Feminism Questions

Give a straightfoward definition of feminsim
Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights for women. There are three parts to feminism including; the first wave, the second wave and the third wave.

What do we mean by the objectification of women?
Objectification of women is the way that women are looked at like a sexual object. This can be shown in many music videos for example "candy shop". In this video females are dressed provocatively, wearing minimal clothing, and are seen as an object for sex, and therefore as Laura Mulvey would suggest, seen from the male gaze.

In what ways can gender be seen as a social construct?

Explain the main differences between the first, second and third waves of feminism?
First wave feminism took place during the mid 19th - 20th century, the movement was concerened with gaining political equality and the fought for the right for women to vote, whereas the second wave were concerned with women's role in society; the work place and the home, however the third wave feminists are concered with the pressures placed on women by society to conform to an unachievable standard of beauty, and the way that women's roles have changed.

Which characterists of femininity are emphasised in fairy tales?
In fairy tales, characterisitcs of femininity is beauty, as they are all slim and pretty, and care about their appearence. All of the princesses dress codes are very feminin as they wear dresses. Females are also portrayed as vulnerable, as most of them have a problem which is resolved by the help of a prince at their rescue.

How might these portrayals of woman affect the real world?
If females do not believe they are as pretty or slim as the princesses in fairytales it may affect their self-esteem, however this helps the retail industry as it results in women and girls buying cultural products such as makeup or hair products advertised on television to make them feel better about themselves and to increase their self-esteem again. By princesses wearing big glamorous dresses it could be said that it is the reason for beauty pagents being aired on television which shows young girls aspiring to be like them and copying their dress codes. Females being portrayed as vulnerable just creates a false gender stereotype that women need a man in their life and that without one they will not be able to survive.

Explain what is meant by "the male gaze"?
The male gaze is where films, adverts, music videos are filmed from the eye of a male, and therefore will show what they like to see. eg women wearing minimal clothing. An example of this is the candy shop.

What does the male gaze suggest about power relationships between genders in our society?
It suggests that males have more power than females, as it would very unlikely to see a male being objectified in the media, however females are, and have been for years, and nothing has been done about it yet.

How are "normative standards of beauty" formed?
Normative standards of beauty are formed  from the media in a number of ways for example; disney producing barbies that are white, have blonde hair and a slim body make young girls think that is the definition of beauty, and therefore they aspire to look like them, and try to copy them. Another example of this is magazines and clothing websites with the models that they decide to use.

Explain the link between capitalism and normative standards of beauty.
A lack of an individuals self-esteem results in businesses generating lots of profit as people will buy cultural products if they feel like they do not conform with the normative standards of beauty for example they will purchase makeup, hair products or even invest in comestic surgery procedures, so that they achieve what they percieve to be a more desirable look.

How might these beauty standards affect women's health?
By women trying to conform with these standards of beauty it may affect their health in a number of ways. For example if a female feels like she doesn't have beauty because she isn't a slim as the models she sees in magazines or clothing websites, or the princesses she sees in fairy tales, she may decide to lose weight which could result in anorexia.