Dear Everyone,
Please read this carefully as there is quite a bit of important information here:
1. Your Paper #3 Final Draft is due Thu, 3/12. The electronic copy is due at turnitin.com. The hard copy (with all work + pink writing center slip attached) is due at the HUMANITIES Division office in room 522-O (2nd floor of the 500 building). You will see a large envelope with "Ms. Liu's English 100 7AM Class" on the front. Put your work in there. Do this by NOON on Thursday.
2. Your syllabus says that part of your homework is to read "Because That's" and another handout. However, I forgot to give you the articles today. I'll give them to you when we have class again next Tuesday (3/17).
3. In addition to the other readings listed for this week, I would like you to do a blog response. First, do a search (you can try ebscohost, google,...whatever you like) and find an article (at least a full page long) that deals with gender in American society. Look up something's that interesting to *you*. In your blog response, give us the full title of the article, the source (what publication it can be found in), and then explain how this article challenges, complicates, or adds to our ongoing conversation about gender in American society. For example, maybe you think that our society pays a lot of attention to the issue of women and eating disorders but you think that eating disorders and body image are significant issues for men as well--then you can do a search for an article on that topic, read the article, and write your blog response on it.
Length: 2-3 paragraphs
Due: before our next class meeting (3/17)
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The Washington Post
ReplyDeleteIn a Complex Category by itself
As one knows, the Oscars is an event where directors, actors, and actresses are recognized for works for that year. This article challenges the idea that the Oscars have separate awards for Best Actor and Actress, Supporting Actor and Actress, but for there are no separate awards for directors, cinematographer, and sound editor. So the writer is saying that it is not fair that there are separate categories the actors, but in the other areas it is not. He ask brought up this question, “If good acting is good acting, should chromosomes play a role at all?”
I think the writer brings up a valid point about men and women being put in different categories. Especially when women today are still fighting for equality in the work place. I agree that there should not be separate awards for men and women because if the Oscars is going to give someone the “Best Award”, there should only be one of these given every year. I would think it would make these people mad because there are actually two of these awards. This article points out that there is still a battle for equality still going on.
I tried to find a video that i saw last semester in my Anthropology class, but i was unsuccessful. :( I still wanted to comment on the video though...it was in the Taboo section of National Geographic but I think they may have pulled the video.
ReplyDeleteThe video was about transgenders, and highlighted the life of a female who underwent procedures to become male. She was bald, had a mustache, really enjoyed working out and her body was very muscular. She also enjoyed riding motorcycles and shooting guns. In all she was very masculine. That part of the video that interested me the most was at point were she was talking and told a story about some of the responses she had gotten when talking to others about being a transgender. Most of the time, the individuals she was talking to were surprised that this manly man was thinking about becoming a women. not realizing that she in fact was a women who became a man. I really thought it was interesting that someone could so completely take on the role of the opposite sex that they become identified with that sex. Looking at this female they is absolutely no way you would be able to identify a women. The video was extremely interesting and I am going to try and find it and post where it can be found.
Also, another really interesting part of the video shows the transgender's brother. Her brother actually was a transgender as well and had undergone surgery to become female! I found it very unique that both the brother and the sister had undergone changes to become the opposite sex!!
I found an interesting article online at www.aber.ac.uk, by Helen Ingham, entitled: Children, Television and Gender Roles. It gives an account of a study that was conducted in the late 90's concerning the influence television has on children's perception and understanding of gender roles.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the article, television programing essentially pumps our tube-addicted children full of what could be called "traditional" gender roles. This means that the man is the man. As a father and husband, the man would do "manly" work. That is take charge at home and provide for the family's temporal needs. The women, on the other hand, would busy themselves with "womans work". This includes mothering the children, taking care of the home, and making sure dinner is on the table to greet hard working daddy. Also, when the T.V. shows do allow the two genders to trade places-that is father does mothers work, and mothers try to go out and make a living for the family- it typically ends up that neither is as effective at taking care of the work of the other.
There are some who argues that the television programing needs to exhibit content that more accurately portrays reality. That is, show that women do have the capacity to work, and men have the capacity to nurture. The concern is that, given the amount of time children spend in front of the stationary baby sitter, children will develop a flawed perception of the way that the world is; that it should more closely match what they see on T.V.
