Ok. So, my sweetheart is a super intense hunter, and I’m sure we could debate about the until the suns comes up BUT! He and I were at Cabela’s a few days ago. We decided to go play the Safari laser game they had just set up. Basically you pay seven dollars to go on a long trek through the African desert. What surprised me and sent my little Gender and Communications mind crazy was the transition they had between stages. After every point the player was able to see their accuracy and all that. Before you could go on, a woman, dressed in very scandalous wannabe safari clothing walks by and says some kind comment like “Good job” or blows a kiss. I was literally shocked, this game was not even in that realm for me. Sexy woman snuck in again. Even my sweetheart said something like “Umm random” Why was this needed there? Well it was not but I mean what genius is like wait wait… we have to add a sexy lady here…
women are something else
I was with a friend the other day and we was rolling down the street and her car stop working on her. With me being a she was like what wrong with my car. I know about cars as much as you do. She goes off on me telling me how am i a guy and don’t know anything about cars. I also told her that she should know about cars, she’s the one with one am i wrong in that case to say that. I feel like i don’t have a car don’t want a car so why should i care about how a car works. Why should all men know about cars?
Don’t ask Don’t tell
This article is interesting because in class we had a panel discussion on Don’t ask don’t tell. What do you guys think about this article? Is there really sexism and racism in the don’t ask don’t tell enforcement or not?
http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/its-free-blog/2010/nov/30/sexist-and-racist-lurk-dont-ask-dont-tell-enforcement/
Jokes!
So as i am sitting here in Starbucks with my friend we wanted to look up jokes to tell her friend that is in the hospital to make him feel better. We start looking for jokes the most common we found were either Stupid blonde jokes, your mama jokes or masterbating guy jokes. I don’t get it! why are the only girl jokes have to do with stupidity or being fat and the guys have to deal with them playing with themselves? i just don’t know why the extreme for jokes.
being pretty doesnt always help
i was reading an article online the other day and i forgot to write down where i found it but it was about discrimination of attractive people when it comes to getting jobs. the article said that being a good looking woman can actually harm the chances they have of getting a job, but if your an attractive man it can help them. i thought that this was interesting because mostly people talk about how being attractive is supposed to help in some ways, especially with women. but in reality looks don’t really seem to have an impact. i think that it is sad that being attractive or not is something that can actually determine whether or not you get a position that you are qualified for. i also thought that it was interesting that it was helpful for men. i just wonder why that is? why would it be helpful to be an attractive man but not always helpful to be an attractive woman?
chick flick marathon
so today all of my roommates and i are sitting around like a bunch of sloths watching movies on tv. it just so happens that there are a bunch of movies on in a row and they are considered to be “chick flicks” . the reason that i am writing about this is because watching these girl movies with my roommates (who are all male and all loving them) makes me think about this class. since we are talking about gender in the media watching some of these movies made me think about the way males and females are portrayed in these movies. now, one would think that these “girl movies” would be empowering for women but really they aren’t. i just got done watching legally blond (the original one) and how the main character is portrayed to be kind of dumb. in the end of the movie she is the hero because she uses her fashion skills to crack the case. i just think that it is kind of sad that even though chick clicks are supposed to be aimed toward women they are still in some ways degrading and makes us all look bad. even though i know it is all for entertainment and is supposed to be amusing i cant help but notice all of the cliches and stereotypes that these movies have.
David Reimer
In my psychology class we were learning about sexual identity disorders, and the case of David Reimer came up. This was the story of twin boys and at birth thet were getting circumsized and David accedently got castrated. His penis was completely removed. Then Dr. Money wanted to test his idea of gender identity is primarily learned, so as David grew up they tried convincing him that he was a girl named Brenda. They treated him as a girl and everything. They even had him go to Psychology sessions with Dr. Money and he was trying to say how she is a girl and everything. “Brenda” did not like girl toys only wanted to play with the boy toys like his twin. He didn’t feel right being a girl and wanted to be a boy. In the end Brenda who was really a boy found out at 15 that he was really boy. Dr. Money tried publishing hiis findings as successful, but obviously they weren’t.
I find this completely horrible, the fact of trying to convice a boy he was a girl because he didn’t have a penis. what do you all think?
Sex Sells . . . or Does It?
In class yesterday, I mentioned that some marketing research has suggested that contrary to popular wisdom, “sex” (i.e., the sexual objectification of women) doesn’t really sell. Here is the specific study I talked about (pdf), which was conducted by MediaAnalyzer for AdWeek. I’ve highlighted the statistics about brand recall and attitudes toward sex in advertising that I discussed.
Of course, this is only one study, and it’s possible that other studies on the same topic will show different results. However, I’m unlikely to change my mind that “sex sells” is an unsophisticated analysis of an image and one that a communication major (or a women’s and gender studies major) should never be satisfied with. At the very least, it’s a starting point, not a conclusion.
Chart from the linked article showing men's and women's attitudes toward sexy advertising
Jazz’s story
http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/stories/858237/my-secret-self
Here’s a link to a story of a young girl who was born a boy. This story really makes my heart happy, and it shows how some people are very accepting of children who wish to live how they feel comfortable
Jean Kilbourne… Opened my eyes!
At the beginning of the quarter we had seen a video on women in advertisements. I had originally brushed this off as people simply seeing what they wanted to see and anyone can make something negative at out anything. The model’s pose representing submissiveness, unbalanced, etc. Yada yada yada, I had excused this as simply being a flattering angle to show off a specific product.
