This post is part of a series. View the last post for context.
So look. I’ve been learning Premiere Pro for video editing. I was 45 minutes into editing this video when the power went out in the building and everything turned off. I lost all my work and had to walk around and do deep breathing exercises about it. However! I do plan to use these videos to practice my burgeoning editing skills. Please be patient with me.
In this video, I talk about my daughter’s new obsession with falling asleep to the Taylor Swift Eras tour, my new obsession with a color-by-numbers app on my phone that is erasing my productivity, and having to force myself back into school mode by sheer force of will. Anybody else? Just me?
I mentioned previously that I was torn about what topic to choose for my research project. I finally settled on what I will call from now on, for the sake of brevity, the Digital Mystique. My theory, more or less, is that he “tradwife” movement and women’s explicit acceptance of misogynistic ideals represent a digital evolution of Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique. But I think — and I’ll try to prove or disprove this — women have transitioned from passive subjects of patriarchal forces to active participants in perpetuating these ideologies. This shift highlights a continuity (and maybe intensification) of the internalization of patriarchal values, but it also underscores the role of digital platforms in enabling women to serve as a legitimizing force for far-right propaganda by blending lifestyle content with ideological rhetoric.
That’s the idea in a nutshell. This semester is my capstone, and I won’t lie to you, this thesis will most likely have evolved even by the time I post the next video. And that’s ok! This semester is for reading, thinking and deciding what to write about later. This is a Choose Your Own Adventure degree, and that’s what I want.
Don’t forget to watch the video above, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and check back every Monday for more in this series. As always, email kristen.walker@utdallas.edu with questions and comments.