November 2011
7 posts
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I'm Just Another Lily Potter Who Has Happily Found...
Who are you?
Snape - mysterious, misunderstood, a dark side outshone by good intentions?
Dumbledore - crazy, wise, all-knowing, humorous, hopeful?
Or maybe Harry Potter himself, the hero of the popular saga?
In David Nylund’s article, “Reading Harry Potter: Popular Culture, Queer Theory and the Fashioning of Youth Identity,” Nylund argues that popular culture “provides...
Gendered Lives - Who are we Living For?
What is gender in contrast to sex?
Most importantly, the author of this book insists that gender is learned. If you need a refresher in this, head to the Gender Stereotypes blog I previously wrote on how much one performs gender on a daily basis. Wood illustrates that “Gender is learned. From infancy on, we are encouraged to learn how to embody the gender that society prescribes for us....
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An Analysis of Kalof's "The Effects of Gender and...
This blog will be addressing Linda Kalof’s 1999 study, which examined “the influence of gender and exposure to gender-stereotyped music video imagery on sexual attitudes” (378). She explores different types sexual attitudes, including sexual beliefs, acceptance of rape myths and interpersonal violence, and gender role stereotyping. 44 U.S. college students participated and were...
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October 2011
13 posts
6 tags
Humans: The Sex Organs of the Machine World
“The medium is the message.” - McLuhan
Every medium extends human senses. When McLuhan talks about media, he is not just referring to popular media (i.e., the TV, the radio, the newspaper, etc), but all types of media - cars, paper, etc.
According to McLuhan, the media is more important than any message it could output.
The radio transmit the messages you hear. The automobile...
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Take a Note from Heyes, Ringrose, and Walkerdine-...
Why is our society so obsessed with presenting us “the perfect woman”? Moreover, why doesn’t our society pressure men equally to have the perfect body? Women are pressured more and more to look, act, and ultimately become the perfect woman - the socializer, the wife, the professional, the mother. Each role comes with its specific requirements: sexy, friendly, compassionate,...
cosmosnotchaos asked: Your blog is fuckin' great. Keep it up. I guess that's not a question, but I don't have a question this time, haha
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An Example of FanFiction - Buffy Vs. Edward →
“In this re-imagined narrative, Edward Cullen from the Twilight Series meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s an example of transformative storytelling serving as a pro-feminist visual critique of Edward’s character and generally creepy behavior. Seen through Buffy’s eyes, some of the more sexist gender roles and patriarchal Hollywood themes embedded in the Twilight saga are...
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Slash Fiction Meets Reception Theory
For those of you unaware (as I was before today’s WGST lecture), slash fiction consists of fictional pieces of literature involving two main characters of popular culture, characterized by the punctuation joining them (i.e. Han/Luke, Kirk/Spock, Batman/The Joker, Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy)… usually erotically. You get the idea.
But Toni, you may ask, why did you give examples of...
On "performing" gender
Interesting post! Raises a good point about the dualistic nature of our society. Putting on make-up makes you a girl, not putting on make-up makes you a guy. It’s strange, isn’t it? How doing or not doing an action classifies what you are. I suppose my ultimate concern would be that this whole guy/girl gender identity thing takes away from what we truly are: human beings....
September 2011
17 posts
Have you performed "gender" today?
Do we, as individuals, actively ‘perform’ gender on a day-to-day basis?
That is to say, do we perform gender stereotypes unconsciously through literally every action we perform?
Stop and think about your day. Since you woke up this morning, how have you performed your ‘female’ or ‘male’ or ‘trans’, etc., gender?
From an article by Candace West and...
"A key finding of the study is that weight gain is... →
We live in a society that puts more pressure on women to ‘look nice’ than to worry about health problems. This isn’t just subject to alcohol abuse - think: plastic surgery, botox, liposuction. Or, at a more manageable level for most of us ladies: waxing (ouch), plucking (ouch), shaving (ouch)… you get the idea.
Women are told by commercial society to worry about their leg...
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“I love food and hate exercise. I don’t have time to work out. I don’t want to be...”
– Adele (via bearnaked)
In response to James Franco
First off, I just wanted to say that James Franco is majorly babely whether he is dressed as a woman or man.
Secondly, I don’t believe that it was “one tiny public stunt” at all! Of course not all of us were flabbergasted when this happened, but since it was James Franco, a very mainstream actor, people reacted. I think that most of said “google hits” could have...
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Ghoul Power →
Buffy changes the outlook of the ‘blond socialite’ into a vampire-ass-kicking-heroine.
cosmosnotchaos asked: Just wanted to say that you are quite an entertaining read!
If we are aware...
that “sex sells,” does it really? I mean, if I go to the store and buy a 6 pack of Coronas, I”m probably going to do so because I like Coronas for their smooth and light taste, but am just as inclined to buy Paddock Wood (local beer) because it will also get me intoxicated. I know that getting laid does not (always) = alcohol, despite the fact that many companies will use...
Alcohol Leads To Sex... or is that what they want...
Alcohol. Sex. Alcohol + Sex = a great time. At least that is what many advertisements for Alcohol will lead you to believe. many use the woman as a sex symbol to help sell their product. Look at ads such as for Bacardi Rum, Corona, budweiser, etc. They all use sexual symbolism to grab the attention of their audience and therefore may lead to an increase in sales of their product. the audience is...
I never thought this is what I'd be doing in...
WGST 201, a creative project, and a glass of wine; here we collide together on a Monday afternoon. This blog is meant, in plain, to engage you, the internet users of the world, in a healthy debate.
What do you think is popular and why? How does something come to be popularized in our culture? How is gender portrayed in pop culture? Are you ready for this, the one question to rule them all?
How...
