography. New York: Crown. Kimmel, M.S. and Kaufman, M . (1994) Weekend warriors: the new men's movement, in H . Brod and M . Kaufman (eds) Theorizing Masculinities, pp. 259-88. Thousand Oaks, C A : Sage. Lorde, A. (1984). Sister Outsider. Freedom, C A : Crossing Press. MacKinnon, C A . (1987) Feminism Unmodified: Discourses on Life and Law. Cambridge, M A : Harvard University Press. MacKinnon, C A . (1989) Toward a Feminist Theory of the State. Cambridge, M A : Harvard University Press. McManus, M.J. (1986) Introduction, Final Report of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography. Nashville, T N : Rutledge Hill Press. Narayan, U . (1988) Working together across difference: some considerations on emotions and political practice, Hypatia, 3(2): 31-47. Organizing Against Pornography (1983) Public Hearings on Ordinances to Add Pornography as Discrimination Against Women (transcript). Minneapolis, M N : Organizing Against Pornography. Pornography and Sexual Violence: Evidence of the Links (1988) London: Everywoman. Russell, D . E . H . (1988) Pornography and rape: a causal model, Political Psychology, 9: 41-73. Russell, D . E . H . (ed.) (1993a) Making Violence Sexy: Feminist Views on Pornography. New York: Teachers College Press. Russell, D . E . H . (1993b) Against Pornography: The Evidence of Harm. Berkeley: Russell Publications. Schlafly, P. (ed.) (1987) Pornography's Victims. Westchester, I L : Crossway Books. Segal, L . and Mcintosh, M . (eds) (1993) Sex Exposed: Sexuality and the Pornography Debate. New Brunswick, N J : Rutgers University Press. Stivers, C . (1992) Reflections on the role of personal narrative in social science, Signs, 18(2): 408-25. Williams, L . (1989) Hard Core: Power, Pleasure and the 'Frenzy of the Visible'. Berkeley: University of California Press.

SAPPHIRES, SPITEIRES, SLUTS AND S U P C R B i T C H C S

O

AFRAMERICAN S AND L AT IN AS IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN FILM Elizabeth Hadley Freydberg

The

A m e r i c a n film industry continues to produce films i n w h i c h A f r a m e r -

icans a n d L a t i n a s are cast i n degrading roles, irrespective of the vehement protests of these t w o groups. T h e roles to w h i c h it most often relegates members of the t w o largest minority groups i n A m e r i c a are unquestionably negative stereotypes. Stereotype

as defined here 'is a n imitation, a copy of

something or someone that is, by means of the media machinery, held up first as T H E symbol or symbols to the exclusion of others; a n d then repeatedly channeled out to viewers so often that i n time it becomes a "common"

representation of something or someone

i n the minds of

viewers' ( B l a c k w o o d 1 9 8 6 : 2 0 5 ) . Stereotypes m a y be either positive or negative; for example, some B l a c k people are excellent singers a n d dancers, but not all Black people are endowed w i t h these talents. Whether the image that a stereotype projects is positive or negative, however, it always limits the range of h u m a n behaviours a n d emotions that viewers are willing to ascribe to a stereotyped group. I n the language of Active or imaginative media, stereotype creates 'flat' characters. Stereotypes i n m a n y contemporary films reinforce preconceived notions of the status quo about people outside mainstream society. M o r e o v e r , the majority of stereotyping found i n films is negative: it portrays the individuals i n the stereotyped

group

as having personal qualities that are

undesirable. T h i s negative stereotyping fulfils a social function: it is through stereotype that the ruling majority rationalizes its maltreatment of people w h o m it has designated as inferior. Images of Aframericans a n d L a t i n a s have a long history of deformation

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND G E N D E R

and

distortion because of racism - a byproduct of colonialism, a n d sexism.

' R a c i s m is the subjugation of a cultural group by another for the purpose of gaining economic advantage,

of mastering a n d having p o w e r over that

group - the result being h a r m done, consciously or unconsciously, to its members' (Anzaldiia 1990: 2 2 5 ) . Sexism in m a n y w a y s resembles racism in that its dynamic c a n be expressed largely i n terms of social a n d economic power. Although racism m a y create social structures in w h i c h the dom¬ inator and dominated c a n be almost entirely separate i n terms of social contact, sexism requires contact between dominator and dominated. I n addition, dominating cultural groups have long used sexism in the service of r a c i s m by using the sexual terrorism of rape as a w e a p o n to punish a n d control both genders of the subjugated group. The

'exaggerated images' depicted in film as representative of Blacks and

L a t i n a s are those of prostitutes - w o m e n w h o sell their bodies for monetary profit; concubines - w o m e n w h o are kept, usually by a W h i t e male; whores -

sexually promiscuous w o m e n w h o do not profit financially but w h o

appear to enjoy sleeping around; a n d bitches -

sexually emasculating,

razor-tongued and razor-toting, hostile, aggressive w o m e n w h o w i l l fight m a n or w o m a n at the slightest provocation. A critical analysis of films and the use of historical a n d sociological data demonstrate some rationale for why

these stereotypes persist in A m e r i c a n society. Such analysis also reveals

that these stereotypes originate w i t h a n d are maintained by the racism and sexism of those w h o control A m e r i c a ' s film industry specifically a n d media in

general. Aframerican

and

Latina

women

have

historically been

treated

as

demoralized sex objects by White men. B l a c k w o m e n were brought by W h i t e men to A m e r i c a to w o r k in the agrarian South and to breed a larger slave population to supplement the workforce w i t h free labour. W h i t e men not only appropriated the labour and the children of B l a c k w o m e n under slavery, but they also appropriated B l a c k w o m e n ' s bodies through rape. And,

w h e n the colour of their mulatto offspring bore silent witness to rape,

these men profited from the unholy harvest by selling their o w n children and

justified their violent subordination of B l a c k w o m e n by labelling them

promiscuous seducers. W h i t e w o m e n to some extent accepted the rationale offered by their husbands a n d brothers. A l t h o u g h their acceptance of the rationale of promiscuous B l a c k w o m e n m a y have been motivated by the need to repress a n unpleasant truth, W h i t e w o m e n h a d a n even more compelling reason to believe: profit. L i k e W h i t e men, W h i t e w o m e n profited from the economics of slavery. After emancipation a n d the failure of reconstruction, W h i t e w o m e n as w e l l as W h i t e men retained a system of beliefs about Black people that w a s fundamentally identical to w h a t they

S A P P H I R E S , S P I T F I R E S , S L U T S AND S U P E R B I T C H E S had

|

maintained during the slave era - for the same reason, profit. Although L a t i n a w o m e n were not brought to A m e r i c a for breeding, they

were perceived as members of a 'conquered' people, and as such were accorded the same lack of respect by Anglo m e n . (The term Anglo,

in

L a t i n a discourse, refers to C a u c a s i a n s not of H i s p a n i c descent; although context c a n create a negative connotation, it is not used in this chapter derogatorily.) M e x i c a n s were defeated by the U S A first in battle at S a n Jacinto in 1836, then their final ruination w a s precipitated by the loss of the majority of their land to the U S A w i t h the annexation of T e x a s in 1845; the signing of the Treaty of G u a d a l u p e H i d a l g o i n 1848 - the acquisition of C a l i f o r n i a , N e v a d a , U t a h , A r i z o n a , N e w M e x i c o , a n d even parts of C o l orado a n d W y o m i n g ; a n d finally the G a d s d e n Purchase of 1853 (Brinton, Christopher and W o l f f 1964:

5 1 0 ) . T h e attitude of Whites t o w a r d H i s -

panics w a s infused w i t h biological and militaristic superiority based upon the same pseudo-scientific rationalizations that h a d nurtured the

most

sophist defences of slavery. S u c h ethnocentricity is manifest in A r t h u r G . Pettit's ( 1 9 8 0 : 12) observation: The

issue by the early 1840's w a s not whether the M e x i c a n s were

inferior to the N o r t h A m e r i c a n s but whether the M e x i c a n s as inferiors ought to be left alone or conquered. Southerners, speaking w i t h the 'voice of experience' in dealing w i t h another d a r k skinned race, were simultaneously loudest i n asserting b r o w n inferiority a n d strongest in affirming the risks of racial pollution. J o h n C . C a l h o u n , standing firm on

the O l d Testament conviction of H a m ' s degeneracy, argued that the

true misfortunes of Spanish A m e r i c a involved the fatal error of placing colored races on a n equal footing w i t h white m e n a n d maintained that the alternative to racial separation w a s economic stagnation, political chaos, a n d genetic pollution. And

i n reference to A n g l o attitudes regarding the Puerto R i c a n s , L u i s

M e r c a d o (1974: 153) states, 'Puerto R i c o w a s governed through the U . S . Department of Interior a n d the U . S . N a v y a n d A r m y Departments. T h e ruling officials usually were m e n w h o strongly reflected the plantation mentality, customs, and f o l k w a y s of the Deep South, w i t h its preoccupation w i t h race, class, a n d religion.' Puerto R i c o w a s annexed in 1898 w i t h the signing of the Paris T r e a t y , a n d its people became U S citizens w i t h the enactment of the Jones A c t i n 1 9 1 7 (Kelley 1986: 4 4 3 , The

568).

dehumanization of B l a c k and L a t i n a w o m e n w a s maintained i n

stereotypes i n literature created by W h i t e people that were eventually to surface i n film during the early twentieth century and that continue i n contemporary film as the century d r a w s to a close. T h e images of L a t i n a s

©

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

have their origins in the dime-store novels of the nineteenth century, but the images of A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n w o m e n are derivatives of sentimental apologists for slavery in the plantation novel genre and their successors in the w a v e of nostalgia for a w a y of life 'gone w i t h the w i n d ' after 1865. D.W.

Even

Griffith consulted the rabidly racist novels of Southerner T h o m a s

D i x o n to 'authenticate' the controversial images of Black people reflected in The Birth of a Nation

(1915). A l l the Black characters, male a n d female, are

abnormally lustful a n d are performed by W h i t e men in 'black face', except the 'tragic mulatto' played by M a d a m e S u l - T e - W a n . Similarly, the L a t i n a of conquest fiction is portrayed as the half-breed harlot whose purpose is to pique the male sexual appetite and whose m i x e d blood elicits similar behaviour to that of her Black counterpart,

the

mulatto. Both B l a c k and L a t i n a w o m e n may be used as W h i t e men's sexual playmates, as concubines or prostitutes, but neither possesses the necessary m a t r i m o n i a l attributes assigned to the characters of virtuous W h i t e w o m e n . T h e i r 'coloured' blood precludes such unions because it activates capricious behaviour (also characteristic of the 'tragic m u l a t t o ' ) :

1

T h e s e stereotypes

are conceptualized according to a racial hierarchy in w h i c h purity, chastity and

m o r a l virtue are equated w i t h light s k i n , and lustful debauchery is

equated w i t h darker colouring. T h e L a t i n 'dark lady' is often a promiscuous, short-tempered,

miscegenated bitch w h o w i l l curse, stab,

or

poison her love interest in a jealous rage; whereas her C a s t i l i a n sister, of aristocratic ancestry, is the lady. T h e well-bred Castilian lady of literature and

film is permitted these characteristics not because Anglos respect her

ancestry, but because she is usually cast as whiter than her darker L a t i n a sisters of M e x i c a n , Puerto R i c a n or B r a z i l i a n descent. Before turning to analysis of specific films, it is important to acknowledge that stereotypes of B l a c k and L a t i n a w o m e n do have their counterparts in images of White w o m e n in film. W h i t e w o m e n have been maligned, stereotyped and derogated. W h i t e w o m e n , however, have the privilege of a more diverse palette of images. I n some cases, W h i t e w o m e n have exercised the prerogative to change their images through the H o l l y w o o d 'star' system,

through

'power-behind-the-throne'

roles

off

screen;

and

finally

through their o w n w o r k as film-makers, producers, directors a n d writers. B l a c k and L a t i n a w o m e n have had n o m i n a l access to the informal routes to genuine power; thus they have had less opportunity to redefine their o w n images. A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n w o m e n continued to appear in films as maids and mammies throughout the 1930s, w h i c h culminated in Hattie M c D a n i e l s receiving an O s c a r for her role as a m a m m y in Gone with the Wind (1939). H o l l y w o o d musicals became the popular fare of the 1940s because they

S A P P H I R E S , S P I T F I R E S , S L U T S AND S U P E R B I T 0 1 E S

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were a necessary diversion from the Second W o r l d W a r . H o l l y w o o d musicals that launched the careers of both A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n a n d L a t i n w o m e n (leading many to believe that this w a s their chance to escape the traditional stereotypes in entertainment) were short-lived and s p a w n e d new stereotypes. L e n a H o m e , initially mistaken for a L a t i n a in her film debut i n w h i c h she briefly sings and dances i n Panama

( 1 9 4 2 ) , received accolades for

Hattie

her singing of a L a t i n song. She subsequently appeared in Thousands

Cheer

(1943); the all-Black Cabin in the Sky (1943) as seductress Georgia B r o w n ; and

i n the all-Black Stormy

Weather

(1943) as Selina, whose rendition of

'Stormy Weather' is renowned. M G M , however, did not k n o w w h a t to do w i t h a beautiful A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n w o m a n w h o refused to pass a n d w h o rejected scripts that she considered negative to A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n images. Although the studio attempted to make her a sex object even in the latter two films, her poise and sophistication transcend the stereotype. H o m e w a s continually cast in limited musical scenes 'that Southern distributors, w h o objected to seeing a black w o m a n on the screen c o u l d neatly excise from the films' ( K a k u t a n i 1981: 2 4 D ) . Although her L a t i n sisters m a y have been cast i n more films, the 1930s and

1940s images were either zany caricatures or carnal playmates for

Anglos. M e x i c a n a L u p é Velez ( 1 9 0 8 - 4 4 ; née M a r i a G u a d a l u p e Vêlez de Villalobos) and Brazilian C a r m e n M i r a n d a ( 1 9 0 9 - 5 5 ; née M a r i a do C a r m o M i r a n d a da C u n h a ) exemplify the former, a n d D e l R i o , discussed later, represents the latter. V e l e z , whose fiery harlot depiction began w i t h the silent film The Gaucho Pepper The

(1928), became famous as the zany L a t i n a i n Hot

(1933), Strictly Dynamite

Mexican

Spitfire's

Baby

(1942) a n d The Mexican

(1934), The

(1941), The

Spitfire's

Blessed

w o o d musical films include That Havana

(1941), Springtime

Night

in the Rockies

Girl

From

Mexican

(1939), Elephant

(1943). M i r a n d a ' s H o l l y -

Event in

Mexico

Spitfire's

Rio

(1941),

Weekend

(1942) a n d Copacabana

Characterizations of w o m e n generally became

more

in

(1947).

derelict after the

H o l l y w o o d Production C o d e s , established during the 1930s, were relaxed around 1951. W h i t e w o m e n played the harlot, the heroine, and also during this era a n d successive eras appeared as A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n and L a t i n a w o m e n . But the A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n and L a t i n a w o m e n were limited to the injurious images - frequently used to demonstrate the contrast

between

them a n d the superior W h i t e w o m e n on the screen. T h e focus here is o n A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n and L a t i n a w o m e n w h o have h a d a reasonable amount of longevity in film and those w h o have starred in films that are successes.

financial

2

Black people have arduously opposed the demeaning images of their race

©

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

presented i n films since the appearance of D . W . Griffith's Birth of a (1915).//Now,

Nation

as then, representatives of the commercial film industry

responp to criticism through the assertion that they are reflecting 'real life' (Dempsey a n d G u p t a 1 9 8 2 : 6 8 ) . D u r i n g the 1950s, however, B l a c k people in 'real life' were engaged i n the struggle for racial equality a n d C i v i l Rights in every A m e r i c a n institution. Although A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n w o m e n such as R o s a Parks, E l l a Baker, D a i s y Bates a n d Autherine L u c y

3

were at the

forefront of the struggle for integration, the most publicized image of the A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n w o m a n o n the movie screen w a s that of a w h o r e played by

D o r o t h y Dandridge i n Carmen

Jones.

4

D o r o t h y Dandridge, a n entertainer o n the vaudeville circuit from age 5, began her film career w i t h performances i n A Day at the Races (1937) a n d Going

Places

(1939) a n d continued through several 1940s musicals up

through the 1950s w h e n she appeared i n Tarzan s 9

abducted

A f r i c a n princess. H e r performance

celebrity. Carmen

Jones

Peril

(1951) as an

as C a r m e n made

her a

(1954) w a s 'the 1950's most lavish, most pub-

licized, a n d most successful all-Black spectacle' (Bogle 1 9 8 8 : 169). T h e film's release coincided w i t h the revival of the musical Porgy

and

Boss

(1953) featuring Leontyne Price i n a highly acclaimed production o n international theatre tour. Dandridge went o n to play Price's filmic counterpart. Carmen

Jones

is a loose interpretation of Bizet's nineteenth-century

opera, w h i c h w a s based o n a w o r k by F r e n c h novelist Prosper M é r i m é e about a Spanish G y p s y peasant girl ( C a r m e n ) w h o w o r k s i n a tobacco factory i n Seville, Spain. I n the opera, C a r m e n is a promiscuous w o m a n who

accords toreador E s c a m i l l o her sexual favours after having professed

her love for the sergeant, D o n J o s é . T h e screenplay Carmen by

Jones,

written

H a r r y Kleiner, produced a n d directed by O t t o Preminger, w i t h incred-

ibly stereotyped lyrics conceived a n d perceived to be ' B l a c k dialect' (replete w i t h 'dese', 'dat's' a n d 'dis's') by O s c a r H a m m e r s t e i n II, is transplanted to a parachute factory i n the A m e r i c a n South during 1 9 4 3 . After 'hair-pulling fights

between black females, the inevitable barroom b r a w l , the exag-

gerated dialect, the animalistic passions a n d furies of the leads' (Bogle 1988: 169), C a r m e n Jones meets her demise, p r o v o k e d by her w h o r i s h nature, at the hands of Joe, a student air force pilot w h o m she has rejected for H u s k y M i l l e r , a prize fighter. Dandridge's character C a r m e n Jones embodies t w o stereotypes of A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n w o m e n - those of whore a n d b i t c h . She is 5

sexually promiscuous, emasculating a n d foul-mouthed, a n d she carries a razor that she uses o n one of her c o - w o r k e r s . Pauline K a e l ' s description of Dandridge as 'fiery a n d petulant, w i t h w h i p l a s h hips' (Kael 1 9 8 2 : 93) a n d D o n a l d Bogle's as 'animalistic a n d elemental' (Bogle 1988: 169) are indicative of w h a t critics said of Dandridge's portrayal of C a r m e n Jones.

S A P P H I R E S , S P I T F I R E S . S L U T S AND S U P E R B I U H E S The

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role garnered Dandridge an Academy A w a r d nomination for Best

Actress -

the first time a B l a c k w o m a n w a s so h o n o u r e d .

6

Dandridge

received a three-year contract w i t h Twentieth Century F o x Studios under D a r r y l F . Z a n u c k w h i c h stipulated that she w o u l d star in one movie a year w i t h a starting salary of $ 7 5 , 0 0 0 per picture (Robinson 1966: 74). Several achieved notoriety for their controversial implications of inter-racial love rather than for her acting ability. I n Island in the Sun (1957), Dandridge became the first A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n actress to be cast opposite a W h i t e actor (John Justin) as a serious romantic interest. T h e cast included James M a s o n , Joan Fontaine, Joan Collins a n d M i c h a e l Rennie, and co-starred

Harry

Belafonte. T h i s w a s the first of at least three films in w h i c h she w a s so cast. Dandridge w a s the first A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n w o m a n contracted as a leading lady i n a n A m e r i c a n film; as such, according to the formula, she w o u l d have to kiss or indicate romantic intimacy w i t h her leading m a n . T h e producer vacillated because, according to her manager E a r l M i l l s , he 'could not decide h o w to handle the C a u c a s i a n - N e g r o relationship' (quoted in R o b i n s o n 1966: 75). T h e producers were unwilling to break the stereotypical m o u l d even for the acclaimed actress a n d legendary beauty. I n Tamango

(1959),

for example, she w a s cast as a scantily clad A f r i c a n slave opposite C u r t Jurgens as a sea captain w h o falls i n love w i t h her. T h e kissing scenes remained in the F r e n c h release but were removed for the English release. Nevertheless, distribution w a s hampered i n the U n i t e d States because of a section

in the M o t i o n Picture

Production

C o d e that prohibited mis-

cengenation on screen. Dandridge completed her three films cast opposite a W h i t e actor in each of them, but did not receive further acclaim for her acting until she again played a w h o r e (Bess) in Porgy and Bess ( 1 9 5 9 ) , for w h i c h she received the G o l d e n G l o b e A w a r d as Best Actress in a M u s i c a l . By

today's standards C a r m e n a n d Bess seem to exemplify characteristics of

the liberated w o m a n , but according to the m o r a l expectations

of the

A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n community these w o m e n were sexually p r o m i s c u o u s . In

1965,

the first A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n actress to grace the cover of

7

Life

magazine (1954) w a s found dead from a n overdose of antidepressant pills. Dandridge w a s dedicated to achieving recognition as a dramatic

actress.

After talking w i t h director R e u b e n M a m o u l i a n she believed that she w o u l d play C l e o p a t r a , but the role went to Elizabeth T a y l o r . After the many years she h a d struggled i n her career, a n d after achieving acclaim, there is no doubt that Dandridge w a s disappointed and perhaps depressed regarding her career. W h e n the H o l l y w o o d offers subsided she exclaimed, T could play the part of an Egyptian or a n I n d i a n or a M e x i c a n , a n d I ' m certainly not the only one . . . there are other Negro actors a n d actresses w h o c a n do the same thing' (quoted in R o b i n s o n 1966: 80). Dandridge had confidence

©

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

in

herself as a n actress - of the roles proffered by H o l l y w o o d ' s movie

moguls she said, 'more often than not - a n d more often than I w o u l d like the role calls for a creature of abandon w h o s e desires are stronger than their sense of morality' (quoted in R o b i n s o n 1966:

80).

L a t i n a s in commercial films were treated no more equitably than their Black sisters. H o l l y w o o d

film-makers

projected the same images of the

L a t i n a s as those that Pettit (1980) maintains are manifested in the conquest fiction of Anglos. H e asserts: Authors of conquest fiction tend to divide all Spanish M e x i c a n w o m e n into t w o categories. A majority of d a r k - s k i n n e d half-breed harlots a n d a minority of C a s t i l i a n dark ladies w h o are actually no darker than the A m e r i c a n heroines, a n d may or may not be virtuous. . . . T h e one similarity between these two types of w o m e n is that both are 'naturally' sexual. H o w e v e r , their sexuality takes different forms,

each

based on color. T h e sexual behavior of the C a s t i l i a n dark ladies is carefully programmed a n d controlled. T h e sexual behavior of the halfbreed w o m e n is spontaneous, constant, a n d entirely lacking in control, if not design. (Pettit 1980:

20)

H o l l y w o o d applies this natural sexual image to all L a t i n w o m e n - the only distinction is through a false verisimilitude that implies that all L a t i n a s in urban settings are Puertorriqueña, a n d a l l L a t i n a s in r u r a l settings

are

M e x i c a n a . W h i t e actresses playing L a t i n a s are also limited to the same stereotypes as in the case w i t h Jane Russell as R i o in The Outlaw

(1943),

where the release w a s delayed until 1947 because of publicized censorship feuds; and L i n d a D a r n e l l as C h i h u a h u a in My Darling

Clementine

(1946);

Jennifer Jones as Pearl C h a y e z , a half-breed w h o r i s h wretch i n Duel in the (1946); a n d even w i t h L e n a H o m e ' s character

Sun Death

of a Gunfighter

Claire Quintana in

(1969); they were w o m e n of easy virtue, prostitutes,

m a d a m s or concubines. L a t i n a actresses

should have h a d little trouble

securing roles that w o u l d permit them to play a greater latitude of minority roles as w e l l as W h i t e or generic w o m e n ' s roles, because they could 'pass' for w o m e n of other nationalities. A s George H a d l e y - G a r c i a wrote i n 1990, negative film images of L a t i n a s continue to persist because of 'the sexism w h i c h overlaps the standard racism and xenophobia' ( H a d l e y - G a r c i a 1990: 111). Moreover, w h e n L a t i n a actresses are cast in roles depicting other nationalities, although these roles imply diversity, frequently they

are

characterizations of members of another outcast minority group. M e x i c a n actress L u p é Velez once said in reference to roles in w h i c h she h a d been cast, that 'she had portrayed Chinese, E s k i m o s , Japanese, s q u a w s , H i n d u s ...

M a l a y s , and Javanese' ( W o l l 1980:

60).

S A P P H I R E S , S P I T F I R E S , S L U T S AND S U P E R B I T C H E S The

|

roles designated to Delores D e l R i o , one of H o l l y w o o d ' s first L a t i n a

stars, exemplifies this practice. Although she occasionally played the aristocratic C a s t i l i a n , she w a s more frequently stereotyped. She, too, began as an

actress during the silent screen era in the 1920s, playing 'exotic her-

oines'. T h r o u g h o u t the 1920s, 1930s and into the 1940s, D e l R i o portrayed a F r e n c h peasant in What Price of Paradise in Loves 'The

Glory

(1926), a R u s s i a n peasant in Res-

(1927), a half-Indian in Ramona

urrection

(1928) a n d a Polynesian i n Bird

(1932) (Gaiter 1983: 2 3 D ) . She also played the role of C a r m e n

of Carmen

( 1 9 2 7 ) , of w h i c h critic M o r d a u n t H a l l (1927) wrote:

alluring M i s s D e l R i o w i t h her bright eyes, pretty lips and lithe figure,

gives a decidedly unrestrained portrait of the faithless creature.' Between 1925

a n d 1943,

D e l R i o w a s featured in at least 14 H o l l y w o o d films.

D u r i n g the 1930s and 1940s she appeared in The Girl of the Rio (1932) as a cantina dancer in this successful film that raised the ire of the M e x i c a n government,

w h i c h levelled a formal protest

sentation of M e x i c a n l a w ; a n d in In Caliente

for its derogatory

repre-

( 1 9 3 5 ) , a sequel to The Girl

of

the Rio w i t h the same cast a n d the same opposition from the M e x i c a n government. Flying

Down

to Rio (1932) features D e l R i o as a B r a z i l i a n ,

once again generating controversy because she sports a two-piece bikini; and

A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n actress E t t a M o t e n as a dark-skinned South A m e r -

ican w h o sang ' T h e C a r i o c a ' . D e l R i o , w h o insisted upon being recognized as a M e x i c a n in her publicity releases, tired of these stereotypical roles and returned to M e x i c o during the 1940s where she continued to perform on stage a n d screen and w a s instrumental i n the founding of the M e x i c a n film industry (Gaiter 1983:

2 3 D ) . She starred i n J o h n Ford's The

Fugitive

(1947), filmed in M e x i c o , as a C h i c a n a mother of a n illegitimate child w h o sacrifices her life to save the A n g l o priest ( H e n r y F o n d a ) ; and resurfaced in H o l l y w o o d in t w o roles as a Native A m e r i c a n - the first, as the mother of E l v i s Presley in Flaming

Star ( 1 9 6 0 ) , and in Cheyenne

Autumn

(1964), John

Ford's 'apology to the I n d i a n s ' in w h i c h Native Americans are decimated but in a more 'sympathetic' manner. R i t a M o r e n o , a Puertorriqueña and w h o , like Dandridge, also appeared on the cover of Life in 1954, began her career as a film actress in So So Brave Del

Young,

(1950) a n d continued to play stereotyped roles similar to those of

R i o . H e r film credits include Pagan

(1953) a n d Untamed

Love

Song

(1950), Latin

Lovers

( 1 9 5 5 ) ; i n 1956 she received critical recognition as a

talented actress for her role as the Siamese Princess T u p t i m in The King

and

L D u r i n g this period of her acting career, M o r e n o says that she portrayed 'the I n d i a n lady w i t h feathers i n her head or the L a t i n lady w h o ' s a l w a y s demeaned and never w i n d s up w i t h a m a n , especially if he's a white m a n ' (Bermel 1965: 38). M o r e n o ' s comment reverberates w i t h the A n g l o s ' fear

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

of 'genetic pollution' referenced above; the same fear they have of the A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n s intermingling w i t h W h i t e w o m e n . hiatus, during w h i c h M o r e n o performed

8

After a four-year

on the legitimate

stage, she

returned to H o l l y w o o d i n 1961 in the role of A n i t a in West Side Story. A s A n i t a , M o r e n o portrays a Puertorriqueña w h o is the razor-tongued, streetwise friend of M a r i a (a suntanned N a t a l i e W o o d ! ) . T h e story focuses on M a r i a , a Puertorriqueña w h o has just arrived in Spanish H a r l e m from Puerto R i c o . A n i t a w a r n s M a r i a of the dangers of failing i n love w i t h a W h i t e boy, w h i c h M a r i a promptly does w h e n she falls in love w i t h T o n y ' s close friend Riff, the leader of the Jets. T h e i r relationship ignites the fermenting feud between rival street gangs, the Jets (White boys) a n d the Sharks (Puertorriqueño), advancing the conflict in the film. T h e r e are both overt and subliminal messages of ubiquitous promiscuity regarding the character of the Puertorriqueña in the film. T h e constancy of derogatory lyrics w i t h pretentious accents (as i n Carmen

Jones

and

Porgy

and Bess; this time in conceived Puerto R i c a n lyrics by Stephen Sondheim), compounded w i t h decidedly risqué costumes for the era i n w h i c h the film was

produced, heighten this promiscuity. T h e lyrics of ' A m e r i c a ' , a duet

sung by R o s a l i a a n d A n i t a , contain both positive and negative descriptions of Puerto R i c o but the negative descriptions prevail. T h e introduction to this song implies that the long H i s p a n i c names are ridiculous a n d continues in

the following pejorative manner: ' A l w a y s the population g r o w i n ' / A n d

the money owing/And the babies crying/Hundreds of people i n each r o o m ! ' The

diffuse dialogue in negative reference to large H i s p a n i c families sub-

liminally reinforces the stereotyped beliefs held by mainstream A m e r i c a . The

image of the promiscuous L a t i n a is effectively buttressed by placing

A n i t a on the side of her bed skimpily c l a d in undergarments as she suggestively sings: ' A n i t a ' s gonna get her kicks/Tonight/We'll have our private little mix/Tonight/He'll w a l k in hot a n d tired, poor dear/Don't matter if he's tired/As long as he's here/Tonight!' C o s t u m i n g w o m e n in red in both theatre and film productions is universally synonymous w i t h 'loose w o m e n ' (see note 5) and there is certainly a proliferation of red i n the costumes of the L a t i n a s in this film. Presumably red

is reflecting the fire smouldering inside the character w e a r i n g it. M a r i a ' s

virtuous white 'coming out' dress flaunts a red waist sash; the majority of the Puertorriqueña w e a r red; and the lavish crinoline slips underneath Anita's black ' m o u r n i n g ' skirt are red ( w h i c h are revealed w h e n some of the Jets attempt to rape her); and M a r i a wears a red dress in the final scene of the film. T h e colour red combined w i t h low-cut, suggestive blouses and tight skirts exemplifies the attire of the w h o r e , and its repeated use implies that this mode of dress is indigenous to L a t i n a s . A n d finally, the conclusion

S A P P H I R E S , S P I T F I R E S . S L O T S AND S U P E R B I T C H E S

|

pays homage to all of the earlier prototypes of film containing inter-racial relationships - the L a t i n a cannot w e d the A n g l o - she or he in this case must die. Costumes and lyrics are only t w o of the negative images presented in this film, but they are two of the strongest subliminal production elements that serve to lull an audience into a false sense of reality. I n both film and theatre, music a n d colour are utilized to manipulate moods a n d attitudes. The

majority of the A n g l o critics hailed this film as a masterpiece, w i t h one

notable dissenter - Pauline K a e l (1966). T h e y did not comment on the negative stereotypes;

perhaps because they believed -

as critic Stanley

K a u f m a n believed - that ' w e are seeing street gangs for the first time as they really are' and by extension L a t i n a s (quoted i n K a e l 1966: 131). A positive statement such as this c a n be made without any personal knowledge of Puerto

R i c a n s or gang

members

because

the

stereotyped

images

are

imprinted in the spectator's subconscious. T h e people whose images were negatively affected did c o m p l a i n , however. A l t h o u g h the Puerto R i c a n A c t i o n C o a l i t i o n implored Paramount to remove the 'racist' film West

Side

Story from circulation, Paramount President F r a n k Y a b l a n s refused. T h e films continued to play throughout the U S A , a n d H o l l y w o o d honoured it w i t h ten A c a d e m y A w a r d s , including one for Best C o l o u r Costume Design. R i t a M o r e n o received a n O s c a r for Best Supporting Actress for her role as A n i t a (Pickard 1977: Marlowe

1 7 5 - 6 ) . M o r e n o subsequently played a stripper in

(1969) and A l a n A r k i n ' s mistress in Poppi

(1969), while simul-

taneously continuing her illustrious stage career. M o r e n a is the only w o m a n to have received a n a w a r d i n every media - the A c a d e m y A w a r d , the E m m y and

the T o n y . A m e r i c a n cinema has presented

A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n family structure,

a similarly distorted picture of the 9

bolstered by 'documentation'

from

sociological studies. T h i s distortion has led to a corresponding distortion of the depiction of A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n w o m e n . F r o m the latter half of the 1960s through the 1970s, m a n y B l a c k Americans gradually shifted from a n inte¬ grationist to a separatist ideology. T h e separatist ideology is sometimes referred to as the ' B l a c k P o w e r M o v e m e n t ' , w h i c h meant rejection of the White m a n ' s images of fun, beauty, profit a n d virtue, replacing them w i t h Black images . . . w a s cultural, political, social, religious, and economic' (Berry a n d Blassingame 1982: 4 1 9 ) . T h e contemporary feminist movement evolved

almost

simultaneously,

and

African American

women

were

involved i n both movements. These activities coincided w i t h a spate of sociologically based studies that argue that the B l a c k family is dominated by w o m e n a n d that this domination is responsible for the deterioration of the B l a c k family in A m e r i c a . Although m a n y B l a c k men a n d w o m e n

©

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

verbally denounced these assertions, m a n y embraced them. Paula Giddings (1984: 319) explains: Some Black intellectuals of the time were not content merely to relegate Black w o m e n to the political - or biological - back seat of the movement.

