Canadian Feminist Issue of Any Kind

Canadian Feminism

Expression, Action, Rebellion, Reflection, & Attention:

The Power and the Problem of Canadian Feminist Media

How does use of the media inform and propel the feminist movement in Canada?

How is media used as part of the feminist agenda?

What is the history of the media in reference to feminist communication in Canada?

How can Canadian feminists utilize media to its full advantage to support and promote the feminist agenda?

How does the feminist movement in Canada reflect or distort the actual struggle of feminists in Canada?

To clearly define the role of the media in the feminist agenda

To use the media to spread the feminist agenda and promote positive representation of feminism in Canada

To express the life experience of women accurately and thoroughly

To utilize media to its fullest potential so as to support a positive feminist agenda

To ensure that feminist media representations are accurate, current, and reflective of the full range of feminist thought in Canada

6. To communicate messages hindered by patriarchy and capitalism

7. To contribute to the struggle for equality in all facets of society with effective and productive use of media

Part III: Background & Rationale/Justification?

A great deal of the world's population experiences a shift in perspective and experience in the 21st century. The digital technology revolution and the social media revolution alter how people experience the world, the order of relationships they have, the methods by which they communicate, and affect their overall experiences of reality. For many citizens around the planet, the world is a more heavily mediated place. With the advent of mobile technology, people access media on such devices as mobile phones and iPads from wherever they are located, at whatever time they wish, in whatever form they choose that is available.

Areas of study such as media studies, media theory, media arts, media psychology, and media philosophy grow strength in their fortitude, practicality, logic, and necessity in the increasingly mediated reality of the 21st century. Media psychology, media philosophy, and media theory particularly stress the potential and the reality of the affects media have upon consumers or viewers. As time proceeds, the consensus grows that media directly affects consumers' attitudes, behaviors, perceptions, and ultimately their experiences. With a greater array of media forms, a greater array of communication methods, and a greater array of information to which consumers have access, consumers come into contact with and learn about populations of people they may not engage in their local lives. People with regular and stable access to the Internet, for example, may learn about cultures they have only imagined, or feared, or otherwise. Therefore, media has the power to broaden the experience and the horizon of consumers. Media can educate, entertain, and potentially enlighten. Of course, the disposition of the individual consumer and the cultural context within which that person is influenced contribute to the assimilation of the media into that person's experience. Nonetheless, the power and potential of media is evident; professionals across a vast spectrum of industries and underrepresented groups across the world understand this. Attempting to harness the power of media to empower and expose an underrepresented group, experience, or perspective is a worthwhile endeavor. Thus, the importance of a study of Canadian feminist media is apparent.

The research stands to make a few to several key contributions. A study of Canadian feminist media would include a comprehensive survey of the history of Canadian feminism and Canadian feminist media. The lack of evidence of the history of women and women's contributions to world history in all aspects of culture is a condition that feminism adamantly combats. Therefore, a study into Canadian feminist media inherently supports the feminist objectives relating to equal, fair, or at least evidence of representations of historical contributions of women and women in media.

Though in the 21st century, any consumer has the potential to be a media artist or filmmaker, at the professional level, media production and film production are industries heavily dominated by men, and still heavily stratified regarding sex. The statement does not disavow that there is an increase in female producers, directors, writers, cinematographers, audio engineers, etc., yet the paper cannot disavow that the a great deal of the most powerful positions in media & cultural production as well as in their distribution, are held by men. Researching Canadian feminist media exposes the women behind the scenes as well as those in front of the cameras and in the studios producing media about women, for women, and/or content from a feminist perspective or with a feminist message. A fundamental aspect of feminism is to expose the contributions of women, share the experiences of women, and communicate messages that support women. Researching Canadian feminist media aligns with such feminist objectives. The research will go beyond locating and analyzing feminist media; the research will take the extra step to understand and reflect upon who made the media and how the media was made as further evidence of feminism at work in the Canadian culture.

IV. Substantive Literature Review

Feminists struggle to articulate the state of feminism today, and do well to articulate the history of the movement as compared in the early and mid-20th century, as well as effectively articulate the differences between feminist perspectives of the 20th century and the 21st century. Media serves as representation of onscreen content as well as in the production methods and distribution of the media. Representation is a fundamental aspect of feminism as Godard contends:

…also note the workings of the ideology of gender, gender being an effect of representation. Gender is not a sphere separate from ideology but a primary instance of ideology, a set of social relations within which men and women are positioned differently in discursive formations. Ideology represents not the real but the imaginary in relationship to the real. The feminist project attempts to rewrite both the product and process of representation and self-representation. It explores the irreconcilable contradiction of being both inside and outside representation, of being constructed as woman within the dominant discourse, and yet experiencing the heterogeneity of historical subjects, of being women outside that discourse. The awareness of this conflict leads to our consciousness of complicity in the gender system. This, in turn, has led to a change in the focus of feminist inquiry since the 60's when the focus on sexual difference concentrated attention on the elaboration of hypotheses regarding gendered spaces. (1988)

