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

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?

Semester has been over, yet I still need a way to archive the students' blogs!

Does anyone have any suggestions for storing 27 blogs (archival) that won't require massive copying and pasting? I know that google won't keep blogs without updates online once they've hit a certain number of days without new posts; therefore, I feel like the clock is ticking and I'd hate to lose their work! AHHH!

Please email me or post a comment here with suggestions. Any help would be super-appreciated!

Blogging in College: The Gender & Pop Culture Blog Experiment

Gender Representation in Advertisements
Memoirs of Mi Mente
Pop Culture Blogging
jcb
What are we really laughing about?
Jess B
`These pretzels are making me thirsty`...
Mark
Thoughts from Tara: South Park
Tara
Gender and Desperate Housewives
Kristin
The Typical Woman in America: how women are portrayed in music, magazines, and reality TV
Darling C.
Emerging Music (?) of the 21st Century
Amanda
Pat’s Blog
digioac2
Model Behavior
Erin
Get Your Blog On
Kristian
You know what really grinds my gears
Kyle
`Idol`-ology: Gender and Reality Television
Amanda Ganza
Gender Representation in Advertisements
Memoirs of Mi Mente
Pop Culture Blogging
jcb
What are we really laughing about?
Jess B
`These pretzels are making me thirsty`...
Mark
Thoughts from Tara: South Park
Tara
Gender and Desperate Housewives
Kristin
The Typical Woman in America: how women are portrayed in music, magazines, and reality TV
Darling C.
Emerging Music (?) of the 21st Century
Amanda
Pat’s Blog
digioac2
Model Behavior
Erin
Get Your Blog On
Kristian
You know what really grinds my gears
Kyle
`Idol`-ology: Gender and Reality Television
Amanda Ganza
Gender, Race, and Class in Scrubs
dgolazeski
Spencer’s Blog
Spencer
Michelle’s Pop Culture Analysis
Michelle
More than Just Cartoons
Mr. Leo Mahaga
The Oprah Phenomenon
Meli
Celebrities..... Why are they so damn special!?
Tony Mojo
Beauty and the Geek
Devon
A Blurred Reality
Jen Mur
Nooch’s Net Nook
Miss Nooch
Female `Stardom` Presented by the Media
Katelyn
Desperate for Desperate Housewives
Lizzaydizay
Britney Like Whoa!
PRlNCESSJESSS`s
Nicole’s Grey’s Anatomy Blog
Nicole
Gender and Race through Flavor of Love and Celebreality
Melissa

Nip'n'tuck loans offer in Lebanon

Nip'n'tuck loans offer in Lebanon

FNB poster
The loans have been advertised on posters, TV and online
A Lebanese bank is giving out loans for cosmetic procedures in this notoriously image-conscious Mediterranean country.

First National Bank's website dubs the "plastic surgery loans" as a way to "have the life you've always wanted".

Customers can borrow $1,000-$5,000 (£500-£2,500) for surgery for two years, as long as they are employed and under 64 years of age.

"Statistical studies showed that there is a huge increase in this sphere," marketing manager George Nasr said.

"This opens horizons," he said in an interview with Reuters news agency.

Women's and Gender Studies appreciation for Stephen Colbert- you bet! Don't Forget Foucault and The Daily Show!

I really don't know what I'd do without Comedy Central for my WGS courses at TCNJ! Gotta love Colbert and The Daily Show!

Where else would I have found today's clip that coincided perfectly with Foucault (The Daily Show from 2/1/07 for any other WGS faculty who may be interested)...

Blitzer's (lack of interview) with Dick Cheney in the "Incredibly Akward Social Situation Room" followed by John Oliver's overview of the Personal Politics of Cheney & what he can do to "us" in private, his family's untouchability, and even when they intersect they are still 'unspeakable' taboos... way to bring it all together for students in understanding Foucault's History of Sexuality!

We have sexuality, politics, power, and it's hidden unspeakability perfectly brought together in a student-friendly (aka- not Foucault's words!) format.
Plus, the interview with Gephardt that followed was the icing!

Loved this on CCinsider's blog :o)

May 10, 2007
Feminists Lick Colbert

Not content to confine their urges to the semesterly journal CHEEK, the Women's and Gender Studies Department at the College of Charleston has created a blog dedicated to their salacious appreciation of one Stephen Tyrone Colbert. Please ladies, must your assault on male hegemony include a disregard for the sanctity of that man's marriage? For shame! You're almost as bad as those Colbertophiles at the OSCLA. Or perhaps you're all taking cues from one of your Dear Leaders:

Comedy Central Insider - The Comedy Blog for Comedy Fans: The Colbert Report: "May 10, 2007Feminists Lick Colbert
"

BBC's Alan Johnston released in Gaza--FINALLY!

From the BBC!BBC correspondent Alan Johnston has been freed from kidnappers in Gaza after almost four months in captivity. Television pictures showed Mr Johnston, 45, leaving a building and entering a white car, accompanied by armed men. He said he was tired but in good health.

read more | digg story

Updates from my "professor blog"

A Professor Page- Blogging In College: The Gender & Pop Culture Blog Experiment: "Gender Ads.Com: An incredibly thorough examination of gender issues in advertising/marketing

I frequently use this blog for acumulating info for current and future sections of Gender and Pop Culture (sort of like my own social bookmarking service).

