My argument in this essay will be based upon sexism, feminism and the standards we have to face to fit in with society and some borders we need to face as women.My first approach will be based upon how women were and are still treated with societal standards and stereotypes to fit in to. “If one is ‘woman’ that is surely not all one is; the term fails to be exhaustive,…because gender intersects with racial, class, ethnic, sexual, and regional modalities of discursively constituted identities”. She criticizes how gender crosses not only your ethnicity or the identity you choose but is depicted by the way you act as a ‘woman’ and everything you do that fits into the womanly category..

Third-wave feminism began in the early 1990s, it was a response to the generation gap between the feminist movement of the 1960’s and ’70’s, challenging and re-contextualising some of the definitions of femininity that grew out of that earlier period. In particular, the third-wave sees women’s lives as intersectional, demonstrating a pluralism towards race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender and nationality when discussing feminism.  Barker and Jane regarded third wave feminism having following recognisable characteristics.

Societal changes to do with sexism have developed slightly since the 1960’s, women were made to cook and clean the house/ do all the housework and please the husband whilst also looking after the children. It was only around the 70’s in some places where rape in marriage became illegal. Women were abused in relationships or even whilst not and even still are, being seen as the lower less dominant sex is still a large issue, sexualised to the max and degraded even more when sexual images and videos got easier to access.

Nowadays weare still the lower sex than the male and are still sexualised maybe not as much as we once were but the vulnerability towards women still stands. There are still boundaries to what women and even girls can and can’t wear which is very sad as it isn’t helping with making a statement that we aren’t seen solely for our body and the way we are seen, it is the males problem how the see us and we should we not have to work our way around the male gaze. Abortion laws in someplaces were only made legal in 1973 and are still illegal in most places, these laws are made by men giving women no say in how they want to deal with their body, for example if they are so against killing a foetus then how would they feel if they were married but got another women pregnant, what would they say then? If men feel oppressed about being made out to look like they’re in the wrong then they should start to do more about the issue instead of women.How are women the lower sex when we are significantly as equal to men? We produce the same work, live the same lifestyle and are still treated beneath them in work industries or perhaps in general. ‘Jokes’ that boys make towards girls isn’t a step forward to equality, in fact it is another step backwards, thinking that is the right way to inform us they are higher up in the system is in every way possible wrong.

Laura Mulvey says “In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female…In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-less” this is linking to the fact men see women as objects, not all but overall this is how we are progressively seen being the in dominant sex. Sexual attraction is equal to men and women but typically it is men that take that attraction to objectifying us as something they can use for their own pleasure.

The advert ‘score’ where there are females surrounding a man in the jungle in little tops and mini skirts with soft looking legs relates to Laura Mulvey’s ‘the male gaze’ ; this is not showing fluid identity as their identities are fixed, man is seen as a man and the women are seen as women.In the Maybelline advert fluid identity is shown as there are people of color shown and a range of sexuality. There is no fixed identity, it is fluid.

Relating to my arguments, I think that the way the media has portrayed women throughout time is extremely wrong, sexualised from teenage years and treated wrongly is not how women should be treated through the media, affecting lifestyles and creating a view of how they should act and be seen. Feminism should not be frowned upon for sticking up for what is right even if it is contradictory to what society says is right or wrong, there is no wrong in trying to make a change for what should be right.Finalizing my thoughts, more should be done to stop this way of how women are perceived and treated creating stability between both men and women.

