Examples of feminism in modern society

Feminism in modern society

 

Fourth wave feminism

Feminists who currently advocate for a fourth-wave of feminism believes the circulation of feminist issues rely on social media technology for communicating and organizing their activism efforts. “It's defined by technology: tools that are allowing women to build a strong, popular, reactive movement online.”

Kira Cochrane says that fourth wave feminism focuses on inequality manifesting in "street harassment, sexual harassment, workplace discrimination, body-shaming", media images, "online misogyny", assault on public transport" and intersectionality. (The recognition of interconnected social categorisation such as race, class and gender)

Reports estimate that 8,000 people, mostly women, marched in Washington D.C. to get women's suffrage in the United States. In 2014, one million people tweeted #BringBackOurGirls, a campaign to help rescue girls kidnapped in Africa by a terrorist gang. Suggesting that fourth wave feminism not only focuses on developed countries but also shifting a focus onto the developing world.

Pussy riot

Pussy riot is a Russian feminist protest group; it consists of approximately 11 members ranging from ages 20-33. The group holds provocative performances in public locations, which are then put into music videos and uploaded onto the internet. They protest for feminism, LGBT and the unfair dictatorship of Vladimir Putin.

Various famous figures and activists including Madonna, Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga and many others publicly show support for the group. Other groups such as amnesty international appealed to have the three members who were imprisoned in Russia to be released, via internet campaigns.

Slut walk

Participants protest against excusing rape due to a woman’s appearance and a call to end the rape culture. The slut walk started due to a Toronto police officer making a statement saying ‘women should avoid dressing like sluts’ as a precaution against sexual assault.

The first Slut walk was organized in Toronto, Ontario, on April 3, 2011. The organizers expected around 200 people to show up, but over 3,000 gathered at Queen's Park. The day consisted of speeches given at Queen’s park followed by a march to the police headquarters. Some people wore jeans and t-shirts while others wore bikinis, fish net tights and stilettos.

Free the nipple

The free the nipple campaign stands against female oppression and censorship both in the USA and throughout the world. Today, in the USA it is illegal for a woman to be topless, breastfeeding included, in 35 states, throughout America. In places like Louisiana, an exposed nipple can take a woman to jail for up to three years and cost $2,500 in fines. Even in New York City, which legalized public toplessness in 1992, the NYPD continues to arrest women.  

Feminism

Feminism

Throughout time there have been three ‘stages’ of feminism;

First wave mid-19^th- early 20^th century -->

This movement was concerned with having political equality between the sexes and fighting for the right to vote for women. The suffragette movement directly took action to gain equal rights for women. They did this by protesting, invading parliament and going on hunger strikes whilst in prison.

Second wave 1960’s and 1970’s -->

This movement was concerned with a woman’s role within society, the work place and the home. They were mainly focused on the unequal ad unfair balance of wealth and power within society. Second wave feminism also drew attention to domestic violence and marital rape issues. These women would strike for equality; for example ‘women’s strike for equality’ in America in 1970.

Third wave 1980’s – present -->

This movement is concerned with the pressures that are placed on women by society and the media. They look at how women as supposed to conform to an unachievable standard of beauty, and how women’s bodies are used as a commodity.

Laura Mulvey: ‘visual pleasure and narrative cinema’ -->

Mulvey looms at what she calls the ‘male gaze’ in film. In Hollywood cinema (mainly in the 1940’s-60’s) was a huge institution that maintained patriarchal control. In more simple terms she says that men do the watching ad the women are watched.

The male gaze is seen as determining and female figures appear with male fantasies. Hollywood female actors of this time period were coded with ‘to be looked at-ness’. She suggests that there were two obvious modes of the male gaze in this era, these are ‘voyeuristic’ which is seeing women as whores and ‘fetishistic’ which is seeing women as Madonna’s .

Due to men owning the film industry/fantasy at his specific period of time, they gain power by representing the view of the watcher. The audience identifies with the main male character and therefore participates in objectifying female characters.

