43 research outputs found
âI just think itâs dirty and lazyâ: Fat surveillance and erotic capital
Contextualised within the UK mediascape, this article discusses how fat signifies the classed failures of neoliberalism. Because class aspiration, entrepreneurialism and the myth of the competitive individual are pivotal to the political economy of neoliberalism, fat is increasingly and vehemently vilified as abject across media platforms. Fat-surveillance media, which are marketed specifically to women by their visuals, gendered community, language, and structures of feeling, participate in a âgynaeopticonâ where the controlling gaze is female, and the many women regulate the many women. Rather than being a top-down form of governance and discipline such as in the panopticon, control is affectively devolved among systems or networks of the policing gaze. As well as monitoring women along the lines of class, I argue that these media circumscribe the de-individualising possibilities and passions of the libido
Autistic Development, Trauma and Personhood: Beyond the Frame of the Neoliberal Individual
This chapter critically explores notions of childhood development, particularly in regard to autism, reactions to traumatic events and the meaning of âpersonhoodâ. The construction of the neoliberal individual is contrasted with that of personhood as experienced by an autistic person. Person-centred methods of engagement as outlined in this chapter can give opportunities for opening up a respectful discursive space where autistic development is not framed from the outset as âdisorderedâ
Women, sport and new media technologies:Derby grrrls online
Sport has long been viewed as a public âgoodâ â a space for the creation and enactment of the âgood, healthy citizenâ. Yet this public âgoodâ has also been gendered masculine: competitive, public and âtoughâ, with womenâs participation historically marginal to menâs. In Australia in recent years, the participation of women and girls has fluctuated, with decline or stagnation in more traditional organised sports (netball, basketball) and growth in other areas, such as roller derby and football. However, womenâs sports are still largely invisible in the popular sport media. In this chapter we focus on roller derby as one particular womenâs sport that has undergone a global revival, mobilised through ânewâ youth-oriented media forms. We examine four diverse websites that form part of the âsocial webâ of derby: two official league sites, a blog and a Facebook group. The reinvention of roller derby is intimately connected to the alternative mediated spaces made possible by the social web. Roller derby players and organisers have used online spaces for various ends: to promote the sport community, to make visible the relations of power between those involved, to create and maintain boundaries of inclusion and exclusion within the sport, and to express âcreativeâ aspects of identity. This chapter provides examples of the strategies and tactics used to establish and maintain roller derby as a âwomenâs onlyâ sport and some of the challenges and possibilities inherent in this highly mediated space.No Full Tex