Abercrombie & Fitch... Realistic?

During today’s reading about how the media, such as lad magazines, reinforce the importance of maintaining ones appearance, the following quote got me thinking about Abercrombie and Fitch models: “The male ideal appearance standard is more than just muscular; other cues, including clothes and grooming, might also affect men’s self-perception” (Aubrey & Taylor, 2009) 

These men are hot and are total eye candy, but what do these advertisements and pictures throughout the store and all over bags portray to men. These men are almost always half naked, perfectly groomed without a follicle of hair on their chest or stomachs and if there is a women in the picture as well she is lovin’ all over the sexy man. Therefore, “the idealized physical appearance of women might [also] affect the self-perceptions of men” (Aubrey & Taylor, 2009) I could totally see how the images of these models would put pressure on not only the men’s appearance but on to even wear this expensive clothing. Do you think this could limit the amount of male customers that purchase from the store? Do these images imply that this is the ideal appearance for a male who wears Abercrombie clothing? 

I don't know about any of you, but I have never seen a picture of an Abercrombie model that doesn't have 12 pacs! 

Realistic?... not so much!

Tosh.No

   Recently stand up comedian Daniel Tosh, host of the Comedy Central television show Tosh.0, has come under fire for his recent comments to a female heckler during one of his sets. Tosh has been a staple of the media because he made a rape joke aimed towards his female heckler allegedly saying "Wouldn't it be funny if five guys came in here and raped you right now?" Because of Tosh's comment, questions in the media have surfaced on what is appropriate and not appropriate when talking about rape.

Here is an example of discussion on Tosh's joke:

   This recent incident showcases some aspects of the Ferguson et al. study that looked at influences on sexual harassment. The study used Jerry Springer as the media influence on  sexual harassment in relation to the "promiscuous female." One of the main findings of the study was the fact that verbal comments warded lower perceptions of traumatized victims and placed more responsibility on the victim amongst their participants. When it comes to Tosh and the verbal comment that he made towards the lady in the audience, it seems that the outcome of the situation has placed her in a position similar to the findings of the study. In the clip above it shows more people agreeing at the fact that it was just a joke and should not be blown that much out of proportion. However, each person in the clip agrees that rape is a serious topic but still gave leeway to the "harmless" joke that Daniel made.

   The Ferguson study looked at more serious scenarios when getting results from their participants, which makes this situation a bit of a grey area in the realm of sexual harassment . Though rape is serious crime and sensitive topic, it has not been exempted from the comedy realm as Daniel Tosh and other comedians have demonstrated. Comedy is intended for jokes to have real life implications and unfortunately rape happens to be an ugly aspect of reality. This lead me to think what if the Ferguson et al. study used shows like sitcoms that have more comedic elements to their characters story line. But given the fact that comedy has no perimeters when it comes to topics, it would be harder to determine what aspects of "promiscuous females" should be taken more seriously. I believe that this brief incident between a comedian and a heckler has opened the door to explore more possibilities when dealing with different areas of sexual harassment and its influences.

   Another real world application of this joke gone bad would be to explore if this would make people more susceptible to forms of sexual harassment. On one hand it could show people that it is alright to publicly joke about rape and other serious sexual topics. On the other had it could display how deep-rooted issues dealing with rape can be and yield people in their making fun of the topic. I believe that the most unique part of this bad joke is that it was not intended to ruffle any feathers. The joke was said in the confines of a comedy club where consumers are aware that they did not pay money for each and every comedian to be politically correct. However, word got out that this comedian made such a statement and has been in media circulation for the past two weeks. Using Tosh as an example can help researchers explore new dimensions of media that may have an influence on how people feel about sexual harassment.

Ocean's 11 - Stealing Money and Hearts

If you haven't seen Ocean's 11, I feel sorry for you and I send you my condolences. Ocean's 11 is a movie with a fantastic plot, great cast, twist ending, and the journey to win a women's heart back. I mean seriously, what's not to love? Ladies, did I mention that George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon all star in this movie? Talk about sex appeal along with a great story line! Can you WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!?

Anyway, on a more serious note, the movie is about Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his elaborate plan to rob three Las Vegas Casinos all owned by the wealthy Terry Benedict. He gets together a team of 11 other guys who will assists him in the biggest robbery of a Casino ever. The plan to rob the casino is elaborate and impossible to pull off, but they're going to try it anyway! Some good stuff happens after that and I won't give it away, you just need to watch it I guess.

In the movie there is a love interest between Danny Ocean and his ex-wife Tess Ocean (Julia Roberts). The problem is that Tess is currently with Terry Benedict, the same man Danny is trying to rob. Part of Danny's plan is to not only rob Benedict of his money, but to also rob him of Tess so that Danny can have her back.

Tess is the only prominent female character in the movie. Every other character is male. Her only role in the movie is to be a love interest and a prize for the man that can get her at the end. This type of role for Tess is consistent with Ward's (1995) findings that women are passive and that they're attracted to certain types of men. Both of the men after her are very powerful and wealthy, and she doesn't seem to have a say in which one she's going to be with. Danny tells Tess that Benedict doesn't love her the way he does, but yet, she doesn't buy it. It is up to Danny to prove to Tess that Benedict doesn't care about her as much as he cares about money and the state of his casinos. This becomes Danny's main goal in the movie and is consistent with Ward's (1995) findings that men are aggressors and that they use specific strategies to attract women.

While the movie's characters may follow stereotypical gender roles, it is still a good movie that is very well written. These gender roles are also easily explained by the time at which the script was written. Ocean's 11 was originally written and produced in 1960 and was remade in 2001. This could explain the specific gender roles for the characters.

The Rule of Three

In our discussions this past Wednesday a few questions arose that I found interesting.  “How many sexual partners does the average person have?  What number, if any, constitutes too many or too few sexual partners?  What influences factor into these beliefs?  And how are these standards different for each gender?

The overall consensuses of the class seemed to converge upon the idea that this question does not in fact have a right or wrong answer in the traditional sense.  Rather these values are extremely subjective, constructed and validated through the comparison of different individual’s responses with those of their peers, mentors, and other forms public discourse available to them pertaining to the subject.

For the purposes of this blog post, my focuses lie not in how these standards are constructed and reinforced, but rather why this is such a touchy question in general and more specifically any possible underlying reasons why individuals of either gender might feel compelled to overstate or understate their true quantity of past sexual partners.

