Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message that Feminism's Work Is Done [Hardcover]

Susan J. Douglas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 2010

From the author of Where the Girls Are, a sharp and irreverent critique of how women are portrayed in today’s popular culture

Women today are inundated with conflicting messages from the mass media: they must either be strong leaders in complete command or sex kittens obsessed with finding and pleasing a man. In Enlightened Sexism, Susan J. Douglas, one of America’s most entertaining and insightful cultural critics, takes readers on a spirited journey through the television programs, popular songs, movies, and news coverage of recent years, telling a story that is nothing less than the cultural biography of a new generation of American women.

Revisiting cultural touchstones from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Survivor to Desperate Housewives, Douglas uses wit and wisdom to expose these images of women as mere fantasies of female power, assuring women and girls that the battle for equality has been won, so there’s nothing wrong with resurrecting sexist stereotypes—all in good fun, of course. She shows that these portrayals not only distract us from the real-world challenges facing women today but also drive a wedge between baby-boom women and their “millennial” daughters.

In seeking to bridge this generation gap, Douglas makes the case for casting aside these retrograde messages, showing us how to decode the mixed messages that restrict the ambitions of women of all ages. And what makes Enlightened Sexism such a pleasure to read is Douglas’s unique voice, as she blends humor with insight and offers an empathetic and sisterly guide to the images so many women love and hate with equal measure.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a sharp-witted polemic against the media's stereotyping of females and feminism, University of Michigan communications professor Douglas (Where the Girls Are) parses music, movies, magazines, television dramas, reality TV, and news coverage to demonstrate how the girl power of the early '90s developed into enlightened sexism: a response, deliberate or not, to the perceived threat of a new gender regime. Given women's progress, enlightened sexism assumes, now it's okay, even amusing, to resurrect sexist stereotypes of girls and women. According to Douglas, this media trend includes stereotypes of black women as lazy and threatening in characters like Big Momma or Omarosa on The Apprentice, and the insidious sexualization of young girls. Douglas supports her analysis with data, such as on women's continuing inequitable pay and professional opportunities, black women's struggles for equality, and the negative consequences of the rising use of plastic surgery. And while the media have focused on girls bullying other girls, a much bigger problem, says Douglas, is sexual harassment of young girls by boys. Readers may not agree with Douglas's politics, but her position that women's interests are being harmed by the media is well argued and well documented. 16 pages of b&w photos. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Douglas defines “enlightened sexism” as a response to the “perceived threat of a new gender regime” following the gains made by feminists since the 1970s. Her premise is that, under the mistaken assumption that full gender equality has been achieved, it is now “OK” to resurrect sexist stereotypes because they will no longer undermine women’s equality. She explores the rise and evolution of media-created fantasies from the early 1990s to the present in TV, movies, popular songs, even network news, demonstrating how women have increasingly been reduced to stereotypes obsessed with their figures, clothes, shopping, and aging. From Beverly Hills 90210 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer to reality shows like The Bachelor and Survivor, women have been increasingly trivialized as overly emotional, unable to get along with each other, and constantly in competition for male approval. Douglas injects humor throughout, and notes the differences between her and her “millennial” daughter. She concludes with the hope that this new generation will not give up the fight. --Deborah Donovan

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Times Books; First Edition edition (March 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080508326X
• ISBN-13: 978-0805083262
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #374,636 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Feminism's work is far from finished, April 12, 2010

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Bookphile (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message that Feminism's Work Is Done (Hardcover)

"Englightened Sexism" is an excoriating repudiation of the view that feminism's work is done and that women have now achieved gender equity with men, so there is no further need for women to continue to fight for things like equal pay for equal work. By dissecting pop culture, Douglas makes a very convincing argument that sexism is, indeed, alive and well, though it has taken on something of a new facade: the titular "enlightened" sexism. Douglas argues that women have been fed the line that they now have equality and that this new era of "girl power" is proof. Pop culture would have us believe that women can dress however they want, be successful, and enjoy a life free of obstacles, but Douglas shows how this portrayal of women actually reveals the sexist mechanisms embedded within that are meant to keep women in their place.

What I found particularly convincing about Douglas's argument was the idea that there is a divide and conquer strategy at work that helps distract women from real issues. By focusing on girl-on-girl bullying instead of addressing the issue of the sexual harassment of girls in school, everyone (male and female alike) is being distracted from the bigger problem. Douglas is not trying to argue that these scenarios of female aggression do not exist but, as she points out, they serve as a very good way of creating the myth that women are incapable of getting along with one another and, therefore, cannot handle equality. As Douglas argues, enlightened sexism tells us that women have been given the keys to the kingdom, but are too busy having cat fights over who gets to be the queen to unlock the realm.

