Media, Gender and Identity

by David Gauntlett

Popular media present a vast array of stories about women and men. What impact do these images and ideas have on people’s identities? The new edition of Media, Gender and Identity is a highly readable introduction to the relationship between media and gender identities today. Fully revised and updated, including new case studies and a new chapter, it considers a wide range of research and provides new ways for thinking about the media’s influence on gender and sexuality. David Gauntlett discusses movies such as Knocked Up and Spiderman 3 , men’s and women’s magazines, TV shows, self-help books, YouTube videos, and more, to show how the media play a role in the shaping of individual self-identities. The book

Genres: Nonfiction, Gender, Feminism, Queer

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

David Gauntlett is Professor of Media and Communications at the University of Westminster, London. He is the author of several books on media audiences and identities, including Moving Experiences (1995, 2005) and Creative Explorations (2007). He produces Theory.org.uk, the award-winning website on media, gender and identity.

Reviews

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Key aspects of Gauntlett's Identity theory for A Level Media Studies application:

[Fluidity of identities and the decline of tradition in era of Late Modernity]
Within limits, mass media can become a force for change. Traditional gender categories remain but have evolved since the dawn of media. The attitude of emerging thought is: 'Why would we want to do the same as previous generations? What's so great about the past?' Within this, capitalism is still re-appropriated as the dominant ideological force, although expressions of identity within capitalist parameters remain diverse.

[The knowing construction of identity by the consumer - pick-n-mix theory]
A consumer can select aspect of a media product to apply whilst rejecting other elements in order to forge one's own idiosyncratic identity. There is room for a greater variety of identities to emerge. In the Lego Identity study, many realised that their life was a project to be worked on.

[Generational differences]
Conservative attitudes are generally perceived to develop as someone gets older. They become somewhat less liberal, but at the same time, gaps in generations seem to be ideologically closing. Mass media has become more liberal and more challenging to traditional standards as a reflection of changing attitudes through generations. Active media spectatorship from younger generations has increased compared to older generations who are more passively aligned to media cultivation.

[Role models]
Role models used as navigation points for individuals through their own personal route in life and have a measurable impact on their identity. Autonomy and liberty of the individual remains beyond the role model, but the influence is still present, whether tacitly or obliquely.

[Masculinity in crisis]
The patriarchal lad stereotype found in Men's Magazines (cars, gadgets, sports, sex, machismo) has been challenged as traditionally normative male identity continue to be subverted. The split between alpha and beta male gender identities is a starting point, but the backlash to the emergence of 'the sensitive man' remains. The emotionless breadwinner male stereotype has been subverted by younger generations, but attempts to maintain essentialist patriarchal norms is still assertively indoctrinated by older generations.

[Popular Feminism]
Women's magazines portrays an empowered sex-positive version of feminism which has subverted more traditional waves of the Feminist movement. Whilst the collective attitude of sisterhood is still celebrated, contention remains within Feminist dialectics over the hegemonic mode of Feminist identity. The inescapable appropriation of Capitalism within Feminist dialectics has given the illusion of economic empowerment through consumerism whilst still adhering to aspects of patriarchal normatively. Contentions between Marxist and Liberal Feminism remain on this issue.

[Diversity of sexualities and Butler's 'Gender Trouble']
Sex is biological but gender is socially constructed and performative. Refer to my review of Butler's 'Gender Trouble' for greater deconstruction.

[Media power vs audience power}
The influence of media power on the audience, and the audience's power influence on the media is circular and perpetual. Fiske talked in terms of semiotic 'guerrilla warfare', with the audience metaphorically involved in 'smash and grab' raids on media meaning. However, Gauntlett poses that the dialectical process is slower and more engaged between media and consumers (a plodding war of attrition against the forces of tradition and conservatism with the power of new ideas).

[Contradictory elements in individual identities]
There are inescapable levels of contradiction within popular culture - media culture conveys a wildly diverse spectrum of messages, and the pick-and-mix identities of consumers can remain convoluted and contradictory as a result. In the Lego identity study, individuals were happy saying 'I know this doesn't seem to go with that, but they are all parts that make up me.'

The conclusion: popular media has a significant but not straightforward relationship with people's sense of gender identity. Media messages are diverse, diffuse and contradictory. Media are resources which individuals use to think through their sense of self and modes of expression. We use these narratives to frame our experiences and to bring order to the stream of 'stuff' that goes on in our lives. Different aspects of popular media can aid or disturb these processes of contemporary reorientation.

[Gülnaz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eğer bazı konular hakkında temel bilgiler edinmek isterseniz başvurabileceğiniz bir kitap, tamamını okumadım, belirli bölümleri okudum ben de. Ama dilinin pek akademik olduğunu söyleyemeyeceğim. Zaten yazarı da bunu iddia etmiyor; anlaşılır ve kolay bir dille açıklamaktan bahsediyor. Okurken şunu hissettim ben aslında: bir sınavım var ve sınava çalışırken bilgilerimi kendi bulduğum örneklerle kafamda tekrar ediyorum ve bu kitap da bunun yazıya dökülmüş hali.

[Lena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read some of this for my paper on masculinity, but there wasn't much that was helpful.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um BAITA livro pra quem estuda Mídia, Gênero e Identidade (tipo moi). E o diferencial de outros livros é que David Gauntlett consegue explicar coisas bastante complexas e complicadas numa linguagem simples e acessível (em inglês, claro). No começo, o autor faz uma análise das revistas masculinas e femininas vendidas no Reino Unido, numa análise ainda mais atual que o livro da Jane M. Ussher que li anteriormente. (Ainda gostaria de ver uma análise de mídia e gênero nas redes sociais). Depois, o autor examina livros de auto-ajuda para homens e mulheres. Ele examina também modelos de identidade e a construção da identidade através de mecanismos visuais. Entretanto, antes disso, ele faz uma explanação de toda a teoria sociológica em volta de modo de vida, sociedade, identidade e papéis de gênero. Considero essa a parte mais rica e preciosa de todo esse livro, principalmente pela maneira natural como o autor expõe conceitos que, geralmente, são trabalhados de maneira cansativa.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really is "an introduction" as the title implies. My focus was on chapters 1-4, and there was some good information in those chapters but no depth. I would have appreciated more statistical information and studies and less anecdotal evidence. I would consider this book's use as similar to Wikipedia, which you might use for some background information before you do any real study on a topic. There is a nice range of areas covered that I don't always see in other books on this topic, most notably self help discourses, but overall, this book felt slight on real substance. It's obviously easier to pick up this book than look up specific journal pieces or studies, but they will be more catered toward specific interests and, ultimately, be more satisfying. Also, on a cover-design note, Heroes has less than a line mention in this book, so it's ridiculous to have Hayden Panettiere on the cover in comparison to the other cover subjects which are discussed.

[David Blanar · Rating 3 out of 5]

A readable introduction to the anglo-american media landscape with a notable and mystifying exception: Gauntlett overlooks video games entirely as a medium worthy of attention, a questionable decision considering the second edition was completed in 2008.

As indicated by other reviewers, Gauntlett's analysis is also peppered with shallow statements of unwelcome opinion; for example, his flimsy and bizarre dismissal of Mulvey's cinematic theory of male gaze is inadequately articulated and only serves to confuse rather than enlighten.

Ultimately there may be some very fine ideas in this book but a lack of depth and argument leaves us with a superficial, if accessible, primer.

[Erin Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent theoretical, easy-to-read text on presentist gender and identity theory regarding how media can affect our own personal narratives. Identity theorist influences include Anthony Giddens' "late modernity" and constructed identity narrative, Michel Foucoult's gender as a performance and Judith Butler's notions of fluidity of gender and "gender trouble."

[Mariam Abood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing and seriously insightful, so if you're doing Media Studies at A-level, I highly recommend you read this book. This book offered an intelligent and insightful look into films, and the media in general, and did still managed to do this in a sophisticated way, without using a lot of highfalutin language.

[Farshad · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking for a definition of giden's structure. I just read chapter 15 which If I want to be honest, It disappointed me

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the title says, it is indeed an introduction. Quite an easy read, it's a lovely welcome message from the world of gender.