Popular Culture and also how it produces and reproduces, hege-

monic (or potentially alternative) discourses

Gender about men and women, femininities and
DOMITILLA OLIVIERI masculinities, and about other differences.
Utrecht University, The Netherlands While there is a general understanding of
what popular culture is, scholars have elab-
orated various definitions to pin down what
Gender and popular culture are deeply
this complex field of the “popular” is and
intertwined in multiple ways and their
does. Granted that it is a product of urban-
interrelation produces considerable and far-
ization and industrialization, at least six ways
reaching effects in society. Popular culture
to define popular culture have been identi-
is one of the major agents of socialization
fied: in terms of its quantitative dimension
through which people learn norms and val-
as being that brand of cultural production
ues. Therefore, it also plays an important
favored or liked by many people, or as being
role in the production and reproduction of
the product of a cultural hegemony (in a
gender norms and gendered subjects, as the
Gramscian sense), that is, a mean of the state
socially constructed ideas of gender are rein-
or of otherwise dominant classes to impose
forced by the dominant narratives in popular
culture. Images, texts and sounds conveyed indirectly norms and values on the people;
by a wide array of media and across cul- understanding it as the mass-produced,
tural phenomena – such as television, film, commercial result of the culture industries
music, performances, magazines, comics, imposed on the masses, or as that culture
novels, games, fashion, and advertising – all that originates from the people; conceiving
produce and represent the set of beliefs and it as the culture that is “left over” after the
values about masculinity and femininity canon of high culture has been established,
dominant in a given culture at a given time. or as an effect of the entanglement between
The pervasiveness of popular media and the commerce and culture which blurs the very
shared understanding of the notions therein distinction between high and low, elites and
transmitted make it so that these ideas come masses (Storey 2012, 1–13).
to appear as the norm, as self-evident, and These criteria for definitions vary accord-
are taken for granted. However, a critical ing to academic disciplinary (and interdis-
account of how gender is engaged in and by ciplinary) discourses and also historical and
popular culture reveals a complexity of values geopolitical contexts and political values (for
and narratives, which have serious effects on a history or a genealogy of the studies on
society at large; namely, they contribute to the popular culture see, for example, Jenkins,
shaping of identities, behaviors and subjectiv- McPherson, and Shattuc 2002; Storey 2012).
ities, and also to the creation or strengthening Nonetheless, many are the concepts shared
of social, economic, and political power rela- by these approaches and theories, which have
tions. Hence, reading popular culture in been developed in fields ranging from social
terms of how it affects and is affected by sciences to gender studies, from cultural
gender norms and behaviors means paying studies to psychology, from anthropology to
attention to how it is the product of, and media studies. Just to mention a few, ideology,

The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies, First Edition. Edited by Nancy A. Naples.
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118663219.wbegss487
2 P OP U L AR CU LT U R E A N D G E N DER

hegemony, representation, discourse, identity, economic accounts become crucial; and

