I really like the idea of the blogs. I enjoy being able to express my own opinion. I love how casually I can speak about such forbidden topics. I like that there are not just quizzes or tests that our grade is completely based on. I defiantly like having blogs be a larger portion of our grade, rather then more extensive quizzes. 

I think that the deadlines for the blogs could be a little different. Instead of having them due at 5:00 p.m. on friday, maybe they could be due at 5:00 p.m on sundays. This could be helpful if someone had a very busy week, at least they would have a portion of the weekend to write the blog. 

Blogging definitely helped me understand the reading better. Blogging tied together the lectures and readings more clearly. I liked how we had to specifically quote something from the reading, because that brought everything together more cleanly. I also liked the majority of the readings. I enjoyed getting the opportunity to read articles about topics that I would not normally read about. The readings and lectures have given me new opinions about so many things. There is so much in the media that I will no longer over look. I’ve realized that so many comments and images are deliberate, and not coincidental. 

I don’t think that 8 blogs are too many at all. I feel like that is a perfectly fair amount. The only problem I have was the fact that I always had so much to say and I had to limit myself. This is one idea, I don’t know if it would work for you. But, you could have a blog every other week. Like, one half of the class does one week and the other half does the other. This would mean everyone did 4 blogs, but they would be expected to write twice as much. This way, people would not feel like they would have to limit what they would have to say. I think this would also force people to read more into the readings and lectures. Just an idea. 

Thank you again for an amazing quarter!! I hope we can keep in touch

The proceeding clip is the music video for Taylor Swift’s, “Our Song.” In this music video, Taylor portrays the concept of “bodies in control.” Physically, Taylor Swift is the epitome of the hegemonic ideal for American culture. She is thin, white, blond haired and blue eyes. She is thin and very in shape. She is in control of her body, instead of her body being in control of her. To maintain the hegemonic figure, we may assume that she eats well and makes time for an active lifestyle. She obviously cares about her appearance. There is nothing wrong with her caring about her physicality, it is just apparent. This video also represents the discrepancy of the virgin/ whore dichotomy. 

Taylor Swift is not represented the way other young singers are/ were (e.g. Miley Cyrus, Brittany Spears, Lindsay Lohan). Instead of marketing sex appeal, Taylor Swift produces a “girl next door” vibe. Her songs are always about love and heart ache, which give her a sense of innocence and naivety. Her voice which is cute, fresh, and young, coincides perfect with her peppy attitude and debatably conservative style of dress. Taylor is able to stay out of the media in regards to scandals that other celebrities have had to fight through. So this leads one to believe that she is the virgin, right? Wrong. She represents both the virgin and the whore. Watch the music video, behind every innocent word there is a seductive glance. The camera focuses in and runs from her toes up to her waist, her legs bare. Taylor’s hair and make up is professionally done. This music video is a perfect example of the tension between the virgin and the whore within one individual.

This discrepancy of sexuality within an individual got me thinking. Why is it so important for the rest of the community to be able to label a celebrity (someone whom they do not even know) as a “whore” or a “virgin.” Natalie Dylan explains, “idealized virginity is just a tool to keep women in their place” (Dylan, 1). These labels are just another way that society belittles and underestimates women. Sex sells, but sometimes innocence sells even more. Sometimes not giving up everything, makes a female that much more appealing to the opposite sex. I am beginning to believe that the “virgin” or “angel” persona, is just a tactic young celebrities use to sell themselves. It’s kind of ironic that by being perceived as a virgin, you can still in a way be selling yourself. 

Kearney continues to speak about the subjectivity of females, more specifically young girls, “recent transformation in female adolescent subjectivity and girl culture are seriously challenging previous conceptualizations of girls and female youth cultures as only consumption-oriented” (Kearney, 289). Females, predominately adolescents have become completely objectified, not only in the media, but in every day life. Girls allow themselves to be sold as products for their own benefits. Weather it be to sell more records or to score the desired guy, girls are selling their innocence. 

