Mb Nash

Twenty-something girls v. thirty-something Sex And The City women: paving the way for ‘post? feminism’?

Lena Dunhams cable television series Girls is a candid and comical look at the lives of four young women living in Brooklyn, New York. Following in the footsteps of the earlier post-feminist, woman-centred television series, Sex and the City (SATC), Girls explores numerous feminist themes centring on an exploration of what it is like to be a young white woman in contemporary US society. Yet what kind of post-feminist narrative is being constructed in Girls? How is post-feminism deployed in the show? In a comparative analysis of Girls (Seasons 1–2) and SATC (Seasons 1–6), we argue that although both shows certainly exemplify post-feminist culture, they are inflected differently in relation to the representation of sexualities, reproductive “choice,” and feminine embodiment. Compared to SATC, we argue that Girls represents a novel approach to representing young US womens lives on television, re-articulating and re-mobilising existing conceptualisations of post-feminism. To conclude, we propose that the term “post? feminism” may be used to describe Dunhams version of post-feminism for a millennial generation.

The Challenges of Participant Photography: A Critical Reflection on Methodology and Ethics in Two Cultural Contexts.

Photovoice and photo-elicitation are two common methods of participant photography used in health research. Although participatory photography has many benefits, this critical reflection provides fellow researchers with insights into the methodological and ethical challenges faced when using such methods. In this article, we critically reflect on two studies that used participatory photography in different cultural contexts. The first study used photo-elicitation to investigate mothers’ experiences of infant settling in central Vietnam. The second study used photovoice to explore pregnant embodiment in Australia. Following a discussion of the literature and a detailed overview of the two studies, we examine the methodological challenges in using participant photography before, during and after each study. This is followed by a discussion of ethical concerns that arose in relation to the burden of participation, confidentiality, consent, and the photographing of families and children. To conclude, we highlight implications for using participatory photography in other settings.

Shapes of motherhood: exploring postnatal body image through photographs

This article contributes to, and extends, feminist and visual sociological scholarship by examining how a sample of pregnant women in Australia documented their postpartum experiences through digital photographs. It is argued that photography is powerful in helping women to articulate the ways in which subjectivities and bodily boundaries are reframed in the postpartum period. Dressing is used as a key example to demonstrate this. A further aim of this paper is to identify whether womens photographs can be used to contest dominant cultural ideologies and how we may read these using feminist perspectives. Throughout this article, womens individual embodied experiences of post-pregnancy are reflected in the production and viewing of their own photographic images.

Breasted experiences in pregnancy: an examination through photographs

Drawing on qualitative data from a sample of pregnant women in Hobart, Australia this article uses ‘feminist’ ‘memory work’ and the ‘photovoice’ method as frames for discussing the ways in which interviews and participant-produced photographs may be used to trace and understand pregnant embodiment. I argue that digital photographs taken by women during pregnancy can reveal important information about how they negotiate their own experiences of breastedness and wearing maternity underwear over time. Here, the concept of ‘breastedness’ itself is expanded as women’s individual embodied experiences of pregnancy are reflected in the production and viewing of their own photographic images.

Reflections on teaching gender to Australian sociology undergraduates in the neoliberal postfeminist classroom

This article doubles as a reflection piece and a primer in thinking about how to negotiate teaching gender in an evolving institutional climate. I argue that teaching gender in sociology sits at odds with the increasing neoliberal and postfeminist discourses, attitudes, and economics that currently structure Australian universities. First, I locate the context in which teachers of gender in sociology find themselves in Australia with an emphasis on how neoliberal and postfeminist discourses challenge students in developing a sociological imagination. Next, I examine the utility of feminist pedagogies based on my own experiences as a teacher. Specifically, I explore two strategies that I have employed in one gender-focused unit that I teach to address the challenges posed by neoliberal and postfeminist orthodoxy.

