Concluding Remarks
This blog has been my attempt to document my development as a researcher and has encouraged me to be much more self reflexive than I have previously been taught to be. As a women’s studies researcher, I have been encouraged to reflect on how my research ideas are influenced by my identity and experiences with the world.
As a deaf woman and a deaf researcher, I find that my viewpoint differs on how effective face to face interviewing is, for example. I considered using this research method for my Masters dissertation but felt that deaf women may prefer to communicate their personal experiences by electronic method rather than having to arrange an interpreter or note-taker for both people, depending on their communication preference.
This may prove awkward in an interview situation, so I have opted to explore electronic and written methods of interviewing, such as Instant Messaging conversations or letter writing. My skills as a feminist researcher have developed as I find myself thinking about the possibilities that different research could open up for documenting deaf women’s voices and their experiences.
I have found that this module has offered me a chance to think about texts and media that I had not thought of investigating in my research project. It has encouraged me to think about how, among other things, I read texts and what I bring to a text; and whether this is helpful in regards to my research. The module has inspired me to think about different ways that I can research, and as a result I feel more confident about the methods I will be using for my dissertation.
The module has also taught me the merits of textual analysis – not just with texts (books) – but also with interview transcripts, interview accounts and other media such as film; and the different ways that you can analyse them. My writing style has also developed and my confidence in my ‘writer’s voice’ has grown.
Reflecting on my experiences and undertaking autobiographical reflection exercises have also had an influence on the type of research I will be doing for my dissertation. I have chosen to focus on the autobiographical experiences of deaf women and how their experiences differ from hearing women’s experiences. I will be looking for the experiences that bring to light the access issues and barriers deaf women face within the UK.
The module also piqued my interest in how many texts are authored by men and whether they are addressing men exclusively. It has made me think about how I read texts and whether I am aware of this gendering of the reader. Is my interest in women authored science fiction and fantasy writing because the author has experience of being a woman? Do I find it easier to accept films about women if they are directed by women? Many of my favourite television series are directed by men, but does this mean their representation of women is suspect? Who or what determines the meaning of a text? Who defines whether a text is feminist? I find these questions interesting and the session on textual analysis and film analysis encouraged me to think about these questions.
This module has taught me the merits of autobiographical reflexivity, how to think about methodological questions and how to implement this knowledge to plan and design a research project. The knowledge gained will be particularly useful for my Masters dissertation.
Constructions of the Self and Reflexivity. Week 9.
For this session, we read three pieces of researcher’s writing about their experiences in research and how their identity interacts with the research that they do or have done.
Hennegan, A (1988 ) On Becoming a Lesbian Reader. In Radstone, S (ed) (1988 ) Sweet Dreams: Sexuality and Popular Fiction. London: Lawrence and Wishart.
Taylor, Verta and Rupp, L (2005) When the Girls are Men: Negotiating Gender and Sexual Dynamics in a Study of Drag Queens. Signs 30 (4): 2115-2140.
Ward Jouve, N (1991) Criticism as Autobiography. In Ward Jouve, N (1991) White Woman Speaks with Forked Tongue: Criticism as Autobiography. London, New York: Routledge.
My Research Autobiography: A Deaf Feminist Perspective.
As a deaf feminist researcher, I am aware of how aspects of my identity and events in my life impact upon the research I choose to do and the research I have already done (for example, my sociology BA research project/dissertation was on deafness, access, and inclusivity).
As Nicole Ward Jouve (1991) mentions, I do not think it is enough to just ‘state’ your identity – it is important to reflect on how our complex interactions with the world shape what we bring to research and how we interpret the ‘findings’. My statement of identity would locate me as being in my early 20’s, white, deaf (oral with knowledge of BSL), heterosexual, English, a self-identified woman, and a feminist, erring on the side of radical feminism and second wave feminism (although this has some of my own ‘modifications’). However, I feel that my deafness and my identification as a feminist and self identified woman have predominantly affected the course of my life and my choice of research.
I was diagnosed deaf at the age of six, and up until then either managed to cover this up or was not obviously deaf until then. Since then, my identity has always been centred around ‘fighting’ for equal access to such things as education, entertainment and social situations, trying to change ignorance of deaf awareness and also trying to change preconceptions of what it means to be a deaf person. I grew up as a member of Chickenshed theatre company in London, since seven years old until I began my A Levels (age 17-18), participating in many productions. The inclusive atmosphere and appreciation of everyone’s skills and talents (regardless of race, gender, background, ‘ability’, sexuality or age) gave me the privilege of seeing what an inclusive society that appreciates difference and diversity could look like and be like.
My secondary education at Hendon School in London also fostered my tolerance and ideas of inclusion as it was an international atmosphere with people of all backgrounds. I suppose I took this diversity for granted, but I still had difficulties getting the support I needed from the hearing impaired unit as there was not enough staff to support all of the deaf students in every lesson. I sometimes feel mystified about how I somehow caught up on things I missed by reading or other means, in comparison with the full time support I received at University. I realised that deaf people often share the same experiences being ‘mainstreamed’ because there is a lack of understanding about what a deaf person needs in way of individual support; deaf people are not all the same and support needs to reflect their own individuality. Being deaf has become an assimilated part of my interaction with the world and I have always felt that it was a positive part of my identity, despite finding life quite trying at times.
