Identities and the Media: Feminism

1) Read Playing With The Past: Post-feminism and the Media (MM40, page 64 - our Media Magazine archive is here).

2) What are the two texts the article focuses on?

Beyonce Music Video (Why Don't you Love me?) and HBO's Pam An
3) What examples are provided from the two texts of the 'male gaze' (Mulvey)?

How they dress Beyonce in the music video is parts is very sexualised with outfits where she wears skin tight clothing or tights which is used to pleasure men due to men's needs for women to have a perfect body, hair and make up

They showcase the main character of the show in a highly sexual way in the front cover of the magazine. The key part of this is that it generates a male gaze for men and visual pleasures such as a uniform, perfect hair and body with the males loving all does kind of things which males them.
4) Do texts such as these show there is no longer a need for feminism or are they simply sexism in a different form?

I believe that these text do not empower women at all I believe that it is the complete opposite to what they are trying to do. With Beyonce's music video they used gender roles as a way to showcase how far women have come from pre-conceived stereotypes from the 1920's which is what the music video is referencing but I believe that it does more damage is bring back does stereotypes rather than bring them up and if we want to empower women we should be forgetting this era of male misogyny and focus on the future.
5) Choose three words/phrases from the glossary of the article and write their definitions on your blog.

Feminism: A movement aimed at defining, establishing, and defending women’s rights and equality to men. 

Post-feminism: An ideology in culture and society that society is somehow past needing feminism and that the attitudes and arguments of feminism are no longer needed. 

Third wave feminism: Was a movement that redefined and encouraged women to be dominant and sexually assertive.

No More Page 3


1) Research the No More Page 3 campaign. Who started it and why?

Lucy-Ann-Collins is the person who started this campaign due to her belief that  newspapers should stop having page 3 and stop having women on newspapers that are only going to be on there for male gaze only.

2) What are the six reasons the campaign gives for why Page 3 has to go?

1) It’s 2014! Page 3 was first introduced in the sexist 1970s. A lot has changed over the last 30+ years in our society, we think it’s time The Sun caught up…

2) It’s soft porn in the UK’s no.1 selling family newspaper that children are exposed to. Until 2003 the models were only 16 (and made to dress up in school ties and hats – seriously!) It’s never been OK. One day we’ll look back on this and think “oh my goodness, we did what?!”

3) What does it teach children? They see page after page of pictures of men in clothes doing stuff (running the country, having opinions, achieving in sport!) and what are the women doing in this society they’re learning about? Not much really, other than standing topless in their pants showing their bare breasts for men. It’s not really fair, is it?

4) Women say, do and think so many interesting and incredible things and should be celebrated for their many achievements. They are people, not things! Not ‘that’. The fact that we hear ‘look at the tits on that’ or ‘I’d do that’ is disgusting, disrespectful and objectifying. Page 3 of The Sun is the icon that perpetuates and normalises this horrible sexist ‘banter’.

5) Every single weekday for the last 44 years in The Sun newspaper the largest female image has been of a young woman (usually of a very particular age, race, physicality) showing her breasts for men, sending out a powerful message that whatever else a woman achieves, her primary role is to serve men sexually. Pretty rubbish that really.

6) The Sun newspaper could be so much stronger without Page 3. Because currently, any story they run about women’s issues such as rape, sexual abuse, harassment, domestic violence or the dangers of online porn is drowned out and contradicted by the neon flashing sign of Page 3 that says ‘shut up, girls, and get your tits out.’

3) Read this debate in the Guardian regarding whether the campaign should be dropped. What are Barbara Ellen and Susan Boniface's contrasting opinions in the debate?

Susan Boniface believes that Page 3 should be banned due to how outdated it is as a page and how it's pretty much a waste of a page which can be used for better things. She also states that back in the 1970's boobs where harder to come by which is why that added them in the first place. But with the raise of the porn industry their is no need of boobs on page 3.

However Barbara Ellen believes that Page 3 shouldn't be banned and that if women didn't want to be sexualised and not having their boobs out for the camera they just wouldn't do it but as long as women are ok in doing it why should they ban it.

4) How can the No More Page 3 campaign be linked to the idea of post-feminism?

Page 3 is one of the staples of Newspapers, it's been around for 45 years now and now we live in a more equal rights world where women want to be tried with the same level of respect to men and they believe Page 3 is outdated and not needed this is how it likes because women do not want this in their newspapers and are fighting to get rid of it so that it never comes back.
5) What are your OWN views on the No More Page 3 campaign. Do you agree with the campaign's aims? Should the campaign continue?

I agree with getting rid of page 3, I agree with a lot of Susan Boniface's points when it comes to her beliefs on page 3 because if page 3 disappeared right now the people that are looking for boobs can just go on the internet and just type in porn and they will have all the breasts they need rather a page of a dying format instead so I agree with the campaign and it should continue on with what it is doing.
6) Do you agree that we are in a post-feminist state or is there still a need for feminism?

I feel like we are in a mix between living in a post-feminist state and still needed feminism because on one hand we now have women making more money than men in their twenty's which is something I never would have thought would ever happen but on the other hand we still have a lot of pre-conceived gender stereotypes that are still prominent showcased by Laura Bates so I believe that there is still a need to have feminism to break down the pre-conceived made by men many years ago.