Godard writes that gender is an effect of representation. Non-feminist media produce representations of women that effect how women are treated and perceived, usually in a negative, inaccurate, and/or stereotypically manner. Feminist media, then, has power to do the opposite, though Godard exposes contradictions to the feminist agenda within so-called feminist examples of media. Feminist media expresses the relationship and experience of women in relation to the ideology of patriarchy. Feminist media participates in this aforementioned process of and production of representation, and more crucially, self-representation. Godard also makes readers aware of the conflict in female and in feminist consciousness regarding the experience of representation within ideology of patriarchy and the conflict of the general gendered experience of women. This is a place where research of feminist media becomes useful and where the debate surrounding it becomes more apparent. What is feminism today? Is feminist media really feminist or actually subverting feminism? These questions as well as others the research would attempt to answer and clarify.

Groups such as the Toujours RebELLEs struggle for more feminist media and more media coverage or press attention for feminist media. (2009) Toujours RebELLEs confront the reality of the prejudiced perceptions of feminist media in Canada and the world. The group not only promotes and creates their own feminist media, but also it provides assistance to individuals, groups, or organizations with the distribution and promotion of their media. (Toujours RebELLEs, 2009) They provide instructions, advice, and the contact information for several media outlets to those promoting and distributing feminist media. The group stresses the importance of selecting a delegate of spokeswomen to represent the creators of the media and they stress the importance of presentation of press & new releases. (Toujours RebELLEs, 2009) There is a common theme among feminist media producers that media is representation; control over representation is a great power. Feminist media has the potential to profoundly empower women through the controlled and designed production and distribution of media that aligns with its objectives.

Canadian feminists across the country and around the world understand the potential for visual media as a site for political declarations and for resistance against anti-feminist and anti-women forces. For Tuer, video, film, and now, computers, and mobile devices are

…screens where images and consciousness interact, a self reflexive art practice, an interior journey, an imaginary TV, a utopian other. As receiver, video becomes a screen where consciousness and meditation overlap, where images are transmitted as cultural meanings, framed by the context of the world and the viewer. (1990)

Where are the examples of Canadian feminist media that take most or at least effective advantage of this condition inherent to mediated experiences? How does Canadian feminist media utilize the interactions and transmissions afforded by the form? Some theorists and artists argue that feminist media does not effectively or regularly take advantage of the power of media to support feminist objectives and perspectives. Others argue that Canadian feminist media is effective and there is a lot more evidence of it now than in previous decades. The research would seek questions to this answers, further elucidated the validity of the sides of the debate regarding the presence, efficacy, and use of Canadian feminist media regarding representation and expression of political intentions.

Tuer's methodology of analysis and research of video, and in the 21st century we expand this concept to apply to visual media in general, proves that tapping into media to communicate politics is effectively tapping into a sort of group consciousness and/or unconsciousness. She states

…video not only functions as a register of consciousness, but of conscencia, a term first used by Brazilian literacy theorist Paulo Friere to describe a process by which social, economic, and political contradictions are perceived and action is taken against the oppressive elements of reality. As a screen of conscencia, the medium moves beyond self-reflection into a sphere of self-definition; documentation contains critique; strategies encompass the aesthetic of social transformation and insistence of cultural autonomy. And it is as a screen of conscencia, I believe, that we can locate the history of women's video in Canada, finding in this practice a politicized satellite dish of images and imagination that not only catches the individual fragments of a dominant culture but reshapes these fragments into a collective process of self-determination. (1990)

Her line of thinking very clearly explains the potential for feminism to effect serious, social change on a massive scale with the productive use of media. Tuer argues that there is evidence of this potential realized when we scour the history of Canadian media and the history of Canadian feminism. The research would do perform these actions and more. She implies that the history of Canadian feminism and Canadian feminist media is not readily available or accessible when she states, "we can locate the history of women's video in Canada." (Tuer, 1990) If the history were readily apparent or present in the general history of Canada or the history of media, the research project and many aspects of feminism would be moot. There would be no need to struggle for accurate, easily distributed, and celebrated histories and media forms. They exist already, but because they do not, her research, her position, and the proposed research project prove necessary and useful.

The editors of the magazine Atlantis provide a current, and more technological perspective and a hopeful position in the debate around the state of Canadian feminism and the application of Canadian feminist media. (Patty & Crow, 2008) They produce and dedicate an entire issue to Digital Feminisms. The address the issues with gravity and sensitivity:

From our perspective, the "digital," in other words, the conversion of texts, sounds and images to zeroes and ones moving around the globe in nano-seconds and their ephemeral and ubiquitous qualities, are both wondrous and daunting. Digital practices have made significant changes to not only how we disseminate, transfer and send content, but also how we manage, negotiate and move in our day-to-day lives. (Patty & Crow, 2008)

They specify precisely what they mean by digital and later on, what they mean by technological so as to provide a clear context and framework within which the readers are invited to consider and engage. Their piece further supports objectives of the proposed research by stating the implications and direct affects of digital practices, technology, and media have upon how people experience and perceive life. The implications and potential significance for research in Canadian feminist media is again, reiterated in reference to the points made by Patty and Crow. (2008).