I have revised my idea about what “inclusion” means to the government and as an ideal concept. For me, inclusion means everyone is different and everyone needs their own individual support in order to have equal access. However, I feel that the idea that deaf people need to ‘talk’ (become ‘oral’) in order to ‘assimilate’ into society is wrong on many levels; I believe instead that society needs to adapt to deaf people’s needs instead.
I did sociology at GCSE level and A Level and it seemed to be a good choice for doing a degree. I did my sociology BA also at York, which was my first real introduction to feminism. In my last year at University, I took a module entitled ‘Gender and Society’ taught by Celia Kitzinger, which introduced me to radical feminist thought, which sparked my interest in learning about feminism in general. My Sociology BA research project/final dissertation was about deafness and inclusion and the social and educational/work barriers that need to be addressed in order that deaf people can gain equal access on a par with hearing people. Although much headway has been made in recent years, there is still much that needs to be done and campaigned for. If I were not deaf, I doubt I would have considered this as a research subject. I feel that my research has been, and is, grounded in the idea of initiating social change and changing social perceptions.
I took a year out after my sociology BA degree and began blogging as a feminist, fostering connections with other feminist bloggers. I went to my first ‘reclaim the night’ march in November 2006, and since then I have felt it important to undertake research grounded in the reality of the ‘outside’ world – to ensure that theory and analysis have relevancy to the everyday experiences of women. Undertaking this Women’s Studies MA has also taught me the importance of listening to marginalised voices. The dissertation I am going to be doing will be about the autobiographical experiences of deaf women and whether they find their lives – both professional and personal – fulfilling and whether they feel that certain things in society need to change in order for other deaf women to lead the lives they want. As a deaf feminist, I feel that there should be respect and celebration of difference but also that there needs to be a push towards change in those negative aspects of society that create barriers and foster inequality and, therefore, need to be challenged.
It is my particular interest to combine disability studies and feminism as I feel they can complement and add to one another – this is something that I seek to address in my forthcoming, and perhaps, future research.
Questions – Reflection
Which different kinds of researcher-self did you wish to write into your own text?
I found it difficult to start this task because I could not seem to put into words how I have come to the present, studying women’s studies and being interested in my dissertation topic beyond my personal interests. However, I began thinking about where my life has taken me and what has influenced my thinking and ideas as a whole. So therefore I wrote about my past, both my academic self and my deaf self. My deaf self is an inextricable part of my identity and has shaped most everything in my life, and I had not realised to what extent it had until I embarked upon this autobiographical task. I wished to link my experiences with my ideas now, and was surprised to see how much my past has apparently influenced my present.
What were the specific challenges you faced when reading and writing these subjective texts?
Like Amy (http://nearlytheory.blogspot.com) I found that my previous reading of Hennegan (1988 ) meant that going back to her writing, I had a different understanding of her compared to the other two writers. For this reason, I felt that I had more of a preference for her piece of writing as her style and the way she intersects her past and present had an influence on my piece of writing. I found it interesting to step back and see her writing in a different context. However, perhaps I did not learn as much from the other two pieces of writing for this reason, as I did not feel as inspired by them as I did by Hennegan’s (1988 ) piece. This raises questions of how much our first reading and understanding of something influences our second and third readings.
Reflections on Session
I found this session useful as it made me realise how much my subjective ‘researcher self’ influences my research and ideas. My experiences and knowledge are very much in evidence in my research and it will be interesting to see how this affects or enhances my dissertation about deaf women. I am wary of using my deaf self in my research because although I have many experiences in common with other deaf women, there are many differences because I was ‘mainstreamed’ and am oral, as opposed to going to a school for deaf people and using BSL (British Sign Language) or Total Communication (both methods combined).
My own ideas about inclusion/exclusion, mainstreaming and education may be useful or a hindrance, according to the views of the participants, and the way that I interpret or analyse their ideas/texts. However, I am determined to ensure that I stay true to the participants texts and ideas and analyse them without forcing any kind of ‘meaning’ on them that is not there (which can sometimes be a problem within sociology and other research subjects).
Despite doing my stage 1 BSL exam, I am not as fluent in sign language as I would like to be. This may be more of a hindrance in my research, especially where the participants may be using BSL, although I may be using text based methods anyway (internet research such as email and instant message services, or written).
Negotiating Person Centred Research. Week 8.
We were asked to design a possible person-centred piece of research for this seminar. The reading for this week was:
Summerfield, P (2004) ‘Culture and composure: Creating narratives of the gendered self in oral history interviews’. Cultural and Social History 1 (2004): 65-93.
Person-centred research is something that I am most used to because Sociology employs this type of research much more often than textual methods. There are many ways to research people: not just through interviewing. Researchers often use ethnography, which involves becoming part of a group or observing the group just on the sidelines until they receive enough information to be able to write it up and present it as a research project. Other methods may involve a large amount of people taking part in surveys or interviews, or smaller projects (for example, the types of project more suited to MA dissertations tend to be small scale), or using focus groups, letters and internet interviews or surveys. It is basically research that centres on the experiences of people recounted by those people themselves (as opposed to reading about them from a secondary text).
An example of a possible research project
Researching the differences between ‘mainstreaming’ deaf children and going to schools for the deaf (where total communication may be used). I would want to research whether deaf adults who were ‘mainstreamed’ feel that their experience was positive or negative, to identify improvements that could be made and to talk about their experiences. The same would be done with deaf adults that went to schools for the deaf. I would then compare the two experiences and find out what would need to be done for support provision for deaf people in secondary education.
