Feminism Questions:

What is Feminism?
The belief that all men and women should be equal in all ways, social, sexual etc.

What is the objectification of women?
This is how women are presented in the media as sexual objects, mainly for no reason other that a male audience. This can be clearly seen in many rap videos such as Candy Shop - 50 Cent. Also it can be seen in advertising such as the recent Sheba cat food advert.

How can gender be seen as a social construct?


First Second and Third Wave feminism differences?
The first wave of feminism was in the late 1800s/early 1900s, and women were appealing for political quality, eg the right to vote. They used violent tactics such as invading parliament and hunger striking in prison to fight for womens equality. The second wave of feminism was in the 50s and 60s, and women were concerned with their social status against men, being known as the housewives and on less money than men at work. The women in the second wave of feminism fought for their equality against men in hierarchy above women. The third wave of feminism were concerned with the pressures placed on women in society today to conform to an un-achievable image. This took place in the 80s, 90s and 2000s and to some degree is still happening today.

Characteristics of femininity in fairy tales?
Female characters in fairytales are characterised as passive, beautiful, innocent and victimized, basically damsels in distress. This means that they are automatically set to be saved by the male lead role, who in every fairytale is seen as the hero (such as Cinderella, even though her father didnt protect her from her stepmother), who is portrayed as vulnerable from the beginning of the film. Another example of this is Rapunzel, who is seemingly strong to begin with but really has to rely on a man to make her way through the world. Jasmine from Aladdin also represents this as she is really of no political worth until she is married (relying on the male counterpart).

How can the portrayal of women in fairytales effect the real world?
The portrayal of women in fairytale films, especially Disney, is a slim figured, big breasted and beautiful woman who unfortunately have to lean on their male counterpart to be secure in life. This message and representation is imprinted on us since children as Andrea Dworkin says, and therefore we grow up believing these stereotypes and so strive to be the 'princesses' we have always seen as role models. Women can get breast implants and force themselves to love a man in order to feel complete.

The 'Male Gaze':
The male gaze is the ideology that everything is seen through a males perspective in the media, such as through advertising and in magazines. This can be argued as the reason a lot of women are objectified in the media, as men would like to see big breasts and less clothing on a woman.

What does the male gaze suggest about power of genders in our society?
The male gaze suggests that men still have hierarchy in our society, as men would never be objectified to such extremes as women are today (through mens choice presumably). An example of this is Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke, where women are dancing on set naked to a song about rape. A feminist version was released as a parody, yet has no where near as many views and has been criticized by men for being too out of context. The original version is www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyDUC1LUXSU and the feminist version is www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC1XtnLRLPM

How are 'normative standards of beauty' formed?

Whats the difference between capitalism and normative standards of beauty?

How might these beauty standards affect womens health?