Listening to everyone’s research
paper topics today was really interesting and cool to see what everyone has
decided to do. I was interested in
John’s paper on the portrayal of male and female athletes in the media. I was disheartened to hear how little time or
validation women’s sports are given in the media, but it does make sense that
more media would be focused on men, since they are the primary sports media
consumer. I am interested to watch the
Olympics this summer and see how the sports are covered in regards to gender,
as opposed to seasonal sports. I was
also interested in Emily’s presentation on hegemonic masculinity in movies such
as Anchorman. I never really thought about the impact male
characters in TV or movie comedies have on society. It does make sense that as a part of mass
media in America and abroad these movies do have an impact, but it never
occurred to me that they could be as impactful as some other forms of media
masculinity (WWE, fight club, etc.…).
Reflecting
back on the course this semester I feel that I have learned A LOT! As Alex wrote and I agree, I never realized
how our “realities” were social constructions of gender normativity and
ideals. It is crazy to me that since
birth we have been socialized in the proper societal behavior in terms of
gender, social class, and family values.
It made me think about the nature vs. nurture debate, and I wonder how
much of our personalities are inherent and how much is just extreme engrained
socialization. They take twins who have
been separated at birth and attribute their similar habits to nature, when
after taking this course I wonder if these people have similar habits because
they were raised in the same society, with the same overarching values, beliefs
and socialization. This class as well as
teaching me a bunch has made me a much more conscience consumer of media. I cannot walk through an airport or drive
down a highway with billboards without noticing something that is most likely appalling. This class taught me that just waking up one’s
conscience to the reality of advertising and societal expectations you start to
understand the reasoning behind much of society, and why things are the way
they are.
Gracie makes a good point regarding socialization and how so much of “reality” is constructed by either the media or other social outlets. Your point regarding nature vs nurture is a perfect example of just how much of gender is socially constructed. Prior to taking this class I had never thought about gender being socialized and now I am rethinking so much of what was engrained into my life since childhood. I like Gracie question my own habits but also the habits of my friends and how much of each of our personalities are a result of socialization of gender. This class has taught me to think more critically and question some of the norms I once took for granted.
ReplyDeleteLike Carly and Gracie, I had never truly realized how socially constructed gender is and how we are taught to act out our gender roles from such a young age. It seems like we are taught to act feminine or masculine from such a young age that we come to see our genders roles as something natural. The article on gendered bodies in preschools really resonated with me and me made think about how people so easily reinforce gender roles in young children without ever really consciously knowing that they're doing so. I think this in part because we have come to see gender as innate and natural, and thus don't notice when we reinforce gender roles. I've been volunteering through Conn at various preschools for the last four semesters, but it wasn't until this semester that I really started to notice what the children were wearing. I constantly cringed when I watched girls who couldn't participate in the more athletic activities because they were wearing dresses and skirts or shoes that weren't comfortable enough to run. However, none of the boys ever had this problem. All the boys' clothes were more comfortable and allowed them to move and run around as much as they wanted.
ReplyDelete