Sociologists, psychiatrists, a n d the male literati accused

Black w o m e n of castrating not only their men but their sons; of having low

self-esteem; of faring badly w h e n compared to the virtues of White

w o m e n . B l a c k w o m e n were unfeminine, they said; h o w could they expect the unflagging loyalty and protection of Black men? These seeds of derision s o w n among A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n m e n and w o m e n blossomed o n the silver screen during the late 1960s through the m i d - 1 9 7 0 s and

have resurfaced to haunt us i n the ongoing heated debates about the

Steven Spielberg adaptation of Alice W a l k e r ' s novel The (1984).

1 0

Color

Purple

T h e sociological theories provided both B l a c k a n d W h i t e males

w i t h justification for their maltreatment of B l a c k w o m e n . A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n men such as A m i r i B a r a k a , Eldridge C l e a v e r and M a l c o l m X espoused male domination of w o m e n (albeit the latter's attitude w a s tempered by his religious beliefs). These attitudes

were

reflected

in

film

through

the

exploitation of A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n w o m e n by both B l a c k and White males. W h i t e males more often than not cast B l a c k w o m e n primarily as concubines, prostitutes a n d superbitches, achieving monetary success from the films. Black m e n , portraying pimps and pushers, exploited, brutalized a n d destroyed their B l a c k w o m e n on the silver screen for all to see, even though for many it w a s a one-film deal.

The Liberation

of L.B. Jones

( C o l u m b i a 1970) w a s the vehicle that l a u n -

ched L o l a F a l a n a , a vocalist and dancer, into film. F a l a n a starred as E m m a Jones, wife of the wealthiest Black m a n in Somerset, Tennessee, L o r d B y r o n Jones (Roscoe

L e e B r o w n e ) , w h o publicly humiliates her husband by

becoming the concubine of Willie Joe W o r t h (Anthony Z e r b e ) , a redneck cop. She discontentedly lounges a r o u n d (like C a s s y ) i n her o w n bourgeois home, half-clad in sexy lingerie, reading movie magazines. C a n b y refers to F a l a n a as being 'like a n all-black Jean H a r l o w . . . an admirable, not entirely conventional slut' ( C a n b y 1970: 6 C : 1). M e l i n d a (Vonetta M c C e e ) in the film Melinda

(Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,

1972) is the concubine of a White M a f i a boss (Paul Stevens). She is slashed to death early i n the film, providing the motivation for narcissistic Frankie J.

Parker ( C a l v i n L o c k h a r t ) to avenge her murder by karate kicking a n d

chopping his w a y through

hoodlums

for the remainder

of the

film.

S A P P H I R E S , S P I T F I R E S . S L U T S AND S U P E R B I T C H E S

|

Although L o n n e E l d e r I I I (an accomplished playwright and screenwriter for the

Oscar-nominated

Sounder)

wrote

the

screenplay

and

Hugh

A.

Robertson w a s the director, the two Black m e n alleged that the W h i t e movie moguls 'kept pushing for all sex a n d violence' (Mitchener

1975:

243). V e t e r a n actress R o s a l i n d C a s h (Terry D a v i s ) w h o played a respectable business executive contends that she vigorously fought to develop a character that w a s more than a 'black w h o r e ' ( W a r d 1977: 2 2 3 ) . T h e T e r r y D a v i s character

indicated that A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n w o m e n are business

w o m e n also. T h i s film w a s popular among A f r i c a n Americans w h o h a d complained about

the

'blaxploitation'

fare.

domestic film rentals (Parish a n d H i l l 1989:

It grossed

$ 1 , 5 6 0 , 0 0 0 in

216).

In each of these early blaxploitation films it is apparent that the writers were in a quandary as to w h a t to do w i t h w o m e n . T h e shallow characters are more illustrative of Barbie D o l l s (her first appearance w a s in 1959)

-

engaged in nothing more than maintaining their beauty, revealing flesh while changing their clothes, and developing variations of seductive poses rather than complex, loving h u m a n beings. Manifestly, the

film-makers

of

these films recognized the marketability of beautiful B l a c k w o m e n on the screen a n d that their beauty h a d to be combined w i t h sex. After several decades of mammies, maids, tragic mulattoes a n d matriarchs,

however,

they did not k n o w quite w h a t to do w i t h this combination. T h e subsequent phase of blaxploitation temporarily resolved this confusion. 'Blaxploitation' refers to films that feature predominantly Black casts, are sometimes authored by B l a c k writers and guided by Black directors, but always hastily produced on a shoestring budget by W h i t e - o w n e d H o l l y w o o d studios that earn millions of dollars from their enterprise. E a r l i e r films in this genre featured B l a c k m e n in the leading roles functioning i n a male métier The Mack

(e.g. Shaft 1971; Superfly 1973).

1972; Across

110th

Street 1972; a n d

W o m e n in these films were incidental; they created the

'ambience' of the ghetto as prostitutes, whores a n d drug addicts. W i t h the arrival of Coffy

(1973) starring P a m G r i e r , however, w o m e n became the

focal point and the next phase of blaxploitation combined beauty a n d sex w i t h violence w h i c h engendered sexploitation films and the arrival of the 'superbitch'. The

superbitch embodies characteristics similar to those ascribed to the

matriarch (dominating w o m a n ) combined w i t h the description of the bitch delineated above. P a m G r i e r achieved stardom as the superbitch supreme throughout the first half of the 1970s. She appeared on the covers of both Ms.

- w h i c h celebrated her as a liberated w o m a n - and New

exalted her as a sex goddess (Bogle 1989:

York,

which

399). G r i e r , initially a switch-

board operator for A m e r i c a n International Pictures, eventually grossed

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I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

millions for this company after becoming their contract star. She w a s featured in more than a dozen films, the majority of w h i c h were produced by AIP,

brandishing such titles as Coffy

(1973), Foxy Brown

(1974), Sheba,

( 1 9 7 3 ) , Black

Mama,

White

Baby (1975), and Friday Foster

Mama (1975).

G r i e r starred as a nurse, a prostitute, a private investigator, and a glamour magazine photographer w h o sports very sexy attire a n d literally castrates men

on the screen. I n Foxy Brown

alone, G r i e r thrashes a call girl in a bar,

slashes the throat of another w o m a n , cremates t w o m e n to death, a n d castrates a third a n d delivers his genitals in a pickle jar to his w o m a n friend as a w a r n i n g . She strutted her sexiness through the decadent ghetto w o r l d of pimps, pushers a n d prostitutes, variously armed w i t h profanity, a spear gun

a n d a sawn-off shotgun, the tools of her trade that facilitated her

cleansing the c o m m u n i t y of these seedy elements. It did not matter w h a t G r i e r ' s slated role w a s , her character type remained the same - w h o r i s h superbitch w h o bedded w i t h anyone including her professed enemies. W h e n A I P ' s box-office dollars for G r i e r movies began to dwindle i n 1975, contract w a s not renewed (Parish a n d H i l l 1989: The

her

145).

P a m G r i e r movies exploited sex a n d w o m e n during the era of the

contemporary

women's

liberation

movement.

The

creation

of

this

m a c h i s m o character provided soft pornography for m e n and a vicarious pleasure and satisfaction for some feminists w h o believed that these images were positive examples of equitable casting. These films represented the female counterparts to the popular male films such as Shaft (1971), (1972) and The Attack

Superfly

(1973); the audience is told in the latter that 'a p i m p

is only as good as his product - a n d his product is w o m e n ' . T h i s statement is visually reinforced as the audience is bombarded w i t h the display of Black w o m e n as whores and prostitutes w h o are referred to a n d addressed as 'bitches'. Fortunately, the popularity of these films w a s ephemeral. Unfortunately, w i t h the death of blaxploitation films, B l a c k actresses

became

unemployed. T h e y were no longer i n demand because the industry w a s unwilling to cast them in any but the dehumanized sex-object roles. Indeed, c o m m e r c i a l films of the 1980s have neglected to provide alternatives to these images as evidenced i n the film Fort Apache,

the

Bronx

( 1 9 8 1 ) , where m e n refer to w o m e n as 'bitches' a n d ' f u c k i n ' sluts', a n d w h i c h features P a m G r i e r , w h o received critical praise for her role as Charlotte, a drugged-out

prostitute

w h o wanders through a

decadent

community populated w i t h pushers, pimps, prostitutes a n d arsonists in the South B r o n x , where she shoots t w o cops at close range during the film's opening, a n d randomly slits the jugulars of men w i t h a razor blade concealed under her tongue for no apparent reason, until the middle of the film w h e n she blunders and is killed by her would-be victim. G r i e r ' s absence is

S A P P H I R E S . S P I T F I R E S . S L U T S AND S U P E R B I T C H E S

|

inconsequential to the community as well as to the film's progression.

L a t i n a actresses were more difficult to ascertain i n the contemporary

film

industry because their numbers are scant and because some are cross-cast. Presumably there is a younger generation of L a t i n a actresses w h o , like their predecessors, have changed their names, and there are m a n y w o m e n w h o are not easily identifiable as L a t i n a s . T h e w o m e n w h o attained celebrity status were white-skinned: R i t a H a y w o r t h (née M a r g a r i t a C a n s i n o ) a n d R a c q u e l W e l c h (née R a q u e l T e j a d a ) , whose anonymity permitted them a 'greater variety of screen roles and identities' ( C o r t é s 1985: H a d l e y - G a r c i a 1990:

99,

100;

178).

A l t h o u g h R a c h e l T i c o t i n continues in roles that are non-generic regarding

race, she continues as nothing more than a male appendage. She w a s

M e l i n a , a prostitute in Total Recall and

(1990); K i m B r a n d o n , single mother

w o m a n - f r i e n d of Rollie (Bryan B r o w n ) i n The Deadly

Art of

Illusion

(1991); G r a c e , concubine to the dope-pusher, but actually a n undercover detective i n One Good fiction film Aliens

Cop ( 1 9 9 1 ) . Incidentally, the popular 1986 science

featured Private V a s q u e z , a fierce machine-gun-toting

L a t i n a (possibly a flirtation w i t h gender-bending?) w h o w a s very impressive as being equal to the boys w h e n it came to combat. T h e role, however, w a s played by a suntanned W h i t e actress (Jenette Goldstein). It is still not clear as to w h y this character h a d to be L a t i n a , and since she w a s , considering the paucity of roles, w h y w a s a L a t i n a not cast? The

1990s do not envisage brighter horizons for A f r a m e r i c a n a n d L a t i n a

w o m e n . T h e options of roles that A f r a m e r i c a n a n d L a t i n a actresses are offered continue to illustrate w h a t James B a l d w i n ( 1 9 7 5 : 93) said of the intentional misrepresentations in Carmen Carmen

Jones

Jones 4 0 years ago:

has N e g r o bodies before the camera and Negroes are

associated in the public m i n d w i t h sex. Since to lighter races, darker races a l w a y s seem to have a n aura of sexuality, this fact is not distressing i n itself. W h a t is distressing is the conjecture this movie leaves one w i t h as w h a t A m e r i c a n s take sex to be. C o m m e r c i a l l y successful films continue to manifest this ignorance. Spike Lee's D o the Right ('all

Thing

(Universal 1989), i n w h i c h L a t i n a R o s i e Perez

y o u do is curse', T i n a ) is used only as a sex object (as w o m e n

are continually used i n his subsequent films); A Rage

in Harlem

(1991)

features R o b i n Givens - replete w i t h red dress - as Isabelle, a prostitute (whose rendition has been compared to D o r o t h y Dandridge i n Jones)

redeemed

by Forrest W h i t a k e r ; New

Jack

City

(1991),

Carmen where

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

Aframericans in addition to fulfilling their sexual expectations are accorded parity w i t h males through their ability to unblinkingly b l o w someone's head off at close range w i t h an U z i (reminiscent of P a m G r i e r ' s 1970s characters); to name a few. The

same year that Black and H i s p a n i c people formed the Committee

Against Fort A p a c h e , the N a t i o n a l Association for the Advancement of C o l o r e d People ( N A A C P ) announced that, '1980 h a d been the worst year for black actors a n d actresses since 1970' (Sterritt 1983: 12), and withheld the Image A w a r d s (Black version of the O s c a r ) for Best Actress after it w a s realized that C i c e l y T y s o n w a s the only actress w h o played in a role large enough to qualify for nomination (Bustin'

Loose,

1981). T h e r e were no

Black actresses in a leading role in 1982, and in 1983, in a n act of desperation, the Image A w a r d w a s bestowed on Jennifer Beals - a n actress whose A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n heritage w a s publicly ambiguous - for her part in Flashdance by

(certainly not a Black film). H e r nomination w a s accompanied

a n explanation from W i l l i s E d w a r d s , then president of the N A A C P ' s

H o l l y w o o d Beverly H i l l s branch, w h o maintained 'that the Image A w a r d s were created to honor individuals - black or white - w h o present a positive image for minorities' ( L o n d o n 1983:

1). T h e 1990 Image A w a r d for the

category of Best Actress w a s suspended because there were not enough leading performances to adjudicate (Givens 1991:

38). A l t h o u g h 29 per

cent of the feature films cast w o m e n , only 10 per cent of principal roles in both film and television were a w a r d e d to A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n w o m e n (Eivens 1991:

36).

T h e r e is a glimmer of hope in M a t t y R i c h ' s Straight (1991) a n d J o h n Singleton's Boyz N the Hood

Out of

Brooklyn

( C o l u m b i a 1 9 9 1 ) , two films

that, although focused on men, portray A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n w o m e n realistically. T h e former sensitively addresses the complexities surrounding wife battering and child abuse; the latter presents diverse images of Aframericans. A m o n g the characters represented i n Boyz

N the Hood

are the

responsible single mother w h o recognizes the necessity of a father-son relationship and delivers the adolescent to his father, completes her master's degree and opens her o w n business; the single mother w h o attempts to raise t w o sons but errs in lavishing affection o n one to the neglect of the other; the ' c r a c k h e a d ' mother whose toddler is frequently w a n d e r i n g the street in traffic; and finally a refreshing young high school w o m a n w h o verbalizes that she w i l l not become

sexually active because of her man-friend's

demands but that she w i l l determine w h e n she is ready. T h e latter character is contrasted w i t h a young w o m a n of the same age w h o hangs w i t h the ' B o y z ' but nevertheless articulates her malcontent w i t h the w a y i n w h i c h they reference w o m e n w h e n she asks ' w h y w e always gotta be bitches, hoes

S A P P H I R E S , S P I T F I R E S , S L U T S AND S U P E R B I T C H E S and

|

hootches?' R a e D a w n C h o n g and Jennifer Beals are at least t w o A f r i c a n

A m e r i c a n actresses frequently cross-cast. A n d although cross-casting on the one

h a n d is positive, on the other,

cross-casting

solely light-skinned

actresses hearkens back to earlier filmic practices that exclude the darkerskinned sisters. T h e same is true for L a t i n a actresses. D e l R i o , M i r a n d a a n d Velez were vocal about their L a t i n heritage; there were darker L a t i n a s whose careers were truncated because of their colour; and finally there were those w h o could pass. F o r the most part, attention to the plight of the image of Black w o m e n in film has been precipitated by B l a c k w o m e n such as R u b y Dee a n d Alice Childress, w h o long ago published articles addressing the issue of the B l a c k w o m a n ' s image in literature a n d the visual arts, and Saundra Sharp, w h o maintained in 1982 that y o u n g Black actresses were still being offered 'four or five lines on a stupid comedy s h o w , a bit part as a prostitute or a dope addict, or straight T and A ' (Dempsey and G u p t a 1982: 69). H e r w o r d s continue to be echoed in 1991 by a new generation of actresses w h o lament the absence of diverse roles for w o m e n of colour: ' w h e n y o u are an ethnic w o m a n of color, y o u play the hooker or y o u don't w o r k ' (Givens 1991: 4 0 ) . A f r a m e r i c a n and L a t i n a actresses continue to struggle alone - m a k i n g achievements, w i n n i n g a w a r d s , but alone - there is no support system, a n d ' H o l l y w e i r d ' allows only one 'success' at a time. L i k e their foremothers N i n a M a e M c K i n n e y , Freddie Washington, L e n a H o m e , D o r o t h y D a n dridge, C i c e l y T y s o n , Delores D e l R i o , C a r m e n M i r a n d a , Lupé Velez and M a r i a M o n t e z (to w h o m P a m G r i e r has been compared) whose beauty is renowned,

a

prerequisite

for

Hollywood

films,

and w h o

have

won

numerous accolades against all odds, to m a i n t a i n gainful employment in the motion picture industry. T h e r e is a paucity of roles for w o m e n in general, but there are even fewer for A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n and L a t i n a actresses. Whereas W h i t e w o m e n have taken the opportunity to portray A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n and L a t i n a w o m e n - among them Jeanne C r a i n , Janet L e i g h , L i n d a D a r n e l l , Jennifer Jones, Susan K o h n e r a n d recently Jenette Goldstein -

' w o m e n of colour' are not offered the option to play themselves and

certainly not to play a W h i t e w o m a n or even a role believed to be a W h i t e w o m a n ' s . Finally, while W h i t e H o l l y w o o d simultaneously celebrates M e r y l Streep, D e m i M o o r e , Julia Roberts, M e l a n i e Griffith, Jodie Foster and others, only one A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n actress at a time is considered a 'boxoffice attraction'. ' H o l l y w e i r d ' currently recognizes W h o o p i G o l d b e r g (who has h a d a n uphill battle i n 'tinsel t o w n ' ) , but remains ignorant of Sheryl L e e R a l p h , L y n n Whitfield, V a n e s s a Bell C a l l o w a y a n d K i m b e r l y Russell. T o d a y w h e n Black w o m e n writers are acclaimed for literary w o r k s (Alice W a l k e r , T o n i M o r r i s o n a n d T e r r y M c M i l l a n - all three appeared o n the

j &

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND GENDER

New

York

Times

Best Seller's L i s t simultaneously in 1 9 9 2 ) , and w h e n

w o m e n of colour o w n their o w n publishing houses (e.g. K i t c h e n T a b l e : W o m e n of C o l o r Press), are publishing books internationally and multiculturally (Charting Women;

Women's

Contemporary

the Journey: Fiction

Authors;

From

Writings Latin

and Bridges

by Black

America:

of Power,

and

Selections

Third

World

From

Twelve

among m a n y other titles),

there is no indication from the H o l l y w o o d film industry that complex stories about Aframericans and L a t i n a s are imminent. F i l m s have long ceased to be innocuous entertainment. I n fact, w h e n dealing w i t h Aframericans and L a t i n a s , H o l l y w o o d has never been apolitical.

1 1

H o l l y w o o d designs and distributes entertainment for the dominant

culture. A r t has been abused for the sake of maintaining the status quo. After a l l , the business of H o l l y w o o d is illusion. L a m e n t a b l y there is no distinction made between mythology a n d actuality. F i l m s that have been released irrespective of opposition from minorities impart a clear message that the White-controlled studios, distribution centres, a n d critics do not give a d a m n about the derogatory images of minorities if there is a profit to be made in those images. T h e film industry c a n no longer be permitted to be irresponsible; they must be held culpable for their decision m a k i n g . T h e reason that stereotypes continue to a b o u n d is, as G o r d o n W . A l l p o r t ( 1 9 8 1 : 200)

states,

that they are socially supported, continually revived a n d

hammered i n , by our media of mass c o m m u n i c a t i o n - by novels, short stories, newspapers, movies, stage, radio a n d television. Western society continually espouses the need for universality i n art. But this has become a n excuse to give the public a homogenized universality that appeals solely to W h i t e people - if it deviates from their cultural understanding, then it has no validity. T h i s is a prime example of cultural genocide. A m e r i c a n film has buttressed institutional teachings of mainstream A m e r i c a to invalidate all that is different, as w e l l as to convince the 'different' that they a n d their culture are invalid. Although W h i t e H o l l y w o o d exercises the l u x u r y of remakes (often of bad films), the diverse stories of A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n and L a t i n w o m e n have not been told even once. T h e r e are A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n a n d L a t i n a independent film-makers telling those stories. W o m e n such as Julie D a s h , Michel|e Parkerson, Allile Sharon L a r k i n , A y o k a C h e n z i r a , the late K a t h l e e n C o l l i n s , Leslie H a r r i s , M a r t a N . Bautis, Sylvia M o r a l e s , Pilar Rodriguez, Teresa 'Osa'

a n d m a n y others have been recording the A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n w o m e n ' s

experiences

for more

than a decade,

without acknowledgement

H o l l y w o o d - a n d w i t h n o m i n a l acknowledgement from c r i t i c s .

12

from

A n d their

stories w i l l survive just as their cultures have survived in spite of the multifarious means employed by Anglos to nullify them.

S A P P H I R E S , S P I T F I R E S . S L U T S AND S U P E R B I T C H E S

|

Notes 1.

Films featuring the half-breed Latina character include The Outlaw (1943) and My Darling Clementine (1946); films on the 'tragic mulatto' include The Debt (1912), The Outlaw (1913), Imitation of Life (1934 and 1959) and Pinky (1949).

2.

For an indication of box-office returns on contemporary Black films see Parish and Hill (1989). It is important to note that, with the advent of videotapes, some of these films are still reaping profits. Pam Grier's films are excellent examples; released in 1988, the package was promoted as 'sex for the price of five'.

3.

Rosa Parks refused to relinquish her bus seat to a White man, precipitating the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement; Etta Baker, an activist and Coordinator of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr's, Southern Christian Leadership Conference ( S C L C ) ; Daisy Bates, President of the Arkansas National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter and publisher of the Arkansas State Press, led the integration of Central High School during the 1957 school integration crisis in Little Rock, and Autherine Lucy, the first African American to desegregate the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. Dorothy Dandridge had been in films since the early 1940s, but the role that gained her position as a movie star was that of Carmen Jones in the film of the same title.

4.

5.

Indeed, Donald Bogle describes how Dandridge outfitted herself and altered her behaviour in Otto Preminger's office to convince him that the role belonged to her, because Preminger believed that Dandridge was 'too sleek and sophisticated for the role of a whore' (Bogle 1988: 168).

6.

Hattie McDaniel won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress of 1939, for her mammy performance in Gone With the Wind. Beah Richards was nominated in 1967 for Best Supporting Actress in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. The second African American woman to receive an award in the history of the Academy is Whoopi Goldberg who won for Best Supporting Actress in 1991. Incidentally, Goldberg plays an intermediary to the White stars in the film Ghost. Other films characterizing Black women in this manner were the remake of Imitation of Life (1959), in which a White actress portrays the irrepressibly sexual and fiery, tragic mulatto Sarah Lane whose Black blood lures her to degraded occupations and compels her to hide in her room, engaged in licentious gyrations to African American jazz. Juanita Moore, who plays Sarah Lane's mother, won an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her subservient performance to Claudette Colbert in this 1959 remake of the 1934 classic based on the novel by Fannie Hurst, a White woman. Although the stereotypical names have been changed from Aunt Delilah to Annie and from Peola to Sarah Jane, the negative stereotypes remain unchanged. Sapphire

7.

©

I

C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G S : H E D I A AND G E N D E R (1959), a British-made film scripted by Janet Green, a White woman, also features the tragic mulatto theme in which the murdered Sapphire is found dead at the film's beginning, dressed in a red petticoat that does not match the rest of her luxurious lingerie. During the ensuing investigation by White detectives to establish the murderer, it is determined that Sapphire was a Negro passing for White and engaged to be married to a White man; she clandestinely frequented Black hangouts and had secret friendships with Black men. 8.

The rationale for the lynching of Black men that occurred in the USA during the nineteenth and up until the mid-twentieth century was predicated on this fear.

9.

Independent Black film-makers have made some positive and realistic family films, most notably The Learning Tree (1969) by Gordon Parks (a Hollywood exception, based on Parks's childhood); The Sky is Grey (1972) by Stan Lathan; The Killer of Sheep (1977); Bless Their Little Hearts (1984) by Billy Woodberry; To Sleep With Anger (1990) by Charles Burnett; Daughters of the Dust (1991) by Julie Dash; and Nothing But A Man (1963), a White independent film by Michael Roemer. Also see the special issue of The Nation Scapegoating the Black Family, Black Women Speak (1989 July 24/31) - a diverse group of Black women, including educators, legislators and other professional women, address issues concerning the Black family.

10. Although there were many, Tony Brown's articles and Minister Louis Farrakahn's tapes were perhaps the most critically severe in their attacks (see Brown 1986). This syndicated column, in addition to thanking the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for not rewarding Purple People for their lack of selflove', levels scurrilous personal attacks against Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Avery. In addition, Minister Louis Farrakahn took time out of his busy schedule to produce a long-running commercial audiotape that derides The Color Purple and also levels personal attacks against the artists. 4

11. Nor, for that matter, films depicting any group of colour - including Indians, Asians and others. For an introduction to this issue see Miller (1980). 12. For a more comprehensive listing see Michelle Parkerson (1990).

References Allport, G.W. (1981) The Nature of Prejudice (25th anniv. edn). Reading, M A : Addison-Wesley. Anzaldúa, G . (1990) Bridge, drawbridge, sandbar or island: lesbians-of-color Hacienda Alianzas, in L . Albrecht and R . M . Brewer (eds) Bridges of Power: Women's Multicultural Alliances. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers. Baldwin, J. (1975) Carmen Jones: the dark is light enough, in L . Patterson (td\) Black Films and Filmmakers: A Comprehensive Superhero.

New York: Dodd, Mead.

Anthology from Stereotype to

S A P P H I R E S . S P I T F I R E S . S L U T S AND S U P E R B I T C H E S Bates, K.G.

|

(1991) They've gotta have us, The New York Times magazine, 14 July:

15. Bermal, A. (1965) Getting out from under an image, Harper's Magazine, April: 38. Berry, M . F . and Blassingame, J.W. (1982) Long Memory: The Black Experience

in

America. New York: Oxford University Press. Blackwood, M . (1986) Stereotypes: beyond the 'mammie', in C . Brunsdon (ed.) Films for Women. London: British Film Institute. Bogle, D . (1988) Blacks in American

Films and Television: An Illustrated

Ency-

clopedia. New York: Garland. Bogle, D . (1989) Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films (expanded edn). New York: Continuum. Brinton, C , Christopher, J.B. and Wolff, R . L . (1964) Civilization in the West. Englewood Cliffs, N J : Prentice Hall. Brown, T . (1986) Whoopi for the Academy Awards, The Indianapolis

Recorder,

April 5:11. Canby, V . (1970) The liberation of L.B.

Jones, The New York Times, 19 March: 60.

Cortés, C E . (1985) Chicanas in Film: History of an Image in Chicano

Cinema:

Research, Reviews, and Resources. Binghamton, N Y : Bilingual Review Press. Dempsey, M . and Gupta, U . (1982) Hollywood's color problem, American

Film,

April: 66-70. Gaiter, D.J. (1983) Dolores Del Rio, 77, is dead: film star in U.S. and Mexico, The New York Times, 13 April: 23D. Giddings, P. (1984). When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America. New York: William Morrow. Givens, R. (1991) Why are Black actresses having such a hard time in Hollywood?, Ebony, June: 36-40. Hadley-Garcia, G . (1990) Hispanic Hollywood: The Latin in Motion Pictures. New York: Citadel. Hall, M . (1927) The New York Times, 27 September. Kael, P. (1966) 'West Side Story', in J Lost it at the Movies. New York: Bantam. Kael, P. (1982) 5001 Nights at the Movies: A Guide from A to Z . New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Kakutani, M . (1981) Lena Home: aloofness hid the pain, until time cooled her anger, The New York Times, sec. 2, 3 May: D I . Kelley, R. (1986) The Shaping of the American Past. Englewood Cliffs, N J : Prentice Hall. London, Michael (1983) Beals named as N A A C P Image Awards nominee, Los Angeles Times, 9 November: C 6 : l . Mercado, L . (1974) A Puerto Rican American Speaks, in E . Mapp (ed.) Puerto Rican Perspectives. Methuen, N J : Scarecrow. Miller, R . M . (1980) Kaleidoscopic

Lens: How Hollywood

Views Ethnic

Groups.

Englewood, NJ: Jerome S. Ozer. Mitchener, C . (1975) Black movies, in L . Patterson (ed.) Black Films and Film-

®

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER making: A Comprehensive York: Dodd, Mead.

