Popular Culture, Political Economy And The Death Of Feminism: Why Women Are In Refrigerators And Other Stories (popular Culture And World Politics)

Synopsis

This Volume Seeks To Offer A Critical, Innovative And Empirically Driven Interrogation Of The International Political Economy Of Cultures Of Production And Consumption In Western Market Societies, Investigating The Reproduction Of Western Popular And Commercial Culture (including Its Products And Representations) Alongside Analysis Of Representations Of And Attitudes Towards Feminism In Contemporary Western Societies. Many Scholars Have Examined The Marginalisation Of Feminist Concerns In Contemporary Western Societies, Argued That We Now Live In A Post-feminist Age, Or Shown How Feminist Concerns Have Been Appropriated And Absorbed By Institutions That Contribute To The Perpetuation Of Gender Inequalities. Death Of Feminism? Furthers This Debate By Focusing On How These Very Arguments Depend Upon A Cultural Political Economy That Has Gendered Understandings Of Everyday Life, Gendered Patterns Of Consumption, And Gendered Predominant Forms Of Commercial Capitalism That Circulate At The Global Level. This Book Will Provide Significant Insight Into How Cultural Artefacts Of The Past Decade In The Uk, Us, And Australia Have Made Use Of Gendered Representations For The Purposes Of Promoting Specific Forms Of Consumption, How These Artefacts Can Be (and Have Been) Understood As Gendered, And The Political Consequences Of These Representations And Understandings. Written In An Accessible Fashion, Analysing A Broad Range Of Commercial And Popular Culture Artefacts (including Advertising, Radio, Television, Film And Online Media) And Including Primary Data From Interviews And Focus Groups, This Work Will Of Use To Students And Scholars Of Ir, Ipe, Gender, Cultural And Media Studies-- This Book Explores The Intimate Connections Between Representation, The Politics Of Feminism And The Cultural Practices Of Modern, Western, Consumer Society. It Explores Feminism 'made Sensible' Through Visual Imagery And Popular Culture Representations, Examining Feminism's Popular And Commercial Value. It Investigates How Popular Culture Is Produced, Represented And Consumed To Reproduce The Conditions In Which Feminism Is Valued Or Dismissed. It Asks Where And How The Sexualisation Of Cultural Products Is Maintained And To What Effect. It Asks, Finally, Whether Sufficient Evidence Can Be Marshalled To Argue That Antifeminism Exists In Commodity Form And Is Commercially Viable-- Machine Generated Contents Note: 1. Introductions -- Background -- Strategy(ies) Of Research -- Notes -- 2. Analysing Popular Culture -- Popular Culture And The Importance Of Visual Language In Studying Global Politics -- `culture', Popular Culture And (erroneous) High /low Binaries -- Popular Culture And Political Economy -- Commercial Viability And (cultural) Popularity -- Notes -- 3. Popular Culture, Produced, Represented And Consumed -- Production -- Representation -- Consumption -- Notes -- 4. Feminism(s), Feminists And The (enduring) `popularity Gap' -- Feminist `successes': How Feminists Have Changed Things -- The (premature) Burial Of Feminism -- Australia And `men In Blue Ties' -- The Sexualization Of Popular Culture And The Recentralization Of Feminist Concerns -- Notes -- 5. In Popular Form (feminism And Antifeminism In Popular Culture) -- Overt Antifeminism (1) Why The Development Of Decent Female Movie Characters Is Not Encouraged -- Overt Antifeminism (2) Why Women Are In Refrigerators -- Overt Antifeminism (3) Why Games With Female Characters Don't Sell -- Overt Antifeminism (4) Why Men Are Entitled To Sex But (independent) Female Sexuality Is Unacceptable -- Overt Antifeminism (5) Why Stupid Girls Are More Profitable -- Overt Antifeminism (6) Why Feminists Can Only Be Characterized Negatively In Popular Culture -- Tacit Antifeminism (1) Why `strong Female Characters' Have Become Boring -- Tacit Antifeminism (2) Why Hollywood Is Not Good At `girl Power' -- Tacit Antifeminism (3) Why Women Shouldn't Read The Economist -- Tacit Antifeminism (4) Why Men's Lifestyle Magazines Reflect Sexual Paranoia -- Tacit Antifeminism (5) Why The Media Promotes `enlightened Sexism' -- Overt Feminism (1) Young Women Are Interested In And Actually Practice Feminism -- Overt Feminism (2) The Enduring Strength(s) Of Liberal Feminism (s) -- Overt Feminism (3) The (increasing) Popularity Of Celebrity Feminism -- Overt Feminism (4) `riot Grrrl', Sextremism And Guerilla Feminisms -- Tacit Feminism: Supportive But Not Self-professed -- Notes -- 6. Conclusions -- The Trouble With Ipe -- Feminism, Gender Tropes And Popular Culture -- Is Antifeminism More Commercially Viable Than Feminism? -- Note. Penny Griffin. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.