Feminist media criticism and feminist media practices

This article explores four thematic areas in feminist media criticism. Firs t, it considers how gender informs norms and values that pattern industry p roduction practices and conventions. Next, it explores how feminist critici sm has influenced one of the emergent areas in media scholarship: reception studies. This particular subgenre of media studies examines how audiences actively engage the mediascape around them. Third, the focus shifts to the rising influence of black feminist criticism, which has identified many of the tensions within feminism and also has pointed toward new modes of media criticism and practice. Fourth, the article examines how feminism has info rmed the study of masculinity. The final section of the article identifies and briefly discusses two areas that will forge new directions in feminist media studies: the burgeoning sex industry and globalization.