CULTURAL STUDIES

1. CULTURAL STUDIES 4. Gender and Sexuality

2. Gender and sexuality • This chapter is concerned with sexuality and gender, that is with the character of men and women in contemporary socities. • We will explore the social construction of sexed subjects with reference to questions of cultural representation.

3. Gender is perhaps the basic category we use for sorting human beings, and it is a key issue when discussing representation. • Essential elements of our own identity, and the identities we assume other people to have, come from concepts of gender and sex.

4. Many objects, not just humans, are represented by the media as being particularly masculine or feminine - particularly in advertising - and we grow up with an awareness of what constitutes 'appropriate' characteristics for each gender.

5. Feminism and cultural studiesPatriarchy, equality and difference • Feminism and cultural studies have shared a substantive interest in issues of power, representation, popular culture, subjectivity, identities and consumption. • In general, feminism asserts that sex is a fundamental and ireducible axis of social organization which, to date has subordinated women to men.

6. Feminism is centrally concerned with sex as an organizing principle of social life and one that is thoroughly saturated with power relations. • Feminists have argued that the subordination of women occurs across a whole range of social institutions and practices. • This structural subordination of women has been described by feminists as patriarchy, a concept that has connotations with male-headed familiy, mastery and superiority.

7. Feminism is concerned with two key issues • 1. to win citizen rights (voting and equality before the law) • 2. to influence cultural representations and norms in ways that are beneficial to women

8. Sex, Gender and Identity • Common sense suggests that the biochemical and genetic structures of humans determine the behavior of men and women in quite definite ways. • Men are held to be ‘naturally’ domineering, power hungry and hierarchically oriented while women are seen as nurturing, child rearing and domesticaly inclined.

9. Some writers in cultural studies rejected the influence of biology in favor of understanding masculinity and femininity as cultural constructions. • Actually, arguments for cultural construction of gendered identity and evidence for a genetic core to sexual difference are not neccesarily contradictory.

10. The language of biology enables us to make bheavioral and bodily predictions. At the same time, what it means to be gendered reamins a cultural question. • On the other hand, there is evdience that points out to the predictability of a range of male and female capabilities and behavior that comes form genetics.

11. On the other hand, there are also clear indications that masculinity and femininity are changable. • We can make a dinstiction between identity as a social construction and those human capacities and behaviors that corralate highly with certain biochemicals in the brain. • The language of culture helps to re-cast the way we talk about and perform ‘sex’ and ‘gender’.

12. The science of sex • There is a considrable evidence to suggest genetic and biochemical difference between men and women in relation to language ability, spatial judgement, aggression, sex drive etc. • Genetic science and biochemistry suggest that there are material i.e. chemical limits to behavioral possibilities. (hormones) • Women are more verbal, co-operative and organized than men • Men show greater spatial, mathemetical and motor skills than women

13. The social construction of gender and sex • Sex is taken to be the biology of the body while gender refers to the cultural assumptions and practices that govern the social construction of men and women. • Subsequently, it is the social, cultural and political discourses and practices of gender that are said to lie at the root of women’s subordination. • However, the sex-gender distinction is now itself the subject of criticsm. • Since gender is a cultural construct, it is said to be maleable in a way that biology may not be.

14. Gender, Representation and Media Culture • The concept of stereotype occupies a prominent place within the ‘images of women’ perspective. • You can construct your own table of 'typical' male/female characteristics, as perpetuated by the media. • Activity: Try to list at least ten for each.

18. The issue is, that although these different role models may at first glance appear to be very varied, do they actually represent enough of a range of men/women? • Are we simply given variations on a stereotype that become sub-stereotypes in themselves? • By adopting role models and parading them through the media as people it is desirable to 'be', are we stunting individual growth?

19. Representations of Femininity • Since feminism has been a recognized social philosophy for more than thirty years, and the changes that have occurred in women's roles in western society during that time have been nothing short of phenomenal. • Yet media representations of women remain worryingly constant. • Does this reflect that the status of women has not really changed or that the male-dominated media does not want to accept it has changed?

20. Representations of women -Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following: • beauty (within narrow conventions) • size/physique (again, within narrow conventions) • sexuality (as expressed by the above) • emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings • relationships (as opposed to independence/freedom)

21. Representations of women • Women are often represented as being part of a context (family, friends, colleagues) and working/thinking as part of a team. • In drama, they tend to take the role of helper (Propp) or object, passive rather than active. Often their passivity extends to victimhood.

22. Gender and Role Models • It is undeniable that the media shapes our conceptions of what it means to be male or female. • We encounter many different male and female role models in the course of a day's media consumption.

23. The bitch, the witch and matriarch • Diana Meehan’s analysis of women on US television counted number of representations of women: • the imp: rebellious, sexual, tomboy • The good wife: domestic, attractive, home-centred • The harpy: aggresive, single • The bitch: sneak, cheat, manipulative • The decoy: apparantly helpless, actually strong • The siren: sexually lures men to a bad end • The courtesan: inhabits saloons, cabarets, prostitution • The witch: extra power, but subordinated to men • The matriarch, authority of family role, older, desexed

24. Male characters Self-centred Decisive Self-confident Seeing a place in a larger world Rational Dominat paternal Female characters Sacrificing Dependent Anxious to please Defining the world through family Emotional Subordinate maternal Attributes of masculinity and femininity on Indian Television (Krishnan and Digeh, 1990)

25. Representations of women • The representations of women that do make it onto page and screen do tend to be stereotypical, in terms of conforming to societal expectations. • Characters who do not fit into the mould tend to be seen as dangerous and deviant.

