New Zealand Viewers of Geordie Shore Talk Casual Sex and Binge
New Zealand viewers of Geordie Shore talk casual sex and binge- drinking by Grace Low A thesis submitted in requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in Sociology Department of Sociology and Anthropology University of Canterbury 2018 1 Abstract In the current ‘postfeminist’ cultural climate, women are increasingly invited to be confident, free, open and ‘up for it’ and to take part in domains typically considered masculine, such as drinking alcohol and having casual sex. Some understandings of this ‘new’ femininity position women’s participation in cultures of intoxication and sexualisation as a form of social progress, liberation, empowerment and choice. However, women’s engagement with these practices is far from straightforward and some argue that they are faced with an ‘impossible’ task of balancing postfeminist demands of an ‘up for it’ femininity with traditional discourses of feminine respectability and reputation. The reality television show, Geordie Shore, where female and male characters engage in casual sex and heavy drinking is a site in which some of these contradictions of post-feminism are played out. While previous studies have analysed women’s participation in cultures of intoxication and sexualisation, this project makes a significant contribution to existing research by exploring how both men and women engage with these phenomena. Therefore, in this thesis I examine how 23 young adults, living in Christchurch, New Zealand respond to representations of women’s and men’s drinking and casual sex on Geordie Shore. Two mixed gender and two gender specific focus group discussions were analysed using a discourse analytic approach informed by feminist post-structuralism.
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