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.

Summer Session 2008 Bloggers!

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: 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)

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

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 Latest from the 27 bloggers

Final Blog Presentations

Final Blog Presentations
Gender & Pop Culture Spring 2007 (WGS 220-05)
April 26 (Alex A-Dan G) &
April 30 (Spencer H-Melissa Z)

· Above any other goal for these presentations, I want you to show off! You've worked hard all semester and here's your chance to show the class your awesome blogs!

· You should have any material needed to illustrate the ''focus'' of your presentation on your blog for the presentation.

· Plan to present for 5-10 minutes. If this length sounds long, don't worry, the blog as your visual aid will take up more time than you may think)

· For everyone's sake (maintaining interest & attention) don't write out your entire presentation word-for-word. 3X5 cards with key words and phrases, or an outline are ideal reference methods for presentations

· Make sure your blog is neat & tidy for your presentation. Don’t worry about your final post being on the blog if it’s due after the date of your presentation (i.e. if you’re presenting on Thursday). Because you will need to have your blog “cleaned up” and readable for your final review as well as your presentation, once you’ve done it for the presentation you’ll be ready for your final review too.

· Citations from course readings are not required for this presentation. However, you should create a separate ‘presentation post’ if any video dips, links to sites, etc are necessary for your presentation.

· Adding this post-element is up to your judgment (whether it’s necessary for the presentation & is completely optional

Notes:
The focus that’s probably most conducive to the presentation is the one that entails an explanation and analysis of the evolution of your understanding of your blog topic (i.e. shifting from watching a show for entertainment to the course’s analytical focus on gender).

You must be in class both days regardless of whether you’re presenting!

Monday is our last class (SOCS is wrong about the existence of a final exam and lists a time and date for this course) - there is no final!!! I’ve requested the exam to be removed several times over the last two months— so please disregard this date/time/location that’s listed for the course on SOCS

Final Blog Post Assignment

Final Blog Post Assignment
Gender & Pop Culture (WGS 220 05)
Spring 2007
Due Friday, April 27, 2007

See “Options for Final Blog Posts” to choose your focus before writing this final post assignment.

• Make sure that the focus you've chosen can be clearly analyzed in relation to your blogs topic
• Read the comments that your blog buddy wrote for you before beginning this assignment
• Your chosen focus should be conducive to a "final wrap up" for your blog and its topic
• Posts must cite a course reading that is from a source you haven't yet used in a previous blog post
• Posts can be a bit longer than previous posts; however, keep it focused on your thesis (your argument will be about your topic in relation to your focus) and keep the length at 8 paragraphs or less
• Each Paragraph must be related to your argument and support that argument (remember the 1st post when I gave you the simple guide to analysis via the SOCS assessment?)

• If you are concerned about how to make this assignment meet the requirements, please see the "Guide to the Blog Post" resource I created. It covers the thesis, relating paragraphs to the thesis, contextualizing quotes, using the appropriate quote/source, how to integrate them, and also includes a visual diagram for your post (helpful if you’re a more visual learner).
  
  Reminder: Office hours are after class in Bliss 117 on Monday from the end of class until 12:30 or 1:00 pm (set up an appointment if you have a class that meets directly after GPC if you’d like to meet with me at a different time/day)

Options for Final Blog Posts & Presentations

Options for Final Blog Posts & Presentations
Gender & Popular Culture Spring 2007 (WGS220 05)
Final Blog Post due April 27, 2007
Presentations April 26th & 30th

1. Audiences & Understandings
Examine audience interpretations of your topic. Because, varying contexts (as in varying groups of people as audiences in different times/places/groups/etc) frequently produce conflicting understandings of the same topic. Your goal is to identify audience consistency and inconsistency (how to obtain this information is up to you) and analyze the reactions (consistent and inconsistent) in relation to the topic and the factors that might be affecting audience responses to your topic (or a specific example of the topic- i.e. episode of a show).
2. Power & Empowerment
For this focus, your goal is to identify and analyze the images that are present in your blog's topic. Which images are empowering, which are less empowering (power over)? Analyze the messages sent by the images you've chosen (these images may not literally be pictures, they can be, but you can also think of it as imagery). Why do certain messages seem more empowering than others?
Be careful if your topic is a fictional one. When dealing with fictitious characters, don't analyze an image in the context of your topic (i.e. a character in relation to other characters or in relation to the plot on a TV show). You may need to provide the context of the character in relation to the show or other characters; however, analyze the messages sent by this character (or whatever the image from the fictional show is that you're analyzing) in relation to social norms, hegemonic belief systems, etc in the world/society that views this topic (in the example it would be the society/culture/socioeconomic environment of the viewers of the show).