Because my 'real' social bookmark accounts (i.e. clipmarks.com and stumbleupon.com) resemble my blog, Defying Gravitas far more than the Women's & Gender Studies/Feminist content of the course for which I am trying to 'not forget' information I've found :o)...

Back to my original reason for posting...

I found GenderAds.com through XY.com (a site devoted to the study of men, masculinities, and gender from a feminist perspective) and because the paragraph that precedes the quoted material (see below, under link to GenderAds.com), specifically references the National Women's Studies Association (NWSA), I read through the site author's work and it's relevant to my course, quite comprehensive and well done (though hasn't been updated for over a year)."

Facebook evolves into mourning community - Features

Erin Duffy's article on Virginia Tech From The Signal:
Facebook evolves into mourning community - Features

Update for Monday's Last Class

Monday's (Last!) Class -

Here's the update based on emails received in the last 12 hours (As of 12:35am on Sunday 4/29/07)!

1. Course Evaluations
2. Presentations
3. After-Class Presentations
   

• Course Evaluations

1st 15 Minutes

• Presentation Order (for during class):

Amanda D
Pat D.
Kyle E
Amanda G
Michelle L
Leo M
Jess T
Nicole U

• After Class Presentations (Extra Credit):

Kristin C (must be the 1st presenter to get to next class in time)
Katelyn R (needs to be out by 12:20)
-----------------------------------------------
If you have a class at 12:30, the after class option will not be feasible anymore b/c Kristin and Katelyn were the 1st 2 students who responded w/ the "before 12:30" request.
Because they have to leave before 12:30 to get to their classes on time, I don't want to push it and schedule any other presenters after class that need to leave at 12:30.
-----------------------------------------------
Liz S (needs to be at a mtg by 1:00pm)
Jennifer M
Melissa Z
Spencer H
Dan G
Anthony M (?)
Melissa M
Devon M

• Via Video (Extra Credit & Due Friday, May 4th):

Lauren P
Anthony M (?)
Kristian E

• Video Helpers (Extra Credit): If you can video someone else, let me know- bring video camera if you have it, and I'll bring one (possibly 2- if I can find it) cameras to class on Monday:
  

Dan G (has a camera too!)
Anthony M
(possibly Tara B.)

• Requests Received for Final Post on May 4th (instead of April 27th):

Alex A
Jess Bas
Mark B
Darling C
Amanda D
Erin D
Amanda G
Dan G
Spencer H
Leo M
Melissa M
Anthony M
Devon M
Jenn M
Lauren P
Liz S
Jess T

• Reminders

No Late work may be submitted after Wednesday May, 2nd.

If you ask for an extension on the final blog post, you shall receive an extension...but that extended deadline is May 4th :o)

The list here will be updated on the "Big Blog" as I receive emails (if I get additional responses) .

The final list of presenters and requests for deadline extensions will be emailed to you on Sunday.

The plan that's gotta work (because we don't have any other options)

Monday's (Last!) Class - It's down to the wire!

• 15 minutes for course evaluations

• Presentations:
  

The order for the presentations is listed below; however, if you can stay later than 11:50 on Monday, or if you would like to do your presentation via video- I would be very happy to take your name off the lineup so that we're not trying to cram 20 presentations (plus evaluations) into a period of under 2 hours--

(our alternative is to use the time scheduled for the exam on Thursday, 5/10/07 8:00 am - 10:50 am in our usual room if the final presentations aren't finished and/or on video on Monday)

Kristin C
Amanda D
Pat D.
Kristian E
Kyle E
Amanda G
Dan G

Spencer H

Michelle L

Leo M

Melissa M

Anthony M

Devon M

Jennifer M

Lauren P

Katelyn R

Elizabeth S

Jessica T

Nicole U

Melissa Z

If you contact me b/c you can help alleviate the time crunch (no one wants to be in Forcina at 8 am on the 10th of May, um...right?)
BEFORE SATURDAY NIGHT @ MIDNIGHT, I will give you extra credit for the following:

• video presentation (must be completed and on your blog by Friday, May 4th)
• Presenting on Monday (if necessary) after 11:50am (staying late to present)

• You can also earn extra credit (if you're a knowledgeable video-person) and you offer your assistance (same deadline to submit your offer of assistance w/ videos as the presentation deadlines above) and help 1 or more of your classmates.
  

Reward:

• You will receive 20 extra credit points for volunteering to present after class or for submitting it on video to your blog (you also get an extension via video)
  

• For EACH student you help tape (and get help him/her get the video on the blog by the 4th of May,) you will receive 20 points (per classmate).
• I'll let the interested videography-assistants know which students will be video blogging their final presentations on Sunday and you can coordinate directly with them.

EXTRA CREDIT IS CONTINGENT ON COMMITTING TO THE ABOVE BY SATURDAY NIGHT AT MIDNIGHT- NO EXTRA CREDIT IF YOU CONTACT ME AFTER THAT DEADLINE!

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