Digressing, I feel like the American Dream is achievable. However, I believe obtaining this ideal demands luck and the right means. Due to birth rights and opportunities open to an individual, the American dream can be more accessible to some people, opposed to others. Someone born into a middle upper class family is going to have a lot easier time acquiring the dream, then someone who was born on the poverty line. Hard work and talent can only take an individual so far. I believe that connections with the right people, and being at the right place at the right time can also help one to achieve the American Dream. 

In relation to young girls in American Society, I feel that the American Dream can be both destructive and positive. I believe it is positive, if a young girl looks at the phrase as inspiration to achieve whatever she wants to achieve. However, I believe the phrase can be destructive if a adolescent girl thinks about what the saying meant went it was first spoken. The American Dream ideal was directed toward men. Therefore, this thinking could be very destructive, if a adolescent girl stops trying in life and decides to obtain the American ideal by depending on a man that has the means to support her.

Bibliography 

Dylan, Natalie . Why I’m Selling My Virginity .

Kearney , Mary . Producing Girls . New York : New York City Press , 1998.

I found it so hypocritical that my school prided themselves on diversity, because in my opinion my school had no diversity. We always had assemblies about different races and ethnicities. Speakers would preach about how we should respect people of all races and ethnicities, but I was never really exposed to any of them. “Consumers engaged in awkward modes of resistance & representation. It seemed that we wanted both capitalism & communalism; feminism as well as a singular authentic self; patriarchy plus liberation; Africa the motherland and the African dream” (Zook, 586). Zook says it perfectly, people want to be able to say that they are able to be counter hegemonic. They want to have the audacity to stand up for their beliefs and respect people of all backgrounds. People create a persona that they respect all diversities of people. But in actuality, they never come across these people, and if they did, they would probably go back to their hegemonic ways of thinking. 

My school is in the outskirts of Baltimore City. The address of the school is considered the city, but it is still fifteen minutes away from down town. The “Every body Hate’s Chris” episode actually reminded me of some of the girls at my school. Not because of the way any of the characters acted. Instead, it was the concept that Chris lived in an undesirable area of the city (in this case; downtown Baltimore) and he commuted via bus to a predominately white school. There were 2 girls in my grade who took the bus, both from downtown Baltimore. Again, there is nothing wrong with taking the bus, but it was definitely not the “norm” for a Roland Park area high school student. Almost every girl in my grade drove their own car to school. It was not uncommon to have new BMW, Lexus’, Rangerovers, etc. in the student parking lot.

The community I grew up in, was also open to people of a different sexual orientations. It was not uncommon that I would be introduced to someone and later be informed that they were bi sexual, lesbian or gay. However, being straight, gay, or bi sexual, were the only three sexual orientations that were considered acceptable where I am from. Being transgendered, and other less common sexual orientations was never really spoken about. 

The “Seinfeld” episode we watched in class, actually reminded me a lot of my guy friends from home. Sometimes they would pretend that they were gay just to get a reaction out of the people around them. I knew they were not gay, and they know there not gay, and I guess that’s all that mattered to them. This also goes back to masculinity. I believe that when one is confident with their masculinity, they are comfortable with people doubting their sexual orientation. 

Also, a lot of straight girls from home hook up (make out) with each other in public settings. Rumors are never started about them, that they may be gay, because everyone knows that they are not. It has become acceptable that two straight girls can hook up, and their sexual orientation will not be challenged. “My approach suggests how what might seem to be queer, can come to be normalized in mainstream culture” (Raymond, 100).

Bibliography 

Zook, Kristal. The Fox Network And The Revolution In Black Television. Oxford University Press, Inc, 1999.

Raymond, Diane. Popular Culture and Queer Representation. Oxford University Press, Inc.

Walt Kowalski takes pride in his masculinity. He is the hegemonic ideal of masculinity, in that he is self sufficient and unemotional. Walt is a war veteran, and his bitterness allows no one to forget it. Walt portrays his masculinity when he speaks to his barber or to any other male. He uses racial slurs and foul language when speaking to other men. Walt also remains unemotional when his wife dies. Even at her funeral, Walt refuses to cry, or even say much of anything at all. Being a war veteran, Walt has obviously seen many deaths. I believe that he feels that he should be complacent with death, because showing any emotion about death would be showing weakness. 

