McRobbie Article
McRobbie, Angela. “Feminism, Postmodernism, and the ‘Real Me.’” Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks. Eds. Meenakshi Gigi Durham and Douglas M. Keller. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001. 598-610.
McRobbie’s article critiques the subject(ed) ideal of feminism. She argues that the concept of feminism is not simply defined or even definable philosophy (in terms of having a concrete definition or essentialized qualities). Working from a postmodern perspective, McRobbie shows feminism in a state of flux, ever changing and developing through discourse (p. 603). McRobbie shows feminism as a philosophy that would reject monolithic narratives of itself because having a dominant ideal or driving force is a patriarchal concept. It’s best, according to McRobbie, to see feminisms–multiple discourses–and “[f]eminist thinking should…attempt to represent and analyse what it is to be female” (p. 604).
essentialism: for any specific kind of entity (i.e., a class, group, ethnicity,”race,” etc.), there is a set of characteristics or properties all of which any entity of that kind must posses.
subjection: process by which a person becomes relegated to a position or place under the power or authority of another.
{I forget where the above definitions come. I didn’t make them up, but I don’t think they came from one particular source.}
- Growing philosophy (p. 605): “as the society within which feminism exists also undergoes quite dramatic changes, this too has an impact on what feminism is and can be.”
- Postmodern fragmentation not a problem (p. 605): having multiple discourses or arguments “allows for open debate and dispute about boundaries and disciplines and what constitutes a study, what is knowledge.”
- Feminist social self formed through discourse and experience (p. 607): “The feminist social self…is an amalgam of fragmented identities formed in discourse and history and called into being both by the experiences of femininity and by the existence and availability of a feminist discourse whether that comes in the form of books, education, mass media, or through friends, politics and community.”
- Abandon the search for the “real me”(p. 609): The “real me” is a mask, but the search leads to questions about what it means to be a woman.
So, what does it mean to search for the ‘real me’?
Adrienne Rich’s “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Experience”
Instead of going to major quotations of the article, let’s watch some videos and think about what Adrienne Rich would say. Maybe some vocabulary first:
- Compulsory Heterosexuality: (Adrienne Rich) “women may not have a preference toward heterosexuality, but may find it imposed, managed, organized, propagandized, and maintained by society.”
- Heterosexism: the belief that heterosexuality is the only valid relationship type–man and woman.
- Heteronormativity: a term that is used to describe situations wherein variations from heterosexual orientation are marginalized, ignored or persecuted by social practices, beliefs or policies.
- homophobia: fear or hatred of homosexuals; fear of one’s own homosexual desires or the idea that one may be homosexual.
- Myth: Lillian Feder’s definition–“Myth is a narrative structure of two basic areas of unconscious experience which, of course, are related….In other words, myth is a form of racial [national, social, regional, etc.] history–a narrative distillation of the wishes and fears both of ourselves and the human race” (Dick, p. 188).
[myths] tap into our collective memory,” our unconscious.
“Myths are ultimate truths about life death, fate and nature, gods and humans” (Dick, p. 189). - phallocentrism: male-dominated society holding power over the others (usually women) through the phallus, the symbol of male potency.
- phallus: any object that represents the figure of a penis.
Images of Gender vs. (normal) Behavior
It seems we live in binary worlds, the feminine and masculine, the gay and straight, the liberal and conservative, the red and the blue. While there are more complex arrangements in the “real world,” our menus for gender and sexuality are usually dualistic. Those spheres (and their duality) are socially constructed–they are made up of what is considered normal, and any deviation is considered abnormal. Some say media influence our understanding of what it means to be a man or woman, but others point out that it merely reflects what is already considered normal, or, more importantly, ideal. That’s fairly easily seen with images of men and women–we’ve discussed the limited standards of beauty that are simulated and repeated throughout media–but it’s not as easily seen when we analyze behavioral patterns.
What are normal behaviors and where do they come from?
He-Man and She-Ra
Compare the two introductions to He-Man and She-Ra. Are they the same–meaning no difference in the portrayal of the masculine character vs. the feminine character?
- He-Man: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7SjnG4Yr4Q
- She-Ra: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR65P73X5GI
Are the representations congruent with your understanding of masculine and feminine roles? Don’t forget your psychoanalytic hat either: What’s going on with the ways the two hold their swords?
Poor Unfortunate Soul…
I have a couple clips for you from The Little Mermaid. As you might remember, Ariel loses her voice and grows legs, so she can be with her man. What’s going on in terms of gender, compulsory heterosexuality, and a girl’s/woman’s conditioning to be acceptable in patriarchal society. Before you answer that, watch the final scene where she’s “given away.”
While we’re on the subject of princesses, who was the audience for the last RoyalWedding? Why are so many American girls/women obsessed with princesses?
!
Works Cited
Dick, Bernard F. Anatomy of Film. (5th ed.). Boston: Bedford, 2005.
Rich, Adrienne. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_Heterosexuality_and_Lesbian_Existence.