tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/women-and-media-7448/articlesWomen and media – The Conversation2017-01-18T07:40:23Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/707712017-01-18T07:40:23Z2017-01-18T07:40:23ZFive ways the media hurts female politicians — and how journalists everywhere can do better<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152174/original/image-20170109-23468-18zwkys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation Global</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What do we see when we look closely at media coverage of female politicians and political candidates? </p>
<p>Headlines from Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign are indicative of the sexism and stereotypes that dominating much political reporting on women: “Hillary Clinton: Grandmother-in-chief?” (<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-grandmother-in-chief-2016-presidential-bid/">CBS News</a>); “The Pros and Cons of ‘President Grandma’” (<a href="http://time.com/3445666/hillary-clinton-bill-chelsea-charlotte/">Time</a>); “Could Hillary’s smile cost her the election? Twitter mocks Clinton’s ‘creepy grandma’ grin” (<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3854016/Could-Hillary-s-smile-cost-election-Twitter-mocks-Clinton-s-creepy-grandma-grin-smirks-way-presidential-debate.html">Daily Mail</a>). </p>
<p>As a scholar of gender and political campaigns, I’ve been monitoring this issue since 2013. Here’s what I’ve found. </p>
<h2>Top five journalism gender traps</h2>
<p><strong>1) Focusing on women’s domestic life</strong></p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152044/original/image-20170108-18644-1yfbcmg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152044/original/image-20170108-18644-1yfbcmg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152044/original/image-20170108-18644-1yfbcmg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152044/original/image-20170108-18644-1yfbcmg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152044/original/image-20170108-18644-1yfbcmg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=717&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152044/original/image-20170108-18644-1yfbcmg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=717&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152044/original/image-20170108-18644-1yfbcmg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=717&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">And what of Donald Trump’s grandkids?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-grandmother-in-chief-2016-presidential-bid/">CBS.com screenshot</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Female candidates are often asked whether they can “juggle” their political responsibilities with their role as a mother. </p>
<p>For example, as <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/04/17/chelsea-clinton-pregnant/7836283/">USA Today</a> wrote in 2014, “It’s unclear how Chelsea’s pregnancy will affect Hillary Clinton, who is considering a race for president in 2016”. </p>
<p>How many newspapers asked that question when Mitt Romney was proudly photographed with his <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2139814/Twin-boys-bring-Mitt-Romneys-brood-grandchildren-18-Mormons-arent-happy-surrogate-birth.html">18 grandchildren</a>, or when <a href="http://www.today.com/news/george-w-bush-shares-adorable-photo-meeting-his-granddaughter-photo-t38936">George W. Bush</a> and <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=5713979">John McCain</a> showed theirs off for the press? </p>
<p>That’s right: zero.</p>
<p>So should Hillary, unlike her male peers, have set aside political ambitions to help her daughter care for her grandchild? </p>
<p><strong>2) Attaching them to to powerful men</strong></p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152127/original/image-20170109-23473-y9mkjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152127/original/image-20170109-23473-y9mkjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152127/original/image-20170109-23473-y9mkjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152127/original/image-20170109-23473-y9mkjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152127/original/image-20170109-23473-y9mkjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152127/original/image-20170109-23473-y9mkjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152127/original/image-20170109-23473-y9mkjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152127/original/image-20170109-23473-y9mkjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Dad, they’re gonna make me a minister!’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://srv00.epimg.net/pdf/elpais/snapshot/2008/04/elpais/20080413Big.jpg">El Pais</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another bias is to emphasise the “connections” that women must need to get themselves into politics. Women in power, and those seeking public office, are often portrayed as the inexpert delegates of influential men. </p>
<p>For example, during the second administration of Spanish president Rodríguez Zapatero, 32-year-old Bibiana Aído was named Minister of Equality and Innovation, the youngest person to ever hold that position. To announce the news, the prominent daily El Pais ran this condescending headline: “<a href="http://elpais.com/diario/2008/04/13/espana/1208037612_850215.html">Dad, they’re going to make me minister</a>!” Below, the deck clarified, that Aído “comes with guarantees of Rubalcaba y Felipe González” (two powerful, male government officials). </p>
<p><strong>3) Saying they get ‘emotional’</strong></p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152137/original/image-20170109-23464-1xa0ud7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152137/original/image-20170109-23464-1xa0ud7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152137/original/image-20170109-23464-1xa0ud7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152137/original/image-20170109-23464-1xa0ud7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152137/original/image-20170109-23464-1xa0ud7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152137/original/image-20170109-23464-1xa0ud7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152137/original/image-20170109-23464-1xa0ud7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Cristina’s emotional default’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://imgv2-1-f.scribdassets.com/img/document/233863213/original/5b135a464e/1465659225">Scribd.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The media frequently questions the stability of female politicians, based on the stereotype that women are creatures of emotion. </p>