Patty and Crow go on to define what they mean by digital feminisms, the feminist potential in digital practices, and how the production & distribution of media are potential feminist spaces:

This issue focuses on "digital feminisms" and how new technologies have informed women's self-expression, cultures, labour and histories, influenced the representation of women, and changed the way in which women's issues are viewed or pursued. As feminists working in the areas of new technologies and new media practices, we were interested in how the complexity of new technologies has altered the way women think about time, space and ourselves in the digital age. Whether it is business, media, entertainment, advocacy, art, education, social action, politics or a myriad of other sites of contention, the ability of new technologies to converge with and transform past, present and future ways of interacting with the world in which we live has immense and wide-ranging implications for feminists. (2008)

This line of thinking also aligns with objectives and goals of the proposed research into Canadian feminist media. Digital feminism encompasses a wide range of forms, many of which are media forms. Digital feminisms and thus feminist media provide modes of expression to condense, combine, and remix experiences across space and time. Digital feminisms as well as media allow for connections of different sorts than previously possible because of technological innovations. Such opportunities are having profound affects on the perspectives, behaviors, attitudes and experiences of many people. Canadian feminist media that takes into consideration such conditions of the psycho-socio-cyber experience that digital practice creates will prove most effective in the attainment of feminist goals and the satisfaction of feminist agendas.

V. Theoretical Framework

The paper has mentioned thus far several instances of how the proposed research is feminist. Here, specific strands of feminism will be explicitly referenced with regard to the subject of media. Radical feminism and Marxist feminism are a part of the framework in which the research will be conducted and considered. The opinion of the author aligns in part with feminists who argue for use of media as a site of expression, rebellion, and political declaration. Media production is a highly politicized process making all media inherently political. As the 21st century economy and market become more extensively capitalist, and while the world continues to be predominantly patriarchal, it is relevant to study the cultural affects of capitalism in relation to patriarchy. Theorist Michel Foucault wrote a multivolume opus called The History of Sexuality. The predominant focus of the first volume is how capitalism subjects people based on age, sex, class, and gender. His ideas are world-renowned and are studied vigorously years after his death. Luce Irigaray in The Sex Which is Not One goes on at length at how capitalism constructs and articulates female subjectivity, female sexuality, and female presentations. Therefore there exists a substantial body of work expounding the effects of capitalism on issues of sexuality, gender, experience, and representation, all of which directly related to the study of Canadian feminist media.

Other strands of feminism within the framework of the research include ecofeminism, as green living and green technology are issues at the forefront in the 21st century digital landscape; social feminism and anarcha-feminism because a truly feminist world is one with equity in all realms including economics and socially. Furthermore, Marxism and thus Marxist feminism called for revolution and anarchy. Post-structural feminism and post modern feminism are also parts of the theoretical framework because the author agrees that gender roles are constructed and sustained through social realms. Social reality is the most important reality for many people -- just ask any of the hundreds of millions of Facebook users. These concepts of feminism also apply to the author's sense that to deconstruct capitalism, patriarchy, and even feminism, is to reveal the constructions and mechanisms of reality or of existence. Such a revelation is the deeper urge and implication for the proposed research. Additionally, in reference to the power that media producers have to reappropriate, recontextualize, and generally remix as part of media practice, the theoretical framework will also include lipstick feminism.

VI. Methodology and Methods

I intend to draw upon both qualitative and quantitative methods of research in Canadian feminist media. The process of media production qualitative and quantitative and media affects are both qualitative and quantitative. According to Jensen,[footnoteRef:0] research that integrates both approaches yields a greater depth and specificity, though methods are useful individually. The proposed research would consider the state of feminist media, the content, the proliferation or instances of feminist media, and charter the affects of the media in such areas as attitudes, behaviors, digital practices, and aesthetics. Quantitative data can gathered in most of these areas. The data may not be as fully understood or applied without a qualitative study to provide context and comparison. Media has a physical reality and it also has a social reality. It is difficult to charter and understand data regarding a social reality from a strictly quantitative perspective or research method. Qualitative research methods may not provide concrete enough empirical results to taken seriously in other areas such as the hard sciences; therefore illuminating and rich as qualitative data may be, quantitative data proves useful when considering the perceptions of other professionals, as in the aforementioned statement Patty & Crow, media has implications across and huge array of industries. (2008) [0: K.B. Jensen, (ed.) 2002. A Handbook of Media and Communication Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Methodologies -- Chapters 13: The quantitative research process; Chapter 15: The complementarity of qualitative and quantitative methodologies in media and communication research; Chapter16: The social origins and uses of media and communication research. Routledge: New York, NY.]