Rebecca Stringer Barbie, Feminism and the Politics of Recuperative Détournement
Much of the emerging wealth of feminist criticism addressing Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (Warner Bros 2023) persuasively frames this film as recuperative, reading Barbie as a media text that visibly mobilises feminist ideas, but does so in a way that reshapes those ideas around the values of neoliberal capitalism, discarding intersectional feminist challenges to structural oppressions and producing instead a depoliticised, commodified version of feminism that delivers cinematic pleasures but is “always available to be recuperated by the market” (McNeill 2024). This paper builds upon this feminist criticism of Barbie as recuperative by focusing on the ways in which the film and its associated marketing anticipate this criticism: ‘If you hate Barbie, this film is for you.’ Reading Barbie with reference to Debord’s Society of the Spectacle, I argue that its anticipatory elements mark a form of what McKenzie Wark calls ‘recuperative détournement’, whereby corporate messages appear to detour ‘off-brand’, to enhance their ‘on-brand’ impact. Mindful that the spectacle diverts our attention both toward and away, I argue that by foregrounding the fraught feminism of Barbie, the film’s makers and marketers divert attention from irredeemably ‘off-brand’ terrain: the appalling conditions in Mattel factories, and Mattel’s environmental crimes. As McKenzie Wark observes, “Capital draws the line at the détournement of its own means of production”.
Yuki Watanabe Exploring Queer Identities in Popular Media: The Discourse of Homosexuality in Contemporary Japan
In the 21st century, the term 'queer' has emerged as a significant identity marker, celebrated for its inclusivity and defiance of normative labels. Yet, queer individuals still encounter pervasive stigma, including discrimination, harassment, and violence, highlighting the persistent complexities and contradictions surrounding queer identities. This paper explores these tensions, situating them within specific cultural and historical contexts that shape the understanding of sexual orientations and identities.
When compared to the construction of queer identities in the West, the significance (or absence) of particular terminologies in different cultures plays a critical role in shaping queer identities. In Japan, the concept of nonke (literally meaning ‘no feeling’), frequently used in popular media genres such as Boys’ Love (BL), refers to heterosexual individuals among BL fans and within the broader gay community. Through a discourse analysis of Japanese popular media texts, this paper investigates how nonke functions to both normalize and destabilize gay subjectivity, particularly in contrast to how its English equivalent operates in Western contexts. Using queer theory as a lens, I argue that this term illustrates how sexuality is constructed and communicated as fluid and relational, rather than fixed or essential, highlighting the historically and culturally contingent nature of sexual identities.
Simon Clay Trans Futures, Drug Utopias, and Gender Euphoria
We are in a watershed moment when it comes to gender. The trans and non-binary community has never been so visible and continues to gain unprecedented social and political freedoms. However, ‘gender-critical feminists’ and the political right have been moderately successful (particularly in the US) with their scare campaign on the dangerous ‘gender ideology’ that ‘trans activists’ are inflicting upon society. Gender-based violence and institutional discrimination against trans people continue to soar, and the lack of inclusive healthcare provision has resulted in a dismal level of well-being among members of this community. In this paper, I discuss the community-based gender-affirming care practices trans and non-binary people have created due to the inaccessibility of gender-affirming medical care. I describe the queer ways these individuals use illicit substances in community settings to gain a sense of gender euphoria, community intimacy, and self-acceptance. These gender-affirming drug practices not only allow trans and non-binary people to circumvent the discrimination and gate-keeping within the healthcare system, they also allow for yet-unimagined expressions of gender-sexuality to emerge. It is through the creation and embodiment of alternative gender-sexualities that radical emancipatory trans futures can be realised.
Kyle Matthews Free Speech, Hate Speech, and the Free Speech Union
Recommendation 40 of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch Shooting called for the repeal of New Zealand’s ineffective hate speech laws and the creation of a new Crimes Act offence of inciting racial or religious disharmony. After a public backlash the Labour-led government delegated this work to the Law Commission in 2022. In March 2024 the new Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith halted this work, ending hopes for effective hate speech laws in Aotearoa.
In this paper I analyse the media statements, letters, and twitter feed of the Free Speech Union (FSU), which advocates for absolutist free speech rights, to interrogate their arguments and influence in these debates. I argue that the FSU understands free speech in a simplistic way, prioritises free speech rights over rights to be free from harm, emphasises global symbolism rather than evidence grounded in Aotearoa, is only absolutist when it serves them, and privileges already dominant voices while ignoring the racialised communities that hate speech targets. I suggest instead that tikanga Māori could guide us through the challenges of balancing free speech rights with rights to be free from harmful speech.
