The Americanization of British Gender Roles Through Pop Culture

Abstract

I will be discussing the impact of American pop culture on framing a renovated British social identity in terms of gender roles in the 1980s. Mainly focusing on how American Hollywood movies and rock music ignited a cultural trend in Britain. The American lifestyle contrasted heavily with the traditional British lifestyle, especially when it came to gender roles, American gender roles were more modern than the rigid British ones. Feminists of the women liberation movement in Britain took inspiration from the sexually liberated, independent, American women portrayed in movies and music to seek political, intellectual, and cultural change in the current British social atmosphere. This paper aims to first detect how American pop culture in forms of music and movies was feminist and challenged the gender role norms. Then, I identify how the American pop culture flourished in Britain due to the increased trade during that time period, and how it was favored by the majority of the British population. Then I analyze how elements from them were integrated into the British mainstream society, especially in redefining the traditional rigid gender roles in which the moral, social, and legal climate perceived women as subordinates to men. This leads to numerous women organizations in Britain being formed in the 1980s that promote a wide agenda of increasing women’s opportunities in the workplace, sexual liberation, redefining family roles, civil rights, and putting an end to the objectification of women. Finally, I explain how the United States’ influence on British pop culture leads to women not seeking to revolutionize with protests or sit-ins, instead, by asserting their “soft power” through literature, fashion, and finally voicing their opinions to change societal perceptions.