<p>In May 2008, The New Republic’s <a href="https://onsizzle.com/i/the-new-republic-may-2008-s4-9-the-voices-in-her-2109558">cover</a> showed Hillary Clinton, arms raised in exclamation, with the headline: “The Voices in Her Head”. </p>
<p>Perfil, an Argentinean political analysis magazine, dedicated a 2014 <a href="http://noticias.perfil.com/2014/07/11/el-default-emocional-de-cfk/cfk-nota-de-tapa/">issue</a> to the conflicts and judgement errors hounding then-president Cristina Fernández. The title: “Cristina’s emotional default”. The argument: that Fernández was suffering from a mood disorder. </p>
<p><strong>4) Discussing their looks</strong></p>
<p>Everyone knows that the media judges women’s physical appearance, granting obsessive attention to their clothing, makeup, and hairstyles. </p>
<p>In 2008, Angela Merkel’s cleavage at an Oslo opera house gala caused an international stir, with the Daily Mail, among others, publishing an image of the German chancellor with this headline: “<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1015111/Weapons-Mass-Distraction-German-Chancellor-Angela-Merkel-shows-plunging-neckline.html">Merkel’s weapons of mass distraction</a>”. </p>
<p>Rome recently elected its new mayor, a corruption-figthing lawyer and city counsellor. But it was her looks that dominated the news: “<a href="http://www.girabsas.com/nota/2016-6-6-esta-es-la-bella-ragazza-que-busca-ser-la-primera-alcaldesa-de-roma">Meet the beautiful girl who wants to be Rome’s mayor</a> and ”<a href="http://www.excelsior.com.mx/global/2016/06/19/1099825">Virginia Raggi, the new and beautiful mayor of Rome</a>“.</p>
<p>Hillary Clinton once sarcastically commented that if she wants to get on the front page, all she has to do is <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-hair-118381">change her hair</a>. </p>
<p><strong>5) Commenting on their voices</strong></p>
<p>I’ll close with yet another Clinton example (since she experienced every manner of gender bias during her two presidential bids): women are bad public speakers. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HVYEDMQaADI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The tone and volume of women’s voices are often criticised.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An MSNBC cable news anchor once interrupted a Clinton speech to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-voice-msnbc_us_56dd403de4b0ffe6f8e9d648">complain about her voice</a>, telling his co-host "one of the trickier things to teach people about public speaking is that the microphone works, you don’t have to actually yell”. Fox News’ Geraldo Riviera wondered if she had a hearing problem. Sean Hannity said he found Clinton’s voice “angry, bitter, screaming”. </p>
<h2>Do better, journalists</h2>
<p>Biased, sexist media coverage hurts female politicians and candidates. </p>
<p>Two studies by <a href="http://www.nameitchangeit.org">Name It, Change It</a> show that when papers comment on the <a href="http://www.nameitchangeit.org/page/-/Name-It-Change-It-Appearance-Research.pdf">physical appearance of women</a> and/or use <a href="http://www.nameitchangeit.org/page/-/Name-It-Change-It-Campaign-Simulation-Research.pdf">sexist rhetoric</a>, they negatively impact how many voters view women in numerous ways. </p>
<p>Female candidates may be perceived as less likeable, empathetic, trustworthy, effective, qualified. Candidates’ favourability ratings drop; people become less inclined to vote for them. Interestingly, we see these after-effects even when the sexist language in question is part of an otherwise positive or neutral story. And once in power, sexist coverage can undermine women’s ability to govern. </p>
<p>How can we do better? I believe that to avoid depoliticising and diminishing female leadership, journalists – and journalism students, the future of the news – must learn to question the habitual coverage style of women in politics.</p>
<p>In November 2016, with support from the <a href="http://nimd.org/">Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy</a> (NIMD), I undertook a <a href="http://www.periodicoequilibrium.com/crean-decalogo-sobre-tratamiento-periodistico-igualitario/">two-day workshop</a> in El Salvador with 32 journalists. The aim was to reflect on the importance of equal-minded media political coverage that does not play on gender stereotypes. </p>
<p>We concluded with the participants formulating recommendations, which you can find <a href="http://www.periodicoequilibrium.com/crean-decalogo-sobre-tratamiento-periodistico-igualitario/">here</a> (NIMD also sent them to newspapers and universities throughout El Salvador). </p>
<p>Two quick takeaways:</p>
<p>First, apply the “rule of reversability”: if you wouldn’t ask it of a man, don’t ask it of a woman; if you wouldn’t say it about a male candidate, don’t use those words about his female counterpart. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ol9VhBDKZs0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">If you wouldn’t ask it of a man, don’t ask a woman!</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The humour in this exercise was demonstrated at the 2016 Rio Olympics, when reporters asked male athletes questions typically lobbed at female competitors, from “If you could date anyone in the world, who would you date?” and “Removing your body hair gives you an edge in the pool, how about your love life?” to “Get ready to see some biceps, tiny tanks and more”.</p>
<p>Second, don’t focus on the private lives of women seeking public office. This tactic includes questioning whether women can be both moms and politicians (see the 2012 Illinois <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/10/lisa-madigan-illinois-attorney-general-mom_n_1870457.html">attorney general’s race of Lisa Madigan</a>) and inappropriate intimate lines of inquiry (see the debate between two female New York State senatorial candidates, when the moderator <a href="http://theweek.com/articles/471232/new-york-senate-debate-sexistfifty-shades-grey-question">asked</a> if they’d read Fifty Shades of Grey. </p>