1. Keith Rupert Murdoch born 11 March 1931
2.  English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. 
3. Born in Melbourne, Victoria Australia.
4. Worth:  $17.1 billion.
5. Murdoch found a political ally in Sir John McEwen, leader of the Australian Country Party 
6. In 1968, Murdoch entered the British newspaper market with his acquisition of the populist News of the World, followed in 1969 with the purchase of the struggling daily The Sun from IPC
7. In 1981, Murdoch acquired the struggling Times and Sunday Times from Canadian newspaper publisher Lord Thomson of Fleet.
8. In the light of success and expansion at The Sun the owners believed that Murdoch could turn the papers around. Harold Evans, editor of the Sunday Times from 1967, was switched to the daily Times, though he stayed only a year amid editorial conflict with Murdoch.
9. Murdoch bought the newspaper, ‘News of the World of London’, in 1968
10. Murdoch became a US Citizen in 1985 in order to be able to expand his market to US television broadcasting.
11. 1980s, Murdoch formed a close alliance with Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
12.  February 1981, when Murdoch, already owner of The Sun and The News of the World, sought to buy The Times and The Sunday Times
13. In the general elections of 1997, 2001 and 2005, Murdoch’s papers were either neutral or supported Labour under Tony Blair
14. In July 2011, Murdoch, along with his youngest son James, provided testimony before a British parliamentary committee regarding phone hacking. In the UK, his media empire came under fire, as investigators probed reports of 2011 phone hacking.
15. On 15 July, Murdoch attended a private meeting in London with the family of Milly Dowler, where he personally apologized for the hacking of their murdered daughter’s voicemail by a company he owns.
16. 16 and 17 July, News International published two full-page apologies in many of Britain’s national newspapers. The first apology took the form of a letter, signed by Murdoch, in which he said sorry for the “serious wrongdoing” that occurred. The second was titled “Putting right what’s gone wrong”, and gave more detail about the steps News International was taking to address the public’s concerns.
17.  Murdoch accepted the resignations of Rebekah Brooks, head of Murdoch’s British operations, and Les Hinton, head of Dow Jones who was chairman of Murdoch’s British newspaper division when some of the abuses happened. They both deny any knowledge of any wrongdoing under their command.
18. On 27 February 2012, the day after the first issue of The Sun on Sunday was published, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers informed the Leveson Inquiry that police are investigating a “network of corrupt officials” as part of their inquiries into phone hacking and police corruption. She said that evidence suggested a “culture of illegal payments” at The Sun and that these payments allegedly made by The Sun were authorised at a senior level.
19. In testimony on 25 April, Murdoch did not deny the quote attributed to him by his former editor of The Sunday Times.
20.  1 May 2012, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee issued a report stating that Murdoch was “not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company”.
21. On 3 July 2013, the Exaro website and Channel 4 News broke the story of a secret recording. This was recorded by The Sun journalists, and in it Murdoch can be heard telling them that the whole investigation was one big fuss over nothing, and that he, or his successors, would take care of any journalists who went to prison.^[97] He said: “Why are the police behaving in this way? It’s the biggest inquiry ever, over next to nothing.”
22. Murdoch’s downfall beings
23. Murdoch is played by Malcolm McDowell in the 2019 film Bombshell.
24. Murdoch stuck up for Roger during his allegations.
25. Women working at fox go against Murdoch, Female employees at Fox News were quick to controvert Murdoch. “I have had to put up with a hostile work environment for years, and now I’m told that it doesn’t exist by a man who doesn’t have to walk these halls every day? I’m hungry for justice,”

Question: Judith Butler describes gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. In other words, it is something learnt through repeated performance. How useful is this idea in understanding gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns?

Judith Butler presents gender with many different ideas, claiming that it is “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”.

In this essay I am going to make a few arguments based on Butlers idea of gender by linking to ideas such as gender as performance and waves of feminism. Also, in this essay I am going to be using Score and Maybelline to help defend my argument.

Butler suggests that gender is not fixed and presented through a stylized repetition of acts. “An identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. (e.g someone sitting in a certain way to present their gender.) This suggestion can be seen in the 1967 ‘Score’ advert when the male surrounded by woman is sitting in a masculine like position which was very common during these time periods where men would be seen as more dominant and empowering than woman. This links to the idea of the ‘male gaze’ which is the act of depicting women and the world, in the visual arts and in literature, from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heterosexual male viewer. As shown in the ‘Score’ advert the male actor is shown to be dominant and above all the woman which gives the idea that men were seen as better and more powerful than woman during the 1960s time period. “Our genders are culturally rather naturally formed.” As stated by Judith Butler she believes peoples genders aren’t confirmed on the date of our birth but are more identified when you find yourself and feel confident with the way you are. This quotation links to the ‘Maybelline’ advert where a male actor is shown promoting ‘female’ products (make-up) which is stereotypically meant for females. This proves how society has changed massively throughout the years about their ideas of gender representation.

In the time period of the ‘Score’ advert the second wave of feminism took place. During this time the feminist movement was focused on issues of equality and discrimination which was a big problem in the 60s and 70s. “Masculine and feminine roles are not biologically fixed but socially constructed.” As Butler stated the roles for woman and men have been constructed through society instead of biologically (e.g a job such as a construction worker which is usually a job for men). Some people may be affected by this idea because they may believe they have to do the role their gender typically does.

