Kristen Coyne

1-30-15

            In the first chapter of Feminism and Pop Culture, it discusses what pop culture is and how women are portrayed in the media. Pop Culture is basically anything that is viewed by many people such as TV, radio, and advertisements. Two topics in the chapter that stood out to me were male gaze and feminist mythmaking in the media.

A topic that was discussed in this chapter was “male gaze”.  Male gaze is defined in the book as “the idea that when we look at images in art or on screen, we’re seeing them as a man might-even if we are women-because those images are constructed to be seen by men.” (Page 7) Male gaze is basically making women feel like they are an object rather than a human that is equal to a male. Women feel they are being judged by men and feel they have to look or act a certain way to appeal to the male eye. Since pop culture portrays women to appeal to male viewers, it has in turn caused women to see it the way men do, and in affect make them feel they should look or act a certain way.

Another part in this chapter that stood out to me was “feminist mythmaking in the media”. Feminist mythmaking is when people and the media distort the points Feminists are trying to prove. It is often done because people are afraid that if they are pro-feminist it will negatively affect their reputation or social and political power. Ever since the women’s movement started, there have been people who are negative towards it. A comment that has been made towards feminism by Pat Robertson is, “feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians.” (Pages 14-15) This is a very hateful statement to say about feminism and is diminishing to the feminist movement. When popular figures act this way and the media advertises this behavior, it makes people believe that these things are true and weakens feminism.