Naomi Wolf: ‘The beauty myth’ -->

Wolf argues that beauty is the ‘last, best belief system that keeps male dominance intact’. Wolf argues that normative standards of beauty are a patriarchal construct which controls and limits women. She states that the beauty standard has taken over the work of social coercion formerly left to myths about motherhood, domesticity, chastity and passivity, all of which were used to keep women powerless.

Wolf suggests that we might actually be worse off than our grandmothers because we are now kept unequal through subtle methods of control. Women now buy stuff they don’t need so that they fit in with wider the wider social values. This leaves physically damaging consequences such as eating disorders and cosmetic surgery. However, Wolf contends that the beauty myth is really not about women, it is about men’s institutions and power. Beauty is about behaviour and not appearance. The labels of beauty given to a woman are no more than symbols of female behaviour considered desirable at the time.

The princess culture -->

Peggy Orenstein explores the range of products marketed at girls and their influence on the next generation. She sees evidence of the limited range of choices offered to girls can inhibit their ambition and encourage them to base their self-worth on their appearance. For example bratz, Barbie and Polly pocket. She question whether these factors quickly impose the sexualisation of young girls.

Introduction into marxism and market liberalism

Market liberalism -->

Market liberalism is a theory formed out of merchant trading in the 16^th century. It is a social ideology which mainly encourages the selling of labour. This in turn creates a huge divide within society, due to people being ‘worth more’ than others. Due to industrialisation people were replaced with machines which produced things on a mass scale, leading to a decrease in people producing their own amount of goods. Market liberalists believe that social and economic inequality is a ‘natural’ thing that has come out of capitalism. Capitalism and market liberalism are often considered as the most dominant ideologies within modern society.

Market liberalism is considered a less extreme form of capitalism as they believe that some things should be controlled by the state but not everything. For example they do believe there should be a minimum wage in which companies have to pay to employees whereas capitalists do not. Market liberalists run two systems together. For example NHS healthcare is ran alongside private healthcare providers.

Marxism -->

Marxists fully understand and see that social and economic inequalities exist within society, and that it is not ‘natural’. Marxists recognise that this inequality does not just exist between individuals or groups but also between countries. Marxism sees that society is separated into just two classes these are the bourgeoisie (who buy labour) and the proletariat (who sell their labour). They see that ‘the state’ takes control of the decision making within society, through force but also through hegemonic influence; such as party political broadcasts.

Marxists refer to us being in ‘late capitalism’; this is that we are now run by multinational corporations that are supported by the state, for example Coca cola, McDonalds and Nike. The proletariat is divided, distracted and deceived by the state in order to extend the exploitation already happening and to accept the status quo.

Marxists understand that a more equal society where the goods are evenly distributed is not ideal but is an achievable goal. Marxists encourage immediate action, reduction of working hours, increase in wages and a freedom to unionise. Many Marxists see that the only solution to economic and social instability is a revolution.

Post colonialism

Post colonialism -->

Throughout time countries have colonized as much land as possible. At some point at least ¾ of the world has been owned by Spain and England.  In world war two Germany invaded Poland and Japan was trying to dominate Asia and the Pacific. Post colonialism looks at how this has affected the world today.

Discussion activity -->

People think our nationality is where we are born. However, some people are not born in the same country they have lived in for all of their lives but still see themselves to be from that nationality. Also some people can be classed as dual-nationality as they own two passports from different countries. Just because we are a multi-cultural Britain does not mean we are still not segregated into groups.

Post colonialism gives us an understanding of the complications of trying to put people into boxes, as some people are able to break away from the set boxes. For example someone of dual heritage wouldn’t fit in any of the specific boxes given when asked about nationality.

Applying Post colonialism to identity -->

Benedict Anderson talks about ‘imagined communities’, he says that our race and nationality are made up communities. Similarity in physical appearance, religious belief and a shared historic background create a nation, and anyone who id different is considered a threat.

Thomas Friedman says that ‘people are still attached to their culture, language and a place called home. And they will sing for home, cry for home, fight for home and die for home’. An example of this would be people who join the military to fight for their country.

Personal freedom -->

America’s constitution enshrines the pursuit of happiness; we must be happy and enjoy our lives. Other cultures do not follow this ideology, and what we would see as severe limits placed upon personal freedom in counties such as Afghanistan, China and Iran, are not severe to them as they do not share the same ideology as us.

