Abstract
This study uses the tools of discourse theory and feminist criticism to examine the discourses of femininity, masculinity, feminism
and (possible) genderlessness in the Czech cultural context and against the background of the political and social changes of November
1989 in the Czech Republic. The period in focus is from the late 1980s to approximately mid-1990s. The cultural products explored
through the method of textual analysis include primarily fiction, but also journalism, political speeches, billboard advertising, and
non-fictional texts (textbooks).
Chapters 1 and 2 set out the background and theoretical scope of the research. Terminology and a theoretical model of three
ideologies/discourses informing textual interpretation - the ideology of state-socialism, resistant discourse of consumer capitalism
and residual patriarchal discourse - are explained in Chapter 3. All the other chapters, except the Conclusion, look at a particular
discourse of gender as manifest in a sample text(s). Chapters 4 to 7 deal with officially published literature and textbooks from the
pre-November period, Chapters 8 and 9 with some of the new tendencies in the post-November culture. In all cases, instances of
the particular discourses are documented through support evidence in journalism and political speeches.
Discourses of femininity (Chapter 4) and masculinity (Chapter 5) are exemplified on fictional texts, which belonged to the most
frequently borrowed books from public libraries in the late 1980s. The chapter on pre-1989 femininity (Chapter 4) argues for a
more positive reading of an image of Western 'glamorous' femininity in terms of its subversive function to the ideology of state
socialism. The discussion of masculinity (Chapter 5) shows a void of alternative models of masculinity since when the model of
'middle-class' masculinity was co-opted by the state-socialist ideology, 'macho' masculinity was placed into an almost criminal
context, and 'new man' masculinity had not yet penetrated into Czech culture. Chapter 6 looks again at the same literary texts
as Chapters 4 and 5, but this time considers the texts' subversion of romantic structures and the possibility to claim these texts
for feminism. A potentially unique and productive approach to gender identity is proposed in Chapter 7 vis-a-vis the concept of
genderlessness as advanced in Czech concept of 'body culture' and presented in standard textbooks for students of physical
education in the 1980s.
Textual analyses from the first transition years look at an emerging discourse of female identity frequently borrowed book from
public libraries (Chapter 8) and at the changes in the discourses of femininity and masculinity manifest in billboard advertising (Chapter 9).
The Conclusion (Chapter 10) summarises the main tendencies in the discourses of gender discernible from the examples discussed in
the study and relates them to the changing social and political environment.
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