To better demonstrate these tendencies, I turn, yet again, to the film series American Pie, specifically a scene from the second film in the series.  Characters, Kevin and Vikki, formerly high-school sweethearts and lovers in the first film, have an interaction in which the question arises “How many people have you slept with since starting college?” or since they were last together.  Initially, they both appear flustered or caught off guard, their anxieties and second thoughts on the subject made apparent through their awkward speech patterns and body language.  Ultimately, Kevin claims he has slept with three different girls since starting college and Vikki responds with the same answer.  Shortly thereafter, their paths diverge and a back and forth parallel story structure emerges.  The scene cuts back and forth between the two each talking to their close friend about the awkward encounter and what the other’s responses truly meant.  Both character’s friends proceed to inform one another of a phenomenon they call “the rule of three.”  Essentially, their theory infers that when guys are questioned regarding the number of girls they have slept with, they predictably exaggerate this number in an attempt to impress their peers, multiplying their true number by a factor of three and claiming that quantity instead.  When applying this rule to the reported number of a female, the inverse supposedly occurs.  That is, females tend to understate the true number of past sexual partners, this time dividing their true number by a factor of three and reporting that number instead.  For example, if a male were to claim he had slept with 3 girls, the true number would be more like 1, or even none.  Conversely, if a female claimed to have had only one male sexual partner in her past, then in reality her number is more likely near three, or higher.

Immediately evident, are themes encompassed by Ward's concept of the double standard.  This scholarly article states the following: "premarital sexual intercourse is less acceptable and less important for women... The female sexual role expects women to be... responsible for setting sexual limits.  A woman's virtue is enhanced by not being sexual.  In contrast, the male sexual role expects men to be the sexual actors and initiators and to see women mostly as sexual objects.  A man's masculinity is enhanced by being sexual..." (Ward, 1995).  The excerpt does an excellent job of illustrating the underlying factors driving the differences between male and female indications of a willingness to share details regarding the quantity of previous sexual partners.  In reality both sexes might arguably derive equal amounts of personal satisfaction from their various sexual encounters with different partners, but when asked to share more explicit details or specific numbers these motivations take a back seat to a greater desire to fit in with ones peers and perceived social norms.  This effect manifests quite differently between individuals of opposing gender and the nature of these differentiations tend to coincide with themes inherent of the double standards ideology.  

The aforementioned ideology emphasizes male individuals as the initiators and constant seekers of sexual interactions with numerous females.  The objectification of women, most specifically masculine attitudes that each sexual encounter constitutes another accomplishment or trophy along the course of a greater overall sexual conquest, is a driving force behind typical male attitudes and behaviors exhibited when confronted by our inquiry of interest.  For the most part young men and adolescents seemingly inexperienced in the matter will feel pressured to live up to the socially desirable/acceptable or "popular" standards to which their peers and role models seemingly adhere.  It the comes as no surprise that when a male subject is publicly questioned regarding the precise quantity of their sexual encounters, those lacking what they consider to be a sufficient or socially acceptable value will tend to exaggerate and artificially inflate this measure to meet an "ideal" quantity, rather than admit to any potential deficiencies as a man implied by any shortcomings.

The female orientation to this situation is just the opposite of the male mid set, but still finds its fundamental basis in the double standard paradigm.  Just like their male counterparts, females often exhibit the same overwhelming desires to live up to the stereotypical female standards imposed by the double standard.  However, in accordance with this ideology, female individuals are expected to be submissive, virtuous, and commitment focused.  Accordingly, any female individuals presented with our inquiry of interest will exhibit the tendency to under-report the true extent of there sexual exploits, especially if perceived to be higher than socially acceptable values.  To do otherwise would invite possible criticisms pertaining to their sexual promiscuity, compromised virtuosity, and diminished overall desirability as a potential long-term mate.

As long as the double standard continues to persists, which it undoubtedly will for some time to come, we can expect to see similar response patterns amongst female and male individuals presented with the intrusive question, "whats your number?"

I would like to take a moment to acknowledge Lindsay Bluth Fünke.

I love Arrested Development. I LOVE it. I love the storylines, the recurring jokes, the foreshadowing, the music, and especially the characters. The show has three female main characters, one Bluth woman of each generation, and they are all conniving and manipulative in their own way. I'd like to focus on Lindsay in particular (one of the middle Bluth children and the only female) because I could spend entire, separate blog posts on her mother, Lucille, and daughter, Maeby. In thinking about Lindsay, it's come to my attention that she somehow manages to embody every single negative stereotype about women.
She's lazy, spoiled, selfish, and entitled. She constantly asks her brother or mother for money, and any job that she has is extraordinarily short-lived and usually acquired accidentally. She always puts her own needs above her daughter's, and when she does spend time with her daughter Maeby, she usually uses Maeby as a pawn to get something she wants. Even though her once-rich family is in deep financial trouble, she still maintains a sense of superiority and is constantly seeking clothing, jewelry, and cars that she can't afford.
However, the trait that's perhaps the most in line with our readings is the emphasis that she places on her looks. As per the 1995 Ward reading, the female sexual role on television tends to be rooted in appearance. Similarly, as found in Kim et. al's discussion of courtship strategies, women tend to place their value in physical appearance. Lindsay follows this exactly. She becomes discouraged in her looks because her husband Tobias, the aspiring actor whom she only married to anger her father, appears to not be sexually attracted to her. Her way of remedying this is to still seek attention from other men through her clothing while still remaining married to Tobias- for convenience's sake.
In one episode in particular, Lindsay goes to visit her father in prison and is secretly excited at the prospect of all of the inmates giving her attention because of her looks. When no one says anything to her, she becomes disappointed and continues coming back to visit her father, wearing progressively more makeup and more revealing outfits in order to gain more attention from the men. When that doesn't happen, she becomes increasingly frustrated until her father tells her that he's going broke by paying off the inmates to not hit on her. At this point, Lindsay is appeased and flattered, saying that all she ever wanted was for her father to spend money on her.
Lindsay is certainly a caricature of a woman who's nearly a headache in every way, and her satirizing of negative female stereotypes makes them more funny because they are so over the top. However, while it's unlikely that a woman would actually wear the above outfit to a prison, so many do place their personal value in how they look. While many TV shows and movies do very little to dissuade that idea, I think that characters like Lindsay Bluth actually help put the looks-based mentality in perspective by making the shallowness of her character so ridiculous and exaggerated.

