MDSA01H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Femininity, Chromosome, Essentialism
Document Summary
Feminist media scholars focus on revealing the limiting nature of mass media texts that reinforce dominant social understanding of sex and gender. Feminism is a political project that explores the diverse ways men and women are socially empowered or disempowered. Sexism is discrimination based upon a person"s sex. Feminism seeks to reveal and eradicate socially ingrained systems of sexism that harm all individuals in some way. Factors that contribute to a sexist social system. Patriarchy: patriarchy is a system of power relations in which women"s interests are subordinated to those of men, patriarchy essentializes women in a way that devalues them while mainly serving the interests of men. They go out into the world and take part in social systems that are inherently sexist. Men and women who reject these sexist social rules in their individual lives are feminists. Everyone is harmed by sexist social systems. Stereotype is a misleading and simplified representation of a particular social group.