Methods: I would ask the participants to write down their experiences with support provision, their experiences with peers, teachers and other people in the school environment and so on. I would also interview them if time and money would allow as many of the deaf people may need BSL interpreters, and I would need a note-taker in order for us both to be able to access an interview.
I would find subjects by contacting deaf organisations such as the NDCS (National Deaf Children’s Society), RNID (Royal National Institute for the Deaf) or the JDA (Jewish Deaf Association). I already have knowledge of many deaf people who would be willing to take part and would also inform other people to ask them if they want to take part. Snowballing seems to be the best way of contacting people when it is a group that are often invisible (as being deaf is an invisible thing!). I would also get in touch with schools to ask them to pass on my details to alumni if they still have their details. I am not sure whether you can ask Audiology departments in hospitals (such as the Nuffield Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital in London) to put up notices to find participants, but this may be worth a try.
Reflections
The session was quite useful but I found that there did not seem to be much knowledge about how deaf people interact in interviews. Often, deaf people prefer to take part in written research using questionnaires or internet research because it can be hard to find interpreters at the last minute. It can also be expensive to transcribe or interpret interviews (from video), and despite this being fine if it was a PhD or research undertaken for the government, it would be expensive if done for a Masters dissertation.
As a result, I have been thinking about using email, letter writing, questionnaires or instant messaging for my dissertation about deaf women. Sometimes, people do not want to recount personal and possibly emotional information face to face in interviews, and often find it easier to write it down. I appreciate the merits of interviews and face to face contact though, and it may be possible to find out how deaf people are interviewed from universities with deaf studies as a subject (where they may be undertaking research with deaf people).
I already have contacts from organisations and deaf people because I did my project essay for my first degree about deaf people. However, the information that we got from the seminar about where to find participants, such as official documents, private documents, institutions (schools, hospitals, clubs, etc) or even universities (where it may be possible to get hold of people that are deaf via the disability services).
Exploring ‘Women’s Voices’: Feminist Film Studies and Cultural Studies. Week 7.
Before this session, we were invited to a screening of Charming Augustine by Zoe Beloff – website here.
Reading:
Citron, M (1978) ‘Women and Film: A Discussion of Feminist Aesthetics‘. New German Critique, 13, Winter 1978, pp. 82-107.
Stacey, J (1994) ‘Feminine Fascinations: A question of identification?‘. In Stacey, J (1994) Stargazing. London: Routledge.
Thornham, S (1998 ) ‘Feminist Media and Film Theory‘. In Jackson and Jones (eds) (1998 ) Contemporary Feminist Theories. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Charmed and ‘Negotiation of Identities’ (Thornham) and Identification (Stacey)
Thornham (1998 ) discusses at the end of her article, the possibility of multiple identities and the effect this can have on our reading of a particular programme or film; films and television programmes ask us to be many things at any one time. For example, ‘woman’ is only one aspect of our identities – it is important to look at the interplay that can exist between other aspects of our identities, on the grounds of where we are from (race/ethnicity), whether we are considered ‘disabled’ (such as my being deaf), our vocation, class, age and many other things besides. As we seem to live in a world that puts a premium on consumption and conspicuous consumption, a reading of film and TV that also takes into account how we identify with certain films and television programmes (or ‘stars’) and make them part of our ‘identities’ is also important (as Stacey points out).
As a case in point, I will look at ‘Charmed‘: a popular television programme about three sister witches living in San Francisco. Within the programme, there are various references made to other television programmes and films, thus locating the viewer as a consumer of other science fiction and fantasy programmes or films (such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer); thus implying that the audience of Charmed must also be a consumer of other such programmes.
Charmed is a drama that is aimed at everywoman – it seeks to find factors that we, as women, are meant to identify with (such as family life, juggling a career and family life, and so on). As a woman, I found that I identified or connected with particular aspects of each character – such as the feistiness of Piper, the romantic idealism of Phoebe and the creativity of Paige. The independence of these characters is another aspect that women may identify with, along with the particular struggles of each character – for instance, Piper’s trials as a mother or Phoebe’s difficulties with meeting the wrong men (although this is often extreme as they turn out to be different ‘evil’ or mystical creatures!). I would also hazard a guess that practitioners of Wicca or witchcraft may also find the programme inspiring or interesting.
I would also like to point out that although the characters are seen as independent and strong, the publicity for the series has involved a construction of ‘sexiness’. If we were to use a theory that critiques representations of women in film and television, it would most likely emerge that sexuality is a strong theme throughout the series; and whilst I see no problem with this in terms of expressing sexuality, it does present a dominant theme of heterosexuality and a representation of women as being objectified or overly sexualised.
This also happens in programmes such as Buffy (and science fiction and fantasy in general). The idea of the ‘male gaze’ also has ramifications for thinking about the series: do men and women watch the series differently? Is there a ‘female gaze’? I feel that there is a definite possibility that there is a ‘female’ gaze when it comes to film and television, even though I can see the ways in which a ‘male gaze’ works upon media. The ways that supposedly “strong” female characters are presented as ‘sexy’ is problematic as it implies that you cannot be strong and powerful without being accessible for men.
