‘I feel pretty’: beauty as an affective-material process

This article explores the potential of feminist new materialisms and theories of affect for reframing how we might think about beauty and the body. Through an exploration of girls, beauty and the school ball (prom), the article engages with Karen Barad’s concept of intra-action to conceptualise beauty as an affective-material process. This perspective involves an ontological shift in how girls, bodies and beauty are understood; from thinking about beauty and the human as discursively produced, towards a relational approach that conceptualises materiality and affect as co-constitutive forces. The article is interested in how such a framing might invite ways of understanding beauty that avoid binary frameworks, such as good/bad, subject/object and discourse/matter. I consider the potential this might offer feminist analyses of beauty, where the focus is less on what beauty is or what it means, and more on how it comes to be.

‘The Free-Flying Natural Woman Boobs of Yore’? the Body Beyond Representation in Feminist Accounts of Objectification

This article takes up references to breasts as a key case study to examine white Western feminist debate around embodiment and objectification. Tracking shifting understandings of ‘the gaze’ in these accounts, we find that objectification is often rendered singular, ahistorical and, increasingly, individually internalised. The history of these approaches to objectification helps to explain why during the early 2000s, theorisations of feminist politics-lost were often rhetorically located alongside discussions of surgically modified breasts as a symbol of a new era of ‘fake’ feminism. In contrast, the 2010s saw several feminist movements premised on exposure of flesh and claims to individual recuperation of bodily autonomy. This article contends that both of these perspectives rely on a notion, built over successive eras of white Western feminist thought, that political work can and ought to be done through the body as a site of representational politics. This article subsequently offers a brief insight into how we might queer our approach to breasts to better account for the messiness of experiences of the flesh, considering the personal as political, while not investing in the body as the site where politics must be enacted.

Young men's alcohol consumption experiences and performances of masculinity

BACKGROUND

By creating a dichotomy between those who are 'out-of-control' 'binge drinkers' and those for whom alcohol contributes to friendship fun, academic and alcohol policy literature often fail to acknowledge the nuances in the diverse drinking practices of men.

METHODS

This paper engages with findings from a multiple qualitative method research project (comprising of individual and friendship group interviews; diaries; and participant observation), conducted with 16 young men, aged 15-24: eight living in the middle-class area of Chorlton, and eight living in the working-class area of Wythenshawe, Manchester, United Kingdom.

RESULTS

This paper provides fine-grained insights into the doings, complexities and contradictions of masculinity in the context of drinking. Young men are shown to tap into different co-existing versions of masculinity, one of which is based on the exclusion of femininity (i.e. they act as tough guys), while another version is more inclusive (i.e. it allows for displays of care).

CONCLUSION

This paper shows a much more complex image of young men's drinking practices than has hitherto been conceptualised in the existing literature, and brings to the fore doings of alternative masculinities. This has important implications for alcohol policy interventions targeting men, in that the complexities and contradictions of masculinity in relation to drinking must be taken seriously.

¿LA FEMINIDAD EN CUESTIÓN? ENFRENTAMIENTOS FÍSICOS ENTRE ESTUDIANTES DE ESCUELAS SECUNDARIAS

Resumen Este artículo aborda las peleas con agresiones físicas entre mujeres jóvenes, estudiantes de nivel secundario. El propósito es comprender la percepción de estos episodios por parte de sus protagonistas, así como de sus compañeros y docentes. Interesa conceptualizar cómo, en torno a la participación en los enfrentamientos, las chicas construyen identidades de género en la situación a partir de las interacciones entre sí y con otros cercanos. El escrito se basa en material producido durante el trabajo de campo realizado en los últimos años en escuelas secundarias de Córdoba, Argentina. Se realizaron observaciones, entrevistas, grupos de discusión y talleres con estudiantes y docentes en tres centros escolares. Se propone que la participación en peleas implica un modo de devenir mujeres que acentúa la distancia y la diferenciación del estereotipo tradicional de feminidad, el cual expresa distintos niveles de sumisión y forma parte de las expectativas vigentes en sus contextos próximos.

Constructing respectability from disfavoured social positions: exploring young femininities and health as shaped by marginalisation and social context. A qualitative study in Northern Sweden

BACKGROUND

Gender, class and living conditions shape health and illness. However, few studies have investigated constructs of femininity in relation to health and living conditions among young women who are unemployed and marginalised at an early age.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this research was to elucidate constructs of femininities in relation to structuring living conditions and expressions of health in Northern Swedish women. The time period of interest was the transition from unemployed teenagers to young adults in a social context of high unemployment and societal change across the critical 'school-to-work-transition' period of the life course.

METHODS

Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse data from repeated interviews with unemployed young women, aged 16-33 years, during the 1980s and 1990s. These longitudinal interviews were part of a cohort study in a 'remote' municipality in Northern Sweden that began in 1981. All girls who were not in education, employment, or training were selected for interview. An inductive analysis phase was followed by a theoretically informed phase. The contextual frame is the Nordic welfare-state model and the 'caring state' with its particular focus on basic and secondary education, and women's participation in the labour market. This focus paralleled high rates of youth unemployment in northern Sweden during the study period.