In the ‘Score’ advert the male actor is seen to be as more dominant by being above all the woman and having all of them trying to touch him. The idea that is supposed to be given from this advert is that if you use the ‘Score Liquid Hair Gel’ you will attract any woman and live a luxury life. This is shown through the clothing the actors are wearing representing a safari like experience with the fake plants in the background to create an effect on the viewer. Also, the actor seems to be sitting in a typical male posture which links to Butlers idea of gender being an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts.

Similar to the ‘Maybelline’ advert, Harry Styles has recently released his own cosmetic line named ‘Pleasing’. “Starting the brand with beauty felt exciting because creating great products is a unique way to make people feel good.” Shown here is a representation of breaking the social construct of gender and the stereotype that only woman wear makeup. “Bring joyful experiences and products… and dispel the myth of a binary existence.” With Harry releasing his new beauty products it is clear to see that he is trying to break the social construct of gender and the stereotypes of men and woman.

To conclude, the development of feminism has been presented in both CSP 3 and CSP 4, for example in the Score CSP the male seems to be more dominant over the woman. However in Maybelline CSP we can see the development of equality and feminism over the years through the male actor who is comfortable enough to wear makeup which wasn’t a thing in the earlier advertisement days.

As a way of linking some of the ideas that we covered in terms of Feminist Critical Thinking towards the 4th KEY CONCEPTUAL AREA OF A LEVEL MEDIA STUDIES: INSTITUTION, let’s look at Bombshell.

The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative-cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owned by the Fox Corporation.

Roger Eugene Ailes (May 15, 1940 – May 18, 2017) was an American television executive and media consultant. He was the chairman and CEO of Fox News, Fox Television Stations and 20th Television.

Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors.

After co-moderating the 2016 Republican debate, Megyn Kelly faces numerous insults from Donald Trump, who is upset because she asked him about his offensive comments toward women. Under pressure from the network, and after receiving death threats and unwanted paparazzi attention, Kelly eventually reconciles with Trump.

Meanwhile, Gretchen Carlson is removed as co-anchor of the popular Fox and Friends show, and is transferred to a less popular show. Inundated by sexist comments on and off the air, including by Roger Ailes, Carlson meets with lawyers, Nancy Smith and Neil Mullin, who explain that Carlson’s contract prevents her from suing the network, but she can sue Ailes personally.

On her first day on The O’Reilly Factor, Kayla Pospisil meets fellow staffer Jess Carr, and the two sleep together. The next day, Ailes begins sexually harassing Pospisil. Pospisil begins to tell Carr about what happened, but Carr interrupts, saying she cannot get involved.

Carlson is later fired, ostensibly for her on-air support of the federal assault weapons ban, and decides to sue Ailes. When the news breaks the next day, Ailes denies the allegations and Kelly admits to her core team Ailes sexually harassed her when she started at Fox. In the following weeks, despite a number of other women voicing their public support against Ailes, Kelly conspicuously refuses to make a comment on Carlson’s accusations.

• RUPERT MURCOCH
• Born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Birthdate: 11 March 1931 
• Education: Worchester College, Oxford
• He has 6 children including Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James
• MEDIA EMPIRE
• became a media tycoon
• Rupert Murdoch’s media empire has unveiled plans to launch a new UK television station and will bring Piers Morgan back to the screens as a presenter, threatening to further disrupt the rapidly shifting broadcasting sector.
• Murdoch’s media empire includes Fox News, Fox Sports, the Fox Network, The Wall Street Journal, and HarperCollins.
• In 1981, Murdoch bought The Times, his first British broadsheet, and, in 1985, became a naturalized US citizen, giving up his Australian citizenship, to satisfy the legal requirement for US television network ownership.
• He won the companion of the Order or Australia in 1984
• Worth:  $17.1 billion.
• In 2015, 21st Century Fox announced that Murdoch would be handing off new leadership roles to his two sons, James and Lachlan, keeping the company in the family. Lachlan, 48, now holds the role of co-chairman of News Corp and executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corporation
• Fox corporation is owned by the Murdoch family via a family trust with 39.6% ownership share; Rupert Murdoch is chairman, while his son Lachlan Murdoch is executive chairman and CEO

Judith Butler describes gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts.” In other words, it is something learnt through repeated performance. 

How useful is this idea in understanding gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns?

In this essay I will be discussing the difference between Maybelline and Score, and how gender roles are played within these advertisements. I will also be discussing who Judith Butler is and her work towards the third wave of feminism and discuss the other waves of feminism we have experienced to make the world we live in today and how these waves of feminism have affected how women are treated today.  

Firstly, Judith Butler a gender theorist discusses with her audience that gender is just performed. By this Butler means that we act our gender and the way we act is how we are perceived. It is not about how long your hair is or whether you wear makeup or not, Butler believes that is the way we act influences the gender we are perceived as. Judith works in the third wave of feminism, within this Butler is working towards stopping women from being looked at as objects and being called names such as a “slut” for showing off skin. Raunch culture suggests the sexualised performance of women in the media that can play into male stereotypes of women as highly sexually available, where its performers believe they are powerful owners of their own sexuality. This culture is a massive part of the third wave of feminism as it presents that face that not just women, but everyone should have the freedom to identify as what they want to be identified as. There is one problem which comes along with Raunch culture which is it may be presenting old misogynistic ways due to the idea of men wanted to identify was women and the idea that women cannot do what men can do but women wanting to be men. This may cause misogyny as a woman cannot become a man as she does not have the capability to-do what a man can do. 

Raunch culture links into the Maybelline advert Bossed up as a man who is in the Advertisement wears the mascara that Maybelline are trying to promote. Manny Gutierrez the male starring in this advert was the first male Maybelline ambassador, the advertisement was released in 2017 which suggests that there is a new revolutionised way to look at gender. Manny wears makeup like the other females and is hired by a female-based company. Manny received little to no scrutiny about this due to the fact that it was becoming more normal the idea that men wear makeup too as men like drag queens have been becoming more seen. Not only that when we see the product being held as it is about to be used it shimmers and once it is placed on the eyelash the eye shimmers. This suggests that the product gives you a glisten in your eye and makes your eyes pop due to the use of the product. 

The idea of men wearing makeup goes coincides with what second wave feminism worked towards, as second wave feminism spoke about equality between male and females. So understandably the second wave of feminism achieved something as men and women can equally use makeup as presented in Maybelline. But Score on the other hand is the complete opposite as the women in the advertisement are lifting a man and the whole advertisement is about men using this hair product and getting loads of skinny women who will love him. The fact that the man is placed higher than the women present the idea that he has more power over them due to his masculinity. Also, the slogan “get what you always wanted” suggests that men always wanted women who would treat them like royalty and women who are heard over heels for them as well as them being dressed in skimpy clothes and are considered beautiful. Jean Kilbourne and Laura Mulvey worked in the second wave of feminism and faught for equality and rights for women. Laura Mulvey spoke about the male gaze and introduced to women that fact that males looked at women as objects and as though women were only there for the males’ eyes and pleasure. Jean Kilbourne said, “You almost never see a photograph of a woman considered beautiful that hasn’t been Photoshopped,” which suggests that the image of women is structured whereas the image of men is not so structured. Which is where the idea of equality is and links into first wave feminism due to the idea that men and women are treated differently and why can men and women do the same thing? 

First wave feminism is all about the questioning on why women cannot do what men do. Before the suffragettes, the world was a brutally sexist place to live-in but when the suffragettes came into play, they changed how women were viewed due to their devotion to change the matter. The suffragettes campaigned for the rights of women and were activists in gaining equality for men and women so that we could live freely and equally due to how much men were place above and how sexist the world actually was. The suffragette’s struggled to make a change in society and change how women are viewed today but without the suffragettes there would not have been change due the fact that women now no longer have to fight so hard for equality as nowadays many people believe that men and women are equal and there is no divide in men and women.  

Overall, the idea of feminism development has been presented in both CSP 3 and CSP 4 as in CSP3, Score we can show the idea of a man being dominant over the women but in CSP 4, Maybelline we can see the development of feminism as both male and female are placed with the same role and there is no dominance of one over the other.  We can also see the change in advertisements due to people with colour now being in ads aswell as men wearing make up which wasn’t seen in the earlier days of advertisement

Judith Butler describes gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. In other words, it is something learnt through repeated performance .How useful is this idea in understanding how gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns?

In this essay, I am going to talk about understanding gender through the Score and Maybelline adverts, and analyze how identity is established in an unrealistic repetition of acts. I am going to conduct a representational analysis of both the score and Maybelline advertising campaigns, and how they present gender and identity to the audience . Butler discusses the idea that gender is a ‘social construct’ and that our gender identities aren’t established at birth. She believes that we aren’t strictly ‘male or female’ but our identities are fluid and always changing, and our identity is shown through constant changes in behavior and personality. She states that ‘What it means to be a woman does not remain the same from decade to decade” implying that our collective expectation of how a woman should act, dress, speak etc, are constantly changing. She also states that “Gender does not exist inside the body” meaning that gender is created through what we present to society. Butler has a modern way of thinking, however stereotypically, society believes that gender is simply just male and female,but this is not what Butler agrees with.