Anthology

from Stereotypes to Superheros. New

Parish, J.R. and Hill, G . H . (1989) Black Action Films. Jefferson, N E : McFarland. Parkerson, M . (1990) Did you say the mirror talks?, in L . Albrecht and R . M . Brewer (eds) Bridges of Power: Women's Multicultural Alliances. Philadelphia: New Society. Pettit, A . G . (1980) Images of the Mexican American in Fiction and Film. College Station:Texas A & M University Press. Pickard, R. (1977) The Oscar Movies from A-Z. London: Frederick Muller. Robinson, L . (1966) Hollywood's tragic enigma, Ebony, March: 70. Sterritt, D . (1983) In film, progress is obvious but not enough and affects only certain groups, Christian Science Monitor, 9 May: 11-13. Ward, F. (1977) Black male images in films, in E . Kaiser (ed.), A Freedomways Reader: Afro-America in the Seventies. New York: International Publishers. Woll, A . L . (1980) Bandits and lovers: Hispanic images in American film, in R . M . Miller (ed.) The Kaleidoscopic Lens: How Hollywood Views Ethnic Groups. Engelwood, N J : Jerome S. Ozer.

o

W O M E N AND S O A P O P E R A : RESISTIVE READINGS Hary Ellen Brown

Soap opera knowledge supports largely feminine friendship a n d gossip networks by allowing for a system where those w h o have such knowledge are supported and where such knowledge is legitimated. I n addition, w e c a n see the beginning of a tendency to break the rules - both narrative and social -

a n d to question established boundaries through parody

and

laughter. I n this chapter w e shall look more carefully at h o w the text itself is brought into dialogues where it c a n be used to structure a resistive reading or where a potentially resistive reading c a n be rejected. I n all cases, the resistance is measured i n terms of the subordination of w o m e n in our culture, hence the facets of female power c a n be seen as a crucial factor in the creation of resistive meaning.

Female Power A negotiation of female p o w e r evidences itself in both text a n d audiences. There is evidence in these interviews to suggest that female characters are judged in terms of power; that power is, in m a n y cases, indicated by a female character's ability both to speak and to be seen. . . . I n the following conversation, w e see this idea taken a step further: Ellen: Coronation

Street is famous also because it has great bawling-

out, stand-up fights between w o m e n .

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER MEB:

T h e first time I s a w that w a s o n Coronation

Street.

Ellen: Between E n a Sharpies MEB:

But she's so o l d .

Ellen: Between E n a Sharpies a n d MEB:

A n n i e w o u l d be too sophisticated.

Ellen: W e l l , n o . A n n i e has got a good bag for that. MEB:

She's got a good mouth o n her! (Laughter)

H e r e w e see that w o m e n willing to literally fight it out c a n be viewed as powerful. T h e w o m e n being depicted o n Coronation

Street

i n the above

conversation are older w o m e n ( E n a Sharpies w a s i n her nineties at the time), hence the pleasure of seeing t w o w o m e n fight is not i n seeing them as sexual objects but as fighting w o m e n , able to use their bodies i n this w a y . On and

Coronation

Street, older w o m e n are considered to have interesting lives

sometimes to be daring a n d courageous. I n this case, there is a bit of

resistance embedded i n the text itself. In another case, w h e n a female character is not as strong as she could be, these Days of Our Lives fans take note of it. Sue: H o w do y o u feel about the w o m e n ? Emma: W e l l , M a r l e n a , she's the doctor, the psychiatrist. She w a s at the hospital. She had her office and h a d patients and then she suddenly gets involved w i t h R o m a n a n d police w o r k . She just slipped out of character. N o w she is going back [ R o m a n is dead at this point], of course. Sue: D o y o u think she is a strong w o m a n character? Emma: Fairly. Sue: T h a t ' s w h a t I feel, fairly. I ' d like to see her really get stronger as a person. Emma: She's very w e l l liked. Seems to be very popular. Sue: I think she's real popular, but I ' d still like to see her be a little more independent or something. I don't k n o w . Karen: Y o u k n o w w h o is the best? G w e n . W a s n ' t she wonderful w h e n she refused to lean o n L a r r y ? She has some good lines. M a r l e n a ' s popularity means that she m a y w e l l continue to be a character o n the s h o w , but this group of fans w o u l d like to see her make use of the power she should have by virtue of her position as a psychiatrist. G w e n , o n the other h a n d , is popular because of the strength of her character a n d also because she has been given 'some good lines'. G w e n ' s p o w e r is, at least partially, i n w h a t she is able to say. W i t h i n the discussion the shifting emphasis between producer, character, actor, a n d audience i n terms of the source of power for these female characters is evidence of the dialogic

WOMEN AND SOAP OPERA: R E S I S T I V E R E A D I N G S

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nature of conversations about soap operas. T h e power of the female voice seems to be recognized a n d appreciated by these fans. Another example of this affirmation follows: Ellen: T h a t ' s definitely a lot of the pleasure in watching it. It's the w a y things are said. MEB:

Particularly the p u t - d o w n , I take it.

Ellen: T h e put-downs, the rudeness. It's k i n d of stylized rudeness. MEB:

W e l l , the power of the w o m e n seems to have to do w i t h their -

Ellen: T h e i r mouths. (Laughter) But

evidence of female p o w e r is not the only marker of resistive reading.

W e have already seen h o w groups of w o m e n constantly negotiate their position w i t h i n traditional families and romantic relationships in the context of soap opera networks. N o w let us look at t w o groups of teenage soap opera viewers - one, a group of young teenage girls w h o are fans of the Australian Sons and Daughters, and

Brookside.

a n d another, British fans of

T h e Sons and Daughters

Neighbours

fans are mainly working-class,

high school friends whose formal contact w i t h the feminist movement is slight. T h e y are close to the age where A u s t r a l i a n teens, like British teenagers, w i l l choose whether to continue their education beyond the age of 16. T h e second group of teenagers are college-age young people from a British university studying in the United States, some of w h o m are c o m mitted feminists. W i t h each group it is possible to distinguish the w a y that a resistive reading hinges o n the social, cultural, a n d political positions of audience members.

Strategies and Tactics Patricia Palmer's study Girls and Television

( 1 9 8 6 ) tells us a bit about the

general television viewing practices of A u s t r a l i a n teenage girls. T h e viewers in

her study, from working-class schools are, she finds, devoted

and

enthusiastic and w a t c h more television than boys. G i r l s ' viewing, according to her findings, peaks between the ages of 13 and 14. Although t w o out of the five schools Palmer used i n her study were coeducational, talk about television programs by girls w a s almost a l w a y s w i t h other girls. G i r l s , according to Palmer's finding, ' h a d a detailed knowledge of programs their friends w a t c h e d and liked a n d the favorite s h o w of their group at s c h o o l ' (p.

32). I n fact, according to Palmer, girls often form their friendship groups

based o n w h i c h television programs are their favorites. G i r l s did not, as a

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND GENDER

rule, discuss their television involvement w i t h parents, teachers, or other adults; however, as Palmer notes: T t w a s certainly gratifying to girls if parents viewed their programs, as long as they did not interrupt by talking or asking for translations, i n the case of parents w h o did not speak E n g l i s h '

43-4).

(pp. An

attitude of ownership of certain programs w a s usual and the young

w o m e n often referred to their favorites as 'my programs'. Parents i n Palmer's study were quite

flexible

about

allowing television viewing

of

programs of w h i c h they did not approve; however, they sometimes were critical of their daughters' viewing practices, criticizing them for watching soap operas i n particular. T h e girls reported a n overwhelmingly negative perspective o n most television by their teachers, but w h e n a teacher w a s a television fan, these girls felt supported. A s one of Palmer's group members remarked: C h e r y l : M y science teacher likes it, she watches all the 'Prisoner' programs a n d things like that. It's good to come to school and have, you

k n o w , a good conversation w i t h the teacher. Y o u feel y o u are i n

the right, then, y o u k n o w . (p. 51) Although Palmer concludes that girls' use of television contributed to their n a r r o w i n g their future choices by the educational decisions they made during early teenage years, she also acknowledges the pleasure that the girls she interviewed experienced i n talking about television. ' W h i l e their talk is often intense, it is also punctuated by laughter. W h a t girls learn from television c a n have serious, and negative, consequences but there is no doubt that the process of doing so affords them great enjoyment' (p. 67). I n m y v i e w , the laughter and enjoyment of television may themselves be appropriations of television's strategies, a n d their gathering together to share this enjoyment means that they may be doing more than simply absorbing the ideology that these shows seem to represent. A close look at responses to a specific program c a n help to clarify h o w the process of reading takes place w i t h i n a particular group of girls. The

teenagers w h o m w e look at here are longtime fans of Sons

Daughters,

1

and

t w o of them having w a t c h e d it since its inception i n 1981. T h e

act of watching this particular soap then put these teenagers i n the position of choosing as their cultural capital a particularly trashy soap - a n initial act of defiance usually of their parents and teachers in itself a n d a c o m m o n one among teenagers. Although sharing m a n y similarities w i t h the A m e r ican daytime soap operas, also noted for their excessive trashiness, Sons Daughters

also has significant differences. T h e plots on Sons and

and

Daughters

move exceptionally fast (thus counteracting the universal teenage complaint

WOMEN AND SOAP OPERA: R E S I S T I V E R E A D I N G S

|

of boredom), and they emphasize different aspects of the narrative than do plots of A m e r i c a n daytime soap operas. T h i s c a n be seen by the w a y the s h o w deals w i t h weddings. The

major wedding o n Sons and Daughters

during the period w h e n I

interviewed the teenagers w a s that of W a y n e and Susan. W h e n W a y n e , the villain, a n d Susan (a good, honest, and strong young w o m a n ) are married, W a y n e has kidnapped Susan's younger brother to persuade her mother to influence Susan to marry h i m . I n addition, he has framed G l e n , Susan's real love, so that Susan w i l l think G l e n has betrayed her. T h e wedding itself is, of course, a gathering of all of the show's characters. It features a fistfight between W a y n e and G l e n and a last-minute appeal to Susan by G l e n for a chance to prove his innocence. A l l of this is similar to w h a t might happen at an

A m e r i c a n daytime soap opera wedding, but the remarkable thing about

this wedding is that the program shows less than a minute of the actual ceremony. A s one of the y o u n g w o m e n in the interview group put it, there was

no necessity to s h o w it because 'everyone k n o w s w h a t goes on at a

w e d d i n g . ' T h i s is markedly different than the usual portrayal of weddings on

A m e r i c a n daytime soap operas. O n Days

of Our

Lives,

R o m a n and

M a r l e n a ' s first wedding lasted three days, giving the entire 'real time' text of the wedding ceremony. Daughters

W a y n e and Susan's wedding on Sons

and

provides us w i t h a n example of the w a y that the text itself

contributes to teenage resistive readings of romantic sentiment, of w h i c h the wedding is the culminating symbolic act. To

look at specific examples of the w a y s that teenage girls talk about

Sons and Daughters

in light of c o m m o n l y held beliefs that audiences do not

question dominant ideological assumptions i n relation to soap operas, let us turn to the recorded conversations. The

first

aspect to be noted is that this group evidenced a decided pre-

ference for individualistic characters, particularly those w h o defied social norms. Diana: I like the people or the characters. T h e y do things that people we

k n o w w o u l d n ' t do. Sort of, we've been told, no I could never do

that to another person, but they go right out to hurt another person's feelings, or something like that. A n d we just like to see w h a t happens w h e n it does happen. The

conflicts of teenage girls mentioned by T a y l o r (1987) . . . in relation

to the expectation that they be proper young ladies rather than seek their independence as boys do, seem to be played out in the admiration of a character w h o is not a nice person. C o n t r a r y to notions of being good, their favorite characters tended to be villains.

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

I

MEB:

W h i c h characters do y o u like?

Jan: W a y n e . MEB:

W h a t is it about W a y n e ?

Jan: Because he is such a little devil a n d is like a split personality: like to his wife he is such a n angel a n d then w h e n she is out of the r o o m he turns a n d his whole face changes. A n d the type of clothes he wears changes a n d he goes right out, y o u k n o w , to hurt other people. L i k e he uses old family friends, like his next-door neighbor C h a r l i e a n d a l l that, for their money. She doesn't have a clue w h a t her money's invested i n but he uses her a n y w a y . Diana: I think he's good because he does it without anyone k n o w i n g w h a t he's doing. The

pleasure here seems to be appreciation of W a y n e ' s ability to get a w a y

w i t h things, to use people without getting caught, but also to get along i n the w o r l d . T h u s W a y n e is a k i n d of role model for resistance. Female villains are also admired for, among other things, being at the center of the action. MEB: you

W e l l , J a n said that A l i s o n is a w i n n e r , but C a r o l i n e ' s not. D o agree w i t h that?

Diana: She doesn't play as major a role a n d y o u k n o w , she doesn't get involved in as m a n y activities that A l i s o n does, type of thing. N o t as adventurous type of thing. A l i s o n gets into more trouble. Jan:

Y e a h , I think it's because A l i s o n ' s got more drive a n d more

ambition to do things and she k n o w s w h o to contact to get i n touch w i t h people and get about w h a t she wants to do. W h e r e a s C a r o l i n e just sort of fumbles her w a y t o w a r d it a n d whatever she does isn't really a big

thing to the series at a l l . . . so y o u k n o w . . .

Diana: She's just taking every day as it comes type of thing . . . whereas A l i s o n , she plans ahead. A l i s o n is admired as a role model i n avoiding the passive expectations of w o m e n . Decisive action, then, is a high priority w i t h these viewers, one that contrasts sharply w i t h the statement

by a 15-year-old girl i n H u d s o n ' s

(1984) study, 'Whatever w e do, it's a l w a y s w r o n g ' (p. 3 1 ) . T h e idea of simply taking every day as it comes, w h i c h is the fear of m a n y educators about girls limiting their economic choices by early decisions o n school options, is not the admired characteristic

among these fans, whereas

planning ahead a n d k n o w i n g w h a t one wants are appreciated. T h i s w o u l d seem to broaden young w o m e n ' s options rather than decrease them. O f course, there are also other influences i n these young w o m e n s ' lives, but if

WOMEN AND SOAP OPERA: R E S I S T I V E R E A D I N G S | we

consider television viewing a n d fanship a contributing factor, then these

conversations must be looked at as seriously as the content of the program. W i t h the exception of the strong matriarch, the saintly characters are disliked by this group of fans. H o w e v e r , those characters w h o exhibit socially aberrant behavior, or w h o at least behave or act defiantly, are admired. I expected y o u to like the teenage characters.

MEB:

Diana: L i k e A n d y a n d C r a i g a n d . . . Jan: I like A n d y . H e ' s good. Diana: I don't k n o w , I suppose C r a i g - he's a l l right, but he's such a goody-goody - he's a l w a y s doing good things for everyone, y o u k n o w . I suppose i n that teenager there w o u l d be a good adventurous side a n d that w o u l d be A n d y , a n d there'd be the really nice side, and that w o u l d be C r a i g . T h e y ' v e sort of split the individual up into t w o characters. T h e r e ' s not just one - I suppose G i n n y w o u l d be the character where she is really nice to people a n d adventurous. G i n n y w o u l d be t h e . . . I ' m trying to remember w h i c h one G i n n y is.

MEB:

Jan: She is the one w h o wears the really o d d clothes, she puts together w i t h the long - sort of hair. She's the one that's just h a d that thing fall o n her.

MEB:

Jan: Y e a h . MEß:

So she's the one that y o u like?

Diana: She's all right. She doesn't like blend i n w i t h the rest of the Sons and Daughters' odd but

characters, but she uses her language differently. H e r

clothes make it more interesting to listen to her a n d everything, that's about it.

Jan: H e r character's really outstanding. M E J B : W h a t do y o u m e a n , she uses language? Jan: L i k e soft-spoken a n d everything, she doesn't care w h a t she says, she's outgoing a n d . . . Diana:

Loud...

It is clear i n the above example that the manner i n w h i c h the characters are constructed is clear to these viewers. T h e idea expressed here that C r a i g a n d A n d y are t w o sides of a single character construction is indicative of the group's awareness that the characters i n soaps are constructs, that these girls were able to like characters seemingly w i t h o u t the process of identification clearly demanded by narratives w i t h a single hero or heroine whose ability to be identified w i t h is coded for the audience by her or his w e l l roundedness. Although the latter

type of character

relationship w i t h

audiences is clearly rewarded in terms of dominant viewership, its invitation

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

was

not accepted by these teenage girls. A n d y a n d C r a i g were clearly, to the

speaker, only parts of a character construction. M o r e o v e r , the p o w e r of speech is evident i n the above excerpt from the interview. T h i s quoted section is complex i n the group members' understanding of h o w , for example, the codes of dress that G i n n y is given affect how

w e code her speech ('She uses her language differently. H e r odd clothes

m a k e it more interesting to listen to her a n d everything'). T h a t visual codes and

oral codes c a n be related seemed clear to these readers. I n addition, the

power of G i n n y ' s speech (she uses language) w a s quite clear to this particular Sons and Daughters

fan. T h a t p o w e r is used by the character of G i n n y

to contradict w h a t 'nice' girls might be a l l o w e d to say. ('She doesn't care w h a t she says, she's outgoing a n d . . . ' - ' L o u d ' ) . These fans valued characters for their p o w e r over hegemonic discourse (niceness for girls) a n d for the freedom to use voice quality to assert a position of strength i n nonconformity. G i n n y makes herself heard, a n d this is a valued behavior. The

following example . . . is a n instance of h o w the conversation about

Sons and Daughters

slips between analysis of the construction of the soap's

plot a n d storytelling or performance o n the part of the speakers of the group, including the 'filling i n ' process that brings the others up to date on the current plot: Jan: M o s t of w h a t happens is based o n revenge for w h a t someone's done to them or w o r k i n g around greed for money, I think, a n d someone else's wife. Diana: O r h u s b a n d , as A l i s o n . Jan: L o v e of money a n d revenge. I think it is going to be pretty, u m , shall w e say dramatic for a while seeing as A l i s o n is i n such a critical condition at the moment i n hospital. Diana: Is she i n hospital? Jan: She's i n a c o m a . Diana: W e l l , I haven't seen it for three days. Jan: She got stuck i n the freezer w i t h D a v i d . Diana: Y e s , I s a w that bit. Jan: Y e a h , w e l l they h a d no air a n d she went into a c o m a .

Diana: O h no! Jan: Y e s a n d , u m - C r a i g ' s mother drew the people out into the open and

arrested them a n d C r a i g got off the hook.

Diana: G o o d one! Although the conversation begins w i t h a n analysis of the plot possibilities, it slips into the process of storytelling ('seeing as A l i s o n is i n such a critical condition'), a n d w h e n it is discovered that one member of the group has not

WOMEN AND S O A P OPERA: R E S I S T I V E R E A D I N G S

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watched for 3 days, the intensity of the conversations heightens while the d r a m a of A l i s o n ' s c o m a a n d the courage and cleverness of C r a i g ' s mother are disclosed. T h e act of storytelling, recounting complicated a n d unpredictable plot structures, catching one's friends up o n missed episodes, obviously is a major source of pleasure for these soap opera fans. W i t h i n the boundaries of such storytelling groups, these young w o m e n are verbally powerful. Teenage girls' gossip networks a n d friendship systems centering o n soap operas a n d other television programs, as Palmer has pointed out, are often systems i n w h i c h girls take the power to exclude both boys and adults. E v e n w h e n boys a n d adults are tolerated, it is only on the girls' terms. A s P a l mer's interviews indicated, girls often are happy to have others w a t c h w i t h them as long as they don't 'interrupt.' T h i s is a reversal of the usual gender and

a d u l t - c h i l d power relationships. A s de C e r t e a u (1986) and m a n y others

have pointed out, the power to speak, control of the speech act, regulation of w h o m a y speak and under w h a t conditions, is one of the central strategies by w h i c h the dominant system maintains control. The

hegemonic necessity to w i n over subordinated groups to particular

ideological stances that in turn support their o w n subordination seems to be at least partially tactically subverted by the r i c h oral culture that A u s t r a l i a n girls enjoyed around Sons and Daughters.

Some romantic notions, like the

wedding ceremony as life goal, are challenged by the text itself a n d these teenage viewers consume the text i n w a y s that begin to distinguish p o w e r relationships w i t h i n the construction of the text. T h e i r awareness of the narrative constructions

of these relationships a n d their willingness to

challenge dominant notions of feminine dependency m a y indicate that these young w o m e n are using soap operas in w a y s that m a y support a resistance to the ideology of dependence a n d romance discussed earlier. The

following is excerpted from a conversation w i t h British fans i n their

early twenties w h o w a t c h soap operas primarily w i t h their friends. A t the time of the interview, Jen, a n outspoken feminist member of the group w h o m I have quoted extensively, w a s studying i n the United States for 6 months but w o u l d shortly return to Britain to finish her education at a polytechnical institute near L o n d o n . She is from a working-class family a n d grew up i n Manchester. I n the following conversation, she is clearly attuned to the politics of the character

she describes. T h e politics, i n the first

example, concern labor unions rather than w o m e n ' s issues. Jen:

Y o u k n o w . . . that w h e n Brookside

first

started it w a s a lot more

political than it is n o w , a n d it h a d a lot of f o l l o w i n g because of it. A n d they h a d one particular character in there w h o w a s married to Sheila,

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER Bobby G r a n t , w h o w a s a member of his union and also a member of M i l i t a n t - do y o u k n o w Militant? It's a faction of the L a b o u r party, extreme left faction of the L a b o u r party. A n d every week, without fail, there used to be a n opportunity for h i m to make some k i n d of political speech. A n d then they kept moving h i m up i n the series, his job kept getting better, a n d then he went into management, but he w a s still i n the union. A n d the guy w h o plays Bobby G r a n t actually w a s a member of M i l i t a n t a n d the reason he w a s i n that program w a s because he s a w it as a n opportunity to get across his political message. Steve: Phil R e d m a n , w h o came up w i t h the idea for that program, started it specifically because he w a n t e d a forum for these ideas i n a way

that could reach everybody.

MEB:

So it w a s really political?

Jen: T h e r e is a lot of political sermon i n it, and then they tried to really dilute his character. A n d w h e n he became a n executive of something, they tried to portray h i m as somebody w h o ' d sold out the shop floor members of the union to make a deal w i t h the bosses. A n d the guy w h o plays Bobby G r a n t quit the series because he w o u l d n ' t portray a union boss i n that light, because it w a s w h e n the union w a s getting really bad press, and everything, a n d he didn't w a n t to add anything to that. A n d also, he just didn't w a n t to be a party to that. So they just killed off his character, because he refused to play that part. Jen, i n the passage

above,

is comfortable

expressed in the early episodes of Brookside.

w i t h the political position A preferred reading is one in

w h i c h the audience member agrees w i t h the ideological stance presented and If

thus has no trouble accepting the point of view portrayed i n the piece. w e look at Stuart H a l l ' s

(1980) classification of viewers' possible

responses to television as preferred, negotiated, or oppositional readings, we

c a n see that some soap operas present a preferred reading i n some

aspects for some people. T h u s these viewers are not reading against the grain w h e n they v i e w a n d interpret soap operas, but w i t h the grain. An

antiunion audience member, o n the other h a n d , might reject the

positive reading entirely a n d thus read against the grain. H i s or her reading w o u l d be termed oppositional

using H a l l ' s criteria because the ideological

message is so offensive that the reading is interpreted completely negatively. A

negotiated

reading w o u l d fall somewhere i n between. A n audience

member could also approve of unions i n general but find M i l i t a n t too extreme. O r another viewer might interpret Bobby G r a n t ' s actions not as selling out but as a reasonable compromise. A n y number of possibilities c a n be incorporated i n a negotiated reading.

WOMEN AND SOAP OPERA: R E S I S T I V E R E A D I N G S | Sometimes reading w i t h the grain c a n produce a preferred a n d resistive reading because the soap opera itself appears to take such a stand. T h i s is the case earlier w h e n young teenagers read the wedding as pretty routine and

of little interest i n a n d of itself. It is apparent that the soap opera itself

can

support a nondominant reading, w h i c h i n the case of the union story

in

Brookside

Daughters

w o u l d be antimanagement a n d i n the case of Sons

and

w o u l d be antimarriage. H o w e v e r , w e c a n see clearly i n the u n i o n

story the retraction or ' c l a w i n g back' of the story. W h e n it goes so far as to threaten hegemonic stability, the character

is made to compromise

the union's position in the story. W h e n the ideological point of view i n the story changes, the audience doesn't automatically change w i t h it. Instead, the viewer m a y change her reading strategy to a negotiated or oppositional one. The

younger group of viewers of Sons and Daughters,

in the following

conversation, fail to read the text i n a n oppositional manner a n d give a preferred reading instead. I n general, their readings of the text are not as overtly political as are Jen's, a n d i n this case their reading is consistent w i t h the dominant one. Sara: I think that's because they don't relate them to, like w e are, they just relate them as characters, they have made these characters up a n d put

them o n tele, that's w h y they didn't sort of . . . like w e don't really

k n o w w h a t sort of w o r k G o r d o n a n d that's i n , except that they invest their money a n d they've got a business, w e don't k n o w exactly w h a t sort of business they've got . . . so w e can't really say o h , he couldn't have that m u c h money w i t h that sort of j o b , y o u k n o w , or maybe he should go into that sort of job, w e don't sort o f . . . Diana:

. . . y o u k n o w w o n d e r i n g w h a t he w o r k s at, to get so m u c h

money a n d everything; h o w C a r o l i n e gets so m u c h money. Jan: Y e a h , because it's not important to the program, it's not important h o w they get their money, just they have the money a n d they are w h a t they are a n d w h a t happens to them being w h a t they are. MEB:

H o w come?

Sara: Because most people don't w o r k sort of 24 hours a day once they finish their job they stop and that's it. That's the end of their job and then, you

k n o w , you're not really fussed about it. Y o u don't want to switch o n

the tele and watch someone else w o r k , it probably w o u l d be boring. Diana: Because the only important thing is the characters a n d w h a t they d o . L i k e the money only comes into it if W a y n e is blackmailing someone for money or trying to get more money invested or something like that a n d then the money is brought into the program, y o u k n o w

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER w h a t they do, but otherwise it's not mentioned because the program's based o n the relationship between people rather than w h a t people do.

Such lack of interest in money is often a part of dominant female conditioning, so m u c h so that w o m e n sometimes fail to take the responsibility for their o w n finances or make poor judgments in relation to money. I n this case, the audience member's preferred reading supports dominant notions that soap operas reinforce w o m e n ' s subordination relating to money issues - at least some of the time. It is the ideology i n question that constitutes the opening for a resistive reading. Such ideology c a n be contained w i t h i n the narrative itself or it can be contained i n the w a y viewers use the narrative in the context of their own

social positioning. It is therefore impossible to say that all soap operas

provoke a resistive reading just as it is also not always possible to predict how

a resistive reading w i l l take place. Ideologies change their inflection as

do soap operas and as do the people w h o participate in soap operas netw o r k s . M a n y inflections of various ideologies exist within a given audience structured as it is by their social, cultural, or racial position, for example. Just as it is rare to have a mainstream film address w o m e n ' s issues as directly as Tbelma

& Louise

does, it is also rare that a soap opera addresses

social issues as precisely as did Brookside

i n its early programs. C o n s e -

quently, let us turn to situations that present less specific resistance w i t h i n the soap opera itself. In

the following t w o examples, a soap opera's treatment of female

characters is brought into question. T h e first is about Neighbours

in its

British r u n . Jen:

Y o u k n o w w h a t ' s really interesting about Jane, I think, because

she w a s always portrayed as Jane, Jane, she's the brain. She w a s really, really intelligent w h e n she's at school, but very a w f u l in a conventional sense. W h e n she left, she became very beautiful overnight. She got that job as a secretary. A n d yet she's supposed to be super, super brains, and

the best she could get w a s [a job] as a secretary. She did not m i n d ,

though, did she? T h i s viewer is offering a critique both of the soap opera and also of society in general, where intelligent w o m e n are able to secure only conventionally female jobs. A similarly smart and educated m a n might be employed in a job w i t h greater status and pay. A n d if a m a n were underemployed for his talents, he w o u l d surely m i n d , she implies. T h u s the capping statement, 'She did

not m i n d , though, did she?' conveys sadness o n the part of the speaker

and

a n acute personal awareness of the p a i n of such a position. A l s o in this

WOMEN AND SOAP O P E R A : R E S I S T I V E R E A D I N G S

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statement is a n implied criticism of the school system w h e n Jen says that Jane is intelligent ' i n the conventional sense,' presumably in the sense that the knowledge that schools convey is knowledge that doesn't question established rules. T h e fact that Jane has become beautiful overnight indicates to the speaker that, for w o m e n in the w o r l d of w o r k , the real value is beauty - not intelligence, and that Jane is n o w doing socially acceptable w o m e n ' s w o r k and can be rewarded for this by being seen as beautiful. T h u s we c a n see that this conversation is a critique of the portrayal of w o m e n on the program a n d of a system where conventions oppress w o m e n in a number of w a y s . Still, Jen seems to negotiate this meaning in relation to her o w n identity. In

the next quotation about the British soap opera EastEnders,

the

character of Angie, once married to D e n , has adopted his daughter, w h o , it turns out, h a d also been adopted earlier by D e n . T h e conversation is about Angie. Jen:

She adopted his daughter. She w a s adopted w h e n she w a s very

young, a n d she didn't find out she w a s adopted until she w a s quite old. She

tried to get i n touch w i t h her biological parents, a n d that w a s so

real. T h e y came around in the end. It w a s so outrageous the w a y they did

it because her birth mother, w h e n she finally found her, h a d exactly

the same hair, same dress. W h a t are they trying to say here? I m e a n that w a s really powerful, I thought, that they were trying to say family ties, the w a y y o u turn out to be, is not a socialized thing, it's the naturalized thing . . . I w a s actually considering w r i t i n g to them about not looking for Angie, n o w , because it w a s really out of order. T h i s passage questions a number of assumptions that are evident i n the visualization of the program as w e l l as the plot. Jen questions the biological basis for socialization but also the value that the program (and society) place on the birth mother over the adoptive mother. T h i s skepticism brings up the question of maternity rather than the often expressed problem of paternity frequently at issue in the A m e r i c a n daytime soap operas

...

C o n c e r n w i t h w h o m one's mother is could be seen to imply an interest i n matriarchal descent. T h i s time Jen does not accept w i t h resignation the situation as she did in looking at Jane's w o r k situation, but is obviously angry that the program has overstepped the boundaries that she considers appropriate i n dealing w i t h w o m e n ' s issues even for a popular media f o r m . H e r e she gives the program a n oppositional reading. C o m m e n t i n g about the lack of politics in Neighbours, fan

the same British

sees it as only political enough to add a bit of interest.

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C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND GENDER Jen:

T h e y just live out their roles. Scott's the boy next door a n d K y l i e is

the girl next door w i t h a bit of rebellion put in for good measure, you k n o w , but not too m u c h , just enough to make m o m m y a n d daddy slightly angry. E n o u g h to make people think. There's a little edge, but not enough to tarnish the image. She

has obviously not bought into the untarnished image of the girl next

door. T h u s there are clear distinctions made by the audience about w h a t constitutes resistance to dominant ideology o n the soaps and w h a t doesn't. Jen obviously watches but finds it necessary to negotiate quite frequently. Sometimes, oppositional readings become funny. I n discussing bours

Neigh-

again, the same person says:

I cried w h e n M a r g e married T h e B i s h . ' I did, I cried. I w a s so embarrassed, I cried. She married the Bishop H a r o l d . I don't k n o w why.

