Project: Female Athletes and Equality

  For my project I used Powerpoint, Camtasia and the internet to find things to support my claim, “ teen female athletes are represented as less than male athletes.” In class we learned about the dominant ideology S.C.W.A.A.M.P., we also learned from Douglas about inequality against women which included a quote in my video. In the reading by Douglas, Enlightened Sexism we learned of women being used as sex objects and decorative, which we learned in Tolman and Higgins’ reading, Mastering Your Johnson,“Goffman notes that men in advertisements are more often depicted as performing a function while women are merely decorative (Goffman, 1979, p. 32-35)” (Tolman 105). This is definitely evident in the poster for “The Little Giants” Ice Box, the only girl who plays football in the movie. She is set apart by looking at the camera and her hand is on her long. In the poster for the film “Gracie," Gracie is in the center and has the ball on her hip and is the only girl. In a still I found for “Love and Basketball” it says girls cannot play ball” which reinforces the stereotype that males are not equal to females.

In a site I found it states the stereotypes of women especially on sport media. One quote from the site backs up the ones from Tolman and Douglas,“Televised Sports News: Women Are Humorous Sex Objects in the Stands, but Missing as Athletes” (la84foundation.org). Even televised sports show the inequality of women. It is true I have an older brother and when I walk by I usually only see the male sports segments on the sport channels. Another quote that supports this is “Women’s sports were under reported and under represented in the six weeks of television sports news sampled in the study. Men' s sports received 92% of the air time, women' s sports 5%, and gender neutral topics 3%” (la84foundation.org). I found these quotes at www.la84foundation.org/9arr/ResearchReports/ResearchReport2.htm, under summary of findings by Dr. Margaret Carlisle Duncan, Michael A. Messner, Linda Williams and Kerry Jensen it is an August 1990 article.

In the scenes from “Gracie” and“Little Giants” there is whiteness, maleness and able bodied people, there is also males and priority ownership, because the family own the house, and straightness when she is in the car with the guy. In “Love and Basketball”there is maleness, able bodied people and all the scenes incorporate Americanness because sports are highly valued in America. Property ownership is included. The kids mention Monica, the girl playing basketball moving in next door. All the movies include straightness. I noticed while watching the "Gracie" trailer that the mother says "if you want to limit yourself that's fine, but don't let others do it for you." I do not like that she said its fine as long others do not. She should not have to limit herself at all.

I also found a picture of Tara Dakides which is decorative. It focuses on her. Her snow board is in the back of her. she is used as a sex object. Here is the link along with other female athletes. it is titled" Best Looking Athletes. ahttp://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0611/gallery.prettypeople.women20/content.10.html

sorry my computer was acting funny and i had to fix my video again.

Talking points 8 "Enlightened Sexism":Quotes

            In the “Enlightened Sexism” by Douglas we learn of her teenage daughter and  how the media has progressed, but keeps women in an unfair state, by making them sex objects or powerful. Douglas argues that young women are not as powerful as they seem in the media, because there are men setting the boundaries of how far they can go.

One quote that I found interesting was about girls and academic success, “… girls were getting way too much attention and, as a result, were going to college in greater numbers and much more likely to succeed while boys were getting sent to detention…” (Douglas 2).  Christina Sommers, an antifeminist wrote this in her book. She was blaming feminism and girls progressing on boys getting in trouble. The article says women in higher positions were told to step back.

Another quote I found interesting was on equality, “Now, the media illusion is that equality for girls and women is an accomplished fact when it isn’t” (4). It bring up the fact that women and girls are portrayed as being equal to men, but in the real world once women or girls move forward they are degraded by the male world.

The last quote that I thought was similar to Tolman’s article was, “instead, the wheedling, seductive message to young women is that being decorative is the highest form of power- when, of course, if it were, Dick Cheney would have gone to work every day in a sequined tutu”(5). In Tolman’s article we learned of how women were just in magazine a decoration, while men were active.  Douglas writes that women are only powerful when dressed right or wear the right thing. Douglass ends by stating that women are still in need of work. The quotes I choose relate to the reading because it shows women and girls have been placed in a box out a world run by men.

Talking Points #7 Dean "Gays and Queers" : Argument

In Gays and Queers: From the Centering to the Decentering of Homosexuality in American Films”James Joseph Dean argues the images of gay stereotypes are reinforced, “…there has been an increase in gay images, these images continue to reinforce, to a large extent, stereotypical representations of gays and lesbians as inferior or hyper-visible tokens who are reduced to their homosexuality”(364). An example of gay teens represented as inferior is in the “Pilot” when Curt is thrown in the dumpster. An example of the quote“ hyper visible tokens who are reduced to their homosexuality” is also in the “pilot” when Sandy, the old glee teacher touches a student.