How Dangerous is Disney?

 

Popping the G-rated Disney film into the DVD player and pressing play has become second nature for hundreds of parents across the country. Disney movies reinforce the common assumption of enchanted innocence and wholesomeness. Disney movies are vital and cherished memories of my childhood. Who doesn’t smile with joy at the thought of Timon and Pumba or Aladdin and Jasmine? However, those innocent and good-natured movies may have more impact on children’s understanding of sexuality than meets the eye. I am a huge Disney fan therefore I did a little research on studies that have been conducted on the movies America fell in love with and came across some very interesting issues. 

Researchers Karin Martin and Emily Kazyak argued in their report published in Gender & Society that, “despite the assumption that children’s media are free of sexual content, our analyses suggest that these media depict a rich and pervasive heterosexual landscape.” Martin and Kazyak studied the portrayal of heterosexual relationships in a variety of the highest-grossing G-rated films between 1990-2005. Their results revealed that heterosexuality was constructed in these films by portraying hetero-romantic love as transformative, exceptional, magical, and powerful. Furthermore, there were also a vast amount of depictions of masculine characters gazing in awe at feminine characters.

Hetero-romance is a major plot line in a majority of Disney films and reinforces the theme of heteronormativity. Martin and Kazyak describe heteronormativity as positioning heterosexuality as, “always assumed, expected, ordinary, and privileged. Its pervasiveness makes it difficult for people to imagine other ways of life.”  But Disney presents heterosexuality as not just ordinary but privileged. Heterosexual relationships are repeatedly presented as special, distinct, exceptional, and different from all others in animated Disney films. The researchers observed that the lead characters are often surrounded by, “music, flowers, candles, magic, fire, balloons, fancy dresses, dim lights, dancing and elaborate dinners.” For example, Aladdin and Jasmine fall in love as they fly on a magic carpet through a star lit sky, and eventually kiss as fireworks go off in the background. Sergin and Nabi's (2002) noted that the idealized portrayals of marriage in the media often lead to unrealistic expectations of what marriage is and should be. The moments of hetero-romantic love often involve characters being engulfed in magical swirls of sparkles or leaves as they stare into each other’s eyes. 

The power of the hetero-sexual relationships is often represented through a kiss. One of the most striking examples is in The Little Mermaid when Ariel must kiss Eric in order to retain her voice and her legs. During The Lion King Nala and Simba kiss and only then does Simba realize he must return to his home to regain the throne and save his family and entire kingdom. At the end of Beauty and the Beast Belle and the Beast kiss and suddenly the entire kingdom is transformed from winter to springtime, flowers begin to bloom and everyone who was enchanted by the spell is restored to their human state. The transforming power of a heterosexual kiss does not apply to homosexual kisses depicted in Disney movies. For instance, in The Lion King Timon and Pumbaa touch lips while sucking on opposite ends of a worm during dinner. They both look at the camera stunned and horrified. The kiss is treated as funny, creating a stark contrast between the power of heterosexual kissing and homosexual kissing. Martin and Kazyak also noted that Villainesses in Disney movies often resemble drag queens, such as Ursula in The Little Mermaid, who was actually modeled after the famous transvestite Divine. By associating drag queens with the villainous characters this sends a powerful message to children that drag queens are bad or evil and should be avoided. Locroix acknowledges that these characters and actions are not just representations of individual people but are encodings of ideologies. The stories and characters represented in these films assist in how children construct their understandings of sexuality and relationship norms. 

Ellen Junn argues in her research of the media portrayals of love and sexuality for child audiences that lead females almost always start as single in the film and are shown in the conclusion as married or attached to a male. She noted that females are depicted significantly more than males striking coy love poses, giggling, combing their hair, and behaving in a sexual manner in Disney films. 

In Toy Story 2 a large group of almost entirely white Barbies are shown dancing and singing at a swimming party. The male characters who initially pass the party reverse the car they are riding in and gaze mesmerized by the scene in front of them. In The Hunchback of Notre Dame the Gypsy Esmerelda dresses seductively and dances provocatively while a large crowd of men stare wide-eyed, screaming and cheering as they toss money on stage to her. These scenes portray a message that women use their bodies for men and have an effect of normalizing men’s objectification of women’s bodies and the heterosexual desire it signifies. 

I apologize for people who aren't huge Disney fans and may not have understood all of the references I made,but I hope you could at least understand the gist of what I'm trying to address. Although the Walt Disney Company and traditions are beloved and cherished by thousands of people around the world (including myself) and symbolize the epitome of wholesome family entertainment, the power of these films to create, produce, and disseminate ideological constructions of sexuality should not be underestimated. Of course I am not trying to suggest that there is only one definitive reading of these films, however the dominant messages should be acknowledged. The potential for Disney films to influence children’s attitudes and understanding of sexuality is incredible powerful due to the enormous popularity of Disney advertising as well as the ample availability of the films. I do not suggest banning Disney films by any means, I just suggest adopting a more critical and perhaps apprehensive view of the films that are marketed as innocent and wholesome.

Works Cited

Junn, E. N. (1997). Media Portrayals of Love, Marriage & Sexuality for Child

Audiences: A Select Content Analysis of Walt Disney Animated Family Films. [S.l.]: Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse.

Kazyak, E., & Martin, K. (2009). Hetero-Romantic Love and Heterosexiness in

Children’s G-Rated Films. Gender & Society, 23 (3).

Lacroix, C. (2004). Images of animated others: The Orientalization of Disney’s cartoon

heroines from The Little Mermaid to The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Popular Communication, 2 (4).

 Segrin, C., & Nabi, R. L. (2002). Does television viewing cultivate unrealistic expectations about marriage? Journal of Communication, 52(2).

Manic pixie dream girls

Since Garden State came out in 2004, the film trope of the "manic pixie dream girl" (MPDG) has been discussed over and over again.  The most widely used description of the MPDG is from film critic Nathan Rabin: "that bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures."  While the men in films featuring MPDGs are sensitive new age guys who show fragility and emotions, the sole purpose of MPDGs is to lift the male characters out of an existential void with their quirky effervescence.  You can see a montage of clips containing MPDGs here.