I've always cried at weddings. I don't think it's for the reasons

most people cry - another one bites the dust. Here the traditional feminine response at a wedding, crying, gets turned around as an ironic expression of sorrow that another w o m a n has succumbed; the tears show disappointment at defeat rather than joy. T h u s we see that this resistive reading . . . involves the appropriation of certain behaviour for a n ironic reading of a dominant institution, in this case marriage. Jen is looking, of course, at these examples of British and A u s t r a l i a n soap operas as a feminist. A n d needless to say, some fans of soap operas are feminists (see also A n g 1 9 8 5 ) . H o w e v e r , most of the w o m e n a n d girls we look at i n this study w o u l d not call themselves feminists; but w h e n confronted w i t h specific situations, either on a soap opera or in actual life, they often speak from a perspective that acknowledges their partial rejection of domestic role expectations, gender-defined double standards, in favor of feminine e m p o w e r m e n t . . .

Resistance F o r such a resistive reading to reach outside the boundaries of the soap opera network a n d thereby transgress into areas of overt politics, thus becoming adopted as a political stance of the viewer in life situations, several variables need to come into play. T h e s e are a.

the political economy of the patriarchal family, w h i c h m a y be more or less exploitative in different contexts;

b.

a genre that caters to w o m e n and the emotional tone of their lives;

WOMEN AND SOAP O P E R A : R E S I S T I V E R E A D I N G S c.

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the alternative interaction networks that soap operas facilitate;

d.

the development of solidarity bases that give w o m e n support outside of the patriarchal family;

e.

the development of a fund of strategic knowledge, not just about the genre itself but around the language of the genre and the life context of women;

f.

the carnivalesque atmosphere of the genre, that is, the release from the dogmatism of the social norms surrounding the patriarchal family a n d broader social institutions; and

g.

finally, the emergence of resistive readings, the conscious questioning of the existing structure of domestic roles and a rethinking of h o w these roles m a y be structured.

In

the case of soap opera fanship, it is where all of these variables are

present in the spoken text that a reading is likely to be resistant. T h e r e are m a n y critics w h o negate the possibility of a resistive reading of any type of television. T h e i r position is that society reproduces itself in the repetitive stories of television - in the systems of r e w a r d and punishment s h o w n , in the patterns of heroism a n d villainy, i n the absence of n o n hegemonic political positions. I n other w o r d s , television c a n only be seen to legitimate the existing social order ( N e w c o m b a n d Alley 1983,

p.

21).

Similarly, it is often assumed that w o m e n must leave their feminine pleasures behind in order to become liberated; but, i n fact, these feminine pleasures m a y give them space to evaluate their lives in light of existing dominant notions of femininity as well as some nondominant

strategies

w i t h w h i c h to challenge the system on another level. T h e r e are four areas that are important in the generation of resistive readings: talk, boundaries, strategic knowledge, a n d the lowering of normative controls. T h e r e is first the necessity for the talk to take place. N o t only are soap operas constructed i n such a w a y that they elicit talk, but it is also obvious that a large amount of the pleasure that w o m e n derive from soap operas is in talking about them. It is in this spoken

text that most of

the meaning generation concerning everyday life a n d the construction of identity for audiences takes place. The

second important area is the developing of boundaries w i t h i n w h i c h

it is safe to talk freely - that is, to speak in feminine discourse. M a n y soap opera gossip networks are loose knit but others are more formalized neighborhood-based 'video c l u b s . ' O f t e n relatives, particularly mothers a n d daughters, or close friends are a part of one's gossip network. A u s t r a l i a n teenage networks frequently have large informal groups of fans. But no matter h o w the groups are organized, the important thing seems to be that

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C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

these fan groups set boundaries and w i t h i n these boundaries one is free to speak as one pleases. The

third area is strategic knowledge. Regular soap opera viewers not

only k n o w the codes a n d conventions of soap operas, w h i c h gives them a way

of talking that outsiders don't understand, but they c a n also access

strategic knowledge, that is, knowledge of w o m e n ' s oppression. The

fourth area is the lowering of normative controls

a n d this is

expressed in carnivalesque laughter, or laughter that involves the inversion of the n o r m a l order of things - particularly i n the w a y that soap operas are defiantly considered by m a n y w o m e n as valuable cultural capital w h e n dominant culture finds them trash or rubbish, that is, not acceptable in official designations of high art or w h a t might be taught i n school, for example. At

this point, let us list evidence that supports the notion that the young

teenagers negotiate their reading actively rather than passively w h e n they consume Sons and Daughters,

at least part of the time. First, the television

program that these teenagers chose to w a t c h w a s itself defiant of hegemonic notions of the 'proper' text. It earned its trashy reputation because of its simple plots, its l o w production costs, its melodramatic morality, and its narrative structure. Second, these young w o m e n discussed the narrative structure in some detail, acknowledging the constructedness of the narrative itself. T h i r d , they preferred characters w h o defy social norms, and they liked this characteristic in w o m e n as w e l l as in men. I n addition, they liked characters w h o took control of their voices, w h o 'use language differently,' that is, w h o use dominant structures on their o w n behalf. A l t h o u g h there were times w h e n the group did not resist the expectations

of feminine

behavior as it is constructed i n dominant terms, there were also times w h e n they d i d . These conversations seem to indicate that these young w o m e n understand at some level the constraints of subordination. A l l of these points are supported by both the pleasure they experience and the freedom they feel to speak seriously and in fun about these soap opera narratives w i t h i n their friendship networks, networks i n w h i c h they themselves are in control ( B r o w n 1 9 9 1 ) . I n the group of college-age British viewers, w e have seen that the nature of resistive reading practices, w h e n the readers are ideologically feminists, is still to some degree controlled by w h a t goes o n in the text. W e c a n only think differently w h e n our social a n d cultural positions are compared w i t h those in a given text, w h e n rather than being sucked i n by the text w e are challenged to think for ourselves to the extent that there is r o o m w i t h i n dominant discourse to do this. T h i s space to think for ourselves is i n a constant state of flux, governed by our o w n emotional closeness or distance from its politics a n d our fluctuating capacity to think

WOMEN AND SOAP O P E R A : R E S I S T I V E R E A D I N G S | rationally outside of our conditioning, controlled as it is by the discourses to w h i c h w e are each subjected.

Feminism and the Soap Opera Text T h e w o r k of Foucault (1975) o n archaeology . . . delineates the p o w e r of discourse to shape w h a t is considered truth i n a given discursive tradition. H e defines discourse by its parameters of containment, by w h i c h he refers to those discursive practices that surround a social practice a n d ultimately construct a dominant 'reality' for the practice under consideration. F o u cault (1982) relates the power to m a k e one's o w n meaning within dominant discourse to a w i l l to power combined w i t h a w i l l to knowledge. H e sees all power relationships as containing within their structure the possibility of resistance: ' E v e r y power relationship implies, at least in potential, a strategy of struggle, i n w h i c h the t w o forces are not superimposed, do not lose their specific nature, do not finally become confused. E a c h constitutes for the other a k i n d of permanent limit, a point of possible reversal' (p. 2 2 5 ) . T h u s w h e n I refer to a n element of popular culture as a site of struggle, I mean that, although popular culture is embedded i n ideology, the possibility of struggle is always there for subordinated groups. Soap operas contain their o w n ideological contradictions because they are a product of hegemonic culture that embodies the very contradictions it seeks to disguise. Fiske (1988) has called the site of potential resistance ' a personified cultural process held i n a moment of temporary stability w h e n shifting social allegiances come together at the moment of semiosis' (p. 2 4 6 ) . If w e picture the moment of the reading of a particular text as the point where specific aspects of our lives come together w i t h the issues a n d ideological notions inherent i n a text, then certain possible stances of resistance c a n manifest themselves i n o u r individual readings. T h e n w h e n w e bring the meanings garnered from those readings to bear in conversations, the spoken text c a n become a w a y of expressing resistance. If one is then i n a position to have his or her resistances acknowledged a n d validated by a group of people, it m a y be possible for one to begin to w o r k politically at the level of everyday life. N o t all w o m e n ' s talk is resistive, but that w h i c h recognizes, rather t h a n denies, oppression is very likely to be able to question prevalent ideological assumptions a n d therefore w o m e n ' s o w n construction in discourse, thereby m a k i n g it potentially resistive. I n soap opera texts, there is usually no clear feminist message although the issues brought up are of interest to w o m e n , whether they are feminists or not. Other political issues such as those

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND G E N D E R

having to do w i t h class c a n also come up, particularly in British soap operas like EastEnders

or Brookside.

T h u s audience members can either appreci-

ate the politics of the soap opera or not, or they can struggle w i t h the ideas presented in order to negotiate a n ideological position for themselves. Let

us return briefly to the movie Thelma

& Louise.

T h e following

statement w a s made by a fan after viewing the text: ' M y w o m e n friends and I have gone over that cliff together so many times.' There are three aspects of this resistive reading that are particularly important and that, in fact, make this particular moment a moment of resistive pleasure. T h e first is 'my w o m e n friends and P; the second is going 'over that c l i f f ; and the third is 'so m a n y times.' T h e first emphasizes solidarity among w o m e n . T h e 'going over the c l i f f accomplishes a symbolic transgression of boundaries necessary to rock the stability of the status quo. It is an impossible and deadly act, at the same time courageous and open ended. A n d the repetition of this feeling 'so many times' confirms the existence and duration of the problem. F o r me, the third party i n the transaction, to hear it from a friend w h o overheard it provided a particularly resistive reading because many of us are n o w involved. T h u s resistive pleasure comes not only w i t h a n understanding of the political implications of the mere existence of such a film, of its availability in mainstream movie houses and on videotape, and of its political messages for many w o m e n , particularly feminists, but also with our acknowledging its existence by talking about it. I n other w o r d s , part of the pleasure here is the allowing into the discourse of mainstream film a position and space k n o w n only to the subordinated. Additionally, the recognition of the conversation w i t h others as a powerful force in relation to subordination is of great value. Although w o m e n have historically been subordinate, the meaning of w o m e n ' s friendship groups has changed in the eyes of dominant culture. In the nineteenth century, w o m e n ' s supposed asexuality meant that they could have close and loving relationships w i t h their female friends without such friendships being considered threatening (Faderman 1981; berg

1975).

It

has

been

problematized after the

suggested

that

such

Smith-Rosen-

relationships

were

1920s w i t h the popularization of theories

of

Freudian and neo-Freudian psychoanalysis because these saw female relationships as sexual, bringing up possible sanctions against lesbianism because these theories considered it n o r m a l behavior to be heterosexually active. T h i s led to the popular image of the older single w o m a n as not n o r m a l (Walby 1990). Some writers see this as an attack on

first-wave

feminism because it involved strong bonding among w o m e n (Jefferys

1985;

Millett 1977). T h u s the political, cultural, a n d social atmosphere in w h i c h w e live determines h o w w e construct our gendered identity. Seen in a

WOMEN AND SOAP O P E R A : R E S I S T I V E R E A D I N G S

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society that stresses individuality as a m a r k of mature functioning, the politics of connectedness c a n be discursively turned into a resistive a n d powerful position. Soap opera provides images a n d plots that are of special interest to w o m e n , that are sufficiently open a n d sufficiently related to a w o m a n ' s life context to be w o r k e d o n by w o m e n together to generate symbols of resistance

and ways

of rethinking the role

definitions of w o m e n , a n d

consequently those of m e n also. T h e fact that groups of w o m e n do this together gives them a space where they c a n be enabled to fully w o r k out issues a n d then to w o r k them into their consciousness. It then provides the social support to carry these decisions out i n practice. I n addition, a soap opera group does not bring d o w n o n itself the anathema that the suffragists or the w o m e n ' s groups i n the 1970s w o m e n ' s movement did because its purpose is overtly nonpolitical

i n the traditional sense of the w o r d . H o w -

ever, as w e have seen, politics c a n be reconceptualized on the level of culture where soap opera gossip networks c a n be thought of as not only political but perhaps even subversive.

Note 1.

Sons and Daughters is an Australian teenage soap opera. The first U.S. teen soap opera, Swans Crossing, began in June 1992 on the Fox network. These soap operas are aimed at children aged 11-13 and a little older, often called the 'tween' market. In the United States, I have seen young girls' peer networks centered on soap opera viewing start as young as 7, and of course children watch at much younger ages.

References Ang,

I. (1985) Watching 'Dallas': Soap Opera and the Melodramatic London: Methuen.

Imagination.

Brown, M . E . (1991) Strategies and tactics: Teenage girls and Australian soaps. Women and Language, 16, 22-8. de Certeau, M . (1986) The Practice of Everyday Life, trans. S.F. Randall. Berkley: University of California Press. Faderman, L . (1981) Surpassing the Love of Men: Romantic Friendship and Love Between Women from the Renaissance to the Present. London: Junction. Fiske, J . (1988) Critical response: Meaningful moments. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 5, 246-51. Foucault, M . (1975) The Birth of the Clinic: An Archeology of Medical (A.M.

Sheridan Smith, Trans.). New York: Vintage.

Perception

I

C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G S : H E D I A AND G E N D E R

Foucault, M . (1982) Afterword: The subject and power, in H . L . Dreyfus and P. Rabinow (eds), Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics, pp. 208-26. Brighton: Harvester. Hall, S. (1980) Encoding/decoding, in S. Hall, D . Hobson, A. Lowe, and P. Willis (eds), Culture, Media, Language, pp. 128-38. London: Hutchinson. Hudson, B. (1984) Femininity and adolescence, in A. McRobbie and M . Nava (eds), Gender and Generation, pp. 31-53. London: Macmillan. Jeffrys, S. (1985) The Spinster and her Enemies: Feminism and Sexuality 1800¬ 1930. London: Pandora. Millet, K . (1977) Sexual Politics. London: Virago. Newcomb, H . and Alley, R. (1983) The Producer's Medium. New York: Oxford University Press. Palmer, P. (1986) Girls and Television. Sydney: New South Wales Ministry of Education. Smith-Rosenberg, C . (1975) The female world of love and ritual. Signs, 1, 1-29. Taylor, S. (1987) The Tender Trap: Teenage Girls, Romantic Ideology and Schooling. Unpublished paper, Educational Studies Department, Brisbane College Advanced Education, Kelvin Grove Campus. Walby, S. (1990) Theorizing Patriarchy. Oxford: Blackwell.

FREUD VS. WOMEN THE POPULARIZATION Of THERAPY ON DAYTIME TALK SHOWS Jane Shattuc

I a m often amazed at the confessions, emotions and community of daytime talk shows. W o m e n discuss and debate 'the problems of self-esteem in little girls' on Oprah

on 19 A p r i l 1994, w i t h a missionary zeal rarely found on

network T V . O f all T V programming, the four m a j o r daytime talk shows are the most directly linked to the therapeutic discourse. N o t only do they invoke Freud's concept of the 'talking cure' w i t h their emphasis on the free flow of talk, but two-thirds of their programmes deal w i t h psychological or socio-psychological issues. T y p i c a l are: a Donahue

programme devoted to a

test designed to enable couples to understand their strengths and w e a k nesses (31 January 1994); a Geraldo

programme

o n ' w o m e n w h o have

taken back their lying, cheating dog of a husband' (23 M a r c h 1994); a n d a Sally programme on couples w h o do not w a n t to have children (31 M a r c h 1994). D a y t i m e talk shows rely overwhelmingly o n experts out of the mental health industry: psychologists, social w o r k e r s , therapists and self-help book authors. T h e y use the language of psychology, whether it be F r e u d i a n (repression, functionality,

drives,

the unconscious)

healing, addiction,

or A m e r i c a n 12-step revisions (dys-

codependency).

M u c h like Freud's freeing

of the unconscious, talk shows depend on the belief that 'real' emotion, conflicts a n d psychological truths w i l l surface; between the spontaneity of the free-for-all discussion a n d the scrutiny of the expert, audience and host repression w i l l give w a y . A c c o r d i n g to M i m i W h i t e , daytime talk shows are not the only example of h o w A m e r i c a n T V thrives on the therapeutic for emotional Shows as diverse as Alf,

700

Club

a n d Love

Connection

power.

depend on 'the

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

confessional and therapeutic discourses' as both 'the subject of programming

a n d its mode

of n a r r a t i v i z a t i o n ' . ^ W h i t e ' s thesis broadens

the

definition of therapy beyond the c o m m o n understanding of therapy as the healing of emotional problems, offering a more complex a n d sinister view: the media and their use of confessional formats to exert a form of social control. T V as an agent of the dominant culture exercises its power over unwitting viewers by naturalizing therapeutic psychology as a neutral method to free the self, w h e n it is in fact the very opposite: a form of social control. T a l k - s h o w viewers learn to police themselves in the name of 'mental health'. W h i t e ' s point of v i e w extends M i c h e l Foucault's belief in the 'productive p o w e r ' of modern times, w h i c h ' w o r k s to manage and manipulate people by

instilling in them a specific sort of interpretation of w h o they are and

w h a t they w a n t ' . I n The History 2

of Sexuality

he argues that the confession

- a principal feature of talk shows - serves as a central means to elicit truth in

our culture. It establishes a power hierarchy of interlocutor a n d con-

fessor. T h e analyst or therapist becomes 'the authority w h o requires the confession, prescribes a n d appreciates it a n d intervenes in order to judge, punish, forgive, console, and reconcile; a ritual in w h i c h the truth is corroborated by the obstacles it has surmounted i n order to be f o r m u l a t e d ' . It 3

is important, then, to question the degree to w h i c h daytime talk shows take part in a larger power hierarchy w h i c h uses the therapeutic concepts of 'self-knowledge', 'self-actualization', a n d 'emotional freedom' to regiment and

control viewers. But the s h o w s ' rhetoric is not that simple. T h e i r

conventions, values a n d ultimate power spring from the feminist movement as a challenge to patriarchy. A s a result, the relationship of the shows to the dominant power is not easily located. A l t h o u g h Foucault offers a c a u tionary model against a rush to characterize the shows as feminist, his critical stance does not allow for the possibility of emancipatory movements

such as f e m i n i s m .

4

T h i s chapter

traces h o w the

contradictory

tensions between the dominant culture a n d insurgent cultures are played out in a popular m e d i u m . To

begin, daytime talk shows throw into question the t o p - d o w n thera-

peutic logic of the therapist/interlocutor a n d patient/confessor. If w e look at the direct influences of the A m e r i c a n revisions of F r e u d i a n psychoanalysis - humanist therapy, the self-help movement and feminist therapy w h i c h have directly affected the logic of the shows, we see in the talk show a set of power relations m u c h more complex and vertiginous than F o u cault's. W h o is the therapist? T h e expert? T h e host? T h e studio audience? W h o are the patients? T h o s e on stage w i t h the reductive name tags such as 'female gang member', 'incest survivor' a n d 'husband locked her to bed'?

FREUD VS. W O M E N

|

O r ' w e ' the viewers? O r O p r a h , w h o routinely confesses her abusive childhood and displeasure w i t h her body? A n d to w h a t degree are the confessions, emotions and interactions understood as 'truth'? Psychology is changing in the late twentieth century as therapy moves from the confessional to the public arena. Indeed, T V therapy is closer to testimonials of faith than to the guilt-ridden whispers of the confessional. N o longer is the therapeutic a matter of secrets pried from the unconscious. Rather, therapy is a n ideology based on the power to affirm the survival of emotional weakness, repression a n d subordination - all sensibilities derived from feminist therapy. O b v i o u s l y , the daytime talk shows are not as theoretically inclined or as systematic as traditional clinical therapies, yet one needs to m a k e manifest the implicit role of A m e r i c a n psychology. If therapy is a n agency designed to bring about emotional adjustment and/or social control, w e should look more closely at the specifics of its t a l k - s h o w incarnation - after a l l , 19 million people tune into Oprah

daily. W i t h a n

audience of 80 per cent w o m e n , the shows are not only the leading form of daytime entertainment but a powerful element in the creation of femininity.

The Humanist Challenge to Freud T h e daytime talk show gets its w i d e r therapeutic 'can-do' logic from the A m e r i c a n revisions of Freud's psychoanalysis. I n m a n y w a y s it is misleading to liken its seemingly obsessive talk to Freud's talking cure, w h i c h called for free association, the individual's saying whatever comes to m i n d . S u c h unconsidered speech breaks d o w n social constraints o n communication a n d rationality, a l l o w i n g the patient to reveal subconscious desires through certain compulsive repetitions. W h e n A n n a O . (Bertha v o n Pappenheim) 5

dubbed Freud's method 'the talking cure', she could not have foreseen the highly orchestrated w o r l d of televised talk as a F r e u d i a n venue. U n d e r the industrial formula of a seven-segment structure, commercial breaks and the studio taping process, T V ' s talking cure emanates more from the preconstructed

clash

of

TV,

or

knowing

egos,

than

from

the

dark,

uncontrolled id of Freud's theory of the unconscious. T h e daytime talk shows have reinvented talking as a curative as a consequence of ego psychology a n d the A m e r i c a n cultural psychology. M a n y twentieth-century clinical psychologists have sought to limit the authority of the F r e u d i a n therapist and Freud's highly prescriptive theory of the unconscious, to w h i c h only the therapist has access. E g o psychology argues that the ego develops a measure of independence f r o m the unconscious a n d the id./Psychologists such as E r i k E r i k s o n , H e i n z H a r t m a n n and T . C .

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

Kroeber argued that the ego is not as dependent o n the i d as F r e u d postulated. T h e y viewed it as a rational agency responsible for the individual's intellectual a n d social a c t i o n s . H a r t m a n n said that such a position offered 6

a more balanced consideration of the biological a n d social cultural aspects of h u m a n b e h a v i o u r .

7

E v o l v i n g out of the anti-authoritarian post-Second W o r l d W a r climate, individual-oriented therapy extended ego theory to grant the patient active agency a n d control. T h e most successful rethinking of therapist authority occurred in the 1960s w i t h the growing activist A m e r i c a n orientation a n d the psychological community's parallel theory of self-actualization. T h e patient became a self-determining figure i n regard to mental health. A s early as 1 9 2 7 Alfred A d l e r broke w i t h F r e u d a n d argued that personality w a s determined by conscious elements -

social a n d interpersonal factors

-

rather than by a controlling unconscious to w h i c h only the therapist h a d access. Psychoanalyst K a r e n H o r n e y i n the late 1930s argued for the critical role that active 'self-esteem' played i n h u m a n development. I n the 1960s E r i c h F r o m m , a member

of the F r a n k f u r t School, 'explicitly

rejected

F r e u d i a n notions of innate, undesirable h u m a n traits (for example, death instinct or aggressive instinct) a n d emphasized the positive nature of h u m a n n a t u r e ' . B y 1969 psychologist George M i l l e r w a s arguing i n the 8

Psychologist The

'to give psychology a w a y to the p e o p l e ' .

American

9

A m e r i c a n revisions of F r e u d put the patient in charge of her or his

mental health. R a c h e l H a r e - M u s t i n points out Freud's authoritarianism. I n his

famed case of A n n a O . , he revealed his misogyny w h e n he blamed

A n n a ' s neuroses a n d departure from his therapy on her mother without questioning her disturbing relationship w i t h her father. M o r e o v e r , Freud refused to question h o w the incident might reveal the limits or problems of his

practice.

10

It is the Freudian analyst w h o serves as the model for F o u -

cault's powerful secular interlocutor w h o s e silence provokes the supine patient into a submissive confessional mode. A t issue then is whether, w i t h the rise of self-determination in A m e r i c a n therapy, the unequal power relations dissolve? O r are they reinvented i n a more complex a n d insidious form wherein the patient polices himself or herself in the name of 'selfactualization'? I n its self-help ethos, the daytime talk show offers a n explicit case of the potential value a n d problems of the self-determination model of A m e r i c a n psychology. T h r o u g h its fragmented structure, the talk s h o w undercuts the rigours of therapeutic practices a n d reduces the p o w e r of the therapist or expert; it should not be confused w i t h the precision a n d authority of F r e u d i a n psychoanalysis

or

even

clinical

psychology.

However,

talk

shows

are

predicated o n a belief in the individual's active cognition of his or her

FREUD VS. W O M E N | problems. F o r example, a Geraldo

programme o n 'strange obsessions' (9

M a r c h 1994) opens w i t h each guest describing her or his compulsion (agoraphobia, obsessive hair-pulling, self-hate). ' S h a n i ' tells of her fear 'that G o d w a s after me a n d that he w o u l d zap m e ' . 'Sandy' describes her obsession w i t h numbers: T w o u l d have to rinse the c u p either three or seven or a hundred times.' 'Heather' declares, T w a s totally obsessed by the mirror . . . Part of the hair obsession w a s I get concerned w i t h it being even and symmetrical . . . I couldn't stop it at the time.' E v e n though the programme plays into a tabloid sensationalism that depicts these w o m e n as bizarre curiosities, each is asked to evaluate her problem as a dispassionate observer. R i v e r a addresses them as rational thinkers able to distinguish between

healthy

a n d unhealthy

behaviours,

as he pronounces

them

'courageous' copers.

By the 1960s a n d 1970s A m e r i c a n humanist therapy represented a n e w psychology, or the 'third force' (the first a n d second forces: psychoanalysis and behaviourism). It w a s based o n a belief i n a n inherent tendency t o w a r d self-actualization, growth a n d enhancement, rather than i n Freud's more negative theory concerning such instincts a n d drives as masculine sadism, feminine m a s o c h i s m a n d a death w i s h . It called for renewed attention to the specifics or individualism of clients' problems as opposed to the prescriptions of F r e u d i a n theory a n d the authority of the t h e r a p i s t .

11

R a t i o n a l emotive therapy ( R E T ) is the most influential of these selfactualization revisions a n d a source for the recent self-help movement. Rejecting the role of the unconscious a n d early childhood experience, it opposes any logic of indirect or inactive methods of change. T h e therapy is highly confrontational: the therapist/practitioner points out 'unscientific' or irrational assumptions, ideas a n d beliefs that seem to be at the core of a problem. W i t h a rational emotive modality, m a n y people get blocked i n attempting to achieve happiness a n d self-actualization. T h e y become neurotic because they turn their strong preferences for success, approval a n d comfort into absolutes: shoulds, musts, demands. B o r n of this post-Freudian therapy, talking or self-disclosure has become the most c o m m o n mechanism for the individual to m a k e manifest his or her neurotic behaviours. N o longer is self-disclosure the result of involuntary slips such as Freud's talking cure; it is the result of a n active decision to overcome shame, guilt a n d inhibition. D u r i n g a daytime talk show a guest is expected to break through the guilt-ridden, chaotic w o r l d of internalized emotion to the rational a n d open w o r l d of personal narrative, h u m a n

CD

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

interaction and community. Y e t this unburdening process has tested limits of the liberal bourgeois openness: the established press continually condemns the shows as excessive. F o r example, Janet M a s l i n of the New Times

calls them

'muck marathons'.

12

And Anna

Quinlan,

columnist, describes them as 'the dark night of split l e v e l s ' .

13

a

York Times

T h e r e is no

self-consciousness that privacy might be a luxury of middle-class life; people c a n distance themselves from other people and other classes in particular. T h e anger o n the shows reveals the limits of w h a t the middle class defines as 'proper' public display of private emotions a n d activities.

Self-actualization and Daytime Talk Shows The

active or cognitive approach of A m e r i c a n therapy on daytime talk

shows is twofold. T h e r e is the self-help approach based on basic 'no nonsense' prescriptions that the patient, T V guest or audience member c a n administer, such as the couples test o n Donahue

(31 J a n u a r y 1995), as

mentioned earlier. T h e test enables couples to evaluate their capacity to endure. T h e guests (selected audience members) are asked to react to a series of statements on a yes/no basis, such as T a m very satisfied w i t h the amount of affection that I receive from m y partner', ' W e have clearly decided h o w we w i l l share household responsibilities', and ' A t times I feel pressure to participate

i n activities m y partner

enjoys.' A l t h o u g h the

announced purpose of the test is to help couples decide if they should marry, the deeper sense is to get them to start 'talking' about their relationships.

The

usual daytime talk s h o w is structured in this fashion: its first quarter

identifies the problem; in the second quarter the audience begins to confront guests' inconsistencies as the host plays moderator; in the third and fourth quarters the therapist becomes engaged, but often audience members point out the lack of logic in or the irrationality of a belief system a n d begin to offer their solutions even before the therapist (if present) enters the talk arena. T h e solutions combine a generalized knowledge of therapy and popular w i s d o m derived from everyday pragmatism. T h e emotive and cognitive methods of R E T practice read like a litany of daytime talk show practices: shame-attacking exercises; role playing; unconditional acceptance of guests

by host

and expert; use of forceful statements;

and

behavioural techniques as reinforcement; penalizing; assertiveness; activity

FREUD VS. WOMEN | homework

assignments;

bibliotherapy; a n d skill

t r a i n i n g / Geraldo

has

obsessive compulsives enact examples of their obsessions, in part as a therapeutic test a n d in part as a demonstration of the problems. invites back guests w h o have been assigned home activities to

Oprah remedy

compulsive spending. A therapist on Sally tells a beleaguered wife to speak up a n d direct her anger at her unfaithful husband. E v e n though the a u d i ence is already familiar w i t h these basic methods, most appearances of an expert or therapist are predicated on his or her book as a continuation of a programme's limited therapy. Additionally,

programmes

about

personal

relational issues, such

' M a r r i e d W o m e n W h o H a v e Affairs w i t h M a r r i e d M e n ' on Sally

as (23

February 1 9 9 4 ) , depend on the confrontational logic of rational emotive practice. F o r the first 2 0 minutes Sally teases out the stories of t w o w o m e n in disguise, A n n and L a u r a , w h o are having affairs. After establishing the issue, the host lets her audience confront the w o m e n . FIRST AUDIENCE MEMBER: W h e r e are your morals? W h e n y o u get married, you take v o w s . T h e y are d o w n i n hell, baby! . . . I w a s married 3 5 years and some w o m a n came took off w i t h my h u s b a n d . A N N : I do not w a n t to take off w i t h h i m . I just w a n t the sex. FIRST AUDIENCE MEMBER: W e l l , there are people w h o do fall i n love. A N N : T h i s is true. W h e n y o u let emotions get i n the w a y of s e x . . . FIRST AUDIENCE MEMBER: W h a t about m y emotions? 3 5 years! SECOND AUDIENCE MEMBER: Y O U k n o w , I've been m a r r i e d since I ' m 1 9 to the same m a n . I w i l l be m a r r i e d 4 0 years. O K ? Y o u ' r e a very selfish person. Y o u ' r e a liar a n d cheat. If you're not satisfied, then y o u satisfy yourself. Y o u don't go out [applause], y o u go out of the marriage. Y o u , the blonde, y o u w a n t excitement? Y o u ' r e sleeping w i t h a married man.

Y o u ' r e also a cheat. T a k e up bungee j u m p i n g or sky diving.