3. Autobiographical
If your topic was initially chosen based on a personal identification with the subject-matter, this option allows you to analyze yourself in relation to your topic. This option could get messy (and long) if you provide too much detail about your life or your topic. Therefore, choose the specific moment to relate yourself to initial attraction to topic. Analyze the social norms and hegemonic messages that may have facilitated your interest in this topic/person/show/genre/etc.
Then analyze how your perception of this topic has changed/shifted by virtue of analyzing it all semester. How might you understand yourself differently today (compared to the understanding you articulated about yourself when you first "found" your topic) based on this difference in understanding your topic.

4. Evolution of understanding of your topic over the semester
How has your topic shifted over the course of the semester? What social norms and hegemonic values were you unaware existed in your topic at the beginning of the semester? Were these norms and values explicit or implicit? Are they disseminated on the covert/subconscious level? Do you see the potential for positive change in changing the less empowering/oppressive messages/images that your topic disseminates? Does identifying them and making the invisible (or not immediately obvious, less than overt, etc) visible (perhaps as you've done in your blog this semester?) transform these messages from having insidious power (because they're covertly disseminated) to disempowering the messages by simply illustrating the existence of them (think of the impassioned responses to your blogs--"It's only a TV show!!!" "Get a life!" "Don’t you have something better to do?"---the individuals who left such comments obviously care a great deal about the issues they are trying to diminish when analyzed by your blog--otherwise they wouldn't have left comments telling your not to bother). How do you understand your topic differently today as a result of the analyses and responses over the course of the semester, than you did at the beginning of the semester?

5 & 6 The Real World Casting Tape & Viewing yourself as a “Modest Witness”
For both of these foci, see me for specific instructions, ideas, etc for proceeding (particularly if you’re considering the Modest Witness one).
If you opt to submit the casting tape, the instructions for the assignment were posted to the “big blog” and include the details for my requirements if you chose this option for your assignment.

Blog News: We're popping up all over the web

Blog News

Hi Class!
You have quite a following with your collages (I haven't had time to publish links to all of the sites that are displaying them b/c there are more!) and these are just the first ones that you did in class!

They LOVE you...they really LOVE you!!!

(okay...yeah...bad sense of humor...I get it!)
Here's one place I found your collages (so random that I could find your work at any time and anywhere...or have a "hey, there's more of my students' work!" type of moment)

Photos: "Blogging in College: Self Portraits in Consumer Capitalism

The 4th Blog Post (Collage) due on Friday 3/30/07

For the blog collage assignment; use images to analyze your topic. Your collage should have a "thesis" (i.e. it makes a statement/argument about your topic using images instead of written language) that makes a claim about your topic, which is grounded by an author's claim from any of the course readings so far this semester.

Therefore, the image collage will need to be titled appropriately for the argument it makes, include the source used for the basis of the "statement" your collage makes, include gender as a primary method for analysis, and should be followed by a 1 paragraph explanation of the collage's representation of your topic (include direct quotes from the source that you used to base your collage's "thesis" on in this paragraph).

tags

The 3rd Blog Post due by Friday 3/30/07

To recap the 3rd blog post assignment (that can be turned in by this Friday), find examples from your topic to analyze the ways that your topic is a part of popular culture and disseminates both counter-hegemonic and hegemonic messages.

Look at the conflicts in these messages and use the readings from the course to get you thinking about what to look for in your own topic, and also to support your claim(s) about the(se) message(s).

Please keep this post clear and concise (and make sure you hit "enter" two times to mark the beginning of a new paragraph b/c tabs don't always show up on the blog and a single "enter" makes the paragraph differentiation tough to decipher). 3 or 4 paragraphs are ideal for this assignment and make sure you cite sources appropriately (both from course readings and from your examples for your topic).

Dugg, on Digg after a Mobile Blog Post Image of the Buzz Team Presenting on Digg.com in class

The buzz team is digging on digg in class!

tags

As they presented on photo blogging, I photo blogged the creative team...

The creative team presenting on mobile blogging

tags

Self Portraits in Consumer Capitalism 6

Student Collages