Putting Women In Place Flashcards
How is the urban imagery portrayed in Ally McBeal and other sitcoms like Friends and Seinfeld?
The urban imagery in Ally McBeal and other sitcoms like Friends and Seinfeld is depicted as a playground and site of redemption for the characters, where they can wander the streets, visit bars, restaurants, and clubs, and find pleasure and rumination in the city.
How does the urban imagery in these sitcoms contrast with the depiction of cities on the news?
The urban imagery on the news often shows cities as sites of threatening behavior, such as drug shootings, assaults, rapes, and carjackings, particularly for women and lone women at night wandering the streets. This is in stark contrast to the more romantic and positive portrayal of cities in sitcoms like Ally McBeal, Friends, and Seinfeld.
How has the portrayal of the city evolved since the beginnings of modernism with poets like Baudelaire and Whitman?
Historically, the city has been portrayed as risqué and exciting, with men often enjoying its pleasures as lone wanderers or observers. With the portrayal of a single woman like Ally McBeal as the hero of the street, the depiction of the city may suggest changes in gender roles and the nature of postmodern cities
How are the suburbs portrayed in relation to the cities?
Suburbs are often depicted as safe but dull places that are more domestic and therefore more suitable for women and children. Characters like Ally McBeal and her friends don’t live or visit the suburbs, indicating a focus on the urban environment in these narratives
How were cities and countryside seen in relation to gender during the Renaissance period?
During the Renaissance period, cities were seen as masculine, reflecting the ideals of the mind and rational, geometric principles. In contrast, the countryside, with its earthy connotations, and the older medieval city were seen as the realm of the feminine, representing qualities pertaining to the body and the organic
How did Renaissance urban thinkers and designers view cities?
Renaissance urban thinkers and designers viewed cities as unified, visual wholes that should reflect rational, geometric principles. These principles were associated with the male sphere, while qualities related to the body and the organic were assigned to the female sphere.
How did the early forms of capitalism during the Renaissance impact the urban landscape?
The early forms of capitalism during the Renaissance brought new class formations and demands to the city, such as better circulation within the city and between the city and the countryside. The new cities of the Renaissance were visualized as rational wholes, distinct from the medieval organic form.
What challenges does the presence of the feminine in the city represent according to Elizabeth Wilson (1991)?
Elizabeth Wilson argues that the presence of the feminine in the city represents a challenge to the rational world, as it symbolizes the disorderly, the chaotic, and the unknowable. Consequently, the presence of women on the streets of the city has often been seen as problematic.
What was the main reason for the slow and incremental changes in urban infrastructure during the Renaissance period?
Most societies lacked the financial and technological means to completely reconstruct medieval urban forms.
How did London’s urban landscape change during the early modern period?
Production and sales activities expanded, leading to a separation of work and home, and the emergence of new residential districts on the western edges of medieval London.
What were the roles of women in the early modern period in London?
Women were involved in productive labor alongside their fathers or husbands, or engaged in their own forms of commerce.
How did the new residential districts in London legitimize the wealth and power of the merchant class?
These districts were located close to Westminster, home to the royal court and aristocracy, which lent an air of nobility to the merchant class.
What were the new responsibilities of merchant wives as the city modernized?
Their roles included home decoration, knowing and using correct manners and etiquette, creating ornamental and beautiful gardens, and dressing their families in appropriate styles.
What developments occurred in London’s retail spaces during the eighteenth century?
Shops were moved indoors and clustered in areas near their former outdoor market sites, and interior spaces designed for selling were associated with gendered roles and performances.
How did coffeehouses in London contribute to the formation of masculine identities?
Coffeehouses emerged as important social institutions for England’s merchant classes, mostly barring women, and served as sites for political and economic discussions.
How did the spatial and ideological distinction between masculine and feminine get disrupted during this period?
The new definition of femininity required bourgeois women to become the main consumers for households, leading them to enter spaces of business and engage in commercial activities.
