Blog Post 3: Gendered Consumers/Engendering Consumerism—Toy Shopping Field Work (Due by 11pm Friday, May 29th)

Gender & Popular Culture WGS220-01
Maymester 2009
Blog Post (Writing Assignment) #3
Due: Friday, May 29, 2009 by 11pm
Gendered Consumers/Engendering Consumerism—Toy Shopping Field Work

Choose one approach from the following two approaches for this assignment:

1. Gendered Consumers
o Shop for a child of a particular age/gender (we can define the age/gender & come up with a 4-5 item wish list before doing the assignment) by going to a physical (“brick & mortar”) toy store or by shopping online. Neither of the options would require you to actually buy anything, just conduct the assignment as if you were shopping for the child.
o Analyze the role that toys (and products marketed for children) play in the gendered socialization of children using the products marketed to them.
o Examples of analyses to pursue:
• Do the toys resemble (i.e. skin color, age, (dis)ability) the child you’re shopping for? Do only a small fraction of toys resemble your fictitious child?
• How does socioeconomic class factor into the desired toys for a particular child; are these toys accessible to the child you’re shopping for, or would price, location, and/or other issues prohibit access for this particular child?
• Examine issues of sexuality (ads using sexual objectification or toys promoting a heightened/sensationalized sexuality & heteronormativity are both considerations under this category of analysis)?
• What values do the toys you found promote? Are they gendered values? How do gendered values teach children about propriety and social norms based on association with a particular gender?

2. Engendering Consumerism
o Examine the confluence of corporations and public educational institutions that has exploded over the past several years, resulting from the “No Child Left Behind Act.” The goal was to ‘reap the benefits of capitalism’ and the ‘innovation’ and competition leading to lower prices to ‘better’ schools in the US. However, the ideal capitalist outcomes are not always the result of privatization efforts, particularly as they’ve unfolded in US education. The piece you read by Henry Giroux highlights many of the examples of heightened corporate influence on education.
o For this option, you’ll be looking at:
• How corporate influence has affected the curriculum, teaching methods, testing, data collection, sponsorship, and capital investment projects at a school of your choice.
• You may use your local public high school or elementary school as a case study (or return to your own if you can) to examine the influence of advertising and corporate involvement on US public education in a particular school.
• Look at the ways in which socioeconomic class, gendered norms, and issues of race factor into your examination of the privatization of education.
• For this option, you will also need to conduct a bit of cursory research on demographics of area of the school you’re using. Try to find out what companies and their products are likely targeted at this location, and how the products that you find are part of the material construction of gender in childhood. In other words, you’re looking at how economics and corporate involvement engenders both consumption and gender simultaneously (as opposed to a more discursive construct of gender socialization).





If you find that you’re stuck, here are a few questions to consider:

• What messages are sent to children about “boys” and “girls” through their toys?
• How do toys facilitate the understanding of normative gender roles and stereotypes in childhood?
• If toys are cultural products that are considered benign and ‘innocent’ by virtue of their target demographic group, how do toys represent powerful methods of information dissemination (think of the arguments we read in the pieces by Lull, Johnson, and Hall)?
• Look at the age-ranges for the toys you’ve found, what messages are being sent? How can toys relate to an issue/value/aspect of adulthood? Try to find a gender-neutral toy that would appeal to the child you’ve been shopping for…how did it work out?
• How are children socialized into 21st century consumption (Lipsitz argued TV was the catalyst for the role of “consumer” as an ideal in US culture…how are children being “trained” as consumers)?

Don’t try to answer all the questions above, or tackle all the categories for possible analysis. These are just ideas to get you started on the assignment. Your thesis will be quite specific in relation to the specific analysis you pursue, the specific child/school, all in relation to the option chosen for this assignment.

Requirements:

Your analysis will be approximately 8-12 paragraphs in length, supported by at least 2 different course readings, and the source(s) of your toys used for analysis. Photos from websites or pictures you’ve taken will be particularly beneficial (make sure you don’t infringe on copyright laws, so cite where the pictures were taken from (if you didn’t take them yourself). Please use MLA format for in text citations and for the list of references that needs to be included at the end of your blog post (i.e. “References” after the conclusion).

