Fourth seminar 
Challenging Constructions of Gender and Sexualities: Representation Across Contexts 

March 12th, 2025 
To join the seminar, please click here. 

Lisa Bognenko 
CNRS / Université Paris Cité (France) 
"Housekeeper and houseworker of the world": domesticity, domestic economy, and public health in the writings of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Pauline Hopkins, and Edith Wharton, 1890-1920. 
My doctoral thesis offers to examine how three American women writers, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935), Pauline Hopkins (1859-1930), and Edith Wharton (1862-1937), responded to attempts to redefine domesticity in the United States at the turn of the 20th century. By analyzing both their fictional and essayistic productions, this study explores how these authors reimagined the domestic space as a site of political significance, where some of the changes promoted in the Progressive Era (1890-1920) could be implemented in a context of growing feminist demands. Focusing on domestic economy and public health, the thesis examines how Gilman, Hopkins, and Wharton engaged with contemporary debates and teachings to redefine domesticity through a variety of practices both inside and outside the home. By highlighting the diverse backgrounds and perspectives of these writers, this research aims to renew and complicate traditional readings of domestic space, presenting it as a site of transgression and multifaceted political experimentation regarding gender, class, and race issues. 

Ren Qinglan 
Universiti Malaya (China) 
Invisible women in the Chinese gap year: Challenges and strategies. 
The objectives of this study are to explore the experiences of urban Chinese women during their gap year, to analyze the strategies and support systems they use during this period, and to recommend potential support systems and policies aimed at addressing their challenges from their own perspective. Through thematic analysis of interview data obtained from 12 semi-structured interviews with urban Chinese women, and using gender role theory and the concept of agency, the research generated different themes from three distinct topics to achieve our objectives. The research finds that the decision to take a gap year represents a reevaluation of traditional gender roles within the family. Support systems often aim to reinforce traditional gender roles during the gap year, while these women employ strategies of either compromise or resistance to address conflicts, seeking success in professional or academic fields and challenging traditional gender roles. This study not only provides a new gender perspective for understanding the unique experiences of urban women during their gap year, but also offers valuable insights for women with similar backgrounds in East Asia and adds new content to the discussion of gender equality. 

Xiaoyu Zhang 
University of York (UK) 
The Transformation of Feminist Ideologies in China: Representation of Women in Realistic TV Shows. 
Feminism in China has seen remarkable shifts, reshaped by societal norms and personal views. The rise of feminist awareness and post-feminism has notably altered media portrayals and audience engagement. A prime example in this study is the TV series Ode to Joy, which has spanned five seasons and played a crucial role in this evolution. The series’ depiction of female characters and the female audience's responses to them have been particularly influential. This paper builds upon a theoretical framework combining Adorno's Culture Industry, Baudrillard's Hyper-reality, Foucault's Biopower, Rofel's Subjectivity, and Hall's Encoding-Decoding theories. By using research methods such as thematic analysis and semi-structured interview, this study delves into how the show impacts its viewers, focusing on women aged 18-35, and examines how new media platforms like Xiaohongshu foster discussions and affect consumer behaviour. The findings of this research primarily focus on how the female characters in Ode to Joy shaped the aspirations and perceptions of young women and how social media plays a part in this dynamic. This paper examines how the representation of Chinese women in realistic TV shows influenced Chinese women’s perceptions of career, family background, gender role, and women self-discipline and so on. The contribution of this research lies in the broad research surrounding the transformation of Chinese feminist ideologies in the context of globalization.