This study aims to provide a critical introduction to the relations between gender, media and culture. Feminists have long recognized the significance of the media as a site for the expression of - or challenges to - existing gender relations. This broad-ranging analysis explores the ways in which feminist theory and feminist research contribute to a fuller understanding of the multiple roles of the media in the construction of gender in contemporary societies. The text intially outlines some major themes in feminist media studies and the ways in which they offer specific models for understanding the media. It goes on to examine key questions posed by a gender approach within communication and cultural studies. Other issues explored include: theories of transmission, representation, construction and discourse; structure of media organization and production; interpreting media representation though content analysis and semiotics; contradictions of the gendered image as spectacle; new approaches to understanding the audience and the politics of media reception; and the potential of feminist and interpretive researtch strategies. Providing a synthesis of theoretical and empirical work, this book should be of interest to students of communications, cultural studies and women's studies.
Liesbet van Zoonen is Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Loughborough University and Professor of Popular Culture at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Her work covers the articulation of popular culture and politics, for which she uses a wide range of standard and creative quantitative and qualitative methodologies.
Introduction 'New' Themes A 'New' Paradigm Media Production and the Encoding of Gender Media Texts and Gender Spectatorship and the Gaze Gender and Media Reception Research Methods
`An invaluable tour d'horizon of feminist media theory and research, this book will also be essential reading for anyone interested in the many diverse strands of feminist media politics today. Liesbet van Zoonen successfully maps the contours of a now vast terrain, reflecting its tremendous heterogeneity and providing a thoughtful appraisal of current theoretical positions within it' - Margaret Gallagher, Media Consultant `At last we have a cogent and accessible synthesis of feminist work on the media. That would have been contribution enough, but van Zoonen's book goes beyond a synthesis to a sophisticated yet sympathetic critique of various feminist approaches to studying the media, using her own original analysis of media content and production to fill in where work is undeveloped or absent. The reader - whether new to the subject or a seasoned feminist scholar - will find the book useful and provocative. The book lays the foundation for understanding the value of a poststructuralist turn in feminist media studies but without condemning the usefulness of other feminist projects and without theoretical jargon. van Zoonen presents the best explanation of some phenomena - such as the reason that the 'male gaze' is not simply reversed when women look at pictures of men's bodies - that I have read. It's all here in one place. van Zoonen deserves our thanks' - Lana Rakow, University of Wisconsin-Parkside `Although, as van Zoonen notes, the media have played a central role in feminist critique, questions of gender are scarce in the mass communication literature and feminist media studies remain marginalized. Here is a strong effort to remedy the situation' - Choice `Liesbet van Zoonen has succeeded in exhibiting the unappreciated diversity of feminist media theorising and has prepared the ground for demonstrating its continuing relevance to newly emerging and diverse media genres. Her interesting and insightful work will be greatly welcomed by researchers, students and teachers both in women's studies and media and communication departments. I suspect that a straightforward feminist voice is what those interested would most welcome' - Sociology `Van Zoonen offers a provocative vision for the future of the field, and provides us with an important contribution to the literature of mass communication' - Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly
