Intersectional Feminism

Pop culture, what does this term even mean? It seems to be a word that contains subjects of media, social structure, and society as a whole. According to the dictionary, pop culture is defined as “cultural activities or commercial products reflecting, suited to, or aimed at the tastes of the general masses of people”. In the society we live in today, we are constantly surrounded by pop culture, either that is with television, magazines, different sources of social media and/or exposure to others. Due to pop culture being such a dominant contribution into our world today, it has effected many parts of society. The domination of social media has created idealistic views that are stressed upon female adolescents in particular. Upon media’s influence, traditional tactics and work have been modified in order to keep up with our technology oriented society. This alters the schools and education systems. Through the use of television, social media and other means of pop culture, serious study is necessary due to the negative effects it has on the younger generation and the effects it has for their futures.

Popular culture reflects the past and continues to show the society how it has been created and influenced. Popular culture is a collective idea that is created by many individuals, not just one. In the society, culture is created by a collective group that believes a particular idea or thing should be a culture that spread to people. It allows new discoveries, projects, or ideas to make culture more popular among the people of the society. In addition, the article also explores why culture is popular since “popular” has different connotations attached to the word. It could mean that it is widely well liked by the society or people are able to recognize the figure or icon. For instance, Princess Diana is an icon that is easily recognized and many people know who she is and what happens in her life. With iconic figures, music, and media, it is unlikely for popular culture to go unnoticed in the society, especially if it is everywhere. Culture also refers to other ideas other than just beliefs and norms. Culture can be music, art history, or a way of life. As the audience of popular culture, we tend to draw on social identities and life experiences to understand media and popular

In our over mediated world we are constantly surrounded by pop culture, it is unescapable. what we view as popular culture effects the values we place on those things and we believe we can make judgments based on what types of pop culture certain people love and identify with. Because pop culture holds so much power over our frames of reference, view of the world, and view of people it is extremely important that we understand just what pop culture is and the power it holds over us. Once we understand the power pop culture has we can begin to think about it critically and critique it. In this essay I will explain the origins of populate culture as described by Mather Arnold and FR Leavis, analyze a few definitions of popular culture as defined

For many decades, women have experienced all forms of oppression and constant violence that threatened their existence in the male-dominated society. Various forms of discrimination and oppression have been directed to women for decades. Violence directed at women such as rape and battery were seen and treated as isolated scenarios. However, as the need to foster gender equality took pace, such oppressive actions are now perceived as elements of a wider system of dominance in the society that that needs to be addressed as a whole rather than in singularity

What dictates the social roles, the individual responsibility everyone has in society, and stereotypes, an overgeneralized and oversimplified belief of a particular person or group, in America’s 21st century society? Can rationale and critical thinking be held accountable for the establishment of ethical beliefs involving people and their sex, gender related value systems? The following readings covered in this essay are both found within the textbook, Signs of Life in the U.S.A.: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers; the Introduction: Popular Signs written by coauthors Sonia Maasik, a writing programs lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Jack Solomon, an English Professor at California State University, and located within the second chapter of the textbook, the brief article, Dove’s “Real Beauty” backlash, written by Jennifer L. Pozner, the executive director of Women In Media & News (“Sonia Maasik”)(“Jack Solomon”)(194). Mass entertainment culture, the popular interests of the majority broadcasted in the media, can be attributed for constituting and sustaining the potentially hindering culture myths, a fictitious but widely accepted belief of a certain culture, regarding all genders. These cultural myths are not exclusive to men and women as they also involve transgender individuals and others who identify as another gender not classified under ‘cisgender.’ An extensive analysis of mass entertainment culture and

Throughout our time in class, we’ve hosted conversations about the injustices women face, more specifically, the struggles endured by black women throughout history. Most, if not all, of these experiences may be direct results of a woman’s class, gender, sexuality, nationality, also due to the intersection of structures of races. According to the Tumblr page, Intersectional Feminism for Beginners, intersectionality, originally, referred to the discriminations black women faced. These discriminations were not only in the form of racism, sexism, and class oppression. Today, the term includes an analysis of the discrimination faced by those who identify with any group of people, whether it be cultural, biological, or social, that aren’t “favored

I do identify myself as a feminist. To further elaborate I believe I am an intersectional feminist. I believe both sexes should be treated with the same respect no matter the race of social class. I believe people have the right to choose whatever they want to be in life and not have to worry about explaining their choices to someone. More of my belief on why I am a feminist is because I have seen the inequality on both genders. I have seen my mother work hard to get to where she is at and have man come in less than a year and get the same job as my mom with no experience. I have seen my uncle get rejected for days off when his kids are sick because work is more important than taking care of his children's health. He is a single parent of four.

