Feminist+Spring+13

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=The Dove "Real Beauty" Campaign =

**A feminist criticism of Dove's latest installment,** //**Sketches** //**.**

What is Feminist Criticism?
 Feminist criticism focuses on the dominant ideology that dictates what society at large accepts as common sense (Sellnow, 2009 ). For feminist criticism, the ideology comes from acceptance of prevailing male and masculine perspectives over female or feminine perspectives. According to Sellnow (2009), this widely accepted ideology oppresses women while empowering men. In this sense, feminist action can be performed by anyone whose actions and ideals counter the collective and pervasive hegemonies that place limits on women in society.

Patriarchy vs. Masculine Hegemony
 The term patriarchy is used by researchers in the field of feminist studies to “illustrate power inequities among men and women in industrialized society” (p. 90). Patriarchy follows the concept of traditional home life in which a male figure, usually the father, provides for the social and economic welfare of the entire family.

 Masculine hegemony, on the other hand, comes from the study of masculinity theory and the field of male studies (p. 90). Unlike patriarchy, masculine hegemony accounts for the inequities in power between genders, not sex, using heterosexual masculinity as the driving force.

Feminist Interpretive Readings
 According to Sellnow (2009), students in the field of feminist studies analyze cultural artifacts using either preferred or oppositional readings of patriarchy or masculine hegemony. In preferred readings, beliefs ingrained in society are taken matter-of-factly and can be expressed in artifacts either deliberately or obscurely. On the other hand, oppositional readings of artifacts tend to be either adjusted to suit individual ideals or challenged to foster understanding of different ideological views.

[[image:Screen Shot 2013-04-22 at 7.56.12 PM.png width="155" height="130" align="right" caption="Susan B. Anthony"]]
 **First Wave**: Begun by early female suffragists, like Susan B. Anthony, in the United States during the 1920’s. The goal of this wave of feminism was to gain the right for the female vote.

 **Second Wave**: Begun in the mid-19th century by women who had seen and heard about the first wave feminists. Their goal was to gain equal social, political, and educational opportunities between men and women. Sellnow (2009) indicates that Title IX and the push for equal educational opportunities for both men and women stems from the work of second wave feminists.

 **Third Wave**: Begun in during the 1960’s and was influenced and empowered by the work of second wave feminists. The goals of third wave feminists have been to focus on various standpoints, or understandings of the world around us. In particual, Sellnow (2009) states that third wave feminists seek to challenge oppression in previously under-studied fields such as sexual harassment in the work place and with under represented populations, which include groups based on social standing and economic background.



Types of Feminist Perspectives
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Sellnow (2009) identifies various types of feminist perspectives as useful analytical tools in the field of feminist criticism.


 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Liberal feminist perspective, part of the second wave feminism, focuses on equality amongst men and women, in particular in typically male dominated fields such as sports and medicine.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Radical feminist perspective, part of both second and third wave feminism, focuses on the inequalities that stem from the systemic creation of male and female identities within society, such as the distinction of girl and boy appropriate toys.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Marxist feminist perspective, formed as part of second wave feminism, works towards equality in economic opportunities between men and women.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Cultural feminist perspective, part of both second and third wave feminism, promotes the importance and valuable skills, activities, behaviors and viewpoints traditionally seen as feminine, such as baking. These stereotypical concepts of typical female behaviors and roles, as argued by cultural feminist perspectives, should be accepted by both men and women for their intrinsic value to persona growth.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Steps to Conducting a Feminist Criticism Analysis:
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> The process of feminist criticism provides the opportunity to note the ways in which patriarchy and masculine hegemony are present and help form popular culture. Sellnow (2009) indicates that feminist criticism can be employed as an analytical tool to help consumers become aware of the ingrained hegemonic ideologies that become part of cultural texts. The process of feminist criticism is composed of the following three steps:

=Analyzing //Sketches//= media type="youtube" key="XpaOjMXyJGk" width="560" height="315" align="center"
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Select an Appropriate Text
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Examine the Text: Describe and Interpret
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Evaluate Potential Implications of Text

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The Dove "Real Beauty" Campaign
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Since its inception in 2004, the Dove Real Beauty advertising campaign has endeavored to present messaging that challenges masculine and patriarchal hegemonies in contemporary American culture. Recently, Dove released the latest installment in the Real Beauty franchise with a three-minute spot entitled //Sketches//. To gain greater insight into the way that this text functions in our culture, we will analyze Sketches through the lens of a radical feminist criticism to examine how effectively the messaging serves as a site of struggle that challenges dominant ideologies (Sellnow, 2009).

