Investigating the Continued Relevance of Faludi's Backlash (1992)

In the 1990s, Susan Faludi s Backlash: The Undeclared War Against Women (1992) was arguably of signal importance in the thematization of the limits imposed by the media on the negotiation of gender identity. However, the utilization of Faludi s various analyses, in the interest of rendering social critique, has become progressively more problematic during the first decade of the 21st century. This is because her analyses engage neither with the development of media technologies subsequent to the early 1990s, nor with the way in which such technological developments now engage audiences on a greater multiplicity of levels than before, in a manner that consequently stands to inform their subjectivity to a degree hitherto unimagined. (A good example of the latter would, of course, be the proliferation of interactive exchanges on the World Wide Web). As such, in the light of such technological developments, this book draws on the reception theory of Adorno and Horkheimer, as well as Stuart Hall and investigates the continued relevance of Faludi s Backlash (1992) for the negotiation of gender identity in the contemporary era.

Autorentext

Tiene un máster en Estudios de Lenguas Aplicadas, una licenciatura en Inglés (con honores) y una licenciatura en Medios, Comunicación y Cultura, todas ellas por la Universidad Metropolitana Nelson Mandela de Sudáfrica. Tiene una amplia experiencia en el campo de la comunicación y actualmente es profesora del Departamento de Lenguas Aplicadas de la Universidad Metropolitana Nelson Mandela.

Klappentext

In the 1990s, Susan Faludi's Backlash: The Undeclared War Against Women (1992) was arguably of signal importance in the thematization of the limits imposed by the media on the negotiation of gender identity. However, the utilization of Faludi's various analyses, in the interest of rendering social critique, has become progressively more problematic during the first decade of the 21st century. This is because her analyses engage neither with the development of media technologies subsequent to the early 1990s, nor with the way in which such technological developments now engage audiences on a greater multiplicity of levels than before, in a manner that consequently stands to inform their subjectivity to a degree hitherto unimagined. (A good example of the latter would, of course, be the proliferation of interactive exchanges on the World Wide Web). As such, in the light of such technological developments, this book draws on the reception theory of Adorno and Horkheimer, as well as Stuart Hall and investigates the continued relevance of Faludi's Backlash (1992) for the negotiation of gender identity in the contemporary era.