Charmed is also an interesting text for feminists to investigate as it involves such strong and independent characters, for whom juggling lives with their ‘other’ calling, is both difficult and exciting. I do not mean to imply that other programmes that women watch are any less “worthy”, just that I have not noticed any studies or research into Charmed, Wiccanism and Women – perhaps research could be done into Charmed and how women ‘watch’ the series. There is an emphasis on ‘finding love’ but these storylines are not necessarily the ‘main’ storylines: however, there is an emphasis on using these storylines to develop characters and ‘pad them out’.
The positivity of Charmed as a representation of women is worth investigating. Film analysis opens up possibilities for investigating programmes and films where there may be strong female characters such as in Ugly Betty, Heroes, Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and so on.
‘Exploring Women’s Voices’: Preferred Methods/Possible Methods
If I was going to use film/tv as a basis for a project on ‘exploring women’s voices’ I think I would use a combination of methods. Stacey’s (1994) method has a lot of relevance as it documents the different identifications that women can have with film and TV, not just with particular stars. Her theory could be used to find out why women identify with certain female characters in films and on television programmes: what keeps them watching and why do they pursue information or gossip about the ‘stars’ or characters of the film or programme? Why do they identify so strongly with particular stars, that may or may not be still alive (such as Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, and Audrey Hepburn).
As Stacey (1994) posits, it is not just identification whilst watching the film or programme, it is also identification that filters into someone’s everyday life. It can be something as small as having a poster or saying that you ‘admire’ or ‘like’ the work of somebody; or it can be more of an obsession, dedicating some of your time to watching films with that person a lot or joining a fan club, or reading their autobiographies and so on. However, as the women in the roundtable session suggest, it may also be interesting to look at how narrative films pick up on codes that everyone may know about women or events surrounding women, as suggested by Lesage.
Interviews, questionnaires and focus groups could work well with this kind of research. It would be interesting to perhaps screen a film and invite the participants to come along and watch it, then have a discussion about the film, the way they watched it, what they found/did not find interesting about it, and so on.
Research Questions
Perhaps research questions could ask about whether what women enjoy watching is related to their identity in some way? Whether their viewing choices are tied to how they see themselves or tied to some aspect of their identity (doesn’t need to be whether they are a woman).
1. What kind of films do you enjoy watching? List some of your favourites.
2. Why do you feel that these films are important to you? OR In what ways are these films important to you?
3. Do you identify with some of the characters in these films? In what ways?
4. Do you seek out information about these films/programmes/characters/stars outside of the time you are viewing them? What information do you look for and why?
5. Do you think that women are positively portrayed in the films you watch? Why/Why not?
Reflections on Session
I came away from the session thinking about the different ways we can research film as we discussed how to get hold of participants (through fan sites, newsgroups, fan clubs, advertisements and so on) and the best ways to think about film. There did seem to be a consensus that audience research was the way to go. As researchers, we bring our own assumptions to analysis of film (and texts) so it would be far more beneficial to interview the actual women that view the films and analyse their responses. I began to think about how there is an assumption that there is always a ‘male gaze’ in film.
My thought is that it is all too easy to ‘claim’ a film or series as feminist, and make it our ‘own’, just as we make subjective claims on books and music, because it means something to us. The session also brought to light that we bring our extra textual knowledge to a film.
We were asked if we thought Charming Augustine was a feminist film – I thought that perhaps the issues raised in it and the ending (open ended, which can be a characteristic of feminist texts, such as The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood) which hinted at a kind of hope. Augustine broke out of the asylum, she ‘escaped’ from being controlled and taught to control herself. Hysteria is also something that is no longer recognised because it described a collection of disparate “symptoms” that were considered ‘unbecoming’ behaviour from women: see wikipedia. However, the author herself did not set out to make the film ‘feminist’ or made it with feminism in mind. This raises questions about multiple meanings of a text and about who decides what something means.
I feel that it is important to acknowledge that our interactions with film and media is more complex than popular theories make out. There is a male gaze but perhaps there is also a ‘female’ gaze – it would be interesting to try and quantify what this is, and how women interact with film and television. Women may very well be aware that the film they watch is not ’empowering’ but enjoy it anyway. My enjoyment of ‘Kill Bill‘ does not mean that I have the wool pulled over my eyes about the sexism within the film, nor does it mean that I think it ’empowering’ to go on a revenge fuelled bloodbath! I therefore think that audience focused research is the way to go, perhaps after having an attempt at analysing the film ourselves and using both methods.
[**Charmed image sourced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charmed#Main]
Interpreting Visual Cultures. Week 5.
The task that we had to do for this week involved interpreting the pictures below after reading three items to do with content analysis, semiotics and interpreting images. We were given two images to interpret with questions that would help us think about the ways the images draw on extra textual knowledge as well as semiotics (the interpretation of ‘signs’).
Image 1: Golfing Holiday Ad.
Look at the landscape and the buildings. What messages is the ad trying to convey about the advantages of golfing in Kenya?
To me, it looks as if the buildings and the landscape are not in Kenya at all: they appear to be emulating stately edwardian style homes that are often found in the UK. Taking this into account, we could assume that the ad is offering a stay in ‘stately home’ that just happens to be in another country – like taking a vacation in the UK with warmer weather and the added “bonus” of a golf course. The only images that seem out of place in this picture is the border at the side of the page and the Kenyan man in the image, because they do not ‘fit’ the cultural scene.
