An Anti-Feminist Society

After reading “The Post-Feminist Radical,” by Ted Gournelos, I began to ponder the word “feminism” in today’s culture. Society has moved on from being “feminists” and has gone into this post-feminist mindset as if everything is fixed, myself included. Therefore, I am not blaming women for this post-feminist society, but rather, I am attempting to call light onto this interesting topic. Through my research, I came across an article that states, “This new kind of sophisticated anti-feminism has become a recurring feature across the landscape of both popular and political culture. It upholds the principles of gender equality, while denigrating the figure of the feminist” (McRobbie 2011).

 Emma Watson to the United Nations | Skip to 1 minute 30 seconds

Our post-feminist that society upholds the principles of gender equality while belittling the concept of a feminist was brought to light in Emma Watson’s address to the UN. She stated, “My recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word. Women are choosing not to identify as feminists” (Watson 2014). Watson’s speech was a powerful one, especially for myself, whom was one of the women she was talking about – I chose to not identify as a feminist because society has made the term “too strong, too aggressive, isolating and anti-men.” Society has created this term that has been seen as equality and turned it into a “men-hating” and isolating term. Watson has done an incredible job for the feminist movement by shining light on this post-feminist society we have turned into and speaking to women, just like myself, on why we are choosing to not be feminists. Well done, Emma Watson.

Angela McRobbie (2011), Beyond Post-Feminism (Blackwell Publishing Ltd), 18.

Sexism in the Media

As seen in all of South Park’s episodes, these scripts have become so mastered that almost anything on South Park goes. While South Park has the ability to say and do almost anything they want without getting any heat for it, other organizations have tried to copy this type of “everything goes” onto their media. This is seen in FCKH8’s campaign, “Swearing Sexist Santa Vs. 6 Year-Old Potty-Mouthed Princesses.” While South Park gets away with saying anything, the FCKH8 campaign has been criticized and attacked by the media for having young girls curse. But, why? What makes it okay for South Park to say worse things without getting in trouble for any of it, while this campaign is getting condemned for curse words that are supposed to be debunking our sexist society?

Swearing Sexist Santa VS. 6 Year-Old Potty-Mouthed Princesses

The problem with this campaign I’ve embedded above is that it confronts sexism in a very grotesque and problematic way. Society is not used to seeing little girls dressed up as princesses cursing left and right. Whether or not this is sexist – I will leave up to the viewers. I believe that the problem is the combination of young girls with such harsh words. Mann states that, “new media are increasingly sites of struggle over control, surveillance, and monetization, as well as sites of struggle over meaning, representation, and participation” (Mann 293). Thus, sexism must be debunked and confronted in the media; however, South Park has proved to master this – something that other organizations are still trying to emulate.

Mann, Larisa. 2014. “What Can Feminism Learn From New Media?” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 11.3, 293-297. doi:10.1080/14791420.2014.926244

Religious Censorship

After reading “Muhammad’s Ghost: Religion, Censorship, and the Politics of Intimidation,” I began to think about all of mass media in the recent years, and how it has become controlled around religious censorship. In this video clip of the South Park episode, “Muslim Sensitivity Training in South Park,” the script mocks the harshness of the Islam religion. When a previous episode was aired, Muslims became enraged at the “insensitivity” that occurred in the episode, even though it was simply a joke and only poking fun – something South Park is known for.

Muslim Sensitivity Training In South Park 

This episode above, once again, mocks the religion and how they reacted to the initial script. It shows a discourse analysis of what the public was thinking – South Park was simply the only ones with enough courage to air the episode. Still, in the middle of this episode, Comedy Central has censored the showing of the prophet Muhammad, simply because they were too scared of what the followers of Islam would do in reaction.

Overall, this censorship to the Islam religion has become something that is implemented into American media, solely because we are terrified of their reaction. This is clearly seen when Comedy Central refuses to air the pictured Prophet Muhammad in the middle of this episode. In fact, it seems as though this religious censorship is starting to control our media. Milton states that, "there is evidence of attempts to control the presses' output of religious materials" (Milton 625). This is relevant in Comedy Central's censoring - it is also a frightening notion. 

