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Bodies, Sexualities and Women Leaders in Popular Culture: From Spectacle to Metapicture

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Abstract

Purpose
This paper focuses on visual representation of women leaders and how women leaders’ bodies and sexualities are rendered visible in particular ways.

Design/methodology/approach
The arguments are based on a reading of the Danish television drama series, Borgen. The authors interpret the meaning of this text and consider what audiences might gain from watching it.

Findings
The analysis of Borgen highlights the role of popular culture in resisting patriarchal values and enabling women to reclaim leadership.

Originality/value
The metaphor of the spectacle enables explanation of the representation of women leaders in popular culture as passive, fetishised objects of the masculine gaze. These pervasive representational practices place considerable pressure on women leaders to manage their bodies and sexualities in particular ways. However, popular culture also provides alternative representations of women leaders as embodied and agentic. The notion of the metapicture offers a means of destabilising confining notions of female leadership within popular culture and opening up alternatives.

Acceptance Date Apr 27, 2016
Publication Date Jun 1, 2016
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Gender in Management: an International Journal
Print ISSN 1754-2413
Publisher Emerald
DOI https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-10-2014-0096
Keywords leadership, bodies, embodiment, sexuality, visual images
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/GM-10-2014-0096

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