106-067 Feminist Cultural Studies

Fifty points of first year arts including at least 25 points from a specified list of subject areas, see Prerequisites, or first year gender studies, see Prerequisites.

This subject offers an introduction to some contemporary issues in feminist cultural studies, investigating the cultural, historical and technological contexts in which women engage with popular cultural forms and practices. The subject asks: What kinds of discourses about 'femininity' and 'feminism' are being produced out of this engagement with popular culture? Is there now something called 'pop-feminism'? And how might it differ from 'post-feminism'? How have pop-feminist and post-feminist discourses conceptualised the relation between gender, sexuality and embodiment? Students should complete the subject skilled in reading a variety of cultural practices and formations from feminist perspectives including women's and girls' magazines, the fashion industry, daytime television, cyberfeminism, plastic surgery.