Representation and identity --> 

Images we see in the media of ‘other’ races and nationalities is said to influence our reactions to people in everyday life. In the media we see different terms used for different ethnic groups. For example when a white person commits a terrible crime he would just be called a ‘killer’ where as if a person of different ethnicity committed the crime the term would be ‘terrorist’.

Angela Barry identified three stereotypes of black people which we mostly use in the media. She termed these ‘trouble maker’, ‘entertainer’ and ‘dependent’

Applying post colonialism to culture -->

This links to the myth of western superiority:

·          - Most beauty products advertised are used by white/western women or men, this is called               Eurocentric beauty. For example Michael Jackson lightened his skin as he felt that he would be more attractive.

·        -  Also other countries are having the English language imposed on them. For example in Spain children start to learn English at the age of four.

This is due to the western world being stronger in terms of their military and economic background, making it easier to impose western values on the rest of the world.


Edward Said’s concept of the ‘other’ -->
We reinforce our own self-esteem as a race by comparing ourselves favourably with those of other races, claiming superiority over them.

Post colonialism, the concept of the ‘other’ is seen to be less powerful, and with higher concentration on fundamental similarities

We now have cultural hybridisation; we eat food from different countries and culture. For example eating at Chinese and Indian restaurants. We also celebrate differences by hosting events such as the Olympics and the football world cup, to show the best aspects of our countries.

Critical approaches in A2 comms

Critical approaches à

Post colonialism

Marxism

Market liberalism

Feminism

Post modernism                                                    These are different ways of looking at the world

 

Post colonialism is based around equality between race and nationality in our society. It’s the way we see people as different through music, clothes, food and shopping.

Feminism is based on equality between the genders, through the work place, what we wear and how we are perceived by the opposite gender.

Marxism and market liberalism is based around money and power. It looks at how people gain and use power to oppress people worse off than them.

Post modernism is based around the question does the world make sense?

Comparison between ‘let the right one in’ and ‘the lost boys’

In ‘let the right one in’ the vampire in the film doesn’t seem to be enjoying the fact she is a vampire, we know this because Eli doesn’t like going out and killing people herself. Eli doesn’t do normal human things until she meets Oskar and even then she tries not to do human activities, and tries to avoid any attention that could be given to her.  In comparison David and the other vampires in ‘the lost boys’ go out at night and ride around on their motor bikes creating the attention to be drawn to them, it seems like they are purposely making people be afraid of them by intimidating them with their motor bikes and loud shrieks/ shouting as they ride through the Santa Carla board walk. David and the other vampires clearly enjoy the fact that they are vampires, due to the fact that they choose certain types of targets almost to create more fun. We see this when they target a whole group of teenage boys as they are partying on the beach.

‘The lost boys’ seems to be focused around the 1980’s the American fear that teenagers might rebel against the typical American lifestyle. David and the other vampires loom like they were purposely rebelling against everything of the time. In Santa Carla the other people were wearing very colourful clothes and had normal haircuts of the 1980’s however, the lost boys wore mainly black and had rocker style haircuts. Whereas, ‘let the right one in’ is focused around the European fear for their children, they didn’t want their children to be isolated and left unemployed due to this. Oskar and Eli both have been isolated by their peers or because of their lifestyle and this helps to reflect the isolation of people who were worse off in the 1980’s. Eli and Oskar both looked like they were just trying to blend into the background of their surroundings by isolating themselves off from the outside world.

The difference in non-verbal communication between the two films sends very diverse messages. In ‘the lost boys’ the characters are very open and in your face with everything they do.  David is particularly open within his non-verbal communication and this seems to be because he is sort of the leader of the boys. This causes the audience to be resilient towards David as he seems to enjoy killing people and being able to control everything the other vampires in the group do. Whereas in ‘let the right one in’ Eli is very much closed off in her non-verbal body language. This helps us as the watcher to emphasis with Eli as her body language helps to show the innocence of the character and helps to highlight the fact she doesn’t really want to be a vampire.