Further feminist theory

As part of our study of women in videogames, we need to develop our understanding of feminist theory.

We have looked at a range of feminist ideas earlier in the course including Laura Mulvey, Judith Butler, Angela McRobbie, the concept of post-feminism and more. We now need to explore this further by bringing in the work of bell hooks and Liesbet van Zoonen.

Notes from the lesson

Watch this short extract from Orange is the New Black star Laverne Cox interviewing bell hooks at The New School in New York:



bell hooks is a highly influential radical black feminist.

She sees feminism as a struggle to end patriarchal oppression - it should be a serious political commitment rather than a fashionable lifestyle choice. “Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression”

bell hooks also points to the importance of race and class when studying oppression.

Intersectionality

Intersectionality is defined as the common point of two forms of oppression and how they work against a particular group of people. For example, black feminism addresses both gender and race discrimination.

bell hooks suggests that race is so significant that the experiences of gender, class or sexuality-based discrimination cannot be fully understood without also considering race.

This is important when analysing power in society. For example, men generally have more power then women – but white, middle class western women generally have much more power than women from BAME backgrounds.

Liesbet van Zoonen

Liesbet van Zoonen is an influential feminist academic and linked gender roles and the media explicitly in her 1994 book Feminist Media Studies. Some of her key ideas:

• Gender is constructed through media language
• These constructions reflect cultural and historical contexts
• The objectification of the female body is a key construct of western culture (building on Mulvey – male gaze)
• If women have to be like men to be treated equally, then equality itself is repressive

Further feminist theory: blog tasks

Use our Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) to find Media Factsheet #169 Further Feminist Theory. Save it to USB or email it to yourself so you have access to the reading for homework. Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions:

1) What definitions are offered by the factsheet for ‘feminism ‘and ‘patriarchy’?

'Feminism is a movement which aims for equality for women – to be treated as equal to men socially, economically, and politically.
Patriarchy is a male dominated society 

2) Why did bell hooks publish her 1984 book ‘Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center’?

Hooks published that book because of the diversity in the feminist movement.

3) What aspects of feminism and oppression are the focus for a lot of bell hooks’s work?

Most of her work it is so the feminists look at the topics of things such as sex, race, class and intersectionality.

4) What is intersectionality and what does hooks argue regarding this?

Interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage. Hooks argues that understanding this is important for the equality.

5) What did Liesbet van Zoonen conclude regarding the relationship between gender roles and the mass media?

The mass media is increasingly detectable sexual orientation personality structures in advertising, film and TV.

6) Liesbet van Zoonen sees gender as socially constructed. What does this mean and which other media theorist we have studied does this link to?

This links to the Butler's theory of gender being a performance.

7) How do feminists view women’s lifestyle magazines in different ways? Which view do you agree with?

That the women are meant to be the housewives and stay home. The patriarchal stereotypes are what the feminists are thinking of the women's lifestyle magazine. I agree with the thinking of the women being powerful and intelligent. 

8) In looking at the history of the colours pink and blue, van Zoonen suggests ideas gender ideas can evolve over time. Which other media theorist we have studied argues this and do you agree that gender roles are in a process of constant change? Can you suggest examples to support your view?

Pink with femininity and blue with masculinity was made in 19th century France. In the 18th century however, a pink silk suit was regarded as appropriate attire for a gentleman.

9) What are the five aspects van Zoonen suggests are significant in determining the influence of the media?

• Whether the institution is commercial or public
• The platform upon which they operate (print versus digital media)
• Genre (drama versus news)
• Target audiences
• The place the media text holds within the audiences’ daily lives

10) What other media theorist can be linked to van Zoonen’s readings of the media?

Stuart Hall's reception theory can be linked to this as well.

11) Van Zoonen discusses ‘transmission models of communication’. She suggests women are oppressed by the dominant culture and therefore take in representations that do not reflect their view of the world. What other theory and idea (that we have studied recently) can this be linked to?

Audiences respond to texts is impacted by their own viewpoints and their own ' conceptual maps'.

12) Finally, van Zoonen has built on the work of bell hooks by exploring power and feminism. She suggests that power is not a binary male/female issue but reflects the “multiplicity of relations of subordination”. How does this link to bell hooks views on feminism and intersectionality?

It acknowledges that there is not only one type of oppression that affects audiences and people in society.

Extension task

If you’re interested in some of these ideas, there is plenty more reading and watching you can do. For example, watch this TEDx talk by renowned Nigerian/American novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ‘We should all be feminists’: