WMN2110

Representations of women and gender in Australian society

Maryanne Dever and others

8 points
* 3 hours per week
* First semester
* Clayton
* Prerequisites: A first-year sequence

Objectives Students successfully completing this subject should have gained a familiarity with key questions surrounding gender and representation in Australian society; gained an understanding of contemporary feminist cultural theory and its applications; and developed skills in analytical critique and interpretation.

Synopsis What is the relationship between modes of representation - be they discourses of capitalism, the law, education, ethnicity, or language - and the experiences of women within the wide range of Australian cultural contexts? Do these representations describe an external reality, and/or do they function to construct roles and stereotypes for women's behaviour and identity? What can representations of women and gender in the media and popular culture tell us about the operations of patriarchy? How do discourses of race and class connect with discourses of gender in Australian society to produce different models of femininity and womanhood? What are the possibilities for resistance and counter-representations? These are some of the questions this subject will explore in its broad, interdisciplinary approach to the production of gender in Australian society past and present.

Assessment Exercise and essay (total 3500 words): 70%
* Class test (2 hours): 20%
* Seminar participation and seminar tasks: 10%

Prescribed texts

Hughes K P Contemporary Australian feminism 2 Longman, 1997
van Zoonen L Feminist media studies Sage, 1994