Spectatorial Gender Constructions

Communication media disseminate ideas about the world and are significantly involved in the produc- tion of (cultural) knowledge. This applies to the digital media of today as well as to previously existing media, such as literature, television, film or newspapers. Frequently, media discourses are highly sim- plified and convey stereotypical representations of spaces or groups. Especially in the 18 th century, many stereotypes developed and have been perpetuated until today, such as those encompassing na- tional character traits or natural gender differences. Against this background, the present study explores the production and perpetuation of stereotypical discourses about women and men within the spectator periodicals (Moralische Wochenschriften). These first lifestyle magazines trace back to the English prototype The Spectator (1711-1714) and are widely read among the emerging bourgeois class all over Europe during the 18th century. Hence, the spectatorial discourses contribute to the transcultural dissemination of existing gender conceptions undergoing a transformation in the course of the Age of Enlightenment. The study shows that, in the first half of the 18th century, the Moralische Wochenschriften disseminate the notion of a natural gender difference, which mainly appears together with a knowledge on gen- der-specific character traits and physical differences. From the middle of the century onwards, the discourse of difference is enriched by the assumption of complementarity, by which woman and man are conceived as an entity complementing each other in ways that enable them to coexist in a mutually beneficial relation. In this complementarity discourse, women owing to their alleged closeness to nature are hierarchically placed under the authority of men, who are valorized by their alleged supe- rior rationality. In the French- and Spanish-language spectator periodicals, both discourses of differ- ence and complementarity are conveyed primarily through narratives about virtuous and vicious women and men. For example, the gender stereotypes of the caring spouse, housewife, and mother are consistently praised and presented worthy of imitation, whereas the gender stereotypes of the coquette woman or the feminized man are denigrated and presented unworthy for the members of the emerging bourgeoisie. Overall, the study provides an insight into the emergence of modern gender discourses and gender constructions by means of the spectator periodicals. It not only delivers insight into the stereotypical gender discourses of the emerging bourgeois culture in the 18th century, but also informs about local particularities within the French and Spanish contexts of the time.