Sarahjtraylor's Blog

Get Kris Allen’s new album now on iTunes

sarahjtraylor — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:55:28 +0000

Get Kris Allen’s new album now on iTunes

Introduction

sarahjtraylor — Tue, 05 May 2009 18:24:50 +0000

This semester in Gender communication we have studied many different concepts and learned to apply them to many different things. The main thing I applied them to was different forms of media. I believe that media is a major influence of the people of this generation. The media can affect how we act, behave, our self concept, and many other aspects of our life. The different forms of media that I chose as my artifacts were television, movies, commercials, magazines, and cartoons. I also chose personal experiences for some of my artifacts as well just to show how the concepts occur outside of the media.

The media is very clever, when it comes to portraying gender and gender concepts. Most of the media goes along with the gendered stereotypes such as male friendships being chumships and nothing more. The media also uses issues such as feminism in there commercials to get more women to listen and get involved, whether it be finishing college or getting a high ranking job. The main form of media that I think portrays gender concepts the most is television commercials. You always see females cleaning the house or cooking when their husbands are watching a football game on television with their buddies, which is the usual stereotype of females and males. I think that movies and television shows have started to go against the norm for gendered stereotypes. Recently the media has started to show very successful women such as the women president in Commander and Chief, and independent women in Sex and the City. We have started to see men show more emotion, have more feminine qualities and have intimate conversations with their guy friends.

One form of media that I think has the least amount of restrictions on what they can talk about pertaining to gender is cartoons. Cartoons seem to be able to get away with anything they say, it could be the worst most untrue stereotype of a certain sex but they can still mention it because it is a cartoon and it is supposed to be funny. Cartoons seem to be able to bring up the more serious or sensitive issues like that of feminism and women being stereotyped in the workplace. I chose cartoons for this very reason, because they can talk about things that the other forms of media try to stay away from. It is very interesting to see how cartoons portray different gender issue and stereotypes. The last artifact form I used was personal experiences. I chose to add in these because I thought it would be good to show gender concepts through real life experiences besides how they are seen in make believe televisions shows and movies.

This semester in Gender Communication we learned a lot about gender concepts and stereotypes and I believe that the media portrays these things better than any other artifact. All of the media does not really have limitations on how they show these concepts and issues to us, so they just blatantly show them, which in some cases can be very funny, like in MTV’s show Tila Tequila. I believe that my personal experiences and the media can some up the majority of the things that were discussed in Gender this year and I have learned a lot this semester and now I find myself pointing out different concepts and ideas that we have discussed when watching television or movies.

Gendered Violence and Music Videos #30

sarahjtraylor — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:45:22 +0000

In this music video by Ciara featuring Justin Timberlake called “Love Sex Magic”; Ciara is constantly portrayed as a sex object. They show Justin touching her everywhere and licking her face. The outfits that she wears throughout the music video also portray her as a sex object. Having this music video show things like this is not good for the younger viewing audience because it may make them think that they should act this way. This video also makes males think that they can treat women like this because all they are needed for is to be a sex object for men.

Gamble and Gamble say in their book that music videos often show women as background decorations, sex objects, and targets of male gazes and desires (pg. 370). This music video is a perfect example of this because Ciara is seen as Justin’s sex object and he looks at her like he desires her. This type of music video is not a good example for younger generations and just becuase it is popular they think that it is right. I don’t think that this portrayal of women in music videos will stop because it is very popular right now, sex sells, and they won’t stop doing it until it’s not popular anymore.

Gamble, T.K., & Gamble, M.W. (2003). The gender communication

connection. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

The Y’s (Director). (2009, March, 3). Love Sex Magic [Music Video]. Ciara and Justin Timberlake (Performer). Fantasy Ride. New York: MTV Networks.

