- Rosalind Gill states that subjectivity is a product of power “where power works in and through subjects not in terms of crude manipulation, but by structuring our sense of self by structuring particular kinds of subjectivity.” (Gill, 2007, 76). Duits and van Zoonen claim that she presents a theory of subjectivity that pre-empts all possibility of change. (Duits and van Zoonen, 2007, 168
Are young women and men free to choose they way they express their sexuality? Or is gendered subjectivity produced through Foucault’s theorisation power, as Gill describes?
- Sex-work has been defined in terms of choice, in contrast to the forced trafficking of predominantly women and girls. (Yea, 2012)
Do women choose to do sex-work, or do they enter prostitution due for structural reasons, such as poverty or unemployment? And what are the social effects in relation to gender inequality of the related policies of sex-worker rights intervention and legal prohibition
- Geist argues that policies that characterise different types of nation-states (conservative, liberal, welfare) shape personal inter-relationships between women and men. (Geist, 2005)
Does work-life balance policy, used in the public sector in Australia (Connell, 2005) effectively address the inequality between men and women, in terms of unpaid domestic responsibilities and paid employment? If not, what are the alternatives?
- Discuss Afshar and Barrientos’ conclusion that ‘[t]he twenty-first century will present women with difficult choices, but will also pose severe threats to the patriarchal order that has shaped their lives, and so will provide them with new challenges and opportunities’ (1999: 14).
