Smashing Stereotypes

Gillette 1989/2019- Masculinity

• Traditional Vs Contemporary representation of masculinity 
• Future Audience - Changing brand image 
• #MeToo Movement - Global Cultural shift in gender politics - Harvey Weinstein accusation lead to a conversation about what constitutes harassment. 

What is Masculinity? 

• Male Roles 
• Male Behaviour
• What people expect from a Male  
• Tough 
• Hard Working 
• Breadwinner

What is Femininity?  - Equal Rights and Equality

• Female Roles 
• Female Behaviour
• Housewife 
• Soft  
• Emotional 
• Weak

Key Concepts Re: Gender

• Sex is a system of classification based on a combination of biological and physiological factors (generally male or female)

• Gender refers to the culture meaning that is ascribed to a person's sed (generally labeled masculine or feminine)

The media and its influence on gender stereotypes 

• From an early age, children are socialised and encouraged to perform specific gender roles and conform to gender roles 

• The repetition of gendered narratives and images in the media has helped to shape cultural norms around what it means to be a man or woman, masculine or feminine 

What is it? Origins? Is Feminism needed? 

• Feminism is equaled to rights for men and women. 
• In the UK, Suffragettes were the 1st Feminist, 1900
• The gender pay gap and US Abortion law

Waves of Feminism

• First Wave: Late C19th - Early C20th century the UK and the US
• Second Wave: 1990s-
• Third Wave: 2008-
• Fourth Wave: 2008-
• Post Feminism theory - (During the third and fourth wave) 

First Wave - C19th and early C20th

First-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity and thought that occurred during the 19th and early 20th centuries throughout the Western world. It focused on legal issues, primarily on gaining the right to vote. 

• USA 1848: 300 Men and Women met to rally for women's rights and Seneca Falls Convention in New York
• In the UK the Suffragettes and Suffragists campaigned for the Women's vote. The first Suffrage movement was led by Millicent Fawcett in 1897. Later leaders include Emmeline Pankhurst 
• 1918: Women over 30 who owned property won the vote 
• 1929: it was extended to all women over twenty-one 
• New Zealand was the first countrywomen was to win the vote then Australia 

Second Wave: 1960s-1990s  

• Inspired by the civil rights movements - focusing on issues like sexuality and reproductive rights (women's rights to the pill and attitudes to abortion).
• 1963: Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique in which she argues women were unhappy because of the feminine mystique, a damaging ideal of femininity which she called ''The Happy Housewife'' which restricted women to the role of housewife and mother, giving up on work and education.
• Feminine accessories such as make-up and high heels as symbols of oppression (cruel exercise of authority) - Viewed stereotypically!
• 1975: Film theorist Laura Mulvey publishes Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema which presents the theory of the male gaze
• It is argued that 1st, 2nd, and 3rd waves ignore the fight for equal rights and the end to discrimination by women outside the large feminist movements in the UK and US, including working-class women and black and Ethnic minority women.

Third Wave - 1990s 

• Ideas beyond middle class, white women, addressing the different disadvantage women experience because of, for example, their race, ethnicity, and class
• Believed women should each define their own femininity and that traditionally feminine traits or accessories did not have to viewed as outside the realm of feminism. This is inclusive and progressive feminism. Some key thinkers: 
• 1989: Kimberle Crenshaw introduced the concept of Intersectionality 
• 1990: Judith Butler publishes Gender Trouble 
• The first wave fought for and gained the right women to vote. The second wave fought for the right for women to have access to an equal opportunity in the workforce, as well as the end if legal sex discrimination. Third Wave of feminisms allegedly lacks a cohesive goal!

Intersectionality

• The term emerged from work carried out by bell hooks, a black American feminist whose work includes Reel to Real; Race, Sex and Class at the movies
• Intersectionality as a term was adopted by academic and activist Kimberle Crenshaw. It Refers to the intersection of race, capitalism and gender, anad how these interlocking systems impact us. 

Judith Butler: Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, 1990

• Butler suggests gender is not the result of nature but is socially constructed
• She views males and female behaviour not as the result of biology but constructed and reinforced through media and culture 
• She views gender as performative rather than part of our nature, that we act out our gender
• This Theory sees the media and culture as offering men and women a range of scripts for gender roles, which audiences both interpret and perform in their daily lives.

Fourth Wave: 2013 

• Some Feminist academics argue that the internet and social media form a fourth wave, the focus is on intersectionality, bodily autonomy and campaigns against harassment.
• Often associated with online feminism, especially using facebook, twitter, instagram, youtube, tumblr, and other forms of social media to discuss, uplist and activate gender equality and social justice.
• In some quarters it has gained the reputation as being a lazy form of activism as, for example when people participate on twitter they don't feel the need to do anything else to help the effort.
• Some may think of themselves as activists while never bothering to attend a single raffle or extend their message behind theri twitter fan base 
• A reputation as being lazy
• Me too Movement: Tarana Burke started it

Post-Feminism

• Harder to define but is generally considered to be 3rd and 4th wave feminism. which begun om the 1990s. The word 'post' suggests that feminism isn't relevant anymore because women have won equal rights.
• Old and new ideas brought about but also rejection of some earlier ideas. 
• Many media texts (made in this time) take a playful and irreverent (disrespectful) attitude to the traditional gender roles of the past.
• Certain music videos, for example, exaggerate the male gaze as a form of parody of objectification e.g, Beyonce’s Run the World’ 2011. Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle works similarly with the main characters assuming dominant active roles interspersed with long lingering examples of the male gaze.

What is Post Feminist Theory?

• The introduction of equal pay for equal work, equal rights legislation as well as increased numbers of women in both higher education and the workforce created new opportunities and choices for women.
• Move towards a fairer society saw women finally enjoying many of the rights and privileges that had previously only been available to men.
• From this perspective, it has been argued that feminism is no longer necessary.
• The term comes from post-modernism, which is a mix and match approach.  Characterised by things such as parody, intertextuality and mixing up narratives and genres.  Post-feminists might take the elements of feminism they like (e.g. a strong woman) and mix this with a stereotypical femininity (heavy makeup, skimpy clothing etc.). See: Nicki Minaj, Miley Cyrus etc..