O b v i o u s l y , the Sally staff have slanted the debate by populating the a u d i ence w i t h w o m e n w h o have lost a husband to another w o m a n . A n d because the audience is usually a stand-in for the at-home viewer or the average A m e r i c a n , the ' n o r m a l ' psyche of the viewer is set in opposition to the 'promiscuous psychosis' of the guests. A l t h o u g h usually not so morally unified, the audience of the s h o w functions in this confrontational more

than the expert/therapist,

w h o plays a m u c h smaller a n d

role more

deferential role under the host's control. H e r e , one c o u l d argue that the audience has so internalized the policing practices of modern psychology that the therapist has become a n inconsequential element. Y e t , the therapist remains a central agent w h o synthesizes the audience's disparate advice. I n this Sally programme, the relationships expert D r G i l d a C a r l e appears

d>

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

h a l f w a y through the discussion. H e r first act is to hug a crying w o m a n whose husband has just confessed to cheating o n her. C a r l e asks, ' C a n you tell me h o w y o u feel?' H u n c h e d over i n grief, the w o m a n responds, T feel sick.' R a p h a e l pipes up from the audience, T don't blame her.' C a r l e reacts, T don't blame her either. T h i s is exactly w h a t happens w h e n people do cheat.' C a r l e ' s role is more classically therapeutic than the audience's; she exudes the feminine virtues of understanding, nurturing and

bourgeois

etiquette. She coaches the docile w o m a n to assert herself by speaking up to her domineering husband.

D a y t i m e talk s h o w s ' techniques are a loose r e w o r k i n g of a rational emotive therapy's disputational method for overcoming unrealistic a n d irrational feelings and actions. It involves detecting irrational beliefs, debating them, showing w h y they are irrational, a n d reformulating them. R E T w o r k s o n specific problems a n d hence is easily adapted to the fragmented format of the talk show. T a l k - s h o w therapy is at best ' b a n d - a i d ' therapy, not the fundamental psychic reorientation that Foucault's model implies. Its logic downplays environmental

factors or a n awareness

of w h a t might

described as social subjectivity. It depends o n a problem/solution

be

format

w h i c h , according to the founder of rational emotive therapy, Albert E l l i s , 'places m a n squarely in the center of his universe and of his emotional fate and

gives h i m almost full responsibility for choosing to make or not make

himself seriously d i s t u r b e d ' .

14

T h e therapeutic logic of talk shows offers the

potential for a high degree of self-absorption. Audience members

often

j u m p to the microphone to tell their o w n stories, seemingly competing for the most egregious example of personal p a i n . A s a result, talk shows are frequently indicted for their excessive emphasis o n egomaniacal T , or w h a t Christopher L a s c h sees as the cultural narcissism of the post-1960s period. The

individual is so caught up in self-examination and self-determination

that she or he denies any larger social c a u s a t i o n .

15

Depression has its social

roots, yet it is denied here. Philip Rieff proclaims that this individualism in A m e r i c a n therapy leads to a severely limited sense of ethics w h e r e i n the self determines experience a n d Western culture 'stands for n o t h i n g ' .

1 6

This

selfish ideology leads W e n d y K a m i n e r to label talk shows as part of a new pathological i n d i v i d u a l i s m .

17

Y e t i n all these cases it is simplistic to blame

recent postmodern culture because A m e r i c a n ideology has a l w a y s h a d its roots in individualism. F r o m Tocqueville's treatise on A m e r i c a n culture to the entrepreneurial capitalism of the nineteenth century to the populist

FREUD VS. WOMEN

|

movement, the A m e r i c a n discourse of individualism transcends the late twentieth century and the psychology of the w o r l d of the marketplace. ^

Talk Shows and Feminism I n the end daytime talk shows are not caught up purely in pragmatic individualism; they also solicit a collective consciousness -

the female

audience. L i k e all cultural practices, the shows exert contradictory demands for power. But their c l a i m to personal fulfilment through consumption is counterbalanced

commercial

by their veiled feminism and a con-

sciousness of the inequalities of power. T h e i r principal social a i m has been to build up w o m e n ' s self-esteem, confidence and identity. Unlike most selfhelp books about w h i c h Simmonds writes, the s h o w s take place i n an arena of collective feminine experience. T h e form of their practice results from the w o m e n ' s movement and feminist therapy - specifically, the consciousnessraising group as a democratic f o r u m - a place where w o m e n create c o m munity in the absence of authority by d r a w i n g o n their social experiences and morality. H e r e advice does not come t o p - d o w n but from w i t h i n the group a n d its shared oppression. T h r o u g h their rewriting of feminism, daytime talk shows retain their m o r a l power. T h i s role cannot be reduced to the complex

therapeutic

power of a consumerist culture but involves the nascent claims to p o w e r for w o m e n as a subordinated group. Ultimately, Oprah

a n d the other shows

offer a Utopian vision of female equality, a vision that keeps them from falling into problems associated

w i t h the pragmatic

individualism

of

modern mass culture: selfishness, isolation a n d alienation, as w e l l as the stultifying nihilism of F o u c a u l d i a n scepticism. If the individual polices herself or himself for society through talk s h o w s , the process is a l w a y s complicated by the dissident values of A m e r i c a n feminism. T h e shows are venues where w o m e n of different races and classes attempt to c l a i m p o w e r . Historically, feminist psychology represents a further elaboration of the A m e r i c a n rewriting of F r e u d than does ego psychology. B y the m i d - 1 9 7 0 s feminist psychologists h a d firmly critiqued F r e u d i a n theories for dependence on a male developmental model, for attributing biological inferiority to w o m e n because of anatomical differences between sexes. T h i s resulted i n a tendency to see w o m e n as passive, dependent, a n d of lesser m o r a l stature. Feminist theorists have attacked three major constructs of Freud's personality theory of w o m e n : penis envy, the Oedipus complex and the focus of

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

female sexuality as the vagina and not the clitoris. Whereas psychoanalytic feminists in media studies have been attracted to Freud's comprehensive theory of masculine domination through the O e d i p a l scenario, practicing psychologists for t w o decades have critiqued psychoanalysis as oppressive to w o m e n . In

1975

Julia Sherman detailed w a y s that psychoanalysis has

been

destructive to w o m e n patients: (1) the authoritative

relationship that analysts have w i t h

patients,

w h i c h promotes dependency and mystification; (2) the analytic practice

of

locating

the

problem

and

the

blame

within

women

-

'victimizing the v i c t i m ' ; (3) providing a negative view of w o m e n ; (4) providing a view of w o m e n as to engender iatrogenic disease; a n d (5) handy rationales for the oppression of w o m e n .

1 8

T h a t year the A m e r i c a n Psychological Association created a task force on sex bias and sex role stereotyping in psychotherapeutic practice. T h e panel argued that psychoanalytic practice often insisted on Freudian interpretation, ignoring reality factors (for example, h o w the patient felt about the therapist or a given incident). M a n y F r e u d i a n therapists maintained that vaginal orgasm w a s a prerequisite to emotional maturity. T h e y also problematically labelled female assertiveness and ambition as unhealthy, a form of penis e n v y . A

1 9

major goal of feminist therapy has been egalitarianism, whether in

personal relationships or in therapeutic practice. Feminist reform shares the self-actualization orientation of the third movement of A m e r i c a n humanist psychology. Feminists developed several humanist techniques w h i c h are loosely replicated by daytime talk shows: sharing, group discussion and assertiveness training. W h a t differentiated feminist therapy w a s a n d is the implicit assumption of unequal power relations between men a n d w o m e n . Using the humanist model, feminist therapists reconfigured the image of w o m e n as active, complex and ever-changing individuals w h o have capacity to choose, to assign meaning to their lives, and to be a u t o n o m o u s .

20

Feminist therapy (unlike other humanist therapies) returns to the environment

(not

childhood per

se)

as

a

determining

element

of

female

psychology. Where m a n y humanist psychologists s a w feminine a n d masculine as given categories, feminist therapy involves analysis of the social construction of sex roles a n d power; therefore there is always a sense of shared, not isolated victimization. Nevertheless, the logic of the therapy has been resolutely active. Feminist therapy turns the humanist concept of selfactualization around and places it w i t h i n a critique of social constraint. F e m i n i s m named the process 'empowerment', w h i c h has become a central

FREUD VS. W O M E N | discourse of talk shows. I n fact, an audience member jumped up during a discussion of bad husbands and announced to O p r a h : Tt's about power and empowerment.'

The Feminist Psychologist, the Women Experts of Talk Shows A s stated earlier, daytime talk shows overwhelmingly populate their programmes w i t h female experts. I n my three-month study, four out of every five therapists ( P h D s , M D s , M S W s or 'psychotherapists') were w o m e n . M a l e experts are typically medical doctors, investigators or agency heads empowered by their official knowledge. Although knowledge is also a factor, w o m e n experts are called more often to carry out their practices o n stage - to nurture, interact a n d solve dilemmas by offering short-term solutions. A l t h o u g h all four hosts have stated a vague allegiance to feminism, it falls to the experts w h o are not officially tied to the shows to represent feminist ideology. Both their on-camera advice and their self-help books often approximate toned-down and broadly applied feminist therapy manuals. T h e experts are the central popularizers of feminist theory o n T V . T h e feminisms of the therapists

diverge w i d e l y . A c c o r d i n g to A n n

K a p l a n , i n the 1970s and 1980s there were loosely four broad types of 'feminism': •

bourgeois feminism (women's concern to obtain equal rights and freed o m , w i t h i n a capitalist system);

•

M a r x i s t feminism (the linking of specific female oppressions to the larger structure of capitalism and to oppressions of other groups: gays, m i n o rities, the w o r k i n g classes a n d so on);

•

radical feminism (the designation of w o m e n as different from men a n d the desire to establish separate female communities to forward w o m e n ' s specific needs and desires);

•

poststructural feminism (the idea that we need to analyse the language order through w h i c h w e learn w h a t our culture calls ' w o m e n ' - distinct from a group called men - as w e attempt to bring about change beneficial to w o m e n ) .

2 1

Generally, the w o m e n therapists of daytime talk shows come out

of

bourgeois feminism. T h e y believe that equal rights are attainable once w o m e n become aware of the social and sexual repressions to w h i c h they are victim. L i k e G i l d a C a r l e ' s quick answers, their therapy tends to be blind to the differences caused by race, sexual preference a n d class. ,Because their

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND G E N D E R

advice is constrained by T V ' s segmented f o r m , it is often reduced to exercises, simple cause-and-effect 'anyone' c a n have access.

models a n d self-help formulas to

F o r all of bourgeois

which

feminism's critique of

w o m e n ' s oppression, these experts espouse a democratic notion of equal sharing of power between men and w o m e n as opposed to a negative social critique of male domination. For

example,

Donahue

aired the programme

'Daughters

Who

Are

U n u s u a l l y Close to T h e i r Fathers' (9 M a r c h 1994), on w h i c h the therapist Dr

V i c t o r i a Secunda argues that the problem stems from the father's need

to be idealized by his daughter. T h e daughter is attracted to h i m because of his

absence from the difficulties attendent u p o n her rearing; the mother is

devalued as the disciplinarian. Secunda's solution: the parents must equally share the responsibilities of child rearing. But D o n a h u e continually tempers her critique by stating that he approves of father/daughter

closeness. H e

declares, for instance, ' I f y o u ask me (and nobody has) w e w a n t to first celebrate the wonderful love and mutual affection and a d m i r a t i o n . ' Another example is the Oprah

programme devoted to h o w to get married

(14 M a r c h 1994). O p r a h introduces D r Pat A l l e n and her book, Getting T Do'

22

to

a n d states that A l l e n promises the audience that 'if y o u follow her

advice, y o u w i l l snag a m a n w i t h i n a year!' T h e programme starts w i t h the patriarchal belief in a male-centred model of femininity where w o m e n scheme to marry. But it turns out that A l l e n ' s argument is predicated o n the assumption (as O p r a h puts it) that all men a n d w o m e n have 'masculine and feminine energy'. I n fact, Allen's first w o r d s are 'Everyone is both masculine and

feminine.' She continues, 'There is no such thing as a w o m a n that is too

masculine.' A few minutes later, she proclaims, ' T h e problem is w e don't need to marry any more. M e n can go to a gourmet cooking class a n d we c a n go to a sperm b a n k . ' T h e audience laughs wildly and applauds at her declaration of female independence. But O p r a h keeps on course: ' W h a t is really great about this marriage thing . . . ' 'So if y o u w a n t to get married . . . ' But

A l l e n later argues that 'we still have as m u c h a man's liberation

movement ahead as w e have a w o m a n ' s ' . H e r position becomes that men have the right to be feminine - an issue of universal victimization. H e r e , w e also get the mixed message f r o m the therapist that although w o m e n and men are blends of masculinity a n d femininity, the terms culine And

a n d feminine

mas-

are essentialized as active and passive, respectively.

w h a t w o m e n need to do to get m a r r i e d is return to their feminine

selves. Such a contradictory

message - w h i c h combines a

male-centred

model and feminism - is endemic to the s h o w s , w h i c h tend to cater to both sides on the gender issue. But this is a n unusual programme in that both sides are evoked by one therapist. E v e n w h e n critic N a o m i W o l f attempts to

FREUD VS. WOMEN

|

point out the problems of essentializing feminine behaviour as passive, the continual interrupting by A l l e n , commercial breaks, O p r a h ' s interjections and audience questions keep a clearly articulated counterstatement

from

being made. Ultimately, good talk s h o w therapists must be good performers, neither beacons of rationality nor politically astute feminists. T h e y are in a n odd w a y comparable to the itinerant performers of the nineteenth century. T h e r e are the 'star' or repeat therapists, w h o are discovered a n d nurtured and appear regularly on a particular show. C a r l e is a Sally regular, as is R a n d y Rolfe on Geraldo.

M a n y therapists travel w h a t is k n o w n in the

business as the 'talk-show circuit'. F o r example, Secunda appeared on three different talk shows between 9 M a r c h and 30 June 1994.

A l t h o u g h the

therapists are not paid, they get to publicize their services and books (Carle's Interchange volume, Women

Communications

and Their

Training,

or Secunda's most recent

Fathers).

A s m u c h as the therapist represents psychology a n d feminism, she is rated on her performative skills. T h e 'original' model is D r Joyce Brothers, the first 'star' therapist of daytime T V . T h e therapist is inserted deus machina,

ex

usually, into the third or fourth segment of a show. A c c o r d i n g to

an interview (21 June 1994) w i t h executive producer Rose M a r y H e n r i of Sally, therapists are chosen for their ability to relate emotionally to the guests and audience. Feminine, colourful clothing is prescribed. T h e i r style is somewhere between that of the old medicine s h o w 'doctor' h a w k i n g his quick remedy and that of the hero w h o comes to the rescue in a n old-time melodrama. C a r l e has replaced Brothers as the prototypical therapist on talk shows in the 1990s. A c k n o w l e d g i n g her debt to Brothers, C a r l e has done more than 100 talk shows in the past five years. Unlike Brothers, she has a degree not in psychology but in organizational studies. H e r consulting firm specializes in c o m m u n i c a t i o n , and she has advised I B M a n d the N e w Y o r k C i t y government. H a v i n g written no books, she self-promoted herself onto talk shows by means of a video infomercial she sent to the producers. O n c e she appeared on Geraldo,

her career took off. Recompense is exposure for her

and her firm; she maintains that she does the w o r k because she 'cares'. G i v e n format time constraints (a therapist averages t w o minutes per guest), C a r l e argues that she does not do 'therapy' on the shows but gives 'therapeutic t i p s ' .

2 3

A c c o r d i n g to H e n r i , C a r l e is considered 'an excellent T V therapist' i n the industry because 'she c a n emotionally identify w i t h the guests a n d speak a simple jargon-free therapy'. Secunda, w h o is more measured in performance a n d language, is described less enthusiastically as 'formal'. O n e c a n

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND G E N D E R

perhaps conclude that part of N a o m i W o l f ' s problem in her appearance as an

expert on Oprah's

getting-to-the-altar programme w a s that Pat Allen

outperformed her w i t h quick upbeat statements, use of the inclusive ' w e ' , direct address to the audience, and expansive gestures. But all the therapists c a n neatly offer tentative solutions w i t h i n their allotted minutes. A typical performance entails the therapist's interacting w i t h the guests while turning to the audience to put a therapeutic point across.

For

example, after hugging a n d stroking the crying wife in the previously mentioned programme

on affairs, C a r l e w i t h intense emotion asks the

audience: ' W h a t about the other party? W h a t about the spouse? W h a t if the other party finds out? A l l w e have been hearing about is: me, me, me.' Applause erupts. W e see close-ups of the approving w o m e n in the audience who

have been cheated o n . Pleased by their reaction to her performance,

C a r l e continues: ' O n e of things we have to do is to take that " m " in me and turn it around to " w " in w e . ' M o r e enthusiastic applause. T h e d u a l performative style undercuts the authenticity of the therapist's interaction w i t h her 'patients'. H e r gestures are ultimately a n 'act' in that her object is to reach the larger viewing audience. C a r l e represents a crass caricature of the productive power involved in any authoritative c l a i m as to w h a t is

correct

femininity or the truth in regard to mental happiness on talk s h o w s . She, as so m a n y like her, evokes the ' w e ' of feminism, effacing social difference and the implicit power involved in defining a n all-inclusive category. Although the established media w o u l d attack C a r l e ' s astute use of 'sound bites' as pandering to the lowest emotions, I argue that her method is a n example of classic s h o w - w o m a n s h i p . It is naive to believe that there c a n be authenticity on national T V , a discourse o n w h i c h the daytime talk shows trade. . . . V i e w e r s do not automatically look upon the therapist as genuine. W e m a y cringe at the callous use of a w o m a n guest's private pain for public promotion, but talk shows are not traditional therapy. T h e y are s h o w s . The

therapist is not the only performer. U n l i k e medicine shows and

vaudeville, everyone performs on talk s h o w s . T h e y are closer to public performances of personal narratives of emotional pain, frustration and recovery. T h e guests a n d audience members do not come as naive to the T V arena. Audience members primp in the rest-room upon arrival to look 'good' if the camera catches them. Before the taping they play musical chairs as they shift seats, in order to get as close as they c a n to the host and the microphone. T h e y vie to ask questions. T h e y have watched the programmes and have absorbed m a n y of the conventions. T h e y call the hosts by first names. Generally, they k n o w w h a t are permissible questions and behaviour (many are savvy enough to ask their questions straight to the camera). T h e y have thought out their narratives beforehand. T h e y speak

FREUD VS. W O M E N

|

the language of talk shows and therapy. F o r example, m a n y elderly w o m e n in the Donahue

audiences seem prepared for the host's game of flirting a n d

attempt to top h i m by embarrassing h i m w i t h their forwardness. A Sally programme on 23 February 1994 w a s stopped w h e n a husband confessed his affairs to his wife, but it w a s the wife's decision to resume taping. A s k e d by Sally w h y she wants it to continue, the w o m a n says, T must stop and realize that my husband must love me to come on the s h o w and tell everybody that [applause] he is sorry and that he wants to try a n d make our relationship and our marriage w o r k . ' It w a s an occasion w h e n actions a n d beliefs could affirm the importance of their lives before a ' j u r y ' numbered i n millions. W i t h daytime talk shows, w e are caught between anger at the exploitation of people's emotions for profit and awe at this venue for testimonials where average w o m e n elect to perform a n d are validated a n d empowered by their performances.

Talk's Psychic Structure: The Feminist Consciousness-raising Group It is not the courtroom but the consciousness-raising group that is the logic of the daytime talk shows. Patricia M e l l e n c a m p argues: 'It's not too farfetched to imagine daytime talk as the electronic syndicated version of consciousness-raising groups of the women's movement.'

F o r her, they

represent a shift a w a y from the arcane worlds of medicine, psychiatry and l a w , ' a w a y from the experts a n d t o w a r d self-help, a w a y from individuality and t o w a r d a group or collective m e n t a l i t y ' .

24

Gloria-Jean Masciarotte points out that a 1 9 6 6 - 6 7 outline of the rules of consciousness-raising 'could form the production notes for Phil D o n a h u e or O p r a h Winfrey's shows': T h e 'bitch session' cell group A.

O n g o i n g consciousness expansion 1.

Personal recognition and testimony

2.

Personal testimony methods

3. B.

a.

G o i n g around the r o o m w i t h key questions on key topics

b.

Speaking out experience at r a n d o m

c.

Cross-examination

Relating and generalizing individual testimony

'Starting to stop' - overcoming repressions a n d delusions . . . daring to share one's experience w i t h the g r o u p .

2 5

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND G E N D E R

Consciousness-raising groups have always been a hybrid: part therapy and part

political activism. W h e n Donahue,

daytime talk show, began in 1967,

the prototype feminine-issues

consciousness-raising groups

were

evolving from a political organizing tool to a n arena where w o m e n shared personal information a n d discovered c o m m o n a l i t i e s .

26

T h e groups

and

even their talk-show incarnation have been held together by empowering w o m e n through collectively constructing self-esteem. 'Self-esteem' has been attacked by academic feminists as a n empty concept that daytime talk shows use to avoid more complex problems, such as social r e p r e s s i o n .

27

Y e t self-esteem remains central for the feminist therapy

movement. J a n a S a w i c k i in her claim for F o u c a u l d i a n feminism argues that such criticism reveals a lack of awareness of the class a n d gender bias involved in political awareness: ' A principal a i m of feminism has been to build w o m e n ' s self-esteem - the sense of confidence and identity necessary for developing a n appositional m o v e m e n t . '

28

D a y t i m e talk shows have taken this mission of feminism one step further in the 1980s and 1990s. W h a t neither M e l l e n c a m p nor Masciarotte takes note of is the degree to w h i c h talk shows avoid critical analysis of the context of male power. C e n t r a l to the consciousness-raising group

of

feminism is a form of political education. A c c o r d i n g to feminist psychologist D i a n e Kravetz, 'Understanding the nature of female oppression in a sexist society has been essential for assessing needs, establishing goals, and providing alternative programs and services.' Consciousness-raising groups are where 'institutional structures and social norms, as w e l l as individual attitudes and behaviors, provide the f r a m e w o r k for a n a l y s i s ' .

29

T h e y have

moved from political groups to emotional 'support' groups in the language of the 1980s and 1990s. T h e shows mirror this depoliticization in focusing on the individual and the proactive nature of humanist therapy i n understanding cultural malaise. T h e i r analysis takes place in a historical and institutional v a c u u m , preferring the narratives of virtue and transcendence over the negativism and complexity

of social analysis. T h i s sensibility

underlines D o n a h u e ' s epiphany about being a homemaker in his biography: T don't k n o w h o w the hell they [women] do it. M y fantasies about " m y four s o n s " have been lowered, and my consciousness r a i s e d . '

3 0

T h e shows'

sense of consciousness-raising has to do w i t h w o m e n ' s day-to-day experiences a n d h o w individual w o m e n c a n immediately effect changes rather than w i t h a more detached v i e w of the political origins of the experiences. M u c h like the consciousness-raising groups, the shows range from cognitive-oriented discussions, as in rational emotive therapy,

to a more

personal, emotional sharing.^ Although the consciousness-raising process involves discovering the social or external roots of those experiences related

FREUD VS. W O M E N

|

to living i n a sexist environment, the shows avoid clear social categories, such as economic power or even the patriarchy. T h e y phobically avoid male bashing, doing at most one or t w o openly feminist topics a season. A s a result, their critique of masculine power is always implied and rarely stated. It is primarily through programming - w o m a n as a social category, the value of lived experiences, and the nonhierarchical structure - that programme makers convey the s h o w s ' feminism. Because the shows are public arenas they do not evoke the intimacy a n d thoroughness of therapy or even consciousness-raising groups. But because of their ties to a social ideology such as feminism, their discursive structure involves testimonials rather than confessions. H e r e , feminism becomes more a secular religion than a political practice. T h e testimonial or w i t nessing

has

evangelism.

a 31

long history i n A m e r i c a n fundamentalism a n d

media

A n d it has been reinvigorated in the 12-step movement, a

secular model of witnessing. T h e original religious sense of the practice means the public testimony given by C h r i s t i a n witnesses to Christ and his saving power. W i t h i n evangelicalism the act of standing up and speaking one's religious experience is a social obligation - done without regard for personal safety a n d c o m f o r t .

32

T h e feminism that underlies the daytime talk

shows has changed the logic of therapy: w o m e n are no longer passive sufferers but, rather, witnesses to the power of overcoming oppression. T h i s extends the role that witnessing has played in w o m e n ' s history, beginning w i t h abolition and then extending to suffrage and t e m p e r a n c e .

33

Masciarotte argues that 'the talk s h o w ' s subject is not a n ego-centered version of the talking cure i n w h i c h the free flow of the subject's voice echoes back strong individual boundaries. But rather talk shows construct a serial spectacle of ' T " s . '

3 4

T h e transgression or problem is no longer a sign

of individual shame; instead, it is part of a larger problem and the individual's experience becomes one of m a n y examples. L i k e Christians overcoming evil through faith, the w o m e n i n the daytime talk show audience attest the p o w e r of the individual and the feminine community by speaking their individual experience of the evils of social subordination a n d testify to their strength or survival to their c o m m u n i t y . T h e pre-taping audiences in w h i c h I have participated have the feel of a congregation. T h e w o m e n interact as friends exchanging views, c o m p l i ments and intimacies as if they are part of a larger ethos. Consider (Oprah,

a

programme

devoted

to

H I V - p o s i t i v e men

and

women

17 February 1994). T h e project becomes the reconciliation of a n

H I V - p o s i t i v e daughter and her estranged mother. ( N o t only does the programme present a formerly h o m o p h o b i c mother w h o supported her dying son, but also audience members w h o are H I V - p o s i t i v e get up one by one

©

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

and testify to the understanding or lack of support of their families. I n fact, the programme is a follow-up of a programme a week earlier i n w h i c h a closeted H I V - p o s i t i v e guest, B r i a n , 'came out' o n national T V (and to his family afterward). A s k e d w h y he did it by O p r a h during the second programme, B r i a n responds that he had to ' u n b u r d e n ' himself and that he did it for others. A n d as the camera pans across a r o w of the audience, O p r a h says: ' B r i a n is not alone. These are faces of the people w h o have tested H I V positive. Some of them have been spat u p o n , yelled at, kicked out of classrooms, t h r o w n out on the street a n d outright disowned by everybody that they loved. But they are here today to tell their stories of life - i n this age of A I D S . ' T h e issue is not gendered. T h e concept of healing through narratives and community remains the springboard for faith. F e m i n i s m , like all ideologies, shares w i t h religion a spirituality of c o m munity and a myth of Utopian transcendence - a w o r l d of gender equality. H e n c e , daytime talk-show programmes on makeovers, superstar w o m e n in second careers and returning reformed guests from earlier

programmes

emphasize the ability to g r o w , change and transcend. It should come as no surprise that many of the non-therapy topics of the programmes have a quasi-religious sensibility: ' R a n d o m Acts of K i n d n e s s ' (Oprah, 1994);

'People

on

Schindler's L i s t '

(Donahue,

28

'Visionaries' (Sally, 3 M a r c h 1994); ' H o l o c a u s t H e r o e s ' (Oprah, 1 9 9 4 ) ; 'Angels W h o H a v e Altered People's L i v e s ' (Donahue, 1994); ' F a i t h H e a l i n g ' (Geraldo,

15 February

February

1994);

18 M a r c h 31 M a r c h

1 A p r i l 1 9 9 4 ) . F o r all talk shows are

indicted as part of the ' n e w ' culture of victimization, they are as caught up in affirming the ideals of familial love, the transcendence of emotional p a i n , and equality. I n Life Stories Charlotte L i n d e defines the individual narrative as a n oral unit that is told over m a n y occasions. C o n v e n t i o n a l l y , it includes certain l a n d m a r k events, such as choice of profession, marriage, divorce a n d religious or ideological conversion, if any. B o t h in its content (the items that it includes and excludes) and i n its form (the structures that are used to make it coherent), it is the product of a member of a particular c u l t u r e . . . . Indeed, the notion of a 'life story' itself is not universal, but is the product of a particular c u l t u r e .

35

E a c h programme, then, becomes a variation on the feminine community as each guest brings her life story to the televized theatre. R o b y n W a r h o l and H e l e n a M i c h i e suggest that such life stories are central to the 12-step programmes and the concept of recovery - a process on w h i c h talk shows d r a w for their therapeutic logic. Whereas A l c o h o l i c s A n o n y m o u s looks to the frame provided by Bill W . and his story of alcoholism and recovery as the frame for alcoholics' o w n stories, daytime talk-show guests a n d audi-

FREUD VS. WOMEN | ence look to the long tradition of melodrama a n d the long narrative tradition of mythic female virtue, victimization a n d t r a n s c e n d e n c e .

36

Conclusion Essentially, daytime talk shows are not feminist; they do not espouse a clearly laid-out political position for the empowerment of w o m e n . T h e y often c h a m p i o n w o m e n w h o deny themselves for the good of the family. T h e shows do represent popular T V at its most feminist, nonetheless; they articulate the frustrations of w o m e n ' s subordination i n a 'man's w o r l d ' . T h e y are not authoritarian i n the w a y that T V traditionally displays the therapeutic. T h e y give a voice to normally voiceless w o m e n : working-class w o m e n , housewives, lesbians, sexually active older w o m e n , among others. W h a t is important is that they speak for themselves a n d are valued for their experience, even if their stories are highly prescribed. M o r e o v e r , the shows represent a practical application of a central debate i n cultural studies through their employment of the therapeutic: the tension between theories of power a n d control as described by F r e u d a n d F o u c a u l t and a n active/ activist individual w h o has the capacity to think a n d disagree. F o r daytime talk shows, w e need to rewrite Foucault's theory of the confession: the only credible interlocutor is a 'recovering' interlocutor, for he or she too must testify to her or his weakness to belong to the c o m munity.

F o r a l l their

technological

distance,

the

shows

are

about

belongingness - community i n late capitalism. It is n o w o n d e r that W i n f r e y , as a self-confessed victim of child abuse, drugs a n d self-hate, is the most highly paid w o m a n interlocutor. T h e private has become public. T h e personal is political. A n d the ability to confess publicly has become a sign of power a n d control. Such public therapy is a n ideology that combines the negative hermeneutics of F r e u d i a n subjectivity w i t h the affirmation of the active individual w i t h i n a shared community. A n d that tension is ultimately the therapeutic power of talk o n T V .

Notes 1.

Mimi White (1992) Tele-vising: Therapeutic Discourse in American p. 8. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

2.

Charles Guigon, paper presented as part of the Humanities Seminars at the University of Vermont, Burlington, V T , 27 October 1994, 3.

Television,

I

C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER 3.

Michel Foucault (1977) The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An trans. Robert Hurley, pp. 61-2. New York: Pantheon.

4.

For examples see Jana Sawicki (1991) Disciplining Foucault: Feminism, Power and the Body. New York: Routledge; and Isaac D . Balbus (1988) Disciplining women: Michel Foucault and the power of feminist discourse, in Jonathan Arac (ed.) After Foucault: Humanistic Knowledge, Postmodern Challenges, pp. 138— 60. New Brunswick, N J : Rutgers University Press. Barnaby B. Barratt (1993) Psychoanalysis and the Postmodern Impulse: Knowing and Being Since Freud's Psychology, p. 190. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University.

5.

Introduction,

6.

E . H . Erickson (1946) Ego development and historical change, The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, vol. 2. New York: International Universities Press; and T.C. Kroeber (1964) The coping functions of the ego-mechanisms, in R . W . White (ed.) The Study of Lives. New York: Atherton Press.

7.

Heinz Hartmann (1964) Essays on Ego Psychology, pp. 158-9. New York: International Universities. Steven Starker (1989) Oracle at the Supermarket: The American Preoccupation with Self-Help Books, p. 112. New Brunswick: Transaction.

8. 9.

George C . Miller (1969) Psychology as a means of protecting human welfare, American Psychologist, 24: 1074.

