Sex and Money

Feminism and Political Economy in the Media

2001

Eileen R. Meehan and Ellen Riordan, editors

A revelatory look at the ways that gender, power, and the media are intertwined.

This groundbreaking volume uses the media to show how questions of gender and economics are inextricably linked to issues of power in Western capitalist societies. Integrating political economy and feminism, it offers a new understanding of communication at the personal, experiential, institutional, and structural levels-and exposes all the subtle and complex ways in which sex and money are sutured into individuals’ daily lives.

Contributors: Robin Andersen, Ellen Balka, Amy Beer, Carolyn M. Byerly, Ramona Curry, Fred Fejes, Nancy Hauserman, Michèle Martin, Stana Martin, Lisa McLaughlin, Roopali Mukherjee, Angela R. Record, Karen Ross, H. Leslie Steeves, Angharad N. Valdivia, Janet Wasko, and Justin Wyatt.

Impressive, open, and accessible. This is the first book to systematically attempt to integrate the relationships among gender, political economy, and media studies.

Vincent Mosco, coeditor of Continental Order? Integrating North America for Cybercapitalism

It all comes down to sex and money: how the media are organized, how they work, what they say, who gets to say it and to whom. That is the message this book delivers—and then parses for its meaning to society and culture. Forcefully and persuasively, this groundbreaking volume uses the media to show how questions of gender and economics are inextricably linked to issues of power in Western capitalist societies. Integrating political economy and feminism, it offers a new understanding of communication at the personal, experiential, institutional, and structural levels-and exposes all the subtle and complex ways in which sex and money are sutured into individuals’ daily lives.

Contributors: Robin Andersen, Fordham U; Ellen Balka, Simon Fraser U; Amy Beer; Carolyn M. Byerly, Ithaca College; Ramona Curry, U of Illinois; Fred Fejes, Florida Atlantic U; Nancy Hauserman, U of Iowa; Michèle Martin, Carleton U, Canada; Stana Martin, Central Missouri State U; Lisa McLaughlin, Miami U, Ohio; Roopali Mukherjee, Indiana U; Angela R. Record; Karen Ross, Coventry U; H. Leslie Steeves, U of Oregon; Angharad N. Valdivia, U of Illinois; Janet Wasko, U of Oregon; and Justin Wyatt.

Eileen R. Meehan is associate professor of media arts at the University of Arizona. Ellen Riordan is assistant professor of mass communication at Miami University, Ohio.

The provocatively titled Sex and Money is a long overdue and welcome treatment of an understudied topic: feminist political economy of media. Because of its ability to balance materialist analyses with theory, for its keen examinations of so many different aspects of the media environment, and for its inclusion of international and multicultural issues, this volume is a wonderful addition to both feminist media studies and political economy scholarship.

Journal of Communication

Impressive, open, and accessible. This is the first book to systematically attempt to integrate the relationships among gender, political economy, and media studies.

Vincent Mosco, coeditor of Continental Order? Integrating North America for Cybercapitalism