<p>Finally, to really fix this often glaring (but sometimes invisible) media bias, more journalists around the globe must be trained to recognise and eschew harmful gender stereotypes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70771/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Virginia García Beaudoux receives funding from NIMD and UNDP.</span></em></p>Studies show that biased coverage — from jabs at the German chancellor’s low-cut dress to insinuations that Argentina’s president has a ‘mood disorder’ — undermines women in public office.Virginia García Beaudoux, Professor of Politics and Public Opinion, Universidad de Buenos AiresLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/585132016-04-28T00:41:18Z2016-04-28T00:41:18ZBeyoncé’s Lemonade: tell all or fizzy, soap-operatic art object?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120426/original/image-20160428-30973-1y1ekvk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A still from Lemonade: a new way of experiencing music.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lemonade/Tidal</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s no accident that so much energy has been poured into analysing Beyoncé’s latest offering, <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/04/lemonade-beyonce-review-sex-relationships-gender-jay-z/479643/">Lemonade</a>. It was <em>designed</em> for this very purpose.</p>
<p>Sure, it’s a video and an album and catnip for fans, but it’s also equal parts present and puzzle for those of us who write on pop culture. On marketing. On gender. It’s a production made not merely for consumption, but for <em>dissection</em>. For multi-media, multi-discipline and multi-faceted over-thinking and intellectualisation.</p>
<p>There’s an obvious story here about Beyoncé’s contribution to culture. Debates to be had about what constitutes authorship in an album <a href="http://fusion.net/story/294943/beyonce-lemonade-writers/">with 72 writing credits</a>. A story about new ways of delivering music, about new ways of <em>experiencing</em> it.</p>
<p>There’s a tale here of song-writing as catharsis, of the public revelation – the public <em>performance</em> – of one’s pain. Of doing revenge theatrically. Of taking control of a scandal, of one’s story, of framing it, of <em>monetising</em> it.</p>
<p>And there’s a treatise here on contemporary feminism, on race, on what it means to be a black woman, a black <em>mother</em>, in 2016. About the role – and myth – of empowerment in 2016.</p>
<p>Interesting stuff, sure, but my entry point is a little different.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120423/original/image-20160428-30953-1k3du80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120423/original/image-20160428-30953-1k3du80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120423/original/image-20160428-30953-1k3du80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120423/original/image-20160428-30953-1k3du80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120423/original/image-20160428-30953-1k3du80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120423/original/image-20160428-30953-1k3du80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120423/original/image-20160428-30953-1k3du80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120423/original/image-20160428-30953-1k3du80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lemonade/Tidal</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I’m fascinated here about the true talent that’s being overlooked. In all our speculating about whether <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Z">Jay-Z</a> really strayed, and whether he was getting his din-dins prepared by <a href="http://www.avclub.com/article/rachael-ray-not-homewrecker-jay-z-beyonce-marriage-235804">Rachael Ray</a>, lost is the capacity for this all to be construed as fiction. As art sure, but as thorough <em>fantasy</em>. That instead of this being about Beyoncé <em>bleeding</em> in front of us, perhaps it’s a story, it’s fiction, it’s folly.</p>
<p>A few months back, I viewed for the first time <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._A._Pennebaker">D.A. Pennebaker’s</a> 1979 cinéma verite work <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0217853/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Town Bloody Hall</a>.</p>
<p>The documentary centres on a 1971 Theatre For Ideas town hall meeting where Norman Mailer <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9801EED61E39E732A25750C0A9629C946890D6CF">takes on with good humor</a> a quartet of feminists including the “formidable lady writer” Germaine Greer. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tXM6KuD8ZNI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Town Bloody Hall (1979)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The banter is sometimes interesting, sometimes indulgent, and Mailer comes across as every bit as conceited and dismissive as predicted. And yet – and as difficult as it is to admit – the pithiest and most insightful remark of the night came from that <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/books/11mailer.html">towering writer with a matching ego</a>. </p>
<p>Mailer, reflecting on feminist criticisms of his works cautioned the audience to remember that just because one of his characters says something egregious it doesn’t mean it’s his own viewpoint being verbalised.</p>
<p>It’s probably a point that shouldn’t need to be repeated and yet – particularly for women writers – there appears to be a sexist belief that we can only ever be autobiographical, writing what we know, what we’ve <em>lived</em>. About the domestic, about the small, about the <em>interior</em>.</p>
<p>The writer/comedian <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1411676/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">Mindy Kaling</a> recently <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2016/04/mindy-kaling-and-mindy-lahiri-are-not-the-same-person.html#">commented about her frustration</a> that people so readily assume her <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2211129/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Mindy Project</a> character, Mindy Lahiri, is her alter-ego. As though Kaling couldn’t possibly imagine any existence other than her own. </p>
<p>Such minimising rarely happens with male writers. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120425/original/image-20160428-30986-vblgmn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120425/original/image-20160428-30986-vblgmn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120425/original/image-20160428-30986-vblgmn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120425/original/image-20160428-30986-vblgmn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120425/original/image-20160428-30986-vblgmn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120425/original/image-20160428-30986-vblgmn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120425/original/image-20160428-30986-vblgmn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120425/original/image-20160428-30986-vblgmn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lemonade/Tidal</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The easy reading – and the one encouraged in our social media, tell-each-other-everything culture – is that Lemonade is Beyoncé’s high-road response to the years of speculation that she’s <a href="http://jezebel.com/a-timeline-of-the-neverending-jay-z-and-beyonce-cheatin-1772904700">married to a cad</a>. That it’s her way of working through things in a culture that expects celebrities to do their … journey … on a reality television show. </p>