In contrast to Butler’s Idea that gender is a ‘social construct’ Laura mulvey identifies the misogynistic sexualisation of women in comparison to that of a man, through an idea called the male gaze. Mulvey stated female characters are forced to identify with passive objects to be looked at and desired compared to men’s representation which is more focussed on how the characters body language reinforces the features they have. For example when a man is sitting with their legs apart, this is known as man spreading, whereas if a woman was to do this it would be uncalled for. She also believes that directors, bosses, authors, game makers etc, present women in a way that is sexualised through a males perspective, so that they can attract the attention of male viewers and therefore making them more money. For example, the classic ‘damsel in distress’ story comes from the idea that a girl is weak and incapable, and they alway need a big and strong man to save them. The male is almost always presented as the main character, this is done to make men feel empowered and strong, and by saving the girl they may get some sexual reward. However the male gaze does not suggest that men aren’t sexualised by society too, but Laura Mulvey highlights the extreme difference between the sexualisation of men and women to make men feel empowered.

The Score hair cream advert is a historical artifact from 1967, in which gender is presented as strictly male or female, contrasting to Judith Butler’s view on fluidity of identity. The score advert involves 5 women and only one man. The women are dressed in tight, revealing clothing praising the man using the score hair cream. This advert supports Laura Mulvey’s idea of the male gaze: A heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heterosexual male viewer, and to objectify women for the benefit of empowering men. This is shown clearly in Score through the sexualisation of  women , wearing tight clothing to please the men. Furthermore, this supports the idea of constructed identity, meaning the collective idea of society on how each gender should look, act, and behave. This supports the idea that gender roles were fixed in the 1970s, and that men and women were defined by their biological gender, and were confined to a collective identity of how they should act and what they were allowed to do. 1967 marks the time when second wave feminism was introducted, however the score advert much relates to the first wave of feminism. The first wave of feminism; ‘ sexism was coined by analogy with the term racism in the American civil rights movement in the early 1960s. Defined simply, sexism refers to the system in which men and women are brought up to view each other antagonistically, on the assumption that the male is always superior to the female. This is clearly shown throughout the score advert through the body language of the females. They are positioned in a way that implies they are praising the man, almost seeming like they are his slaves.

In contrast to the score advert, Gauntlet presents the idea of fluidity of identity: being able to decide who you want to be, whether that be male or female, and being able to change your identity freely. Fluidity of identity contrasts with the ideas presented in the score advert, as it allows there to be no defined line between male or female. There is positivity in this in the sense that you do not have to follow the strict ‘gender stereotypes’ allocated to you at birth, instead you can change the way you look, act, and dress to shape yourself into the person that you want to be, not what everyone else wants to be. This is supported by the quote “ Biological anatomies do not determine our gender”. She describes that masculinity and femininity aren’t defined by your biological gender, but instead  are maintained by individuals through everyday acts meaning that an individual is not born neither male nor female, however your gender defines you through your actions all the time.

This theory can be applied to the maybelline advert, fluidity of identity can be show clearly through the diversity of characters in the advert. For example, the Maybeline boss life adverts feature a biological male, enjoying things that are categorically feminine. It is clear that fluidity of identity is used here, as stereotypically, a man wouldn’t wear makeup, but he has shaped himself into who he wants to be, regardless of his biological gender. As Well as this, another actor in the advert is a black female, this contrasts to the score advert as all females are white. This shines a positive view on the black community.The maybeline advert demonstrates the third and fourth wave of feminism. Third wave feminism was insiuated by Naomi wolf as a response to the gap between the feminist movement of the 1960s and 70s. She challenges and re-develops some of the definitions of femininity that remained.it presented women’s lives as intersectional and demonstrated a pluralism towards race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender and nationality when discussing feminism. It was described as the ‘rebellion of younger women against what was perceived as the prescriptive, pushy and ‘sex negative’ approach of older feminists. This concept is shown through the Maybelline advert because of the fluidity of identity presented by the man, and the non-sexualisation of the female through the advert. This contrasts to the stereotype of what it means to be a female in first wave feminism.

In conclusion, I agree with butler’s theory that gender is presented through stylized acts rather than your biological identity. It shows a positive light on identity and allows people to be who they want to be, even if it doesn’t fit the stereotypes.