Intersectional feminism is a type of feminism that looks at not just gender, but different identities of a person, such as race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, economic status, and more. Instead of looking at people in single categories, it takes all of these into consideration, which stands for the rights of all women (Dastagir). By looking at global ethics through an intersectional feminist lens, we can recognize the prejudice that our society has on women of different backgrounds and overcome it.

Gender and the Media by Rosalind Gill addresses gender stereotypes that are brought onto women and men through the media resulting in objectification and subjectification. Gill discusses how the representation of gender is altered as a result of the media in Western societies. Gender and the Media is aimed to address the rapid transmission of media and how those changes affect the construction of feminine and masculine gender roles in society. Gill uses her interest in the contradictions of gender construction by society, to analyze gender and the media. Using feminism as a backbone for her research, Gill and many commentators support the idea that feminist ideas are common and may even affect the media. Gender and the Media addresses multiple forms of media: postfeminism in advertising, gender in the news and journalism, and gender in magazines. Gild aims to address the construction of gender representations, elements for gender analysis, and feminist culture with Gender and the Media.

Since my early adolescence, I have been passionate about the philosophy and politics of gender, gender inequality, queer theory and feminism as both a movement and a field of study. I am particularly fascinated by the concept of intersectional feminism, since I believe that fighting a system of oppression such as the patriarchy only makes sense if it goes hand by hand with dismantling other such systems. These include heteronormativity, white supremacy, classism and cisnormativity.

The theory of intersectionality has received a widespread of various distinct definitions and usage; it is often unclear of its designed function may be. Intersectionality is defined as “the acknowledgment that different forms of identity-based discrimination can combine to give rise to unique brands of injustice”(Lucas 8). In other words, how the classification of one’s individuality such as gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and class can intertwine with each other among the social structure. The term was first coined by feminist and civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw who spoke upon the discrimination and marginalization of black women and how both institutions interconnect with one another. The significance of

When we think of a family, we envision a heterosexual household. In this “traditional” family, we have a happily married man and woman who live together with their young children. The father works outside the home and the mother stays home caring for the children and the household; together the family live very happily, sharing families responsibilities in equal terms. Yet as social scientists Stephanie Coontz and Particle Hills explain, families are far more complex. In this essay, we’ll be using the theory of intersectionality to examine how diverse families are in all aspects of society. More specifically, we want to discuss how contemporary families exemplify the six principles of intersectionality. While critically analyzing both Collins

The media has a huge effect on the socialization of gender and can affect others attitudes and behaviors towards the opposite sex. Mass media also have a major role in the process of gender socialization because it bombards individuals with ideas and images of what men and women are supposed to be. For example, magazines that are targeted at women are different than those that seek a male audience. Media creates meanings about gender, and plays an important role in the way we understand it as part of our identity, our history, our social institutions, and our everyday lives. Gender is a word we here very often in conversations it is basically used to define an individual’s identity as male or female. Mass media uses stereotypical characters to make it easy for the audience to identify the good guys or gals and the bad guys or gals. It is easier to create programs around stock characters than to develop varied personalities. Stereotypes limit our views of ourselves and others and of the reality of the world. The media construct their own version of reality. The point of view of the message presented is driven by ethical, political, economic and social standards of the producers. Television also plays a major role in defining gender roles by the way commercials and to shows. Advertisements for an array of products describe men as being strong and masculine while women are portrayed as dependent. What does hooking up mean to me?  In the

Today’s society focuses more on the idea of mass media and of things that are portrayed with this. Because of advancements in technology, a person could simply turn on a television set, a computer, or just their phone to find out things that are going on in the world. In dealing with pop culture, one would see that the ideas and objects generated by a society are being promoted by the media. Mcdonald's and other restaurants use this to promote their items.

As a Communication major, I spend a lot of time studying the human communication process, which is the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages between a receiver and sender. This communication process does not only apply to face-to-face interactions but also includes mass media, rhetorical, and technological communication. Through these various forms of communication, the sender not only expresses his/her message but also expresses power hierarchies about race, gender, and sexuality that are present in society. Mass media has a significant impact on socializing gender roles and perpetuating gender stereotypes, and to prove that, I am analyzing mass media messages, such as television shows, movies, and advertisements.