26. Men and Masculinity • What is to male varies across time and space so that masculinity can be understood as a cultural construct. • Since the Enlightment men have been associated with metaphors of reason, control and distance. • The language of modernity stresses the gulf between feminine-coded private world and the masculine-coded public world.

27. Problematic masculinity • Men have accultured to seek esteem through public performance and recognition of achivement (sports, eduacation, job, sex). • This performance orientation of this kind is manifested in grandioisty, on the one hand, and deep feelings of depression, on the other hand.

28. According to Warren Farrell (1993) men are ‘disposable gender’. They die in war and suicide more often than women are also most common victims of violence, overwork and mental illness. Of course men also commit 90 percent of the convicted acts of violence, and comprise 90 percent of the inmates in jails.

29. Some writers argue that without the guidance and training of that a loving father can give,men don’t learn enough of the skills required for living, including the ability to give, to care and to receive.

30. The betrayal of modern man • Forged through war and work, the modern man was accultured to value being useful at work, to his family and to the community at large. • Recent developments (wars, unemployment, feminism, migration etc.) undermined the confidence and security of men.

31. Ornamental culture is the culture of celebrity, image, entertainment and marketing, all underpinned by consumerism. • Manhood has become game to be won in the market place. And in the absence of alternative vision on masculinity men faces a series of trouble. ( loosing craftmanship, impossible dreams and impossible depts-car, house, turning into crime)

32. Young modern man

33. Representations of Masculinity -'Masculinity' is a concept that is made up of more rigid stereotypes than femininity. Representations of men across all media tend to focus on the following: • Strength - physical and intellectual • Power • Sexual attractiveness (which may be based on the above) • Physique • Independence (of thought, action)

34. Representations of Masculinity • Male characters are often represented as isolated, as not needing to rely on others (the lone hero). • If they capitulate to being part of a family, it is often part of the resolution of a narrative, rather than an integral factor in the initial equilibrium.

35. Representations of Masculinity • Media representations of masculinity become more specifically targeted at audiences with product promotion in mind (think of the huge profits now made from male fashion, male skin & hair care products, fitness products such as weights, clothing etc).

36. Therefore, men are encouraged (just as women have been for many years) to aspire to be like (to look/behave in the same way) the role models they see in magazines. • This is often an unrealistic target to set, and awareness of this is growing.

37. Representations of Masculinity • Whilst some men are concerned about living up to the ideal types represented in magazines, others are worried by what they perceive as an increasing anti-male bias in the media. • There is growing support for the idea that men are represented unfairly in the media.

40. Homosexuality • Homosexuality is still not fully accepted in today's society and traditional patriarchal portrayals of both men and women are still dominant, with few exceptions to such images. • This is, perhaps, particularly true of men. Whilst patriarchal images of the weak, male-dominated woman remain, in many respects such limited views have begun to change within our society.

41. Homophobia (from Greek homós: one and the same; phóbos: fear, phobia) is a term used to describe irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuals. It can also mean "irrationalfear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals". (wikipedia) Homophobia

42. Two teenage boys - one under 18 - were publicly hanged in 2005 by the Islamist regime in Iranfor being gay. Homophobia

43. However, men are still seen to be powerful, successful and rational in thinking. It is still uncommon for a man to appear emotional and sensitive. • As a result of this homosexuality is rarely seen on network television, and representations of sexuality have been severely restricted and largely confined to the cinema.

44. Representation of Gay people • Feminine, flamboyant, ephemeral, frail, even riddled with AIDS: these are some of the metaphors of the gay male body today.

45. TV and Gay people • There are several ways in which gays and lesbians are portrayed on television, many of which, arguably, create problems both for the program maker and for the viewer. • When homosexuals do appear as characters on television programmes, they are usually depicted as negatively as "villains or victims of ridicule" (Gross 1989 cited in Craig 1992, p195). • The portrayal of homosexual characters on television is complex in that gayness is, essentially, invisible.

46. Therefore, it is difficult to identify gay or lesbian characters. • As a consequence of this, programs have adopted signs of gayness in order to portray characters' sexualities as quickly as possible. • Such signs include certain gestures, clothing and even codes of language adopted in order to visualize an individual's homosexuality.

47. Gays and lesbians have been categorized negatively, often being seen to be morally degenerate. • This has led to negative stereotypical portrayals of both gays and lesbians which have become so well recognized that certain homosexual organizations such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation (GLAAD), have challenged such views, arguing that although they may perform homosexual acts, gays and lesbians are, in every other respect, the same as heterosexual people.

48. However, whilst such categorizations of homosexuals on television may have furthered negative stereotypical views it is, although wrong, important to recognize the need for such categorization when portraying homosexual characters due to a lack of physical differentiation from other characters.

49. Representations of gay people • Homosexuals are also portrayed by what is known as the "macho" look, which relies upon an excess of masculinity. • The macho type is often used to depict homosexuality in comedy, as seen in the film Police Academy in which two police officers find themselves trapped in a downtown gay club surrounded by men, all of whom are portrayed by the macho image.

50. Although portrayed as a humorous type it is, perhaps, seen to be a threatening image of homosexuality because it is concerned with the exaggeration of masculinity rather than femininity.