community, the everyday, and imagination audience reception studies, where surveys,
are key notions when approaching the field interviews, and other methodologies from
of popular culture, in general and also from a the social sciences prove to be necessary to
perspective that focuses on gender. map the effects of popular cultural products
When considering gender in relation to on people, viewer, users, and customers
popular culture, what becomes crucial is not (Kellner 2002). These three domains, albeit
as much what popular culture is, but rather requiring different methods of analysis, are
what it does and how it functions. In this always already intertwined.
regard, the role that power, discourse, and Cultural studies scholars have shown that
ideology play in the social construction of representational practices shape identities
masculinities and femininities and of what and affect experiences of the self (Hall 1997).
it means to be men and women becomes Popular culture can be studied as a repre-
central. Products of popular culture per- sentational system wherein methods and
vade our daily lives and, creating images concepts from poststructuralist theory, visual
and imaginaries, they influence the way we studies, semiotics, and feminist theory need
learn about and look at ourselves and others, to be employed in order to make sense of
at our society as well as at other cultures, how these texts produce actual effects on
at contemporary phenomena as well as at how we inhabit the world and function in
historical events. Popular culture also affects society. In dialogue with these conceptual
our daily experiences as gendered subjects frameworks, feminist scholars have focused
by presenting norms and values about what specifically on gender as/and representation
kind of identities, ways of life, and modes of and on the mechanisms of its construction
relations are acceptable or non-acceptable, in visual media and popular culture. Teresa
e.g., in presenting some sexualities as normal De Lauretis (1987) is one of the scholars who
and others as deviant, or in reproducing paved the way in thinking about gender as
stereotypes about people of certain national- being constructed not only through implicit
ities or ethnicities. Finally, popular culture and explicit social rules such as policing
also engages questions of gender in terms of of behaviors, laws, or education, but also
who partakes in the production of popular through visual media.
texts and who does not, for example, how Since the 1980s, many studies have ana-
many men or women are involved in media lyzed how gender is represented across pop-
production and how. These three facets of ular texts and phenomena, and how these
the relation between gender and popular representations in turn produce gender
culture could be summarized as pertaining, norms, gender stereotypes, and gendered
respectively, to the levels of representation, behaviors. While some research on gender
reception, and production (as presented and popular culture focuses on the specificity
in Milestone and Meyer 2012). Therefore, of what kind of femininities and masculin-
different tools and approaches are required ities are created, other works address how
in order to address these different aspects: these representations reproduce, maintain,
textual analyses, where popular texts – in a and reinforce hegemonic, hierarchical,
broad understanding of the concept – are patriarchal, heteronormative, and all-in-all
considered as systems of representation; oppressive meanings and practices.
studies on the broader context in which It should be remembered that these pro-
the texts are produced, for which political cesses of production and reproduction of
 P OP U L AR CU LT U R E A N D G E N DER 3

identities, and these practices of inclusion perception of a given popular text. Accord-
and exclusion, operate along lines of social ingly, it becomes important to acknowledge
and cultural differences that not only include that the kind of experience of, or way of inter-
gender, but also other differences in terms of, preting, a film, or music video or any other
for example, ethnicity, sexuality, race, class, cultural product is greatly dependent upon
age, level of education, nationality, and body the specific location of the perceiver, in terms
ability, among others. Therefore, in most of, for example, their gender, race, sexual
contemporary research that focuses on pop- orientation, level of education or political
ular culture in relation to gender, the latter is convictions, to name just a few.
understood as always being entangled with Another very important aspect to consider
other axes of difference. Moreover, gender when thinking of gender and popular cul-
becomes not only the object of analysis – i.e., ture is the potential for resistance, reaction,
how are gender identities constructed and and intervention that is inherent to these
how are masculinity and femininity rep- representations no matter how normative or
resented? – but also a lens, one of the widespread. As elaborated above, there are
possible entry points, to observe and critically strong arguments that show how popular
engage with the interconnections between culture reproduces normative and oppressive
power, representation, and differences. If power relations and hegemonic ideas of what
one acknowledges that popular culture con- normal femininities and masculinities should
tributes to shaping experiences, imaginaries, be like, thus affecting men and women. How-
and identities, then looking at how gender is ever, and also because of the malleability
constructed cannot but also entail looking at and fast-changing and intertextual nature of
what other implicit values and assumptions popular culture, various kinds of practices of
reside therein. An intersectional approach resistance and reaction have been explored
is therefore almost always adopted when by viewers or users of popular media to
critically analyzing popular culture. react to, criticize, or appropriate the pro-
Additionally, the ways in which gender is ducers’ intended meanings of, for example,
engaged in popular culture and the mecha- TV series, comic books, and advertisements.
nisms that structure this relation, at the level These strategies are, for example, reappropria-
of production, representation, and reception, tion, oppositional reading, and bricolage (i.e.,
are strongly dependent upon the historical, taking mass-marketing products or images
economic, and geopolitical circumstances of and reinterpreting them as creative or resis-
the society or cultural contexts in question. tant responses to consumerism). One specific
Hence a critical stance that accounts for the mention should go to fan fiction, a genre of
situatedness and partiality of the analytical textual or visual intervention which re-works
tools used to study gender and popular cul- the stories and characters of popular texts,
ture has to be wary of this variety of locations with or without the direct aim of addressing
and specific dynamics. In other words, as the normative aspect of popular represen-
in any other field of enquiry that takes into tation. Gender and sexuality are often the
account gender, also when considering pop- elements addressed or subverted in these
ular culture it becomes crucial not to assume reappropriations. Especially when the Inter-
universal or disembodied standpoints, but net is used as a medium to share and make
rather to pay attention to how the location visible these fan fictions, the impact of these
of the viewer, listener, reader, or researcher practices is far reaching, to the extent that
plays a role in shaping the interpretation or more and more TV producers, for example,
4 P OP U L AR CU LT U R E A N D G E N DER

