1. Week 5

2. Class essays Answer the question Make an argument (“In this essay, I will argue that….because….”) Clear structure (layout in introduction) Avoid: feel / believe / think / in my opinion Support your argument with evidence Treat literature critically Read widely; reference thoroughly Proof-read (for clarity; for typos; for grammar / punc)

3. Gender and the media Range of aspects have been addressed in the literature Textual analysis Production Reception Variety of types of media Magazines / newpapers Fiction TV and film Digital media Advertising

4. Why do people read magazines?

5. Why have feminists been interested in magazines?

6. Concerns…. Ideological concerns Narrow representations Offensive; objectification of women Teaching women to please men Low culture; trivial Body image Sexually explicit (but only re: women’s mags)

7. Theory / methods Content analysis Quantitative Presumption that media should mirror society Focus on “bad” stereotypes (leaves rest of media intact) No distinction between levels of meaning

8. Theory / methods Semiotics Unpacking meanings we create in texts Sign / signifier (Saussure) iconic / indexical / symbolic signs Denotation / connotation

9. Theory / methods Ideological critiques Looking for connections between cultural representations and power relations Based on the idea that social relations come to be seen as natural and inevitable Those who control material means of production also control production and distribution of ideas Move beyond study of single images to see patterns and themes

10. Theory / methods Discourse analysis Takes discourse itself as its topic Language is constructive Discourse as oriented towards action Organised rhetorically (to persuade)

11. Reception research (an example) “the fallacy of meaningfulness” (Hermes 1995: 16) Investment in texts is not necessarily connected to those texts Content has “in some sense, to be relevant to the fantasies, anxieties and preoccupations of readers (Hermes 1995: 64)

12. Media production (an example) Changes in modes of production Changes in gender relations New methodologies in publishing (market research) New technologies (bar codes) Mags have to appeal to advertisers and consumers

14. Men’s magazines 1990’s – the rise of lads’ mags (Loaded, FHM, Zoo, Nuts) Response to the “new man”? Response to feminism / changing gender relations? Use of irony to deflect criticism; post-feminist sensibility Essentialised sex differences Not a direct parallel to women’s mags

15. Working with the media –a cautionary tale

17. Summary of key points We live in a world saturated by media / ICT The media is a technology of gender - it both reflects and (re)produces gender relations There are a number of aspects to media analysis; different perspectives produce different knowledges Beware “hypodermic” models of media reception The meanings of specific media products are always contingent; individual images / articles need to be put in context People use the media in different ways / to different ends (it cannot be taken at face value)