Previous studies into media representations of third-wave feminism suggest that contemporary femi... more Previous studies into media representations of third-wave feminism suggest that contemporary feminists are not demonised to the same extent as their predecessors. However they also indicate the susceptibility of third-wave political goals to co-option by mainstream media. SlutWalk has received unprecedented media coverage for a third-wave feminist movement, and provides a valuable opportunity to explore how media discourses continue to shape our understandings of feminist goals and politics in the Australian context. Based on a discourse analysis of 64 articles, this paper explores how Australian newspapers capitalised on the controversial title and attire of SlutWalk participants but failed to engage with the third-wave feminist politics that informed the movement – particularly the third-wave politics of appearance. Overall, this paper argues that Australian newspapers favoured a decontextualised and depoliticised account of SlutWalk. The intended subversive intent of some participants‘ racy attire was lost and the outfits were subsequently co-opted as buying into the patriarchy or a symptom of raunch culture. Such a representation painted the movement as decidedly anti-feminist, thus limiting its legitimacy and ability to effect social change.
Background: Women considering female genital cosmetic surgery (FGCS) are likely to use the intern... more Background: Women considering female genital cosmetic surgery (FGCS) are likely to use the internet as a key source of information during the decision-making process. The aim of this systematic review was to determine what is known about the role of the internet in the promotion and normalisation of female genital cosmetic surgery and to identify areas for future research.
Methods: Eight social science, medical, and communication databases and Google Scholar were searched for peer-reviewed papers published in English. Results from all papers were analysed to identify recurring and unique themes.
Results: Five papers met inclusion criteria. Three of the papers reported investigations of website content of FGCS providers, a fourth compared motivations for labiaplasty publicised on provider websites with those disclosed by women in online communities, and the fifth analysed visual depictions of female genitalia in online pornography. Analysis yielded five significant and interrelated patterns of representation, each functioning to promote and normalise the practice of FGCS: pathologisation of genital diversity; female genital appearance as important to wellbeing; characteristics of women’s genitals are important for sex life; female body as degenerative and improvable through surgery; and FGCS as safe, easy, and effective. A significant gap was identified in the literature: the ways in which user-generated content might function to perpetuate, challenge, or subvert the normative discourses prevalent in online pornography and surgical websites.
Conclusions: Further research is needed to contribute to knowledge of the role played by the internet in the promotion and normalisation of female genital cosmetic surgery.
The Australian Sociological Association Annual Conference (TASA 2013) Conference Proceedings, Nov 2013
Popular perceptions of feminism have long been coloured by media discourses, particularly those r... more Popular perceptions of feminism have long been coloured by media discourses, particularly those relating to perceived deviance or internal division. Indeed, suffragists and second-wave feminists were regularly derided in the mainstream media for their refusal to adhere to cultural ideals of femininity. Although a limited number of studies into representations of third-wave feminism suggest that contemporary feminists are not demonised to the same extent, they have also shown the susceptibility of third-wave and goals to depoliticisation and commodification by mainstream media. Given that SlutWalk has received unprecedented media coverage for a third-wave feminist movement, it is a valuable opportunity to explore how these discourses continue to shape our understandings of feminist goals and politics. Based on a discourse analysis of 74 articles, this paper explores how Australian newspapers capitalised on the controversial title and tactics of SlutWalk but failed to engage with the third-wave feminist politics that informed the movement – particularly the politics of appearance. Overall, this paper argues that Australian newspapers favoured a de-contextualised and depoliticised account of SlutWalk, thus limiting the movement’s legitimacy and ability to effect social change.
Popular perceptions of feminism have long been coloured by media discourses, particularly those r... more Popular perceptions of feminism have long been coloured by media discourses, particularly those relating to perceived deviance or internal division. Indeed, suffragists and second-wave feminists were regularly derided in the mainstream media for their refusal to adhere to cultural ideals of femininity. Although a limited number of studies into representations of third-wave feminism suggest that contemporary feminists are not demonised to the same extent, they have also shown the susceptibility of third-wave and goals to depoliticisation and commodification by mainstream media. Given that SlutWalk has received unprecedented media coverage for a third-wave feminist movement, it is a valuable opportunity to explore how these discourses continue to shape our understandings of feminist goals and politics. Based on a discourse analysis of 74 articles, this paper explores how Australian newspapers capitalised on the controversial title and tactics of SlutWalk but failed to engage with the third-wave feminist politics that informed the movement – particularly the politics of appearance. Overall, this paper argues that Australian newspapers favoured a de-contextualised and depoliticised account of SlutWalk, thus limiting the movement’s legitimacy and ability to effect social change.
Previous studies into media representations of third-wave feminism suggest that contemporary femi... more Previous studies into media representations of third-wave feminism suggest that contemporary feminists are not demonised to the same extent as their predecessors. However they also indicate the susceptibility of third-wave political goals to co-option by mainstream media. SlutWalk has received unprecedented media coverage for a third-wave feminist movement, and provides a valuable opportunity to explore how media discourses continue to shape our understandings of feminist goals and politics in the Australian context. Based on a discourse analysis of 64 articles, this paper explores how Australian newspapers capitalised on the controversial title and attire of SlutWalk participants but failed to engage with the third-wave feminist politics that informed the movement – particularly the third-wave politics of appearance. Overall, this paper argues that Australian newspapers favoured a decontextualised and depoliticised account of SlutWalk. The intended subversive intent of some participants‘ racy attire was lost and the outfits were subsequently co-opted as buying into the patriarchy or a symptom of raunch culture. Such a representation painted the movement as decidedly anti-feminist, thus limiting its legitimacy and ability to effect social change.
