Feminist Cultural Study

According to Driscoll (2013), culture is understood as the shared principles of particular classes, groups or societies. Cultures are produced as groups make sense of their social existence in the course of everyday experience. Feminist cultural studies can be defined broadly as gender studies focusing on culture, be it in the anthropological sense of the concept or in the sense of culture as manifested in texts, historical or contemporary, or other cultural products. Like Cultural Studies in general, Feminist Cultural Studies focuses on the production of meaning, both in the practices of everyday life and in texts of different kinds. Feminist scholarship has over the past decade emphasised that affects and emotions are a foundation of human

Mainstream media representations also play a role in reinforcing ideas about what it means to be a “real” man in our society. In most media portrayals, male characters are rewarded for self-control and the control of others, aggression and violence, financial independence, and physical desirability.

Sweetman (1997) further states that the Strong Silent Type focuses on “being in charge, acting decisively, containing emotion, and succeeding with women.” This stereotype reinforces the assumption that men and boys should always be in control, and that talking about one’s feelings is a sign of weakness. Traditional views of masculinity can act as an emotional straightjacket that prohibits men from expressing feelings or urges that are mistakenly seen as "feminine," such as warmth, empathy, and need. When young boys or men break this rule of masculinity, they are often teased, ridiculed, or shamed for not acting like a "man." This fear of being labelled "feminine” or the myth that sharing more vulnerable parts of themselves undermines strength and independence, often contributes to men holding back their true feelings. This then hinders their ability to maintain intimate connections with their friends, romantic partners or

The most common characteristics distinguishing various ethnic groups are ancestry, territorial possession, language, forms of dress, a sense of history and religion. These characteristics were the units of social, economic and political organisations and inter-communal relations. Ethnic differences are not inherited; they are learned. South Africa consists of different ethnic groups located in different rural homelands. They were peasants or self-providing groups and their economy was agriculture. Land was important to the reproduction of social and economic