Imagining the Housewife: Mediated Representations of Gender in Post-War America
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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Communication Dissertations Department of Communication 8-12-2016 IMAGINING THE HOUSEWIFE: MEDIATED REPRESENTATIONS OF GENDER IN POST-WAR AMERICA Nicole Barnes Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/communication_diss Recommended Citation Barnes, Nicole, "IMAGINING THE HOUSEWIFE: MEDIATED REPRESENTATIONS OF GENDER IN POST-WAR AMERICA." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2016. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/communication_diss/74 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Communication at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Communication Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. IMAGINING THE HOUSEWIFE: MEDIATED REPRESENTATIONS OF GENDER IN POST-WAR AMERICA by NICOLE WILLIAMS BARNES Under the Direction of Professor James F. Darsey, PhD ABSTRACT World War II women are commonly understood to have come closer to equality than any previous generation. Their mass entry into the workforce is remembered as a united front to support the troops while simultaneously claiming ground to demonstrate their abilities as workers. However, scholarship which emphasizes the collaboration between the government and advertisers to create propaganda that persuaded women to enter the workforce and thus serve as the "domestic front" of the war begins to question the prevailing notion of wartime employment as strides towards equality. This project begins with the question: why did post-war women seemingly willingly abandon these jobs and move to the suburbs? I argue the construct of the post-war housewife, which positions women as willing to abandon careers for the suburban kitchen, is a social imaginary which responds to and uses social anxieties to constrain women’s gender performance and silence gender anxieties. I use the context of the time, as well as rhetorical analysis of mediated artifacts of representations of housewife, to argue this social imaginary silences women’s post-war lived experience and replaces it in public discourse with the multimodal image of Fifties housewife. A visual rhetorical analysis of post-war advertisements which portray the housewife reveals the work of the social imaginary using social anxieties concerning gender roles as well as Cold War fears to define woman’s place. Examining the way Hollywood uses housewife as a frame for its female stars uncovers how circulated use of the imaginary of housewife perpetuates the imaginary by seeming to evidence its claims to representation. However, an analysis of televised representations of the housewife imaginary reveals the fabric of the imaginary fraying. Television humor illuminates the illusion of the imaginary of housewife’s claims to representativeness, and therefore creates a public space in which women can contest the imaginary by exposing women’s discontent with the role of housewife. I conclude with a discussion of the ways this social imaginary of housewife continues to define women’s lives in political debate seventy years after it began to define and constrain post-war women’s gender performance. INDEX WORDS: Feminist rhetoric, Visual rhetoric, Gender roles, Post-war, Media, Social imaginary IMAGINING THE HOUSEWIFE: MEDIATED REPRESENTATIONS OF PRIVATE LIVES IN POST-WAR AMERICA by NICOLE WILLIAMS BARNES A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2016 Copyright by Nicole Williams Barnes 2016 IMAGINING THE HOUSEWIFE: MEDIATED REPRESENTATIONS OF PRIVATE LIVES IN POST-WAR AMERICA by NICOLE WILLIAMS BARNES Committee Chair: James Darsey Committee: Nathan Atkinson George Pullman Catherine Palczewski Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University August 2016 iv DEDICATION For James Darsey and Andrew Barnes, without either of whom it wouldn’t have been possible. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project obviously would have remained a nugget of an idea in my head if not for the wisdom and guidance of my committee. I am a better and smarter person for the mentorship of Darsey, and can never repay him for his time, patience, and willingness to listen. Thank you for accepting me as a project, and for the faith in me to stick with it for longer than either of us would have liked this to take. Nate’s door is always open and a bibliography always at hand. Thank you for expanding my ideas as to what rhetoric is and can do, and adding visual rhetoric to my toolbox. George’s guidance through Greek and Roman rhetoric taught me what rhetoric is and its potential. Thank you for always asking the question that cuts to the heart of the matter and teaching me how to get at what’s most important. Cate’s willingness to mentor me, emails every time she sees something that makes her think of my project, and willingness to listen and offer advice, support, or research, shaped this project and me as a scholar. Thank you for joining this project, for your willingness to read work and comment on it, and for welcoming me as a scholar. If not for my husband, I literally wouldn’t be who I am today. Andrew, thank you for taking a chance on me as a sophomore in college and teaching me debate, even if we never were quite as good as we wanted to be; for being the one to take the leap of faith and decide stick it out long-distance; for constant encouragement; for taking me to class with you, introducing me to Darsey, and convincing me I could and should be doing this; for countless nights discussing texts and concepts that helped me to become the scholar I am; for your willingness to listen; for Owen. I am only who I am for you being my partner and my best friend. iii Owen always knows when I need a hug, a laugh, or a break, unless the break is from him. Thank you for teaching me truly unconditional love; no one should like me as much as you do. I know it will end soon enough. My parents’ faith in me epitomizes the “substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). They never once questioned me or my decision to return to school, or my ability to finish, even when I was riddled with doubt, and always know when I need quiet support. They always let me think they think I’m the smartest person in the room, even when I constantly try to prove them otherwise. They are my biggest cheerleaders and fans, and their emails, phone calls, and texts of encouragement sustained me through the toughest times. Thank you, both, for constant encouragement, your relentless faith in me, and constantly pushing me to do the best I can, as well as your unwavering confidence in me. Mom, thank you in particular for always answering the phone and being willing to listen, even when you should be working. Dad, thank you for always seeming to know what I need to hear, whether you tell me yourself or tell other people to tell it to me. My second parents (otherwise known as in-laws) accepted me as their own immediately and completely. Lin, thank you for being willing to twist yourself up into a pretzel at a moment’s notice for luck, and for your encouragement and friendship; you really are my second Mom. Bill, thank you for always making me earn it. You never just take anything I say for granted, never assume research, and always insist on a bibliography for verification. Debates with you can feel a little like comps all over again, but it always keeps me on my toes and makes my arguments stronger and clearer. My siblings keep me honest. Brian and Lori, thank you for your unwavering faith in me while never letting me take myself too seriously. I couldn’t have gotten through this process if I iv did. Valerie, you’re my other best friend, and may be the only family member who actually considers reading this project. Thank you for your comedic timing and listening even when I know you’re bored out of your mind and have one ear on West Wing in the background, and for always being there for me. I was fortunate in a fantastic cohort at Georgia State who continuously challenged and encouraged me. Stephen Heidt, thank you for getting me through coursework, for making me smarter, for nights of debate over Andrew’s cooking, for continued friendship and encouragement that I know will last the length of our careers. J Derby, thank you for being one of the most genuine friends anyone can be, willing to offer anything and everything you can to help. Sam Perry, you’re my younger big brother, and the only other person at GSU with me that understood being a Darsey advisee. And of course thank you to all those who helped me survive Atlanta, Georgia State, and graduate school: Nick Stamper, Jason Jarvis, Lindsey Icenogle, Vann Morris, Shawn Powers and Amelia Arsenault, and Sara Baugh, among others. The rhetoric faculty at Georgia State is phenomenal in both their scholarship and their ability within the classroom. I thank you all, but special thanks to Carol, for constant encouragement and a willingness to help at the drop of a hat, and Mary, for introducing me to Cate at my first Alta conference. The final thank you is for the departmental staff at GSU, especially Marilyn Stiggers and Tawanna Tookes, for help and administrative support throughout the graduate process. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. ii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ vii 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Context ................................................................................................................