Fairleigh Evelyn Gilmour Violence against women and the Dangerous Speech Framework: Exploring the tensions
In this presentation, I explore the tensions between feminist articulations of allegations of violence against women – in particular the calls to believe victims and to punish perpetrators – and the historical use of the threat of violence against women and girls as a justification for and precursor to genocide as documented in the Dangerous Speech framework. I explore the use of hashtags in the aftermath of October 7th, in particular the reworkings of the #believewomen and #metoo hashtags. The purpose of this presentation is to examine the foundations of feminist arguments in relation to the concept of belief and to challenge the ways in which these ideas have been re-appropriated in the context of violent conflict between militarized groups.
Kyle Matthews & Kayli Taylor Rethinking Security & Radicalisation: A principled response to insecurity and violent extremism
We argue that the search for security in an insecure world drives approaches to radicalisation and violent extremism. These approaches target ‘radicals’ and securitise ‘at risk’ communities and are entangled with race, colonisation, xenophobia, and white supremacy.
We propose that the state should turn from targeted practices focused on radicalisation and securitisation towards principled responses which address the structural drivers of insecurity. We argue for ten principles to guide that work including enacting te Tiriti o Waitangi, human rights and global justice, non-violence, transparency and democratic accountability, and structural responses to the marginalisation and othering of communities. We use these principles to interrogate ‘Know the Signs’, a guide produced by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service which encourages the public to recognise and report individuals at risk of engaging in violent extremism. While this guide upholds some human rights and uses evidence on violent extremism, it misuses that evidence, neglects te Tiriti and global justice issues, overlooks structural drivers of violent extremism, and is not accountable to affected communities or the wider population. We conclude that a principled approach to violent extremism offers a critical utopian way of thinking about the challenges of security in an insecure world.
Richard Jackson, Rula Talahma, Alex Miller and Vivienne Anderson The responsibility of the social scientist in a time of genocidal settler colonial violence
This panel will discuss academic responsibility and the role of social science in a time of escalating genocidal violence by the Israeli settler colonial state. Among a wide range of issues, it will consider whether the argument for institutional neutrality is valid in the current context of Israeli violence, whether the university’s commitment to Te Tiriti necessitates a similar commitment to the decolonisation of Palestine, and whether there are compelling arguments against the adoption of the Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, particularly in relation to boycotting Israeli academic institutions.
Jordan Dougherty and Melanie Beres Interventions in Sexual Violence: Student-led interventions
This stream is based on the Gender Studies paper offered at Otago, GEND311 – Interventions in Sexual Violence, which offers students the opportunity to explore what makes an effective sexual violence prevention project. Across the semester, our students worked within groups to develop their own intervention, which they presented to their tutorial streams under the guise of a funding pitch. Students employed the knowledge gained throughout the course and creatively fulfilled an intervention brief. They carried out a needs assessment, highlighted their goals and objectives, provided a methodology and broke down their intended evaluation methods. In this session, we will first go over the framework for sexual violence prevention the students were presented with at the beginning of semester, before handing over to the students themselves present their interventions. We will also reflect on the joys and struggles of teaching this paper and discuss some of the student projects that could not present themselves.
Presentation One: Beyond the Binary: Teaching Inclusive Sex Ed Authors: Alfie Smeele, Sophie Green, Morgan Alcock, Nicki Graham
In Aotearoa, our relationships and sexuality curriculum is not being taught to a high standard, especially regarding queer sexuality, consent and relationships. This discrepancy in relationships and sexuality education for queer students is harmful and is a contributing factor to the higher rates of sexual harm queer people experience. Our intervention is a professional development course for teachers that would aim to educate teachers on teaching relationships and sexuality curriculum inclusively. It would do this by challenging harmful cis/hetero norms about sex consent and relationships, including queer understandings and experiences of relationships, sex, and consent, using a model of consent that emphasizes empathy rather than gendered power dynamics.
Presentation Two: Spark a Shift Authors: Anna Harris, Beth Dunphy, Maleah Abbott-Newland, Oliva Shaw
Spark a Shift is a tertiary workshop intervention programme that aims to reduce ongoing victimisation following sexual violence within relationships for University of Otago students. The five workshops will target the gender norms and rape myths that entrench sexual passivity and feelings of self-blame in women and AFAB people. They will teach context specific rape resistance strategies to empower participants and help participants to reclaim their sexual desire by understanding what they do want to in order to know what they don't want. Overall, Spark a Shift wishes to deliver a programme that targets the underlying causes of sexual violence and provide ways for participants to feel confident in their ability to defend themselves.
