Week 5 - Gendered Slang/Language

So many random words and English phrases either imply a gender or have taken on gendered meanings over the years. For instance, words like king, queen, actor, actress, steward, and stewardess all refer to either a man or a woman exclusively. One does not call a woman an actor or a man a stewardess, simply because these words have a specific gender attached to them. Such gendered words, along with the traditional “he” and “she” pronouns, can cause additional upsets. Additionally, society’s generally defaults to a masculine variant of words. Congressman, postman, weatherman, and even freshman are all words that refer to men specifically, yet we use them without thinking twice.

Human genitalia in particular has taken on all kinds of alternate names over the years. Wood, rod, junk, shaft, member, and meat are all common words that have also come to refer to the penis. Downstairs, pussy, snatch, gash, and muff have all been used to describe the vagina, although that was never their original meaning. Even using some of these words in everyday conversations now feels awkward since their alternative meanings have become so prominent.

Other phrases, like “man up” or “throw like a girl” make implications about each of the genders. When a young boy cries, he may be told “man up,” because our culture considers the ideal man to be one that strong, stable, and rarely shows emotions. Crying is not something men are expected to do, especially not in front of others. If a young girl cries, on the other hand, she would be comforted and helped through whatever the problem is. Similarly, if a guy can’t throw a ball well, he might be told he “throws like a girl,” implying that all women are weak and that men should be strong. Yet if a girl is athletic, she might be called a tomboy, which simply suggests that only boys, not girls, should be athletic.

Of course, eliminating gendered speech completely would be ideal. However, these phrases and words are so ingrained in our minds already that simply changing may be too difficult. To remove the gender bias towards masculinity that we are used to would take quite a significant change. I believe that such a change is possible, but will take years of work and serious changes in the media to accomplish. 

Week 5 - "Inventing the Cosmo Girl" Summary

This article discusses the origins and effects of Cosmopolitan, a magazine that became hugely popular in the 1960s and 1970s and has had a profound impact on our society. The concept of Cosmopolitan as we know it today began when Helen Gurley Brown wrote her novel Sex and the Single Girl in 1962, which quickly became a wild success. The book told the story of a common girl, who has very little going in her favor. It described how such a girl can flirt with eligible men, go on dates, and eventually marry the most suitable candidate. While the book was highly criticized by intellectuals, it still became extremely popular among the American girls. Brown took the ideas she presented in Sex and the Single Girl to the magazine Cosmopolitan and quickly became the new editor-in-chief. She radically changed the magazine’s content to target single girls with jobs. It described, in extremely simple and straightforward terms, how women without college educations can get jobs and continue to maintain their appearances. Brown’s goal with this magazine was to allow women to see the description of the “Cosmo Girl” and say “That’s me.”

Cosmopolitan advocated that girls should change their appearance and create an image for themselves in order to make themselves more marketable in the dating environment. It advised using all kinds of beautification devices, including wigs, fake nails, fake eyelashes, makeup, and even padded bras to complete this fake image. Some articles even addressed the worry of a significant other seeing the girl in the shower without this fake image, and presented strategies to prevent such a situation. Articles like these began to instill in women that beauty and image are everything and that women needed to be pretty to be successful and happy. In an already male-dominant society, this only helped to further subjugate and objectify women. Cosmopolitan gave women the idea that their worth was defined by how desirable they were.

The magazine also told women to use their attractiveness to get what they want and further their own goals. Brown encouraged young women to trade sexual favors for material gains and presents. She also almost seems to suggest using sexuality to secure jobs in the clerical and secretarial fields. She even said “Sex is a powerful weapon for a single women in getting what she wants from life” in an interview (Ouellete 266). Many women found Cosmopolitan’s messages more appealing than the traditional feminist movements since they felt more relatable and easy to follow. It does feel good to be “wanted,” but this message took that a step farther and made desirability the definition of a woman’s worth. 

Week 4 - All in the Family

The nuclear, or traditional, family is one that consists of a mother, father, and usually some amount of children. The father is the breadwinner of the family, and the mother stays at home to take care of the children and do housework. This type of family adheres to the standard gender roles, strongly placing the man as dominant, since he makes the money, and the woman as subservient, since she is supported by the man. As the modern family has evolved, we have shifted towards an arrangement in which both parents work, in order to make money enough to survive. As a result, the care of a child is almost neglected, and often pushed off onto the school or a daycare system. Regardless, even if both parents are working, the mother is usually expected to take responsibility of household chores like cooking meals and cleaning. This is due to the lingering standard gender roles which categorize women as primary caregivers and men as the workers. In a perfect modern family, the mother and father would be able to work together to take care of the children and do the housework. Men, however, often have trouble accepting responsibility for these tasks, which society often views as “feminine.”