There is also something quite ‘theme park’ about the architecture as it seems to be a parody of westernised living. To me it does not seem particularly comfortable – perhaps this is to do with the type of lifestyle that someone needs to have in order to feel in their element on a golfing ‘home away from home’ holiday.
What is the ad trying to tell us about the two men in the foreground? What is significant about their dress?
Both the men seem to be a certain stereotype of western and kenyan cultures. The western man is wearing trousers, he is fully clothed; whilst the Kenyan man is wearing (supposedly) his tribal dress, which is a skirt/wrap, sandals and beads. This seems to denote an ‘otherizing’ or denotion of the ‘exotic’. The western man is “helping” the kenyan man to play golf, which is supposedly meant to signify that perhaps they can ‘learn’ from each other about certain aspects of their different cultures. However, it comes across as patronising in some way, because it is a stereotype, and appears to be a blatantly westernised ‘ideal’ of tribal culture.
It is also significant that there do not appear to be any women in the picture and that both men are a certain ‘type’ of man. It locates golf as a masculinised pursuit.
Why is the white man holding a spear and the kenyan man holding a golf club?
Apart from the simple idea that the white man may just be ‘holding’ the the spear for the kenyan man whilst the white man teaches him how to play golf, I would hazard a guess that it is supposed to denote an exchange of culture. However, it could also be seen as a “civilising” of the tribal culture – those tired old stereotypes about tribal culture somehow being ‘less’ developed and inferior. It also seems very much out of place – the juxtaposition of tribal dress and a spear with colonial stately surroundings – in many ways, this could be seen as racist and a denial of western history of colonialisation (or an affirmation – that it was, or is, somehow positive).
Both the golf club and the spear seem to be particularly masculinised because they could be seen as representing the phallus, and an exchange of two different types of masculinity.
How can we decode the masculinities of the two men? Is one more masculine than the other? How can we tell?
The white man seems to have a certain patriarchal and benvolent type of masculinity. He appears well fed and perhaps wealthy, someone who enjoys ‘masculine’ pursuits, like golf! On the other hand, the kenyan man could be seen as masculine also, out of this context – in the stereotyped westernised idea of his culture, perhaps he hunts with the spear, and is seen as quite ‘tough’. The western man seems ‘soft’ whilst the kenyan man seems ‘hard’. However, in this context, the kenyan man also seems more feminine than the western man because of his attire – exposing his upper body and wearing a skirt/kaftan. I believe that it depends from what point of view you are coming from and what assumptions you make about the two cultures. In the context of the advert, however, the kenyan man seems somehow ‘otherized’ like western culture ‘otherizes’ women as feminine.
The ad is also trying to convey something about cultural exchange. Is it an equal exchange?
I would argue that no, this is not an equal exchange. The kenyan man is surrounded by westernised culture, he is being taught golf by the western man and he is not giving the western man any lessons from his own culture. The western man holding the spear is not doing anything with it, he does not seem to be particularly impressed by it. It does not mean anything to him because he does not actually know what it means to the kenyan man.
How can we use post-colonial theory to shed a critical light on the central messages and values of this ad?
I felt I did not know enough about post-colonial theory to answer this question. However, the other students’ answers were interesting – it was suggested that the idea of the native ‘other’ represents everything that the western man is not. The western man, the western culture, is seen as affluent and more developed. There was also discussion of how western and native ideologies and constructions of power collude to exclude women.
Image 2: Jean-Paul Gaultier Mermaid Perfume advert.
Again, begin by considering the landscape. Where is the ad set (identify by landmarks) and what has happened?
The ad is set in what appears to be Paris, which is flooded. The mermaid is sat on the top of the Arc de Triomphe. The men are in the flooded Seine, with life rafts around them. However, the scene appears to give the deliberate illusion that it is staged: the scene looks like it is on a stage and that the environment has been painted as part of the stage scene. The fact that the arc de triomphe is crooked also supports this because even if Paris were flooded, the arc would be solid in the ground. So perhaps this hints at a kind of ‘playing’ within a theatre on a stage.
Why is the woman in the centre of the ad a mermaid? And what is she doing?
This could be an attempt at implying that the mermaid now has the power over men, that their roles are now reversed – she has a tail and the sea is her environment. She seems to be calling through the megaphone – although to me, it is not clear why! Perhaps it is to do with the idea that a mermaid’s song drowns men or ships. It could be interpreted as misogynistic though – to me she seems a bit helpless with her tail, particularly as she is out of water on the arc. She does not seem very empowering to be a mermaid and lure men to their deaths.
What can we infer about the men in the water? What has happened to them? What are they doing and where are they looking? Can we tell anything about their identities?
I pointed out that it seems that they are ‘performing’ a camp/queer musical, as indicated by their mouths open and the mermaid’s microphone (also, the ‘set’).The men do not look particularly desperate, they appear to be enjoying themselves and singing. This could tie to the idea that it is possible to ‘perform’ gender (if we consider the idea that Jean Paul Gaultier likes playing around with gender and subversion of gender, this idea would have some currency). However, I do not think that this means that the woman in the advert is ‘powerful’ as seeing that it is perhaps trying to subvert gender, it points to women being normally in the submissive position. Her lack of legs could be construed as a weakness – yes she is powerful in the water, but is she powerful on land?
What about the bottle of perfume? Why is it dressed in a metal-looking corset? What do we know about the history of corsets? Who is well known for wearing a corset like this one and how does that effect our interpretation of it?
