Pornography and Pop Culture: Backlash and a Feminism that is Contrary to Feminism

Pornography and Pop Culture: Backlash and a Feminism that is Contrary to Feminism by Rebecca Whisnant describes different models, tenets of radical feminism, and suggestions. During the mid to late 1970s an idea emerged that pornography conveyed the ideology of male dominance. This time period was part of Whisnant's second wave model. Whisnant's wave model is divided into three parts. The first wave is during the late 19th century when women were fighting for rights in marriage and the right to vote. The second wave describes the feminists of the late 1960s and 1970s. The third wave is feminism from the 1990s and later. Throughout the three waves, the differences between liberal and radical feminism remained the same, but the generational differences were contrasting.

Whisnant also explained three central tenets of radical feminism. The first idea was that women share common conditions, and they must undertake actions not only to benefit themselves but that benefit women's position as a class. The second idea was that personal is the political. In other words, many women believe their experiences are unique however, these experiences are very common among many women. The third idea was that sex is an arena of politics-- a place where power hierarchies are enacted and reinforced. Radical feminism supports the idea that power hierarchies need to be challenged and transformed.

A "third wave" view on pornography is that women should make their own form of feminist pornography. However, this pornography does not differ in many ways from modern day porn. One difference is that the women involved may have tattoos and piercings. This "feminist porn" can have men calling a girl a slut and spitting on her as long as everyone is in control of their actions. Whisnant suggests people to "remove themselves from the pornification around and its cynical and hateful messages, in order to start thinking our own thoughts and drawing our own experiences of love and sex..." She also suggests for people to discover what sexual freedom is and to not be brainwashed by the pornification market that objectifies others' sexuality. I am very surprised by this idea of "third wave feminist pornography." It is very disgusting and alarming that women can still be spit on and called a slut and still be in control. The pornography marketplace is one that is larger than one can even imagine, and I believe it will be very difficult for some individuals to remove themselves from it.  Pornography is used daily by many people and the idea of discovering sexual freedom may be close to impossible to reach.

Intelligence vs. Icon

            After reading the article, “Not Just a Dumb Blonde” by Neil Norman, one will understand that Marilyn Monroe was actually a smart individual and not a dumb blonde. Most of the American society thinks of Monroe as a blonde bombshell sex figure. However, this woman has an intelligent brain although she did not receive a college degree. She was constantly trying to improve her intelligence by associating with intelligent people, reading books such as Ulysses, and writing poems. Moreover, she has an IQ of 163, a production company, and a successful business career.  It is a shame that her followers confused her dumb blonde characters onto her actual self. Many people overlook women who are gorgeous and also intelligent. This goes to show how our society would rather admire a woman’s appearance rather than her internal beauty and brains. 

Another woman that comes to mind when thinking of a celebrity that plays dumb but is actually extremely intelligent is Lisa Kudrow. Kudrow is an American actress, comedian, and producer who plays Phoebe on the television show Friends. Although her characters tend to portray a dumb blonde, she is actually a very intelligent woman. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Vassar College because she initially wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps to become a headache specialist and physician. She researched and studied headaches for eight years while earning a research credit on the study. One analyst from the article, "Lisa Kudrow: One smart Kookie," comments on Kudrow saying, “She was the ditzy friend, but the real-life Lisa Kudrow is a powerhouse.” After the research, she started her acting career. I believe Monroe and Kudrow may have hid their intellect in order to consume the role of their characters.  By fully engulfing into their acting careers, they do not let their audiences see their true personalities and qualities. I believe people should not jump to conclusions on individuals who play roles as dumb blondes or other unintelligent figures. Many actors and actresses have pursued college and started their own businesses or nonprofit organizations. I believe women should be vocal about their accomplishments and successes in order to give the media something positive to focus on. 

http://www.zimbio.com/10+Secretly+Smart+Celebrities/articles/ZZzQx_HZebp/Lisa+Kudrow

http://www.more.com/lisa-kudrow-one-smart-kookie

Chapter 14 Summary

In Mary F. Rogers’ article, Hetero Barbie?, she questions Barbie’s sexual identity and evaluates her appearance as well as her users.  Barbie tends to exaggerate her woman figure by having large breasts, very skinny waist, extremely long legs, and flat hips.  This figure is an unrealistic proportionate woman figure and may seem to imitate the ideals of a drag queen.  Her wardrobe is filled with sparkling, beaded blouses, high heels, diamond headdresses, and gowns which also suggests the possibility that Barbie is a drag queen. Barbie’s social settings also suggest the opposite of a stereotypical heterosexual lifestyle.  She comes off having a single lifestyle by traveling the world, having numerous occupations, and not being married to Ken. 

