Work

Ambivalent aspirations: Young women negotiating postfeminist subjectivity in media work

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: This article contributes to the critical literature on postfeminist articulations of young women as ideal subjects of aspiration and meritocracy by focussing on young women’s lived experiences and ways of navigating the contradictory effects of these articulations. Drawing on ethnographic research on the creative and cultural industries in Finland, the article examines how women aspiring to careers in the media field negotiate postfeminist and neoliberal enticements to inhabit the position of an aspirational subject. The findings indicate that young women’s responses to these enticements are more complex than is often assumed in theories emphasising the regulatory power of neoliberal and postfeminist cultural scripts. It is argued that young women recognise the ideological invitations of postfeminist ‘aspiration scripts’, but they respond to these interpellations in ways imbued with ambivalence and simultaneously characterised by compliance and criticism.

Source: European Journal of Cultural Studies

DOI: 10.1177/1367549420935896

Author: Emma Lamberg

Institution: University of Turku

Language: English

Topic: Gender, Feminism, and Media

Subfield: Gender Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Gender equality, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,000