How does gendered power work? How does it circulate? How does it become embedded? And most importantly, how can we challenge it? Heather Savigny highlights five key traits of cultural sexism – violence, silencing, disciplining, meritocracy and masculinity – prevalent across the media, entertainment and cultural industries that keep sexist values firmly within popular consciousness. She traces the development of key feminist thinkers before demonstrating how the normalization of misogyny in popular media, culture, news and politics perpetuates patriarchal values within our everyday social and cultural landscape. She argues that we need to understand why #MeToo was necessary in the first place in order to bring about impactful, lasting and meaningful change.
Interviews with female gamers about structural sexism across the gaming landscape When the Nintendo Wii was released in 2006, it ushered forward a new era of casual gaming in which video games appealed to not just the stereotypical hardcore male gamer, but also to a much broader, more diverse audience. However, the GamerGate controversy six years later, and other similar public incidents since, laid bare the internalized misogyny and gender stereotypes in the gaming community. Today, even as women make up nearly half of all gamers, sexist assumptions about the what and how of women’s gaming are more actively enforced. In Gaming Sexism, Amanda C. Cote explores the video game industry and its players to explain this contradiction, how it affects female gamers, and what it means in terms of power and gender equality. Across in-depth interviews with women-identified gamers, Cote delves into the conflict between diversification and resistance to understand their impact on gaming, both casual and “core” alike. From video game magazines to male reactions to female opponents, she explores the shifting expectations about who gamers are, perceived changes in gaming spaces, and the experiences of female gamers amidst this gendered turmoil. While Cote reveals extensive, persistent problems in gaming spaces, she also emphasizes the power of this motivated, marginalized audience, and draws on their experiences to explore how structural inequalities in gaming spaces can be overcome. Gaming Sexism is a well-timed investigation of equality, power, and control over the future of technology.
Women today are inundated with conflicting messages from the mass media: they must either be strong leaders in complete command or sex kittens obsessed with finding and pleasing a man. In The Rise Of Enlightened Sexism, Susan J. Douglas, one of America's most entertaining and insightful cultural critics, takes readers on a spirited journey through the television programs, popular songs, movies, and news coverage of recent years, telling a story that is nothing less than the cultural biography of a new generation of American women. Revisiting cultural touchstones from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Survivor to Desperate Housewives, Douglas uses wit and wisdom to expose these images of women as mere fantasies of female power, assuring women and girls that the battle for equality has been won, so there's nothing wrong with resurrecting sexist stereotypes—all in good fun, of course. She shows that these portrayals not only distract us from the real-world challenges facing women today but also drive a wedge between baby-boom women and their "millennial" daughters. In seeking to bridge this generation gap, Douglas makes the case for casting aside these retrograde messages, showing us how to decode the mixed messages that restrict the ambitions of women of all ages. And what makes The Rise Of Enlightened Sexism such a pleasure to read is Douglas's unique voice, as she blends humor with insight and offers an empathetic and sisterly guide to the images so many American women love and hate with equal measure.
This unique collection brings a rarely-seen indigenous and global perspective to the study of gender and psychology. Within these chapters, researchers who live and work in the countries and cultures they study examine gender-based norms, values, expression, and relations across diverse Western and non-Western societies. Familiar as well as less-covered locations and topics are analyzed, including China, New Zealand, Israel, Turkey, Central America, the experience of refugees, and gendered health inequities across Africa such as in the treatment of persons with HIV. Included, too, are examples of culturally appropriate interventions to address disparities, and data on the extent to which these steps toward equality are working. Structurally, the volume is divided into three sections. The first two parts of the book take readers on a journey to different regions of the world to illustrate the most recent trends in research concerning gender issues, and then outline present implications and future prospects for the psychological analysis of both gender & culture. The third section of the book has an applied perspective and focuses on the cultural norms and values reinforcing gender equality as well as cultural and social barriers to them. A sampling of the topics covered: Sexual orientation across culture and time. A broader conceptualization of sexism in Poland. An analysis of gender roles within the family in Switzerland Modern-day dowries in South Asian international arranged marriages. The current state of gender equality in the United States of America. Socio-cultural determinants of gender disparity in Ghana. Psychology of Gender Through the Lens of Culture is a milestone toward core human rights and goals worldwide, and a critical resource for psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, gender studies researchers, public policy makers and all those interested in promoting gender equality throughout the world.