The new film Ruby Sparks seeks to subvert the MPDG stereotype.  Written and acted by Zoe Kazan, who projects the same wide-eyed saccharinity as perpetual MPDG Zooey Deschanel, the film portrays a depressed writer who creates his dream girl character, only to find her actualized in real life.  They commence on a dream relationship, which sours when the girl begins thinking independently, and acting contrarily to the way he desires.  The film frankly discusses the harm idealized notions about a person can bring to relationships, calling to mind numerous studies we’ve discussed over the term.

First, the manic pixie dream girl stereotype smacks of Galician’s 12 myths and stereotypes of sex, love, and romance found in the Bader (2007) article, most notably myths #7 and #10, which state that the love of a woman can change a man and that the right mate “completes you”, respectively.  The Segrin and Nabi (2002) article about unrealistic expectations about marriage also lends depth to understanding the problem with MPDGs.  Though I can’t think of an instance where the main guy actually marries his dream girl, they do generally commence on these dream relationships with the sense that this girl is “the one”, that their dream girl completely understands them, and their love lives together will be perfect.

Interestingly, the types of men in this type of film usually run against the norms of hegemonic masculinity and fall into the “sensitive new age guy” category. They frequently show fragility and emotion, and as their reliance on MPDGs for happiness would suggest, exhibit submissive traits.  Additionally, there are certainly extant media portrayals of what I would consider “manic pixie dream boys”, notably Jack Dawson in Titanic (1998).

Hookups

After reading the study on the misconceptions that many adolescents have regarding their peers sexual behavior I was reminded of an interesting article I read during Spring Term. In my amcult class on sexuality we read an article that looked at "hooking up" among young women. The article mentioned a lot about the misconceptions of young women and the prevalence of hooking up, which was attributed in part to the media. I attached the article, it's really interesting read especially because it deals with our age group, I found it very enlightening and very relate able (highly recommended). Just thought I would pass it along in case anyone was interested in the way adolescents perceive their peers level of sexual activity.

Is hooking up bad for young women?
(I couldn't attach the file so here is the link on the library website)

A Super Exception

First of all, I have to say that I love superhero movies--the Batman trilogy is not only a kickass, action-packed thrill ride but also a deeply compelling psychological narrative that presents the audience with a giant load of intellectual material, but I'm not here to praise Christopher Nolan (which I could do for hours, believe me). Denzell's post about the most recent Batman installment and Mylan's post about the lack of female superheroes got me thinking: could I list any lady heroes that were stand-alone, powerful women? The answer at first seemed to be a big NO, but then I remembered that I've seen The Incredibles about 100 times because my nieces and nephews were obsessed for a while.

Does Social Media Affect Dating and Relationships?

The internet is in constant development; everyday new means of connecting with people across the world are invented. As we have become more invested in the Internet’s capabilities, it has worked its way into various aspects of our lives such as school, work, and family. What I find interesting is how the Internet impacts relationships and dating. Here’s a quick poll I made you can take:

TAKE THIS POLL!

 

Social media has enabled us to learn more about those we are interested in (family, friends, significant others, crushes etc.) It connects us to our peers, allowing us to distribute personal information to a mass audience of our choosing.  We can post photos of our most recent trip, share a funny experience; state our opinions, likes and dislikes. Often, these are small details about our lives we may not feel compelled to bring up in conversations with our friends because they may or may not care. Social media saves us the time of meeting with every friend daily or repeatedly sharing the same details of our lives with different people.

On the flipside social media enables everyone to become a private investigator. It is natural that people want to share their opinions, funny stories and thoughts with others. Yet, social media seems to encourage a new extent of sharing. There’s the showing of too much skin, sharing personal relationship or sexual details, venting via social media, and much more. No one needs to invade your privacy when you’ve made your once private life public. With so much information aggregated into one place, crushing on someone can easily become stalking.  You can find out where they ate lunch, their past love interests, family, friends, and basically experience the past years of their life as though you were actually there.

When you finally do meet up with the hottie you’ve been crushing on from behind your computer screen, what’s left to talk about if they’re a frequent user of social media? Mostly everything they’re going to tell you you’ve already read on their profile page and recent updates.  And what happens when you want to make things “Facebook official” and they don’t want to do the same? Should you have each others’ passwords? Is it valid to bring up that they’ve been chatting with their ex too much? Social media adds a new aspect to dating and relationships. And although it may be easier to connect with those you may not have been able to before, do the potential difficulties it brings to dating and relationships outweigh the convenience?

What do you all think?

The Dark Knight Rises Role Reversal

  

  Watching the new Batman film was both a joy and task for me. For one I am a big Batman fan, especially of the new films, and I have been waiting a long time to catch this latest installment. The movie lived up to all the hype and then some. However, my experiences in Communication Studies classes at U of M have messed with my movie going experience. I am now very analytically of films in trying to figure out how they relate to my courses and other things I have learned. In the mist of me watching one of the best films I have seen in my life, I was able to pull some useful material out of it.

   In the film, Batman faces a new foe named Bane who emerges as Gotham's biggest threat in Batman's absence. Throughout the movie, Batman returns on a mission to end Bane's rampage and save the city once again. In the process he unraveled the story behind Bane but when he found out the entire story about Bane's plan, he had realized that Bane was not the brains behind the operation. In fact the person behind all of Gotham's madness was a woman named Talia, who is the daughter of one of Batman's defeated foes. Who knew right? But before Batman knew Talia was a threat to him, she played a completely different role in the story.

   In the begging of the movie, Talia was in disguise as a notorious business woman in Gotham city who had invested a lot of money into Wayne Industries' clean energy generator. For years Wayne Industries had the generator but never operated it. Also once Bruce Wayne returned from his hiatus, he needed Talia to purchase majority stock in Wayne Industries to prevent the company from going under. Talia agrees and is pretty passive in the situation. For the majority of the movie Talia fits into the courtship strategies of being passive and alluring (Kim, 2007). She is also valued for her physical appearance ( Kim, 2007). These typical  traits of female characters plagued Talia until the climax of the film.


   In a unique plot twist, Talia turns out to be the main villian when she stabs Batman and tells him the real story behind Bane's madness. Once she explains, it turn out that she has been in control of Gotham's fate the entire time and everything she had done until that point was a part of her plot to finish her father's business. It was not Bane, the overly masculine super villain, or Batman, the rouge superhero, who was in the ultimate position of power, it was a beautiful, seemingly harmless woman. Where in their relationship towards the beginning of the film, Bruce Wayne/Batman was the dominant self-assured person in the relationship. But in the twist of the plot Batman was now the unauthoritative one in their relationship as it turns out Talia had all the power until her death in the film (Hotlz, 2009).