10. Rachel T . Hare-Mustin (1983) An appraisal of the relationship between women and psychotherapy American Psychologist, 38: 593. 11. Starker, op cit., p. 113. 12. Janet Maslin (1993) In Dirty Laundryland, New York Times, 10 October, p. 9.1. 13. Anna Quinlan (1991) The human condition, New York Times, 2 May, p. A25. 14. Albert Ellis (1973) Humanistic Psychotherapy: Approach, p. 3. New York: Julian Press.

The

Rational-Emotive

15. Christopher Lasch (1978) The Culture of Narcissism, p. 10. New York: Norton. 16. Phillip Rieff (1987) The Triumph of the Therapeutic: p. 65. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Uses of Faith After Freud,

17. Wendy Kaminer (1993) Vm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional: The Recovery Movement and Other Self-Help Fashions, p. 38. New York: Vintage. 18. Susan Sturdivant (1980) Therapy with Women: Treatment, p. 52. New York: Springer.

A Feminist Philosophy

of

19. American Psychologist (1975). 20. Sturdivant op cit., 87. 21. Ann Kaplan (1992) Feminist criticism and television, in Robert Allen (ed) Channels of Discourse, Reassembled, p. 251. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina. 22. Patricia Allen and Sandra Harmon (1994) Getting to T Do'. New York: William Morrow. 23. Warren Berger (1995) Childhood trauma healed while-u-wait, New Times, 8 January, p. 33.

York

FREUD VS. W O M E N | 24. Patricia Mellencamp (1990) High Anxiety: Catastrophe, Scandal, Age, and Comedy, p. 218. Bloomington, I N : Indiana University Press. 25. Gloria-Jean Masciarotte (1991) C'mon girl: Oprah Winfrey and the discourse of feminine talk, Genders, 11: 91. 26. Judith Worell and Pam Remer (1992) Feminist Perspectives in Therapy: An Empowerment Model for Women, p. 101. Chichester: John Wiley. 27. T w o examples are Janice Peck's attack on Winfrey's repeated use of her programme in her article T a l k about racism: framing a popular discourse of race on Oprah Winfrey', in Cultural Critique (Spring 1994), p. 89. Also Vicki Abt, a sociology professor at Pennsylvania State University, has been quoted in the New York Times as saying: If you watch the talk show doctors, their advice is always a cliché, something about self-esteem.' See Warren Berger, op cit., 33. 4

28. Sawicki, op cit., 106. 29. Diane Kravetz (1980) Consciousness-raising and self help, in A . M . Brodsky and R . T . Hare-Mustin (eds) Women and Psychotherapy: An Assessment of Research and Practice, p. 268. New York: Guilford. 30. Phil Donahue and C o . (1979) My Own Story: Donahue, p. 109. New York: Simon & Schuster. 31. See Janice Peck (1993) Selling goods and selling God: advertising, televangelism and the commodity form, Communication Inquiry, 17(1): 5-24. 32. Walter Elwell (ed.) (1984) Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, p. 1175. Grand Rapids, M I : Baker Book House. 33. Nancy Hardesty (1984) Women Called to Witness: Evangelical Feminism in the 19th Century. Nashville, T N : Abington Press; and Barbara Epstein (1981) The Politics of Domesticity: Women, Evangelism, and Temperance in Nineteenth Century America. Middletown, C N : Wesleyan University Press. 34. Masciarotte, op cit., 86. 35. Charlotte Linde (1993) Life Stories: The Creation of Coherence, p. 11. N e w York: Oxford University Press. 36. Robyn Warhol and Helena Michie (1995) Twelve-step teleology: narratives of recovery/recovery as narrative, in S. Smith and J . Watson (eds) Getting a Life: Everyday Uses of Autobiography in Postmodern America. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

o

WHAT G I R L S WANT THE INTERSECTIONS OE LEISURE AND POWER IN FEMALE COMPUTER GAME PLAY Heather Gilmour

O n c e subordinate to other cultural forms, computer software, both pleasurable a n d practical, is moving from the margins to the centre of culture and

industry. Y e t a l l too often, w o m e n a n d girls have been left o n the

sidelines of the high-tech playing field. Software industry developers a n d researchers have become increasingly a w a r e of this disproportion, a n d a w a v e of software targeting the girl market is n o w being produced a m i d widespread discussions about w h a t it is that girls really w a n t i n computer games. Developed by companies committed to girls, a few of these products, such as Mattel's Fashion ME! in

Barbie

a n d G i r l G a m e s ' s Let's Talk

about

a n d Let's Talk about ME! Too, recently attained considerable success the marketplace, proving w h a t many have long suspected: that girls

represent a target audience w i t h great potential. Still, instead of challenging those entrenched divisions between boys a n d girls as players of electronic games, the discourse a r o u n d these products has unfortunately tended to strengthen the traditional divisions between genders. L i k e some of their less successful predecessors (such as H e r Interactive's McKenzie

& Co.), these

products feature girl-coded topics such as dating, fashion, hairstyles a n d social protocols, leading both developers a n d consumers to conclude that 'good' software must be specifically gendered. T h u s , girls continue to be essentialized as emotional, highly social, neoV i c t o r i a n subjects while males are defined as competitive a n d technologically inclined - a n o l d binary that has come to inform discussions about new

technology. H e r e is h o w one journalist 'distilled' such information

from various panels presented at the 1 9 9 4 C o m p u t e r G a m e s Developers Conference:

1

WHAT G I R L S WANT | Men seem to like:

Women

seem to like:

Repeating actions to get to the next

Solving problems among characters

level A c t i o n (shooting, running, jumping)

Storytelling and characters

Solving puzzles to overcome specific

Picking up clues and learning from

obstacles

characters in the game

M e a s u r i n g their skills

Getting credit for trying

T u r n i n g off the sound

Using music to add to the fun

The

challenge of negative comments

Encouragement and support from the game

from the game L o t s of definite and rigid rules

Fewer, simpler, variable rules

W i n n i n g through competition a n d

W i n n i n g through cooperation

individual prowess Playing until someone wins

Quitting w h e n they get bored

Such lists are commonplace not only in popular articles and from the proliferating educational panels at conferences a n d trade shows, but also in the research

around electronic games.

F o r example,

Maria Klawa,

a

researcher of interactive games, concludes, 'Boys a n d girls use software a n d video games differently. G i r l s like characters a n d relationships between them, while boys like fast action.' Electronic Arts K i d s spokesperson Catherine W a m b a c h describes a n interactive program that 'had a n area where y o u c o u l d construct a character and playhouse. T h e boys could have cared less. T h e girls wanted to bring that character out, and bring it into physical reality. T h e y ' d spend hours on the pictures, houses and clay forms of those c h a r a c t e r s . '

2

E v e n w h e n the evidence suggests

the

contrary,

researchers provide explanations that seem designed to keep traditional binaries in place. F o r instance, the popularity of Nintendo's Tetris

with

female players w o u l d seem to counter the belief that w o m e n prefer character interaction, since this is a game of spatial relations w i t h no characters. Yet,

D r . G i n i G r a h a m Scott, a sociologist commissioned by Nintendo to

study this phenomenon, claims that Tetris causes w o m e n to experience a n endorphin rush because it satisfies the feminine craving for order: 'It's the w o m a n w h o handles the decor; it's usually the guy w h o messes things u p . ' Asserting that Tetris

appeals to w o m e n ' s holistic w a y s of seeing things,

Scott even ties the game's popularity to prehistoric gender behaviour. ' M e n were the hunters - they focused o n killing for survival; w o m e n were the gatherers - they see the whole picture.' y l t is disturbing that essentializing

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

explanations such as these originate w i t h experts and then gain acceptance in the popular imagination. M i c h e l Foucault observed that juridical systems of power produce the subjects they subsequently come to represent. Indeed, software production and

m u c h current research have produced a girl consumer whose definition

is only in opposition to a putative standard 'boy'. Such definitions c a n be as distorting for boys as they are for girls. It is difficult to reconcile boys' alleged disinterest i n character development w i t h the popularity of fantasy games like Dungeons

and

Dragons

w h i c h , according to Patricia M a r k s

Greenfield, 'involve complex characters w i t h a medieval flavor w h o go on adventures together a n d meet a wide variety of circumstances. . . . O n e distinguishing m a r k of this type of game is that there are so m a n y more possible happenings and characters than in a traditional g a m e . ' A d d i t i o n a l 4

counter-evidence can be provided by M u l t i - U s e r Dungeons ( M U D S ) where players (mostly boys) develop elaborate character relationships and create environments - two activities stereotyped as female. I n short, the gendered binary of assumed preferences in software says more about the ideologies and

assumptions of researchers and developers w h o speculate o n the topic

than about any essential differences between the sexes, yet these speculations are recirculated back to consumers through advertising and popular j o u r n a l i s m , encouraging kids to choose those products that are supposedly appropriate to their gender. It is not surprising, then, that such differences also appear even in the innovative studies of Y a s m i n K a f a i , w h o analyses gender differences in games designed (rather than merely consumed) by girls a n d b o y s .

5

T h i s essay explores issues of socialization and gender around computers and

computer games, and seeks to clarify h o w girls relate to interactive

media. W h i l e not denying that differences between boys a n d girls do occur in their use of computers and games, I w i l l argue that these differences are attributable to the cultural gendering of leisure and play, rather than to inherent biological differences. H i s t o r i c a l discourses around leisure reveal that current 'discoveries' by researchers about girls' interests a n d play preferences are clearly linked to m u c h older discussions about w h a t constitutes appropriate feminine leisure activity. T h e s e considerations led me to test h o w gender differences around software are being actualized by children in three L o s Angeles schools. M y object w a s to do my o w n analysis of girls' behaviour w i t h computers and then weigh m y findings against popular

theories

of w h a t

girls w a n t

in software.

A t the

same

time,

I

contextualize both current theories about girls a n d m y o w n research w i t h i n historical discourses a r o u n d feminine leisure.

WHAT G I R L S WANT |

Continuities in the Discourse around Leisure Any

inquiry into computers a n d culture must observe the intersection of

computers as they are used at school for educational purposes and at home as a leisure activity. T h i s relationship is crucial because while boys a n d girls may sometimes use the computer in the classroom in similar w a y s , their leisure use is markedly different, and this discrepancy, in turn, influences classroom behaviour. C h i l d r e n ' s use of computers, then, has to be c o n sidered in both of these contexts. Instead of viewing computer use in terms of the effects that a n e w technology has on society, I regard computer use as a social act, influenced by long-standing cultural beliefs about education, leisure a n d gender. I n this sense, computers are not a force that drives the course of society or h u m a n behaviour, but objects that become embedded i n elaborate cultural codes and

social patterns. A review of the history of w o m e n , girls and leisure

indicates that present-day patterns of computer game play are inflected by m u c h older beliefs about feminine leisure. K a r l a H e n d e r s o n has theorized w o m e n ' s place i n the history of leisure via

a periodizing scheme that includes six eras from 1 9 0 7 to the present. F o r

Henderson, w o m e n ' s relationship to leisure w a s conceived differently in each period, a n d c a n be related to the dominant social ideologies of the t i m e . W h i l e I agree w i t h Henderson's notion that discourses about gender 6

and

leisure must be located w i t h i n broader ones about gender and culture, I

see the relationships between leisure, gender a n d culture less as a series of separate eras than as a continuity of ideas about the contested nature of the feminine. H e n d e r s o n observes the historical invisibility of w o m e n in the literature about leisure, w h i c h she attributes to the assumption that men have traditionally been dominant i n the public sphere, whereas w o m e n ' s roles have been confined to the private sphere. A c c o r d i n g to H e n d e r s o n , discussions of girls a n d leisure have reinforced the notion that leisure ought to enhance girls' education as feminine s u b j e c t s . I n other w o r d s , not only has the 7

actual participation of females i n leisure activities been governed by traditional conceptions of femininity, but these notions have also governed the production of discourse a r o u n d the topic. T h e r e is some continuity between the literature o n girls and computing today and historical discourses about girls and leisure. Although a great deal has been written about the i m p l i cations of gender in the educational use of computers, m u c h less has been written o n girls' use of computers and software as leisure - and m u c h of that tends to assume that girls' leisure preferences are skewed t o w a r d educational software. M u c h w o r k remains to be done o n girls' pleasures i n

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND G E N D E R

leisure itself. C o n t e m p o r a r y perceptions about gender a n d leisure, then, must be viewed as part of a n ongoing discussion about h o w girls a n d boys ought to behave, a n d h o w it is proper for them to spend their time. As

has been abundantly remarked i n research o n gender a n d leisure,

w o m e n have less free time than m e n , largely due to the conflation of public and

private spheres for w o m e n , w h o often come home to a 'second shift' of

w o r k , whereas m e n i n general associate time at home w i t h leisure. Because girls are acculturated, in part, by observing their mothers' roles, some girls experience this time pressure at surprisingly early ages. C i t i n g a 1 9 1 0 study, H e n d e r s o n claims that girls made fewer demands than boys for recreation, and

thus were seen as less interested i n it. She notes here, 'Further e x a m -

ination of this perception indicated that m a n y girls as "little m o t h e r s " were so tired from their household tasks w h e n they came to the playground that they h a d little energy to p l a y . ' T h i s perception still has relevance today, as 8

Susan S h a w ' s studies of adolescents have s h o w n : there is ' a statistically significant difference in obligatory and nonobligatory time between males and

females, w i t h females spending more time than males i n obligatory

activities. Females tend to spend more time than males at school, doing s c h o o l w o r k at home, a n d doing c h o r e s . ' The

9

reigning discourse about girls' preferences i n interactive entertain-

ment submits that girls prefer cooperative games to competitive ones. T h i s assertion is part of a m u c h longer discussion. T h e late 1900s a n d early 1920s were periods w h e n the importance of athletics w a s stressed for all children, including girls. A s H e n d e r s o n explains, however, girls' games a n d sports were considered to be properly group activities; team play a n d competition were d o w n p l a y e d . G i r l s a n d w o m e n of this period were encouraged to join clubs because they provided opportunities for members to w o r k together, a n d group participation a n d cooperation were s t r e s s e d .

10

C l e a r l y , the notion that girls ought to be, or rather are, primarily social beings has become naturalized. Popular a n d academic discussions of w h a t girls w a n t i n interactive media invariably highlight group play, cooperation and

social interaction. Foucault has argued that discourses proliferate

w i t h i n certain power relationships. By enforcing a n essentialist v i e w of the female as social a n d group oriented (read: not intellectual a n d not independent), dominant discourses about interactive media continue to appeal to the same structures of power that have historically guided discussions of gender.

WHAT G I R L S WANT | Method The

incorporation of ethnographic methods into cultural studies suggests a

refusal to theorize female readers of culture monolithically, as w e l l as a willingness temporary

to

observe

studies

of

difference female

and

audiences

lived

experience.

have

ethnographic methods: M a r s h a K i n d e r ' s Playing Television,

and

Video

Games,

Hollywood

approaches,

my

Cinema research

Several

con-

empirical

with Power

in

or

Movies,

Angela M c R o b b i e ' s ' D a n c e and Social

Fantasy', Janice R a d w a y ' s Reading Gazing:

called on

the Romance

a n d Jackie Stacey's StarInformed by these

and Female Spectatorship.

11

method

followed three

paths:

ethnographic

observation in schools, a broad survey of students a n d follow-up interviews w i t h teachers and students. By first observing kids at school (a setting that is part of their daily lives, rather than a n artificial environment like a laboratory or focus group), I was

able to formulate questions that w o u l d guide m y survey and interviews.

I noted the behaviour of kids in computer classes, seeking to discover w h o asks questions, w h o is more aggressive or tentative w i t h computers, w h o w o r k s w i t h others and w h o w o r k s alone, and h o w students and teachers interact. F o r the survey, I compiled a 22-item questionnaire . . . and distributed it to 180 students (45 girls a n d 4 5 boys each at t w o different schools) to obtain a n overview of their opinions, preferences a n d habits. W h i l e some of the conclusions I reached have been widely discussed in previous literature, others were surprising. T h e surveys were valuable insofar as they added a broader perspective a n d , I suspect, allowed greater candour. A s a research tool, however, the survey is rooted in a social science methodology that looks for generalities, while I w a s primarily interested in the heterogeneous and

local aspects of girls' experiences w i t h computers. H e n c e , in addition to these surveys, I interviewed a number of girls in

greater depth to gain a fuller understanding of their opinions. A s s u m i n g that there w o u l d be some variations or contradictions between the spoken and

written responses, I s a w the interviews as one w a y of moving beyond

the anonymity of the survey to locate individual responses within personal experience a n d social context. Originally, I intended to w o r k in three L o s Angeles private schools w i t h different demographics: Pilgrim School, the most ethnically diverse private school in the nation; the Sinai A k i b a A c a d e m y , a J e w i s h private school that uses more interactive software than most; and M a r l b o r o u g h School, one of the oldest girls schools in L o s Angeles. Although a l l three schools are private, there are striking differences in class between M a r l b o r o u g h a n d the

©

I C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AMD GENDER others. L o c a t e d i n the wealthy H a n c o c k Park neighborhood, M a r l b o r o u g h 1

has a tuition of about $ 1 3 , 0 0 0 per year, more than double those of Pilgrim ( w h i c h is situated i n a multiracial neighbourhood near d o w n t o w n L o s Angeles) a n d Sinai A k i b a ( w h i c h is i n a predominantly J e w i s h neighbourhood i n W e s t w o o d ) . W h e r e a s M a r l b o r o u g h is reputed to be the city's most prestigious school for girls, one that protects them from competition w i t h boys w h o are presumably favoured by teachers, Sinai A k i b a attempts to integrate the premises of J u d a i s m w i t h

first-rate

education for a h o m o -

geneous community, a n d Pilgrim strives for academic excellence

while

preparing a n ethnically diverse population for college. I chose to w o r k i n private schools for several reasons. First, while a number of studies of children and computer use have already been done i n public schools, private schools have been for the most part

neglected.

Second, the demographics of private schools are more easily differentiated. M o r e o v e r , I found that private schools offered greater ease of access to kids, a n d far superior computer labs a n d software resources than were available i n the L A Unified School District's schools, particularly since, according to a 1995-96

study by Q u a l i t y E d u c a t i o n D a t a , C a l i f o r n i a

ranked last nationally for number of students per computer. At

Pilgrim a n d Sinai A k i b a , the teachers were forthcoming, a n d I w a s

able to w a t c h a n d speak w i t h students as m u c h as I liked. Despite their initial enthusiasm, the school administrators at M a r l b o r o u g h finally decided

that m y research came at a bad time of year for their students.

Nonetheless, I w a s able to interview a M a r l b o r o u g h student and her mother at length. My

research i n the schools allowed me to study kids from a variety of

ethnic a n d class backgrounds. Further w o r k remains to be done by observing kids i n their homes since, as mentioned earlier, computers a n d software are used i n both educational a n d recreational w a y s , a n d each of these patterns of use informs a n d has impact o n the other.

Research Findings Observation At

the Sinai A k i b a A c a d e m y ( K - 8 ) , M a r i l y n , the computer teacher, makes

an

effort to integrate computer classes w i t h other subjects. T h e r e are no

programming classes. K i d s use educational games, i n addition to typing, m a t h , art a n d word-processing programs. R i c k , the computer teacher at the Pilgrim School ( K - 1 2 ) , places more

WHAT G I R L S WANT | emphasis o n applications such as d r a w i n g and word-processing programs because he finds it hard to integrate existing interactive software into other teachers' syllabi. T h e Pilgrim School also offers optional programming classes. My

first

impression from observation at both schools w a s that kids act

m u c h more traditionally than I w o u l d have thought. It seemed that girls were more hesitant to w o r k their w a y through interactive software a n d programming exercises, and stopped frequently to ask questions, whereas boys seemed more independent. T h e more I w a t c h e d , however, the less convinced I became of this finding. Some girls, particularly if they are familiar w i t h a program, are quite aggressive, and some boys ask m a n y questions. I noted that traditionally gendered behaviour is related to w h a t computers and software are used for, and in w h a t settings, rather than being a function of computers or software as such. I n other w o r d s , it is more instructive to look at h o w a technology is used w i t h i n a social context than to d r a w conclusions about technology without concern for its actual use. At

the Pilgrim School, writing and d r a w i n g applications are often used

for class exercises, as in one first-grade project that involved d r a w i n g sea creatures and writing sentences about them. Both boys and girls had m a n y questions about typing, spelling, a n d opening and closing their documents. The

students' writing, however, strongly reflected traditional notions of

gender. M a n y boys wrote sentences that implied action or violence, such as: T d r a w a h a m m e r s h a r k . H e eats fish in the ocean', T h e whales are surrounding a pile of fish a n d trying to eat them', a n d T h e sharks are surrounding a w h a l e . T h e w h a l e s are jumping i n a n d out of the water.' M o s t of the girls' sentences described their affective relationship to the creatures they h a d d r a w n , such as, ' M y w h a l e is nice. I love w h a l e s , do y o u ? ' , T love w h a l e s ' and T like whales, they are pretty.' T h i s class, then, expressed more traditional gender behaviour in terms of the content of their projects than i n their approach to the computer. I noticed a similar dynamic in

M a r i l y n ' s third-grade class at Sinai A k i b a . F o r one project,

students

made stationery that included their names and clip art. Although boys a n d girls seemed equally comfortable w i t h the software used here, most girls selected images of unicorns, fairies or ballerinas, while most boys chose sports images. M u c h popular and academic literature argues that girls prefer to use computers in pairs or groups, and boys to w o r k alone, yet I found that both boys and girls pair up and w o r k alone w i t h about equal frequency. M o s t pairs were same-sex. Sometimes, pairs were composed of one leader, w h o understood the program, a n d one follower, w h o needed help, and this pattern w a s true for boys a n d girls.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND G E N D E R Gender differences are m u c h more apparent in the Pilgrim School's

programming classes. Invariably, many more boys than girls are enrolled usually in a ratio of about four to one. T h e girls I observed were relatively silent, while boys tended to engage R i c k in discussion about their assignments a n d computing i n general. F o r example, i n R i c k ' s grades 9 through 12 Pascal class, several boys involved R i c k i n a discussion about h o w they might h a c k their w a y into R i c k ' s locked files. T h e s e results are not especially surprising, since gender differences become more pronounced t o w a r d adolescence (kids in the programming classes are m u c h older than the first and

third graders I described earlier) a n d programming is perceived, like

m a t h a n d science, as a male-coded activity. In

short, m y observations suggested a number of questions. T o w h a t

extent is the popular perception by researchers that girls are less comfortable or aggressive w i t h computers a product of researchers' biases? H o w w o u l d 'aggressiveness' be quantified? Is 'aggressiveness' the same as c o m puter competence, as is usually assumed? A s one of m y survey respondents explained, ' G i r l s are m u c h better at computers because girls understand technology more. T h e y don't just rush in putting things together.' G i r l s ' responses to computers a n d software seem to be more strongly determined by

h o w computers are used than by attitudes about properties inherent in

the technology itself.

Marlborough

School

Although m y interaction w i t h Sharon (pseud.) a n d her mother w a s methodologically unlike the rest of m y research, I [use i t . . . ] to point up the w a y that class inflects the relationship between gender a n d technology. I contend that Sharon's and her mother's attitudes about the relative lack of importance of computer education at school have their roots in a class privilege that regards k n o w i n g the nuts and bolts of computing as non-essential to the type of professions into w h i c h it is assumed these girls w i l l eventually enter. A

great uproar has been caused by the experiences of M a r l b o r o u g h

students on the Internet. G i r l s have been caught using school computers to d o w n l o a d pornographic images and engage i n racy conversations w i t h men in chat rooms. T h i s concern w i t h the invasion of the protected space of the private school by a questionable public influence has a long history in the development of communications technologies. A t M a r l b o r o u g h , the stakes in

controlling w h a t goes on w i t h i n the school gates are all the higher

because of the upper-class ethos of the school. A recent issue of

Ultra

Violet, the school paper, contains a two-page special report on the Internet,

WHAT G I R L S WANT | titled 'Sex, L i e s , and the Internet'. Some contributors were repelled by the men

they encountered o n the Internet and shared their experiences

as

cautionary tales. ' H a v e y o u ever been on-line a n d received a n instant message that says, " W a n n a talk d i r t y ? " from some guy named " H o t P i m p " or " J o B l o ? " W e l l , I have, a n d it makes me s i c k . '

1 2

Another writer c h a l -

lenged M a r l b o r o u g h ' s new list of rules for Internet use, some of w h i c h are: 'Attention to grammar, spelling, a n d arid content in a n E - m a i l message is important, as y o u w a n t individuals w h o receive your message to see your best w o r k a n d respond intelligently', ' A n s w e r E - m a i l i n a timely manner', ' N E V E R impersonate someone else on-line. Further, allowing others to believe y o u are a n adult w h e n y o u are not is w r o n g and potentially dangerous,' a n d ' M a r l b o r o u g h School does not sanction the use of the Internet to explore resources that are pornographic, violent, or abusive. Use of the system for these purposes, at school or at home, w i l l result in revocation of ALL

privileges and possible disciplinary action.' L i k e Sharon in our inter-

view, the author of the Ultra Violet article found these rules condescending and

inappropriate, 'as if M a r l b o r o u g h girls were a group of immature

children w h o were computer i l l i t e r a t e ' . T h e issue of w h a t a ' M a r l b o r o u g h 13

girl' is or is not lies at the root of both arguments. T h e administrators' rules express their anxiety that the prized internal order of the school might be disturbed, especially w h e n exposed to the public realm of the Internet. T h e students' responses imply that because the girls are part of this internal order, administrators need not restrict them; they k n o w better than to behave i n a manner that w o u l d discredit the school. C l e a r l y , the concern for upper-class status evidenced by the discourses a r o u n d computers at M a r l borough is quite different from the more pragmatic approach taken at Pilgrim a n d Sinai A k i b a . W h i l e it w a s irrelevant to consider gender differences i n the recreation use of computers at a girls school like M a r l b o r o u g h , this issue did arise at the other t w o institutions. F o r example, the computer teacher at Sinai A k i b a expressed concern that her attention w a s unfairly distributed, since boys ask for help during free time while playing games or exploring the Internet, whereas girls do not make as many similar demands. She felt that this situation represents a closed loop in w h i c h boys w h o ask for her time learn more, grow more interested and ask for still more attention. T h i s description brings Henderson's observations to m i n d ; although referring to the 1910 study, the following statement speaks directly to M a r i l y n ' s fear: 'A

" c h i c k e n - a n d - e g g " situation seemed to create these

constraints

on

females'

play

behavior.

Because

acknowledged

females

made

fewer

demands, they received less assistance. A lack of supervision and instruction resulted in a lack of involvement a n d thus, fewer d e m a n d s . '

1 4

I

C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND G E N D E R Indeed, most of the boys w h o responded to m y survey said that they play

computer games daily or every other day f r o m a half-hour to a n hour on average; most girls play m u c h less - about once a week for 15 minutes. T h i s behaviour is, of course, overdetermined by such factors as gender coding, lack of appealing software for girls a n d l a c k of marketing channels. Y e t , beyond these issues, m a n y of the girls I surveyed responded in w a y s such as T have too m a n y things to d o ' or T ' m too busy' w h e n asked h o w often they play games. O n e 12-year-old girl suggested that I improve m y survey by choosing the w o r d 'use' instead of 'play'. She said that, as the oldest child in her household, she is expected to help supervise her three younger sisters and

assist w i t h housework. T h i s leaves her little time to play, she said,

although she does use the computer for h o m e w o r k . Part of the reason for these responses m a y be that girls and boys also have different perceptions of how

m u c h free time they have and h o w they are supposed to spend it.

C l e a r l y , answers about h o w m a n y hours per week they play games are as heavily influenced by w h a t kids believe is a n acceptable answer as by w h a t the empirical number actually is.

Computers in the Domestic Sphere The

home c a n be seen as a place where the use of computers for leisure and

education intersect. I n m y survey, most boys a n d girls used their home computer for both entertainment and h o m e w o r k . L i l y Shashaani reports that i n her study of 1,700 secondary school children, 68 per cent of boys and

56 per cent of girls have access to a computer at home. T h e percentage

of male students as primary users of the computer, however, w a s twice that of female students, and a higher percentage of boys said that they h a d first learned about computers at h o m e .

1 5

I n m y research, the percentage

of

home-computer owners is m u c h higher - a l l but one of the kids at the Sinai A k i b a A c a d e m y h a d a computer at home, as did the majority of Pilgrim School children. These are private schools, w h i c h are typically attended by children of a higher economic bracket, whereas Shashaani's study w a s of public schools. Nevertheless, in m y study, w h e n a home computer w a s available, boys were the more frequent users, particularly for leisure and Internet a c t i v i t i e s . . . A c c o r d i n g to Shashaani, substantial stereotyping of computers as the purview of boys and m e n occurs at home. Studies have s h o w n that parents, especially fathers, encourage their sons more than their daughters to learn about computers. Parents most

WHAT G I R L S WANT | often purchase computers a n d computer games for their sons, and not for their daughters. . . . [A] lack of female-user role models at home m a y influence girls' self-confidence that learning and w o r k i n g w i t h computers are difficult tasks, and that computers are in 'the masculine domain'.

1 6

L i k e w i s e , A n n Colley cites a recent meta-analysis of 172 studies of the different socialization of boys and girls by parents w h i c h 'found that the only area w h i c h showed a significant effect for both mothers and fathers was

encouragement of sex-typed activities and perceptions of sex-stereo-

typed characteristics, where parents emphasize gender stereotypes i n play and

i n household t a s k s ' .

had

been bought a computer or cartridge entertainment system, while for

1 7

Indeed, none of the girls I surveyed said that they

m a n y of the boys, this w a s the case. M o r e o v e r , m a n y of m y respondents said that their father or brother w a s their entrée into computer and software use. Fathers and brothers were also mentioned as a n important w a y i n w h i c h kids keep up w i t h n e w software developments. O n l y t w o of m y respondents listed w o m e n as their initial link to computing or software. A s D a v i d M o r l e y has observed, the use of media w i t h i n the home must be considered w i t h respect to established patterns of gender behaviour w i t h i n the f a m i l y .

1 8

These patterns c o u l d have implications for girls' relationships

to computers a n d software outside the home as w e l l .

Computers in the classroom Computers, then, represent a significant element of boys' leisure, while for girls they are a less important part of any free time. E x t r a c u r r i c u l a r relationships to computers a n d software extend into the classroom. C o m p u t e r s in educational uses perform, broadly, in t w o fashions. A t times, they are used to r u n educational software that is integrated into wider class syllabi. O t h e r computer classes, such as those in programming, are exercises in learning computer logic and critical thinking. T h e different uses to w h i c h computers m a y be put in schools complicate attempts to generalize or even theorize about gender in educational computing. A c c o r d i n g to Colley: C o m p u t i n g is often associated w i t h math or science, academic areas w h i c h are male-dominated. Indeed, children's attitudes to computing have been found to be similar to their attitudes to science and lo be associated w i t h attitudes to m a t h . Although more

enrollments in

computer courses have been recorded for males, it has been pointed out that further scrutiny of the statistics shows that males outnumber females i n programming courses,^ and that males spend more

time

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER programming

than females, while similar numbers of males

and

females or even a majority of females is found w h e n enrollments for other computing applications, especially w o r d processing, are considered. W o r d processing can

be regarded

either as a

computer

application, or as a n extension of typing, w h i c h is a female-dominated vocational skill and w h i c h has been stereotyped for females in studies of perceptions of school s u b j e c t s .