In some cases, the classic roles of the mother and father get completely reversed, and the woman becomes the breadwinner while the father stays at home to take care of the children and do house chores. When placed in this situation, many men find it difficult to accept their new role. Transitioning from a high-paying job to a stay-at-home father can be particularly troubling for men. Even if they are not the primary money-maker, many fathers still feel that it is the woman’s responsibility to take care of the children and perform house chores due to the traditional gender roles ingrained in our minds. Ideally, though, the parents would be able to work through the change together. There are multiple cases in which the man becomes quite satisfied as the stay-at-home father, and can appreciate all the work the mother does on a daily basis. In such situations, sometimes the mother even starts feeling jealous as the children develop a closer attachment to the father. This just goes to show that relinquishing the traditional gender roles is difficult for both parents.

It is also worth noting that, with new laws about homosexual couples, a modern family may consist of two men or two women as the parents. I would guess that such couples are actually very good at maintaining a fair balance between the two parents in terms of house chores and taking care of the children. As these types of parents already defy the traditional gender roles, it is probably easier for them to transition between working and taking care of the house.

I think that the changes we see in the modern family are generally positive. The fact that both parents need to work to support a family is unfortunate, but men’s increased helpfulness at home is definitely a good thing. Stay-at-home fathers break through the traditional gender roles, which helps push society as a whole closer towards gender equality. 

Week 4 - "Sex, Lies, and Advertising" Summary

This article is written by Gloria Steinem, one of the co-founders of the magazine Ms. This magazine first appeared in 1972 and was written by women primarily for female readers. One of the hardest issues the magazine faced was actually finding companies that would be willing to advertise in the magazine. As the audience was primarily women, Steinem wanted ads that broke the tradition of sexualizing women and were actually geared towards women instead. Repeatedly, she and other staff members would present evidence that the magazine’s audience was primarily female and that women needed to buy commodities just as much as men. In this article, Steinem describes several of the struggles she went through to get appropriate advertisements and the rejections she faced.

Multiples times, the magazine staff attempted to appeal to car manufacturers, arguing that a car is a major investment and important purchase for a woman. Yet many American carmakers failed to understand, or didn’t even want to talk at all. They refused to believe that they needed different ads to appeal to women. The magazine did get support from foreign car companies, but American companies remained stubborn. Similar difficulties were met when trying to get electronics companies to advertise to women. A few companies would accept, but the majority still seemed to feel that women and technology simply did not go together.

One of the hardest areas to breach was the food industry. Ms. had decided that it did not want to include recipes, since that would breach into the editorial content which they wanted to keep under their control. Most big food companies, however, wanted advertisements of their products to be accompanied by recipes, preferably ones that featured the product being advertised. Ms. staff tried to explain that, to women, a recipe symbolizes work, which will work against the ad itself. Except for the occasional ad, this methodology kept almost all food companies away from the magazine. Alcohol producers were similarly reluctant to advertise in the magazine, since alcohol ads were almost exclusively meant for men. It took eight years before any beer company placed an ad in the Ms. magazine.

This article describes similar struggles when facing other markets. The magazine staff tried to get Lionel to advertise toy trains to girls and airline industries to cater to women, among others. Due to such difficulties, Ms. has faced financial problems throughout its existence. Even so, it has gotten very good responses from its consumers and has made a large impact on our culture. 

Week 4 - Miss Representation

Miss Representation is a movie that comments on the gender inequalities in modern society and raises awareness of serious problems with our culture. It certainly does a good job of grabbing my attention with statistics like “65% of women and girls have an eating disorder” and “17% of teens engage in cutting or self-harm activities.” With computers and image editing software these days, the basis for the ideal human beauty has become literally unattainable. Yet girls and women still strive for this impossible ideal because the media has taught them that beauty is everything, and that they should worry about their appearances. I found it interesting how the movie connected the media’s preoccupation with women’s appearances to the lack of women in politics.

When the movie was created, Hillary Clinton was the biggest female political figure, and we are at a convenient time in which she is once again playing a big role in politics. Back then, Clinton received much animosity, and even had people following her around shouting “Iron my shirt.” The media, and society in general, still refuses to grant her equal treatment as a politician, and instead focuses on appearances because she is a women. I think the media has improved, somewhat, in regards to that issue, but there are definitely still articles solely discussing Clinton’s attire. Conversely, the media has no interest in discussing the wardrobe choices of the male politicians and male presidential candidates. Yet other articles protest this injustice, such as this one, showing that we are successfully moving away from the media’s obsession with female leaders’ clothing choices.

