Working Women on Screen: Paid Labour and Fourth Wave Feminism (Palgrave Studies in (Re)Presenting Gender)

Working Women on Screen: Paid Labour and Fourth Wave Feminism critically examines screen media representations of women’s participation in the contemporary labour market. The edited collection brings together contributions on Aesthetic Labour; Power, Politics, and Neoliberal Industries; and Sex, Sexuality, and Relationships. Within the context of fourth wave feminism, there has been a new proliferation in the global media landscape of representations of women’s paid labour. This has coincided with the development of critical and ideological issues surrounding intersectionality and culture wars, as well as the impacts of recessions, political upheavals, and pandemics. Workplace dynamics and post-#MeToo politics have led to the complexification of structures, oppressions and relationships that impact what women can do for money. As a result, the “working woman” is now a constant presence on our screens, though articulated in widely divergent ways. The chapters within this collection critique issues that are deeply embedded in neoliberal conceptions of contemporary feminism, such as aspects of “lean-in” culture, structural oppression, and women’s experiences of the “glass ceiling” and “glass cliff”. The volume as a whole will analyse representations related to the intersecting dynamics of gender, race, class, sexuality, and disability in television, film, social media and video games. It will be key reading for students and scholars in media, gender, and cultural studies. Acknowledgements Contents Notes on Contributors List of Figures 1 Introduction: Work it, Girl! Introduction Fourth Wave Feminism Technology and Digital Activism Gendered Divisions of Labour Introducing the Chapters References Part I Aesthetic Labour 2 “The Person Inside has Experienced the Most Change...”: The Labour of Fitness, Positivity and Narratives of Suffering Introduction Let Me Work It! Body Positivity and Self-Love Past, Present, Future Happy Branding Intimate Life Conclusion References 3 Selling Sunset... and My Postfeminist Sexual Capital: New Sexual Subjectivities in Reality TV Introduction Sex, Sexualisation and Postfeminism Sexual Capital in Neoliberal Times Chrishell Stause: Working Towards Feminine Respectability Christine Quinn: Working Towards Hypersexual Femininity Conclusion: Selling Sunset’s Postfeminist Sexual Capital References 4 “Millennial Dumplings” at Work: Women’s Emotional and Aesthetic Navigation of Creative Workplaces in US Comedy Drama Series Shrill and Mythic Quest Introduction The Cultural and Creative Industries: Informality, Individuality, and Insecurity Shrill: Embodied Experiences of Creative Work Mythic Quest—Playing the Gendered Labour Game Conclusion References 5 Making Nüzhubo: Commodified Intimacy and Gendered Labour in Chinese Live/Life Streaming Introduction The Work of Nüzhubo: From Camming to Creating Intimacy The Gendered Forms of Labour in Digital Media Cultures and Economies Stylised Looks and Normalised Filters Live/Life Streaming’s “Gift” Economy Mediating Intimacy at Scale Conclusion References Part II Power, Politics and Neoliberal Industries 6 Recuperating Women’s Care Work in 2010s Television Fictions of Nurses and Nursing in the Neoliberal NHS Introduction The Form Will Get Filled in, but the Shit Will Stay on the Chair: Getting On and the Absurdities of Nursing as Care Work in the Neoliberal NHS Trust Me... I’m an NHS Whistleblower Conclusion References 7 “I Am the Highest Paid Showrunner in Television!” Shonda Rhimes’ Work and Influence in the Media Industry Introduction Black and Intersectional Feminism Methodology Discussion: Induction Into the Television Academy Hall of Fame, 2017 Discussion: ELLE's Women in Hollywood Acceptance Speech, 2018 Conclusion References 8 Who’s in Control?: Negotiating Hierarchies, Neoliberal Subjectivation, and Feminist Resistance in the World of Work Introduction Women in Video Games Methodology Analysis Hierarchies and Roles Neoliberal Subjectivation Narrative vs. Ludic and Feminist vs. Neoliberal Tensions Conclusion References 9 “You Deserve to Be Satisfied”: Women in Tech and the Affective Reconfiguration of the Workplace Through Song in Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist Introduction A Brogrammers’ World: The Masculine Culture of the Technology Industries The Work of Confidence and the Affective Reconfiguration of the Workplace Empowering Female Friendships in the Workplace Conclusion References 10 “I Took a Dump on the Glass Ceiling”: Veep, Incompetence, and Populist Political Culture Introduction US Televisual Heroines in Post/Feminist Media Culture Incompetence as Gender Stereotype of Women at Work Selina Meyer’s Ideological Vacuum Feminism as a Marker of Workplace Competence Populism, Gender, and Political Culture Conclusion References Part III Sex, Sexuality, and Relationships 11 The Maternal Gaze: The Labour of Mothering in Tully Introduction “Imperfect” Femininity and Mothering and the Failure of Heterosexuality Paid Meets Unpaid Caring: The Queer Dream Team Doubling, Unravelling, and the Maternal Gaze Conclusion References 12 A Quest for Autonomy: Work and Personal Fulfilment in the Japanese Film 37 Seconds Introduction Stage One: Depending on the Employer’s Goodwill A Quest to Live as an Independent Worker Conclusion References 13 Representing Sex Workers: The Experiences of Shae, Ros and Daisy in Game of Thrones (2011–2019) Introduction Legitimate Labour: Precarity and Intersectionality Exploiting the Sex Worker The Sex Worker on the Margins Conclusion References 14 Work It, Robot! Exploring Forced Choices of Femininity in I’m Your Man [Ich bin dein Mensch] (Maria Schrader, Germany, 2021) Introduction Setting the Scene Precarious Bodies and “Porous” Boundaries The In-Between: De-Monstrative Realms Alma and the Neoliberal Market Final Thoughts References Index The focus of Palgrave Studies in (Re)Presenting Gender is on gender and representation. The 'arts' in their broadest sense -TV, music, film, dance, and performance -and media re-present (where 'to represent' is taken in its literal sense of 'to present again', or 'to give back') gender globally. How this re-presentation might be understood is core to the series. In re-presenting gendered bodies, the contributing authors can shift the spotlight to focus on marginalised individuals' negotiations of gender and identity. In this way, minority genders, subcultural genders, and gender inscribed on, in, and by queer bodies, take centre stage. When the 'self' must participate in and interact with the world through the body, how that body's gender is talked about -and side-lined or embraced by hegemonic forces -becomes paramount. These processes of representation -how cultures 'give back' gender to the individual -are at the heart of this series.