Late Night Women's Hour - initial notes and analysis

Broadcast date: Fri 28 Oct 2016, 11pm

'Home'

• The concept of 'home' is explored from a range of theoretical and historical  perspectives, with Lauren Laverne compering an all female panel who discuss this in an orderly and egalitarian manner 
• A round table discussion on the Danish concept of 'hygge', which in 2016 was a popular buzzword
• "available on one popular book website" - obligated to avoid any accusations of advertising, in order to retain impartiality
• "Danes...are very good...at being equal, having a great time" - Danish commentator plays up to Danish stereotypes for a British audience
• The ideological implications of this concept are analysed... briefly. Is it an exclusionary concept? This idea is clearly too depressing to dwell on, and moves on to Ikea instead!
• "The accoutrements of this imagined lifestyle" -  a sophisticated lexis, making reference to hyperreality
• Provides female, middle aged, middle class women with the pleasure of listening to people who share a similar lifestyle
• A range of accents, from stereotypically middle-class, received pronunciation, to Laverne's friendly, approachable Geordie accent
• Discussion of social media, for example Instagram, and how it relates to our life
• An all female panel is an absolute rarity, even for a PBS like the BBC who have a remit for appealing to a range of particular audience
• However... is an all female panel potentially sexist? Does it reinforce the notion of a gender binary?
• Resolutely middle-class lexis and mode of address
• Sudden shift to a jokey, friendly mode of address, discussion of shared experiences at the breakup of marriages in IKEA, once more suggesting a particular target audience. It also demonstrates a peculiar brand of gentle snobbery against mass produced products such as those fabricated by IKEA...
• Discussion of how patriarchal hegemonic norms were reinforced by white, male Anglo-Saxons, reinforcing a broadly feminist ideology
• Exploration of the public and private sphere and the division of labour... very different intended audience than the 1964 edition of Woman magazine, for example!
• In depth discussion of female autonomy and shifting societal expectations of women following the 2nd world war
• Themes of anti-consumerism and anti-capitalism...but...
• ...an anecdote regarding only having access to "20 books" draws a collective gasp, again suggesting the value of books to the middle-class audience
• "boxes of stuff you spend ages packing up, that you think are expendable..." frequent assumptions that the middle-class target audience own a variety of middle class items
• Middle class language: "I'm using it as an metonym!"