19

C o l l e y ' s finding w a s partially upheld in m y research. T h e association of computers w i t h math a n d science w a s noted frequently. A t the Pilgrim School, there were m a n y more boys than girls in programming classes. O n e girl w i t h w h o m I spoke said that boys are better at using computers because 'Men

c a n relate better to machinery. T h e y find machinery more interesting

starting from bulldozers at age three up to hedge clippers at age thirty-five.' One

boy surveyed wrote that boys were better at computers 'because boys

are more nerds than girls'. O n the other h a n d , many boys and girls responded that there is no correlation between gender and computer ability, and

several thought it w a s sexist of me even to pose the question. W h i l e teachers and students sometimes argue that there is no difference

between boys' and girls' use of computers at school, it seems that some differences do exist. E d u c a t i o n a l software c a n exacerbate existing differences. Some educational software still employs the metaphors of traditional shoot-'em-up video games. I n Math Blaster,

one of the r e w a r d games is a

classic arcade-style activity in w h i c h the player shoots space trash. I n Pilthere are leisure areas where users c a n hunt or fish - after the

grim Quest,

fashion of traditional computer dexterity games. Research has s h o w n that this type of activity is generally more appealing to boys than girls, presumably because of its similarity to games in w h i c h boys have previous expertise. Oregon

20

A l s o , in the popular educational games Pilgrim

Quest

and

Trail, the few characters represented on-screen are male. A s is often

the case w i t h entertainment software, even seemingly 'genderless' characters in educational software are conventionally male - for example, in Word

Attack

III,

M o s t l y C h r o m e , a shiny sphere, is male. T h i s bias,

however subtle, only exacerbates an already existing inequity of experience and

comfort w i t h computers and computer software between girls and

boys. Social pressure forms another possible influence on girls' use of c o m p u ters at school. A s C o l l e y notes, 'according to social learning theory, it is assumed that one major concern of females w h o participate in male-stereotyped areas of interest or achievement, in addition to beliefs concerning their lack of competence, is that they m a y be negatively rewarded because

WHAT G I R L S WANT | y they are behaving in a n unfeminine w a y ' .

2 1

Indeed, the one real 'tomboy' I

encountered i n m y research seemed rather an outsider from the girls' circle. T h i s particular girl is extraordinarily competent

w i t h computers,

uses

several on-line services, e-mails, faxes, and plays a variety of flight simulation games. H e r younger sister, however, w a s quick to define herself as 'exactly the opposite of m y sister. I a m not a tomboy.' T h i s response m a y have as m u c h to do w i t h sibling rivalry as it does w i t h perceptions of gender constraints, but it did point out that among m a n y girls (and boys), it is often preferable to associate oneself w i t h others w h o follow fairly traditional patterns of gender. G i v e n the stringent strictures of gender, particularly during youth, it is not surprising that many boys felt they were better at computers

and

computer games than girls - in a sense, they have to be. Considering the stakes in upholding masculinity, being a 'tomboy' is one matter; being a 'sissy' is a m u c h more serious transgression. O n the other h a n d , a number of boys surveyed answered that boys and girls are equal in terms of their ability - m a n y of them wrote: ' W e are all e q u a l ' or 'Boys and girls do equally w e l l o n the computer.' W h a t w a s more surprising w a s that some girls believed that they were not only equal to but better than boys at using computers a n d games. W h i l e k i d s ' attitudes t o w a r d computers frequently reflect traditional notions of gender, they sometimes challenge convention. These various responses must be located w i t h i n larger cultural tensions. F o r numerous reasons, most boys have a relationship w i t h computers

and

computing that most girls do not. A t the same time, the responses from teachers a n d students indicate that there is a n impulse t o w a r d

gender

equality. T h e traditional and the progressive, then, are simultaneously at play in behaviours and attitudes around computers.

Approaching Gender and Computing My

study revealed that the interplay between gender a n d the use of c o m -

puters involves a negotiation between established orders and liberatory beliefs a n d behaviours that challenge convention. Before spending m u c h time w i t h kids, I had more Utopian ideas about the ease w i t h w h i c h gender might be transgressed. Y e t despite cultural restraints, girls still express their belief in gender equality and have a wide range of preferences in software. T h u s , w h a t is definitive is that there is m u c h more variety among girls than is typically assumed. Precisely because of its institutional supports, Judith Butler challenges the category woman

as grounds for theoretical pronouncements.

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER If one ' i s ' a w o m a n , surely that is not all one is; the term fails to be exhaustive, not because a pregendered 'person' transcends the specific paraphernalia of its gender, but because gender is not a l w a y s constituted coherently or consistently in different historical contexts, and because gender intersects w i t h racial, class, ethnic, sexual, and regional modalities of discursively constituted entities. A s a result, it becomes impossible to separate out 'gender' f r o m the political a n d cultural intersections in w h i c h it is invariably produced a n d m a i n t a i n e d .

The

22

same argument applies to 'girls'. M y study shows that girls at Pilgrim

School (which privileges fairly conventional approaches to computing) have a different experience w i t h computers than girls at M a r l b o r o u g h School (where computer use intersects w i t h upper-class ideologies a n d class anxieties). T h e experience of girls at Sinai A k i b a (where computer use is often meshed w i t h J u d a i s m , as w h e n students use software to make greeting cards for J e w i s h holidays) is a n example of yet another social context that inflects computer use. G i r l s ' use of computers must therefore be situated w i t h i n heterogeneous cultural factors. G i v e n the social strictures placed on gender, particularly in relationship to computing, it is simplistic to say that girls c a n just transcend gender. I n this sense, the question becomes not one of dispensing w i t h the notion of gender entirely, but rather of h o w to mutate its directives. S h a w claims that involvement i n non-traditional activities especially benefits girls. F o r adolescent girls, the need for activities w h i c h encourage independence and autonomy m a y be particularly great. . . . Since girls live in a male-dominated w o r l d , it may be important for them to challenge traditional 'feminine' roles through participation in nontraditional activities. Indeed, this w o u l d seem to be consistent w i t h the notion of identity development being enhanced through challenging activities and through the exploration of alternative ideas a n d alternative iden• • 23 titles. A c c o r d i n g to H e n d e r s o n , leisure activities provide the space for such resistance: 'If leisure experiences represent situations of choice a n d selfdetermination, they also provide opportunities for individuals to exercise personal power, a n d such power c a n be used as a form of resistance to imposed gender constraints or r e s t r i c t i o n s . '

24

Y e t the problem remains:

given the available software, girls have little choice but to learn to negotiate texts that are constructed along highly traditional lines of gender. E v e n the newest software designed by w o m e n for girls hails them as future subjects w i t h i n this essentialist system.

WHAT G I R L S WANT | G i r l s m a y be inscribed w i t h i n powerful circles of the social, but w i t h i n those circles they maintain their heterogeneity. T h e only w a y to approach gender a n d computing, practically or theoretically, then, is to resist that w h i c h w o r k s to restrict feminine behaviour, pleasure a n d self-definition, and

to encourage that w h i c h presses beyond conventional notions of the

feminine as a monolithic category. D o n n a H a r a w a y formulates a Utopian cyborg w o r l d i n w h i c h science a n d technology c a n provide fresh sources of power as old dichotomies are called into q u e s t i o n .

25

O n l y w h e n it dispenses

w i t h traditional relations of power c a n computer software begin to fulfil H a r a w a y ' s vision. Producing products that girls w o u l d enjoy

becomes,

from this standpoint, a pleasure, not a problem.

Notes 1.

Russel DeMaria (1994) Battle of the sexes, Electronic tember: 34.

2.

Maria Klawa and Catherine Wambach, quoted in Dana Blankenhorn (1994) Research on kids' software use complete, Clarinet Electronic News Service, 5 May.

3.

Gini Graham Scott, quoted in Janice Crony (1994) Boys' club, PlayRight, 1(2): 20-4. Patricia Marks Greenfield (1984) Mind and Media: The Effects of Television, Video Games, and Computers, p. 105. Cambridge, M A : Harvard University Press.

4.

Entertainment,

Sep-

5.

Yasmin B. Kafai (1996) Gender differences in children's constructions of video games, in Patricia M . Greenfield and Rodney R. Cocking (eds) Advances in Applied Developmental Psychology, vol. II. Norwood, N J : Ablex Publishing.

6.

Karla A. Henderson (1993) A feminist analysis of selected professional recreation literature about girls/women from 1907-1990, Journal of Leisure Research, 25(2): 165-81.

7.

Ibid., p. 166.

8.

Ibid., p. 170.

9.

Susan Shaw (1995) Leisure and identity formation in male and female adolescents: a preliminary examination, Journal of Leisure Research, 27(3): 245. 10. Henderson, op cit., p. 171. 11. Marsha Kinder (1991) Playing with Power in Movies, Television, and Video Games: Prom Muppet Babies to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Berkeley: University of California Press; Angela McRobbie (1984) Dance and social fantasy, in Mica Nava and Angela McRobbie (eds) Gender and Generation. New York: Macmillan; Janice Radway (1984) Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina

I

C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G S : H E D I A AND G E N D E R Press; Jackie Stacey (1994) Star-Gazing: Spectatorship. London: Roudedge.

Hollywood

Cinema

and Female

12. Christina Gregory (1995) Talkin' dirty on-line, Ultra Violet, 26(3): 8. 13. Moye Ishimoto (1995) Disagreeing with the computer agreement, Ultra Violet, 26(3): 8. 14. Henderson, op cit., p. 171. 15. Lily Shashaani (1994) Gender differences in computer experience and its influence on computer attitudes, Journal of Educational Computing Research, 11(4): 349. 16. Ibid., p. 362. 17. Ann Colley (1995) Gender effects in the stereotyping of those with different kinds of computing experience, Journal of Educational Computing Research, 12(1): 20. 18. David Morley (1986) Family Television: Cultural Power and Domestic Leisure. London: Routledge. 19. Colley, op cit., 20. 20. See Rosemary E . Sutton (1991) Equity and computers in the schools: a decade of research, Review of Educational Research, 61(4): 475. 21. Colley, op cit., 20. 22. Judith Butler (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, p. 3. London: Routledge. 23. Shaw, op cit., 247. 24. Karla A. Henderson (1994) Perspectives on analyzing gender, women, and leisure, Journal of Leisure Research, 26(2): 15. 25. Donna Haraway (1991) Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature, p. 61. New York: Routledge.

GLOSSARY

alternative media Various partisan radio stations, magazines, newspapers and other media systems produced by and about and usually for subcultures, social movements or political interests outside the mainstream that, typically, reject established values or doctrines. Usually the goal is communicating about the community's goals and philosophy, so they produce little or no profit. Niche media, in contrast, are aimed at narrowly defined but potential profitable segments of a market. Some scholars emphasize how alternative media enable groups to express and maintain their resistance to dominant messages. Others warn of recuperation, when dominant powers or authorities, rather than merely taking over or incorporating alternative voices, make limited concessions to oppositional voices and thereby coopt them. audiences People - individuals or, more properly, differentiated groups - who receive mass communications. The term focuses on their social and interpretative work, as distinguished from markets or consumers, the role emphasized by advertisers or media producers. Indeed, while some early work on audiences understood them to be relatively passive, current scholarship often focuses on how audiences make meaning, and thus conceive of audiences as necessarily active. censorship Process for blocking, withholding, regulating or deleting part or all of some message, because it is deemed offensive or illegal. Often refers to state actions to prevent dissemination of a message or to group actions to block access. class

Formation comprising people with similar relationship to the means of production in that society and therefore with similar material, social and cultural position. In consequence, societies are stratified - property ownership, power, status and material rewards are unequally distributed across classes. In the nineteenth century, the German philosopher Karl Marx argued that different forms of social consciousness correspond to class position.

I

C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G S : H E D I A AND G E N D E R

closure or ideological closure The term refers to a strategy or feature of a text that encourages audience members to make sense of it (fictional or factual narratives) in a particular way. commercialization The process by which the design, production and marketing of products, including cultural products, is made popular in order to increase profits. Although some early notions stressed how gearing cultural products to the 'least common denominator' would maximize profit, more recent scholars emphasize that media producers may be more interested in certain niche markets. cultivation analysis Assumes that repeated, long-term exposure to consistent messages will shape heavy viewers' attitudes and expectations about the world. Exposure to 'deviant' definitions of reality shown on television will lead to perceptions that such views are 'normal'. Cultural Indicators research undertaken by George Gerbner and associates at the University of Pennsylvania in the USA found a 'mainstreaming' or 'homogenizing' trend, such that the kinds of differences that one would expect to find based on other identity factors are overridden by media content. cultural capital Making a distinction between economic, social, symbolic and cultural capital, the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu defined the latter as the rewards and status that accrue from having knowledge of 'high' cultural products or access to the dominant cultural institutions. cyberspace Coined by science fiction novelist William Gibson, this now refers to virtual social spheres created and sustained through electronic technologies. In cyberspace or virtual reality, people's activities and relationships are conducted through computer-mediated communication. So-called cyberfeminists critique the differences in power between men and women in cyberspace. decoding The process of interpreting, or making meaning of, messages. Building on Frank Parkin's theory of meaning systems, various media scholars have pointed out that audiences may decode messages or texts (could be published articles, advertising, broadcast programming, films, music videos) at least three different ways: first, in the way that the texts' producers intended, resulting in the 'preferred' reading; second, they may engage in oppositional decoding, when they understand producers' intentions but produce a very different reading; third, a negotiated decoding results when the reader acknowledges the legitimacy of the dominant codes, but adapts the meaning to her or his own specific situation or social condition. determinism The term refers to any theory positing a single cause for a large set of outcomes or transformations. Technological determinism largely attributes large-scale social, cultural and economic changes to technology or technological change; economic determinism posits that economic status explains how and why people act and think. dichotomous thinking 'Either/or' ways of thinking that divides up phenomena (people as 'black' or 'white', as 'good' or 'bad', 'right' or 'wrong') into two opposite or 'bipolar' sets. Some linguists had posited that meaning is necessarily

GLOSSARY

I

generated in opposition, but feminists criticize binary logic for suppressing ambiguities and overlaps, and for distorting multiplicity. None the less, bifurcated thinking exists. Although the terms vary in historically and culturally specific contexts, 'masculinity' (as the traits, characteristics, values and/or a particular way of looking that are said to be right or normative for men, necessary to be manly) continues to be contrasted with 'femininity' (as the traits, characteristics, values and/or a particular way of looking that is said to be right or normative for women, necessary to be womanly). discourse Originally, this was a linguistic concept referring to a set of written or oral utterances. As used in cultural studies, discourse refers to a set of statements that offer a way of representing knowledge of a particular topic. The French cultural historian Michel Foucault's point was that discourse produces the objects of knowledge; nothing has significant meaning outside discourse. effects theory (or media effects tradition) Idea (usually discredited) that certain media texts, more or less uniformly, directly produce consistent reactions. In its most exaggerated mechanistic form, when strong effects are said to very directly and immediately result among passive audiences, may be known as the 'magic bullet' or 'hypodermic needle' theory. British cultural studies scholar Stuart Hall proposes 'media effectivity' to refer to a broader conception of media's role in long-term social and cultural reproduction. feminization The process by which an occupation, institution or discourse becomes marked and thereby changed by the increasing presence of women. Examples of 'feminized' media occupations include the fields of magazine publishing, advertising and public relations, which some have referred to as 'pink' or 'velvet' ghettos. Women often form the majority of workers in these fields, thus allegedly causing status and salaries to decrease. This, in turn, results in men leaving the occupation, creating a further decrease in occupational status and pay. Feminization is also used to refer to efforts made by market-driven newspaper publishers to attract larger numbers of female readers by 'softening' or 'feminizing' news discourses so that they are more appealing to this audience (for example, more human interest-based stories, news about family, fashion, health and education). feminism A political philosophy and social-political movement. In some sense it is marked by an emancipatory concern to explain and overcome subordination and oppression of all kinds; it takes gender as a fundamental mechanism by which the world is structured. Among other feminisms, liberal feminists argue for equality across the sexes: equal rights, equal pay and equal access to education. Radical feminists generally celebrate women's distinctive culture, morality and psyche and argue that the gender is the central form of subordination throughout the world. Socialist feminists insist that patriarchy and capitalism are either single or dual systems of oppression that (re)produce women's subordination. Postmodern feminists reject the 'grand narrative' of 'feminism' (patriarchy as the root cause of inequality), arguing that gendered meanings and identities are plural, fluid and therefore contestable. Distinctions

I

C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G S : HEDIA AND G E N D E R

and continuities are sometimes offered between 'first wave' feminism, referring to the suffrage movements (in both the USA and U K ) in the 1870-1920 period and 'second wave' feminism, referring to the women's movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Today, a new generation of 'third wave' feminists is now embracing a feminism marked by a commitment to a multiracial, multicultural and mul¬ tisexual form of political activism, frames US sociologist Erving Goffman has argued that people use certain 'principles of organization' to mark off and explain events, in order to understand and respond to social situations. Media frames, then, are routines or principles of selection used by media professionals to organize and package output, such as news stories. Some sociologists have emphasized how, over time, the hierarchical framing rules of inclusion and exclusion that are typically, tacitly and perhaps even unavoidably part of journalists' work acquire a natural, commonsense status. gender Social construct referring to the cultural differentiation of male and female and, according to contemporary thought, the term for meaningful (as opposed to minor physiological) ways to discuss women and men, and differences between women and men. genre Standard type of output of a particular medium, such as radio talk shows or science fiction movies that, by virtue of their content, conventions or aesthetics, audiences recognize as such. Many media organizations produce and market their content in terms of genres. Specific types of content are typical of particular media genres. An audience's prior knowledge of the structures and rules of different media genres conditions their expectations. Some genres are associated with a single gender (i.e. soap operas are for women; football games are for men). hegemony The process by which groups in power secure (including by use of media) the consent or submission of less powerful groups in society. Italian political theorist Antonio Gramsci, trying to explain the rise of fascism in 1930s, argued that gaining this consent rests on presenting the class interests and definitions of 'reality' of the powerful as if they are 'natural' and 'universal'. When successful, the interests of these groups are rendered commonsensical. However, hegemony is never total and is always contested. To remain powerful, élites must make compromises and negotiate their position with less powerful groups in order to maintain their consent. As a result, it is always possible for alternative interests and definitions of reality to be mobilized counter-hegemonically or oppositionally. homophobia Hatred of homosexuality or of lesbians and gay men. Homophobia is typically linked to a cultural fear of homosexuality - that it threatens or undermines the 'legitimacy' and cultural dominance of heterosexuality, patriarchy and the nuclear family. identity A term referring to the ways in which we make sense of ourselves as belonging to a particular gender, 'race', nationality, sexuality, etc. Each of us has a number of identities based on a sense of being connected to others that

GLOSSARY | share our experiences and history. Many feminists reject 'essentialist' notions of identity - for example, the notion that 'woman' means the same thing to all women across time, space, class, 'race', sexuality and ethnicity - instead, arguing for more fluid conceptions of identity. identity politics Political or activist alignment based on strong commitment of the group to a particular identity (i.e. as members of a particular 'race', ethnicity, gender or sexuality) that points to the importance of that identity to explain the unequal distribution of power in society. ideology A term associated with Marxist theory positing that the world-view of dominant economic groups in society conditions the meanings through which all economic groups comprehend the world. German philosopher Karl Marx argued that the ruling economic classes maintained their power through selfinterested forms of knowledge. For feminists, the notion of patriarchy or patriarchal ideology refers to a social system in which men dominate women. male gaze A psychoanalytic notion popularized in the 1970s by US film scholar Laura Mulvey who argued that mainstream films are constructed to allow men to identify with the male protagonist, and to see through his eyes. Female audiences also view films through this male gaze, thus eroticizing and objectifying female characters in a similar fashion to male audiences. media production The panoply of complex industrial, institutional and group processes by which, in the context of capitalism, content - whether a television drama or a news story - is conceived, produced, revised, monitored and transmitted by a particular media organization. naturalizing Ideological strategy for fixing and securing an otherwise slippery or historically specific idea in order to make it seem necessary, ageless, unchangeable and permanent. This process is especially apparent in the process of dichotomizing socially constructed masculinity and femininity and then representing them as 'natural' human divisions based on maleness and femaleness. What this fails to take into account is how cultural definitions of masculinity and femininity shift over time and vary across culture, usually to suit the interests of the dominant group. objectification Feminists use this term to refer to the depiction of women as objects rather than as people. Many critics of pornography and of advertising that features women's body parts, for example, say that in treating women as commodities to be sold, these cultural forms contribute to the perpetuation of women's dehumanization and subordination. patriarchy In its narrowest sense, a social system marked by rule or authority of the father. Patriarchy is sometimes used as a short-cut term referring to any political, social or cultural system in which men have privileged status that encourages or allows men to dominate women. political economy In media studies, political economy refers to a conceptual approach that focuses on the ways in which the economic structures of society in general, and media corporations in particular, influence media content. Political economists analyse, for instance, how advertising, the growing con

I

C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND G E N D E R centration of media ownership and the power of certain influential sources shape media content in ways that perpetuate the socio-economic positions of powerful élite groups in society.

polysemy Quality of texts meaning that they can be interpreted in multiple ways, although some may be more open and encouraging of multiple interpretations than others. Italian linguist Umberto Eco speaks of 'closed texts' as those that are constructed so as to attempt to limit readers' negotiations, while 'open texts' invite readers to adopt a more creative interpretative stance. popular culture A term that originally referred to cultural materials appealing to and/or emanating from 'the masses' or 'the people', as opposed to the 'high culture' of cultural élites. Popular culture now usually refers to particular expressive forms that require relatively little formal literacy to access and that are widely disseminated, for instance, Hollywood films or television situation comedies, as well as to non-mediated forms such as clothing, fads and sports. Studies of popular culture focus on the meanings that people construct from these cultural forms. pornography The etymological root 'porno' means 'prostitution' and the word 'graphos' means 'writing about'. Erotica, on the other hand, comes from the root 'eros' or passionate love. Radical feminists see pornography as the ultimate expression of men's hatred of women. US feminist Gloria Steinem sees pornography as being about the domination and violent objectification of women, whereas erotica suggests a desire for closeness and yearning for a particular person. Soft-core pornography (sexually suggestive representations) is now a typical feature in most media products (films, television, magazine features and advertising, etc.). Hard-core pornography (sexually explicit representations, showing an erect penis and accompanying acts of penetration), on the other hand, is still primarily found in licensed 'sex shops' and websites that restrict admittance to those over 18 years of age (the latter being achieved through requiring credit card payment to download images). postcolonial theory Critical interventionist practice and theorizing that studies past and present effects of colonialism, imperialism and the growing global power of Western states. Often, this theory is also concerned with Orientalism, that is, discourse that represents and cultivates the notion that 'Eastern' people are very different from 'Western' people, and are 'alien' and 'exotic'. Literary critic Edward Said says such discourse wrongly assumes a fixed, unchanging, reductive image of Eastern culture. postmodernism Anti-foundationalist theorizing positing that no single theory explains everything, that there can be no single 'big picture' (or 'grand narrative') or even a unified subject position (e.g. 'woman'). Postmodernists reject the meta-narrative of progress that is central to the modernist project. French theorist Jean Baudrillard argues that contemporary life in Western societies is characterized by dispersal, fragmentation and replacement of the 'real' with the 'image' (or simulacrum). psychoanalysis

The term 'psychoanalysis' is used to refer to a body of theories

GLOSSARY

|

about mental conditions and human behaviour as well as a method of investigating the underlying origins of the human unconscious. It also designates a set of therapeutic techniques for treating mental 'disorders'. The 'father' of psychoanalysis is the Austrian doctor Sigmund Freud, whose theories focused on the influence of unconscious mental forces such as repression. Among other ideas, Freud proposed that the analysis of dreams would allow us to understand the unconscious. Some feminist scholars find psychoanalytic theory to be unhelpful since it has sometimes been used to reify and justify women's subordinate status in society. Others have regarded certain psychoanalytic theories, such as those developed by the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, as potentially productive since they provide possible clues about boys' and girls' differential entry into language as children (the 'Symbolic Order') and how these processes repress and subordinate 'the feminine'. racism This term refers to the institutionalized or informal policy of prejudice or bigotry against a particular 'race' of people. Refers to highly discredited notion that there are biologically distinct 'races' and that some are superior to others. Some feminists argue that in capitalist societies, there is an inter-structuring of discriminatory power differences based on gender, class and 'race' (or ethnicity, a broader social-cultural concept). sexualization A process by which cultural material that would not seem to be overtly about sex nevertheless includes sexual imagery and represents women in sexual terms. Visual representations in the news of women in sexy clothing, or even topless, for example, are geared to heterosexual male (or heterosexist) ideas about women as sexual objects. socialization Refers to complicated, life-long process through which we become social beings or how we learn the values, rules, ideologies and role relationships of our culture. Occupational (or professional) socialization refers to learning the values and rules of specific workplaces and jobs. standpoint theory Epistemology (or way of thinking) that thinking processes always reflect one's position, including one's experience over time, so thinking is never neutral or 'objective'. Some feminists have argued for the development of a feminist critique of science, arguing that contemporary scientific theories and modes of inquiry force women to accept the scientific standpoints of men as being 'neutral' and 'objective' truths, while the reverse is not true. stereotypes Representations of phenomena or people in terms of a few simple, exaggerated characterizations that are deemed to be 'natural' and their meanings to be 'fixed'. Stereotyping reduces everything about a person or a group to those few 'essential' traits. Although at any given point in time the normative notion of masculinity may reference toughness, invulnerability and violence, depictions of all men as only violent and tough reference a stereotype. Whether or not the concept stereotype is used, how groups, issues or social movements come to be portrayed in particular, narrow ways is tied to social struggles around the distribution of political and economic power. symbolic annihilation

In the 1970s, feminist and gender-sensitive media scholars

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I C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND G E N D E R coined this term to refer to processes through which patriarchal institutions and ideologies, operating through the media, contribute to the maintenance of women's subordinate position in society by keeping them literally or essentially invisible, or by denigrating, marginalizing or ridiculing them.

M E D I A AND G E N D E R V I D E O RESOURCES

American

Porn (Frontline/PBS Home Video, 60 mins). Porn as a $10

billion

industry. Barbie Nation (New Day Films, 54 mins). The culture and cult of Barbie. Beyond

Killing Us Softly (Cambridge Documentary Films, 33 mins). Resisting

media sexism. Bionic Beauty Salon (New Day Films, 22 mins). Teens' views of beauty culture. Color Adjustment

(California Newsreel, 88 mins). Television images of African

American women and men on television. The Date Rape Backlash: Media & the Denial of Rape (Media Education Foundation, 57 mins). Journalists' undermining of rape as an issue. Dirty Business:

Who's Profiting from Pornography.

(Films for the Humanities &

Sciences, 22 mins). Economics of pornography. Dreamworlds

2 (Media Education Foundation, 56 mins). Interrogation of the

images of women in music videos. The Famine Within (Direct Cinema, 55 mins). Media's influence on women's ideas about weight. Game Over (Media Education Foundation, 41 mins). Gender, 'race' and violence in video games. Killing Us Softly 3 (Media Education Foundation, 34 mins). Advertising's portrayal of women. Man Oh Man (New Day Films, 22 mins). Masculinity, inter-gender communication. Mickey Mouse Monopoly

(Media Education Foundation, 52 mins). Lessons about

'race' and gender embedded in Disney films. Miss America (PBS Home Video, 120 mins). Investigates the pageant's sexual politics and commercialism. Off the Straight and Narrow (Media Education Foundation, 63 mins). T V ' s chan-

I

C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G S : H E D I A AND G E N D E R

ging portrayal of gays and lesbians. Playing Unfair: The Media Image of the Female Athlete (Media Education Foundation, 30 mins). Sports journalism's fixation on femininity. Pornography: First Amendment Right or State-Sanctioned Violence Against Women (CBS News Productions, 45 mins). Current debates about pornography. Representation & the Media (Media Education Foundation, 55 mins). Stuart Hall's theory of cultural representations. Reviving Ophelia (Media Education Foundation, 35 mins). H o w media shape girls' identities. Selling Addictions (Media Education Foundation, 45 mins). How advertising takes advantage of women's vulnerabilities. Slim Hopes (Media Education Foundation, 30 mins). Impact of advertising on women's body images. Stale Roles, Tight Buns (OASIS, 29 mins). Images of men in advertising. Telenovelas: Love,TV, and Power (Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 59 mins). Impact of telenovelas. Tough Guise (Media Education Foundation, 82 mins, 57 mins abridged version). The media construction of violent masculinity. Warning: The Media May be Hazardous to Your Health (Media Watch, 38 mins). Sexism and the fashion industry. Western Eyes (National Film Board of Canada, 40 mins). Beauty concerns of teens of Asian descent.

