Twenty-First Century Working-Class Girls' Imagined Futures
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Twenty-First Century Working-Class Girls’ Imagined Futures: A Child-Centred Socialist Feminist Research Project. Georgina Joanne Newton Doctor of Philosophy De Montfort University December 2019 Acknowledgements Firstly, I want to thank the girls that worked with me to create this research. Meeting and working with you was an honour and a privilege. This research would not exist without you, you made it fun, insightful and it was a joy, so thank you and good luck in all of your futures! Also, the teachers that helped me gain access to the Schools, without your interest in my research, willingness to find more time in your day to accommodate me, and support in recruiting the girls, my research would not exist – thank you. I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr Heather Savigny and Dr Jenny Alexander. I am honoured to have worked with you. Your unwavering support, critique and encouragement gave me confidence in the direction my research took me and the belief in my own ability to do the girls justice. I cannot thank you both enough, for the professional advice and guidance, for the opportunity to develop my research under your feminist gaze, and for believing in me. Mikes, I am immensely proud of the man you have become, having you gave me the drive to be better. You never questioned my desire to do this, and always seemed to know I would. Thank you! ii John, you may have never thought this would reach an end! Thank you for supporting me and knowing this was important, and most importantly thank you for being you, my perfect match. I would like to thank my friends and family, you know who you are, that believed in me, and encouraged me. Thank you to Laura for proofreading and Laura for helping me check details when I needed a fresh pair of eyes. I would like to dedicate this work to my late Mum and Dad. I think you would both be proud I have finally achieved this. Dad, you were probably the first feminist I knew! You treated me as a person not a girl, encouraged me to ask questions, let me get my hands dirty and taught me that being a girl shouldn’t stop me doing whatever I wanted. Mum, I know you were proud of me for starting this, you were the one that that encouraged me to go for it and chase my dream. And finally, to Harriet Jennifer Julie Newton. Don’t be afraid to be you and don’t let anything or anyone say you can’t do or achieve what you want. Have confidence in yourself, don’t conform and don’t sacrifice your dreams. The one thing I ask of you, is at the very least, learn to see your privileges and challenge inequalities. iii Abstract Gender and class inequality exist throughout UK society however topical debates often focus on the discussion of sexualisation of women, with other gendered and classed spheres of oppression fading from view. Working with 11-and 12-year-old girls from working-class backgrounds this research adapts Mitchell’s (1971) spheres of subjection to explore how young working-class girls imagine their futures in relation to media socialisation. Drawing on socialist feminism and intersectionality this revives class and gender debates whilst allowing for other vectors of identity, such as regionality to be explored. This explores how working-class girls imagine their futures, whilst understanding how they perceive media as a “norm” shaping agent of socialisation. The child-centred feminist standpoint epistemology focuses on hearing the girls’ voices through co-participatory research methods. Key findings demonstrate these working-class girls are highly media literate, who wish to challenge media representations, that exclude “girls like us”. The girls are aware of gendered norms and how media renders girls like them invisible. The girls have a variety of “imagined futures”, but their desire to be independent and autonomous, is tempered by their awareness of needing to balance their imagined futures in the public and private sphere. The girls are aware their lives will be a balancing act, between the public and domestic sphere, being feminine / attractive but not too sexy, challenging norms and fitting in. Mothers play an important role in the girls’ lives, with iv their “imagined futures” shaped by a desire to either be similar or different. Whilst media is not considered influential, the girls discuss it as influencing “others”, and suggest this contributes to peer pressure they feel the need to conform to. Central to these findings is how gender, class and regionality intersect to create a specific life experience for the girls and offer a limited range of “choices”. v Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS II ABSTRACT IV CONTENTS 1 1 INTRODUCTION 7 1.1 A Women’s problem 15 1.1.1 Women and work 16 1.1.2 Women and the domestic sphere 18 1.1.3 Socialisation of Children 19 1.1.4 Sexualisation of women and girls 20 1.2 Social Class in Britain Today 21 1.2.1 Social Class, Gender and Media 23 1.3 Research focus and Methodology 26 1.4 Contribution from my research 27 1.4.1 Girls and sexualisation 28 1.4.2 Girls and their imagined working lives 29 1.4.3 Girls and their imagined lives in the domestic sphere 29 1.4.4 Girls and media 30 1.4.5 Key arguments from my research 31 1.5 Summary 33 1.5.1 Structure of thesis 34 2 ENGAGING WITH SOCIALIST FEMINISM TODAY 38 2.1 Introduction 38 2.2 Historical reflection on social class and gender 42 2.2.1 Origins of Socialist Feminism 45 2.2.2 “Second Wave” feminist movement 49 2.3 Juliet Mitchell’s four spheres of women’s subjection 51 1 2.4 Theorising Class, “Race” and Gender 53 2.4.1 Intersectional considerations 55 2.5 Analysis of social class and gender in Britain today 65 2.5.1 Neoliberal and post-feminist discourses 66 2.5.2 Refocusing on Class and Gender 70 2.6 Engaging Socialist Feminism today 73 2.7 Summary 75 3 MEDIA, GENDER AND SOCIAL CLASS 78 3.1 Introduction 78 3.2 Media, social class, sexuality and women’s / girl’s bodies 81 3.2.1 Constructing women 82 3.2.2 Maintaining femininity 93 3.3 Media, social class, women and work 98 3.3.1 Women in work 98 3.3.2 Girl’s and their “aspirations” for work 102 3.3.3 Women’s work in media 105 3.4 Media, social class, women and the domestic sphere 107 3.4.1 Gendered and Class Homes 108 3.4.2 Constructing the “ideal” domestic sphere 111 3.5 Desirable yet at risk: Girls and Media 113 3.5.1 Girls at Risk 114 3.5.2 Socialising Media 118 3.6 Summary 122 4 METHODOLOGY DISCUSSION: RESEARCHING WITH YOUNG WORKING-CLASS GIRLS 125 4.1 Introduction 125 4.1.1 Research Aim 128 4.2 Research Objectives 129 4.3 Theoretical perspective: youth / female-centred research 130 4.3.1 A Socialist Feminist Framework 134 4.3.2 Research philosophy and researching “with” girls 135 4.4 Research Design 139 2 4.4.1 Methodology 139 4.4.2 Gatekeepers 141 4.4.3 Sampling young working-class girls 143 4.4.4 Consent / Assent 147 4.4.5 Participants 148 4.5 Research Ethics 150 4.5.1 Confidentiality versus Child Protection 152 4.5.2 Research Location 154 4.5.3 Researcher Power 156 4.6 Methods 158 4.6.1 Media Diaries 161 4.6.2 Focus Groups 162 4.6.3 Co-participatory Interviews 166 4.7 Research Limitations 167 4.8 Data Analysis 170 4.9 Summary 171 5 DATA ANALYSIS CHAPTER: “YOU DON’T SEE GIRLS LIKE US”: WORKING-CLASS GIRLS AND MEDIA 174 5.1 Introduction 174 5.2 Working-Class Girls and their Media Consumption 179 5.3 Working-Class Girls and Media Representations 192 5.3.1 Sexualisation 198 5.3.2 “Fake” 202 5.3.3 “Ladylike” 205 5.4 Self-representations: Judging themselves and others 209 5.5 Invisible Girls and being “The Other”: Perceptions of the intersection of Class and Gender in Media 220 5.6 Conclusion 231 6 DATA ANALYSIS: WORKING-CLASS GIRLS AND THEIR IMAGINED FUTURES WITH RESPECT TO (POTENTIAL) WORKING LIVES OUTSIDE OF THE HOME (PRODUCTION) 235 6.1 Introduction 235 3 6.2 Imagined Futures within the workplace 237 6.2.1 Planning their futures 238 6.3 Why these Imagined Futures? 250 6.3.1 Interests, Hobbies and Experience 251 6.3.2 Socialisation through female family members 253 6.3.3 Gendered attitudes to work outside of the home 259 6.3.4 Classed Futures 262 6.4 The Intersection of Class, Gender and Media in the girl’s imagined working futures 267 6.5 Conclusion 275 7 DATA ANALYSIS: WORKING CLASS GIRLS AND THEIR IMAGINED FUTURES WITHIN THE DOMESTIC SPHERE (REPRODUCTION). 278 7.1 Introduction 278 7.1.1 Imagined relationships and heteronormativity 280 7.2 Imagined Futures in the Domestic Sphere 283 7.2.1 Reproduction 283 7.2.2 Socialisation of Children 289 7.3 Why these Imagined Futures? 295 7.3.1 Socialisation through mothers 295 7.3.2 Resistance to Gendered expectations 299 7.4 Girls perceptions of Media and their Imagined Futures 303 7.4.1 Gendered and Classed Homes 304 7.5 The intersection of gender and class in media representations of domestic labour and motherhood.