Journal articles by Laura Favaro
Australian Feminist Studies , 2015
In this article, I explore the emergent relationship between feminist media studies/cultural stud... more In this article, I explore the emergent relationship between feminist media studies/cultural studies and the field of Evolutionary Psychology (EP). EP scholars increasingly conduct research on media and popular culture. At the same time, media/ted texts are increasingly marked by EP discourses. I take as my focus commercial women’s online magazines produced in the UK and in Spain and accessed globally. Specifically, I explore a recurrent thread in their discussion forums: women expressing confusion, concern, disappointment, hurt and/or self-doubt, and asking for advice on discovering that their male partners consume various pornographies. A feminist poststructuralist discursive analysis is developed to explore both peer-to peer and editorial advice on such ‘porn trouble’. I show how pseudo-scientific discourses give support to a narrative of male immutability and female adaptation in heterosexual relationships, and examine how these constructions are informed by EP accounts of sexual difference. The article offers empirical insights into the penetration of EP logics and narratives into popular culture transnationally. Advancing the notion of ‘postfeminist biologism’, my analysis contributes to feminist interrogations of EP’s ongoing popularity in the face of sound, longstanding and widespread criticism of it as scientifically flawed and culturally pernicious.
This paper is published in Digitos edited by Meritxell Roca Sales and Guillermo Lopez Garcia. It ... more This paper is published in Digitos edited by Meritxell Roca Sales and Guillermo Lopez Garcia. It appears in English and Spanish in a special issue on gender and internet.
Abstract: Feminism rebranded: women's magazines online and 'the return of the F-word' Abstract In recent years feminism has gained spectacular levels of visibility, notably among young women and in the media, especially online. This article makes a novel contribution to a growing discussion about 'the new cultural life of feminism' (Diffractions, 2016), and in particular the 'mediated feminist landscape' (Banet-Weiser, 2015) and its 'new luminosity in popular culture' (Gill, 2016) by bringing to the conversation the voices of those very individuals doing the mediating, providing such luminosity. Drawing on 68 in-depth interviews with the producers of women's online magazines from the UK and from Spain, we examine the range of ways in which these professionals define and dis/identify with feminism, as well as explain, applaud or critique the emergence of a 'new feminism' promoted by their publications. In general terms, the analysis shows that the talk of women's magazine producers constitutes a heterogeneous discursive terrain filled with ambivalence and ideological dilemmas. Additionally we show how the recent interest in feminism by these media is deeply but not only ideological, necessarily but not simply commercially-driven, and involved in simultaneous practices of de-stigmatising as well as depoliticising the movement. We suggest that in its transition into popular media feminism is 'rebranded' in such a way that both opens up and closes down possibilities, in a contradictory dynamic of regulation and adaptation that is characteristic of 'cool capitalism' (McGuigan, 2009).
This article is coming out in the journal Gender and Language (2018) co-authored by Lia Litosseli... more This article is coming out in the journal Gender and Language (2018) co-authored by Lia Litosseliti, Laura Favaro and I
This article introduces the concept of postfeminism and highlights its value for research in language and gender studies. After discussing theoretical, historical and backlash perspectives, we advance an understanding of postfeminism as a sensibility – a patterned-yet-contradictory phenomenon intimately connected to neoliberalism. We consider elements widely theorised as constituting the postfeminist sensibility, alongside concerns shared by those who take postfeminism as their object of critical inquiry, in addition to an analytic category for cultural critique. The article then illustrates how the postfeminist sensibility may operate empirically, in the context of the doing and undoing of gender equality policies in workplaces. The article responds to calls for the field of language and gender to reinvigorate its political impetus, and to engage with feminist scholarship on postfeminism, particularly as recently developed in media and cultural studies.
Key words: Postfeminism; gender and language studies; feminist cultural studies; popular feminism; gender equality
Journal of Gender Studies , 2017
This paper offers a production-based study of online consumer magazines
for – and largely by – mi... more This paper offers a production-based study of online consumer magazines
for – and largely by – millennial women, with a particular focus on sex and
relationship content. Adopting a feminist discourse analytic approach and a
solidary-critical position, I examine 62 interviews conducted with producers,
mainly writers and editors, from 12 publications based in the UK and Spain.
