What do van Zoonen and bell hooks argue about gender in the media, and how do you apply feminist theory to a set product?
Representation: feminist theory (Liesbet van Zoonen and bell hooks). Gender as constructed and performed in the media, the male gaze and the body as display, intersectionality and feminism as a movement to end sexist oppression, and how products reinforce or challenge patriarchal values.
An Eduqas A-Level Media Studies guide to feminist theory. Covers van Zoonen on gender as constructed and the body as spectacle, bell hooks on feminism as a movement to end sexist oppression and intersectionality, and how products reinforce or challenge patriarchal values, with the application skills the representation essays reward.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
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What this dot point is asking
Within representation, Eduqas names two feminist theorists: Liesbet van Zoonen and bell hooks. Both treat gender as something the media construct rather than simply reflect, and both connect representation to power. You need each theorist's argument, the ability to apply them to how a set product codes gender, and a judgement on whether the product reinforces or challenges patriarchal values.
The answer
van Zoonen: gender as constructed and the body as display
The proof that gender is constructed is that it changes: what counts as masculine or feminine differs across eras and cultures. van Zoonen's media point is that products often code the female body as something to be looked at, positioning women as objects of the look rather than active subjects. The analytical move is to ask how a product constructs gender and for whom the body is displayed.
bell hooks: feminism as a movement and intersectionality
Two ideas matter for the exam. First, hooks reframes feminism as collective political action against a structure of power, which lets you ask whether a representation supports or resists that structure. Second, intersectionality: because the oppression faced by a Black working-class woman differs from that faced by a white middle-class woman, representations must be read for whose experience of gender they centre, and whose they erase.
Applying the two theorists to a product
Together they give a toolkit:
- Construction (van Zoonen): how does the product build masculinity or femininity through dress, body language, framing and language?
- The gaze (van Zoonen): is the body displayed as spectacle for a male viewer, or as an active subject?
- System and intersection (hooks): does the representation reinforce patriarchal power, and whose gender, race and class does it centre or ignore?
Reinforcing or challenging patriarchy
The judgement is whether the product reinforces patriarchal values (the body as display, women as passive, a narrow ideal) or challenges them (active subjects, varied and empowered representations, intersectional inclusion). An advert or a mainstream magazine may reinforce; an alternative title or a campaigning producer may challenge. Pairing the feminist theorists with Gauntlett (audiences pick and mix identities) strengthens the evaluation.
Examples in context
A strong feminist-theory answer applies the theorists to specific signs, asks for whom the body is displayed, considers intersection, and judges reinforcement against challenge.
Try this
Q1. Explain what van Zoonen means by saying gender is constructed in the media. [5 marks]
- What the marker wants. Gender as produced through signs and varying across time and culture, with the female body often coded as spectacle for a male gaze (AO1).
Q2. Analyse how one set product constructs femininity or masculinity, using feminist theory. [10 marks]
- Cue. Read the signs that construct gender, test for the male gaze (van Zoonen), consider intersection (hooks), and judge reinforcement or challenge (AO2).
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC Eduqas exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Eduqas C1 202210 marksAnalyse how gender is represented in one of the set products you have studied. [10]Show worked answer →
An Analyse question (AO2), marked by levels of response. The marker rewards close analysis of the signs that construct gender, read through feminist theory.
Method. Identify how the product constructs masculinity or femininity through dress, body language, framing and language, stating the connotation of each.
Develop. Apply van Zoonen: gender is constructed, and the female body is often coded as spectacle for a male gaze. The top band judges whether the product reinforces patriarchal values or challenges them.
Eduqas C1 202315 marksEvaluate the usefulness of feminist theory for analysing media representations of gender. Refer to set products. [15]Show worked answer →
An evaluation essay (AO1 and AO2), shown at 15 marks (this site caps practice items at 20), marked by levels of response.
For. Use van Zoonen (gender constructed, the body as display, the male gaze) and bell hooks (feminism as a movement to end sexist oppression, intersectionality) to expose how products encode patriarchal values. Apply to named set products.
Against and judge. Note Gauntlett (audiences pick and mix identities) and that some products offer challenging or empowered representations, so meaning is not fixed. A judgement on the usefulness of feminist theory, grounded in set products, reaches the top band.
Related dot points
- Representation: Stuart Hall's representation theory. Representation as construction not reflection, selection and mediation, stereotyping and the exercise of power, and the reinforcing or challenging of dominant ideologies.
An Eduqas A-Level Media Studies guide to representation and Stuart Hall. Covers representation as construction not reflection, selection and mediation, stereotyping as the exercise of power, and how media reinforce or challenge dominant ideologies, with the analysis skills the representation questions reward.
- Representation: gender performativity (Judith Butler). Gender as performative rather than a fixed essence, the repetition of acts that produces the illusion of a stable gender, the trouble products make when they expose or subvert the performance, and how this differs from a simple male or female binary.
An Eduqas A-Level Media Studies guide to Judith Butler and gender performativity. Covers gender as performative rather than fixed, the repeated acts that produce a stable gender, gender trouble where products subvert the performance, and how this differs from a male or female binary, with the application skills the representation essays reward.
- Representation: ethnicity and postcolonial theory (Paul Gilroy). The persistence of colonial discourse and its binaries (civilised versus primitive), the marginalising of black and minority groups, diaspora and double consciousness, and how products reproduce or resist a postcolonial racial hierarchy.
An Eduqas A-Level Media Studies guide to ethnicity and postcolonial theory. Covers Paul Gilroy on the persistence of colonial discourse and its binaries, the marginalising of minority groups, diaspora and double consciousness, and how products reproduce or resist a racial hierarchy, with the application skills the representation essays reward.
- Representation: identity theory (David Gauntlett). The media provide tools and resources audiences use to construct their identities, the pick and mix relationship with representations, the shift from singular to fluid and negotiated identities, and the role of participatory, do-it-yourself media.
An Eduqas A-Level Media Studies guide to identity theory and David Gauntlett. Covers the media as tools and resources for constructing identity, the pick and mix relationship with representations, the shift to fluid and negotiated identities, and the role of participatory media, with the application skills the representation essays reward.
- Representation: applying the named theories. Selecting the theory that fits the representation (Hall, van Zoonen, bell hooks, Butler, Gilroy, Gauntlett), applying it to specific features of a product, combining theories, and evaluating to reach a judgement in the extended response.
An Eduqas A-Level Media Studies guide to applying the representation theories in the extended response. Covers selecting the right theory (Hall, van Zoonen, bell hooks, Butler, Gilroy, Gauntlett), applying it to specific features, combining theories and evaluating to reach a judgement, with the levels-of-response skills the essays reward.
Sources & how we know this
- Eduqas A Level Media Studies (A680QS) specification — Eduqas (WJEC) (2023)
- Feminist Media Studies — Liesbet van Zoonen (1994)
- Feminism is for Everybody — bell hooks (2000)