1+1 National Library
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
National Library Bibliothèque nationale 1+1 of Canada du Canada Acquis:tions and Direction des acquisitions et Bibliographic services Branch des services bibliographiques 395 Welhnglon Sueet 395. rue Welllnglon OUawa. Onlario On:lwa (Onlario) K'AON4 K1AON4 NOTICE AVIS The quality of this microform is La qualité de cette microforme heavily dependent upon the dépend grandement de la qualité quality of the original thesis de la thèse soumise au submitted for microfilming. microfilmage. Nous avons tout Every effort has been made to fait pour assurer une qualité ensure the highest quality of supérieure de reproduction. reproduction possible. If pages are missing, contact the S'il manque des pages, veuillez university which granted the communiquer avec· l'université degree. qui a conféré le grade. Sorne pages may have indistinct La qualité d'impression de print especial1y if the original certaines pages peut laisser à pages were typed with a poor désirer, surtout si les pages typewriter ribbon or if the originales ont été university sent us an inferior dactylographiées à l'aide d'un photocopy. ruban usé ou si l'université nous a fait parvenir une photocopie de qualité inférieure. Reproduction in ful1 or in part of La reproduction, même partiel1e, this microform is governed by de cette microforme est soumise the Canadian Copyright Act, à la Loi canadienne sur le droit R.S.C. 1970, c. C-30, and d'auteur, SRC 1970, c. C-30, et subsequent amendments. ses amendements subséquents. " Canada • Qf Shadowboxinq and Straw-Women: Postfeminist Texts and Contexts Aurora wallace Graduate Program in Communications McGill university Montréal, Québec August, 1994 A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts. (cl 1994 Aurora wallace •• National Ubrary Bibliothèque nationale .+. o/Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Direction des acquisitions et Bibliograp.'1ic services Branch des services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Welhngton Ottawa. Ontario Qnawa (Onlano) K1A 0N4 K,A ON4 THE AUŒOR RAS GRANTED AN L'AUTEUR A ACCORDE UNE LICENCE IRREVOCABLE NON-EXCLUSIVE IRREVOCABLE ET NON EXCLUSIVE LICENCE ALLOWlNG THE NATIONAL PERMETTANT A LA BIBLIOTHEQUE LIBRARY OF CANADA TO NATIONALE DU CANADA DE REPRODUCE, LOAN, DISTRmUTE OR REPRODUIRE, PRETER, DISTRIBUER SELL COPIES OF HIS/HER THESIS BY OU VENDRE DES COPIES DE SA ANY MEANS AND IN ANYFORM OR THESE DE QUELQUE MANIERE ET FORMAT, MAKING THIS THESIS SOUS QUELQUE FORME QUE CE SOIT AVAILABLE TO INTERESTED POUR METTRE DES EXEMPLAIRES DE PERSONS. CETTE THESE ALA DISPOSmON DES PERSONNE INTERESSEES. THE AUŒORRETAINS OWNERSHIP L'AUTEUR CONSERVE LAPROPRIETE OF THE COPYRIGHT IN HISIHER DU DROIT D'AUTEUR QUI PROTEGE THESIS. NEITHER THE THESIS NOR SA THESE. NI LATHESE NI DES SUBSTANTIAL EXTRACTS FROM IT EXTRAITS SUBSTANTIELS DE CELLE MAY BE PRINTED OR OTHERWISE CI NE DOIVENT ETRE IMPRIMES OU REPRODUCED WITHOUT HIS/HER AUTREMENT REPRODUITS SANS SON PERMISSION. AUTORISATIO~'!. ISBN 0-315-99947-0 Canada • Abstract Thi~ chesis is a discursive and hiscorical analysis of che concepc and usage of 'poseEeminisrn' in concemporary feminisc ciebaces, The imporcance of the vocabulary used co frame these debates is demonstrated through a survey of popular feminisc discourses in the 1920s, and the circulation of the terro 'postfeminism' in 1980s and 1990s mainstream and feminist media, academic journals, and bestselling books. Foremost among these contexts are mainstream newspaper and magazine articles in which postfeminism is used as a descriptive terro applieà to trends in fashion, television and film, Through an investigation of the texts and contexts in which postfeminism is used, associations to generational disparity, antifeminism, the 'death of feminism, ' commercialism, and other 'post-' discourses such as postmodernism, will be illustrated. In the process, it will he demonstrated that feminism, as it is represented through discourses of postfeminism, resides in an area of cultural criticism which straddles the spheres of the acad~~c and the popular. • • Résumé Ceeee ehèse se veue une analyse hiseo~ique ee discu~sive de la concepeion ee de l'usage du terme "pose-fémin~srne" dans le coneexee des débaes féminisees coneemporains. L'importance déeerminanee du vocabulaire employé dans ces débats ese démonerée par le biais d'une étude des èiscours populaires féministes des années 1920, et d'une èiscussion de l'emploi du terme "pose-féminisme" dans les média populaires ee féministes, les revues académiques, et les livres à succès. Plus pareiculièrement, le eerme 'post-féminisme' est employé dans les quotidiens et revues populaires afin de décrire les tendances aceuelles au niveau de la mode, de la télévision et du cinéma. L'étude des textes et contextes où sont employés le terme 'post-féminisme' indique l'existence de plusieurs liens avec d'autres discours tels ceux de l'écart entre les générations, l'anti-féminisme, la 'mort du féminisme', la commercialisation du f~~nisme, et d'aueres discours 'post-' tel que le