I particularly liked how the movie never forgets that the issues with the media affect men too. From a young age, boys are taught by the media that they must be strong, that they should not cry, and that they should be and feel superior. A man that shows weakness is looked down upon, and becomes emasculated. As a result, many young boys strive to separate their feelings from their actions, which can potentially lead to ultra-violent behavior. What’s worse is that adult men send the same messages as the media. By trying to assert their dominance among other men and over women, adult men provide an example for young boys that being the strongest is equivalent to being the best. One thing I have noticed, as a peer tutor, is that more girls tend to come in for tutoring than boys. I would wager that some guys do not want to get a tutor simply because it would make them look weak. It is this kind of mentality, instilled in men by the media and other adults, that sets them up for failure later in life. Teachings like these, which limit children's opportunities, need to be eliminated from our culture if we want to achieve gender equality. 

Week 3 - Modern Love

If you love someone, then their life is more important to you than your own. You would willingly go back into a burning house to attempt to bring out someone you truly love. That is how I would define love. Pop culture seems to have a similar definition of love itself, but reaching that state of loving someone has changed greatly over the years. These days, it feels like hooking up with someone is the primary objective, while things like dating come later, almost as an afterthought. Personally I am quite against that policy, and feel that people should really get to know each other through dating and spending time with each other first. However, it today’s world, sex has largely lost its meaning and importance as an act of love. Many people will engage in a one-night stand with another and then may never talk to each other again. Media tends to embrace this new methodology, portraying sex as just another way to have fun, with little meaning attached. I feel that sex should be an act you only do with someone you love, but perhaps that sentiment is old-fashioned these days.

On a different note, the evolution of online dating has spread wildly over the past few years. Before meeting people and talking with them was always done face to face, person to person. Now we attempt to remove the human connection by talking to each other through electronic forms of media like Facebook, texting, Skype, and various online dating sites and apps. Searching for people you may like has become a kind of game, where you categorize people based on limited information. Additionally, communication through electronics seems hollow at best, since emotion can’t be conveyed through plain text easily. As a result, electronic communication likely increases the chance of misunderstandings, which makes forming strong bonds harder.

All in all, I don’t like where media and pop culture’s views on love and dating are headed. I wish it were a more personal experience, but we tend to be moving away from strong interpersonal relations and moving to more detached forms of communication. Regardless, I cannot deny that dating sites have fairly good success rates in matching people. They probably also encourage meeting people without considering distance constraints. The search range that online dating gives people greatly increases the chance of finding a successful match. So while I don’t like the impersonal aspects of online dating, it does have some positives not possible in regular face-to-face dating.

Week 3 - "When in Rome" Summary

“When in Rome” is a discussion about the popular Jim Rome Show, a radio sports talk show that has become quite controversial due to some of the action the host, Jim Rome, takes and the topics he discusses. Many people view Jim Rome as the epitome of the truly masculine man, as he is extremely knowledgeable about sports, confident, and leads an important talk show. On the show, Rome discusses topics of choice for the day and allows people to call in to make their comments on the current topic. If Rome does not like the caller’s comments, he will simply end their call, cutting them off and showing that he is dominant in the situation. From the comments he does like, on the other hand, he “racks” them and picks one to be the caller of the day at the end of each show. For the callers, being chosen as the caller of the day would be the ultimate success, for it would mean that Rome thinks highly of the caller. Conversely, getting cut off by Rome is almost a strike against the caller’s masculinity.

Jim Rome is very willing to discuss controversial topics and make questionable comments about the sports players. For instance, he discussed Patrick Ewing, Terrell Davis, and Dekembe Motumbo, who have all claimed to have visited a strip club regularly and apparently received free oral sex. In doing so, Rome indirectly “reinforces women’s subjugation as they become defined as existing solely for men’s pleasure” (Nylund 230). The caller of the day also used terms such as “skanks” and “crack whore,” both of which are offensive and sexist. By picking this as the caller of the day, Rome implies that he supports this kind of language and offensive humor. On another show, Rome had Jim Everett, an NFL player, on his show. Rome, however, wanted to jab at Everett’s masculinity, and repeatedly called him Chris Everett, the name of a female tennis player. Everett refused to take that taunting, and even attacked Rome on the show. As an NFL player, Everett wanted to maintain his masculinity, least he look feminine and weak to the other players.

On a similar, note, the author also discusses Rome’s discussions with Eric Davis about Brendan Lemon, who had recently announced that he was homosexual. Lemon as a Major League baseball player, and coming out as homosexual was very controversial at the time. Other athletes, like Eric, felt that it would be very uncomfortable to know that their fellow teammates that they share locker rooms and showers with were gay. After Eric’s comments, Rome changed the topic immediately since he didn’t agree with the opinion and wanted to maintain his relationship with Eric. Later, though, Rome denounces another commenter and takes a strong stance against homophobia. Rome recognizes the injustices against homosexuals, which shows an unusual break in the male hegemony. The author discusses this a bit further, but concludes that Rome’s show primarily designed for heterosexual men.

