FEMST 150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Hegemonic Masculinity, Social Capital, Machismo
Fem 150
5/29/18
Pop Rape
• Extreme popularity of rape in pop culture forms, from TV to
music to film to social media
• Portrayal of rape and “ambiguous rape” in pop culture
• Lyrics & images that suggest and glorify sexual assault
• Including rape for titillation and ratings
• Mobilizing racist or sexist stereotypes
• Invoking rape myths such as the victim lied, wanted to be raped,
asked for it, or dressed or acted in ways to invite assault
Contrasting Representations, Goals, and Expectations
• Discourses of mail order brides tend to frame them as victims of
trafficking & violence, vulnerable women uprooted from families
& social networks, from extreme poverty in 3rd world nations,
with no other reasons to migrate
• Transnational brides have complex set of motives & creative
strategies including desire to use global care economy to remit
payments home to family networks, to escape traditional gender
roles & harsh working conditions in home countries, to use
alternative circuits of survival & profit making to gain mobility &
citizenship in economically stronger counties; may also like to
travel just like citizens of wealthy nations
• Women have their own ideas about Western freedom,
individuality & opportunity, a desire for Western men over their
own (disparaged as poor, out of work, dominating, drunk, violent,
unfaithful, macho); tend to not see themselves as victims
• Contrasting expectations- Western men who expect traditional
family & gender values vs transnational brides seeking freedom
to transcend those roles
Constructing Masculinity, Shaping Intimacy
• Men seeking mail order brides see themselves as saviors of
disadvantaged women abroad, who, once rescued, also save
U.S. from disintegration of family (these anxieties are understood
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