Media, Culture and Diversity
Summary of the UGent and VUB course of 2021 by lecturer Frederik Dhaenens
Seminar 3: On gender and popular media culture
Case: Miranda (British sitcom)
- Main character: Miranda
o Show about a woman who reinvents herself
o The actress is often cast to play silly
characters because she is tall and looks
masculine
o She wanted to challenge that in this show
through hyperstereotyping
o She does acknowledge her privileged position in real life (network, money,
white)
Sex is not gender
Sex: Biological traits (penis, vagina, uterus…)
Gender: the social construct related to the biological traits
Gender identity: (self)identification with a social construct
Gender expression: how you present yourself
Femininities and masculinities: repertoires, roles and expectation society has about genders
Feminisms
Many different strands
- Commonalities:
o Sex = axis and women are subordinated by men
o We live in a patriarchy
- Differences:
o How to achieve change
o Essentialism vs constructionism
Feminism throughout history
1
, Frist wave feminism (1790 – 1960)
- Demanding equal rights in public sphere
Second wave feminism (1960 - …)
- Demanding equal rights in private sphere
- Emergence of various strands of feminism
- Demanding equal pay
- Gender is socially constructed and subordinates women
- Shared identity: womanhood
Third wave feminism (1990 - …)
- Acknowledge differences and intersectionality
- Attention for popular media
- Non-essentialist and social constructionist
Early feminist media studies
= Looking at the image of women in media
Based on liberal feminism
- Unequal access and opportunities for women
- The capitalist structure isn’t the problem
- The stereotypical representations are the problem
Based on realism
- Image should be representation of reality
- Audiences decode in similar ways
Critiques:
- Audiences have more agency
- All representations are socially constructed
- Exclusive patriarchal perspective
Gaye Tuchman -------------------------------------------------------------->
- “Symbolic annihilation of women”
o Refers to cultivation theory of Gerbner
People believe what they see on television is reality
o Because of their representations
Trivialisation: they can’t do anything good (burn the food)
Condemnation: only represented in stereotypical roles (kitchen)
Omission: not being represented at all
2
Summary of the UGent and VUB course of 2021 by lecturer Frederik Dhaenens
Seminar 3: On gender and popular media culture
Case: Miranda (British sitcom)
- Main character: Miranda
o Show about a woman who reinvents herself
o The actress is often cast to play silly
characters because she is tall and looks
masculine
o She wanted to challenge that in this show
through hyperstereotyping
o She does acknowledge her privileged position in real life (network, money,
white)
Sex is not gender
Sex: Biological traits (penis, vagina, uterus…)
Gender: the social construct related to the biological traits
Gender identity: (self)identification with a social construct
Gender expression: how you present yourself
Femininities and masculinities: repertoires, roles and expectation society has about genders
Feminisms
Many different strands
- Commonalities:
o Sex = axis and women are subordinated by men
o We live in a patriarchy
- Differences:
o How to achieve change
o Essentialism vs constructionism
Feminism throughout history
1
, Frist wave feminism (1790 – 1960)
- Demanding equal rights in public sphere
Second wave feminism (1960 - …)
- Demanding equal rights in private sphere
- Emergence of various strands of feminism
- Demanding equal pay
- Gender is socially constructed and subordinates women
- Shared identity: womanhood
Third wave feminism (1990 - …)
- Acknowledge differences and intersectionality
- Attention for popular media
- Non-essentialist and social constructionist
Early feminist media studies
= Looking at the image of women in media
Based on liberal feminism
- Unequal access and opportunities for women
- The capitalist structure isn’t the problem
- The stereotypical representations are the problem
Based on realism
- Image should be representation of reality
- Audiences decode in similar ways
Critiques:
- Audiences have more agency
- All representations are socially constructed
- Exclusive patriarchal perspective
Gaye Tuchman -------------------------------------------------------------->
- “Symbolic annihilation of women”
o Refers to cultivation theory of Gerbner
People believe what they see on television is reality
o Because of their representations
Trivialisation: they can’t do anything good (burn the food)
Condemnation: only represented in stereotypical roles (kitchen)
Omission: not being represented at all
2