<p>A more cynical reading is that Bey and Jay-Z – the latter on whose own streaming service Lemonade was released – are in fact just consummate entrepreneurs. That they’re simply capitalising on the insatiable interest in their private lives and, rather than diffusing the chatter or issuing denials, instead, they’ve stoked the blaze, further fuelled fascination and been nicely remunerated in the process.</p>
<p>Both are possibilities sure, but I like the idea of Queen Bey simply playing make-believe. I like the notion that Lemonade is an opportunity for her to toy with perceptions, to play out a drama that may have everything – or absolutely <em>nothing</em> – to do with her real life. </p>
<p>That none of it really matters because the version of self served up for public devouring has always been artifice. In a world where perceptions can only be managed so far, why not just treat it all as a wonderful soap-operatic art project?</p>
<p>We’re very ready as a culture to buy into the idea of a man as the Great Auteur, of men being able to tell stories that aren’t just their own. Women need to be extended the same courtesy. </p>
<p>That sometimes we’ll tell our stories of love and loss and heartbreak. And then on other occasions we’ll cook up some fiction that captivates the planet. For the very same reasons that men do. </p>
<p>Because women are also artists. And liars. And shit-stirrers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58513/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Rosewarne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why must women’s art be seen as autobiographical when we readily accept the idea of male auteurs spinning fictionalised yarns? In her much analysed video and album Lemonade, Beyoncé may be playing make believe.Lauren Rosewarne, Senior Lecturer, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/558252016-03-08T01:06:01Z2016-03-08T01:06:01ZWomen in the porn industry need rights and proper pay, not token gestures<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114184/original/image-20160308-15288-10hl3p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Independent porn producer Gala Vanting at work: the adult film industry has moved from subscription sites to video-on-demand.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sensate Films</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the last two decades independent producers have made important contributions to the “<a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/66455/">pornosphere</a>”. Enabled by increasingly affordable and accessible technology, alternative, indie, feminist, queer, ethical, amateur, user-generated and <a href="http://mimesisinternational.com/porn-after-porn-contemporary-alternative-pornographies/">“post” porn</a> have arguably “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/products/9780415572910">democratised</a>” pornography. </p>
<p>These genres blend performance art, experimental film, diverse bodies and <a href="http://www.femaleporndirectors.com/">women’s pleasures</a> with a <a href="http://thefeministpornbook.com/">focus on the process</a>, not just the final product.</p>
<p>This week, to coinicide with International Women’s Day, tube site YouPorn launched a “female director series”, asking female directors to share their work - for no remuneration but for mass exposure. </p>
<p>Tube sites provide free video streaming similar to YouTube and include user-generated material. But they also buy archival content from defunct websites and often <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-porn-industry-is-being-ripped-apart-by-tube-site-litigation-2012-7?r=US&IR=T">pirate content</a> from competitors.</p>
<p>YouPorn is owned by Canadian company MindGeek, which <a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/news/how-a-canadian-founded-company-youve-never-heard-of-took-control-of-the-porn-industry">reportedly owns eight of the top ten tube sites</a> including Pornhub and Redtube.</p>
<p>Is its offer on International Women’s Day an altruistic measure? Or, given that small producers are being asked to provide free content that will generate advertising revenue, is an international corporation seeking to profit from women’s labour?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114171/original/image-20160307-31260-12y323b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114171/original/image-20160307-31260-12y323b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114171/original/image-20160307-31260-12y323b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114171/original/image-20160307-31260-12y323b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114171/original/image-20160307-31260-12y323b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114171/original/image-20160307-31260-12y323b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114171/original/image-20160307-31260-12y323b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114171/original/image-20160307-31260-12y323b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Porn performers discuss stigma and labour at the launch of Coming Out Like a Porn Star, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gala Vanting</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Porn monopolies</h2>
<p>MindGeek is defending a <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelthomsen/2015/11/30/mindgeek-is-both-plaintiff-and-defendant-in-two-new-dmca-lawsuits/#33598c9926dc">piracy lawsuit</a> for allegedly hosting and charging for access to pirated videos on Pornhub Premium. Adult star Stoya has claimed MindGeek is <a href="http://graphicdescriptions.com/28-tubes-vs-torrents-the-ethics-of-piracy">devaluing companies through piracy</a>. And some have suggested MindGeek is fast becoming a “<a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/10/mindgeek_porn_monopoly_its_dominance_is_a_cautionary_tale_for_other_industries.html">single, monopolistic owner</a>” of porn production and distribution. </p>
<p>Offering female-friendly content may improve a corporation’s image, but a more meaningful step would be to focus on ethical labour practices in the porn industry. </p>
<p>Performers are urging consumers to “<a href="http://www.payforyourporn.org/">pay for your porn</a>” and “vote with your wallet” as a form of <a href="http://jizlee.com/ethical-porn-consumption-pay-for-porn-anti-piracy/">ethical porn consumption</a>. </p>