Although this assignment will be in the form of a blog post, my expectations are similar to any other writing assignment. Specifically, this assignment is an analytical writing assignment; while I’m not hunting for grammar issues, writing clearly, staying focused and citing precise quotes are key factors in a good analysis. My primary focus, when reading your piece to grade it, will be on the quality of your analysis. Use the rubric you received for the first blog post’s grade as your guide for this post.

Blog Post #2: Media Collage & Brief Written Component Due Thursday, May 21st by 9pm

Blog Post #2: Media Collage & Brief Written Component Due Thursday, May 21st by 9pm
Gender & Pop Culture
Summer 2009

For the assignment, you have two options to choose from (but you’ll need to determine your focus…and remember think narrow for the focus).

Collage Options
1. Conflict in media messages about gender— Look for conflicting messages sent by the images you find in the media you’ve chosen to create your collage. You can use any source of media for this collage (so think about using your favorite/love to hate magazine, TV show, music genre, video game, movie, sport, etc—it’s not necessary to use ads), in order to illustrate a few key strands of contradiction/conflict/paradoxical expectations. Think of the points made by Kilbourne (among others) regarding the conflicts with “be sexy, but not too sexy,” “be thin, but not too thin,” “be smart, but not too smart,” etc. Also consider using the Hesse-Biber material to look at the ideal in relation to the ideal taken to a dystopian-seeming extreme.
These “key strands” should help support an overall argument that is specific about the focus of the collage and illustrate the ways in which conflicting messages are powerful sources of information about hegemonic beliefs about gender and consumption, social ideals, and/or normative gendered behavior, actions, lifestyles, etc.

2. (Dis)embodied gendered objectification in images of masculinity and femininity—If “sex sells” is cliché and trite, so commonplace in the media that sexualized bodies appearing in advertisements barely merit notice, then it’s time to look at the concept and take notice of what it means when “sex” is “selling” something. How does this concept appear in the images of men and women when sex is being used to sell? It’ll help to remember that sex and related objectification is relevant for both men and women. Choose either the masculine or feminine to analyze specific representations in your collage. Directly analyze the ramifications of the one you chose (i.e. femininity or masculinity as it relates to ideas in the 2nd option). Additionally, sex is not always overtly sexual, so stay open to the many ways that a person can be commodified/objectified in the images you find while creating your collage.

Written Component Requirements
(Your title is the post’s title & after the collage, three paragraphs and a works cited list at the end)

The written component is required and related to the option chosen for the collage.

Title of Blog Post
Make sure you entitle the blog post for your write-up and collage in a way that reflects the thesis/argument that you make via your collage.

Intro with Thesis (1st paragraph)
The thesis is going to be crucial here, because you will need to include it as a written component of the assignment. Your thesis should be as nuanced and analytically deep as you can find images and quotes to support.

2 Readings Cited in a 2 paragraph statement of your work as it relates to the course readings (1 reading per paragraph)
You will also need to cite the work of 2 course readings related to media, ‘the body,’ gender, and advertising (use the readings after the section used for the first assignment).

For most students, it may help to use the readings to find quotes to inspire the collage. Use the quotes to contextualize the collage(s) in relation to the point you are making.


Works Cited/List of References
Use the MLA!
Make sure you include the two readings (in the parenthetical references in your two paragraphs) and the sources of media that you used for the assignment in a separate “Works Cited” list at the end of the blog post.

Reminder:
Analysis (the main goal of the assignment through your three paragraphs and the collage with an overarching title)
You’ll be graded on the level of analysis (not artistic ability☺) that you’ve demonstrated based on the relevant use of quotes, thesis, title, and through your visual collage.

Think of the collage as the body of the paper (for the most part), which stands in where the first three paragraphs would not be able to provide a cohesive argument/set of points for the entirety of the thesis.

Getting the collage on the blog with your write-up
You can scan a paper/glue/scissors collage or you can perform this component of the assignment digitally, without the glue, paper, and scissors by using digital pictures/images/etc to create your collage using Picasa (a free download from Google for photo editing and is capable of making collages), Photoshop, or other software. Any method for creating the collage is fine as long as it will allow you to create an image file that ends in .jpg, .gif, .png, .tif, or .bmp).

Remember that the collage will need to be inserted as an image in the blog post.