Walt not only affirms his power through his masculinity, but through his caucasian race as well. In American society, whiteness is synonymous with power. “White power secures its dominance… Whiteness is constructed as  the norm against which not dominant groups are defined as ‘other”‘ (Katz,350). Walt affirms his whiteness by speaking in a derogatory way towards people of different races. He calls Thao and his family “zipper heads” or “fish heads.” He even calls the black people on the side of the road “spooks”. I believe this language represents Walt’s masculinity as well as conveys his strong sense of nationalism.  I believe that his discriminatory language is also a constant reminder that he is a war veteran. The veteran title empowers his masculine title. 

Walt although evidently masculine is still in crisis. The world he once knew is falling apart in from of him. He is witnessing the empowerment of women. Particularly, when he watches Su’s spunk and confidence opposed to Thao’s unsureness and shyness. Walt also witnesses the uprising of both minorities and other nations. His neighborhood is no longer predominately white. His own son both sells and drives a Japanese car; even though Walt worked at a ford manufacturing company his entire life. “… white males had to contend with increasing economic instability and dislocation, the perception of gains by people of color at the expense of the white working class, and a woman’s movement that overly challenged male hegemony” (Katz, 351). 

Technically, Walt is the hegemonic, however, his masculinity is threatened by foriegners and women, who he believes should not have the same power as him. It is apparent Walt is threatened by the foriegners around him. He is obviously very uncomfortable when his doctor is asian. He is at crisis with his masculinity, because times are changing, and his definition of masculinity is more old fashioned. 

I believe that what Walt did at the end of the movie represented counter hegemonic masculinity. The hegemonic male would have gathered his five closest friends, and together they would have approached the gang and tried to shoot them all dead. Walt, finally realized his real values in life and the importance of retribution. At the end of the movie, masculinity was not what was important to him, vengeance was.

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Above is a campaign picture for our current president, Barack Obama. In 2008, he was elected as the first black president of the United States. Not only did he become the first black president, he became the first non caucasian president to be elected into the white house. This is an example of how time has changed, and how white masculinity is not the only form of power in the United States. 

Women and men of other ethnicities have gained increasingly more credibility. It is modern that a diverse group of people are empowered. A black man in president would make Walt extremely uncomfortable.  In his mind, black people are nothing more then “spooks” and white male’s can only be masculine. 

Bibliography 

Katz, Jackson . Little Big Men: Bodybuilding Subculture and Gender Construction. Albany : New York Press , 1993.

The violent persona adds quite nicely to the image of the hegemonic male. An aspect of hegemonic masculinity, is a toned and muscular body type. Men can be very competitive as too who’s body is more “buff.” The competitiveness of an ideal body figure, sometimes gets out of hand. A lot of boys and men try and fight each other to prove who is more “masculine.” Like Katz says in the proceeding quote, not all men are violent. But violence gives men an extra edge to their masculinity. 

Since i’ve been at OSU (for the past month) a weekend night has not passed without hearing one of my guy friends state that they would like to get into a fight, or actually antagonizing someone until they finally start a fight with them. The first friday night I went out here, I witnessed one of my friends get punched and fall to the ground. He had a black eye! 

Violence is a serious matter, but sometimes I have to laugh. I hear my guy friends talking “big game,” that they are going to beat someone up. They try to sound like a hard ass by explaining a fist fight that they almost got into, or a kid they almost knocked out. I find it funny because I know half the people who claim they are down for a fight, would back out at the last minute. I do not understand men’s fascination with fighting. It boggles my mind that a guy finds a sense of pride and glory when he states: “I got into a fight last night.” 

Part of me believes that fights or even threats to begin a flight is all done to impress women. If violence is associated with being masculine, maybe it is a tool men use to assert their masculinity. In actuality, I wish guys realized that a lot of the girls they are trying to impress by hurting other people, are completely against violence. 