postmodernisme. Il sera démontré, en conclusion, que le féminisme, tel qu'il se manifeste dans les discours "post-féministes', se situe à l'intersection du domaine populaire et du monde académique. • iii • Acknowledgements Above aIl; ! would like to t~ank my aàvisor, Professor ~ill Scraw, :0= consiscencly thoughc:ul. clear, and insightful feeèback at eve~~ phase of this project. His participation in a reading course in the Fall in which much of this material was discussed was also invaluable. l woulà like to thank the two other members of that class, Cherie Winzell and Haidee Wassen, as friends and colleagues whose cornroentary, analyses and wit have been extremely helpful in sorting out an unruly collection of readings. l would especially like thank Haidee for her work on a paper that we ce-wrote on postfeminism. Many long hours on the phone and late night jam sessions at the computer were indispensible sources of knowledge and support. The present work owes much of its inspiration and many of its ideas to that collaboration. l am indebted to Anne Beaulieu for bringing several articles on postfeminism to my attention that were crucial to this project, and to Vincent Doyle, whose eleventh hour translation help allowed me to submit on time. This thesis also could not have been completed without the encouragement, support and guidance of Murray Forman, who, despite his own hectic workload, was always there when l needed him. Thanks also go to my parents - they know who they are - for supporting me in all of the really important ways . • iv • Table o~ Contents Introduction: A Plethora of P08~gminisms l Chapter One: Femi.nism, the Death o~ Fem:i.nism, and the New Woman in the 19208 10 Chapter Two: The Emergence o~ Po.~em:i.nism in the 1980s and Early 19908........•..................32 Chapter Three: P08~_ini SIIl and Bestse11inq Femi.nist Book8 in the 19908..........•.•.•.............67 Conclusion: Po.t-Po.tfemi nism.•..•.•.•......•.......•..94 List of Worka Cited and Biblioqraphy••.................104 • v • Introduction If chere is one defining feacure of whac has come co be cermed 'poscfeminism.' ic mighc besc be described as a scace of confusion. While boch che popular media and academics have paid considerable accention to the topic. the proliferation of texts has not yielded a specifie or comprehensive definition of che terro. In facto it may be the case that the more we hear about postfeminism. the less we know about it. A brief survey of the wide range of contexts and interpretations associated with postfeminism reveals its elusive nature: In 1983. the April Eool's issue of ~. magazine was titled Mrs; The Magazine for the Post-Feminist Woman. In 1985. Carol ~umens published a collection called Making For the Opep· The Chatto Book of Postfeminist PQet~. In a cartoon caption in 1986. Nicole Ho11ander wrote. 'I was afraid to trust it to the U.S. mail so l decided to send it post-feminism.' In 1990. journalist and theorist Valerie Miner mused. 'sometimes when l hear people discussing 'postfeminist' literature. l am amused. imagining te1ephone po1es along the highway. each with a dead book nailed to it." And. in 1991. venus Sucked ID; A Post-Feminist Comedy by Anne Chislett about the lives of three generations of women could be heard on CBC Radio's 'Morningside.' The appearance of the terro 1 Nicole Hollander and Valerie Miner are cited in Robinson• 1991. page 273. • 1 'postfeminism' in these disparate contexts is testament to th~ difficulty in identifying its specifie meaning and • significance. rts usa varies both within and across numerous forros of media. Not surprisingly, the terro . postferninism' occupies a highly contested and somewhat nebulous space in popular discourse. The variable and often comic interpretations of the 'post-' in postferninism point to one source of the confusion. As the discourses of postmodernism, poststructuralism and postcolonialisrn becorne more established and familiar both inside and outside academia, the temporal identification of shifts in discourse has become increasingly rapid and specifie. The widespread use of 'postmodernism' as a catchall phrase to describe that which otherwise seems to defy easy description has resulted in a watershed of eras, trends and movements being ·post'-ed. Recently, for example, Esquire magazine has lauded the 'post-sensitive male,' and performance artist Annie Sprinkle has demonstrated what it means to be a 'post-post porn ferninist.'2 Significantly, the prefix 'post-' in these applications is not unproblernatically assumed to mean, simply, 'after'. The relationship of 'post-' to its adjunct 'modernism,' for example, has a range of subtleties and nuances of meaning which are renegotiated through each 2 Harry Stein, "The Post-Sensitive Man is Coming," Esquire May 1994: 56; Annie Sprinkle publicity poster, Check Hit Out Productions, April 29th 1993• • 2 p~acticioner. This 'post-' can mean chronologically following, in contradistinction to, in response to, ir.tegrati~g some 0: • the elements but not precluding the existence of, O~ no ~elation at aIl to, modernism.