01.
Introduction
Political Theory of Gender Media
● Media & political representation relating to gender
● Media's take on gender representation includes strong female casts which discusses
gender & the media & their representation
● Women are being more open & resisting the objectification of their body
● Mainstream representation of transgender
● Celebrities can admit to being feminists as the negative connotation surrounding
feminism is removed
● Issues of gender cannot be separated from the issues of race
○ The founder of #metoo is black
● Young women taking the role of leadership eg. NZ & Finland
● Casual sexism in the media when it comes to portrayal of female politicians
● There is an attempt to contain female empowerment through the feminization of
political
● Emergence of right-wing feminism
○ Political women who feel empowered with patriarchal ideals than opposing
them
● Advertising keep surveillance over women's body
● Misogyny present on twitter
● Men's right movement still present
● There is a disappointed masculinity in younger people
● Ivanka says she is a feminist Angela won't (germany Chancellor)
● There are steps that are taken backwards
○ Trump administration transgender rights that took ages to be approved are
removed
● There is an interesting tension as there is a progress in gender representation &
rights & feminism being moved into the mainstream but at the same time they have
extreme backlash on these issues. People are invested in this tension & it is situation
● Representation & concrete power relations tension
Learning Objectives
● Media & Politics
● Gender
● Hegemony
● Representation
Media & Politics
01.
● Media & Politics shape our world & society to a large extent
○ We are all recipients of media material
○ Media impacts how we organise reality, think about values, ideas & how we
bring them together
○ All of our ideas & reality is mediated
● Relation between power & mediation
○ We are always in the process of mediation of communication to make sense
of our surroundings & understand the world
○ Media is central to understanding power and how we operate
● What role does gender play in challenging and making these power dynamics of
media & politics
Gender
● Sex & Gender, the difference
○ Sex = biological distinction
○ Gender= Social, cultural role, personality traits, behaviours, what behaviours
are deemed acceptable in relation to culturally constructed ideas of
masculinity & femininity
○ There are different contexts in which gender is identified and changing
○ Gender binary is linked with gender power & they are there to define the
relation between sexes
○ One one hand gender is constructed, often in ways that affirm how our
relations already work
○ Even though gender is constructed it has real effects on people. People are
affected by the way these concepts are normalised
● Gender studies arises form concerns
○ About social positions
○ Puts pressure about these constructions
○ There is an assumption that gender anda sex is one of the most important
wasy we classify ourselves and others
○ We identify social position of others through this
○ Gender will affect the way we will treat someone and behave towards them
○ Gender is closely connected with identity and it is one of the key ways we
make sense of our own & other people's identity
● Nature vs Nurture
○ Biological essentialism
01.
■ Assumes that gender is based on genetic, biological & psychological
difference
■ Men & women are different in their biological & emotional makeup
■ Assumes because men have all this testosterone which is why they
are powerful, authoritative and assertive
■ Assumes because women create life then they are nurturing
■ It is because of this & this determines how people think & feel
■ There are biological difference sbut essentialism narrates these
differences in a particular way which sustains the power relation
between men & women
■ Essentialism naturalises dominant assumptions of gender such as
patriarchy etc
■ It doesn't allow opposition or an appeal for change
○ Social Constructionism
■ Gender is a sequence of how people are socialised
■ Different beliefs, expectation that we experience is dependent on
how we perceive our body, gender & behaviour
■ We use this understanding to differentiate between men & women
■ The way boys & girls are given toys to play with, clothes to wear
teaches children about gender and socialises them into gender
■ The main argument is that the social encounters that we have
produce primary influences our identity not our physiology
○ Formation of subjectivity depends on:
■ Gender positions
■ Nationality
■ Culture
■ Ethnicity
■ Family
■ Education
■ The immense variety these different factors imply leads to different
experiences of the same events
○ Gender is seen as something that has fluidity and has motion
○ The trouble with binaries
■ Not everyone identifies as a man or woman
■ Idealised gender constructions are unachievable
● No one is happy with their ideal gender and under pressure to
achieve something that they cannot achieve
■ Gender positions are constructed but they have real effects
01.
■ Positions are not natural, they have to be cultivated and circulated
■ Example of women being socialised to be vulnerable which then
affects the women's space and how they feel about their body in a
certain space eg. walking alone at night etc.
○ Judith Butler (gender trouble)
■ Gender is performative
■ Gender is an imitation (not original)
■ Compares gender performance as drag
■ Because femininity and masculinity is constructed they have to be
constantly performed in order to affirm themselves as natural.
■ Drag is subversive because it exposes that all femininity is important
& it doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman because you have to
learn, perform and put effort
■ We are constantly repeating the actions society tells us to do which is
why we are doing gender not having it as it is something that we do
■ This also means that in refusing to repeat binaries in our
representation we can trouble, undermine and question it (liberating
thought)
● Political Media
○ Media also has a political function in the way they provide us information
○ They are meant to inform representation of all subject representation not
just two
○ They are meant to ensure that democracy works and democracy is about
equality so the media is accountable for socialisation of gender
○ Media are instrumental in gaining public consent
■ They never mirror reality but they create hegemony constructions
about reality because of this they have a power
■ Hegemony helps us understand why those in power remain in power
■ To maintain power elites must rule by winning the public & convincing
them that the system in place is the best
■ That way the powerful can stay in control without exerting violence
because they agree with the dominant idea of the world
■ If something becomes common sense it becomes hegemonic power
because it is naturalised and made to seem normal
■ Media helps in the naturalisation of ideas
■ Consent for a system that privileges those already in a dominant
power
● Media Hegemony
01.
○ Media are gendered
○ Patriarchal Power structures don't make them known as such and it
naturalises its understanding in such a way that we accept the logic
○ Hegemonic reality must be continually
● Simone de Beauviour
○ Describe that hegemony operates that one possible view of the world as the
only view of the world by portraying it as the most common sensical thing
● Making sense of the dynamics of power that exist between gender, politics & media
○ Often ignored by mainstream communication studies, pol studies
○ Acknowledging power differentials means to recognise unequal society
● Representation
○ Portrayal of women on the internet
○ Politics shows how femininity & masculinity is to be done properly
● Inequality
○ Jobs/pay
○ Criminal Justice system
○ Representation & exercise of political power
○ Media representation
○ These show that we haven't achieved equality yet
● Politics
○ Less women leaders worldwide
○ How women navigate political arena includes being attacked for progressing
a feminist agenda
○ Less women vote
○ Women politicians can also align with patriarchal power/ expectation of
women to substantiate their own position of power
○ Politicians cannot be divorced from their gender as their performance is
judged based on ideals of gender and it has real effects
○ Still considered a masculine domain
○ It generates ideas of masculinity and it attaches itself to different politicians
○