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GRAY's ANALYSIS OF THE VCR As the basis of the course Feminist Perspective on Media and Technology, I attempt to analyze the research of Dr. Ann Gray, as well as provide insight regarding her research method and findings. Gray is extremely successful in explaining a theoretical need for her research project although she is unable to have a clear conclusion. The main focus of Dr. Ann Gray’s study is the domestic VCR. She particularly focuses on how women use the VCR and how their daily life is affected by this piece of entertainment technology. Ann Gray provides a thorough background analysis of the works of previous theorists before she actually states her research, and concludes that their focus is primarily on the audience and neglects gender and class. Gray’s feminist based research recognizes that in order to accurately discuss a women’s use of a VCR a combination of social and cultural research aspects must be discussed. Two theorists Gray embraces in her research are Pierre Bourdieu, and Nancy Chodorow. While Bourdieu bases his analysis on class, Chodorow bases her analysis on gender differences. Gray combines Chodorow and Bourdieu's separate theories of class and gender to create a more focused feminist research project that illustrates the importance of women's subjective experience and its relation to technology like the VCR. Taking gender as a key factor in the organization of domestic life, especially family life, Ann Gray studies the significance of the VCR using qualitative (ethnographic) methods whereby she gathers her own data using methods such as interviews and surveys. Due to the fact that Gray places an emphasis on a woman’s subjective experience throughout her research on the VCR she appears to be a standpoint feminist. Gray concludes that the VCR is not a gender-neutral technology and that there is a very fine line distinguishing between time allocated to work and leisure for all women. Although Gray’s research is very ambitious and has many strengths and a few weaknesses are present. Dr. Gray’s study includes some very relevant information in regards to a woman’s duty in the home and its effect on leisure time. Her conclusion indicates that leisure time is needed in order for a person to partake the consumption of domestic technologies. If this study were done today with a domestic technology such as the personal computer or DVD player the results would most likely be the same as a woman’s domestic duties are still very unequal to that of a man’s. I feel that although Gray’s study does not render a clear conclusion, it does provide an indication of the unequal distribution of leisure time between genders in the home. To my knowledge, Dr. Ann Gray has not continued her research on women’s use of the VCR after Video Playtime was published. BIBLIOGRAPHY Gray, A., Video Playtime: The Gendering of a Leisure Technology. London: Routledge, 1992.
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