The bottle of perfume is a disembodied corset. Madonna is most famous for wearing a pointed breasted corset – which points further to the idea that the advert is trying to associate itself with powerful femininity and playing with fashion/queer/gender. Madonna has constantly re-invented herself over the years, so the ad message is that you, too, can play with fashion. However, for me, a corset does not have any playful connotations as I associate it with constricting the female body, controlling women’s bodies in order to look a certain way. This is why I am reluctant to see the advert as ’empowering’.
What is the overall message of the ad? Could this ad be described as ‘feminist’?
I do not see what could be ‘feminist’ about this advert. As I pointed out before, the lack of the woman’s legs, although a reference to a mermaid, could be read as the woman being powerful now because Paris is underwater, but what happens when they are on dry ground again? She will become like a flailing fish out of water. She is attractive in fashionable, cosmopolitan westernised terms – make-up, long hair, corset and ‘sparkle’. Women can play with their images (make-up, fashion, etc), yes, but then again, if read in terms of feminist discourse within a patriarchal society: how far are those choices to wear make-up and play with fashion choices free of patriarchal norms of what it means to be ‘attractive’? I have found it interesting to read the queer culture contributions (on the York VLE wiki) as they do put context behind the advert.
Reflections on Session
This session was useful as it reminded me that interpreting things (artefacts) visually is something that involves knowledge of being in a particular culture or of knowing information that enables you to read further into just a collection of images on a page. For example, I felt that I did not know enough about queer theory to be able to interpret the Jean Paul Gaultier advert even though I am a consumer and have knowledge of particular ‘identities’ and symbols within fashion, music and popular culture.
If I were not a feminist, however, I may not have felt that there was anything ‘wrong’ with the idea of a corset or of a mermaid being seen as ’empowering’. This reminds me that as a feminist researcher and as a women’s studies student, I subjectively interpret things according to my own viewpoint as a feminist, with the knowledge of the history of corsets (as constricting for women) and of women as ‘other’ (the mermaid is not human and only exists to ‘lure’ men to their deaths).
My interpretation of the adverts is not the only possible interpretation. However, from using the wiki on the VLE system, it occurred to me that even though there may be different interpretations of something, all our ideas about the adverts built upon each other to create a whole. It may be interesting to think about all the possible interpretations of something in order to be critical with our own ideas. For example, my idea that the corset is not empowering, given its history, other people may not agree with me and may find that modern corsets are not as restrictive as they were previously.
Madonna’s image may take time, effort and constant maintenance (as she is seen as very dedicated to her image, and has personal trainers, beauty and fashion stylists and so on), but maybe women find her dedication and determination powerful, as she is seen as a woman that has taken control of her life.
The session made me think more critically about how I interpret things, why I interpret them that way, and what other interpretations there may be.
Textual Analysis. Week 4.
For this session we read Catherine Belsey’s chapter ‘Textual Analysis as a Research Method’ (2005). Belsey (2005), comes towards a text from a psychoanalytic point of view. Psychoanalysis starts with a problem, and tries to solve it. There are two people in a psychoanalytic encounter: the patient and the analyst. Psychoanalysis views analysts as an interpreter of a patient as there is a ‘problem’ that needs to be solved. Therefore psychoanalysis is almost like textual analysis in that it involves the ‘analysis’ and search for ‘deeper meanings’ and a solution to an apparent ‘problem’.
The session aimed to look at what textual analysis actually is and how this method can be employed to analyse texts in detail. The session also aimed to teach us how detailed readings of texts are conducted and how different methods of reading/analysis can create different outcomes.
For this session, we were urged to think about the following three questions:
1. What features in a text do we look for when we want to analyse it in detail?
2. ‘Interpretation always involves extra-textual knowledge.’ What does Belsey mean by this?
3. How would you (as a reader) characterise your relation to Belsey’s text? (see section IV of her chapter).
Belsey’s (2005) chapter detailed her analysis of a painting and how she went about analysing the possible meanings of the picture. She described how she researched the painting, how interpreting the painting involved knowledge from elsewhere – such as knowledge of ancient Rome (as the author was analysing a painting of Tarquin and Lucretia by Titian), or knowledge of intercourse or rape (as the picture depicted the rape of Lucretia). These knowledges can come about from our own embeddedness within culture, particularly a culture where you find information from television programmes, conversation, books, education and general knowledge.
The information that I came away with from Belsey’s (2005) chapter was:
In order to analyse a text we need to ask/know/think about:
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What is going ‘on’ in the text/picture/film/transcript or whatever media you are analysing? You need to think literally and then expand on this to think about things that may be hidden or not as obvious. Who is the intended reader/viewer/listener? What effect is the author looking for – can this be discerned from whether they are using first/second/third person (in a text or sound recording) or from what techniques they are using?
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Use your knowledge – whether academic, general or otherwise. We need to be critical of our own knowledge as it may be rather subjective – although subjective knowledge can often be a positive thing. It can be possible to use instinct and then follow up these instincts with reading about them to find out if these instincts could be a possible reading.
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How does the text present the characters or subjects of the piece?
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Where are our sympathies invited to lie?
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The researcher must think about debating their own first impressions in order to think about other multiple meanings.
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Picking out certain aspects of the text/image/film/media and put this together with a research interest. Refer to Belsey (2005: 157).