Although the study itself is a bit dated it still addresses a valid subject-a kind of "monkey see, monkey do" situation, except the monkeys are children and what they see is on T.V. Today we see more diversity in our television programs, including a greater representation of those who live alternative life-styles, but in what way do these portrayals influence our children to interpret reality? Is it for better or for worse? The bottom line is that parents or guardians should take responsibility to make sure that children know how to function in reality, if at all possible. Also, children watch way too much T.V., they should be getting out and playing more often. Try to cut down Americas child obesity level.
Welp I found an article on www.fair.org titled gender bias in televised sports. I think the title does an A+ job of explaining what the article is about.
ReplyDeleteThis article was about a study back in the day that took means and women’s sports and compared the commentary. The two sports they used were tennis and basketball. The first thing that got me interested was that the men’s basketball games were simply called “The Final Four” or “The Championship Game” while the women’s games were “The Women’s Final Four” and “The Women’s Championship Game”. The viewers were constantly being reminded that they were watching a women’s game. It just interested me. Also, the wording that was used interested me. The phrases used to describe the men were often powerful while the ones used to describe the women were weak. And when something went wrong in the women’s game the player was often blamed but in the men’s game it was the strength of the other team that was highlighted.
This all just takes everything that women have been fighting for back a step. It will make you realize that things just seem to be better. There were more interesting points in the article about race too. It all just ties together. If we really take a look at the things that we think are getting better, we’ll see that things are not as good as they look.
I found an article online at sfgate.com called, When is it OK for boys to be girls, and girls to be boys? by Ilene Lelchuk. This article talks about how some children admire to appear or act like the opposite sex and how they are treated in school or at home.
ReplyDeleteAs Americans we continue to face the problem of gender equality. This article talks about how some kids suffer from gender stereotypes at school and often are so depressed that they result to suicide. What if you really felt like you were a boy stuck in a girl's body or vice versa? How would you go about your life? I couldn't even picture how my friends or family would view me as.
In this article they focus on a specific girl that every since she was born she was interested in stereotypical guy activites and guy clothing. She went on with her life with short hair and boy clothing and was fortunately accepted by her school and peers. When she went to high school she changed her name from marisa to sasha, a more unisex and accepted name. I was surprised and interested to read that her school was willing to accomadate her with a private bathroom and a place to change for gym if she went through with her sex change.She admits that she is one of the lucky ones, that others have to deal with depression and extreme violence from others.When it comes down to it,it's sad that stereotypes are such a big part of our society that we are willing to result to violence.
The article "Girls Can't What?" talks about a female driver (Danica Patricks)who was one of the first female racecar driver to race in a Indy car. Many other drivers started to complain that her weight will play as an advantage over others. They complained that with her light weight, it will allow her to go faster than others. This became a big deal for a while in the indy series. There is another side saying that her weight will not benefit her because she is to light to have downforce which will cause her to lose on top speed on the track.
ReplyDeleteI don't see why its such a big deal if a female wants to join a sport just because it's mainly males. Everyone should be able to have the equal amount of opportunity. There are some sports out there that isn't a good idea to mix gender like football just because its such a physical sport.
I found this article on Ebscohost, using the Eric search. the article is called "Gender Stereotypes and Selling Techniques in Television Advertising: Effects on Society." This article talks about how television shapes our ideas of gender roles. It talks about how there are generally less girls than guys and girls are seen depicted as "feminine with a focus on beauty and sexual attractiveness" (Abstract). The media shapes our gender roles by depicting what they think are the proper gender roles.
ReplyDeleteThis goes along with the artictle "Appearances." This article talks about how its dangerous for everyone as long as homophobia exists. Homophobia is brought on majorly by the media. Gay men are generally depicted as weak, petite men who can't defend themselves. This is the opposite of what the media says is 'normal' for men, therefore the homosexuals are 'abnormal.' The author of "Appearances" says that homophobia comes about from "gender betrayal." The media forms the opinions that being gay is wrong because they are making your gender look bad, so people become homophobic.