If you’re scanning, remember that you’ll need to be able to fit it on the bed of the scanner.
Therefore, do not use paper larger than 8.5”x11” (standard printer paper size aka: letter-size)


If multiple sheets of standard printer paper are used, scan them in order, keep them flat, and don’t attach them to each other. Scan each separately, save each page as its own file, and then upload them to a single blog post using the “add image” icon in the usual “compose” screen used in blogger (just like you used for the first post) with the written components listed above. If you need to add more than one image to complete your collage, the pop-up window will show “add an image from your computer” and once you’ve clicked “browse” to find the first image, click the link above the browse for file area, which is labeled “Add another image” and use that until all images are uploaded and then hit the orange button as the last step.

If you need a step-by-step guide to uploading the images, click on the link below:
Blogger Help - Multi-Media Blogging - Images

Blog Post #1: (Counter)Hegemonic Representations of Femininity and Masculinity in an aspect of Pop Culture

Choose a very narrow aspect of popular culture to analyze (an episode of a TV show/music video/etc)
Analyze how your chosen piece of pop culture both (re)creates/enforces hegemonic representations and understandings of masculinity and femininity and how this same piece simultaneously disrupts these messages (counter-hegemonic representations).
Use at least 2 course readings (direct quotes) to support your argument that support your thesis (located in the last sentence of the first paragraph, aka your intro)
Avoid including too much narration of the show, instead write in a clear analytical manner that targets a aspect of pop culture, which both reinforces and disrupts hegemonic masculinity and femininity in US pop culture. Note: Most elements of popular culture do both reinforcement and disruption of these constructs; therefore, don’t focus on just hegemony or just counter-hegemony.
You may choose to focus on a specific character if your find yourself with too many examples from the show (in order to keep the length manageable and close to the equivalent of a 3 page paper).
Cite in text citations using MLA format and include a Works Cited List at the end of your post (also in MLA format). Avoid paraphrasing the texts you include and choose only the most relevant quotes to support your points (you may use more than 2 sources; however, I expect that you’ll need at least 2 short quotes from each of the 2 sources to adequately support your thesis).
Remember, your goal is to analyze this piece of pop culture (analysis and judgment are not the same and if anything, judgment in place of analysis is counterproductive).
Remember to look at both masculinity and femininity in both male and female-appearing characters

The post is due on Thursday by 9pm
Comments will be posted to your blog in the “comments” section by me
Grades (alpha-numeric) will be posted to the SOCS gradebook.

The Bloggers of Maymester 2009 in Gender & Pop Culture @ TCNJ

• Tyndorf's Gender and Pop Culture Blog
• Jessica's Gender and Pop Culture blog
• Lauren's Look Into The World of Gender and Popular Culture
• Maureen's Gender & Pop Culture Blog
• Marcelo's Gender and Pop Culture Blog
• Mohammad's Gender and Popular Culture Blog
• Andrew Mittleman Gender Pop Culture
• Mike's Gender and Pop Culture Blog
• Jason's Gender and Pop Culture Blog
• Erica: Gender & Pop Culture as it relates to me
• Karyn's Gender and Pop Culture Blog
• Kait's Gender and Pop Culture Blog

Assignment 1: Link-hunt for blogs analyzing gender/race/class/sexuality/etc in an area of interest of pop culture

Gather Links on 5 of the topics you listed on your brainstorming sheet.
Include:
Title of blog post (which can be linked to the URL if desired)
URL of blog post
Author
Title of blog that the post originated from

Example:
HBO declares "Women's Studies" major
http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2009/04/15/hbo_womens_studies/index.html
Judy Berman
Salon.com

Final Project Option for Summer Session B (in lieu of a written 3rd blog post assignment)

Your final project will be due by Saturday at 5pm if you choose this option.

Unlike the written assignments posted to your blogs, you'll have the option to work with as many of your classmates as you'd like.

If you choose this option, I'll need the names of the students working on each project during the final class on August 7th (due to the extended due date and the Records and Registration grade-deadline of Monday the 11th for Summer Session B, I need to know which blog posts will have written assignments so I can grade them on Friday :o).

The format will need to be in the form of a video (a slide show set to music would also work...but you'll need to be able to upload it in a format that is compatible with YouTube. Each group member will then post the project to his/her individual blogs using the instructions from YouTube (it's just a copy and paste maneuver).