Milton, Anthony. 1988. “Licensing, Censorship, and Religious Orthodoxy in Early Stuart England.” The Historical Journal 41.3, 625-651 doi:10.1017/S0018246X98007948

Zara's "Glocalization" Success

After reading our assigned text, I was very intrigued by the concept of “Global Brands” and this idea of “glocialization.” Successful brands have been able to globalize to a vast audience, while tailoring to local wants and needs of consumers; thus, leading to this global success. Our text states, “These two aspects of identity – the global and the local – are not contradictory. They are interdependent” (Sturken 404).

In researching this topic, I came across the world-renowned clothing store, Zara. Originally a Spanish clothing store, Zara has become a global brand known for its’ fashion-forward pieces at a reasonable price. Zara has “had had to adapt its strategies to different cultural, administrative, geographical, and economic factors. It does so through variation, focus, externalization, design, and innovative strategies” (Mathur 1). Zara alters which products are sold in stores based on the region of the retail store, depending on cultural differences.  To successfully do this, Zara not only researches the region of the consumers, but also surveys the local customers to discovery the trends and styles of the region. This way, Zara is able to successfully adapt their clothing to each country they are located in.

Zara Logo

After researching more global brand success stories, I came across a scholarly source offering more insight. This source discussed the concept of global and local initiatives, stating that when linked together seamlessly, global and local marketing strategies “enable brand managers to develop global brand strategy that will unlock their brands' full potential across countries, cultures and markets” (Gelder 1).

Mathur, Sameer. 2012. “How Zara Adapts Globally by Variation and Externalization.” Budding Markets. http://www.buddingmarkets.com/?p=354

Gelder, Sicco. 2004. “Global Brand Strategy.” Journal of Brand Management 12.1. http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.rollins.edu:2048/docview/232485973/fulltextPDF/EC2F26C5FC2549F3PQ/1?accountid=13584

Bloomingdales & Social Media

While researching for my semester-long project covering Bloomingdales’ Brand Success, I came across a very interesting and eye-opening journal article titled, “The Impact of Social Media on the Fashion Industry,” written by Iris Mohr. Mohr discussed this social media impact, stating, “social media is now viewed as an opportunity to improve customer relationships and to ultimately capture a larger audience” (Mohr 3). After researching Bloomingdales use of social media, I have come to the conclusion that the company does, in fact, do this to improve customer relationships and capture a larger audience. 

Bloomingdales Twitter

Through focus groups, my thesis of Bloomingdales’ brand success was reassured. This is that Bloomingdales successfully connects with its customers through social media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), therefore expanding their audience and strengthening their brand as a whole. With 305K followers on Twitter, Bloomingdales is able to connect with their audience in a matter of seconds. Mohr states that, “when WOM (word-of-mouth) travels on the Internet, it can be viral and most powerful, regardless of whether the information is good or bad” (Mohr 4). This is definitely true for Bloomindales, and luckily for them, it is always great information! Just in Bloomingdales’ past few tweets, as shown in the image to the right, they are immediately connecting with customers in San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Additionally, their Instagram page, with 281K followers, connects with audience in a light-hearted way – the way friends would connect, commenting, “Let the Netflix binge begin!” Bloomingdales is clearly on the path to success.

Bloomingdales Instagram Picture

Mohr, Iris. 2013. "The Impact of Social Media on the Fashion Industry." The Journal of Applied Business and Economics 

                 15.2. http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.rollins.edu:2048/docview/1503076781?pq-origsite=summon 

The Male Gaze In Film

After reading through Chapter Three of our text, Practices of Looking, I found the male gaze theory very interesting. In almost every film and advertisement, a woman is at the center of attention. This is purely because sex sells: “female gender stereotypes are often based on ideas about sexual [behavior]” (Finzsch 1).

In the film, Bad Teacher, staring Cameron Diaz, men view her solely as a sex symbol. Though this is a comedy, and thus takes this idea of ‘the male gaze’ to the extreme, it still shows how attractive women are viewed in the workforce. In this clip, Diaz shows up to the school car wash and immediately receives everyone’s attention. The men in the clip are shown with their jaws dropped as the film then zooms in on aspects of Diaz’s body that is viewed as “sexual.” Though this clip is clearly not supposed to be taken seriously, it still shows a woman as the center of a scene. Rarely are there ever any scenes where a woman is not seen as the sex symbol and object of the male gaze, with the exception of the film, Magic Mike. In this regard, women seem to always be the ones “washing the car” as men are simply gazing.

Finzsch, Norbert. 2008. "Male Gaze and Racism.” Gender Forum 1 (23): 51. http://www.genderforum.org