Spotlighting #29

sarahjtraylor — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:20:26 +0000

In the movie Meet the Parents the main character played by Ben Stiller is a nurse. In one of the scenes he is questioned on why he is a nurse and not a doctor because men are not usually nurses. Ben Stiller doesn’t let it bother him but then they start calling him a “male nurse”. This portrays spotlighting because his gender is being highlighted just because he is a man and they are not usually nurses. This happens with both males and females when they are in a job that is not usually a norm for their gender.

Gamble and Gamble say that spotlighting is when you highlight the person’s sex calling attention to it (pg.71). If you have a gender specific job and you are of the opposite gender then spotlighting will more than likely happen to you. When you think of a nurse you automatically think female job but there are men that are nurses and they spotlight them calling them a ‘male nurse’. Spotlighting occurs in both sexes and is considered a sexist language (pg.71-72).

Gamble, T.K., & Gamble, M.W. (2003). The gender communication

connection. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

De Niro, R., Roach, J., Rosenthal, J., Tenenbaum, N. (Producers) & Roach, J. (Director). (2000). Meet The Parents [Motion Picture]. United States: Dreamworks & Universal Studios.

Televisions Gendering Effects on Children #28

sarahjtraylor — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:48:42 +0000

Television shows seem to focus more on male characters than female characters especially in cartoons. The cartoon DOUG focuses on the main character Doug Funny and all of his friends. There is really only one girl who is seen quite often and that is Doug’s crush Patty. All of Dougs’ friends are boys and the school bully is a boy too. Having a show that focuses around boys tells younger children who watch it that boys are more important than girls. A lot of cartoons have the main characters as boys and this can really affect the children who watch these cartoons.

Gamble and Gamble say that the ratio of males and females in kid’s television programming is very unbalanced, and because of this children of both sexes are going to learn that men are more superior than women (pg.357). This is a bad thing, because ever since the feminist movement we have been trying to keep it equal between the sexes. Over the years it has gotten better with the recent success of Hannah Montana and iCarly. These television shows are showing children that girls are important too. I think as the years go on children’s television will continue to become more equal in the use of gender.

Gamble, T.K., & Gamble, M.W. (2003). The gender communication

connection. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

Jinkins, J. (Creater). (1991). Doug [Television Series]. Los Angeles: Nickelodeon Studios.

Advertising Stereotypes of Women #27

sarahjtraylor — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:14:07 +0000

The media is one of the main places where we learn to do gender. In this commercial you see women dancing around in their underwear. This commercial is just a representative of how many commercial you see of women in their underwear or lingerie. Rarely do we see men in their underwear, we always tend to see them in suits or sports clothing. Having women always in lingerie in commercials teaches young girls that it is normal for young women to be prancing around in their underwear.

Commercials like Victoria Secret where women are seen in skimpy lingerie teach men and women that females are sex objects. Gamble and Gamble say that one of the main ways that women are advertised in commercials is by them wearing sleepwear, underwear, or lingerie (pg.353). Women are seen wearing these outfits more than they are ever seen wearing a suit (pg.353). Men are also portrayed as sex objects in commercials but not as often as women are. If you compare the number of commercials where you see women in underwear to the number of commercial where men are in underwear, the amount will be drastically different.

Gamble, T.K., & Gamble, M.W. (2003). The gender communication

connection. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

Magee, H. (2007, July, 30). Heather magee dance momix hanes commercial [Video file]. Video posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc_D3fOlg9Y&feature=PlayList&p=E3EF272B67B9B7E5&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1&fmt=18

Sexual Harassment #26

sarahjtraylor — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:51:43 +0000

This clip from YouTube shows a good amount of the “that’s what she said” jokes from the NBC show The Office. The manager of Dunder Mifflin says that’s what she said jokes all the time, and sometimes that is he only response to questions that his coworkers ask him. The jokes are funny, but when you think about it, it is a form of sexual harassment. The jokes revolve around sex and can sometimes be very sexual. One joke in particular, somebody said “and you were directly under her the entire time”, speaking of work hierarchy and how Michael had a female boss, and Michael’s response was “that’s what she said”.