You will need to narrow your scope of popular culture:

Choose a media format/genre (some examples):

* TV Program
* Radio Show
* Film
* Music Video
* Magazine
* Video Game
* (Aspect of) Athletic Event
* Fashion
* Public Education & Corporation

Choose a subject/audience:

For example, create a satirical cartoon, cable news program, reality show, televised sporting event, parenting magazine, a game show, children’s entertainment (from Scooby Doo to High School Musical), part of the fashion world (runway modeling or the next season’s "Look Book"); if corporate-edu-consumer-training is your interest, think of a revised Chanel One, corporate sponsored events, curriculum, or major capital project-funding , such as the construction of stadiums and theaters, perhaps target one of these areas in a Colbert-Styled "The WØrd" or a set of segments from The Soup.

If you choose to work within movies/films, a "trailer" would be the right length and format
for envisioning this assignment.

Based on your chosen genre/format:

* Give your production/publication a name— be original and creative!
* Identity the assumptions that underlie the messages you want to send.
* Specifically, identify the messages that you see being disseminated by an analogous/similar form of media that relate to gender, sexuality, race, class, etc. (i.e. current fashion magazines send the message that being female involves striving for ‘ideal’ physical beauty.)
* Create visual images and text (whether written or spoken) that accurately work off these assumptions. (What message(s) do you want to send about, sexuality, racism, sexism, and/or classism?)

Use images from other texts/videos/images/audio to create a commentary on a preexisting element of popular culture. Make sure you cite these external sources in your video in the "credits" using MLA citations at the end.


* Write, enact, portray (in the format suited for the genre you’ve chosen- video, image, etc) that address existing norms, ideals, and messages about gender, either directly or indirectly. (i.e. an article about males and eating disorders addresses gender directly while an article about the CEO of a Fortune 500 company who happens to be a woman addresses it indirectly.)

Remember that you need to make it clear that your production is a critique of gender (and other categories and biases too, where applicable) and ensure your project is inspired by a particular author's (or multiple authors) points. For example, a video montage of reality TV show-clips with text/voice-overs illustrating Ouellette and Hay's argument about Reality TV would clearly be linkable to their piece as the basis of your critique.

There is no write-up for this project; however, you must have a title and all group members must be cited in the credits along with all sources of information and inspiration.

Mixed Media: Gender & Consumer Capitalism Collages - Summer Session B 2008

Maymester 2008 Gender & Pop Culture Bloggers' Collages

Summer Session 2008 Bloggers!

Summer 2008 Bloggers!

• Shadrac C- Shadrac's Gender and pop Culture Blog
• Bob D- Bob's Gender and Pop Culture Blog
• Linda E- Linda's World of Gender & Pop. Culture (My Blog)
• Stef H - Stef's Gender & Pop Culture Blog
• Brian H- Brian's Gender & Pop Culture Blog
• Maria H - Maria's Gender & Pop Culture Blog
• Colin J - Colin's Gender & Pop Culture Blog
• MaKaila K- Gender & Pop Culture Blogs
• Rebekah L.- Down with Prince Charming!
• Misbah M - missy mood info
• Ratika M - Ratika's Gender & Pop Culture Blog
• Ruthy T- Blue Jeans and Coca-Cola
• Ryan T. - Ryan's Gender and Pop Culture Blog
• Aneka W. - Aneka's Gender and Pop Culture Blog
• Barbara Z - Rebel with a Culture Blog

Maymester 2008 Extra Credit Instructions

Class Notes- Blogging In College: The Gender & Pop Culture Blog Project: Maymester 2008 Extra Credit Instructions

Please click the title of this post or the link above to go to the instructions for the extra credit.

The Bloggers of Summer 2008 - Maymester: Gender & Popular Culture

"Maymester" Bloggers: Summer 2008

• Pop Culture and Why It Pops
• Sarah Lauren
• Sima's Pop Culture Blog
• Ashley
• Jillian's Pop Culture Blog
• Jackie's Pop Culture Blog
• Kelly's Gender in Media Blog
• Dana's Blog
• Mike's Gender Pop Culture Blog
• Whatev is Whaev
• Melissa's Gender & Pop Culture Blog
• Danny Boy's Blog
• Tracey's Gender and Pop Culture Blog
• Erin's Gender & Pop Culture Blog
• Juliana's Pop Culture Blog
• Rob's Gender & Pop Culture Blog
• Kristin's Blog
• Brianna's Pop Culture Blog
• lisa's blog **
• Dawn's Gender & Pop Culture Blog
  