The analysis maps how notions of intimacy penetrate different dimensions
of the magazine, along with networks of influence for the development
of content about sex and relationships, marked by a perceived shift from
‘experts’ to ‘real life’. The ways in which producers describe the particularities
of woman’s magazine online journalism and dis/articulate a range of critiques
are also explored. The paper highlights the increasing importance of ideas
about authenticity for these media, making connections to online cultures,
a reinvigorated interest in feminism, and contemporary branding strategies.
Ultimately, I argue that journalists at women’s magazines simultaneously (re)
produce, suffer and contest sexist media, deserving further feminist scholarly
attention, and our solidarity as well as critique.
tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique, 2016
Women’s online magazines have been constantly proliferating and increasingly supplanting print pu... more Women’s online magazines have been constantly proliferating and increasingly supplanting print publications. Contributing to their success, these sites offer similar content free of change and significantly greater opportunities for interaction – often in the form of discussion forums. However, these interactive spaces are currently disappearing, being replaced by an ever-escalating emphasis upon social network sites (SNSs). This article critically examines this changing model of reader interaction in women’s online magazines, drawing on a study of 68 interviews with industry insiders, forum user-generated content, and a variety of trade material. The analysis demonstrates how the decision to close the forums and embrace SNSs responds to multiple determinants, including a corporate doctrine of control over users’ discourse and outsourcing new modalities of free consumer labour, constituting a new ideal worker-commodity online: “the shareaholic”. This exercise of power has varying levels of success, and potentialities remain for users to exercise some transformative subversion, for example through what the article theorises as “labour of disruption”. Nonetheless, the emergent SNS-based magazine model of reader interaction poses a serious challenge to ongoing celebrations both in the industry and in some scholarly work about an increasingly democratic and user-led digital media ecosystem.
Teknokultura, 2018
Este artículo ofrece una revisión de la literatura en los Estudios de Internet desde su comienzo ... more Este artículo ofrece una revisión de la literatura en los Estudios de Internet desde su comienzo hasta la actualidad, prestando particular atención a conceptos y debates centrales, además de cuestiones sobre la interactividad del usuario. Un objetivo principal es elaborar una exposición de los Estudios Críticos de Internet, dado su reconocido interés y su sorprendente ausencia general en la literatura científica en español. Asimismo, el artículo pretende resaltar la importancia de incorporar una mirada feminista en el trabajo teórico así como empírico sobre Internet. En primer lugar se examina una etapa inicial caracterizada por un contraste entre los pronósticos distópicos y las celebraciones optimistas acerca del potencial transformador de Internet. El artículo continúa esbozando las principales conclusiones e interrogantes surgidos en la segunda etapa de los Estudios de Internet, con su más serio compromiso hacia la evidencia empírica y su interés especial en documentar el uso efectivo. La siguiente sección se centra en los términos ‘convergencia mediática’ y ‘cultura participativa’. Por último, se introducen una serie de conceptos clave – donde destaca especialmente el de ‘trabajo digital’ – para un área de estudio con un abordaje alternativo sobre la interactividad en los contextos online e Internet en general. También se presenta brevemente un caso de estudio como muestra de tal enfoque, así como de la necesidad de una mayor integración del análisis de género en los Estudios Críticos de Internet.
Labrys, 2016
En la (re)producción de lo que se ha denominado “pornificación” van de la mano el mercado, la cul... more En la (re)producción de lo que se ha denominado “pornificación” van de la mano el mercado, la cultura popular y secciones del ámbito académico, incluso una parte del feminismo. Este artículo plantea una (re)visión crítica de este fenómeno, así como de la alianza entre sexualización-transgresión-mercado-universidad. Primero se traza la genealogía de esta situación, partiendo de la “revolución sexual” de los años sesenta y su deriva capitalista y patriarcal, se sigue con las “guerras del sexo” de los ochenta, y finalmente se llega a la cultura pornificada del nuevo milenio y el auge de los porn studies. En una segunda parte, el artículo propone una aproximación al proceso (y éxito) de la pornificación cultural en relación al neoliberalismo, entendido como una forma de gubermentabilidad profundamente generizada. Se introducen una serie de conceptos críticos que consideramos útiles para futuros análisis feministas de este complejo panorama, entre los que destacan: “feminismo desarticulado”, “emprendedora sexual” y “postfeminismo biologista”. En la conclusión dejamos planteados algunos interrogantes críticos sobre la posibilidad y deseabilidad de una pornografía feminista.
