Women's Leadership in Popular Culture

Tracy Everbach is Professor of Journalism in the Mayborn School of Journalism and an affiliated faculty member in Women and Gender Studies at the University of North Texas, USA.Gwendelyn S. Nisbett is Associate Professor of Public Relations in the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas, USA.Newly Paul is Media and Politics Researcher and Associate Professor of Journalism in the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas, USA.

With Women’s Leadership in Popular Culture, Tracy Everbach, Gwendelyn S. Nisbett, and Newly Paul offer a resplendent assortment of perspectives on the way women leaders are, and have been, represented in media. This edited volume offers a truly intersectional collection of essays that examine depictions of women through the lenses of race, class, gender, orientation and more. Undergraduate students will enjoy its contemporary media examples that include popular music, TV shows, and sports, while researchers and graduate students will appreciate the deft incorporation of relevant theory. All readers will take heart, too, in the volume’s well-grounded research, which yes, covers the predominant stereotypes of the past, but also points to the ways representations of women leaders are, in some cases, changing for the better.

• List of Figures and TablesIntroduction: “You Can’t Be What You Can’t See”: A Case for Representation of Women Leaders in Popular CultureTracy Everbach, Newly Paul, and Gwendelyn S. NisbettPART I: Depictions of Women in Government, Industry, and Academia 1. She’s No “Lady President”: Exploring the Evolution of Women Presidents on TelevisionLauren D. Furey and Andrea E. Hall2. Class, Race, and the Complications of Women’s Leadership in SuperstoreHolly Holladay3. Academic Leadership and Women: The Chair and Intersectionalities of Women, Power, and the AcademyLora Helvie-Mason and Kelli Styron4. “Maybe It’s Time for More Women to Be in Charge”: Breaking Stereotypes of Political Leadership in Parks and RecreationAubree A. Herman, Narissra M. Punyanunt-Carter, and Thomas R. Wagner5. A Tale of Two Ginas: An Analysis of Media Representation of Afro-Latina Female Leadership in the TV series Suits and PearsonMia Long Anderson and Creshema Murray6. Unraveling Conventions: Women’s Leadership Insights from How to Get Away with MurderMarquita Smith, Erica Avent, and Vanessa Charlot PART II: Women’s Leadership Portrayals in Music, Movies, and Sports7. ‘Do You Want Some Company?’: Musicians Brandi Carlile, Joni Mitchell, and Tanya Tucker and the Transformational Potential of Feminist-centered Reverse MentoringJacqueline Lambiase and Carolyn Bronstein8. Glitter, Pink, and Politics: A Rhetorical Analysis of Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana’s Public Pedagogy and Feminist Consciousness RaisingEmily Maly9. Feminist and Queer Icon Uncensored? Exploring Audience Visual Performativity at Jolin Tsai’s Ugly Beauty World Tours on Social MediaKedi Zhou10. Women Athletes Lead College Basketball to New HeightsTracy Everbach and Gwendelyn S. Nisbett11. Transformative Leadership When Women “Talk”: Aspirational Images in Sarah Polley’s Women TalkingCatherine Dobris and Rachel Davidson12. The Plasticity of President Barbie: Colorblind Erasure and Misogynoir in Representational DiversityMichelle Laura FloodPART III: Sci-fi and Fantasy Representations of Women’s Leadership13. The Servant Mammy: Reading Lovecraft Country’s Hippolyta Freeman Circumvents Through Servant Leadership ApproachAisha Powell, Nicole M. Westrick, and Deanna Hayden14. The Moral Complexities of Female Leadership in ArrivalGina Marcello15. The Woman King: Decolonizing the Stories of African Women’s Strength Through Popular Media CultureFelicity Sena Dogbatse and Ama Boatemaa Appiah-Kubi16. The Intersectionality of Zhao Pan’er: Gender, Class, and Tradition in the Chinese ContextZhaoxi (Josie) Liu