The Satellite Sex: The Media and Women's Issues in English Canada, 1966–1971 by Barbara Freeman (review)

500 letters in canada 2001 university of toronto quarterly, volume 72, number 1, winter 2002/3 Leont=ev, and, of course, Pugacheva (so larger than life that she is the subject of two entire chapters). He uses these singers to approach the central dichotomy of estrada, the tension between >lyric= and >civic= songs, a tension that could make or break careers in the 1950s and 1960s, but is resolved or overcome in some of the works of the 1980s. For MacFadyen, the lyric/civic dynamic is in itself largely a reflection of an even more crucial question for estrada, the question of lichnost= (personality). MacFadyen argues that estrada is built on the relationship between the singer and his or her audience, which in turn depends on the development of a compelling personality with which the audience can identify or at least admire. There is no estrada without lichnost= (a concept that easily slips from mere >personality= to >stardom=), but lichnost= itself was highly problematic for the collectivist ideology of Soviet culture, which in the years that begin Red Stars had only just begun to retreat from the cult of the most famous lichnost= of all (Stalin). MacFadyen draws fascinating parallels between personality in estrada and the developments in post-Stalinist philosophy (although his contention that Bakhtin is irrelevant here because his works were still unknown in the 1950s seems strangely retrograde), and his repeated references to important Soviet historical milestones are useful for both specialists and nonspecialists alike. What makes Red Stars unique, however, is MacFadyen=s combination of exhaustive research and undeniable erudition with the ability to tell a good story. One need not share MacFadyen=s enthusiasm for estrada to find Red Stars an informative and entertaining book. (ELIOT BORENSTEIN) Barbara Freeman. The Satellite Sex: The Media and Women=s Issues in English Canada, 1966B1971 Wilfrid Laurier University Press. xv, 347. $29.95 This recent book on media reporting of second-wave feminism in Canada is an original and timely contribution to the burgeoning field of Canadian feminist media and cultural studies. By examining specifically the Royal Commission for the Status of Women, Freeman gives herself a unique and important lens through which to examine not only representations of feminism but also labour practices for women journalists as they struggled to bring women=s issues to the front pages. This dual focus makes for intriguing sociological, historical, and textual analysis of women=s roles and representations in the late 1960s. The commission was a watershed event, as members criss-crossed the country for three years, holding hearings on women=s everyday realities from work to family to education and more. By incorporating industry and discourse analysis, Freeman weaves a sophisticated critique of the intransigent attitudes towards feminism in the humanities 501 university of toronto quarterly, volume 72, number 1, winter 2002/3 media and reminds us of how hard women had to fight to gain respect and equality in the eyes of the press. There are many valuable lessons in this book, especially as we note how the Canadian media today frequently try to trivialize women=s issues and declare feminism outmoded. At times, Freeman allows her comprehensive archival research to overwhelm her own abilities as a critical scholar. This is a tendency of any social history, where it is often seen as enough to document without making strategic connections between the material. It is unfortunate because when Freeman does express her own analytical views, the results are worth the wait. In >Ladies Reminded They=re Women,= Freeman examines the way that the leaders of the Royal Commission were photographed, illustrated for editorial cartoons, and described in the news reporting. This is one of the only parts of the book where Freeman explores these questions of representation and provides a more critical rather than exclusively historical context. More investigation at this level would have been appreciated. The other areas addressed, including reproductive rights, Aboriginal and rural women, and working mothers, tend to focus on the minutiae of the debate during the time. This is unfortunate because it sets her analysis too deeply into the past. It suggests obliquely that feminism is a movement from yesterday, and that the...