1st Edition
Popular Culture, Political Economy and the Death of Feminism Why women are in refrigerators and other stories
While some have argued that we live in a ‘postfeminist’ era that renders feminism irrelevant to people’s contemporary lives this book takes ‘feminism’, the source of eternal debate, contestation and ambivalence, and situates the term within the popular, cultural practices of everyday life. It explores the intimate connections between the politics of feminism and the representational practices of contemporary popular culture, examining how feminism is ‘made sensible’ through visual imagery and popular culture representations. It investigates how popular culture is produced, represented and consumed to reproduce the conditions in which feminism is valued or dismissed, and asks whether antifeminism exists in commodity form and is commercially viable.
Written in an accessible style and analysing a broad range of popular culture artefacts (including commercial advertising, printed and digital news-related journalism and commentary, music, film, television programming, websites and social media), this book will be of use to students, researchers and practitioners of International Relations, International Political Economy and gender, cultural and media studies.
1. Introductions, 2. Analysing Popular Culture, 3. Popular Culture, Produced, Represented and Consumed, 4. Feminism(s), feminists and The (enduring) "Popularity Gap", 5. In Popular Form (Feminism And Antifeminism IN Popular Culture) 6. Conclusions, The Trouble with IPE
Biography
Penny Griffin is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Research in the School of Social Sciences and International Studies, University of New South Wales, Australia.
'Why is it so hard to come out as a feminist? In this innovative deployment of feminist curiosity Penny Griffin links together the supposedly disparate realms of international political economy and popular culture, showing how they work hard to make "anti-feminism" the new normal.' - Terrell Carver, University of Bristol, UK
'Violence and male heroes are omnipresent in popular culture. In this innovative and important new book Penny Griffin reveals how they are part of much deeper entrenched and highly problematic gender stereotypes that shape both our identities and our politics.' - Roland Bleiker, Professor of International Relations, University of Queensland
'This is a book brimming with curiosity about the intricate connections between feminism, popular culture and IPE. Griffin has taken the time to weave an accessible and lively path between the ‘popular’ and the ‘academic’. Highly illuminating and energising.' - Professor Marysia Zalewski, School of Social Science, University of Aberdeen, Scotland
"Her research into anti-feminism and popular culture provides readers with a strong insight into the ‘vibrant yet fragmented’ nature of feminism today and with hope about its future. In this sense, another triumph of Griffin’s book is its resistance to normative understandings of social media as being a place for narcissistic millennials. I would like to see more written about the relationship between feminism and social media, perhaps with a stronger emphasis on its ability to carve out spaces for resistance online."
- Amelia Morris, University of Birmingham, UK
