1,720,993 research outputs found
Shut up and smile: a study of the attitudes, experiences and practices of photographing and sharing images of children in Ireland
Full text linkThis research responds to changing sensitivities toward the photographing of children. It investigates Irish adults’ attitudes toward and practices around the capturing and sharing of everyday images of children across both traditional and social media platforms.
Drawing on previous work by (Cohen, 1972), Higonnet (1998), Holland (2004) and Rose (2010) the study considers how contemporary discourses around childhood, children’s rights, paedophilia, privacy, consent and Internet safety are impacting on the practices and attitudes of adults in Ireland around the everyday photographing of children.
Applying a mixed-methods approach, the research is based on surveys and individual interviews. Data was analysed from 360 online and offline surveys. A thematic analysis of this data set generated themes further explored through 12 semi-structured interviews. Supported by field notes gathered during interviews noting the archiving, display and sharing of images of children in participants homes, this design allowed for the triangulation of the data that resulted in a rich and complex analysis of
contemporary attitudes and practices in Ireland.
The study finds that a range of contemporary discourses exert a very significant and tangible effect on how people think about and engage in practices of photographing and sharing images of children.
Finally, the research considers what longer-term impact this is likely to have on family photography, memories of childhood and attitudes toward childhood more generally
Changing spaces: exploring the role of the internet in supporting non-heterosexual youth aged 18-25 in Ireland
Full text linkThis study used a sequential qualitatively driven design to explore non-heterosexual internet usage among 18-25 year olds in Ireland. Within the last decade there has been a growing body of research focusing on supporting sexual minority youth in Ireland and understanding their experiences, yet little is known about how they use the internet for support. Non-heterosexual youth can use the internet to access narratives and communities which previously would have required physical presence in geographical places. Considering the role that narrative plays within identity formation, the change this spatial shift has brought about in social relations offers the opportunity for a radical reshaping of both the development of identity and the opportunities for new types of identity to occur in places which they would be unlikely to occur in the past. This study has addressed the gap in literature by positioning a phenomenological sense of place at the centre of the analysis. Using a questionnaire with 126 participants along with 8 in depth narrative based interviews, the study found that non-heterosexual youth perceive the internet as highly valued for its supportive role in identity formation as well the ability to redefine norms and authenticate place for those who experience an absence of offline support
An investigation into contemporary online anti-feminist movements
Full text linkIn the early years of the popular internet, in the spirit of Donna Harraway’s Cyborg Manifesto (1985), many theorists then called “cyberfeminists” were optimistic about its potential for women’s liberation (Plant 1998, Spender 1995). This came as part of a broader wave of optimism about the information age and its democratic and economic potential (Wellman 1988, Castells 1996, Negroponte 1995, Kelly 1998). While a significant body of critical literature emerged in response to what was seen as a utopian narrative in general (Van Zoonen 2001, Henwood 2003, Barbrook and Cameron 1995), much of this early utopian and cyberfeminist fervour has seen a re- emergence in popular political and cultural discussion again in recent years, with the Arab Spring, framed as a series of social media revolutions, the emergence of the internet-centric Occupy movement, “hacktivism” and the explosion of online feminism (Penny 2013, Mason 2011). However, along with this renewed feminist optimism, there had also been a less discussed growth of anti-feminist online cultures. Expressions of misogyny previously unthinkable in the public sphere now appear anonymously on popular social media platforms, such as Twitter. Interestingly, this new transgressive antifeminism identifies as countercultural more than conservative and pro-family or men’s rights based as it has done in the past, and its locus, an infamous taboo- busting forum called 4chan/b/, is also the point of origin of the hackers known as Anonymous and of the symbolism of the egalitarian Occupy movement. With reference to existing analyses on online misogyny and anti-feminism (Shaw 2014, Jane 2014, Penny 2014) on the relevant geek and hacker online spaces (Coleman 2014, Phillips 2012) and drawing on a wealth of literature about historical cultural parallels (Reynolds and Press 1995) this study aims to investigate this transgressive countercultural-identifying antifeminism, to locate it, understand its origins and to unpack its cultural politics
Sex in the multiplex: a qualitative and quantitative analysis of sex in the 250 most popular films on domestic release, 2011-2015
Full text linkThis study consists of a quantitative and qualitative analysis of sex in the 50 most popular films on release in North America between 2011 and 2015. It emerges against a background of discourses on sexualisation and pornification in social scientific and public health research, on the one hand, and a rhetoric of transgression in film studies, on the other. It bridges the gap between these disciplines, between theoretical frameworks, research practices, and methodologies, by employing quantitative and qualitative methods to generate a substantive theory of sex in the films studied. The method consists of selecting films for analysis based on financial data available for films on domestic release, on home entertainment markets, and Western film markets; identifying sexual content by analysing portrayals and spoken references; and using grounded theory to generate the substantive theory.
This study establishes that the 250 films selected for study account for 7% of films on domestic release but 70% of ticket sales for films from 2011 to 2015. At least one scene featuring sexual content, either depictions or spoken references, occurred in 96% of films studied. Nongraphic sexual content accounted for 69% of sex scenes. It also found that the prevailing discourse on physical intimacy and sex occurred between characters who are not in a close personal relationship.