Gamble and Gamble say that sexual harassment can come in many forms and one of them was telling sexually charged jokes (pg.281). The whole show The Office I feel revolves around the “that’s what she said” jokes, which are all sexual in nature. Michael doesn’t care if he tells them to males or female, but either way it is still a form of sexual harassment. These days I feel like sexually oriented jokes are more acceptable then they were 10 to 20 years ago, which makes people not even think of it to be sexual harassment.

Gamble, T.K., & Gamble, M.W. (2003). The gender communication

connection. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

Daniels, G., Gervais, R. (Writers). (2005). The Office [Television Series]. Los Angeles: Columbia Broadcasting System.

Glass Ceiling #25

sarahjtraylor — Fri, 01 May 2009 05:13:37 +0000

In this cartoon it shows two women in an office building and one woman says to the other that she is going to quit her job and get married because there are too many glass ceilings. Women in the workplace have to go through a lot and be able to handle many stereotypes to survive. This woman has obviously given up and is giving in to the stereotype that women should not be working and that they should be a homemaker. The glass ceiling has kept her from advancing in her career and she has had enough with it.

Gamble and Gamble say that the glass ceiling is when women as a whole are kept from advancing to a higher status in their career just because they are women (pg.275). Women could be of equal qualification with men and the man would probably still get the job because of the glass ceiling. Women feel that they can only advance so far before they hit this invisible ceiling. As hard as some women try they are never going to get past it, which is portrayed in this cartoon.

Gamble, T.K., & Gamble, M.W. (2003). The gender communication

connection. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

Morris, J. I’m giving up a business career to get married-too many glass ceilings [Cartoon]. (n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2009, from Cartoon Stock.

“Women’s Sports” vs. “Sports” #24

sarahjtraylor — Fri, 01 May 2009 04:18:27 +0000

This cartoon shows the idea of “women’s sports” vs. “Sports”. In the cartoon you see two women talking about how they as females have come a long way since the beginning of feminism. They said that years ago you wouldn’t have heard the word female and athlete in the same sentence. By these women saying this they are demonstrating how sports casters always make the gender evident when it is a female. You never hear a sports caster say ‘Male Athlete’ but for some reason they have to point out the fact that a certain athlete is a female.

Gamble and Gamble say that when individual sports figures are discussed the gender of the athlete is not mentioned unless it is a female (pg.361). Female athletes are just as good and sometimes even better than male athletes but for some reason their gender has to be mentioned. As a female athlete myself, I would always get mad in high school when we would be announced as the “Girls Basketball” team and the boys would just be announced at the “basketball team”. I think the reason for this is because male sports are more popular than female sports but I don’t like how there has to be a distinction between the two.

Gamble, T.K., & Gamble, M.W. (2003). The gender communication

connection. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

Cooney, D. A few years ago nobody even used ‘female’ and ‘athlete’ in the same sentence. (n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2009, from Cartoon Stock.

Females Preferred Learning Style #23

sarahjtraylor — Fri, 01 May 2009 03:08:46 +0000

In this picture you can see that these girls are collaborating and interacting in class. One of the preferred learning styles of females is collaborating, along with interacting. Interacting is a very common learning style that females like. As a female myself, I also prefer interacting and collaborating in class rather than what males prefer. Males like more competitive learning styles and I think this goes back to their playing styles. Boys always play very competitive hierarchal games and that reflects in the type of learning that they prefer the most.

Women’s preferred learning styles are interaction, collaboration, participation, and reflection; when males preferred learning styles are objectivity, separateness, competitiveness, and hierarchical structure (pg.239). I performed a survey with both males and females seeing what their preferred learning style was and it was mixed among the sexes. I only had one guy say he preferred competitive, but a lot of guys said they preferred interaction which is a female learning style. The females preferred the usual female learning styles unlike the males who preferred the opposite sexes.

Gamble, T.K., & Gamble, M.W. (2003). The gender communication

connection. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

Google Imageshttp://blog.nj.com/newark/2008/11/large_1girl.jpg