Responding to increasing concerns about the harmful effects of so-called ‘lad culture’ in British universities, and related ‘bro’ and ‘frat’ cultures in US colleges, this book is the first to explore and analyse the perspectives of university staff on these cultures, which students suggest foster the normalisation of sexism, homophobia, racism, sexual harassment and violence. Drawing on in-depth interviews with a broad range of staff and faculty across different types of universities in England, the book explores the following key questions: What is lad culture? How and where is it manifest in higher education and what are the effects on students and staff? How can ‘laddish’ behaviour be explained? How can we theorise lad culture to enable us to better understand and challenge it? How do dynamics in the United Kingdom compare to so-called ‘bro’ and ‘frat’ cultures in US colleges? By examining the ways in which lad culture is understood and explained, the authors illustrate that current understandings of lad culture obscure the broader processes through which problematic attitudes, practices, and educational climates are fostered. This analysis enables a theorisation of lad culture that makes visible the gendered norms and intersecting structural inequalities that underpin it. This timely and accessible volume will be of great interest to anyone looking to understand and tackle sexism, sexual harassment and violence in and beyond university contexts. It will be of particular significance to researchers, undergraduate and postgraduate students, academics, and policy makers in the fields of gender and sexuality in education, higher education, and sociology of education.
From the author of Where the Girls Are, a sharp and irreverent critique of how women are portrayed in today's popular culture Women today are inundated with conflicting messages from the mass media: they must either be strong leaders in complete command or sex kittens obsessed with finding and pleasing a man. In Enlightened Sexism, Susan J. Douglas, one of America's most entertaining and insightful cultural critics, takes readers on a spirited journey through the television programs, popular songs, movies, and news coverage of recent years, telling a story that is nothing less than the cultural biography of a new generation of American women. Revisiting cultural touchstones from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Survivor to Desperate Housewives, Douglas uses wit and wisdom to expose these images of women as mere fantasies of female power, assuring women and girls that the battle for equality has been won, so there's nothing wrong with resurrecting sexist stereotypes—all in good fun, of course. She shows that these portrayals not only distract us from the real-world challenges facing women today but also drive a wedge between baby-boom women and their "millennial" daughters. In seeking to bridge this generation gap, Douglas makes the case for casting aside these retrograde messages, showing us how to decode the mixed messages that restrict the ambitions of women of all ages. And what makes Enlightened Sexism such a pleasure to read is Douglas's unique voice, as she blends humor with insight and offers an empathetic and sisterly guide to the images so many women love and hate with equal measure.
Weaving together evidence from sociolgy, anthropology, history, and biblical studies, this book shows that patriarchal and hierarchial views of gender arise from agrarian culture, along with images of woman as unequal, inferior, unclean, and evil. . . . This book is a valuable resource for theologically conservative Christians who are trying to rethink the connenction between thoeology and gender.
Gender & Pop Culture provides a foundation for the study of gender, pop culture and media. This comprehensive, interdisciplinary text provides text-book style introductory and concluding chapters written by the editors, seven original contributor chapters on key topics and written in a variety of writing styles, discussion questions, additional resources and more. Coverage includes: - Foundations for studying gender & pop culture (history, theory, methods, key concepts) - Contributor chapters on media and children, advertising, music, television, film, sports, and technology - Ideas for activism and putting this book to use beyond the classroom - Pedagogical Features - Suggestions for further readings on topics covered and international studies of gender and pop culture Gender & Pop Culture was designed with students in mind, to promote reflection and lively discussion. With features found in both textbooks and anthologies, this sleek book can serve as primary or supplemental reading in undergraduate courses across the disciplines that deal with gender, pop culture or media studies. “An important addition to the fields of gender and media studies, this excellent compilation will be useful to students and teachers in a wide range of disciplines. The research is solid, the examples from popular culture are current and interesting, and the conclusions are original and illuminating. It is certain to stimulate self-reflection and lively discussion.” Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D., author, feminist activist and creator of the Killing Us Softly:Advertising’s Image of Women film series “An ideal teaching tool: the introduction is intellectually robust and orients the reader towards a productive engagement with the chapters; the contributions themselves are diverse and broad in terms of the subject matter covered; and the conclusion helps students take what they have learnt beyond the classroom. I can’t wait to make use of it.” Sut Jhally, Professor of Communication, University of Massachusetts at Amherst,Founder & Executive Director, Media Education Foundation Adrienne Trier-Bieniek, Ph.D. is currently an assistant professor of sociology at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida. Her first book, Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman: Female Fans and the Music of Tori Amos (Scarecrow, 2013) addresses the ways women use music to heal after experiencing trauma. www.adriennetrier-bieniek.com Patricia Leavy, Ph.D. is an internationally known scholar and best-selling author, formerly associate professor of sociology and the founding director of gender studies at Stonehill College. She is the author of the acclaimed novels American Circumstance and Low-Fat Love and has published a dozen nonfiction books including Method Meets Art: Arts-Based Research Practice. www.patricialeavy.com
The Politics of Gender and the Culture of Sexuality outlines theories of gender within the intellectual paradigm of the triple heritage: Islam, Africanity, and the West. This book describes the impact of individual contexts and politics on meanings attributed to the human body. The Politics of Gender and the Culture of Sexuality explores how men and women relate to each other in monogamous and polygamous marriage, race rivalries, slavery, miscegenation, cultures of procreation, family planning, and the Islamic view of women’s dignity vis-à-vis the Western view of women’s liberty. In doing so, the author and editor present a multifaceted and dynamic theoretical discourse of gender.