After today’s lecture in which Dr. Kissling presented us with a short clip of Jean Kilbourne’s “Killing Me Softly” I went on youtube and watched the remaining video clips. The ad that caught my attention was the fetish perfume: “apply generously to your neck so he can smell the scent as you shake your head ‘no’.” This bothered me for one reason… When I was the age of 13-14 I had grown out of my tomboy ways and wanted to start being girly. I traded my jean jacket for sequined shirts and my hiking boots for delicate shoes. I was brand spanking new to the world of womanhood.
My father was a single father raising two young daughters (I am the eldest and my sister is only a year younger) and I wanted magazines. I wanted magazines (preferably cosmo and seventeen) but my father insisted that those were too mature for a young teenager and for Christmas subscribed me to a magazines that he thought was appropriate for a girl my age (he had a woman help him do some research and determined which magazine was suitable: i’m sorry I can’t remember the exact magazine). I was over the moon. I tore out ads and decorated my room with them, these were my first images of femininity and I was excited to display these colorful and beautiful images on my wall. I distinctly remember this ad taped up over my mirror. I honestly don’t remember the subtext that went with it, but loved the glittery image that came with the ad. I was 13 and retrieved this ad from a “young girl’s” magazine. Watching Jean Kilbourne’s video made me realize while I was obviously too young to understand the magnitude of the advertisement, I was nonetheless exposed to it and was affected by it.
How we perceive these ads is still important and should be addressed; both the negative and the positive perceptions. And if we don’t perceive these ads as violent and degrading to women, that promote unhealthy body issues, then that’s great. But what about the impressionable young girls who take these ads fundamentally/literally?
Pentagon Report on DADT
Those of you still following the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” question may be interested to know that the Pentagon released their official report on DADT today:
In a press conference announcing the results of the Pentagon’s 10-month review of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, Working Group co-chairs Defense Department General Counsel Jeh C. Johnson and Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, concluded that the risk of repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to overall military effectiveness is low and Gates even urged Congress to act on repeal before the Courts overturn the policy.
“Now that we have completed this review, I strongly urge the Senate to pass this legislation and send it to the president for signature before the end of this year,” he said.
You can read the entire report here.
You don’t Cook?!
So I thought I would share something that happened a week or so ago when my parents came to visit me in Spokane. We went out to a restaurant for dinner and were waiting to be seated. The hostess started talking to us and asked how excited we are for Thanksgiving. We all said yes and she then started talking about cooking. She asked me if I was cooking for Thanksgiving and I laughed and said I don’t cook. I am horrible at cooking and am not patient enough. She looked at me like I just killed a baby kitten and I said well my dad cooks for us. She seemed so shocked and couldn’t believe that I didn’t cook, and my dad did. It was because I was female that she thought I should be able to cook. Just another example of people using gender as a means to what one should and should not do.
Media Ownership
In talking about the social and economic contexts in which media products are created, I said in class today that only six (very large) corporations control most media outlets in the U.S. Those six companies are General Electric, TimeWarner, Walt Disney, News Corp, Viacom, and CBS. This link will show you an interactive chart of their media holdings — click on the different categories (TV, Publishing, Internet, etc.) to see how extensive their holdings are in each category.
The data behind the chart is from 2009, so it does not reflect Comcast’s purchase of NBC, or other recent changes.
Reviewing for Final Exam, etc.
This week, we will complete a compressed version of our unit on Gender & Media, as well as our last panel presentation. I will also try to squeeze in some time on Thursday, December 2, to address your concerns about the final exam. In the meantime, let me remind you of a few things:
- The exam schedule is set by the University, not individual instructors; this means the exam for our class will be given from 10:00 am -12 pm, on Thursday, December 9. (This should not be a surprise to anyone, as it is published on our class syllabus and web site.) Sarah just let me know that I mis-typed the date on the syllabus, substituting a 6 for the 9, so it actually says “Thursday, December 6″. D’oh! Sorry about that. I did have the correct day, if not the actual date.
- Only material we have read and discussed since our midterm (October 28) will be on the exam. (I may use terminology we learned before the midterm, such as gender, intersectionality, etc., but I will not ask you define the terms again.)
- Here is a list of the main concepts we have read about and discussed in class since October 28 for your review, as a pdf file.
My son is gay
I had forgotten about this blog post until I read the children’s clothing piece. I thought it was interesting! It was posted on one of the websites I frequent, Cafemom, in the section titled ‘The Stir’.
My son is gay
Posted: November 2, 2010 by Cop’s Wife in bubba/boo, deep thoughts, holidays & celebrations,trials & tribulations
Or he’s not. I don’t care. He is still my son. And he is 5. And I am his mother. And if you have a problem with anything mentioned above, I don’t want to know you.
I have gone back and forth on whether I wanted to post something more in-depth about my sweet boy and his choice of Halloween costume. Or more specifically, the reactions to it. I figure if I’m still irked by it a few days later, I may as well go ahead and post my thoughts.
Here are the facts that lead up to my rant:
- My son is 5 and goes to a church preschool.
- He has loved Scooby Doo since developing the ability and attention span to sit still long enough to watch it.
- Halloween is a holiday and its main focus is wearing a costume.
- My son’s school had the kids dress up, do a little parade, and then change out of costumes for the rest of the party.
- Boo’s best friend is a little girl
- Boo has an older sister
- Boo spends most of his time with me.
- I am a woman.
- I am Boo’s mother, not you.
So a few weeks before Halloween, Boo decides he wants to be Daphne from Scooby Doo, along with his best friend E. He had dressed as Scooby a couple of years ago. I was hesitant to make the purchase, not because it was a cross gendered situation, but because 5 year olds have a tendency to change their minds. After requesting a couple of more times, I said sure and placed the order. He flipped out when it arrived. It was perfect.
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