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Research is expected to add something new to an academic field. Expected to be original or to expand on another piece of research, to be independent. However, despite this originality, it does not mean that research has be completely and totally different from other research. It most likely expands on previous research, looking at something that may be missing or not fully explored.
As Belsey (2005) explains, as researchers, we cannot interpret something without knowledge from elsewhere. This knowledge can come from secondary resources (books, film, education, television programmes), personal experience, or general knowledge from wider culture (other books, art, news, everyday occurences and so on).
The first impulse of many researchers when they come across something unfamiliar is to look it up on the internet or in another book, in the library, in bibliographies, from recommendations from other people and so on. It may all be useful if it leads to further textual analysis of that particular text. However, Belsey (2005) explains that we must not take other people’s word for it, and must consider their contribution carefully, with the pros and cons of each contribution.
Belsey (2005), in her method of textual analysis, explains that it may be more conducive to textual analysis to use secondary sources sparingly. Since when analysing a text, a researcher is trying to find something new or different, other people’s sources may hinder rather than help this. Researchers and text analysers need to come to their own conclusions, first and foremost. Belsey (2005) also suggests to write hypotheses/questions and try to answer them yourself before looking at secondary readings.
In the session, there was discussion of de Saussure’s (1916) theory of semiotics, signs and signifiers. For example, ‘toilet’ would be the signified whilst the signs on the doors of the toilets would be the signifier (the sign for ‘men’s’ or ‘women’s’). We all understand these signs and there are a number of ways to signify something, which therefore means that the relationship between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary.
de Saussure (1916) said that what is important is what underlies language and vocabularies. Saussure basically said that language is a signs system in which the sign is made up of the signifier and and what is signified. This theory is important because it underpins the idea of textual analysis, indeed, any analysis. If a sign did not have an underlying meaning, there would be no need to analyse something to find what underlies it.
Levi-Strauss developed de Saussure’s theory of semiotics by viewing language as a sign system through inclusion and exclusion. In some cultures you do not use words in the way that other cultures do. All languages, however, have a structure of sentences; the point at which we get from sentences to meaning is about genre.
Text is anything that you can read and it is possible to read any sign system (such as film, text or art). A text means nothing to you if you are not familar with the medium in some way – for example, someone who has never played music before will find that a music scale will not mean anything. ‘Artefacts’ can include literature, paintings, interviews (transcripts/notes/recordings), photos, and so on. All these artefacts are sign-systems that we can interpret. They can also tell you a lot about a culture, in the way that they employ signs (for example, the sign for mens/women’s toilets are different in other cultures).
This session made me think about how I analyse texts and bring certain knowledge to my analysis of these texts. I have had experience of textual analysis, but did not think that being critical about texts and arguments and analysing texts was a particular discipline or method in it’s own right. For this reason, I found the session useful for thinking about ways in which I can analyse anything deemed a text: in particular, interviews, emails, questionnaires or letters that I will need to analyse for my dissertation. Coming from a sociological background, I also found it useful to look at analysis in a different way, other than those methods employed in sociology.
Bibliography
Belsey, C (2005) ‘Textual analysis as a research method’. In Griffin, G (ed) (2005) Research Methods for English Studies. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Reading Women. Week 3.
Provisional Abstract for Pearce Article (As a Practice on Writing Abstracts)
This chapter examines whether it is possible to find a position for oneself in the complicated navigation of author/text/reader that literary critics and feminist readers/writers undertake. Who or what is responsible for the meaning of a text? The writer attempts to explain these difficulties and how it may be possible, as feminist readers and critics, to both be aware of the positioning of the reader within the text and also finding our own meanings located in the text. To illustrate these difficulties, the writer provides a detailed example of her own forages into reading: both as an academic seemingly unaware of her positioning as woman within classical male authored texts and therefore not the intended reader, and also as a feminist reader and critic criticising texts authored by men that exclude women readers. The author argues that we may be empowered and yet disempowered by a text, because it may have many interpretations. We must try to reconcile the personal demands of reading a text with the professional demands of literary criticism. The author concludes that, for her, the text has renewed authority; whilst we, as readers, have a dialogic relationship with the text, we are still positioned by it. As feminist readers, we must therefore be more reflexive in our methodological leanings: we should admit our lack of control in the reading process when writing.
My Own Reading Autobiography
My reading autobiography has been a long and interesting journey. It started when I was young and my parents used to read Winnie the Pooh to me at bedtimes. My most recent recreational book was ‘Eclipse’ by Stephenie Meyer, a book about vampires and werewolves. My reading tastes have changed and expanded considerably; although these have tended more towards specific authors rather than a particular genre. I have read books from both less ‘well known’ authors (Joanna Russ, Trudi Canavan etc) and ‘well known’ authors (such as George Orwell, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, The Brontes, and Anne Rice et al).
Up until two years ago I read a large selection of writing from male authors. However, with my changing ideas about how I wanted to escape and how I felt I needed to relate to characters, whether this is by some personality characteristic or whether they were a woman, my reading became much more selective and defined. I began to read much more writing by women authors, in particular, Marge Piercy, Margaret Atwood, Ursula Le Guin, Trudi Canavan, Anne Rice and Kelley Armstrong.