Douglas also makes a strong argument when she picks apart the claim that women are empowered because they can now dress however they like: read, the more provocatively, the better. As Douglas argues, this is not really any indication that women are empowered. To say that a woman has equality because she can dress however she wants and then to encourage women to dress like sex objects is sinister. We now live in a society that offers low-rise jeans for kindergarteners and thongs for sixth-graders. Ever walked through a department store's girls' clothing section and read some of the slogans on the T-shirts? Try it sometime. It's pretty much a guarantee that you'll walk away feeling the need to bleach your eyes.

Douglas's analysis of the 2008 presidential campaign is also very provocative. Douglas discusses the way Hillary Clinton was treated, and also has a great deal to say about Sarah Palin. What I found really interesting, though, was her commentary about Michelle Obama. How many of us have looked at a newspaper, read a blog, or opened a magazine and wondered why every story is about what she is wearing rather than what she is capable of doing? As Douglas points out, it really says something when one of the most educated, most powerful First Ladies in history is usually discussed in the news media in the context of her fashion sense.

What is especially important about this eye-opening book is that it encourages women the ignore the deceptive signals they're being sent and to focus on the issues that are important for people of any gender: pay equity, better and more affordable child care, workplaces that offer more flexibility for parents, and access to health insurance for everyone, no matter their income bracket. These are issues that no one can afford to ignore, whatever their gender.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Relevant, hilarious, and overdue!, October 22, 2010

By 

Anthony's Mom "actteachlive" (NY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message that Feminism's Work Is Done (Hardcover)

This book is hugely fun to read. If you consume pop culture to any degree, you'll see plenty of references to TV shows and movies you'll remember with laughter. But with the humor, Douglas delivers the diagnosis that explains so many confusing symptoms of our increasingly unsatisfying pop culture. From the hegemony of pop music's all-jiggle-all-the-time-talent-be-darned "stars," to the ubiquitous TV commercials still featuring grown women worried to distraction by ring around the collar . . . Douglas makes and proves her case: that the media has figured out how to get women to embrace and celebrate their own degradation. Wow.

I must grant special mention to Douglas' chapter on the depiction of black women in the media. It is one of the most cogent essays I have ever read. I'm African American, and I gave this white woman a giant "Amen" for nailing it. It - and the entire book - speaks to Douglas' unwaveringly observant eye, and her unflappable commitment to report back EXACTLY what's there, without trying to protect herself, women in general, or the dominant culture from its ramifications.

People, keep this book alive. Have book club discussions, fight with people of both genders (transgenders, too!) about it, leave comments here, mark it up, give it to your sons and daughters. Use it as a gauge to help monitor your own thoughts and behaviors. For here is a quiet revolution between two pieces of cardboard, and it's a laugh riot to boot. Buy it.

29 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "We really have come a long way, haven't we, mom!", March 5, 2010

By 

A. Golden - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message that Feminism's Work Is Done (Hardcover)

That's what my teen-age daughter said to me after viewing her first episode of "Mad Men." I hated to have to tell her, "No, darling, we really haven't!" but thanks to Susan J. Douglas' funny, acerbic, fact-filled, truth-telling new book, "Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message that Feminism's Work is Done" at least I had a good book that proves my point to share with her.

Douglas who happens to be the mother of a teen-age daughter herself, is not vulnerable to the old hard-liners' cries of uptight, stuffy, no-fun priss that've been used to discredit feminists since women got the vote. Her writing's too funny, her analyses are too trenchant - especially her eye-n-mind-opening readings of the media programs that are programming young and *younger* women and girls to believe that feminism is fact and that women now "have it all."

She quotes the facts and figures to prove indisputably that "all" still consists in being expected to settle for vice president which is to say: Having an important-sounding title, a powerful man to look up to and serve, working out of sight, getting no credit for what's achieved but being the butt of an eternal joke! Gossipy spiteful teenager, ditzy mom, nagging mother-in-law. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose! Your husband may have cheated on you, be sitting in jail for fraud while you solve important legal cases but *he* and *his* future will still be at the heart of the TV show's ongoing plot line!

Here I think is the point Douglas makes so supercalifragilistically (with a spoonful of sugar): Sit down and watch TV with your own daughter-niece-sister-etc and see if you really wish it were your kid or kin getting ogled like a side of Bachlorette-beef, or cat-fighting with a group of other attractive young women to win a chance to be pawed over and potentially rejected by some "Bachelor" who's looking for a wife-with-prizes attached, then be sure to read Douglas' stats proving that men's and women's salaries are still far from equal for comparable work and try singing one more chorus of You've Come a Long Way Baby!

Read this book with your daughter, give it to the young women in your life, send a copy to your senator and congressperson and don't let another kid kid herself that Mad Men shows truths about a long-dead past!