   This was a unique plot twist where one character does a 180 degree turn around from who they were originally presented as. Talia was suppose to be a harmless, defenseless, and maybe insignificant character who was romantically involved with Bruce Wayne. However, she was the major player in the story and had to be stopped if an entire city was going to survive. I say all of this to say that looks can be very deceiving when it comes to stereotypical gender roles in the media.

The Women

    
      Back in my high school days, a few of my girlfriends and I were sitting in my basement, flicking through the TV guide, trying to find a movie to watch. Apparently, it was a bad TV day. There wasn't much on. But flicking through the HBO channels, my friend Dianna told me to stop at the movie 'The Women." 

   Dianna knew all about it, as her mom had seen the movie and raved about it. She said it was a completely female cast--no male actors appear in the movie, not even extras. In addition to that, the film was written and produced by a woman. This idea seemed completely strange to all of us. Reluctantly, we all agreed to watch it. We joked that it would be a 'mom' movie. It didn't sound great, but we were intrigued. We were also surprised.
        The Women is about Mary Haines, a mother and part-time clothing designer who's married to a wealthy man who has some hot-shot Wall Street job. Mary has it pretty good--that is, until, she discovers that her husband has been cheating on her with an extremely attractive perfume saleslady at Saks, played by Eva Mendes.

Much of film consists of Mary being crushed that her husband is cheating on her, and she trails the saleslady (pictured above) in an attempt to see what she's up against. Mary's three close friends rally behind her. Her friends have several romantic problems of their own, although they are all strong, working women. One of them is a lesbian. Not all of them are married.
   This movie strongly goes against the findings (granted, about TV shows) that "male characters outnumbered female, were allotted more speaking time, and were more likely to have professional and high-status jobs, whereas female characters were more often characterized by their marital and parental status" (Holz Ivory, Gibson, and Ivory). As the article states, "women and sexual minorities have a history of underrepresentation in television, and this lack of visibility has resulted in narrow and stereotyped depictions of both groups." By having an all-women cast, this movie addresses these issues.
   I still remember, albeit faintly, how the film made me feel at the time I watched it several years ago. My friends and I all agreed that it was a good movie, which surprised us. It wasn't a 'mom' movie, as we had expected. We all agreed it was refreshing--refreshing to see a movie that was all women and dealt with women's problems.
   While I didn't have the capacity to look at the movie critically then, I see now how the movie is male-centric, even though there are no men even visibly present. The film centers completely on the problems caused by male actions, and ruminates on those actions. Although men are never shown, they are a constant presence, considering how they are the basis of the storyline. 
    To me, the film's feminist goals are entirely undermined by the fact that it's all about Mary's misery after being hurt by a guy. Don't women have more serious problems? It seems like the media refuses to acknowledge that women have concerns other than being loved (or not loved) by a man. 
   But the fact that such a movie, with an all-female cast with no male extras, was even made and was seen as progressive shows how male-dominated the film industry is. I think audiences are now so accustomed to--and expectant of--this male-centrist paradigm that even this movie, which supposedly flaunts female independence, couldn't escape it.

It's also interesting how in the movie poster (top picture), none of the actresses are looking directly into the camera. Rather, they're all looking toward Eva Mendez who plays the seductress, even making shocked faces. This shows how extremely important this jealousy theme is to the movie, which I think is very shallow indeed. Feminist? I think not.

Women Superheroes Will Forever Ride Shotgun

I'm sure many people can relate to wishing they were as superhero as a kid. You'd watch Superman, Batman or Flash and fantasize how great it'd be to live their lives: saving the world, kicking butt and having awesome powers (or in batman's case a large disposable income). But to what extent are these superhero narratives cultivating stereotypical gender roles of dominance and submission  in children? Should we really be concerned if wanting to be a superhero is "just a phase" and we eventually learn that being a superhero is unrealistic?

Meet the superheros of today. HBO's summer series Superheroes looks into the lives of RLSH  (Real Life Super Heroes), hundreds of men and women with the goal of deterring violent crime and, if necessary, taking the law into their own hands. 

Question is, WHERE ARE ALL THE WOMEN?

 When watching this trailer, I took notice of the lack of women RLSH (Real Life Super Heroes). One woman RLSH is featured, but how she is shown makes it pretty hard to tell if she’s a woman or a slim built man with muscle-boobs. My guess is that when watching or reading superhero narratives as an adolescent, few female superheroes appeared. Or, when they did appear, they came in the form of “damsels in distress”, sidekicks or insignificant superheros who could do little to help. It could be that there are not many female RLSH to feature in the show; however, that is not the case.

Within most superhero narratives, male superheroes typically appear as dominant. They are assertive, forceful, firm, aggressive, and decision makers.  This complies with the notion that dominant acts tend to be related to the male gender role (Ivory, Gibson & Ivory, 2009). The submissive trait is described as being self-doubting, meek, unaggressive, forceless, unbold and timid. Just take a look at this clip below. Which of the pair seems to be dominant?

Although  Batgirl may not appear completely submissive, she certainly takes a backseat to Batman in the clip. Moreover, the clip goes so far to suggest that she is not as intelligent or as skillful a superhero as Batman; he often points out her shortcomings.Could it be that there lack female Real Life Super Heroes in the HBO series because women are not thought to not posses the typical qualities of a superhero (strong, aggressive, dominating, decision making, quick thinking etc.)? 

Pretty Little Liars: Emily Fields

           

           Okay so, Pretty Little Liars! Yes, I may be a little late, but I just recently began watching the ABC Family TV series and love it. In fact I started it two weekends ago, from the beginning, and have already made it to season 3…I’m catching up. Anyways, after the class where we discussed the influence and effects of coming out in a mediated environment, I felt a scene and character in the show demonstrated exactly that. Emily, one of the main four girls in the television series identified herself as gay and was going through the difficult process of coming out to her parents. Click here to watch the actual coming-out moment to her Dad.