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> // **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Sketches ** //

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[[image:Screen Shot 2013-04-22 at 8.52.53 PM.png width="315" height="133" align="right"]]
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Sketches// is structured in four distinct stages. In the first stage, we see an image of a man who will feature as a supporting character in the text. We learn that this man is an FBI trained sketch artist, and that he will be serving as a medium for transcribing onto paper the physical characteristics of the participants. The man is an authority in his field, but his role in the spot is not overtly authoritative. However, his role as a man is important to consider, for he is the one who helps lead the women to their "revelation" at the close of the spot.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;"> In the second stage, women sit out of view from the artist and describe themselves in their own terms. These women are racially diverse and vary in age, though are predominantly caucasian and middle-aged or younger. The camera moves around and they are clearly central to the framing of the story as it develops. As they describe themselves, they use language that demonstrates perceived faults more than emphasizing positives. Through their self-description, they are relying on culturally expressed hegemonic conceptions of beauty to provide a matrix by which to judge their own appearances.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;"> In the next stage, a third party who had just met the participating women describes them to the artist as was done when the descriptions were self-referential. Here, however, the describers use more generally terminology that draws upon male mediated definitions of beauty to relay the descriptions of the subjects to the sketch artist. These participants supposedly represent a neutral party that presents a truer depiction of the women than that given by the women themselves.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;"> In the fourth and final stage, the participants are brought in individually to consider the sketches. The images are juxtaposed and the women are confronted with a graphic illustration of the distinction between their own expressed perceptions and those of outsiders. When confronting the discrepancy between their self-images and the ways that others see them, the women are moved emotionally, and it is here that Sketches presents the core of its argument, that “you are more beautiful than you think” (Sketches, 2013).

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">A Feminist Analysis
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> The radical feminist method allows us to delve into the roles and rules (Sellnow, 2009) that dominate Sketches to examine if, how, and why it may be considered a message that empowers men and women to overcome hegemonic forces that label women as objects rather than subjects acting with agency in the world.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> At first, all the women in the spot refer to themselves in terms that connote supposed undesirability; this is presented as a normal yet inappropriate way for women to view themselves. At the end of the spot, the women are led to a realization that their initial iteration of their image was abnormal, and that others can see in them a beauty that they were unable to express. The power and efficacy of Sketches, especially as a product of advertising, can be found in the way that the participants "change" when their self-image is contrasted with a new normal, and not one based in posited ideological constraints that control how they see themselves.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> At the onset of Sketches, the women think of and describe themselves in objectified ways. Then, through the revelation that others see a more positive vision of them, they take steps towards becoming agents capable of asserting their own identities more accurately. For this reason, the text can be called a site of struggle where masculine hegemonies are successfully challenged.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> However, it must also be noted that the text relies on hegemonic constraints to build its argument, and this limits its viability from a feminist perspective. One participant, Florence, typifies this when she notes that it is important for women to feel and be beautiful because this "impacts the choices we make, the jobs we apply for, how we treat our children; it impacts everything. It couldn't be more critical to your happiness." This statement is patently false and relies on hegemonic notions of beauty. The final image of the shot is of another participant, who, having just expressed how she feels more beautiful, is contently wrapped in the sun-dappled arms of a man who ostensibly is the reward for her newly realized attractiveness.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> On the surface //Sketches// does function as a feminist text, though a closer reading suggests that it does so by relying on patriarchal definitions of beauty and female identity, rendering it a less than perfect vehicle for challenging dominant ideologies. What do you think? Join the discussion.