What was the purpose of the Magdalen Hospital in London?
The Magdalen Hospital was established to reform prostitutes, helping them to become respectable women through meditation, prayer, and self-control.
What was the design of the Magdalen Hospital meant to accomplish?
The design provided enough openness for constant scrutiny of the women’s daily activities, while also offering private spaces for meditation and self-reflection.
How did coffeehouses in London reinforce masculine identities?
Coffeehouses were important sites for political and economic discussions, mostly barred women, and provided a space for men of the emerging professional classes to socialize and express their identities.
Where were most of London’s coffeehouses located in the seventeenth century?
They were located near Cornhill, Fleet Street, and the Strand, close to the financial, publishing, and legal districts.
How did the new definition of femininity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries lead to “crossings” of the spatial and ideological distinction between the masculine and feminine?
This new definition required bourgeois women to become the main consumers for households, which necessitated their entrance into business spaces, such as the retail district along Cheapside, disrupting the perceived separation between masculine and feminine roles.
How did the working classes and middle- and upper-class families experience urban changes in nineteenth-century industrial cities?
Working-class families often moved yearly due to increasing rents, while middle- and upper-class families moved to avoid shifting land uses or to follow newer and more fashionable residential areas further from downtown.
What was the purpose of a men’s “club row” in the U.S. industrial city?
The club row provided social spaces for leading male citizens to gather, form economic and political allegiances, and exchange important news while socializing.
Where was the club row located in mid-nineteenth-century New York City?
The club row was situated along several blocks of Fifth Avenue, just north of the city’s major shopping area.
What types of establishments were considered masculine spaces in the industrial city?
Masculine spaces included saloons, gambling houses, and male-only restaurants, such as oyster houses, where men engaged in activities like drinking, dancing, gambling, and sex.
What was the purpose of developing public park systems in U.S. cities during the industrial era?
Public park systems were developed to provide open space, leisure activities, and aesthetic oases in congested industrial areas, express civic commitment of the dominant classes, and provide a more refined cultural image of the city.
What role did F. L. Olmsted play in the development of urban parks in the late 19th century?
F. L. Olmsted was a noted landscape architect who was highly sought after for designing public parks in U.S. cities during the late 19th century.
How did urban parks benefit working classes and women in the industrial city?
Urban parks provided controlled and “safe” forms of leisure activities for the working classes, potentially creating “better” workers, and offered middle- and upper-class women a “legitimate” way to socialize outside of the house.
What two main districts emerged in the downtown areas of industrial cities by the late 19th century?
A consumer/leisure district and an office district emerged in the downtown areas of industrial cities.
How did the creation of geographically distinct activities in industrial cities impact transportation?
The creation of geographically distinct activities in industrial cities spawned demand for different forms of transportation, leading to foot traffic, streetcars, carriages, and wagons all competing for space on congested city streets.
How did socioeconomic and spatial instability in industrial cities affect non-dominant groups such as women, people of color, and the working classes?
Non-dominant groups were subject to various forms of regulation regarding their appearance, behavior, housing, sexuality, and jobs in 19th-century cities in an attempt to assuage the social anxiety of economic and political elites.
What social rules applied to bourgeois women in mid-19th-century New York regarding access to public streets?
Bourgeois women were allowed access to the public streets only if accompanied by other women or men, and only at certain hours of the day. Disobeying these rules risked losing their status as “proper” women.
In which industry did many women find employment during the industrial era in Europe and the United States?
Many women found employment in the textile industry during the industrial era in Europe and the United States.
What was the primary source of women’s jobs in the textile industry before 1850 in New York City?
Most women in the textile industry worked at home as “outworkers” before 1850 in New York City.
How did working in factories after 1850 change the work environment for women in the textile industry?
Working in factories meant women had less control over their immediate environment, having to follow factory hours and conditions, but it also took them away from the patriarchies of home, albeit into a different form of patriarchy in the factory.
