ABSTRACT
The technologies of gender and sexuality construct every citizen via a normative regime of the performance, development and monitoring of self. As one of the most dominant cultural technologies, television plays a critical role in the production, maintenance and potential reconfiguring of the social organisation of embodiment, be it within gender identities, kinship structures or the categorisation of sexual desire. Although in no way a unitary governmental strategy, neoliberalism is a mode of governance that emphasises the value of an ‘open market’ where all existing constraints on market activity are lifted. Heteronormativity and gender performativity, in particular, produce and govern bodies according to prevailing discursive logics such as postfeminism, hegemonic masculinity and sexual orientation. The time- and space-shifting capacities of contemporary television technologies have, once again, drawn lines between ‘quality’ and ‘ordinary’ television content and viewing practices. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
