Van Zoonen: feminist theory

• Discourse = communication from the media

  Van Zoonen says this is what we get our ideas of gender from
• Van Zoonen argues that our ideas of gender change based on historical and cultural context
• Van Zoonen says that women are objectified on the media, and this reflects our patriarchal society

  She says that in media women are presented as emotional, domestic and nurturing
• In the Media men are presented as independent, powerful and suited for business and politics
• Van Zoonen says that men and women's bodies are presented differently in the media,

  She says mens bodies are looked at as a spectacle often in athletic contexts, something achieved and worked hard for

  And women's bodies are sexualized and to be listed over as something that can be bought or had
• gender is constructed through discourse and its meaning varies due to cultural and historical context

  the display of women's bodies as objects to be looked at is a core element of western patriarchal culture

  in mainstream culture the visual and narrative codes that are used to construct the male body as spectacle differ from those used to objectify the female body