<p>Sex workers have spearheaded a movement for fair working conditions and adequate payment and control over how and where their scenes are distributed. A desire to capitalise on women’s creative labour is very different to a genuine commitment to <a href="http://www.nswp.org/research-sex-work">sex worker rights</a>.</p>
<p>Indeed feminist porn pioneer <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIoKDa032fw&feature=youtu.be">Candida Royalle</a> has insisted that women must “take control of the reins of production” to ensure our voice is heard.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dIoKDa032fw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Mini-documentary Female Porn Directors: Taking The Reins (2016).</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A decade of the <a href="http://www.feministpornawards.com/">Feminist Porn Awards</a> and <a href="http://www.pornfilmfestivalberlin.de/2015/de/">Berlin Porn Film Festival</a> (where 50 per cent of directors are women) have nourished a growing community of porn-makers invested in <a href="http://www.b-books.de/verlag/ppp/">political change</a>.</p>
<p>But although women now have greater access to the means of production, we cannot say the same for the means of distribution. As long as male-dominated corporations own and control the infrastructure, men predominantly make the money and female producers are encouraged to work for free.</p>
<h2>When you can’t sell sex</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, independent producers face barriers that they say make the sale of porn <a href="http://www.vice.com/read/how-the-financial-sector-is-making-life-miserable-for-sex-workers-714">virtually unviable</a>. These include refusals from banks in processing adult payments, administrative and financial costs in securing billing from Australia, and higher fees due to the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/29/porn-stars-high-risk-bank-accounts">assumed risk</a> of adult websites.</p>
<p>Platforms such as <a href="http://msnaughty.com/blog/2013/06/28/what-happened-when-i-asked-vimeo-to-define-pornography/">Vimeo</a>, <a href="http://www.thefrisky.com/2014-04-02/the-soapbox-how-paypal-wepay-discriminate-against-the-adult-industry/">Paypal</a> and <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/lifestyle/amazon-sex-worker-wish-lists/">Amazon</a> have all refused adult content.</p>
<p>As academic Georgina Voss has argued, working in porn is a kind of “<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23616692-stigma-and-the-shaping-of-the-pornography-industry">stigmatised labour</a>”. Combined with <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23268743.2014.928463">criminal laws in Australia</a> that prohibit advertising of X18+ material, it is increasingly difficult and expensive to actually sell pornography. </p>
<p>The increasing access to free online pornography, available without credit card, age verification or email log in, is currently the subject of an <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Online_access_to_porn">Australian Senate Inquiry</a>, following an inquiry into <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/Revenge_porn">revenge porn</a>, the non-consensual sharing of explicit images. </p>
<h2>Crowdfunding and consumer entitlement</h2>
<p>Porn’s move towards free content in return for patronage or advertising is similar to the trend in other creative industries. Porn has moved from subscription sites to video-on-demand, and now towards <a href="https://www.patreon.com/fourchambers?ty=h">crowdfunding</a>. </p>
<p>In some cases, giving away free content has been a <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-pandora-blake-fight-the-anti-porn-laws#/">political protest</a> to circumvent criminal laws. And some feminist producers have offered sliding scales and discounts for women, while featuring free sections on their websites.</p>
<p>But pornography is different to other creative industries because ongoing stigma brings <a href="http://www.comingoutlikeapornstar.com/">additional risks</a>. The reuse of old content on tube sites can have consequences for retired performers, leading to their being discriminated against when finding work or even in child custody battles.</p>
<p>Ethical porn producers are guided by performers as to whether their image is to remain behind a paywall or can be used in marketing. Contracting with tube sites risks performers losing control of the product, which may be featured next to misogynist, racist or <a href="http://www.xojane.com/sex/chelsea-poe-shemale-slur-petition">transphobic</a> taglines. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06d2g5d">Ethical porn</a> is not only about production – it is about marketing, distribution and consumption.</p>
<p>Requests to provide free content to satisfy <a href="https://medium.com/@creatrixtiara/the-willingness-to-pay-for-porn-businessybrunette-hbx-week-2-d351bdae6383#.5uu9pcagh">consumers</a> ignore the skilled yet precarious labour of sex work and the capital involved in producing porn – from location, wardrobe, talent, camera equipment and editing software.</p>
<p><a href="http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-sections/10471/siri-piracy-pay-for-your-porn/">Solo producers</a> who shoot and star in their own content operate with no/low budget, shoot sporadically and may supplement porn with other work to earn a living.</p>
<p>The University of California’s <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/02/porn-industry-labor-adult-expo/">Heather Berg</a> argues this is part of a larger trend under late capitalism: work/life is blurred, performers are encouraged to take on their professional identities 24/7, and workers are expected to perform for love, not for money.</p>
<p>Still, there are avenues to <a href="https://vimeo.com/101036482">support your local pornographers</a>. In Australia, porn is characterised by performer-producers, solo operators, small partnerships and <a href="https://theconversation.com/porn-and-feminism-not-strange-bedfellows-after-all-1446">“cottage industries”</a>. </p>
<p>On International Women’s Day, we don’t need token gestures that mask inequalities and offer no material benefits.</p>
<p>We need decriminalisation of the production, screening, advertising and sale of pornography and protections enabling performers to access industrial rights mechanisms and health and safety standards. </p>
