WGS101 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Judith Butler, Sexual Objectification, Gender Binary

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Women's and Gender Studies
• Course: WGS101
• Professor: Felice Lifshitz

Document Summary

Polysemy: nothing really has a stable, unchanging definition because everyone can interpret anything differently, and therefore many possible meanings can exist. Meaning is created between the viewer and the message/product, and all meanings can be considered valid. The gaze: the system of objectification and policing of people"s bodies, especially women"s bodies. Gaze also encompasses how women police themselves and their bodies in how they conform or reject these societal standards. For example: judging other women for wearing too much makeup (considering them trashy for not fitting in with societal expectations. ) Historiophoty: written history, as compared to a visual history (historiography). Nothing we see or read about is the actual past, but a representation of it. Prosthetic memory: the experience of identifying with a well-made film/ media representation is so powerful that people feel they actually experienced it. Films can evoke the same emotional servitude we evoke with memory.