are including suggestions or stories written SEE ALSO: Discourse and Gender; Feminism
by the fan back into the official TV series. and Postmodernism; Gender Belief
Moreover, other subcultures or traditionally System/Gender Ideology; Gender Stereotypes;
oppressed groups have now entered more pre- Heterosexual Imaginary; Language and
dominantly in the field of the popular, with, Gender; Social Identity; Visual Culture
for example, queer popular culture now being
an actual field of enquiry (Peele 2011). Along REFERENCES
these lines, popular culture has also been the De Lauretis, Teresa. 1987. Technologies of Gender.
field where subcultures or countercultures Essays on Theory, Film, and Fiction. Blooming-
have found a source of inspiration or a space ton: Indiana University Press.
Jenkins, Henry, Tara McPherson, and Jane Shattuc.
for critique and intervention. Communities
2002. Hop on Pop: The Politics and Pleasures of
organized around specific cultural trends,
Popular Culture. Durham, NC: Duke University
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have been creating images, texts, sounds, culturalism and Media Culture.” In Gender, Race
performances and, more broadly, imaginaries and Class in Media: A Text-Reader, edited by
alternative to what could be considered the Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez, 9–20. Thousand
dominant popular culture of the time. A Oaks: Sage.
Hall, Stuart. 1997. Representation: Cultural Rep-
good example of the complex phenomenon
resentations and Signifying Practices. London:
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ley and Sklower 2014): from some strands Milestone, Katie, and Anneke Meyer. 2012. Gender
of punk to hip-hop, from the rising of what and Popular Culture. Cambridge: Polity.
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Whiteley, Sheila, and Jedediah Sklower. 2014.
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not only new sounds, texts, and images, but
also related communities and identities. Also FURTHER READING
in this context, gender and sexuality have
Carter, Cynthia, Linda Steiner, and Lisa McLaugh-
been sites of direct contestation or otherwise
lin, eds. 2014. The Routledge Companion to
intervention, both in counter- or subcultures Media and Gender. Abingdon: Routledge.
and in popular music at large. Norms and Cartwright, Lisa, and Marita Sturken. 2001.
ideas around femininities and masculinities Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual
are renegotiated or confirmed in and through Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
popular music. Through music videos and Raymond, Diane. 2003. “Popular Culture and
song lyrics, in live performances and inter- Queer Representation: A Critical Perspective.”
views, and also in the look and fashion of In Gender, Race, and Class in Media: A Text-
Reader, edited by Gail Dines and Jean M.
the musicians, gender is constantly defined
Humez, 98–110. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
and redefined, thus, once again, being an Tasker, Yvonne, and Diane Negra. 2007. Interro-
important lens to interpret the role that gating Postfeminism: Gender and the Politics of
popular culture plays in the construction of Popular Culture. Durham, NC: Duke University
subjectivities, groups and identities. Press.
 P OP U L AR CU LT U R E A N D G E N DER 5

Tasker, Yvonne, and Diane Negra. 2012. Gender- Walton, David. 2012. Doing Cultural Theory. Thou-
ing the Recession: Media and Culture in an Age of sand Oaks: Sage.
Austerity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Whiteley, Sheila, ed. 1997. Sexing the Groove:
Trier-Bieniek, Adrienne, and Patricia Leavy. 2014. Popular Music and Gender. London: Routledge.
Gender & Pop Culture. A Text-Reader. Rotter- Zeisler, Andi. 2008. Feminism and Pop Culture.
dam: Sense Publishers. Berkeley: Seal Press.