<p>This way we can nurture a <a href="http://www.vice.com/read/australia-has-a-thriving-art-porn-industry-run-by-women">thriving</a>, democratic and fair industry of independent artists.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55825/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zahra Zsuzsanna Stardust has worked as an independent adult performer in Australia and abroad, and has collaborated with fellow independent producers. Her PhD research is funded by an Australian Postgraduate Award. She has previously run for parliament for the Australian Sex Party. </span></em></p>Asking female porn directors to share their work for free on International Women’s Day is a backward step that masks industry inequalities.Zahra Zsuzsanna Stardust, PhD Candidate, Arts/Media & Law , UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/520922015-12-30T10:36:44Z2015-12-30T10:36:44ZWe didn’t solve many problems for women in 2015, but it’s good to talk<p>At the UN meeting on <a href="http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2015/9/press-release-global-leaders-meeting">gender equality and women’s empowerment</a>, which took place in New York in September 2015, 80 global leaders committed to “Planet 50:50 by 2030”. In other words, the leaders who attended the conference gave themselves another 15 years to get it right. But given the meagre representation of women in the media, both as newsmakers and as media professionals, could we see a bit of action on the media front a bit sooner that that please? </p>
<p>The visibility of women in the news has risen by <a href="http://cdn.agilitycms.com/who-makes-the-news/Imported/reports_2015/global/gmmp_global_report_en.pdf">between six and seven percentage points in 20 years</a>, now standing at 24% of everyone who is seen, heard or read about. At that excruciatingly slow rate of change, I will be long dead and my daughters old and grey before gender parity is realised and certainly nowhere near as quickly as 2030.</p>
<p>In 2015, though, there were some important stories about women, certainly not enough to make this the year of the woman, but at least a year in which some of the broader issues of gender and equality got (back) on the agenda.</p>
<p>In February, Patricia Arquette used her Oscar acceptance speech to make some <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/22/patricia-arquette-oscars-speech-equal-pay-women">trenchant comments</a> about equal pay. She received much applause from the audience as she said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America… It is time for women. Equal means equal. And the truth is, the older women get, the less money they make.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Her call, and those of many others, has yet to be answered, despite the findings from a recent report which suggested companies with more diverse boards are <a href="http://www.wsj.com/specialcoverage/women-in-the-workplace">more successful</a>.</p>
<h2>A high office of one’s own</h2>
<p>2015 has been a relatively good year for women in politics: we saw more countries being governed by women prime ministers and presidents than ever before. You could be forgiven for not knowing this, however, since a <a href="http://whomakesthenews.org/gmmp/gmmp-reports/gmmp-2015-reports">2015 report</a> revealed that women comprise a mere 16% of people who featured in news stories about politics.</p>
<p>In the run up to the British election in May, it looked like one woman might make up that total by herself – although she wasn’t even standing. Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, arguably stole the campaign limelight, infamously being described by Piers Morgan in the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3047165/PIERS-MORGAN-Meet-dangerous-wee-woman-world-ve-never-heard-of.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed">Daily Mail</a> as the “most dangerous wee woman in the world”. </p>
<p>Sturgeon’s triumph was matched by that of Aung San Suu Kyi when her National League for Democracy Party won a landslide victory in Myanmar in November. But unlike Sturgeon, Aung San Suu Kyi has no chance of becoming the country’s ruler because its constitution disallows a contender whose children are citizens of another country: both her sons have British passports.</p>
<p>And despite it being the worst kept secret in the world, it was actually in April this year that Hillary Clinton officially confirmed her bid for the White House – an intention she made public on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N708P-A45D0">YouTube</a> saying: “everyday Americans need a champion. And I want to be that champion.” At the time of writing, her video had been watched nearly 700,000 times with slightly more thumbs up (6,443) than thumbs down (5,450).</p>
<h2>A taxing problem</h2>
<p>In November, the British government announced plans to almost entirely remove the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/20/feminism-axed-a-level-politics-dfe-draft-protest">feminist movement</a> from the politics A-level curriculum save for a throwaway mention of the Suffragettes and mention of one women political thinker (Mary Wollstonecraft).</p>
<p>It was odd timing, coming so quickly after the release of the film <a href="https://theconversation.com/review-suffragette-helps-us-see-why-we-still-need-feminism-today-48797">Suffragette</a>, which is already being tipped for an Oscar and which saw box office receipts of just under £3m in its opening <a href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/weekend-box-office-figures">weekend</a>: people are interested in history – and in the women <strong>and</strong> the men who made it.</p>
<p>At more or less the same time, in his spending review speech, chancellor George Osborne <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/nov/25/tampon-tax-15m-womens-charities-george-osborne-spending-review">pledged</a> to use the taxes collected on the ‘non-essential luxury’ of sanitary protection, to support women’s services. He conveniently forgot to mention that those services were now in need of support because he had cut their funding.</p>
<iframe src="https://vine.co/v/eYbF7tEJt2A/embed/simple" width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p>You can’t help but wonder if he had discussed his big idea with anyone who has a uterus. At least the issue brought us footage of MP Stella Creasy joyfully encouraging one of her male colleagues to <a href="http://www.thedebrief.co.uk/news/politics/mp-forced-to-say-tampon-out-loud-like-an-adult-talking-about-tampons-20151056588">utter the word “tampon”</a> in the House of Commons. </p>
