This book explores popular culture representations of gender, offering a rich and accessible discussion of masculinities and femininities in 21st-century popular media. It brings together contributors from various European countries to investigate the workings of gender in contemporary pop culture products in a brave, original, and rigorous way. This volume is both an academic proposal and an exercise of commitment to a serious analysis of some of the media that influence us most in our everyday lives. Representation matters, and the position we take as viewers or consumers during reception matters even more.

Gender and Popular Culture: A Visual Study presents students with a thought-provoking and contemporary collection of readings that question, and even undermine, key binary dichotomies present in Western culture. The readings address three long-standing and pervasive dichotomies: male-female, intellectual-popular, and text-image. Students are encouraged to consider and reconsider cultural classifications, what or who is left out, mismatched, or forced into these groups, and what power differentials exist between them. The collection provides readers with a series of critical tools that allow them to critically examine the ways in which gender functions in contemporary Western, and especially American, culture. The anthology begins with a series of essays that present key theories and provide essential context. Later sections address stereotypes and tropes, the representation of women in media and culture, theories regarding single gender cultures, race and representation, the concept of space in relation to gender, attitudes toward sex, parenting, reactions to feminism, and more. Designed to elicit thoughtful self-reflection and the development of new perspectives, Gender and Popular Culture is a valuable text for courses in popular culture, gender studies, and women's studies. Tara L. Ward holds a Ph.D. from Boston University. She is a lecturer in the History of Art Department at the University of Michigan, where she teaches courses in gender and popular culture, as well as the history and theory of twentieth- and twenty-first-century art and visual culture. Dr. Ward's research interests include the French avant-garde, questions of abstraction, and gender issues.

This fully updated second edition of Gender and Popular Culture examines the role of popular culture in the construction of gendered identities in contemporary society. It draws on a wide range of cultural forms – including popular music, social media, television and magazines – to illustrate how femininity and masculinity are produced, represented, used and consumed. Blending primary and secondary research, Milestone and Meyer introduce key theories and concepts in gender studies and popular culture, which are made accessible and interesting through their application to topical examples such as the #MeToo campaign, intensive mothering and social media, discourses about women and binge drinking, and gender and popular music. Included in this revised edition is a new chapter on digital culture, examining the connection between digital platforms and gender identities, relations and activism, as well as a new chapter on cultural work in digital contexts. All chapters have been updated to acknowledge recent changes in gender images and relations as well as media culture. Additionally, there is new material on the Fourth Wave Women's Movement, audiences and prosumers, and the role of social media. Gender and Popular Culture is the go-to textbook for students of gender studies, media and communication, and popular culture.

This open-access essay collection brings together a range of viewpoints on gender from a diverse group of international scholars based in Finland, Belgium, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. The focus is, in particular, on gender performativity and non-binary or non-normative gender. The essays examine the ways in which gender can be depicted, perceived, and understood in Japanese popular culture. The work will be of interest to scholars working in gender studies, Asian studies, and popular culture. It will also act as a source text for higher education courses in Asia, Europe, and the United States.

Gender & Pop Culture provides a foundation for the study of gender, pop culture and media. This comprehensive, interdisciplinary text provides text-book style introductory and concluding chapters written by the editors, seven original contributor chapters on key topics and written in a variety of writing styles, discussion questions, additional resources and more. Coverage includes: - Foundations for studying gender & pop culture (history, theory, methods, key concepts) - Contributor chapters on media and children, advertising, music, television, film, sports, and technology - Ideas for activism and putting this book to use beyond the classroom - Pedagogical Features - Suggestions for further readings on topics covered and international studies of gender and pop culture Gender & Pop Culture was designed with students in mind, to promote reflection and lively discussion. With features found in both textbooks and anthologies, this sleek book can serve as primary or supplemental reading in undergraduate courses across the disciplines that deal with gender, pop culture or media studies. “An important addition to the fields of gender and media studies, this excellent compilation will be useful to students and teachers in a wide range of disciplines. The research is solid, the examples from popular culture are current and interesting, and the conclusions are original and illuminating. It is certain to stimulate self-reflection and lively discussion.” Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D., author, feminist activist and creator of the Killing Us Softly:Advertising’s Image of Women film series “An ideal teaching tool: the introduction is intellectually robust and orients the reader towards a productive engagement with the chapters; the contributions themselves are diverse and broad in terms of the subject matter covered; and the conclusion helps students take what they have learnt beyond the classroom. I can’t wait to make use of it.” Sut Jhally, Professor of Communication, University of Massachusetts at Amherst,Founder & Executive Director, Media Education Foundation Adrienne Trier-Bieniek, Ph.D. is currently an assistant professor of sociology at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida. Her first book, Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman: Female Fans and the Music of Tori Amos (Scarecrow, 2013) addresses the ways women use music to heal after experiencing trauma. www.adriennetrier-bieniek.com Patricia Leavy, Ph.D. is an internationally known scholar and best-selling author, formerly associate professor of sociology and the founding director of gender studies at Stonehill College. She is the author of the acclaimed novels American Circumstance and Low-Fat Love and has published a dozen nonfiction books including Method Meets Art: Arts-Based Research Practice. www.patricialeavy.com

From the gritty landscapes of The Hunger Games and The Walking Dead, to the portrayal of the twenty-first-century precariat in Girls, this book explores how transatlantic visual culture has represented and reconstructed ideas of gender in times of financial crisis. Drawing on social, cultural and feminist theory, these writers explore how men and women experience austerity differently and illuminate the problematic ways in which economic policy can shape how gender is presented in popular culture. Written from the perspective that the popular is indeed political, this book considers film, literature and television's ideological attitudes towards race, sex and disability. It also takes into account how mass culture has responded to austerity in the past and the present, whilst examining the impact that feminism will have in the future.

Gender and Pop Culture examines the intersection of media, society, gender, and culture through a multi-disciplinary lens. The book serves both as a text and reader, focused on an examination of gender and society.