Abstract
Working together to (re)produce what has been called “pornification” are the market, popular culture and sectors within the academic sphere, even some forms of feminism. This article sets out a critical (re)vision of this phenomenon, together with the alliance between sexualisation-transgression-market-university. First it traces the genealogy of this situation, starting from the “sexual revolution” of the sixties and its capitalist and patriarchal re-channeling, continuing with the “sex wars” of the eighties, and finally arriving at the pornified culture of the new millennium and the rise of porn studies. In a second part, the article proposes approaching the process (and success) of cultural pornification in relation to neoliberalism, understood as a mode of governmentality that is profoundly gendered. It introduces a series of critical concepts we consider useful for future feminist analyses of this complex landscape, notable among which are: “feminism disarticulated”, “sexual entrepreneur” and “postfeminist biologism”. In the conclusion we pose some critical questions about the possibility and desirability of feminist pornography.
Book chapters by Laura Favaro
Rewriting Women as Victims: From theory to practice, 2019
This is a book chapter by Laura Favaro and me, which is coming out soon in a collection edited by... more This is a book chapter by Laura Favaro and me, which is coming out soon in a collection edited by Sonia Nunez Puente, called Rewriting women as victims: From theory to practice. We look critically at the spreading out of relentless positivity and positive psychology in popular media, drawing on Laura's work on online magazines in Spain and the UK. We develop our critique of positive psychology, moving beyond confidence and resilience to examine exhortations to Positive Mental Attitude, and how they operate in a context striated by power and injustice.
Aesthetic Labour: Rethinking Beauty Politics in Neoliberalism, 2017
In our injurious patriarchal cultures, unconfidence is almost inescapable when inhabiting womanho... more In our injurious patriarchal cultures, unconfidence is almost inescapable when inhabiting womanhood. However, recently the promotion of self-confidence has surfaced as the site for expanded, heightened and more insidious modes of regulation, often spearheaded by those very institutions invested in women’s insecurities. This notably includes consumer women’s magazines. Contemporary publications are marked by an intensified preoccupation with taking readers ‘from crisis to confidence’, offering even dedicated sections (for example, ‘confidence revolution’ and ‘Bye-bye body hang-ups’ in Cosmopolitan UK) and issues – see for example Elle UK’s January 2015 ‘Confidence Issue: A Smart Woman’s Guide to Self-Belief’. Clearly, this sector is a fundamental player in the confidence movement-market, bringing together a range of interested parties, not least ‘love your body’ (LYB) advertisers like Dove (see Gill and Elias, 2014), and enjoying an extensive audience reach, both in terms of numbers and geography – a reach increased to unprecedented degrees by online versions. This chapter asks: how is (the turn to) confidence articulated in magazines for – and mostly by – young women? What does the rise of self-confidence as primary imperative for the production of successful femininity suggest about the operation of power at the current conjuncture?
Chapter in 'Women’s Periodicals and Print Culture in Britain, 1940s-2000s: The Contemporary Perio... more Chapter in 'Women’s Periodicals and Print Culture in Britain, 1940s-2000s: The Contemporary Period', edited by Laurel Forster & Joanne Hollows.
Collecting Qualitative Data: A Practical Guide to Textual, Media and Virtual Techniques, 2017
We live in a mediated world, and media offer an excellent source of data for
qualitative researc... more We live in a mediated world, and media offer an excellent source of data for
qualitative researchers. This chapter introduces media research, focusing on the
opportunities and challenges that it offers and capturing the experience of working
critically with a form of data that we are all familiar with from everyday life,
yet seldom pause to study. We illustrate our discussion of the broad field of
qualitative media research in relation to three types of data – magazines (see
Box 6.1), newspapers (see Box 6.2) and the increasingly pervasive reader
comments sections of online news sites (see Box 6.3). Drawing on our own
analyses and expertise in working with these kinds of data, we outline what they
are, why they are important, what they can offer researchers and how to go about
using them. As Boxes 6.1–6.3 show, our research is concerned with a nexus of
questions about gender, sexuality and intimate relationships – but the potential
of media data goes far beyond these domains. There are many advantages to
media data – compared with interviews or focus groups, for instance: they are
ubiquitous and often freely available; they are accessible and often time and
‘resource-lite’ – for example, not requiring lengthy transcription; and they have
considerable value as data for the social and health sciences and beyond.
