Simon During's Sight to Media, Identity, and Gender & Sexuality
Summary of Cultural Studies: A Critical Introduction by Simon During
This is a reflective essay about cultural studies in a book by Simon During entitled Cultural Studies: A Critical Introduction. This time I will further give a brief explanation on my understanding how Simon During views Media and Public Sphere, Identity, and Gender & Sexuality.
Media
and the Public Sphere
Simon
During categorizes media that culturally evoke society, including Television,
popular music, and internet and techno-culture. He contends that TV has special
relation to cultural studies as it potentially shapes culture. It is pointed
that TV potentially displays more pop culture as the content that according to
my perception from his point a view will pose and produce cultural products
that will be consumed by many—if it high cultural product it will turn to
devaluation of its value.
In
relation to cultural studies some concern on its impacts for instance some
researchers examine how viewers as public sphere judge the TV programs, some
considers on how it is related to social like whether TV will draw people
together or isolate them. Some say it draws audience to be consumers. It leads
children to toy manufacturer, leads teenage to bookstore or café, and lead
adult to music recording or cinema.
In
music we are led to understand that music contributes to youth culture. Popular
music is generated by several background issues of gender, ethnicity, race, and
sexuality. Music also contributes to germinate the concept of subculture in
which some of their routines are commodified, like behavior and fashion. For
instance I study on Metal Music by Skid Row songs; I may learn how at that time
youth were fighting for identities through their behavior, and identities agains the X generation.
In
terms of internet, people indirectly have created a techno-culture. Along with
its super function of fast access to collect information the advent of World
Wide Web transforms and contributes the structure socially and culturally.
Identity
Identity
marks individuals. Either represented or constructed identity maybe recognized
through gender, race or ethnicity, and class.
Identities can be also seen from other traits like profession,
socio-economic status, nationality, and region. In the book it has been
mentioned that actually individuals have more than one identity. They have
identities. Individual alone may have identity in terms of psychology but
individual in certain group may be called as cultural identity. The writer
points out a lot concerning on identity politics as it is probably believed
that cultural study has embraced the most. Identity politics may refer to the
desire for access, liberty, unprejudiced treatment.
Cultural
studies is regarded as medium that sets identity politics into academic
discourse in which it focuses on subordinated and marginal concerns and
identities as form of constraint as part of social structure. Some identities
are marginalized and demonized by the most powerful group in society so we can
say that identity itself refers to the position of individuals as a group in
social in which usually certain group who has powerful dominance can create
insult to the subordinated one—say White’s dominance over black community.
The land of immigrant, the salad bowl,
the melting pot, or other metaphors construct United States of America as a the
most seen country which has been established its identity because of its
multiculturalism. As briefly discussed above who doesn’t know white’s dominance
over black community? How black community resist toward racism may have gone
for decades. And it is such a comic how white make fun of fat lips of black
people while on the way to school, pub, or home they listen to Eminem or
hip-hop or RnB which literally origin by black community. This multiculturalism
and race cases probably says it all as cultural studies embraces in learning
cultural identities in which some identities are raising to be recognized.
Feminism and Queer
Movement
In Culture
Studies: A Critical Introduction Feminism movement in early time has a
distinct visions; equality of rights and opportunities, end of male domination,
and unfolding of a woman’s culture. Back then the first modern feminist
argument was introduced by Mary Wollstonecraft who practiced an Enlightenment
account of human nature and Enlightenment principles of justice and equality to
gender divisions. It was said that the new industrial and professional
workplaces, male solidarity and violence, along with the ideology of civil
reform, marginalized the kind of feminism that Wollstonecraft had represented. Virginia
Woolf stated that women position is subordinated; they do not have freedom
because they do not have access to property that has been dominated by men.
Perception of gender equality in the
past was based on men’s domination over women. But then Simon During shares
that these days in the west women are not subordinated and discriminated as
they once were. Most nations have legalized abortion and maternity leave.
Sanctions against sexual harassment turn into routine. Feminism has all but
withered at the same time. The movement tore itself apart. This movement
actually is not about academic movement even it popularizes and leads women
into university. It is stated that women’s studies has been slowly established
since nineties feminism’s loss of steam and the backlash against it, women
studies has been transform into gender studies.
Simon During puts equally queers
movement (known as LGBT community) along with feminism as ones who culturally
give a big impact towards society especially Western countries in the late
twentieth century. He might draw this to conclusion on acceptance issue in
which this case gay people scream to. On 27 June 1969 Stonewalls Riots broke in
New York where the police raided the gay hang-out place in which The LGBT
community fought back. The rally of gay and militant of group—based on feminist
radicals, followed afterward. It is said that the gay movement political
program require two aspects to pursue; the repeal of laws criminalizing same-sex
acts and the admission of full civic rights to self identified gays. Cultural
studies in here seems studying on how this community has been fighting for
their right, for opportunity to embrace the same value, and possibly for their
want to be regarded as “normal” as other citizens.
Source:
During,
Simon. 2005. Cultural Studies: A Critical
Introduction. Routledge: New York
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