Topic Brainstorming and Link-hunt for blogs analyzing gender/race/class/sexuality/etc in an area of interest of pop culture

Topic Brainstorming and Link-hunt for blogs analyzing gender/race/class/sexuality/etc in an area of interest of pop culture
Due: Friday, July 9th by 1pm

Gather Links on 5 of the topics you listed on your brainstorming sheet.
Try searching for words/phrases with the specific area of pop culture you're trying to find.
Examples:
feminist analysis "big love"
feminist analysis twilight
feminism "Lady Gaga"

For each of the five blog posts you find, include the following info:
Title of blog post (which should be  be linked to the URL by clicking on the link button in the new post at the top of the editing box, then type the title of the site for the page you have found, and copy and paste the URL into the link field by "web adddress," then click "OK.")
Date of Blog Post
Paste the URL of blog post below the linked title (yes, it's a second time)
Author of Blog Post (or username if that's all that's included for the author)
Title of blog that the post originated from (not the post's title, but the bigger body of blogging-work)

Example of the appropriate format:
HBO declares "Women's Studies" major
[date of post]
http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2009/04/15/hbo_womens_studies/index.html
Judy Berman
Salon.com
(However, you'll have five different posts, formatted as in the above example, contained in ONE blog post on your blog)

Blog Buddy Peer-Feedback Instructions

On your "blog buddy's" blog, read their posted assignment and, provide feedback (in the "comments field") on:
2-3 ways/areas your "buddy" excelled (in the post you're commenting on)
2-3 areas that could be improved, and offer any suggestions for improvement.

After you've left your comment, create a new post on the Class notes blog with:

Title: [your name]'s feedback on [your blog buddy's name]:  [Title of post you commented on]
Link: [provide specific URL to the post on your blog buddy's blog that you commented on]
Main text editor area: [Copy and paste your feedback]
...............................
Please publish your post, then check the class notes blog to ensure that your post made it there, then click the title to make sure you were able to get to the original post you commented on

Blog Post 2: Constructs of Femininity or Masculinity in an Aspect of Popular Culture

Gender & Popular Culture Maymester 2010
Blog Post #2
Constructs of Femininity and Masculinity In an Aspect of Pop Culture
Due on May 14th by 1pm to your individual blog

Choose a very narrow aspect of popular culture to analyze (an episode of a TV show/music video/etc). Analyze how your chosen element of pop culture portrays masculinity or femininity.  
Your "big goal" is to argue a point that addresses the following question according to your chosen element of popular culture:

What does it mean to be a man, or what does it mean to be a woman, in this element of popular culture?

Avoid including too much narration of the show, instead write in a clear analytical manner that targets an aspect of pop culture, and examines how this element constructs an understanding of masculinity or femininity.

You may choose to focus on a specific character/music video/episode of a show/song/etc if your find yourself with too many examples from the aspect of pop culture you have chosen (in order to keep the length manageable and close to the equivalent of a 3 page paper).  

Try to use the readings to define terms that may be new to you (or to a reader without a women's and gender studies background), by quoting the reading that defines the term when you first use it.  For example, Lull would be a perfect fit for using his work to define hegemony, while Johnson would be ideal for defining patriarchy. 

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). Additionally, it may help you to look at both masculinity and femininity in both male and female-appearing characters

• See the course syllabus and the blog post rubric for the guidelines for your blog post.
• Include an introduction (with your thesis, which is up to you to develop) paragraph and a conclusion paragraph. 
• Double-space between paragraphs (indenting frequently is undermined by the template you have chosen to use for your blog). 
• You must include 2 different direct quotes (at minimum), from 2 different course readings from the week that precedes your blog post. 
• Remember that it's imperative you incorporate your direct quotes into sentences and that you use the best possible quotes in a point-by-point basis to use as "backup" or as an "expert witness" for each of your points (therefore, you should make a point in a 4-6 sentence paragraph, then the following 4-6 sentence paragraph would include a direct quote from a course reading to back up your point)
• Cite all in-text (parenthetical references) in MLA format and a include a works cited list (at the end) in MLA format.
• If you use any quotes, clips, images, etc from the aspect of popular culture you have chosen to analyze, include them in your works cited list (and when appropriate for the source, in text citations as well). 

 
Comments will be posted to your blog in the “comments” section by me
Grades (alpha-numeric) will be posted to the SOCS gradebook.

Statcounter reports to show the new group of bloggers! Maymester 2010! We have an amazing number of readers from all over the world!

Map of Recent Visitors

Visitors from the last week

Yearly Visitors

All images are reports on this group of blogs from Statcounter.com

(Counter)Hegemonic Representations of Femininity and Masculinity In an Aspect of Pop Culture

Gender & Popular Culture
Summer 2009
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 Friday by 12 pm
Comments will be posted to your blog in the “comments” section by me
Grades (alpha-numeric) will be posted to the SOCS gradebook.

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.

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