The proceeding clip is a trailer for “Fight Club.” When everything is going wrong in the main character’s life, he turns to Taylor Durden, and together they establish fight clubs all over the nation. It is important to note that all members of the fight clubs nation wide are male. This represents sexism, because it indicates that only men would want to join a fight club. The movie is also sexist against men, because it insinuates that all men would want to join a fight club. 

I feel as if Kuntz hit the nail on the head in describing violence in today’s society. I feel as though the “Fight Club” clip is a prime example of Kuntz argument that violence is a masculine noun and according to the hegemonic, only men can be violent. 

Although “Fight Club” supports Kuntz’s argument, I think the video clip takes it a step further as well. The main character in “Fight Club” is Brad Pitt who is the hegemonic of masculinity in American Society. His shirt is off several times throughout the movie, and his body reveals American Societies’ ideal of sexy. Not only is violence often associated with masculinity, but the concept of violence is often viewed as “sexy.” 

In most fight movies the main character is a hegemonic male (ex; Brad Pitt, Paul Walker, Channing Tatum). The good-looking male who is fighting is almost always tan and built and a hegemonic girls’ “dream guy.” 

This concept leads me to believe that maybe girls are not the only people who base their body image off the media. I now believe that a lot of men are violent because, they see the girls and glory the violent stars in movies are able to obtain.

Bibliography 

Katz, Jackson . Little Big Men: Bodybuilding Subculture and Gender Construction. Albany : New York Press , 1993.

The proceeding video clip is a commercial for Victoria’s Secrets. Throughout the video, word’s continue to pop up on the screen questioning “What is Sexy?” According to this video, sexy is the stereotypical caucasian women. All three models are white (but very tan) and the hegemonic of femininity. Their bodies are thin and their skin is smooth. They are tall and the only fat on their bodies are in desired locations. They have defined butt’s and large breasts. All three models have delicate facial features and long elegant hair. Their eye make up is done to emphasize the seductive look they give the camera.  

Each model in the proceeding advertisement represent the hegemony of a “fat free body.” They are America’s representation of “What is Sexy,” and they are all thin. Other then the butt and breast area’s, none of the models have an ounce of body fat on them. Their wastes and thigh’s are small. Their stomach’s are flatter then some girls who have not even hit puberty! This advertisement is indirectly “pro ana” because, it is selling “What is Sexy” and showing images of women without an ounce of fat on them. According to this advertisement, you are not sexy if you do not look like these women. 

I believe that pop culture and the media play a large part in dictating how we want to be viewed. According to the media you have to be a size 0 waste and a size 34 D breasts to be sexy. I believe many people manipulate their body to fit the hegemonic stereotype. Weather it is through over regulating food intake, or by cosmetic surgical procedures, women constantly feel the need to keep up with what they see in the media. Maintaing an “ideal” body has overtaken the time an energy of many women and adolescent girls in America. 

“Third wave feminists’ like those of pro-anorexics, illustrate the dilemma’s that today young women face in negotiating culture’s stifling on hegemonic feminine beauty ideals while trying to enact agency through the negotiations of their identities” (Dias, 32). As I said before, I believe that media has a strong bearing on how women see themselves. I agree with Dias in that anorexia can be a dangerous disease to acquire, because so many people in today’s society strive to be as thin as they can. Young women try to find themselves, they want to be accepted. But accepted by who? Their friends? Family? Community? Maybe. 

“(Western) culture… urges girls to adopt to a false self, to bury their real selves, to be come ‘feminine.’ which means to be nice, and kind, and sweet, to compete with other girls for the attention of boys, and to value romantic relationships with boys above all” (Jean Kilbourne). Girls want to be accepted by the opposite sex. Several base their self worth off of the quality and quantity of guys they can get attention from. Many girls will sacrifice their self worth to receive admiration from a male. The yearning to receive acceptance from the male species reinforces girls desire to adapt to the hegemonic ideal. Women, predominately adolescent girls watch boys fawn over hegemonic icons (like the models in the advertisement). Girls begin to strive to obtain the same look as those models, because that is the only way they will feel accepted or pretty. 