Moreover, Rogers explains “Barbie is relatively free of such heterocentrism and heterosexism and thus holds relative appeal for nonheterosexual people, especially gay men” (Rogers 129). Barbie is open to nonstraight sexualities.  Barbie may be a lesbian, a bisexual woman, or asexual.  Barbie never comes out and tells its customers the true sexual identity. 

In addition, Rogers puts light onto the users of Barbie. Michael Osborne has been a Barbie doll collector since he was thirteen years old and has over 300 dolls.  One would assume Osborne is a nonheterosexual male that enjoys playing with Barbies. Barbie’s users are generally young girls but there are always exceptions. 

As a young girl, I used to enjoy playing with Barbies, and I do not believe that they acted as a bad role model for me. I did not try to base my looks off of hers and never tried to imitate her unrealistic proportionate figure.  I simply enjoyed dressing her up and playing with her in the dollhouse. Barbie allowed me to express my imagination by designing outfits and building her mansion.  I never thought about the idea of Barbie being a drag queen before reading this article, but now I am beginning to agree that she imitates this appearance and behavior.  It is interesting to think that Barbie may be a lesbian or a bisexual woman that never actually was in a relationship with Ken. 

Gendered Slang/Language

I do believe our colloquialisms in the English language are gendered.  Our language as a whole is gendered which speaks about our cultural norms and gender inequality.  Some of the gendered language has a negative connotation while some seem to have little criticism attached to the meaning. For example, when speaking to a group of people, a person of the English language may refer to the group of people as "guys." The group of people can consist of males and females and both sexes will respond to "guys."  In my opinion, this language does not hold any negative connotation to the females of the group. However, some critics believe this language reinforces the idea that men are the standard and women are subsumed into the male category.

After looking at the list of slang related to genitalia from the year 1250 to today, one can realize that gendered language is not a new idea and is part of our history. Today, people are trying to make movements to develop nonsexist English by beginning to say "first year students" rather than "freshmen" and "police officer" rather than "policeman."  This movement may be a significant move toward gender equality because the changed language will affect the behaviors of people.

In today's conversation, the terms "side bitch" and "thot" are very popular and are often brought up in pop culture. These two terms are gendered towards women and have negative connotations.  Urban Dictionary defines a "side bitch" as "a woman that is one level above a jump off but always a step below a wife, wifey, girlfriend." A side bitch has no power and is a male's sexual pleasure figure. She does not have any of the perks of a significant other and is seen as a mistress. The word "thot" is a term attributed to females that have a promiscuous lifestyle.  Although the term "thot" is referred to women, men are sometimes known for having "thot-like" behaviors.  I find it a lot easier to come up with gendered terms for women rather than men.  This might be because men are stereotyped to be superior to women and our language reflects that.  It is upsetting to me that some women are not even offended by these cruel colloquialisms and take them without any emotion.

Chapter 26 Summary- Image-Based Culture: Advertising and Popular Culture

In Sut Jhally’s article, Image-Based Culture: Advertising and Popular Culture, advertising is seen as “the major structuring institution of contemporary consumer society” (Jhally 246). Advertising began through the use of newspapers to transmit textual information about products. Then as color images were being produced, magazines and color photography began to display images as advertisements. Today with technology on the rise, we are submerged with advertisements on social media, television, Internet, and in Jhally’s words, “it is [in] the air that we breathe as we live our daily lives” (Jhally 247). 

After surveying a population, people seek good friendships, personal autonomy, happy family life, self-esteem, leisure time, and loving relations in order to be happy.  In other words, people are not focused on material objects in order to be happy.  Therefore, the marketplace needs to connect material objects to the social things that create happiness.  For example, food is connected with family values and bonding time.  The advertising image-system is constantly manipulating its audience into believing that happiness and satisfaction will come after a purchase. 

Music videos are also seen as a way of advertising within the music industry.  Music videos are visually pleasurable commercials for records.  It is of no surprise that music videos and commercials use sexuality in order to sell a product, service, or idea.

