Representación iconográfica de la histeria femenina como resistencia: diálogo transmedia entre el siglo XIX y la actualidad

Abstract

The present proposed communication aims to explore the social rejection that the term “feminism” seems to have once again elicited during the past decades. Even though gender theory is becoming increasingly integrated into university studies, the refusal of a significant part of society to use such term leads us to investigate this opposition to feminism throughout history. In this respect, the main objective of this study is to propose a semantic analysis around the media discourse on rebellious women, meaning those who try to detach themselves from the archetypes, which are traditionally imposed on females. In order to do so, we will adopt a four-level analysis of the narrative, advertising and iconographic discourse: the representation in photography of the hysterical woman in the 19th century; printed medias caricaturing of the suffragette in the early 20th century; television’s representation of feminists in the decade from 1965 to 1975 and, finally, the current representation of feminism in the social media. By doing so, we do not merely aim to understand the reason behind such social rejections, but also to comprehend the evolution of said movement throughout history, while observing the progressive media coverage of mass society, from the appearance of photography to the democratization of television. For this, we will rely upon writings by Guy Debord, Roland Barthes and Pierre Bourdieu, along with the analysis of the selected photographs, print media and audiovisual excerpts.