‘My’ genre tended to skirt along the edges of science fiction and fantasy, and many of these women authors fed my addiction for women positive science fiction and fantasy. It is not the only genre I read from, but it is the one that I find myself most drawn to. Most of the books have a strong emphasis on independent, strong and interesting women characters. Some of these books did not concentrate particularly on women characters, but I felt more at ease because the writer was creating a perspective that smashed those stereotypes of male ‘macho’ mentality or female ‘femininity’.
One such book was ‘The Left Hand of Darkness’ by Ursula Le Guin. This particular book imagined a world where the inhabitants could change their gender according to particular points in their lifespan or culture even, and the political and social limits are pushed when a missionary arrives from another world in order to learn about their culture and ways of living (and to ask if they are interested in trading with this other planet). I had a hunger for books that intellectually stimulated and interested me. It seems that both the text and the reader give something to the experience of reading: the text ‘speaks’ to us but nobody can have exactly the same experience of one text.
The problem with the genre of science fiction and fantasy is that, obviously, it has been a genre closed to women in the past. The realms of science fiction have been associated with the supposed ‘masculine’ traits of adventure and exploration, but I am quite sure that women also find exploration and adventure interesting! Feminist writers found that science fiction and fantasy can be a fulfilling and useful genre for writing as it allows the writer to imagine worlds where anything could be possible, which is evidenced in feminist dystopian and utopian writing. The most famous of these are ‘Woman on the Edge of Time’ by Marge Piercy and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ by Margaret Atwood. Reading from this genre of feminist science fiction and fantasy has shaped the way I feel as a reader, and how I approach other texts. I am less interested in books that do not seem to speak to me as a feminist and as a woman.
Books that I have previously read I now recognise as not ‘addressed’ to a woman reader, therefore being exclusive, and have stereotypical and narrow ideas of what it means to be a woman; and although I recognise that the historical context of a novel is important, as a recreational reader I feel that we are allowed to be selective. In academic areas however, if you need to read a book that does not address you as a reader, it may be that reading feminist texts and being critical will allow us to recognise (as Pearce has) that we are both positioned by a text and we have a dialogue with it.
Reflections on Session
Thinking about the ways in which our readings of texts is subjective and influenced by our identities is something that I previously had not thought about so much. Where we are in our lives and what our experiences have been have influenced how we read texts, what we choose to read, why we read them and what we hope to find within a text.
My own experiences with reading and the type of texts I am familiar with influence unfamiliar and new texts that I read, or will be reading. For example, it is a popular pre-conception that science fiction and fantasy writing do not have much to offer a feminist reader, due to the mostly male presence and patronage of these genres. However, the genre can be said to have offered exciting possibilities for the portrayal of feminist issues and women – as can be seen with Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series and Charmed.
My searches for new and interesting science fiction and fantasy books have meant that I have found many books that may be considered feminist in some ways: central women characters, feminist themes and so on. I have also thought about how science fiction and fantasy genres could be a useful tool for feminist utopian writing or feminist issues; indeed, it already has been, with such books as Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy, and Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
However, I am wary of stating that science fiction and fantasy (and horror) can be a catalyst for exploring feminist issues. It has been the case that the majority of science fiction and fantasy has excluded women and addressed a ‘male’ reader, as Pearce (1995) says about her own reading experiences. It has been my experience that women writers of science fiction and fantasy often seek to address this silence and exclusion – as can be witnessed by Kelley Armstrong, Trudi Canavan, Ursula Le Guin and Marge Piercy.
Bibliography:
Hennegan, A (1988 ) ‘On Becoming a Lesbian Reader‘ In Radstone, S (ed) (1988 ) Sweet Dreams: Sexuality and Popular Fiction. London: Lawrence and Wishart.
Pearce, L (1995) ‘Finding a Place From Which to Write: The Methodology of Feminist Textual Practice.’ In Skeggs, B (ed) (1995) Feminist Cultural Theory: Process and Production. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press.
What is Cultural Research? Week 2.
My provisional thoughts on:
1. My proposed dissertation topic and methodology: particular interest in the areas of disability and feminism, feminist blogging, feminism and sexuality (representations of women’s sexuality in ‘lads mags’, pornography etc). As I am deaf, my methodology will need to take this into account. It may be possible to use online forums, blogs, instant messenger interviews or chatroom interviews, and questionnaires. I will most likely use qualitative methods as this will allow for richness of findings and narratives.
2. My future career plans: No particular future career plans as such; but I would like to work for a women’s organization or an organization for deaf people (or deaf women). I would very much like to do a PhD in the future but will need to take some time out to raise funds and formulate a research project, as well as gain some insight into the world of work.
3. What Methodological skills I already have: Previously done some research in Sociology using quantitative and qualitative research in questionnaires. I have not done any interviewing and feel that this may be difficult because I would need a notetaker or speech to text transcriber. This may affect the outcomes of interviews and the atmosphere. I believe I will need training in further research skills.
4. Any research skills I know I need: online interviewing skills, how to use the internet as a means of research, some ethnographic research skills, and so on.
5. My thoughts on the purpose and methods of ‘feminist research’, especially as my ideas have developed in term one: Strong emphasis on qualitative research and ethnography. Documentation of women’s voices. The importance of exposing dominant patriarchal discourses within western (and other) societies and respecting of differences among women as individuals whilst recognising at the same time that we have similarities (which may also be slightly different according to our circumstances – race, class, disability and so on).
Debates In Feminist Research Weblog 