Pornographies: Critical Positions, 2018
Focusing on women’s online magazines produced between 2012 and 2014 in the UK and in Spain, this ... more Focusing on women’s online magazines produced between 2012 and 2014 in the UK and in Spain, this chapter examines peer responses to women feeling distressed about their male partners’ consumption of pornographies, in addition to editorial content around the subject. Moving beyond ‘for and against’ positions, and driven by a social justice agenda, the chapter utilises this commentary about hetero-male-oriented pornographies as a point of analytical entry into the kinds of gendered and sexual pleasures, bodies, subjectivities and intimate relational possibilities contemporary (new) media and public sex and relationship advice bring into being and render (un)intelligible. In doing so, it seeks to contribute to feminist interrogations of the politics of mediated intimacy and pornification under neoliberalism and postfeminism, incorporating a much-needed transnational perspective.
Chapter in Historia Gráfica de la Teoría Feminista. Ilustrated by M. De la Rocha and edited by A... more Chapter in Historia Gráfica de la Teoría Feminista. Ilustrated by M. De la Rocha and edited by A. De Miguel.
Media by Laura Favaro
Ágora: Espacio de Formación Feminista, 2018
Papers by Laura Favaro
Against widespread prognostications, the Internet has not entailed the demise of commercial women... more Against widespread prognostications, the Internet has not entailed the demise of commercial women's magazines. Yet print publications are being supplanted by online versions, which are proliferating. These websites offer similar content free of charge and significantly greater opportunities for interaction. This thesis is a feminist qualitative study of contemporary online magazines targeting young women, based in the UK and in Spain. Focusing on twelve publications- six from each country- the research inquires into the different but interrelated dimensions of text, user and production. In particular, it asks questions about changes and challenges brought about by the online environment. Of especial interest are representations of gender, sex, sexuality and intimate relationships. In the context of a resurgence of interest in feminist ideas and engagement, the thesis also examines the ways in which women's magazines relate to- and reconfigure- feminism. The research adopts a...
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Journal articles by Laura Favaro
Abstract: Feminism rebranded: women's magazines online and 'the return of the F-word' Abstract In recent years feminism has gained spectacular levels of visibility, notably among young women and in the media, especially online. This article makes a novel contribution to a growing discussion about 'the new cultural life of feminism' (Diffractions, 2016), and in particular the 'mediated feminist landscape' (Banet-Weiser, 2015) and its 'new luminosity in popular culture' (Gill, 2016) by bringing to the conversation the voices of those very individuals doing the mediating, providing such luminosity. Drawing on 68 in-depth interviews with the producers of women's online magazines from the UK and from Spain, we examine the range of ways in which these professionals define and dis/identify with feminism, as well as explain, applaud or critique the emergence of a 'new feminism' promoted by their publications. In general terms, the analysis shows that the talk of women's magazine producers constitutes a heterogeneous discursive terrain filled with ambivalence and ideological dilemmas. Additionally we show how the recent interest in feminism by these media is deeply but not only ideological, necessarily but not simply commercially-driven, and involved in simultaneous practices of de-stigmatising as well as depoliticising the movement. We suggest that in its transition into popular media feminism is 'rebranded' in such a way that both opens up and closes down possibilities, in a contradictory dynamic of regulation and adaptation that is characteristic of 'cool capitalism' (McGuigan, 2009).