Background: Women considering female genital cosmetic surgery (FGCS) are likely to use the intern... more Background: Women considering female genital cosmetic surgery (FGCS) are likely to use the internet as a key source of information during the decision-making process. The aim of this systematic review was to determine what is known about the role of the internet in the promotion and normalisation of female genital cosmetic surgery and to identify areas for future research.
Methods: Eight social science, medical, and communication databases and Google Scholar were searched for peer-reviewed papers published in English. Results from all papers were analysed to identify recurring and unique themes.
Results: Five papers met inclusion criteria. Three of the papers reported investigations of website content of FGCS providers, a fourth compared motivations for labiaplasty publicised on provider websites with those disclosed by women in online communities, and the fifth analysed visual depictions of female genitalia in online pornography. Analysis yielded five significant and interrelated patterns of representation, each functioning to promote and normalise the practice of FGCS: pathologisation of genital diversity; female genital appearance as important to wellbeing; characteristics of women’s genitals are important for sex life; female body as degenerative and improvable through surgery; and FGCS as safe, easy, and effective. A significant gap was identified in the literature: the ways in which user-generated content might function to perpetuate, challenge, or subvert the normative discourses prevalent in online pornography and surgical websites.
Conclusions: Further research is needed to contribute to knowledge of the role played by the internet in the promotion and normalisation of female genital cosmetic surgery.
The Australian Sociological Association Annual Conference (TASA 2013) Conference Proceedings, Nov 2013
Popular perceptions of feminism have long been coloured by media discourses, particularly those r... more Popular perceptions of feminism have long been coloured by media discourses, particularly those relating to perceived deviance or internal division. Indeed, suffragists and second-wave feminists were regularly derided in the mainstream media for their refusal to adhere to cultural ideals of femininity. Although a limited number of studies into representations of third-wave feminism suggest that contemporary feminists are not demonised to the same extent, they have also shown the susceptibility of third-wave and goals to depoliticisation and commodification by mainstream media. Given that SlutWalk has received unprecedented media coverage for a third-wave feminist movement, it is a valuable opportunity to explore how these discourses continue to shape our understandings of feminist goals and politics. Based on a discourse analysis of 74 articles, this paper explores how Australian newspapers capitalised on the controversial title and tactics of SlutWalk but failed to engage with the third-wave feminist politics that informed the movement – particularly the politics of appearance. Overall, this paper argues that Australian newspapers favoured a de-contextualised and depoliticised account of SlutWalk, thus limiting the movement’s legitimacy and ability to effect social change.
Popular perceptions of feminism have long been coloured by media discourses, particularly those r... more Popular perceptions of feminism have long been coloured by media discourses, particularly those relating to perceived deviance or internal division. Indeed, suffragists and second-wave feminists were regularly derided in the mainstream media for their refusal to adhere to cultural ideals of femininity. Although a limited number of studies into representations of third-wave feminism suggest that contemporary feminists are not demonised to the same extent, they have also shown the susceptibility of third-wave and goals to depoliticisation and commodification by mainstream media. Given that SlutWalk has received unprecedented media coverage for a third-wave feminist movement, it is a valuable opportunity to explore how these discourses continue to shape our understandings of feminist goals and politics. Based on a discourse analysis of 74 articles, this paper explores how Australian newspapers capitalised on the controversial title and tactics of SlutWalk but failed to engage with the third-wave feminist politics that informed the movement – particularly the politics of appearance. Overall, this paper argues that Australian newspapers favoured a de-contextualised and depoliticised account of SlutWalk, thus limiting the movement’s legitimacy and ability to effect social change.
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Methods: Eight social science, medical, and communication databases and Google Scholar were searched for peer-reviewed papers published in English. Results from all papers were analysed to identify recurring and unique themes.
Results: Five papers met inclusion criteria. Three of the papers reported investigations of website content of FGCS providers, a fourth compared motivations for labiaplasty publicised on provider websites with those disclosed by women in online communities, and the fifth analysed visual depictions of female genitalia in online pornography. Analysis yielded five significant and interrelated patterns of representation, each functioning to promote and normalise the practice of FGCS: pathologisation of genital diversity; female genital appearance as important to wellbeing; characteristics of women’s genitals are important for sex life; female body as degenerative and improvable through surgery; and FGCS as safe, easy, and effective. A significant gap was identified in the literature: the ways in which user-generated content might function to perpetuate, challenge, or subvert the normative discourses prevalent in online pornography and surgical websites.
Conclusions: Further research is needed to contribute to knowledge of the role played by the internet in the promotion and normalisation of female genital cosmetic surgery.
Conference Papers
Methods: Eight social science, medical, and communication databases and Google Scholar were searched for peer-reviewed papers published in English. Results from all papers were analysed to identify recurring and unique themes.
Results: Five papers met inclusion criteria. Three of the papers reported investigations of website content of FGCS providers, a fourth compared motivations for labiaplasty publicised on provider websites with those disclosed by women in online communities, and the fifth analysed visual depictions of female genitalia in online pornography. Analysis yielded five significant and interrelated patterns of representation, each functioning to promote and normalise the practice of FGCS: pathologisation of genital diversity; female genital appearance as important to wellbeing; characteristics of women’s genitals are important for sex life; female body as degenerative and improvable through surgery; and FGCS as safe, easy, and effective. A significant gap was identified in the literature: the ways in which user-generated content might function to perpetuate, challenge, or subvert the normative discourses prevalent in online pornography and surgical websites.
Conclusions: Further research is needed to contribute to knowledge of the role played by the internet in the promotion and normalisation of female genital cosmetic surgery.