Gender & Pop Culture @ TCNJ
Women's & Gender Studies Program WGS-220

• Blogging in College: Gender & Pop Culture's Blog Project Home
• Gender & Pop Culture's Website
• The Professor's Page
  
• Our Guest Contributors
• Class Notes

Spring 2008 Graffiti Project: P.S. Problem Solved? One Class's Approach To Revealing "The Beauty Myth"

Extending the principles and ideas discussed in their Gender and Popular Culture class, the students created a banner that questions and redefines the beauty myth.

Based on the Graffiti Women book by Nicholas Ganz, the banner began with a Victoria's Secret print advertisement with items on the side pointing to parts of a naked women's body that could be improved with those products.








To change the advertisement, the students of the class took items that could be purchased and tiled them across the naked women's body to uncover the beauty myth in a way that the class felt appropriate.


The project title was then chosen as “P.S. Problem Solved?: Beauty Myth (Un)Covered,” in order to show the ways in which the beauty industry tries to define the perfect women and the costs it takes to live up to that standard. The class hopes that it will be kept as a constant reminder of the chilling effects of the beauty industry and the imposing views that it places on the minds of US society.

Spring 2008 Graffiti Project: Taking an "Axe" to the "Campaign for Real Beauty"

In early April Professor Gamble approached her Gender and Pop Culture class with the option of designing a collaborative student-led project, based upon the book Graffiti Women: Street Art from Five Continents by Nicholas Ganz. In an effort to apply this text, and the information studied concerning gender representation in advertising, the class developed a project in which they challenged the negative messages sent about women through a popular Axe Body Spray advertisement.



The Axe Body Spray advertisement objectified women by isolating their body parts and writing sexist remarks in relation to each of them, based on a chauvinistic perspective. The purpose of the ad was to make men think that the spray is linked to a man’s ability to attract women. The students developed a response to this ad by creating new remarks for each woman. For example, in the place of the remark, “Looks like it’s been a while,” is the remark, “Looks like it’s been a while since I’ve met a decent man.” The project began with the students developing their own idea for the project. As a class they worked together in teams to decide on everything from the design, to supplies, to college relations, to how the project would be managed. The students came together to create the final product of a banner displaying their reinvention of the original Axe Body Spray Ad. Now, the banner is on display in the Brower Student Center.

The class intends for the banner to inspire students and staff to think critically about gender representations in advertising that we unconsciously accept on a daily basis. The students of this Gender and Pop Culture class hope that the community will appreciate this reinvention as much as they enjoyed creating it.

Photos and write-up by:

Rachel Fetterman, Casey Eriksen, Christine Luettchau

Spring 2008 May not have been blogging....

So, this past spring, I didn't have my Gender & Pop Culture class blogging...primarily because I had two sections of them and there was no way I'd make it through the semester reading 58 blogs (I would have been in a land of "Help!!! I have no eyesight!!!).

However, the Spring 2008 students did create some outstanding work! There were awesome and insightful papers (but, I won't be posting those), a killer graffiti project (well, two of them...and I'll post the article :o) as well as some very creative and clever final projects!


As I get to them, I'll keep posting :o)

The Final Project: Transforming an Area of Pop Culture!

You will need to narrow your scope of popular culture:

Choose a media format/genre (some examples):

• TV Program
• Radio Show
• Film
• Music Video
• Magazine
• Video Game
• (Aspect of) Athletic Event
• Fashion
• Public Education & Corporation

Choose a subject/audience:

For example, create a satirical cartoon, cable news program, reality show, televised sporting event, parenting magazine, a game show, children’s entertainment (from Scooby Doo to High School Musical), part of the fashion world (runway modeling or the next season’s "Look Book"); if corporate-edu-consumer-training is your interest, think of a revised Chanel One, corporate sponsored events, curriculum, or major capital project-funding , such as the construction of stadiums and theaters, perhaps target one of these areas in a Colbert-Styled "The WØrd" or a set of segments from The Soup.

If you choose to work within movies/films, a "trailer" would be the right length and format
for envisioning this assignment.