Dean also argues that homosexual characters were presented as rebellious or having a disease, “…up to the end of the 1980s, film scholarship shows that when homosexual characters were featured in films they were typically presented as deviant and pathological human sickness from murderers and sociopaths” (364). In the scene from Linen and Things we find out that Sandy becomes a drug dealer after losing his job at the school, had a long distance girlfriend and smokes marijuana. Deans uses five concepts to analyze sexual identity and normative heterosexuality. They are sexual identities centered or de-centered, gay or lesbian subcultures, how heterosexuality operates with in narrative, how gender identities are presented, and critique of normative heterosexuality or normative gender conventions.

In the “Pilot” episode heterosexuality is seen as important because Curt is bullied for being gay and the athletics see the glee club as gay. The episode also has Schuester as married couple and Fin and his girlfriend. Dean also mentions the fact that a film may focus on the day and lesbian identity, “chiefly, these films make gay and lesbian identity into a uniform and essentialist, identity where the main characters’ lives revolve around their homosexuality” (366). This is true in the “Prom Queen” episode when Curt is named prom queen and Santana Lopez and others must support him. Curt also tries to help Santana’s date accept his gay identity.     

Dean writes about how Steven Seidman’s argument on the normal gay teen, “Hollywood films evidence a shift from the ‘polluted ‘to the ‘normal’ gay. ‘The “normal” gay is presented as being fully human; as the psychological and moral equal of the heterosexual’.  In the show the “normal” gay/lesbian teen would be Santana Lopez. She is a cheerleader and known around school and ran for prom queen. She and her date and are not known as gay or lesbian to the school.  

In “Never Been Kissed” and “Pilot” there are examples of whiteness and a mix of black, white and Asian students , Christianity and American teens that play sports and join clubs.  This show teaches us that “normal” teenagers make fun of teachers, dine and dash, explore sex and hang out and talk. It also teaches us that “normal” teens get kissed. There was a scene in the “Pilot” episode where Emma says, “kids go allow with what is cool even if it is not who they are” it shows that teens will not go against the majority. In the beginning of the “pilot episode” Rachel says “I need a male lead who can keep up with me vocally” and she also says “I am sorry Mr. Schuester, if you cannot give me what I need, I can’t waste her time with Glee” these quotes reinforce the idea, that men are needed for a women to progress. The second quote by Rachel also shows her to be able bodied. She will not wait. she also says that "you cannot wait for someone to give you things, you have to go after them."

Talking points 6 Tolman and Higgins" how being a good girl can be bad for girls": Connections

In “How Being a Good Girl Can Be Bad for Girls” Higgins and Tolman write about  girls and sexuality and parpallel it to young men. In one section they write about a women who’s son was getting attention from girls, the women wrote to Ann Landers who received twenty thousand responds, “..what this says to me is that a good many young girls really are out of control. Their hormones are raging and they have not had adequate supervision”(Tolman 206). This is what is mentioned in Raby’s article about teens and the storm. It suggests that teens can not control themselves.In Raby’s article there are quotes from two teens girls one. Vienna who said, “ and they say ‘oh your hormones are going crazy’…” (Raby 436). The another teen is Jazzy who said, “I think what it is when you are a teenager, people are like, ‘your hormones are racing” (436). It seems like a constant theme for teens to hear this. Raby writes about the storm and how it affects teens, “the storm creates an understanding of teenagers as powerless in the face of the inevitable tempest of hormones and uncertainties that they must cope with” (443). She was writing about how the idea is set in place and how the teen must adjust to it. In Easy A Olive’s teacher asks  guidance conselour to make an appointment with her. He also says, “ I think she;s gon through a phase” when he referrs to her new choice of clothes and the A on her shirt.

Tolman wrote about boys being praised for sexual behavior and how girls being called “obessed”(207). In the movie there is a little of this when Olive and Brando come out of the room. Brandon is cheered by the boys, while Olive is gwaked at. There is a revese desricption of what happens with Olive in Krassas article, “Master Your Johnson” says, “Men have sex with women, of course; and while it is a sign of virility to have more than one woman at a time, the women are there to please the man”(Krassas 114). It is a sign of masculinity for a man to sleep around, but with women in the movie it is a rumor waiting to happen.