This article introduces the concept of postfeminism and highlights its value for research in language and gender studies. After discussing theoretical, historical and backlash perspectives, we advance an understanding of postfeminism as a sensibility – a patterned-yet-contradictory phenomenon intimately connected to neoliberalism. We consider elements widely theorised as constituting the postfeminist sensibility, alongside concerns shared by those who take postfeminism as their object of critical inquiry, in addition to an analytic category for cultural critique. The article then illustrates how the postfeminist sensibility may operate empirically, in the context of the doing and undoing of gender equality policies in workplaces. The article responds to calls for the field of language and gender to reinvigorate its political impetus, and to engage with feminist scholarship on postfeminism, particularly as recently developed in media and cultural studies.
Key words: Postfeminism; gender and language studies; feminist cultural studies; popular feminism; gender equality
for – and largely by – millennial women, with a particular focus on sex and
relationship content. Adopting a feminist discourse analytic approach and a
solidary-critical position, I examine 62 interviews conducted with producers,
mainly writers and editors, from 12 publications based in the UK and Spain.
The analysis maps how notions of intimacy penetrate different dimensions
of the magazine, along with networks of influence for the development
of content about sex and relationships, marked by a perceived shift from
‘experts’ to ‘real life’. The ways in which producers describe the particularities
of woman’s magazine online journalism and dis/articulate a range of critiques
are also explored. The paper highlights the increasing importance of ideas
about authenticity for these media, making connections to online cultures,
a reinvigorated interest in feminism, and contemporary branding strategies.
Ultimately, I argue that journalists at women’s magazines simultaneously (re)
produce, suffer and contest sexist media, deserving further feminist scholarly
attention, and our solidarity as well as critique.
Abstract
Working together to (re)produce what has been called “pornification” are the market, popular culture and sectors within the academic sphere, even some forms of feminism. This article sets out a critical (re)vision of this phenomenon, together with the alliance between sexualisation-transgression-market-university. First it traces the genealogy of this situation, starting from the “sexual revolution” of the sixties and its capitalist and patriarchal re-channeling, continuing with the “sex wars” of the eighties, and finally arriving at the pornified culture of the new millennium and the rise of porn studies. In a second part, the article proposes approaching the process (and success) of cultural pornification in relation to neoliberalism, understood as a mode of governmentality that is profoundly gendered. It introduces a series of critical concepts we consider useful for future feminist analyses of this complex landscape, notable among which are: “feminism disarticulated”, “sexual entrepreneur” and “postfeminist biologism”. In the conclusion we pose some critical questions about the possibility and desirability of feminist pornography.
Book chapters by Laura Favaro
qualitative researchers. This chapter introduces media research, focusing on the
opportunities and challenges that it offers and capturing the experience of working
critically with a form of data that we are all familiar with from everyday life,
yet seldom pause to study. We illustrate our discussion of the broad field of
qualitative media research in relation to three types of data – magazines (see
Box 6.1), newspapers (see Box 6.2) and the increasingly pervasive reader
comments sections of online news sites (see Box 6.3). Drawing on our own
analyses and expertise in working with these kinds of data, we outline what they
are, why they are important, what they can offer researchers and how to go about
using them. As Boxes 6.1–6.3 show, our research is concerned with a nexus of
questions about gender, sexuality and intimate relationships – but the potential
of media data goes far beyond these domains. There are many advantages to
media data – compared with interviews or focus groups, for instance: they are
ubiquitous and often freely available; they are accessible and often time and
‘resource-lite’ – for example, not requiring lengthy transcription; and they have
considerable value as data for the social and health sciences and beyond.
Media by Laura Favaro
Papers by Laura Favaro
Abstract: Feminism rebranded: women's magazines online and 'the return of the F-word' Abstract In recent years feminism has gained spectacular levels of visibility, notably among young women and in the media, especially online. This article makes a novel contribution to a growing discussion about 'the new cultural life of feminism' (Diffractions, 2016), and in particular the 'mediated feminist landscape' (Banet-Weiser, 2015) and its 'new luminosity in popular culture' (Gill, 2016) by bringing to the conversation the voices of those very individuals doing the mediating, providing such luminosity. Drawing on 68 in-depth interviews with the producers of women's online magazines from the UK and from Spain, we examine the range of ways in which these professionals define and dis/identify with feminism, as well as explain, applaud or critique the emergence of a 'new feminism' promoted by their publications. In general terms, the analysis shows that the talk of women's magazine producers constitutes a heterogeneous discursive terrain filled with ambivalence and ideological dilemmas. Additionally we show how the recent interest in feminism by these media is deeply but not only ideological, necessarily but not simply commercially-driven, and involved in simultaneous practices of de-stigmatising as well as depoliticising the movement. We suggest that in its transition into popular media feminism is 'rebranded' in such a way that both opens up and closes down possibilities, in a contradictory dynamic of regulation and adaptation that is characteristic of 'cool capitalism' (McGuigan, 2009).