Having had enough of her boss’s sexual harassments, Gretchen Carlson files a lawsuit against Fox News founder Roger Ailes. Her bravery triggers a domino effect, culminating into a liberation movement.

LINKING WITH PREVIOUS THEORIES:

You can understand misogyny (the poor representation of women in the media) in the same way you can understand racism, homophobia, ultra-nationalism and other forms of casual stereotyping, bias and prejudice, that is, through TEXTUAL ANALYSIS and the notion of REPRESENTATION.

However, prejudice may also occur beyond the level of text and can be identified as operating at a systemic INSTITUTIONAL intersection of race/class/gender <> power. Such ideas are proposed by Sut Jhally in his work for the Media Education Foundation – ‘Dreamworlds’ which looks at the role of MTV and music videos as a form of institutional / corporate sexism and misogyny

As such, this film provides a narrative of INSTITUTIONAL SEXISM, in the same way that we could look at other stories that are concerned with other institutional prejudices – racism, homophobia, Islamaphobia etc. In other words, this film presents a version of the story of INSTITUTIONAL SEXISM and MISOGYNY. It suggests a link between the presentation / representation of the female form and the ideas of a ruling patriarchy (Fox News, specifically Roger Ailes) and perhaps explains why we are presented with the stories we are presented with and how those stories are presented to us.

Having had enough of her boss’s sexual harassments, Gretchen Carlson files a lawsuit against Fox News founder Roger Ailes. Her bravery triggers a domino effect, culminating into a liberation movement.

LINKING WITH PREVIOUS THEORIES:

You can understand misogyny (the poor representation of women in the media) in the same way you can understand racism, homophobia, ultra-nationalism and other forms of casual stereotyping, bias and prejudice, that is, through TEXTUAL ANALYSIS and the notion of REPRESENTATION.

As such, this film provides a narrative of INSTITUTIONAL SEXISM, in the same way that we could look at other stories that are concerned with other institutional prejudices – racism, homophobia, Islamaphobia etc. In other words, this film presents a version of the story of INSTITUTIONAL SEXISM and MISOGYNY. It suggests a link between the presentation / representation of the female form and the ideas of a ruling patriarchy (Fox News, specifically Roger Ailes) and perhaps explains why we are presented with the stories we are presented with and how those stories are presented to us.

Institutional Analysis:

A key area of media studies is to look at the role of companies, organisations, businesses, institutions. This takes the form of critical analysis. In other words, it is not looking at from a Business studies perspective – organisation, profit, structure – but rather from a sociological perspective – issues of ownership, power, control, behaviour management. I have made a post on my own blog which you can find here, but central to this kind of approach is Althusser’s notion of ISA’s (Ideological State Apparatus), which is often traced in media production by the way in which media texts INTERPELLATE (hail, call, construct, build, maintain) an ideological identity.

Arguments presented against sexism and misogyny (ie the hegemonic struggle re: Gramsci) are raised through Feminist Critical Thinking and we have looked at early feminist movements as well as 2nd, 3rd and 4th wave feminist critics. We have even looked at theories of gender representation that look beyond binary gender values (male/female), which can termed as intersectionality, which first emerged as Queer Theory.

There’s a degree of irony in the fact that Bombshell, the movie about the fall of Fox News boss and serial sexual harasser Roger Ailes, was awarded an Oscar for make-up and hairstyling. One of the themes that runs through the movie is the objectification of Fox’s female employees, so giving the movie an award for the way its female stars look on screen feels a little jarring.

It’s certainly a superb cast and a stellar set of performances, starring three of Hollywood’s most bankable female stars, Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron and Margot Robbie. Kidman and Theron respectively play two of Fox News’s most recognisable former news anchors: Gretchen Carlson, the former Miss America and Stanford graduate; and Megyn Kelly, a former attorney whose nightly programme, The Kelly File, vied with that of Bill O’Reilly for popularity during its run from 2013 to 2017. The film centres on Carlson’s 2016 sexual harassment lawsuit against Ailes, then chairman and CEO of Fox News.

“He had either an old-school understanding of the sanctity of marriage or he had a fear of the woman having a protector,” said Randolph. “My source did not know, but said that [the harassment] was sort of a thing that you would get when you were going through a divorce or you would get when you were first there and you were known to be single. A boyfriend wouldn’t prevent him from [approaching]…. But one of my sources, who’s quite a powerful source, said that was something that was discussed internally. That once you were married, you were beyond predation on a certain level.”