INDEX

Action Man, 12 Allan, S., xii, xiv, xv, 15, 32, 3 4 , 4 0 , 1 4 7 Advanced Research Projects Agency

Arendt, H . , 81, 84 audiences (see media, audiences)

(ARPA), 219 advertising (see media, advertising) Advertising Standards Authority, 52, 53, 152 affirmative action (see equal

Ballaster, R., et al., 15, 32, 126, 134, 139 Banks, E . , 72, 84 Barbie dolls, 12-13, 30, 33, 277, 328, 353 Basu, S., 15, 32 Baudrillard, J . , (see also postmodernism), 350 Beals, J . , 280, 281 Beetham, M . , 15, 17, 32, 139 Beynon, J . , 4, 8, 11, 17, 30, 32, 146,

opportunities) Aframerican(s), xvi, 9, 243, 265, 266, 279-82 African American, 144, 268-73, 275-77, 280-83, 353 Black Power Movement, 275 African American women, stereotypes in film, 265-86 Alliance of Gay and Lesbian Artists, 109 alternative media (see media, alternative) androgyny, 53, 163 Ang, I., 25, 32, 300 Annenberg Public Policy Center (see also equal opportunities, hiring and promotion), 5, 10 archival/historical analysis, xi, 2, 4, 6, 7, 11, 16, 25, 27, 41-66, 68-86, 81, 198, 199-208, 218-221, 266

198-217 binary logic; gender binarisms, 12, 31, 328, 330, 347 Birth of a Nation, 268, 270 black(s) (see Aframerican(s); African American(s); African American women) 175 blaxploitation, 277, 278 Bly, R. or Tron John', 200, 216 Bourdieu, P., (see also cultural capital), 162, 177, 346 boys, 12-13, 15, 30, 158, 210, 217, 289, 291, 295, 351

I

CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER as tough, 12, 274, 279 fashion, 135, 136, bigorexia (muscle dysmorphia), 30 technology, 9, 227, 244, 328-36, 338-41

boys' club/one of the boys, 166, 175, 176 British National Statistics Office (NSO) - (see The New Earnings Survey) Brooks, M . , 164, 165 Brookside, 289, 295, 296, 297, 298, 304 Brown, M . E . , 9, 15, 27, 32, 243, 287-305 Brunsdon, C , 15, 19, 32, 56, 57, 242, 244, 245, 285 Burchill, J . , 164, 175, 176 Butler, J . , 79-80, 84, 341, 344 Butterick, E . , 17 camp, 172 capitalism, 2, 17, 21, 24, 29, 314, 317, 325, 347, 349 Carmen Jones, 279 Carter, C , and Weaver, C . K . , 27, 32 censorship, 248, 272, 345 children, 2, 12, 22, 23, 48, 49, 53, 56, 61, 80, 90, 98, 102, 112, 152, 189, 190, 196, 200, 202, 220, 225, 232, 262, 266, 305, 307, 328-44, 351 Christmas, L . , 19, 32, 147 Cinderella, 12 citizen(s)/citizenship, 2, 50, 81, 149, 157, 159, 229, 230, 233, 267 Clairol (see also Ms.), 18 class, 10, 16, 25-26, 28, 42, 65, 141, 144, 202, 203, 206, 212, 232, 242, 267, 317, 322, 332, 333, 336, 342, 345, 348, 349, 351 dominant or upper/middle classes or elites, 2, 25-26, 31, 42, 56, 73, 99, 100, 144, 200, 201, 211, 214, 262, 312, 336, 337, 342

subjugated or working classes, 2, 22, 25-26, 31, 45, 73, 75, 170, 207, 211, 213, 244, 289, 295, 303-04, 325 closure (or ideological or narrative closure), 19, 105, 106, 109, 110, 111, 113, 114, 115, 116, 346 Cobain, K . , 165, 172 colonialism (see also postcolonialism), 180, 266, 350 commercialization, 146, 198, 202, 203, 346 common sense, 2, 28, 196 communication studies (see media, media scholarship) consciousness raising, 52, 174, 214, 248, 321, 322, 323 consumerism/consumer discourses, 8, 12, 17, 24, 37, 41-66, 202, 208, 211 consumer(s), 20, 24, 30, 38, 52, 72, 73, 134, 149, 158, 208, 211, 215, 330, Cosmopolitan, 53, 75, 123, 129, 132, 133, 135, 136 Coward, R., 37, 40, 78, 207-8, 216 Craig, S., 4, 10, 14, 32 Crimewatch UK, 31 cultivation analysis, 241, 245 cultural indicators project, 346 cultural capital (see also Bourdieu, P.), 161, 290, 302, 346 cultural studies, 4, 6, 9, 11, 21, 56, 242, 325, 333, 347 Currie, D . , 15, 245 cyber feminism (see feminism, cy berfeminism/cy berfeminists ) cyberspace, xii, 8, 146, 225, 346 Daily Express, 43, 46, 47, 48, 49, 213 Daily Mail, 43, 47, 48, 53, 55, 73, 84, Daily Mirror, 43, 46, 48, 49, 73, 75, 81 Dallas (see Ang, I.) Daly, M . , 62, 63

INDEX Dandridge, D . , 2 7 0 , 2 7 1 , 2 7 3 , 279, 281, 283

Dyer, R., 172

Davies, H . , 8, 145, 162-178 decoding (see Hall, S.) dehumanization, 9, 30, 267, 349 Delineator, 17 del Río, D . , 273, 281 Delphy, C , 60

Eco, U . , (see also polysemy), 350 EastEnders, 31, 299, 304 effects theory (see also media effects), 347 Elle, 123, 129, 134 encoding/decoding (see Hall, S.) Epstein, L . K . , 37, 40 equality

democracy, 70, 80, 96, 189, 221, 223, 224, 234 democratization, 70, 194 department stores (see also shopping), 42 determinism, 244 Dharma Wanita, 89, 90, 99, 101, 102 dichotomous thinking, 346 Digimon: Digital Monsters, 12 discourse, 53, 95, 163, 166, 171, 215, 222, 303, 328, 347 analysis, 7 authenticity, 320 advertising, 45, 49, 55, 58 alternative, 56 coolness, 173 consumer/consumerism, 41-66, 330 democratic, 81 educated classes/middle classes, 73 Foucault, 304, 308, 332, 347 hegemonic/dominant, 294, 301, 303 marginal, 183, 185, 194, 195 political, 83 public, 47, 70, 87, 97, 100 therapeutic, 307 Utopian, 231 women and Internet, 232, 233 domesticity, 12-13, 60, 169 women's unpaid labour, 2, 9 domination, 242 colonial, 206 male/masculine, 8, 175, 242, 248, 254, 276, 316, 318, 350 matriarchal, 275 Donahue, P., 307, 312, 318, 321, 322, 324, 327

gender, 3, 9, 51, 54, 80, 146, 149, 152, 200, 229, 262, 315, 324, 341, 347 racial, 270 equal opportunities, 3, 5, 8, 9, 14, 81, 227, 230 Equal Opportunities Commission (UK), 55 Essence, 129, 135, 136 ethnicity (see identity, ethnicity) ethnography/ethnographic, 6, 7, 21, 333 ethnocentricity, 267 Falana, L . , 276 family, 3, 12, 22, 23, 24, 29, 38, 44, 54, 56, 78, 79, 91, 95, 95, 96, 97, 98, 120, 128, 165, 181, 182, 183, 187, 199, 200, 201, 227, 262, 292, 299, 324, 325, 339, 344, 347 black, 275, 284 Entertainers/entertainment, 170, 211, 284 Family Welfare Guidance, 89, 90 nuclear/patriarchal/bourgeois, 29, 38, 39, 41, 56, 61, 65, 91, 96, 97, 98, 99, 104, 105, 106, 112, 154, 169, 190, 215, 300, 301, 348 working class, 295 fanzine, 173 Farrell, A . E . , 25 fatherhood/ father(s), 9 3 , 1 0 5 , 1 0 8 , 1 6 5 , 200, 201, 202, 216, 251, 280, 310, 318-19, 338, 339, 349, 351

I

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CRITICAL R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND GENDER

feminism, 3, 25, 42, 43, 52-60, 62, 75, 106, 154, 170, 173, 174, 200, 201,

African American filmmaking, 243, 248, 279, 282, 283, 284

207, 211, 213, 214, 249, 261, 303, 308, 315, 316-17, 317, 318, 319, 320, 322, 322, 324, 347 cyberfeminism/cyberfeminists, 8, 145, 218-19, 223, 224, 225, 343, 346 first wave, 1, 199, 304, 348 lesbian, 104-22, 166 liberal/bourgeois, 25, 317 Marxist, 317, 349 postfeminism, 55-6, 57, 64 poststructural/postmodern, 317, 318 radical, 200, 317 second wave, 1 - 2 , 3 - 4 , 1 3 , 4 2 , 5 2 , 348 socialist, 218-19, 343, 347 standpoint theory, 143,233,250, 351 third wave, 348 Feminist Majority (see also Ms.), 18 femininity/feminine, 7, 12, 18, 27, 29, 30, 38, 41, 43, 45, 49, 50, 54, 64, 65, 73, 124, 126, 127-8, 131, 132, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 157, 158, 165, 167, 168, 244, 301, 309, 318, 320, 347, 349, 354 commodification, 7, 17 cyberspace, 8, 218-39 cult of femininity, 39, 126-7, 129,

feminist film criticism, 27, 104, 105, 106, 116, 121, 266, 349 film noir, 63, 106, 118 Hollywood/mainstream, 9, 12, 21, 27, 31, 42, 43, 44, 54, 63, 104, 105, 106, 107, 120, 121, 265, 266-81, 282, 298, 304, 346, 350

130, 138, 139 discourse, 43, 73, 301, 303, 332 'ideaP/traditional/normative/ hegemonic/heterosexual/ 'correct', 12-13, 23, 27, 28, 59, 96, 124, 126, 128, 132, 170, 172, 176, 301, 318, 320, 331 non-traditional/alternative, 3, 18, 24, 39, 244, 301, working class, 170 feminization, 38, 69, 70, 76, 84, 204, 208, 347 FHM, 146, 210 film, 2, 19, 39, 63, 100, 103, 104, 126, 196, 206, 216, 243,

new women's films, 104, 106 racism in film, 265-86 snuff, 248 violent films, 19, 26, 29 women's films, 15, X-rated/pornography, 30, 251, 256, 259, 349 Fiske, J . , 19-20, 303 first wave feminism (see feminism, first wave) flapper(s), 45, 49-51 Foucault, M . , (see also discourse; recuperation; power), 57, 303, 308, 310, 314, 315, 322, 325, 326, 330, 332, 347 Foxy Brown, 278 rankfurt School, 310 Fraser, N . , 81 Freud, S., 51, 173, 243, 307-27, 351 Freydberg, E.H., 8-9, 242, 243, 265-86 Friday, N . , 62-3 Friedan, B. (see also The Feminine Mystique), 1, 52 Frith, S., and Home, H . , 167, 169 GI Joe, 12 Gallagher, M . , 5, 8, 144-5, 148-61 gender, xi, 3, 6, 8, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 26, 29, 30, 37, 38, 44, 69, 74, 75, 78, 87, 89, 92, 97, 103, 124, 125, 126, 133, 139, 143, 144, 146, 148, 149, 152, 155, 156, 157, 158, 174, 182, 186, 189, 200, 207, 219, 221, 222, 228, 232, 233, 242, 249, 295, 318, 322, 329, 330, 331, 332, 336, 339, 340, 341, 342, 343, 347, 348, 349, 351, 353

INDEX democratization, 7 difference, 3, 6, 9, 14, 15, 16, 21, 28-29, 38, 69, 135, 143, 144, 244, 330, 336, 337, feminist research (se also media, media scholarship), 7, 9, 13, 19, 30, 319 gender-sensitive research (see also media, media scholarship), xi, 6, 7, 9-10, 1 2 , 1 3 , 1 9 , 30, 242, 322 inequalities/subordination, 5, 6, 8, 9, 14, 22, 28, 30, 80, 180, 200, 201, 243, 324, 341, monitoring, 148-61 roles/identities (see also identity, feminine; masculine), 13, 15, 22, 27, 28-9, 31, 57, 65, 124, 125, 131, 134, 136, 143, 146, 194, 243, 279, 300, 330, 335, 338, 339 Gender Portrayal Department, 155-56, 160 generational difference(s) (see also Press, A.), 25-26 Geraghty, C , 15 Gerbner, G . , 13, 33, 241, 346 Gibson, W . , 346 girls, 3, 4, 9, 12-13, 15, 30, 31, 110, 139, 158, 169, 201, 227, 234, 289-90, 292, 293-4, 300, 305 as consumers, 12, 328, 330, 338, 339 gamers, xii, 3, 9, 244, 328-44 girl's magazines, 2, 139, language/talk, 175, 291, 295, 351 sexual abuse of girls, 258 Gilmour, H . , 3, 9, 244, 328-43 Gladiator, 12 Glamour, 123, 129, 131 Global Media Monitoring Project, 144, 148-61 Golden Girls, 108, 109, 114, 117, 120 Good Housekeeping, 17, 129, Goffman, E . , (see also frames), 348 Goldberg, W . , 281, 283, 284

I

Gramsci, A., (see also, hegemony/ hegemonic) 2, 51, 348 Gray, A., 23, 31 Grier, P., 277, 278, 280, 281, 283 Guardian, 52, 60, 75, 80, 162, 165, 168, 213 Hall, S., (see also media effects), 21, 205, 242, 296, 347, 354 hard core pornography (see pornography, hard core) Harlequin (see romance fiction), 20 Harmsworth, A. (Lord Northcliffe), 42, 43, 73 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 13 Hartsock, N . (see also feminism, standpoint theory), 141 Heartbeat, 108, 109, 111, 113, 114, 117, 118, 119, 120 hegemony/hegemonic (see also Gramsci, A.), 2-3, 21, 26, 51, 52, 59, 345 counter hegemony, 3, 345 hegemonic/dominant discourse, 294, 301, 303 patriarchal, 24 Hermes, J . , 15, 28, 32 heterosexual/heterosexuality, 8, 24, 39, 58, 77, 104, 113, 114, 117, 121, 131, 132, 134, 136, 137, 202, 206, 209, 242, 247, 248, 254, 260, 262, 304, 348, 351 Hobson, D . , 22-3, 31 Holland, P., 1, 7, 38, 68-86 Hollywood (see film, Hollywood/ mainstream) homophobia, 348 homosexuality, 7, 107, 108, 202, 213, 348 Hörne, L . , 167, 169, 269, 272, 281 Hotel, 108, 109, 110, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121 Hunter, 108, 109, 117, 118, 120, 121 Hustler, 251

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hypodermic needle theory (see also magic bullet theory), 347 identity, 10, 143, 183, 206, 220, 242, 299, 301, 315, 322, 342, 343, 346, 348-9 class, 26 ethnicity, 10, 26-27, 143 femininity/feminine, 8, 9, 13, 22, 25, 27, 29-30, 37-38, 243 gender, 13, 28, 31, 136, 194, 243, 306 identity politics, 346 masculinity/masculine, 4, 8, 22, 29-30, 146, 158 national/nationality, 143 'race', 10, 16 sexuality/sexual, 10, 16, 62, 97, 120, 130 ideology, 15, 55, 57, 139, 261, 280, 298, 303, 349 class/dominant, 60, 303 consumer, 41, 51, 52, 55, 57, 61, 62 gender, 14, 15, 37, 87 feminist, 55, 57, 261, 317, 323 femininity, 127, 134, 139 hegemonic, 3, 290 individualistic/individualism, 314 motherhood/ family, 38, 61, 87, 89, 90 patriarchal/male dominance, 2, 8, 37, 89, 242, 246, 295, 300 therapy, 309, 325 womanhood, 99, 102 ideology research/researchers, 14, 242 Imbruglia, N . , 165, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 178 Independent, 165, 213, 223 Independent Broadcasting Authority, 152 Indonesian Film Artists Association (PARFI, Persatuan Artis Film Indonesia), 99 inequalities (see equal opportunities) Inness, S., 8, 15, 39, 123^10

interactive media, 330, 332 Internet, xii, 4, 5, 153, 177, 178, 337 access, 8, 218-39 boys' use of the Internet, 338 flaming, 224-5, 231 girls' use of the Internet, 336-7 origins, 219, 220, 233 representation of women (see also representation of women in the media, Internet), 30, 149 Utopian vision, 223-24 women's relationship to the Internet, 146, 218-39 interviews/interviewing, 157, 162, 165, 172, 173, 175, 319 in depth or personal, 21, 22, 25, 28, 31, 32, 89, 102, 250, 262, 334 focus groups, 21, 22, 24-27, 28, 32, 291, 294, 295, 337 Jackson, P, et al., 4, 17 Jensen, R., 8, 242, 246-64 jazz, 45, 162, 283 journalism, journalists alternative, 3, 8 , 1 4 , 1 6 , 1 8 , 1 4 5 , 149, 196, 345 broadsheet or 'serious' press, 38, 84 female, 16-17, 24, 143 journalism studies, 15, 144 new journalism, 71, 72, 74 rock music press, 8, 162-78 tabloid/popular press, 38, 74, 330 television, 14, 19, 20, 23 women's journalism, 16-17, 24, 70, 72, 143 Julia, 104, 106, 107 Keeler, C , 91 Ken dolls, 13 Lacan, J . , (see also psychoanalysis), 351 laddism, 8, 146, 198-217 Ladies Home Journal, 3, 17, 42, 48, 123, 129, 139

INDEX Lamb, L . , 68, 74, 75 Latinas, 9, 243, 265-86 stereotypes in film, 265-86 lesbian(s)/lesbianism, xi, 7-8, 39, 59, 61, 77, 104-22, 131, 132, 133, 134, 166, 304, 325, 348 letters, fans/readers (analysis of), 21, 25, 27-28, 32 letters to the editor/letters page, 96,165, 212 liberal feminism (see feminism, liberal/ bourgeois) Loaded, 84, 146, 166, 175, 198, 209, 210, 2 1 1 , 2 1 2 , 213 Lord of the Rings, 12 Love, C , 164, 170, 177 Love, Sidney, 108 Macdonald, M . , 1, 7, 17, 37, 38, 41-66 McCalVs (see Butterick, E . ) , 17 McCracken, E . , 17, 44, 127, 139 McLuhan, M . , 16 Mademoiselle, 123, 127,129, 131, 133, 135, 138, 139 magic bullet theory (see also hypodermic needle theory), 347 male gaze (see also Mulvey, L . ) , 27, 65, 203, 349 marginalization/marginal, 8, 13, 129, 154, 164, 222 discourse, 183, 185, 194, 195 Marie Claire, 123 market research, 55, 59, 61 Marx, K . , 342, 346 Marxist feminism (see feminism, Marxist) masculinity/masculine, 3-4, 8, 12, 198-217, 316, 318 commercial masculinity, 198-217 'crisis' in masculinity, 29 domination, 316, 323, 339 'new man', 146, 198-200, 201, 202, 203, 207, 209, 210, 211, 214, 214-6

I

laddism, 8, 146, 198, 209, 211, 212, 213 violence (see also violence, masculine) 12, 26-27, 29-30, 89, 311, 335, 351 mass culture (see also popular culture), 73, 169, 316 Matthews, C , 166, 170 Maxim, 210, 214 media advertising, xi, 1, 2, 7, 17-18, 20, 37, 38, 41-66, 71, 77, 125, 128, 134, 139, 159, 198, 202, 203, 205, 207, 214, 216, 327, 330, 346, 347, 349, 350, 353, 354 alternative, 3, 8, 16, 18, 145, 196, 345 audience(s), xi, xii, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 1 4 - 1 6 , 1 9 - 2 0 , 2 1 - 2 9 , 30, 32, 38, 44, 61, 64, 65, 69, 70, 106, 107, 114, 116, 121, 122, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 134, 137, 144, 149, 153, 154, 158, 181, 186-8, 188, 191, 192, 196, 241-45, 255, 275, 278, 287-9, 291, 293, 296-98, 300-01, 304, 307, 309, 312-15, 317-21, 323-25, 328, 333, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349 children's programmes/television cartoons, 2, 12, 39, 305 comic books, 2, 39 convergence, 4, 6 effectivity (see also Hall, Stuart), 344 effects, 57, 186, 241, 247, 253, 261, 331, 343, 344, 347 employment, 6, 7, 8, 144, 145, 148-61, 281 genre(s,) 6, 7, 15, 19, 21, 23-24, 189, 194, 223, 348 globalization, xi, 6-7, 15, 30, 226 mainstream, 3, 7, 9, 15, 29-30, 137, 169, 170, 175, 212, 241, 243, 248, 251 282, 298, 304, 345, 346, 349

I CRITICAL READINGS: HEDIA AND GENDER media sexism (see sexism, media) methods of research, 2, 4, 6-7, 21, 24-25, 26-27, 139, 250, 333-34 monitoring, xi, 8,52,144,145,148-61 news, xi, 1, 7, 12, 14-15, 16, 22-23, 31, 32, 144-45, 148-61, 162, 189, 190, 215, 228, 230, 282, 345, 347, 348, 349, 351 ownership (see also political economy), 7, 108, 228, 349-50 organizations/institutions, 3, 8, 11, 14, 15, 16, 18-19, 20, 21, 124, 144, 152, 230, 254, 346, 348, 351-52 production, 8, 14, 15, 16-21, 24, 29, 30, 31, 37, 104, 108, 121, 144, 145, 149, 179-97, 247, 269, 270, 271, 274, 275, 302, 321, 330, 346, 347, 349 radio, 16, 18, 22, 44, 145, 158, 171, 180, 181, 182, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 193, 194, 196, 216, 282, 345, 348 rock music press, xi, 8, 145, 162-78 scholarship/research, xi, 3, 4, 6-7, 9-10, 15, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28-29, 30, 31, 37, 39, 143-44, 153, 154, 227, 228, 241, 242, 249, 329, 330, 332, 336, 345, 346, technology, 6, 23, 31, 218-39, 328-44, 346 text(s), xi, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 , 1 1 , 1 2 - 1 5 , 2 2 , 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 37, 39, 50, 51, 61, 70, 71, 79, 105, 106, 107, 116, 121, 122, 124, 125, 126, 138, 144, 190, 242, 243, 259, 287, 288, 291, 295, 297, 301, 302, 303, 304, 342, 346, 347, 350 theory, xi, 1-4, 6-7, 11, 42, 116, 261, 317, 347 media studies (see media, scholarship/ research)

Melody Maker (MM), 162, 163, 164, 165, 165, 166, 169, 172, 173, 174 Men in Black, 12 men's magazines (see also individual magazine titles), 8, 17, 146, 166, 198-217, 255 methods (see media, methods of research) Mildred Pierce, 105, 106 Mills, K . , 16, 17, 19 Mills & Boon (see also romance fiction), 20 Minogue, K . , 165, 167, 171 Miranda, C , 269, 281 Modleski, T . , 19, 20, 124 Montez, M . , 279 Moral Majority, 108 Moreno, R., 273-74, 275 Morley, D . , 22-23, 339, 344 Morissette, A., 1 6 4 , 1 6 5 , 1 6 8 , 1 7 0 , 1 7 3 , 177 motherhood/mother, 9, 24, 38-39, 45, 48-49, 50, 51, 53, 55, 61, 65, 87, 96, 98, 99, 102, 105, 108, 111, 112, 114, 115, 118, 120, 165, 172, 172, 183, 207, 273, 279, 280, 283, 291, 294, 295, 299, 310, 318, 323, 334, 336 Moritz, M . , 7, 39, 104-22 Ms., 18, 25, 127, 139, 277 Mulvey, L . , (see also male gaze), 27, 78, 349 Murdoch, R., 68, 74, 75 musicians (see also individual artist's names), 231 female, 8, 145, 162, 164, 165, 169, 170, 171, 173, 174, 175, 176 male, 170 narrative closure (see closure) nationality (see identity, national/ nationality) National Organization for Women ( N O W ) , 154, 158, 159, 160

INDEX National Women's Media Centre, 150 naturalizing, naturalization, 2-3, 308, 349 New Earnings Survey, 5, 10 new journalism (see journalism, new journalism) New Musical Express (NME), 163,166, 170, 174, 175, 176 New Woman/ 'new woman', 1, 47, 50, 51, 58, 72, 128 New Woman (magazine), 123, 135 news discourse (see discourse, news) news as masculine soap opera (see Fiske, J.) New York Times, 41, 28, 44, 84, 208, 282, 312 niche markets, 17, 28, 44, 84, 208, 345, 346 N O W (see National Organization for Women) objectification, 9, 30, 247, 248, 254-5, 349, 350 objective, 2, 14-15, 73, 96, 351 objectivity, 14-15, 81, 246 Orientalism (see also postcolonial/ postcolonialism; Said, E . ) , 350 Oxo family advertisements, 61, 65

I

popular culture (see also mass culture), 2, 20, 21, 25, 56, 61, 124, 167, 204, 303, 350 pornography, xii, 2, 8, 30, 224, 231, 242, 246-64, 278, 349, 350 hard core (see also film, X-ratedV pornography), 249, 251 soft core, 251-52, 278, 350 postcolonial/postcolonialism (see also Orientalism; Said, E . ) , 350 postfeminism (see feminism, postfeminism) postmodern feminism (see feminism, poststructural/postmodern) postmodernism, 64, 350 power, 1, 2, 6, 9 , 1 5 , 1 7 , 1 9 , 29, 30, 37, 48, 49, 59, 60, 69, 72, 73, 78, 81, 84, 88, 89, 100, 105, 117, 120, 128, 132, 135, 136, 150, 158, 167, 179, 183, 192, 206, 215, 218, 224, 230, 242, 244, 248, 254, 258, 259, 262, 266, 268, 287, 288, 289, 294, 295, 303, 307, 308, 309, 310, 315, 316, 317, 318, 320, 322, 323, 325, 330, 332, 342, 343, 346, 348, 349, 350, 351, 354 Foucault, 330 Press, A., 25-26, 31 Pretty Woman, 41

Page Three Girl (see also Sun), 7, 38, 54, 68, 69, 70, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83, 84 Parkin, F., 346 participant observation (see also media, methods of research), 21, 31 Pateman, C , 78, 81 patriarchy, 2, 15, 24, 27, 29, 99, 107, 111, 113, 200, 223, 248, 308, 323, 243, 347, 348, 349 Perez, R., 279 Playboy, 202, 251, 252 political economy (see also media,

psychoanalysis (see also Freud, S.;

ownership), 23, 300, 349 polysemy (see also Eco, U.), 107, 122, 350, 353, 354

questionnaires (see also media, methods of research), 21, 23, 24-25, 26-27, 31, 32, 228, 230

private sphere (see also domesticity), 12, 14, 20, 22, 24, 60, 226, 331 Profumo, J . , 91 prostitutes, 89, 91, 99, 101, 243, 266, 272, 276, 277, 278 Lacan, J.), 62, 304, 308, 309, 310, 311, 316, 350-51 public sphere, 2, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13-14, 22, 24, 38, 42, 47,59, 70, 81, 87, 97, 100, 145, 179, 226, 229, 331

I

C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G S : MEDIA AND G E N D E R

race (see identity, 'race') racism, 176, 257, 266, 272, 351 Radway, J . , 23-24, 31, 333 Rakow, L . , 31 Rambo, 200 rape, 9, 26, 63, 200, 212, 255, 258, 260-1, 266, 353 Rapunzel, 12 reality, 2, 20, 21, 125, 129, 137, 155, 157, 185, 190, 192, 193, 195, 222, 233, 255, 258, 275, 303, 316, 329, 346, 348 readings oppositional, 21, 57, 296, 297, 299, 300, 345, 346 preferred, 21, 24, 242, 296, 297, 298, 346 resistive/negotiated, 9, 21, 23-24, 27, 296, 297, 346 recuperation, 56, 57, 105, 106, 107, 109, 110, 111, 116, 117, 121, 345 Redbook, 123, 129 representation of women in the media, 2, 3, 13 advertising (see also Macdonald, M.), 2,7 cartoons, 2, 39 comic books, 39 film (see also Freydberg, E . ; Moritz, M.), 2, 8-9, 15, 39, 103, 263-84 Internet (see Scott, et al.) news, 2, 14-15, 148-61 popular music (see also Davies, H.), 2 pornography (see also Jensen, R . ) , 2, 246-64 romance fiction (see romance fiction) soap operas (see also Brown, M . E . ) , 2, 15 talk shows (see also Shattuc, J.), 9, 15, 24-25 television (see also Moritz, M . ) , 2, 7-8, 9, 14, 23, 39

women's or girl's magazines (see also Macdonald, M . ; Inness, S.), 2, 8, 15, 39 research (see media, media scholarship/ research; marketing research) Revlon, 18, 53, 54 Rhodes, J . , 19, 144, Richard and Judy, 15 Riot Grrrl, 164, 166, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175 romance fiction, 20, 21, 31, 23-24, 333 Ruiz, C , 5, 8, 145, 179-97 Said, E . , (see also postcolonial/ postcolonialism; Orientalism) 350 samizdat, 18 Schlesinger, P., et al., 26-27, 31 Scott, A. et al., 6, 8, 146, 218-39 Sebba, A., 16, 72, 74 second wave feminism (see feminism, second wave) Seventeen, 123, 131, 133, 139 sex education, 18, 253 sexism, 2, 4, 89, 176, 246, 249, 254, 266, 272, 353 employment, 4-5, 173 government policy media, 2, 4, 9, 13-14, 15, 29-30, 52, 165, 167, 173, 175, 176, 212, 242 media scholarship, 3-4, 14 Taliban government in Afghanistan, 5-6 sex role stereotypes (see stereotypes) sexuality (see identity, sexuality) sexualization, 7, 9, 38-39, 70, 76, 203, 351 sexual violence (see violence, sexual) Shaft, 277, 278 Shattuc, J . , 9, 15, 24-25, 31, 243, 244, 307-27 She, 53, 54, 123 Shirvani, S., et al., 15

INDEX shopping (see also department stores), 41, 47, 54, 57, 59, 62, 88, 207 Short, C , 70, 79 Sleeping Beauty, 12 Smith, D . , 143 Smith, J., 11

I

Superfly, 277, 278 superwoman, 55, 56, 64 symbolic annihilation, 13, 351-52

soap operas, xii, 2, 9, 10, 15, 19-20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 31, 32, 61, 170, 242, 243, 244, 287-305, 348 socialist feminism (see feminism, socialist) socialization, 12-13, 260, 299, 330, 339, 351 soft core pornography (see

talk shows (see also representation, talk shows; Shattuc, J.), xii, 9, 15, 19, 24-25, 158, 243, 307-27, 348 Taliban government, Afghanistan, 5 Tanzania Media Women's Association ( T A M W A ) , 152 technological determinism (see determinism) telephone(s), 23, 190 textual analysis (see also text(s)), 12-15,

pornography, soft core) Sons and Daughters, 289, 290, 291, 293, 294, 295, 297, 302, 305 Spare Rib, 75, 200 Spiderman, 12

23-25, 37, 39, 106, 107 That Certain Summer, 108 The Feminine Mystique (see also Friedan, B.), 1, 52 third wave feminism (see feminism,

Stacey, J., 15, 27, 32, 44, 333 Stallone, Sylvester (see also Rambo) standpoint theory (see feminism,

third wave) The Accused, 31

standpoint theory; see also Smith, D . ; Hartsock, N . Star Wars: Episode 1, 13 Stead, W . T . , 72 Steinern, G . , (see also Ms), 18, 34, 350 Steiner, L . , 17, 18, 143 stereotypes, 2, 8, 12, 13, 351 feminine, 12, 13-14, 37, 108, 203, 243, 257, 339 masculine, 12, 198-217 racist, 9 racist and sexist, 265-86 Stott, M . , 17, 60, 143 subcultures, 169, 170, 345 subjective, 15, 52, 73 subjectivity (see identity) subordination, female, 8, 9, 180, 182, 183, 189, 242, 243, 247, 258, 266, 287, 295, 298, 302, 304, 309, 323, 325, 347, 349 Sun, 7, 38, 55, 68-86 Sunindyo, S., 5, 7, 38-39, 87-103

The Bachelor/ The Bachelorette, 14 The Centre for Advocacy and Research ( C F A R ) , 148, 153, 154 The Color Purple, 276, 284 Thelma & Louise, 298, 304 Thornton, S., 169 Times (London), 168 Times (New York) - (see New York Times) Tincknell, E . , et al., 4 toys, gendered, 12 Tuchman, G . , 13, 37 Tyson, C , 280, 281 US Census Bureau (see equal opportunities, pay yaps he!ween men and women) US Department ol Labor (see aUn en: entlrfhe ,ithl the media - Grim news - Fears of film I'clci'iMnn'* itinnMlf, •

(IMHIIMII.)

M O R A L PANICS A N D T H E M E D I A Chas Critcher • H o w are social problems defined and responded to in contemporary society? • H o w useful is the concept of moral panic in understanding these processes? • What does an examination of recent examples reveal about the role of the media in creating, endorsing and sustaining moral panics? The term 'moral panic' is frequently applied to sudden eruptions of concern about social problems. This book critically evaluates the usefulness of moral panic models for understanding how politicians, the public and pressure groups come to recognize apparently new threats to the social order. The role of the media, especially the popular press, comes under scrutiny. T w o models of moral panics are initially identified and explained, then applied to a range of case studies: AIDS, rave/ecstasy, video nasties, child abuse and paedophilia. Experience is compared across a range of countries, revealing many basic similarities but also significant variations between different national contexts. Common to all is an increasing focus on threats to children, evoking images of childhood innocence. The conclusion is that moral panic remains a useful tool for analysis but needs more systematic connection to wider theoretical concerns, especially those of the risk society and discourse analysis. Contents Series editor's foreword - Acknowledgements - Introduction: original thoughts - Part one: the models - Made in Britain: the processual model of moral panics - Notes from a big country: the attributional model of moral panics - Part two: case studies - Unhealthy preoccupations: AIDS - Out of their minds: ecstasy and raves - A rocky horror show: video nasties - Suffer the little children: child abuse in families - Monstrous ideas: paedophilia Part three: implications - Universal pictures: international comparisons - No news is good news: the role of the media - Time for a make-over: the models revisited - Myth appropriation: the childhood theme - Underwriting risk: moral panics and social theory - Afterword - Glossary - References - Index. 224pp

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