Page 107 - CULTURE IN THE COMMUNICATION AGE

MIRJA LIIKKANEN

what is often assumed to be a ‘neutral subject’ has in fact often uncovered
a hegemonic ‘male, Western, heterosexual, white, and middle-class’ subject.
Masculine domination is naturalized in the form of profound biologization.
The ‘superiority’ is traced boldly on the masculine body.

The ‘dead end’ of empirical gender research
The last twenty or thirty years have seen an enormous amount of empirical
and theoretical research produced on gender issues, especially on women and
femininity. The starting point in all stages of research has been the observation
that women and femininity are subordinated throughout society. Not until
recently have serious discussions about masculinity and its role in society and
personal identity appeared (e.g. Connell 1995). One can say that feminist
research represents one of the most forceful and signi ficant lines of scholarly
inquiry in the social sciences of the last century. It has moved out of the margin
on to center stage and can no longer be bypassed in any scientific discussion of
gender. A number of di fferent schools have grown out of this work which
promote alternative views on the categories of woman, the feminine, gender,
and gender relations. Feminist research has developed along a linear trajectory,
moving from structural and egalitarian feminism through a gynocentric
(female-centered) stage, to the post-structuralist stage (Anttonen 1997). The
story is very similar to what has happened generally in cultural studies theory
and research. Indeed, feminist research and cultural studies research are closely
related. Both reflect a distinct turn from (male-dominated) normative scientific
research, through anthropological debates, literary studies, and philosophically
oriented deliberations.
The female-centered research stage – which was especially prevalent in the
late 1970s and 1980s – highlighted the importance of women’s shared experi-
ences, which had been sidelined, to make ‘women’s culture’ more visible and
to acknowledge women’s special competencies. The only way to reach the
genuine sources of women’s realities was to listen to the authentic voices of
women themselves. Consequently, a sharp turn towards qualitative and ethno-
graphic research was made. Cultural and media studies showed marked growth
during this period, producing a large number of reception and audience studies
where the accent was on popular media genres like soap operas and romance
novels, and on processes of signi fication in media reception. Through their
broadly ethnographic work, Ien Ang, Janice Radway, Charlotte Brunsdon, and
Dorothy Hobson among others became important voices at this stage.
In the words of British scholar Charlotte Brunsdon reflecting on this stage of
research:

it is in relation to soap opera and audience that feminist critical work
on television has made a distinctive contribution which is recognized
as such in wider arena. In the late 1970s there began to spring up a

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