Another point that Jhally makes is the speedy way in which an advertisement is able to induce feeling to its audience.  Commercials on television have time slots as short as thirty seconds and directly sell feeling and emotion rather than products.  They are constructed with rapid images and music.  This speed-up concept has two consequences.  It allows its viewer to be attentive to the gratifying, rich, and complex images, sometimes sexual. The concept also allows its viewer to react with emotion and feeling rather than thinking. 

Through advertising, people can learn about pop culture and get a sense of what is happening around the world.  People see hundreds of advertisements a day and are influenced by these images throughout their daily lives.  While I scroll through my social media pages, I am encountered with dozens of ads relating to my previous searches.  This allows me to be targeted by companies, and I am always forced into buying unnecessary products from a ten second ad.

All in The Family

In the past, around the 1950's era, a nuclear family was considered the norm. The nuclear family consists of a mother, father, and generally two children, a boy and a girl.  The mother and father of a nuclear family are married without any marital issues in the past or present.  This was considered to be the perfect family.  The father took part in labor intensive work outside of the home while the mother worked in the household cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the two children.

In modern day, the nuclear family is not as common.  Society is beginning to accept same sex parents, teen parents, and divorced parents.  Children are being raised by single parents and being just as successful as children that were raised by their married parents.  The media is also adapting to these types of families.  The MTV shows, Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant, allow their audience to see how teen parents raise their families with limited income. In some cases, the grandparents have to act as the caretakers for the children. With married couples having over a 50% divorce rate today, families can be made up of step parents, step siblings, and half siblings.  All of these types of families are not looked down upon because today's culture is accepting to this phenomena.

The article, Dad- Mom Role Reversals, describes a family that transitions into a working breadwinner mother and a stay at home father due to the recession.  The parents are not only financially stressed but also emotionally.  The father begins to take on cleaning and cooking and taking care of the children while the mother works longer hours.  This may shatter the father's self esteem because he is used to providing for himself rather than depending on someone else.  I understand that this is a very difficult transition, and I would definitely feel uncomfortable at first if my father was doing the laundry and making my lunch for school when I was a child.  Although it is a shock at first, I am sure that everything works out in the end and the parents are able to make it work as long as they are there for each other.

Chapter 55 Summary

Chapter 55, "Critiquing Reality-Based Televisual Black Fatherhood: A Critical Analysis of Run's House and Snoop Dogg's Father Hood," by Debra C. Smith analyzes the stereotypical beliefs of Black families and father hood.  The chapter starts by critiquing The Cosby Show, the first show with an all-Black cast that avoided stereotyping.  This show exemplified a well off black family that had happy endings, family values, stability, and good parenting.  This show contradicted what society stereotyped black families, such as having limited education,  growing up with single mothers, and living in unsafe neighborhoods.  Although The Cosby Show was fictional, the show portrayed Black families optimistically and modeled good examples for Black children and father hood.  After The Cosby Show broke the ice for the normalized black nuclear family, two other Black families have been brought to the media in the twenty-first century to act as examples for non-stereotypical images of African American families and father hood, Run's House and Snoop Dogg's Father Hood.  These two families are on reality television and give two different perceptions of Black parenting for rap music artists.  The Run's House father, Joseph Simmons, is beyond the gangster, irresponsible lifestyle and encourages his family to resolve conflicts by having family discussions as well as talking with a therapist.   Simmons embraces religion and respect in his household.  He also coaches his children through the obstacles they encounter throughout their young adult years.  The Simmons family provides a realistic upper class Black family example to the media.  On the other hand, Snoop Dogg and his family represent real day to day activity with a different parenting style than Cosby and Simmons.  Snoop is a father from the 'hood and connects to working class black cultural institutions, food, and environments.  He also does not discipline his children in an authoritative way but rather a laidback style and has his wife run the show.  Although Snoop encourages his children to be diligent in school and to respect their family history, he fails as an authoritarian.  Smith states, "despite his laidback parenting style, most viewers have a positive reaction to Father Hood" (Smith 531).  The show still brings lessons of Black family success, humor, and harmony.  I believe all of the television shows above teach a lesson and allow society to break the stereotypes of Black fathers.  Simmons, Snoop, and Cosby all demonstrate family loving values and give viewers an idea of what it is like to raise a Black family in different styles.