<p>Women are the 51%. We are not going away. We are not going to be silent or silenced. 2015 might not quite have been it, but our year is coming, very soon.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52092/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Ross is a member of the Labour Party. </span></em></p>Equal pay didn’t quite happen, nor did the end of the tampon tax. And Aung San Suu Kyi isn’t quite president of Mynamar. But we certainly had a good debate.Karen Ross, Professor of Media, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/265262014-05-12T05:20:42Z2014-05-12T05:20:42ZNo more excuses for the lack of women experts on air<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48162/original/tz3f6nnq-1399630980.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A modern rarity.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WTUL_Microphone.jpg">Tulane Public Relations</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Executives from four major news providers – BBC, ITN, Channel 4 and Sky – have pledged to try to improve the number of women interviewed as experts on their programmes; and this summer will be the test of that. They made this promise at a conference at City University London where former DCMS Secretary of State, Tessa Jowell called women’s representation in broadcasting “disgraceful”. </p>
<p>For the past two years the ratio has stuck at four males to every one female interviewed as experts on news programmes. This has been <a href="http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/SearchResults.aspx?qsearch=1&qkeyword=expert+women&x=0&y=0">confirmed by our research</a>, done in the Department of Journalism at City from March 2012 to April 2014. </p>
<p>I started looking at this informally in 2010 when I was furious at listening to “Today” on BBC Radio 4 and not hearing a woman’s voice for about 40 minutes. Then I realised that was a good day. </p>
<p>I asked students to help me count the number of women on the programme over a three-week period and we found that male expert interviewees outnumbered women by as much as six to one. In fairness, in four years Today has improved from dire, to just as bad as the rest. The figure has settled at four to one over five flagship news programmes despite broadcasters’ reporting strenuous efforts to improve the ratio. The magazine Broadcast has run a campaign called <a href="http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/home/expert-women/#">Expert Women</a> since March 2012 based on our figures and this certainly caused an initial, positive response. But now things have stagnated.</p>
<p>The programmes we measure are BBC News at Ten, ITV News at Ten, Channel Four News, Sky News (selected evening bulletins) and Today. Between them, daily, they are consumed by about 6m different people. A spin off is that we now also have data on how many women reporters, presenters and interviewees there are. And it’s not a good read for an egalitarian.</p>
<p>So why is this? Do women in society have less important roles than men, to the ratio of 80/20? No. The evidence is that the ratio of authoritative or expert roles in society generally is much more 70% to 30% (2.3-1) with a growing proportion of women getting important jobs.</p>
<p>Some journalists maintain it is childcare which keeps women off the airwaves. But that is not the case either. According to the <a href="http://www.barb.co.uk/">Broadcast Audience Research Board</a>, only a third of women in the UK have children under 15. So even if every woman with a child was unable to be on TV or radio at any time, there would still be a ratio of 70% men, 30% women available to be experts on air.</p>
<p>It could be that women are considered less interesting and important than men. In 2011 the editor of the Today programme Ceri Thomas <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/mar/31/bbc-radio-4-today-female-presenters">commented</a> that there was no opportunity for women journalists on his show, “because it is too tough an environment for novices, frankly”. The idea that there were women broadcasters who already existed, who were able to cope with the Today programme, was beyond his comprehension. </p>
<p>This belief – that women as authority figures were not quite up to it – was prevalent in the broadcasting industry. Guest getters I spoke to said, “You learnt from the people that had been doing it for years. When you wanted someone on say, retail, you went to X or Y (both male), that’s just what you did.” They told me programme guests were “generally white, over 40, male, in suits or uniforms”. But guest getters also reported that women were notoriously difficult to recruit, and needed far more persuasion and reassurance. Not surprising perhaps given the lack of role models.</p>
<p>In 2013 the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/news/article/art20130711164644721">BBC Academy</a> looked at the problem from this perspective and decided to hold training days for women experts. They offered 30 places and more than 2,000 women applied. So the BBC rolled it out to the regions as well. I sent questionnaires to the 164 women who eventually took part. 31 replied. Crucially, 71% reported lack of confidence, and 45% actually cited pressure from peers and the fear of being “pushy”. </p>
<p>This was particularly marked in women in academia. Academics often work alone and jealously protect their areas of expertise. The culture of peer review and attack means that academics seem particularly sensitive to criticism. Of course many women can give as good as they get, but when the top roles are dominated by men, it is hard to get a foothold and junior academics often prefer to avoid the fray than to be savaged. Even female astrophysicists and chemists found it hard to put themselves forward as experts to be exposed on TV and radio, though they clearly wanted to – otherwise why would they have taken part in the BBC’s training days?</p>
<p>We also found that male reporters outnumber female reporters three to one. Yet my experience, and the research of my colleague <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2013/10/29/book-review-women-and-journalism-franks/">Suzanne Franks</a>, shows more than 60% of journalism students are women, most of whom, initially at least, want to be on air. But they don’t make it. Many are told that having a family is incompatible with being “on the road”. </p>
<p>But the macho insistence on being ready to race to the scene of a story and stay there for days on end regardless of the family is not a reality for most reporters who finish their shift and go home like everyone else. Even when stories like that do happen (and it’s not as often as you think) what is to stop women leaving the children for a few days? Men do.</p>
<p>Campaigns come and go. It’s easy to dismiss this one by saying there are more important things in the world than the number of women on TV. But fairness and equality is vital to our culture. It’s ironic that both broadcast journalists and recognised academic experts, so often ready to fight for justice in the wider world, don’t seem to apply it when it comes to their female colleagues.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26526/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lis Howell received a one-off grant in 2011 from the London Centre for Arts and Cultural Exchange.