What men and adolescent girls fail to realize is the hegemonic ideal in the media is not always a reality. “…the fact that the proceeding months issue of People had been completely devoted to airbrush coverage of the “fifty most beautiful people in the world” (Bordo, 457). It becomes a simulacra. Girls are starving themselves to reach an ideal image so they are accepted by the opposite sex. However, the ideal image was never a reality in the first place.

Bibliography

Bordo, Susan. Twilight Zones: the hidden life of cultural images from Plato to O.J. University of California Press, 1997.

Dias, Karen. “The Ana Sanctuary: Women’s Pro Anorexia Narratives in Cyberspace “. Journal of International Women’s Studies Vol. #2 April 2003: 31-45.

In American Society it is not acceptable for a straight male to show or tell his feelings to another straight male. In actuallity, if a guy shows any emotion towards one of his male friend’s he is immediatly laughed off and called “gay” or a “faggot.” After a guy says something counterhegemonic he immediatly needs to reassert his masculinity. Bulman quotes Pascoe “‘cumpulsive heterosexuality’ and what she calls the ‘fag discourse’ as a method of asserting a heterosexual identity in public” (Bulman 69). In Superbad, Seth and Evan constantly speak about girls in a derogotory way. They comment on their classmates bodies and fantasize about how well they would do in bed. Being virgins, both boys are uncomfortable with their sexuality. To compensate for the lack of sexual action they recieve, Seth and Evan constantly talk about sex and porn in public. By speaking publicly about sexual topics, they are announcing to the community that although they may not be getting “ass” they are straight and love women. 

I am glad I get to speak about the “male gaze” in this blog, because whenevr I watch teen movies, the “average” high school girls, are not “average” at all. The girls are dressed provocativly not only at both parties that Eric and Seth attend, but in school as well. At most schools across the nation it would be completly inapropriate to walk down the halls with your thong or boobs hanging out. The way girls dress in teen movies (including superbad) is a simulacra. No where in America do girls go to high school dressed like that. Yet, it is a constant in every teen movie (ex: Mean Girls, Clueless, Bring it on…(etc.) The way girls/women are represented in movies is a copy of a copy of copy. It is “a pure simulation bearing no relation whatsover to reality. Whith hypereality, the sign becomes more real then reality itself” (Roberts,305).  The girls are dressed that way to please the male eye. 

Superbad fits the “teen comedy” genre in more ways then how the women are dressed and portrayed. Superbad follows the same common plot. Everything starts out happy and functional, there is a dilema, the main characters hit a low point (the climax), but in the end everything ends up “ok”. Their several popular conventions aswell including; sex, partying, alchohol, coming of age, and losing one’s virginity. 

I believe another common aspect of postmodernism prevelant in the movie is the dire need for Seth and Evan to lose their virginity. Postmodernism emphasizes that “images are more important then the real.” Not every male loses his virginity before college and losing one’s virginity does not dictate one’s “manhood.” It is current media and society that has brought boys to feel obligated to have sex to reach manhood. Who declared sex the only prerequiste for manhood? 

Above is an add for “girl approved” hair. The whole concept of Superbad is to have sex with a hot girl. Both Evan and Seth are constantly searching for the approval of the opposite sex. It may sound cliche because the axe commericals are meant to sound corny. But many men only care about the way they look and how they smell to impress a girl. Sometimes, I wonder if boys would even shower if they were not concerned about being sexually attractive. The concept of “girl approved” is also hegemonic. Males are suppose to be straight, and hegemonic masculinity stresses the importance of being looked at favorably by the opposite sex. 

Bibliography 

Bulman, Robert. “Enlightened Teenage Masculinity”. Culture Reviews Summer 2008: 68-69.

Stam, Robert. Film Theory: An Introduction. Maiden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2000.