RESULTS

The results are presented as the theme of 'constructing respectability from disfavoured social positions'. Within this theme, and framed by dominant norms of patriarchal femininity, we explored the constructs of normative and altruistic, norm-breaking, and troubled femininity.

CONCLUSIONS

Gender-sensitive interventions are needed to strengthen young women's further education and positions in the labour market and to preventing exposure to violence. More research on health experiences related to the multitude of constructs of femininities in various social contexts and across the life course is needed to help design and implement such interventions.

Understanding Factors that Shape Gender Attitudes in Early Adolescence Globally: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review

Background

Early adolescence (ages 10–14) is a period of increased expectations for boys and girls to adhere to socially constructed and often stereotypical norms that perpetuate gender inequalities. The endorsement of such gender norms is closely linked to poor adolescent sexual and reproductive and other health-related outcomes yet little is known about the factors that influence young adolescents’ personal gender attitudes.

Objectives

To explore factors that shape gender attitudes in early adolescence across different cultural settings globally.

Methods

A mixed-methods systematic review was conducted of the peer-reviewed literature in 12 databases from 1984–2014. Four reviewers screened the titles and abstracts of articles and reviewed full text articles in duplicate. Data extraction and quality assessments were conducted using standardized templates by study design. Thematic analysis was used to synthesize quantitative and qualitative data organized by the social-ecological framework (individual, interpersonal and community/societal-level factors influencing gender attitudes).

Results

Eighty-two studies (46 quantitative, 31 qualitative, 5 mixed-methods) spanning 29 countries were included. Ninety percent of studies were from North America or Western Europe. The review findings indicate that young adolescents, across cultural settings, commonly express stereotypical or inequitable gender attitudes, and such attitudes appear to vary by individual sociodemographic characteristics (sex, race/ethnicity and immigration, social class, and age). Findings highlight that interpersonal influences (family and peers) are central influences on young adolescents’ construction of gender attitudes, and these gender socialization processes differ for boys and girls. The role of community factors (e.g. media) is less clear though there is some evidence that schools may reinforce stereotypical gender attitudes among young adolescents.

Conclusions

The findings from this review suggest that young adolescents in different cultural settings commonly endorse norms that perpetuate gender inequalities, and that parents and peers are especially central in shaping such attitudes. Programs to promote equitable gender attitudes thus need to move beyond a focus on individuals to target their interpersonal relationships and wider social environments. Such programs need to start early and be tailored to the unique needs of sub-populations of boys and girls. Longitudinal studies, particularly from low-and middle-income countries, are needed to better understand how gender attitudes unfold in adolescence and to identify the key points for intervention.

It’s just between girls: Negotiating the postfeminist gaze in women’s ‘looking talk’

Feminists have argued that women’s bodies, appearance, and subjectivity are formed through a multitude of regulatory dispositif and disciplinary apparatus. One such disciplinary technique has been “looking”, evidenced in work on the male gaze, disciplinary power, misrecognition, objectification, and indirect social aggression. But there remains a significant gap in the role of women’s looking in subject formation, particularly within the context of a postfeminist sensibility. To address this gap a poststructuralist informed discourse analysis was performed on interviews with 44 white heterosexual British women (aged 18–36). Four discourses deployed by the participants when talking about looking between women were identified. These discourses were as follows: judgemental looking between women is pervasive; judgement is consumption oriented; women’s looks are prioritised over men’s, foregrounding a female gaze; and appearance is the vehicle to recognition. We conclude by highlighting the importance of a postfeminist gaze for understanding women’s subjectivities, and how looking works in a postfeminist context to maintain regulation, anxiety, surveillance, and judgement.

“That’s Just How It Is”

In this mixed-methods study, we adopted a feminist theoretical lens in conceptualizing gender as hierarchical and complementary ideologies—femininity and masculinity—that are fundamental constituents of institutionalized heterosexuality as a way to understand the persistence of gender inequity in adolescents’ heterosexual relationships. In Study 1, we conducted separate analyses for girls and boys to evaluate whether masculinity ideology for boys and femininity ideology for girls account for boys’ endorsement of male coercion and for girls’ endorsement of feminine conventions in heterosexual relationships with a sample of 250 tenth-grade students ( n = 144 girls). Masculinity ideology proved to be as strong or stronger than femininity ideology in predicting these respective outcomes. In Study 2, we sought to understand this pattern through a thematically informed narrative analysis of interviews with 53 of the Study 1 participants ( n = 35 girls) on their beliefs about and experiences with sexual expression and heterosexual relationships. Girls described the dual task of managing boys’ masculinity as well as their own femininity. Boys, by contrast, described girls’ femininity in instrumental terms for the management of their own masculinity. Integration of these results provides greater insight into how institutionalized heterosexuality is reproduced through the functioning of these hierarchical complementary gender ideologies.

