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  • Mavin_Elliott_Stead_Williams_Brexit_Legsit_GWO

    Rights statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Mavin, S, Elliott, C, Stead, V, Williams, J. Economies of visibility as a moderator of feminism: ‘Never mind Brexit. Who won Legs‐it!’. Gender, Work and Organisation. doi: 10.1111/gwao.12291 which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gwao.12291 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.

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Economies of Visibility as a Moderator of Feminism: “Never mind Brexit. Who won Legs-it!”

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>1/08/2019
<mark>Journal</mark>Gender, Work and Organization
Issue number8
Volume26
Number of pages20
Pages (from-to)1156-1175
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date14/10/18
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

This article utilizes economies of visibility to interpret how two UK women political leaders’ bodies are constructed in the press, on-line and by audience responses across several media platforms via a multimodal analysis. We contribute politicizing economies of visibility, lying at the intersection of politics of visibility and economies of visibility, as a possible new modality of feminist politics. We suggest this offers a space where feminism can be progressed. Analysis illustrates how economies of visibility moderate feminism and tie women leaders in various ways to their bodies; commodities constantly scrutinized. The study surfaces how media insist upon femininity through appearance from women leaders, serving to moderate power and feminist potential. We consider complexities attached to public consumption of powerful women’s constructions, set up in opposition, where sexism is visible and visceral. This simultaneously fortifies moderate feminism and provokes feminism. The insistence on femininity nevertheless disrupts, through an arousal of audible and commanding feminist voices, to reconnect with the political project of women’s equality.

Bibliographic note

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Mavin, S, Elliott, C, Stead, V, Williams, J. Economies of visibility as a moderator of feminism: ‘Never mind Brexit. Who won Legs‐it!’. Gender, Work and Organisation. doi: 10.1111/gwao.12291 which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gwao.12291 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.