This article introduces the concept of postfeminism and highlights its value for research in language and gender studies. After discussing theoretical, historical and backlash perspectives, we advance an understanding of postfeminism as a sensibility – a patterned-yet-contradictory phenomenon intimately connected to neoliberalism. We consider elements widely theorised as constituting the postfeminist sensibility, alongside concerns shared by those who take postfeminism as their object of critical inquiry, in addition to an analytic category for cultural critique. The article then illustrates how the postfeminist sensibility may operate empirically, in the context of the doing and undoing of gender equality policies in workplaces. The article responds to calls for the field of language and gender to reinvigorate its political impetus, and to engage with feminist scholarship on postfeminism, particularly as recently developed in media and cultural studies.
Key words: Postfeminism; gender and language studies; feminist cultural studies; popular feminism; gender equality
for – and largely by – millennial women, with a particular focus on sex and
relationship content. Adopting a feminist discourse analytic approach and a
solidary-critical position, I examine 62 interviews conducted with producers,
mainly writers and editors, from 12 publications based in the UK and Spain.
The analysis maps how notions of intimacy penetrate different dimensions
of the magazine, along with networks of influence for the development
of content about sex and relationships, marked by a perceived shift from
‘experts’ to ‘real life’. The ways in which producers describe the particularities
of woman’s magazine online journalism and dis/articulate a range of critiques
are also explored. The paper highlights the increasing importance of ideas
about authenticity for these media, making connections to online cultures,
a reinvigorated interest in feminism, and contemporary branding strategies.
Ultimately, I argue that journalists at women’s magazines simultaneously (re)
produce, suffer and contest sexist media, deserving further feminist scholarly
attention, and our solidarity as well as critique.
Abstract
Working together to (re)produce what has been called “pornification” are the market, popular culture and sectors within the academic sphere, even some forms of feminism. This article sets out a critical (re)vision of this phenomenon, together with the alliance between sexualisation-transgression-market-university. First it traces the genealogy of this situation, starting from the “sexual revolution” of the sixties and its capitalist and patriarchal re-channeling, continuing with the “sex wars” of the eighties, and finally arriving at the pornified culture of the new millennium and the rise of porn studies. In a second part, the article proposes approaching the process (and success) of cultural pornification in relation to neoliberalism, understood as a mode of governmentality that is profoundly gendered. It introduces a series of critical concepts we consider useful for future feminist analyses of this complex landscape, notable among which are: “feminism disarticulated”, “sexual entrepreneur” and “postfeminist biologism”. In the conclusion we pose some critical questions about the possibility and desirability of feminist pornography.
qualitative researchers. This chapter introduces media research, focusing on the
opportunities and challenges that it offers and capturing the experience of working
critically with a form of data that we are all familiar with from everyday life,
yet seldom pause to study. We illustrate our discussion of the broad field of
qualitative media research in relation to three types of data – magazines (see
Box 6.1), newspapers (see Box 6.2) and the increasingly pervasive reader
comments sections of online news sites (see Box 6.3). Drawing on our own
analyses and expertise in working with these kinds of data, we outline what they
are, why they are important, what they can offer researchers and how to go about
using them. As Boxes 6.1–6.3 show, our research is concerned with a nexus of
questions about gender, sexuality and intimate relationships – but the potential
of media data goes far beyond these domains. There are many advantages to
media data – compared with interviews or focus groups, for instance: they are
ubiquitous and often freely available; they are accessible and often time and
‘resource-lite’ – for example, not requiring lengthy transcription; and they have
considerable value as data for the social and health sciences and beyond.