"Not a good look": Impossible Dilemmas for Young Women Negotiating the Culture of Intoxication in the United Kingdom

This paper investigates young women's alcohol consumption in the United Kingdom within a widespread culture of intoxication in relation to recent debates about postfeminism and contemporary femininity. Young women are faced with an "impossible dilemma," arising from the contradiction between a hedonistic discourse of alcohol consumption and postfeminist discourse around attaining and maintaining the "right" form of hypersexual heterosexual femininity. Drawing on a recent interview study with 24 young white working-class and middle-class women in the South-West of England, we explore how young women inhabit the dilemmas of contemporary femininity in youth drinking cultures, striving to achieve the "right" form of hypersexual femininity and an "optimum" level of drunkenness.

What does sexualisation mean?

‘Sexualisation’ has been dismissed by some as no more than yet another moral panic about youth and sex. However, it is striking that the term appears to have helped galvanise feminist activism, speaking in some way to the experiences of young people. Building from a history and analysis of the term, I propose that ‘sexualisation’ has served as an interpretive theory of contradictory gender norms, using the figure of the ‘girl’ to gesture towards an intensifying contradiction between the demands that young women display both desirability and innocence. In addressing sexist dimensions of gender norms through the figure of the ‘girl’, a minor, discourses on sexualisation can help circumvent liberal objections about free choice. However, I also express concern that the term has facilitated a focus in media and policy texts which attends less to gender inequity than to sexuality as a contaminant of young femininity.

Inhabiting the contradictions: Hypersexual femininity and the culture of intoxication among young women in the UK

This paper contributes to debates on post-feminism and the constitution of contemporary femininity via an exploration of young women’s alcohol consumption and their involvement in normative drinking cultures. We view femininity as a profoundly contradictory and dilemmatic space which appears almost impossible for girls or young women to inhabit. The juxtaposition of hyper-sexual femininity and the culture of intoxication produces a particularly difficult set of dilemmas for young women. They are exhorted to be sassy and independent – but not feminist; to be ‘up for it’ and to drink and get drunk alongside young men – but not to ‘drink like men’. They are also called on to look and act as agentically sexy within a pornified night-time economy, but to distance themselves from the troubling figure of the ‘drunken slut’. Referring to recent research on young women’s alcohol consumption and our own study on young adults’ involvement in the culture of intoxication in the UK, we consider the ways in which young women manage to inhabit this terrain, and the implications for contemporary feminism and safer drinking initiatives .

Creativity and health: an anti-humanist reflection

Many studies suggest that health benefits from engaging with the creative arts, but explanations of the association remain tenuous. This article explores both creativity and health from an anti-humanist perspective and develops a Deleuze-inspired analysis to supply the theoretical framework for creativity and health. In this view, creativity is an active, experimenting flow within a network or assemblage of bodies, things, ideas and institutions, while health is understood as the capacity of a body to affect and be affected by this assemblage. It is consequently unsurprising that there is a relationship between creative activity and health. This analysis is used to explore how creative production and reception can affect health, and to assess the implications for sociology and for arts in health-care practice.

‘The whole playboy mansion image’: Girls’ fashioning and fashioned selves within a postfeminist culture

This article is located in contemporary feminist interrogations of postfeminism and postfeminist popular culture. Fashion articulates a postfeminist ideology through notions of empowerment via sexuality and consumption, and engages a postfeminist aesthetic of the ‘sexy’, desirable young woman. Recognising the potential complications of these postfeminist constructions and practices for embodied identities of girls within discourses of child innocence, in this article we explore how girls negotiate contemporary postfeminist meanings of femininity marketed to them in fashion. To do so, we examine narratives extracted from a media video diary component of a ‘tween’ popular culture project with 71 pre-teen girls. Using a psycho-discursive approach within a feminist poststructuralist framework, the analyses focus on ways girls engage with and disengage from postfeminist identities constituted through ‘girlie’ and ‘sexy’ clothing. Our findings illuminate the fluidity of girls’ subjectivities as they positioned themselves in some moments within constraining discourses of girlhood femininity (e.g. influenced by media) and at other times as critical ‘savvy’ consumers, rejecting marketing ploys and ‘sexy’ identities. In narratives of clothing practices we found careful, situated negotiation of clothing styles open to sexual meanings and distancing from ‘sexy’ dress through refusals, derogation of other girls and negative affective responses. These practices intersected with class and age and commonly used regulatory and constraining discourses of femininity. We argue that the challenge for feminisms and feminists is to find ways to research and work with/for girls that will open up spaces to explore meanings of femininity that escape limiting, repressive boundaries.

Regulating girlhood: Evaluative language, discourses of gender socialization and relational aggression

Placing the discursive psychological analysis of sexuality at its centre, this article considers a number of overlapping fields of linguistics: women’s language, construction of gender identities and language and sexuality. By encompassing these fields, in spite of potential differences in terms of theoretical stance and foci of analysis, the present study suggests a wider stance in the analysis of language, gender and sexuality. The study considers two important post-structuralist concepts: performativity and heteronormativity. More precisely, the analysis shows how the sexual identities of British heterosexual female teenagers are discursively constructed and regulated via language use when aggressively relating to other girls in Facebook. The analysis is based on the assumption that sexuality is but one aspect of identity. Although on the surface these British teenagers’ constructions present masculine ‘negative’ mean girls, a closer analysis reveals that more subversive and challenging interpretations can be applied.