The substantive theory encompasses the processes of discipline and disclosure that pervade the discourse on sex and physical intimacy as characters feel obliged to reveal their desires and sexual histories, and these revelations are subject to validation, approval or influence from others. These processes reveal the ongoing regulation of film sex. Exclusion emerged as the primary mode of representation of non-heterosexual sexualities. Repudiation constitutes the secondary mode. The analysis also reveals that portrayals of kissing operate as a visual grammar that legitimates and valorises heteronormative values
Politics of #LoSha: Using Naming and Shaming as a Feminist Tool on Facebook
Full text linkThis chapter examines the new feminist intervention in India against sexual harassment (SH) through the online weapon of anonymously listing sexual offenders. The publication of the list on Facebook—known as the List of Shame (or #LoSha)—was inspired by the #metoo campaign following the Hollywood Weinstein affair and was composed through a collection of first-hand survivor narratives. A list of 70 names of alleged academic sexual offenders was first shared by a lawyer based in the US, and became viral on Facebook. This chapter will look at how this campaign used naming as a risk-taking tool to point at the lack of institutional frameworks within academic spaces. In doing so, it successfully used the online space of Facebook to create a feminist debate around the issue of sexual harassment transcending geographical and hierarchical barriers and to raise questions regarding the viability of the established feminist recourses against SH.
Using the methodological tool of situated critique (Bannerji, Thinking Through: Essays on Feminism, Marxism, and Anti-Racism. Toronto: Women’s Press, 1995), in this chapter I will utilize my own experience of participating in the list as well as in the larger feminist debate to discuss the politics of risk-taking and solidarity and the implications of list-activism. In doing so, it has re-established the role of cyberfeminism (Daniels, Women’s Studies Quarterly, 37 (1 & 2): 101–124, 2009) in India and surfaced a new intersectional autocritique of the academia based on caste, class and gender. Though questions regarding the method remain, the use of Facebook for providing survivors a voice with anonymity promises new boundaries of empowerment and fear
Cruel Intentions and Social Conventions: Locating the Shame in Revenge Porn
No full textThis chapter addresses the criminalization of “revenge porn” in England and Wales under the 2015 Criminal Justice and Courts Act (CJC Act). Revenge porn is a particular form of online abuse that mainly harms women and is mainly conducted by men. One of the most common emotional responses to revenge porn is shame. Owing to this, this chapter sets out to assess (1) the conditions that enable revenge porn to perform shaming of women and (2) the CJC Act’s ability to target these conditions. This chapter argues that, in terms of its ability to address the conditions that enable revenge porn to perform the shaming of women, the CJC Act falls short. The law only captures cases in which it can be proven that the alleged perpetrator acted with an intention to cause distress. Essentially, it fails to address how revenge porn is an inherently social form of online abuse: revenge porn can only perform the shaming of women when the audience recognizes it as such. Indeed, that which enables revenge porn to operate so successfully as an act of shaming women is pre-existing social conventions with regard to sexual depictions of female bodies and sexuality. This chapter thus states that the shaming in revenge porn is primarily enabled by social conventions, not individual intentions. As it stands, the CJC Act is therefore a futile legal tool for striking revenge porn at its gendered core
Learning to sell sex(ism)? An analysis of gender in the educational cultures of advertising students in Ireland
Full text linkThis PhD project is an empirical study of how gender operates in the educational cultures of advertising students in Ireland. The research is guided by Sean Nixon’s 2003 study into existing advertising cultures and discourses in advertising agencies that work to promote traditional gendered working practices and organisational cultures hostile to gender equality. As a point of departure, this thesis brings together theoretical feminist critiques of gendered advertising, postfeminist cultures and the impact of postfeminism on gendered imagery in advertising texts, with a consideration of the cultural production processes that create advertisements. In addition, the study also explores the under-researched sphere of advertising education, especially as it pertains to gender. In particular, student attitudes and understandings of gender as they relate to the social world and to representational ideologies, their perceptions of advertising work, as well as their opinions regarding desired roles in the industry are important considerations for this study. The potential need for greater academic engagement with gender issues at the level of advertising education and training forms the hypothesis for conducting this research. The data involves a mix of in-depth questionnaires, qualitative surveys, semi-structured interviews with students and lecturers, observational data, as well as a textual analysis of the components comprising advertising modules. A thematic analytic approach has been adopted for this study, which facilitates an exploration of the dominant gendered discourses exhibited by students and the degree to which those narratives are informed by lecturers and curricula on these advertising programmes
Dancing in the shadows of the outer limits: an exploration of the experiences of female pornography performers and feminist discourses on their experience
Full text linkThis research project will examine the subjective realities experienced by female pornography performers, working in the American mainstream pornography industry. The aim of this research is to situate these lived experiences within the international feminist debate on pornography. This research will use the narratives of the participants, as owners of their experiences, as a tool to assess the opposing feminist perspectives and theories addressing the presence and role of female performers in the work they do.
Feminism has long held a debate with pornography, from Andrea Dworkin (1981) to sexpositive third and fourth-wave feminism, featuring theorists such as Gayle Rubin (2011), Laura Kipnis (1999), and Nadine Strossen (2000). As we move further into the 21st century pornography has undergone significant metamorphosis. In conjunction, feminism has also undergone significant changes since the time of Dworkin's campaigns against pornography, and now, with the advent of social media, a greater number of perspectives are being heard. One perspective that is sorely lacking is a coherent collection of the voices of the actresses themselves; a gap that has implications for ethical discourse and research on pornography.
Interviews with female performers will be analysed utilising a Foucauldian Discourse Analysis framework. Acknowledging a paucity of studies that focus on performer experiences, this research will build on established work such as James D. Griffin et al., (2012) to construct a more accurate analysis of the experiences of working in pornography. Many assumptions exist about pornography; such as claims that the women are coerced or abused (Levy, 2005).These claims need to be explored with the perspectives of the women included, and this research will explore these alongside experiences of stigma and violence. This research project also posits that violence may arise from feminist discourse, and investigates this through a nuanced reading of terminology, stigma and objectification
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