Week 2 - YouTube, I Tube, We All Tube

Psy - Gangnam Style
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0

Katy Perry - Roar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CevxZvSJLk8

Psy's "Gangnam Style," in the first half at least, shows the traditional gender roles in which the man, Park Jae-sang, is in control the woman (or women in this case). The women are portrayed as objects to desire and are essentially only present to be attractive. The women in the video are all thin with flawless skin, and are generally wearing provocative clothing. It is also worth noting that they are often wearing white clothes, which creates the sense of purity commonly seen with the classic female gender role. There are scenes where Park is dancing with all the women behind in, indicating a sense of leadership or control over the situation. Interestingly, just about all the characters in the music video appear to be rich due to their fancy, expensive attire. Nonetheless, the women are certainly depicted as less important than Park. Over time, though, the video seems to move away from the classic gender roles seen in the beginning and embrace a more equal stance between men and women. I think this video was originally intended to be a critique on various aspects of South Korean society meant to be viewed by teenagers and young adults in South Korea, but it has grown far past that audience at this point. As the most viewed YouTube video to date, it has certainly reached South Korean, as well as most of the world.

Katy Perry's "Roar" is a very empowering video for women that, for the most part, disregards past gender roles. The first forty seconds of the video has the only man in the video dying to a tiger, while Katy Perry herself survives and makes her own place in a jungle, completely through her own power. This music video essentially says that a woman does not need a man to be successful in the world and to make an impact. Katy Perry repeated likens herself to a tiger, one of the strongest creatures, and one that certainly has dominion over it's habitat. In doing so, she implies that she, and all women, should also be able to take control and even dominant. Yet, towards the end of the video, she seems to want to retain her femininity, and is seen putting on lipstick and painting the toenails of an elephant. Her clothing also becomes rather provocative, but I feel that she is trying to say that she should be allowed to wear what she wants without being criticized. "Roar" was likely targeting an audience of teenage girls and young women with the intention of giving them the motivation to take charge and live independently. Considering the popularity of the YouTube video, I imagine that it has successfully reached a large portion of the American population at least. Additionally, as the song is played frequently on the radio and the song's lyrics send a similar message, I think it is safe to say that this song has made a significant impact on the country, if not the world.

Week 2 - "Women Reading the Romance" Summary

In the suburb city of Smithton lives Dot Evans, a woman who picks out romance novels that the town's resident women are most likely to enjoy. In fact, she has become so good at choosing the most successful novels, that the bookstores regularly ask for her advice as to which books they should carry. Dot's customers tend to be middle-class mothers between the ages of 25 and 44. These women primarily read romance novels, they say, as a means of escape from the real world and relaxation. They feel that the level of pressure placed on women to always be nurturing and motherly is overwhelming, and thus use these novels to take a break from everyday life. It seems that most of the women try to identify with the heroine, so that they can vicariously live out a relationship with a hero who is commonly very masculine and yet surprisingly sweet and nurturing.

The article also describes a highly specific formula for a romance novel that the women of Smithton will enjoy. According to Dot's assessments, the novel should illuminate the relationship between one man and one women as they meet and work through their personal problems together. At the end of the novel, the two should fall completely in love with each other and essentially live happily ever after. The women in the story should be determined and independent, while the man is handsome and masculine, yet tender underneath. Much deviation from these standards seems to decrease the popularity of a novel. In particular, novels that entail the man chasing after multiple women are less favorable, even if the hero falls in love with the heroine at the end. The Smithton women also find novels that include rape or cruelty toward the heroine very discomforting. Stories that involve these two areas are strongly disliked, at least within this town.

Despite the unrealistic nature of these books, the women, for the most part, understand that the characters are fictional, and that the events described in the stories are unlikely in real life. Nonetheless, these ideal stories inherently make the women feel disappointed in their current marriages or relationships. The women sometimes feel neglected or put down by their significant others. A man may accuse a woman of not accomplishing meaningful work during the day when the woman spent all her time cleaning the house, managing children, and running necessary errands. The woman's work here is most certainly significant, but the man may not see it as such, unfortunately.

The article concludes with saying that these romance novels help show what women desire (and often fail to get) in a relationship. The author seems to suggest that we use this information to help progress society toward one that helps women feel more satisfied with their relationships. Whether or not that can become reality is something that has yet to be determined.