Emily (Shay Mitchell)

According to the Bond et al. article, media is what younger individuals turn to when it comings to gathering information during the coming-out process. With that being said, I believe that Pretty Little Liars does a great job at showing the insecurities about coming out as well as the process of completely going through it. As you saw, her father came into Emily’s room and asked why Emily had been acting so jumpy and that he and her mother were beginning to get worried. After thinking it was some boy who they felt she might be threatened by, she simply tells him, “I’m afraid of you and mom, because I’m not who you think I am.” This demonstrates the fear that comes along with the process of admitting one is gay. By telling her father, shows the first step in the attempt to open up to her parents providing a sense of family openness, which was described in the Bond et al. article (p.39). While such openness is hard to establish in the first place, this article makes it so obvious why, for even television shows are looked down upon for even having homosexual characters. 

            Having such characters such as Emily displayed on primetime television shows, provides these LGB youth who are looking at TV for information about the coming-out process, giving them a character to also relate to. A character to show that the process is possible, having such feelings towards the same sex is a real thing, and there is nothing to be ashamed of. However, while there are these shows that embraced openly gay characters, groups such as the Florida Family Association felt such portrayal was wrong. This association launched a campaign that I felt was very disappointing and straight up appalling. They launched an anti-gay campaign, and pulled their sponsor after seeing the shows romantic women on women relationship and felt as though it demonstrates, quote on quote, “irresponsible imagery.” While this statement, alone, disturbed me, they continue, saying:

“[They're] using salacious and glamorizing scenes portraying young, pretty women as lesbians, sends the wrong message to these young girls, a message that reinforces and legitimizes this homosexual lifestyle in a manner that could affect these young girls' sexual identity for a lifetime.”

How is this sending the wrong message to these young girls? When all it is doing is showing that they are accepted. It’s giving these LGB youths something to relate to, something to turn towards as support and information.  And, also, “portraying young, pretty women as lesbians”… What!?? Implying that lesbians aren’t identified as pretty? Wow, no wonder these individuals have such a hard time feeling okay about their sexual orientation.

Happily Divorced: Does “Happily Ever After” Still Exist?

We have all been exposed to, at some point or another, one of those cheesy, romantic “love stories” where the guy gets the girl, they walk off into the sunset together, and everything is presumed to be perfect for eternity after. It seems like this was a major theme in the movies and shows we watched as children, but what about now? As I tried to think of any instance where this has been the scenario in the plot of an adult-themed show or movie of this decade, I struggled to come up with an answer. It has become increasingly hard to find movies about idealistic couples and their perfect lives, and even harder to find shows about them. 

While going over the Segrin & Nabi (2002) article in class the other day and discussing whether the television has gotten less idealistic and “rosy” or the audience has become more cynical, I tried to work out this question with my own experiences with television. I tried to come up with one example (other than the Bachelor and Bachelorette) that did, indeed, mirror the idealistic view of marriage and relationships that Segrin & Nabi’s (2002) study participants valued for their own hypothetical relationships. When I came up with goose egg, I wondered if there were more examples of counterscripts of the values mentioned by their participants. According to Segrin & Nabi (2002), some of the most frequently mentioned expectations of marriage mentioned by the participants in their study were “time together,” “physical intimacy,” “positive affect,” and “permanence.” When thinking about this, I realized that I have seen more instances of the opposite of these values on television than I have of the actual values. For example, there is a show on TVLand called Happily Divorced, that proposes the idea of divorce being more ideal than marriage. For those of us (probably most of us) who don’t watch TVLand on a regular basis, here is a clip of the show that basically explains the overall premise. 

The show is about Fran and Peter, a long-time married but recently divorced couple, who live together despite the fact that Fran’s ex-husband Peter is gay. Although the couple in the show is not actually a couple, according to dominant cultural norms, they are perceived as being happy with their situation. The show presents the couple in a number of ways that goes against a lot of the “ideal” expectations of relationships.  First, and most obviously, they are not married. The show is proposing that you don’t have to be married to have an “ideal” relationship with someone. This is directly contradicting the “permanence” ideal as proposed by Segrin & Nabi (2002). In fact, since the couple is divorced, they are able to maintain a lasting relationship while not being committed to one another. The second idea that the show contradicts is “physical intimacy.” The couple obviously does not have sex anymore, due to the fact that Peter is gay. The show seems to be suggesting that the two can have a relationship without having to be physically intimate, which definitely runs against the majority of romantic scripts found in media. Lastly, the show also questions “time together,” and “positive affect” as “ideal” qualities as a necessity for a couple. In the show, both Fran and Peter actively seek other partners, both for sexual gains and other, and the other partner seems completely fine with this. The show is not stressing the need for people to spend infinite amounts of time with each other or to even enjoy the other’s company on a regular basis in order for them to be happy. The show often deals with Fran and Peter’s differences and conflicts and shows how the two find a way to work through them in order to create a deeper friendship.

Although the show Happily Divorced seems to be proposing that the new standard for an “ideal” relationship may look a lot different than what was once thought to be “ideal,” the show also stresses the need for “couples” to be friends or partners, suggesting that, even though they are not still married, they should still be there for each other like they once were. So, maybe “happily ever after” still does exist. Maybe it just looks a little different.

Transgender Visibility in the Media

   After reading the 'Information-Seeking Practices during the Sexual Development of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Individuals: The Influence and Effects of Coming Out in a Mediated Environment' article and our class discussion on the visibility of LGBTQ individuals in the media, it seemed pretty clear that we could all at least come up with one or two shows that featured a gay or lesbian character, and had at least heard of one that had a bisexual character. While we touched on the topic of transgender existence in the media, it was difficult to come up with shows that included such a character let alone had them as their main feature. After giving it a little bit more thought however, the show Ru Paul's Drag Race came to mind. Soon following, I saw an article online reminded me of the purpose the show serves that goes beyond discovering "America's Next Drag Superstar!". 

Tyra Sanchez:Season 2 Winner of
RuPaul's Drag Race

   

   The article I read was about Ru Paul's Drag Race season 2 winner, James William Ross IV, otherwise known by drag stage name Tyra Sanchez, in a new documentary about his dedication to fatherhood as a drag queen. While a contestant on Drag Race, James/Trya often spoke about the fact that his main motivation in the competition was to win it in order to better be able to provide for his now seven-year-old son, Jeremiah. Contestants alike on the show, most notably during workroom and backstage footage, often shared very frank stories about their personal life struggles, their coming-out stories, breaking into the drag scene, and how their drag lifestyles effected relationships with their family and friends. While individual stories ranged widely in diversity, the common themes consisted of establishing acceptance within their communities and/or forging new "drag families" and finding a place in the gay community. This called to mind how the Brown, Hefner, and Drogos article mentioned that, “After LGB individuals are able to express their sexual identities to themselves, the next developmental task to tackle is coming out to others. If individuals can integrate their sexual identities into their lives successfully, they will experience a level of acceptance.” (Brown et al. 2008). 