Based on your chosen genre/format:

• Give your production/publication a name— be original and creative!
• Identity the assumptions that underlie the messages you want to send.
• Specifically, identify the messages that you see being disseminated by an analogous/similar form of media that relate to gender, sexuality, race, class, etc. (i.e. current fashion magazines send the message that being female involves striving for ‘ideal’ physical beauty.)
• Create visual images and text (whether written or spoken) that accurately work off these assumptions. (What message(s) do you want to send about, sexuality, racism, sexism, and/or classism?)
• Write, enact, portray (in the format suited for the genre you’ve chosen- video, image, etc) that address existing norms, ideals, and messages about gender, either directly or indirectly. (i.e. an article about males and eating disorders addresses gender directly while an article about the CEO of a Fortune 500 company who happens to be a woman addresses it indirectly.)

Blog Post #4: Gia Option - Bodies for sale! Embodied Cultural-Material Products of Sexuality and Beauty (Due November 27th)

Blog Post #4: Gia Option (Due November 27th)

Diana Crane’s "Gender and Hegemony in Fashion Magazines" (citing Kellner’s argument) contends that the hegemony in fashion magazines and the interpretation of the images by the audiences, is ultimately defined by a hegemony of conflict (as opposed to homogeneity and sameness underpinning the hegemonic depictions of beauty).

Using the film Gia, your analysis should address one of the following options using the notion of hegemony through conflict as your method for analyzing the film:

Option 1
Analyze Gia through the genre of the fairy tale

Gia’s narrative throughout the film has the distinctly fairytale-styled tone and form. Instead of understanding Gia as the antithesis of a fairytale, analyze the film as the quintessential fairytale (like a fable with a human cast of characters and a fairytale that proposes conflicting messages about gender, sexuality, and beauty).

You might first wish to focus on the fairly tale narrative in the background of the film-- and where Gia’s narration veers off the path of the normative tale, as well as where Gia’s tale seems to conflict with the depictions that are shown simultaneously in the film.

Given the formulaic plot and style of fairytales, you don’t need to specify a particular fairytale for this option. Fairytales and fashion magazines highlight cultural ideals for two distinct age groups of women; however, they’re not two distinctly different messages. If you understand Gia as a success story (given the idealized notion of "woman" in the context of popular culture and specifically the representations in the film), how can you rethink the dominant notions of success & "happily ever after" as gendered constructs? What are the messages sent to women and young girls?

Option 2
Analyze Gia within the framework of property/intellectual property

Using both the examples and context of Gia, in what ways can "property" be defined (multiple formats and multiple definitions). What does this set of definitions illuminate about the notion of intellectual property? How can this concept be understood as a gendered construct of property?

• What could be considered property? How do competing definitions of "property" result in conflicting notions of "ownership"?
• How can intellectual property be (re)understood in relation to gender, class, race, corporate interests, advertising, media, etc?
• Analyze the conflicting notions of property and ownership of this sort, and how it illustrates power and empowerment.
• What does your analysis illuminate about "conventional" legal definitions of intellectual property?
• How does Gia’s modeling career illustrate hegemony through conflict when viewed through the concepts of embodied ideals and property?

Similar to the issues of "reality TV" and Workout, Gia is a fictionalized biography; therefore, it may be useful to remember that this depiction is not entirely fiction, but that we can never know (as the audience) what Gia did/didn’t experience during her life.

Angelina Jolie plays Gia Carnagie, who was considered the "first supermodel" (by the makers of the film, but clearly not everyone...i.e. Janice Dickenson) in the US and the film is a fictionalized depiction of her life. Keep this categorical grey area in mind when analyzing this film as a cultural text.

Blog Post #3: Workout Option - Bodies for sale! Embodied Cultural-Material Products of Sexuality and Beauty (Due November 13th)

Blog Post #3: Workout Option
Bodies for sale! Embodied Cultural-Material Products of Sexuality and Beauty

Using the 4th episode of Season 2 of Workout, your objective is to analyze the links and fissures between gender and sexuality. Using one character of your choice (one person as focus; however, interactions with other characters are certainly great places for analysis) your job is to investigate the ways in which the character is portrayed in relation to gendered and sexual identity-based norms, ideals, and stereotypes. Focus your analysis on the multiple (often conflicting) ways an individual ‘character’ disseminates messages about gender and sexuality.