Brides N' Bumps

This paper accounts for the rise of a monolithic contemporary post-feminist pregnant bridal identity that is upheld and sold as the “ultimate” pleasure of femininity in Australia, the US, and the UK. I shall critically analyse the enfranchisement of the contemporary pregnant bride as a “new” consumer identity using the purchase of a maternity wedding dress as a key example. I argue that as pregnancy is already an experience deeply embedded in the marketplace, with this comes the added pressure for pregnant women to use bridal maternity clothing to conform to normative feminine bodily ideals. This claim is supported by interviews with a sample of Australian pregnant brides as part of a longitudinal qualitative study of pregnancy and body image. I conclude that as much as the pregnant bride challenges convention, in many ways, paradigms of femininity, in this context, remain ultimately unchanged and unchallenged.

‘Working out’ for two: performances of ‘fitness’ and femininity in Australian prenatal aerobics classes

In this article, I consider the distinctly classed places/spaces in which affluent Australian pregnant women physically maintain their bodies through aerobics. The case study described is drawn from data obtained between 2006 and 2008 in a longitudinal study examining feelings about body image and ‘fatness’ in a sample of pregnant women in Melbourne, Australia. The ways in which pregnant bodies are disciplined within gym spaces are discussed through a case study of a prenatal fitness centre, FitForTwo, and drawing on narrative data of pregnant informants. FitForTwo is described as a primary site for the performance of ‘fit’ pregnancy and underscored by bodies that can be shaped, trained, moulded and modified. This case study is analysed against a backdrop of a growing Australian moral panics about ‘fighting’ maternal obesity. It adds to a body of feminist geographical and qualitative studies of pregnancy, bringing both a more sustained, longitudinal analysis than previously offered, and an Australian context that offers rich comparative material.

What style of leadership do women in STEMM fields perform? Findings from an international survey

It is widely acknowledged that women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) fields are underrepresented in leadership globally. However, little is known about how leadership styles of women in STEMM relate to this underrepresentation. This article discusses findings from a survey examining how 61 women in STEMM define leadership and describe their own leadership styles. Using content analysis and drawing on Full Range Leadership Model factors, findings suggest that women define leadership and describe their own leadership styles using transformational factors. However, there was no consistency in how participants defined ideal leadership or how they defined their own leadership styles. This finding unsettles ideas of distinctly gendered leadership styles. We argue that expectations that leadership will be performed in distinctly gendered styles may be contributing to the underrepresentation of women in leadership roles in STEMM.

Gender on the ropes: An autoethnographic account of boxing in Tasmania, Australia

This paper documents how I fought for a place as a boxer in a regional Tasmanian boxing gym over a 30 month period. This work builds on existing ethnographic accounts that argue that, for women, becoming a boxer is more than just a matter of developing a fit body and physical skill – it is a continual project of negotiating gendered identity. Using an analytic autoethnographic methodology and drawing on contemporary theories of masculinity, I share my individual experiences as a boxer and, in turn, reveal the complexities of bodywork and gendered identity within Tasmanian amateur boxing culture. My closing discussion analyses the way in which performances of masculinity were precarious, fragmented and anxious.

‘I just think something like the “Bubs and Pubs” class is what men should be having’: Paternal subjectivities and preparing for first-time fatherhood in Australia and the United Kingdom

Increasingly in international research and popular media a growing interest in men and fatherhood is discernible. These changes occur as other aspects of the socio-economic world shift, necessitating the need to re-address how caring and paid work responsibilities are configured and practised. However, interest in men’s experiences as fathers has emerged in ways which reflect cultural assumptions and practices associated with dominant understandings of masculinities. Consequently, research on and evidence of changing behaviours has been culturally and geographically uneven. In this paper, two qualitative studies are drawn upon to examine how men living in Australia and the UK engage in/narrate experiences of preparation for first-time fatherhood. These studies compare men’s in-depth accounts of preparing for first-time fatherhood in cultures where understandings of masculinities overlap, but where differences are also discernible. The findings illuminate the ways in which biology, gender, temporality and histories of masculinities frame men’s preparation activities and service provision.