I think the previous commercial represents a lot of the ideas that we have talked about in class. The first thing that comes to mind when I watch this commercial is the use of sex appeal to try and sell the car. The women driving the Cadillac is in a little black dress and stilettos. She is obviously a pretty white women and she is speaking in a seductive tone. She even says: “When you turn your car on, does it return the favor?” It is not an accident that Cadillac chose a beautiful white women to try and sell their car. Men are less likely to change the channel if a beautiful WHITE women, dressed provocatively is trying to sell them a product. Using sex, allows the company to get more publicity. 

The second concept I think that is very apparent in this commercial is the concept of homogeny. The woman in the video is a typical “ideal” woman. She is white, beautiful, tall and skinny. She is wearing a black dress and stilettos which is the “norm” for a women who are trying to look sexy. In the video, Kate, is representing what women should want to wear and look like. Therefore, if a man saw this commercial he may be intrigued by the sex appeal and want to buy the car because of the promiscuity of the commercial. However, a women, particularly an adolescent girl may watch the commercial and see a beautiful women in an expensive sexy car. That may give them the idea that if they could only look like the woman in the commercial, their lives could too be glamourous, and they could afford things like the new cadillac. 

Commercials do not just sell their product, but social “ideals” weather the director intended so or not. I think the commercial demonstrates a “dominant stance” because there is nothing in the commercial that represents conflicted hegemony. The women in the video is clearly hegemonic as I discussed above, and the car is brand new and expensive which is also hegemonic. People associate their cars with their social status. The more expensive and higher quality their car is, the higher people are socially ranked. 

This add also reminded me of the clip of “Clueless” we watched in class. The girls were completely polished, beautiful, and wealthy, just like the woman in the car advertisement. These qualities in advertising motivate people to buy the product, because everyone who gives in to hegemony wants to either be the prettiest, the classiest, or the wealthiest. 

In “It’s Just a Movie!” Smith, discusses how everything in a Hollywood film is put their for a reason. “When film makers want something to appear random, they carefully choreograph it” (Smith, 128). Even though this is just an advertisement, I believe it is the same concept. The director purposely chose the red cadillac to be in the commercial, because red is normally thought of as a “sexy” color. If the cadillac in the commercial was silver or white the same amount of energy would not be contributed to the sex appeal. Commercials are only 30 seconds long. Directors have to take advantage of their time, therefore, everything you see in a commercial, is there for a reason. 

Lull discusses that the people we surround are self with circulate hegemony as much as the media does. “Dominant Ideology streams must be subsequently reproduced in the activities of our most basic social units” (Lull, 62). This is true with the cadillac example is well. The media may originally grab our attention to buy the newest most “high class” car, but every time someone compliments our new cadillac, they are giving into hegemony as well. 

Bibliography

Lull, James . Gender, Race, and Class in Media. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications , 2003.

Smith , Greg. “It’s Just a Movie “. Cinema Journal Autumn 2001: 127-134.

2. Year in school: First Year 

3. Major/minor: Social Work… I want to eventually go to Law School. 

4. Languages you speak: Fluently? Just English. A little french. 

5. Which other women’s studies classes have you taken? (If none, N/A): N/A

6. Which other popular culture studies classes have you take? (If none, N/A): N/A

7. Why are you taking WS 230? Being a girl, I thought it would be really interesting to take a class that is focused entirely on women, and the comparison of women to men. 

8. What is your favorite band/musician/song? Favorite Band is Blink-182, saw them in concert this summer and it was AMAZING. I don’t have a favorite song, but anything by Blink. I love 80′s music too, despite the fact I was born in 1990. Rap music is fun to dance to  

9. Movie? I like a lot of action movies and comedies, but my favorite movie is Fight Club 

10. TV show? NCIS or Law and Order “Special Victims Unit” … pretty much anything on USA. Unless the RAVENS or BUCKEYES are playing, and then my T.V is on ESPN. 

11. website/video game? NBA ’09 or Madden ’10

12. Embed a picture of yourself!

13. Embed a video you like!

Read all four of the Twilight Series… Can’t wait for New Moon. Even though the movies are not as good as the books!! haha