• Specifically, use the readings to locate and define concepts of gender and sexuality-based norms/ideals/stereotypes.
  
• How does the character "fit" the concepts related to normative definitions of masculinity and femininity?
  
• What traits are included and omitted when portraying an ideal or non-ideal/pathological masculine and/or feminine subject?
  
• How does your character disrupt the relationship between gender and sexuality vis-à-vis stereotypes/norms/ideals about sexuality and masculinity and femininity (i.e. when the "butch/femme" dichotomy is disrupted)?
  
• How do these categories of analysis illustrate media constructions of your chosen character and hegemonic norms and expectations when they intersect with gender?
  
• Although the show is labeled "reality," don’t get wrapped up in the fake/real issues or the potential ideas and issues of the scripting and editing of the show
  

Blog Post #2: Collage of Gendered Advert-tainment in Pop Culture

For the assignment, you have several options to choose from listed below (each numbered section is a separate assignment choice/route—just chose one). You also can perform this assignment without the glue, paper, and scanner by using digital pictures/images/etc to create your collage. Below those options are the basic requirements for the assessment of your work.

1. The “ideal” and the “self”—Using the collage that you developed in class as the first part of the assignment, create a collage that illustrates how you differ from this gendered ideal (the difference that you illustrate could be focused on any one of a number of areas from the way you actually live your life, your perception of yourself in relation to these ads, etc).

2. Conflict in media messages about gender—After creating your collage in class, look for conflicting messages sent by the images. You can use any source of media for this collage (so think about using your favorite/love to hate TV show, music genre, video game, movie, sport, etc—it’s not necessary to still use ads), in order to illustrate a few key strands of contradiction/conflict/paradoxical expectations. These “key strands” should help support an overall argument that is specific about the focus of the collage and illustrate the ways in which conflicting messages are powerful sources of information about hegemonic beliefs about gender and consumption, social ideals, and/or normative gendered behavior, actions, lifestyles, etc.

3. (Dis)embodied gendered objectification in images of masculinity and femininity—If “sex sells” is cliché and trite, so commonplace in the media that sexualized bodies appearing in advertisements barely merit notice, then it’s time to look at the concept and take notice of what it means when “sex” is “selling” something. How does this concept appear in the images of men and women when sex is being used to sell? It’ll help to remember that sex and related objectification is relevant for both men and women. Make sure you include both the masculine and feminine representations in your collage or, if you choose to focus on one, directly analyze the ramifications of the one you chose (i.e. femininity) on the other (i.e. masculinity). Additionally, sex is not always overtly sexual, so stay open to the many ways that a person can be commodified/objectified in the images you find while creating your collage.

See the notes blog for more from class...

http://gpcnotes.blogspot.com/2007/10/puffs-of-gendered-sort.html

The Students Have Submitted Their First Blog Posts: Online Toy Shopping Field Work: Gendered Consumers/Engendering Consumerism

For the students' blogs, choose from the links at the right (sidebar).

The students have posted their first blog post. The following is the
assignment they were given to focus their blog posts on the messages about
gender that are disseminated by toys. Although this specific assignment is
different from the "each student chose a topic" format for the previous
semester's blog project, the class has developed just as diverse a collection of
blogs and responses to this assignment as the previous class.

Online Toy Shopping Field Work: Gendered Consumers/Engendering Consumerism Assignment:

Analyze the role that toys (and products marketed for children) play in the gendered socialization of children using the products marketed to them.
In order to address the assignment, go “shopping” (online or in a store) as if you were purchasing toys/clothing/food/etc for the child, whose biography was created by one of your classmates, and then analyze what you find in relation to gender and children’s socialization.

Questions to consider:

• What messages are sent to children about “boys” and “girls” through their toys?
• How do toys facilitate the understanding of normative gender roles and stereotypes in childhood?
• If toys are cultural products that are considered benign and ‘innocent’ by virtue of their target demographic group, how do toys represent powerful methods of information dissemination (think of the arguments we read in the pieces by Lull, Henley & Freeman, and Hall)?
• Look at the age-ranges for the toys you’ve found, what messages are being sent? How can toys relate to an issue/value/aspect of adulthood? Try to find a gender-neutral toy that would appeal to the child you’ve been shopping for…how did it work out?