Conclusion

Abstract

There is no doubt that the past several years have witnessed the beginnings of cultural change. For the first time, perhaps ever, feminism is enjoying not only a resurgence, but mass popular approval (Valenti 2014c). Celebrities such as Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Emma Watson, Lena Dunham and Joseph Gordon-Levitt have all recently announced to the world that they are feminists (Vagianos 2014; Valenti 2014c). Women’s issues, particularly domestic and sexual violence, are at the forefront of public and policy agendas, and not just in Western nations such as the US, Canada and the UK, but in other parts of the world such as India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Given the cultural shift in global efforts towards gender equality, what does my research into representations of SlutWalk in mainstream news and feminist media tell us about women’s position in society?