Efi Manioti

Over a decade of research and debate, many educational policies around the world have shaped and transformed radically the education framework, in an effort to combat the racial inequality in schools.
In that essay, I try to illustrate the framework of color-blind ideology, considering if this is the best way of achieving race equality in education. It is true, that this issue is a really controversial one, which unavoidably shed the light on many contradictions, relevant with racial inequalities, cultural and social hierarchies and so on.
The reason that I would like to engage with such a subject, is that the issue of race-equality, touches many social aspects beyond education. For instance: human rights, social and educational justice, power relations of domination and subordination, the concept of whiteness, and other inherited contradictions in educational structure like the curriculum, the quality of teachers and  so on.

In the first part of essay, I  examine separately the roots and the political background of colorblind ideology, bringing then to the surface the attractive elements and the dilemmas of adoption such an ideology.
It is right or wrong to wear colorblind lens?
Are colorblind attitudes always right?
If not in what context does colorblind ideology work?
In the second part, we will discuss the opposite aspect of colorblindness, supporting the view that it is an optical and mental delusion of racial reality, which promote a new type of racism in and out of school gate.
Finally, we conclude with our main argument, suggesting some alternative ways or educational/pedagogical paths, of achieving race equality in education.

Στη παρούσα μελέτη αναδεικνύονται οι κυρίαρχες αναπαραστάσεις της έμφυλης ταυτότητας στη σύγχρονη κουλτούρα των μέσων και συγκεκριμένα η συγχρονική μελέτη κατασκευής θηλυκοτήτων και αρρενωποτήτων.  Ειδικότερα, διερευνήθηκαν και παρουσιάστηκαν οι τρόποι με τους οποίους συγκροτούνται αρρενωπότητες και θηλυκότητες στο εφηβικό ελληνικό περιοδικό “U!Girl”.
Μέσα από μια μεταδομιστική φεμινιστική σκοπιά, και χρησιμοποιώντας την ανάλυση περιεχομένου, αναδείχτηκε το πώς αναπαράγονται οι κανονιστικές αναπαραστάσεις του φύλου, οι οποίες και συμβάλλουν στην κατασκευή κανονιστικών μορφών θηλυκότητας και αρρενωπότητας. Σημαντικό εύρημα στην παρούσα μελέτη, είναι η διαπίστωση ότι υπάρχουν πολλές αντιφάσεις οι οποίες δημιουργούνται ως συνέπεια της ύπαρξης ενός κράματος απελευθερωμένων «ψευδοφεμινιστικών» και παραδοσιακών-κανονιστικών λόγων. Αυτό επισημαίνει την πολυπλοκότητα της κατασκευής θηλυκοτήτων και αρρενωποτήτων, όπως συναντάται σε ένα σύγχρονο πολιτισμικό προϊόν των μέσων μαζικής επικοινωνίας.

ABSTRACT
This study examines the dominant representations of gender identity in contemporary media culture and in particular focus on the simultaneous construction of femininity and masculinity. We explored and presented in what ways masculinities and femininities are constructed in the Greek teen magazine “U!Girl”. Through a poststructuralist feminist perspective, and using content analysis, it emerged the reproduce of normative gender representations which contribute to the construction of dominant forms of femininity and masculinity. Also, what further became evident from the findings is the fact there are many competing discourses of femininity within “U!Girl”, as a result of the simultaneous existence of liberated "false-feminist" and traditional discourses. This highlights the complexity of the construction of femininities and masculinities, as found in a modern cultural media product.