She is a member of the Royal Television Society.</span></em></p>Executives from four major news providers – BBC, ITN, Channel 4 and Sky – have pledged to try to improve the number of women interviewed as experts on their programmes; and this summer will be the test…Lis Howell, Director of Broadcasting, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/189382013-10-08T03:11:20Z2013-10-08T03:11:20ZMiley Cyrus, Sinéad O’Connor and the future of feminism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/32551/original/mrkyqpkt-1381117349.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A twerking, tongue-poking Miley Cyrus at the Video Music Awards in Brooklyn earlier this year. Does the pop singer represent third wave feminism?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Jason Szenes</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since her tongue-poking and “twerk”-filled <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OpHVV1FMR8">performance</a> at the American Video Music Awards, Miley Cyrus has been the subject of intense media discussion. This has only magnified in the past week, after Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor wrote an <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/03/sinead-o-connor-open-letter-miley-cyrus">open letter</a> to Cyrus, imploring her to “refuse to exploit your body or your sexuality in order for men to make money from you”.</p>
<p>Cyrus did not react well to being chided by one of her idols and <a href="http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/sinead-oconnor-demands-miley-cyrus-apologise-for-mocking-her-and-amanda-bynes-mental-illness-threatens-to-sue/story-e6frfmqi-1226733301091">her tweets</a> in response have provoked two <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sineadoconnor/posts/600729603299365">further open letters</a> by O’Connor. Fellow musician Amanda Palmer has appointed herself as intergenerational umpire, offering an <a href="http://amandapalmer.net/blog/20131003/">open letter</a> to O’Connor in which she maintains that Cyrus has orchestrated her own plan to be a “raging, naked, twerking sexpot”.</p>
<p>Some people have been left wondering why one young, white American female pop singer is generating this much attention. Certainly, Madonna deliberately pushed the boundaries with controversial video clips and an erotic photo book, Sex, before Billy Ray Cyrus’s “achy breaky heart” had even settled on Miley’s mother, Leticia.</p>
<p>One of the tensions driving the international debate about Cyrus is the now-entrenched difference between second- and third-wave feminisms. In 1963, prominent feminist activist Gloria Steinem went undercover to <a href="http://www.gloriasteinem.com/updates/2011/8/22/i-was-a-playboy-bunny.html">work as a Playboy Bunny</a>. The resulting exposé of the harmful aspects of women’s work in the New York club exemplified how feminists once largely agreed that there were exploitative practices inherent in women’s employment in industries connected with sex.</p>
<p>The movement fractured as some women came to disagree with views of pornography and sex work as oppressive. From the 1990s, third-wave feminist rhetoric about “choice” has challenged the idea that stripping, pole dancing, or posing naked are enforced by a male-led - or patriarchal - society.</p>
<p>Michaele L. Ferguson, a political scientist, <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=7323460">explains</a> that “choice feminists” see anything a woman says she has chosen to do as “an expression of her liberation”. It does not matter whether a woman elects to run for parliament or to ride naked on a wrecking ball — as does Cyrus in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My2FRPA3Gf8">her video</a> for her most recent single — as a woman cannot freely choose to be oppressed.</p>
<p>Third-wave - or choice - feminists have been critical of O’Connor’s initial letter. They have suggested that it exhibits <a href="http://guardianlv.com/2013/10/miley-cyrus-slut-shamed-by-sinead-oconnor/">“slut-shaming”</a>, which refers to the denigration of women who transgress sexual expectations for their gender. Like Amanda Palmer, third-wave opinions contend that O’Connor denies Cyrus’s “agency” or <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emma-gray/sinead-oconnor-miley-cyrus-open-letter_b_4039729.html">control over her career</a>. Finally, they also criticise what they see as O’Connor’s misguided assumption that she can judge what is and what is not “empowering” for another woman. </p>
<p>In contrast, women who uphold second-wave feminist ideals have <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/10/04/sinead_o_connor_writes_an_open_letter_to_miley_cyrus_and_says_all_the_right.html">expressed admiration</a> for the way in which O’Connor’s letter draws on her own experience as a successful female musician to caution against the workings of male-controlled music industry that markets sex appeal. This week, former Eurthymics singer Annie Lennox has also <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/10358956/Annie-Lennox-disturbed-and-dismayed-by-overtly-sexualised-pop-performances.html">highlighted the impact</a> on young girls of an industry “peddling highly styled pornography with musical accompaniment”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/32552/original/sycxcrg9-1381118512.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/32552/original/sycxcrg9-1381118512.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/32552/original/sycxcrg9-1381118512.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/32552/original/sycxcrg9-1381118512.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/32552/original/sycxcrg9-1381118512.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/32552/original/sycxcrg9-1381118512.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/32552/original/sycxcrg9-1381118512.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor has exchanged a war of words with pop singer Miley Cyrus over the latter’s overtly ‘sexualised’ behaviour.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Inga Kundzina</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Second-wave responses also <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/06/miley-cyrus-exploited-empowered-debate">agree with O’Connor’s questioning</a> of the long-term effects of Cyrus’s “choice” to cultivate a highly sexual persona. O’Connor emphasised that at 46 years old, she has not found herself “on the proverbial rag heap” as do many middle-aged female artists “who have based their image around their sexuality”. Shaping a career around sexual desirability in a culture that fetishises the appeal of young women means accepting a built-in expiry date. </p>
<p>The third-wave perspective that lauds Cyrus’s choice to be a “raging, naked, twerking sex-pot” rests on the problematic idea that gender equality has been achieved and that women are already fully liberated. Can we really say that the career choices available to female musicians are equivalent or comparable to those available to male musicians? </p>
<p>In her book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Female-Chauvinist-Pigs-Raunch-Culture/dp/0743284283">Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture</a>, American journalist Ariel Levy proposes that women’s “choices” to express their sexuality through exhibiting their bodies for men are created by selling them an extremely limited model of sexuality in the guise of sexual liberation. Levy’s view is approximated by O’Connor’s plea to Cyrus: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>They [the music industry] will prostitute you for all you are worth, and cleverly make you think its [sic] what YOU wanted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Third-wave feminists would argue that O’Connor’s statement suggests Cyrus possesses a false consciousness. Cyrus only thinks she wants to lick sledgehammers and simulate masturbation with a foam finger because she has internalised patriarchal ideas about women. However, a second-wave orientation would counter that it’s impossible to talk about free choices in a world where gender inequality persists and women’s options are overtly and unwittingly constrained.</p>
<p>A war of words among privileged entertainers seems a trivial story in comparison with the major political and social upheavals of the present moment. Nevertheless, the stooshie between Cyrus and O’Connor attracts page views, not only because of our thirst for gossip. We are also interested in this debate because we remain uncertain about the rights and freedoms of women and how best to foster them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/18938/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Smith receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Since her tongue-poking and “twerk”-filled performance at the American Video Music Awards, Miley Cyrus has been the subject of intense media discussion. This has only magnified in the past week, after…Michelle Smith, Associate Professor in Literary Studies, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.