   Media exposure such as television shows, documentaries, films, and internet sites/blogs help promote establishing normalization of transgender lifestyle in society through portraying examples of community acceptance regarding non-mainstream issues (such as being a drag queen). By coming out publicly as a drag queen, Tyra/James is promoting public education and awareness raising through TV exposure helps establish a more accepting community not only for himself and his son, but for the broader LGBTQ community in general. Through exposure via multiple media outlets, information about LGBTQ lifestyles and communities becomes more available to those who may otherwise be unexposed to these things (such as LGB adolescents/teens). The research article points out that “The stories communicated through computer-mediated means could serve as information sources for the LGB adolescent browser, in essence, constructing a virtual community that gives these adolescents a sense they are not alone.” (Brown et al.). While in general television portrayals tend to adhere to stereotypes and can thus promote inaccurate images of transgender individuals, it is still important for LGBTQ individuals to continue to pursue their increase in media exposure. Through multimedia exposure (such as internet blogs and documentaries) there can be a better effort towards challenging stereotypes and increasing awareness by providing more avenues to do so.

   Brown et al. reaffirms the importance of attention to multimedia exposure by explaining that, “Media, particularly the Internet, may now be serving as the primary information source for LGB adolescents. Ryan and Futterman (1998) argued the Internet plays an important role in early adolescents’ declaration of sexuality because it provides information that allows teens to label feelings and figure out who they are.” These ideas can be echoed by Ru Paul's famous words at the end of every Drag Race episode, "If you can't love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love somebody else? Can I get an Amen?!"

Marriage Makers Inc.

The eighth season of the Bachelorette has come to a thrilling conclusion as Emily chose Jef (with one f) as her knight in shining armor. Jef (with one f) proposed to her when he found out he was the winner and, of course, she said YES! Tears started flowing down my face at this truly remarkable and beautiful moment. I mean, they’re going to get married and live happily ever after and never ever find themselves on the front of a tabloid with their breakup story. That never happens to the winners of these shows!

            The bachelor and bachelorette preach love and marriage throughout each season and yet very few of the “winners” have lived happily ever after. I think this has to do with the expectations of marriage that the contestants on the show have and how the media plays into them. These expectations on marriage and how a relationship works might also be transcended down to the viewing audience who actually believes that these relationships will last.

A show like the bachelorette falls in line with Segrin & Nabi’s (2002) findings that, “Viewing television programming that focuses on marriage and close relationships is associated with [idealistic expectations of marriage]” (p. 250). The bachelorette builds up an idealistic relationship that is to perfect and to good to be true. First of all, all of the contestants go into the show expecting to come out with a marriage partner at the end. I’m sorry, but any relationship where you have to propose at the 6-week mark (approximate filming length of the show) is one that is probably not going to last. Throw in that you’re always on camera and never get actual time to talk in a real-life setting and these relationships are as far from realistic as you can get.

I think the Bachelor and Bachelorette can be problematic for people who watch them and create ideas about the dating and marriage process. The contestants on the show never have to resolve conflicts with each other. Instead, if there’s ever something major, they just don’t give them a rose at the next ceremony. It also doesn’t present a relationship that takes work and isn’t always fun and games. Every date that they go on is extravagant and in exotic locations. The idea is that a relationship should be a constant vacation with no worries. This becomes a problem when people view this as how a relationship should be, and if their relationship in real life fails to be a vacation at all times, then they’ll leave t without putting any work in. Plus, there’s always someone else waiting at the next rose ceremony…

Girls and Sports! Why Are They Dropping Out?

While waiting for “The Dark Knight Rises” to begin, I saw a pre-show commercial (those ads when the lights are still on even before the good previews) that actually caught my attention! No, it wasn’t about buying popcorn or the latest celebrity trivia… this ad was about young girls dropping out of sports at double the rate of young boys. What was most interesting about this commercial is that it blamed this dropout rate, as least in part, on the media for sending girls certain messages. The acknowledgement of the media’s influence is what caught my attention and made me think about/relate the ad to this class…

The ad starts by showing girls on a soccer field. Background voices filter in, speaking the messages that we see every day in magazines and commercials… “ Hide your flaws…“ , “ What guys notice,“ “Are you ready for swimsuit season?”. The girls on the field then turn in to make-up covered, high-heel strutting, hair-flowing females … basically, real life Bratz dolls…. The final message of the commercial is “Don’t let them walk away from their potential”.

This ad is claiming that these media messages are causing females to drop out of sports due to the pressure they put on girls to be feminine and sexy. The background voices in the ad were saying the exact same things as Seventeen magazine says - like my group found during our in-class activity. It was clear in our magazine exploration that the media encourage young girls to be boy-crazy and fashion-obsessed. I don’t think any of our groups saw mentions of sports or other hobbies in any of the magazines we read. The only hobbies we found were facebooking your crush or finding that right shade of foundation.

What struck me the most was the fact that this ad was about media’s effects on girls’ participation in sports. This approach is different than simply looking at media’s effects on girls’ sexual behavior/attitudes/expectation/etc.  In class we have read a lot of studies that look at these latter sorts of effects.  Readings such as Brown et al., (2005) and Taylor (2005) show that media content leads to more permissive sexual attitudes and possibly more sexual behavior. What the readings have thus far failed to acknowledge is how the media are affecting other aspects of youth’s lives. This ad shows that these messages trickle in to every aspect of a girls’ life, from her boy-crush to her after-school activities.

 It seems that people often look at sports and sports organizations directly when they critique the lack of female sports participants - blaming them for not providing as many opportunities or equal quality of instruction. However, it is rare to see the blame being put on the media in direct regards to sports participation. It seems clear, now, that media heavily influence girls in their decisions to not play sports…seeing as how media so overtly tells girls to be docile and pretty - and, heaven forbid they be competitive or athletic.

