The Second Wave After

Second-wave feminism began in the early1960s, reached its climax in the1970s, and it declined from the late1970s to the early1980s. Conservatism revived in the1980s and it won victories in politics, economics, cultures and many other aspects all around the world. The cultural spectacle of gender since the1980s, which is dragged by feminism, conservatism and other ideologies, has tremendously changed and shows the mediation in situations of the culture of gender. Some researchers named the years since the1980s as "the age of postfeminism". In this paper, the author picked and analyzed some representative spectacle of the culture of gender to show which cultural spectacle of gender have changed since the1980s. Besides that, the author also tries to point out how they changed and what they will be in the future. The author hopes to offer a new angle of view through this paper for Chinese feminist research.In the first chapter, the author retrospected the rise and fall of second-wave feminism and gave a brief introduction of the cultural spectacle of gender since the1980s. In this chapter, the author also stated the significance, the purpose and the train of thought of this paper. The author's basic viewpoint is that the culture of gender since the1980s stuck in the struggle among three forces. The three forces are the consolidation of gender, the disintegration of gender and the mediation of gender. Nowadays, the mediation of gender is the mainstream and the usually state of the culture of gender. The whole paper is spread by this train of thought. Chapter Two and Chapter Three are about the consolidation of gender. Chapter Four and Chapter Five are about the disintegration of gender. Chapter Six and Chapter Seven are about the mediation of gender.The second chapter is about the rise of porn culture since the1980s. The author introduced the concepts of modern pornography and analyzed the different parts of porn culture since the1980s. In the last part of this chapter, the author discussed the aesthetic principle of the modern porn. The author pointed out that although conservatism seems like a natural enemy of pornography, conservatism as one of the most important ideologies of patriarchal system is actually the foundation of modern porn. So, the rise of porn culture, which is synchronized with the revival of conservatism, belongs in the consolidation of patriarchal sexual ethics.The third chapter is about the changing masculinities since the1980s, including hard man, code hero, comic book hero and other types of masculinity. The focal point of this chapter is how militarized masculinity combined with conservatism ideology since the Reagan era. The author analysed and critiqued Arnold Schwarzenegger's and Sylvester Stallone's works. The author pointed out that conservatism ideology gradually abandoned militarized masculinity and emphasized patriarchal ethics since the1990s.In the fourth chapter, the author discussed the rise of queer culture. The concepts, the history and the theory of queer culture are stated at the beginning of this chapter. In the middle part, the author analyzed various queer styles in different kinds of mass cultural texts. The author considered that queer culture is being absorbed by patriarchal ethics. Queer culture's development has derailed the way of the disintegration of gender.The fifth chapter is about the clash between the technological revolution and the modern culture of gender. The technological revolution triggered off the isolation of sexuality and the isolation of gender. The isolation of sexuality includes the isolation of sexual object and the isolation of sexual noumenon. Researchers should pay high attention to the changes of sexual culture caused by the technological revolution and rethink profoundly. But the new realities show that the superficial disintegration of gender will not shake the foundation of the patriarchal system.The sixth chapter is about the changing masculine and feminine images in mass culture since the1980s. The new masculinity contains some feminine elements and the new feminity contains some masculine elements. In the masculine part of this chapter, the author discussed the origin, the process of change and the variation trend of men's fashion since the1980s. In the feminine part, the author analyzed the androgynous and postfeminism female figures in mass cultural texts and considered that postfeminist women are kind of progressive females who accepted some feminist thoughts. The changes of masculinity and feminity are the results of the mediation of gender. The mediation of gender mediated the struggle between the superficial disintegration of gender and the essential consolidation of gender.The seventh chapter is about the issue of patriarchal ethics after the1980s. The author reviewed some significant events about sexual and gender ethics since the1980s, especially disputes around HIV/AIDS discrimination and abortion rights. The author considered that the huge change of sexual and gender culture since the1980s unequal to a radical gender revolution. The patriarchal ethics only adjusted itself on the surface. The new cultural changes of gender have been incorporated into conservatist own forces. The patriarchy is injured slightly, and it is still lively.The eighth chapter is the conclusion. The author visualized the change process of the gender/culture with analysis on the Alien film series. The final conclusion of this paper is that the second-wave has come and gone and the patriarchy system will last a long time. Neither conservative nor feminist will be pleased with present situation of gender culture. But, as the consequence of the clash, the struggle and the game between the consolidation of gender and the disintegration of gender, the mediation of gender is an inevitable result.