Postfeminist media culture

TLDR

Postfeminism is a key concept in feminist cultural analysis, yet scholars disagree on its precise definition. This article argues that postfeminism is best understood as a distinctive sensibility composed of interrelated themes. The authors delineate postfeminism as a sensibility built on themes such as bodily femininity, subjectification, self‑surveillance, individualism, makeover culture, and natural sexual difference, illustrating each with contemporary Anglo‑American media examples and linking the sensibility to neoliberalism.

Abstract

The notion of postfeminism has become one of the most important in the lexicon of feminist cultural an alysis. Yet there is little agreement about what postfeminism is. This article argues that postfeminism is best understood as a distinctive sensibility, made up of a number of interrelated themes. These include the notion that femininity is a bodily property; the shift from objectification to subjectification; an emphasis upon self-surveillance, monitoring and self-discipline; a focus on individualism, choice and empowerment; the dominance of a makeover paradigm; and a resurgence of ideas about natural sexual difference. Each of these is explored in some detail, with examples from contemporary Anglo-American media. It is precisely the patterned articulation of these ideas that constitutes a postfeminist sensibility. The article concludes with a discussion of the connection between this sensibility and contemporary neoliberalism.