Overall, this commercial was interesting as it looked at a less commonly acknowledged effect of all the ‘be boy-crazy’, ‘be beautiful’, ‘be sexy’ messages in media.

A Dangerous Paring

I can't get enough of Project Runway, but as I went to the Lifetime website to watch the premier episode of season 10, I was horrified by its promotional picture. Along each side of the screen, the following photograph was used as a banner, along with the headline "It's Cut or Be Cut":

I was literally frightened when I saw this! This is Project Runway we're talking about here, not a sadomasochistic porn site. If you're unfamiliar with the show, model Heidi Klum is its host and figurehead. In this picture, she is lying on a bed of scissors while holding two open scissors in her hand. It looks as if she's about to be cut, like the photo's heading suggests. This picture could have potentially negative consequences for those who view it. Klum's nearly-naked, vulnerable-looking body is being paired with sharp scissors. In other words, violence and sexualization are being combined, which equates to sadomasochism. Is it just me, or do other people find this advertisement equally horrifying?
       This ad is consistent with the finding that female models are often nude and in sexually explicit and submissive postures (Ward, 2003).

Movie Theater Shooting

The horrific events that took place in Colorado brought forth the question of what role violence plays in the media. After reading countless studies on the effects of violence in movies it seems that this may have played a role in the shooting, since the gun man reportedly was calling himself "the joker" to authorities while he was being arrested. I found an interesting article and while it is way to early to learn the exact motivations behind this event it does bring forth some interesting notions of how connected audience members can be to characters in the media and what a profound effect media can have over individuals. Regardless of what you guys think I thought I would pass it along.

Dark Knight Rises Tragedy: Can Violent Entertainment Be Blamed?

Stereotype threat

I often think of myself in relation to my close friend Allie, who is the yang to my yin. We have contrastive world views and very different senses of humor. Just about the only thing we have in common is our taste in music, but we complement each other well as friends. Another way in which our paths diverge is that I have taken the relatively safe path (in terms of being gender-friendly) and studied communications and film in college. Allie, meanwhile, takes courses in physics, calculus, and chemistry, and is considering a minor in computer science. When I go to a comm class, there's a solid chance the students will be at least 80 percent female. Meanwhile, when Allie goes to class, she is a minority as a female, and she tells me she is constantly worried about making a mistake and looking like a "dumb girl."

That women are underrepresented in math and the sciences is no secret. There are fewer women than men on television, and they are typically younger and shown in more provocative clothing. While the diversity of women's careers has expanded on television in recent years, it still doesn't rival that of men's. What Allie suffers from is 'stereotype threat', which NPR describes thusly: "When there's a stereotype in the air and people are worried they might confirm the stereotype by performing poorly, their fears can inadvertently make the stereotype become self-fulfilling."

Clearly, stereotypes have existed long before the media, but these stereotypes make it into the media and are reinforced in a vicious cycle.

http://www.npr.org/2012/07/12/156664337/stereotype-threat-why-women-quit-science-jobs

American Adolescence

Today’s discussions left me wondering about something.  We were discussing particular examples of media from our adolescence that we remember having served as memorable sources of potential “sexual socialization.”  The thought lingered in my mind, “What specific example from my adolescence stands out most in my mind whilst trying to answer the aforementioned question.  At first nothing significant came to mind, but later the question crept back into my head and my firsts thoughts were of the film American Pie.

I was in middle school when this film was released.  I can remember many of my friends and classmates talking about how “sweet” the movie was, the basis of this opinion resting primarily on the fact the we were all underage and the film was rated R, as well as the widely publicized news that Shannon Elizabeth and other girls get naked throughout the film.  I can’t say to what degree, if any, this played a part in shaping my own, or any other adolescent’s, notions of what constitutes normal or desirable sexual attitudes and behaviors.  However, it does serve as a great example upon which to apply principal themes of analyses from our studies, specifically those of Kim and others in the 2007 article entitled From Sex to Sexuality: Exposing the Heterosexual Script on Primetime Network Television.

The film follows a group of high-school boys nearing the end of their senior year.  They make a pact amongst themselves that each of them will lose their virginity by the end of their senior prom.  The shenanigans that follow are little adventures and mishaps they all experience in pursuit of their common goal.  Immediately, the theme of “Sex as Masculinity,” comes to mind.  The basis of the whole story essentially revolves around the idea that these boys are constantly obsessed with sex and willing to go to ridiculous lengths to have it.  Elements of female objectification are rampant throughout.  For the most part, all sexual situations in the film feature men as the sexual initiators or aggressors, while simultaneously portraying the female characters as sexual gatekeeper figures characteristic of the “Good Girl” code.  Additionally, elements of both “Masculine and Feminine Courting Strategies” are inherent throughout the majority of male-female interactions in this film (Kim et al., 2007).  The male characters employ a wide variety of behaviors, often devious, bold, or compassionate in nature, along the course of their exploits, while the female characters explore their newfound power over boys through provocative clothing and suggestive behavior or language.  Basic themes encompassed by both male and female commitment and homophobia codes can be observed as well.  The male character’s attitudes often reflect a lack of emotional attachment regarding sexual encounters.  Meanwhile we see the female characters reinforcing the usual attitudes that they require the intense devotion and monogamy that they aspire for in a relationship.  The homophobia related codes are sporadically dispersed throughout the film, many times assuming the form of Steve Stifler’s crude remarks.

This film and the following sequels paint a very detailed picture of the sexual experiences typical of late high school, then college, and so on.  Its primary sexual themes coincide with those discussed in class, however, it is unique in its portrayal of potentially embarrassing or painful sexual mishaps of confused adolescents, usually demonstrated by Jason Bigg's character, Jim and the awkward father son talks the inevitably follow.  The central themes of the films themselves revolve around these unfamiliar new experiences and the sticky situations that can arise along the way.  Assuming limited existing knowledge on the subject, any adolescent viewing the events of this film could arguably absorb any of the various sexual messages presented throughout.  In a way it almost functions as a guide or example for inexperienced and impressionable individuals, especially those approaching that time period in their lives.  The examples set forth by this film, just preceded my high school career, and I can confidently say that they definitely served as previews of the general events to expect in the future, however unlikely some might be.  Eventually, as I approached the end of my senior year of high school, the unfamiliar notion of what to expect from college and life afterwards began to set in, luckily I had the newest sequel to fill me in.