In movie homosexuality is viewed as odd and bad. Brandon says he gets picked on everyday at school and even at the end of the movie he runs away to be free. With Brandon homosexuality is not a passing phase, even though he tries to hide it. The father says it is a phase he went through. The overall message of this movie is that female sexuality should not be openly expressed, while men’s should. This perpetuates the dominant ideology that Tolman and Higgins write about in the beginning of their article. This media matters because it shows how far a teen would carry on just to be noticed. It also showed multiple sides a teenage high school experience. It is not just the loner, or the big kid or the awkward kid.

Talking Points #5 Krassas: "Mastering your Johnson": Quotes

 In “Mastering Your Johnson” Krassas uses studies by Goffman. The studies were on sexuality in Maxim and Stuff and how sexuality is viewed by men and women. It also looks at white people as being sexier than other races. The article looks at roles given to men and women and how the bodies posing submissively or dominantly and objectification.

One quote that relates to the reading is, “Maxim and Stuff are emblematic of new generation of magazines, marketed to young men whose content is largely aimed at defining sexuality and sexual practice” (Krassas 99). This relates to the text because it speaks about males and their sexuality and how images dictate it.

Another thing that Krassas writes is, “The male gaze frames heterosexuality as an existence where the male identity is not just different than the female identity but more valuable” ( 100). This means that men are more important than women, because she an object he can look at through magazines and other types of media. This quote shows the roles of men and women. It shows men have power just by looking.

The last that relates to the previous verse is, “Goffman notes that men in advertisements are more often depicted as performing a function while women are decorative” (105). This quote is suggesting that women should be passive and men should be active. Most magazines show men as strong and capable, while women are just objects.

Media Artifact: "Thirteen" Preview

Presentation on Media Artifact Thirteen

“Teenagers are depicted as out of control, lacking discipline, wrecking havoc on the adult

 World (Ellis, 1996)” (Raby 444).

In 2003 a review by Todd McCathy it says,"....'Thirteen' is a deliberately unvarnished shock piece designed to give pause to anyone with a daughter approaching teenhood. Catherine Hardwicke's helming debut, which won the jury's directing prize at Sundance, can fairly be compared to the work of Larry Clark, such as "Kids" -- although not as self-consciously provocative or sexually explicit, -- its overriding aim is to tell the startling "truth" about what really goes on in the lives of young teens.” (Varitey.com)

1) What do you think about Christensen would say about the second quote based on stereotypes?

2) Do you think that there is an at risk factor in this preview why or why not?

In Raby’s article it says “The storm and becoming are more likely than the others to be naturalized as inevitable, psychological and/or biological features of adolescence. Both are also sites

where teenage sexuality seems to be of central concern: how might the turmoil

of growing up manifest itself sexually?” (431). Can we answer this with the video preview?

3) What do you think the teens in this preview have to deal with most “the storm, becoming, at risk, social problem or pleasure consumption”?

4) Does SCWAAMP fit this preview?

5) I noticed that Tracy is close to her mother like Sarah in Save the Last the Dance. Do you think there is a message that is being sent out?

6) Then she lose the relationship what do you think about the friendship? Why do you think she changes? It is due to growing up or new friends?

Talking Points # 4 Teens as Producers of media texts

http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/about_us/teen_media/abc2's-teen-media-project-lets-teens-produce-monthly-news-show,-teaches-life-skills

This 2010 news article features a story on Baltimore teens. Who prefer to use their time producing their own new stories on ABC2. It is great how they get three students prospective on experience in the article. Usually you do not get to read about teens and their experience. There is also a video of the teens’ work. They are professional and on top of everything. The broad room shoot was great they all look like adults, but are showing the world that teens are responsible enough to take on any task. One thing that one of the students said was, “people are so impressed with what I’ve done, that it sets me apart from everyone else.” It counters the statement in Raby’s article that says, “Claire said that teens are scary, insolent, promiscuous, spoiled, insufficiently controlled and not religious enough” (Raby 436). The teens in this video and article seem to be well manner and respectful. They are also working hard to make their production a success. We are also fed the idea that teens are violent and sexual beast. In reality some maybe, but many are not, like these teens in the video. One of the girls in the video said, “One of the biggest things we’ve learned is how to present ourselves and we practice that almost every week.” ABC had enough confidence in the teens to go against the projected stereotypes and hire them for nine years as the video claims.