Postfeminist News

Mary Douglas Vavrus

Description

Winner of the 2003 Diamond Anniversary Book Award presented by the National Communication Association

In the media-saturated decade of the 1990s, news reports shaped public sentiment about women in electoral politics and beyond. Mary Douglas Vavrus explores the process of representing political women in media, and argues that contemporary news accounts promote a postfeminist politics that encourages women's private, consumer lifestyles and middle-class aspirations, while it discourages public life and political activism. The author discusses the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings of 1991, the 1991–92 "Year of the Woman" in politics, the 1996 presidential campaign's use of "soccer moms," and Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign for Senate in 2000. Vavrus assesses the logic that emerges in these narratives' recurrent themes about gender and explores their significance for women and for feminism, ultimately arguing that feminism has been supplanted by postfeminism in news accounts of political women.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Theorizing Media Representation of Electoral Feminism

2. Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas, and the Crisis of White Patriarchal Authority

3. Postfeminist Identities, Neoliberal Ideology, and Women of the Year

4. From Women of the Year to "Soccer Moms": The Case of the Incredible Shrinking Women

5. "Pray Tell,Who Is the 'She' "? Campaign 2000, or the Year of One Woman

Afterword: Putting Ally on Trial: Contesting Postfeminism in Media Culture

Notes

References

Index

Sujets

• Popular culture

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791488348
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

postfeminist news political women in media culture

postfeminist news

mary douglas vavrus

postfeministnewspostfeministnews postfeministnewspostfeministnews postfeministnewspostfeministnews postfeministnewspostfeministnews postfeministnewspostfeministnews postfeministnewspostfeministnews postfeministnewspostfeministnews postfeministnewspostfeministnews postfeministnewspostfeministnews postfeministnewspostfeministnews postfeministnewspostfeministnews

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Postfeminist News

SUNY series

COMMUNICATION STUDIES

Dudley Cahn, editor

Postfeminist News

Political Women in Media Culture

MARY DOUGLAS VAVRUS

S TATE U NIVERSITY OF N EW Y ORK P RESS

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2002 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production, Laurie Searl Marketing, Jennifer Giovani-Giovani

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Vavrus, Mary Douglas. Postfeminist news : political women in media culture / Mary Douglas Vavrus. p. cm. — (SUNY series in communication studies) Includes index. ISBN 0-7914-5445-2 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5446-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Mass media and women—United States. 2. Women politicians—United States. 3. Feminism and mass media—United States. 4. United States—Politics and government—1989– I. Title. II. Series.

P94.5.W652 U68 2002 302.23'082'0973—dc21

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2002017735

This book is dedicated to August and Hallie Vavrus, for all of their optimism about the future of politics.

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Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Afterword

Notes

References

Index

C o n t e n t s

Theorizing Media Representation of Electoral Feminism

Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas, and the Crisis of White Patriarchal Authority

Postfeminist Identities, Neoliberal Ideology, and Women of the Year

From Women of the Year to “Soccer Moms”: The Case of the Incredible Shrinking Women

“Pray Tell, Who Is the ‘She’”? Campaign 2000, or the Year of One Woman

Putting Ally on Trial: Contesting Postfeminism in Media Culture

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