Here are the key questions we answered about how sociologists have examined gender. These questions connect to my blog posts. In partners, please divide up the following questions and review the posts. Then, teach your partner what the answer is to each one.
Review Questions
What is gender and why is it confusing? What does it mean that gender is a social construction? What is a binary and how does it contribute to the confusion? What is the evidence for gender changing over time?
How does the construction of gender get transmitted?
What does CJ Pascoe's research reveal about masculinity?
How are males at risk because of masculinity norms in school, their health and for violence?
What does the Mahler research find about school shootings?
How does the media socialize women into gender?
(Killing Us Softly) How does the socialization of females occur in media? What are the socialization messages the media creates for women? How do the socialization messages about gender affect the feelings about sexuality? What are the manifest and latent messages from the media about consumerism and violence?
How are females at risk in our culture, esp. for sexual assault and body image?
According to Adichie, what does it mean to be a feminist?
What are the effects of gender socialization on jobs and income?
1. According to Adichie, what does it mean to be a feminist? Is this different from what you wrote at the beginning of the unit?
2. Is being a feminist a bad thing to Adichie? To you? To American society in general?
Here is a 2016 report from WaPo about attitudes toward feminism in America. A few of the findings are listed below in the graphs.
Why might "feminist"be seen negatively?
Is it simply being confused with misandry?
Or, is it connected to the traditional way masculinity is framed? If being masculine means not being anything feminine, then does that create an inherent negativity of feminism?
It's really interesting to me how the connotation of feminism has hurt the cause of feminism because people who believe in gender equality don't want to be labeled "feminists". Should sociologists use symbolic interactionist paradigm to understand why "feminism" is not palatable to the general public? If so, then what should it be called instead? How can it be re-framed? If not, why not?
Is there a connection to all things feminine being denigrated and the denigration of feminism?
Here is some research from JSTOR Daily about the history of the women's movement and feminism. It might be hard to believe but within my lifetime, restaurants were allowed to say that they do not serve women.
Feminists framed the issue of male-only accommodations as a civil rights violation, akin to racial segregation. African American NOW member Pauli Murray referred to gender discrimination as “Jane Crow.” Exclusion from the sites of commercial and political power-broking, feminists argued, contributed to their status as second-class citizens. As the historian Georgina Hickey explains in Feminist Studies, they saw the restrictions as a “badge of inferiority” that circumscribed their lives and opportunities. The right to drink alongside men was symbolic of the chance “to function as an autonomous adult in a free society.”
Those against the feminist campaign were armed with an array of reasons for denying women equal access to accommodations. Some suggested that women lacked the ability to calculate the check and tip correctly, that bar crowds were too “rough” and boisterous for them, or that male-only spaces were sacred respites for politics and sports talk, where men could share “lewd stories” or “have a quiet beer and tell a few jokes.” The manager of Biltmore in Manhattan insisted that businessmen’s conversations were simply “not for women.” Bars were, in Hickey’s words, the “last stronghold of masculinity” in the early 1970s, an oasis for men during an historical moment marked by the transformation of gender norms. Government officials sometimes reinforced this notion: One Connecticut State Representative claimed that a bar was the only place a man could go “and not be nagged.”
How are females at risk in our culture? "Like a girl" - How does the denigration of women and misogyny affect both women and men? Can you connect this to dramaturgy?
The promotion of masculine traits above feminine ones leads to denigrating of all things feminine. This binary doesn't allow for individuals to be who they really. Instead, it pushes males and females to opposite poles with opposing traits. And the binary's message is, if you are a male, you can't be anything considered feminine. This means males deny their own humanity because they cannot be caring, empathetic, emotional, vulnerable or dependent - all of which are human traits.
Sexual Assault and Females - How are women at risk for sexual assault?
What are all the steps you take on a daily basis, to protect yourself from being sexually assaulted? The objectification of women and the denigration of all things female puts women at risk physically. Males are socialized to be aggressive and to see women as passive objects. This puts women at risk of sexual assault and puts them on the defensive. Men may not realize this because they do not have to think about it. But for women, this is something that is conscious. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/07/what-women-have-to-do-to-be-careful_n_7072080.html
The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services provides valuable information about assault, including about consent and what that means:
Consent is a clear “yes” to sexual activity. Not saying “no” does not mean you have given consent. Sexual contact without consent is sexual assault or rape.
Consent is an ongoing process, not a one-time question. If you consent to sexual activity, you can change your mind and choose to stop at any time, even after sexual activity has started.
Past consent does not mean future consent. Giving consent in the past to sexual activity does not mean your past consent applies now or in the future.
Saying “yes” to a sexual activity is not consent for all types of sexual activity. If you consent to sexual activity, it is only for types of sexual activities that you are comfortable with at that time with that partner. For example, giving consent for kissing does not mean you are giving consent for someone to remove your clothes.
College freshmen women are especially at risk for assault. Information about that is here:
Studies show that students are at the highest risk of sexual assault in the first few months of their first and second semesters in college.2
Women who identify as lesbian, bisexual, or gay are more likely to experience sexual assault on college campuses than heterosexual women.1
Lisa Wade is an influential sociologist who studied "hookup culture" in college. She found that some males engaged in sexual activity that they regretted because they felt pressured by masculinity to do it.
For more info, here is an hour-long talk from Dr. Wade at Elon University. 4. Femininity and body image - How are women socialized to think about their "self"?
This post from the Society Pages highlights how females are objectified in the media.
Do you know Amy?
This video shows Amy not feeling like hanging out. There are numerous studies showing that this is true for significant numbers of young women. Look at the research below and think about whether this has been true in your life. Do you know girls who struggle with self-esteem, body image and eating/dieting disorders? If you don't, can you at least see how the media is constructing a reality for girls?
Research about the effects of media socialization on females
"...after interacting with attractive peers, the women's perceptions of their own appearance changed, whereas interacting with family members did not have any bearing on their body image....Social media engagement with attractive peers increases negative state body image," explain the researchers. 2018 research — led by Jennifer Mills, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at York University in Toronto, Canada, and Jacqueline Hogue, a Ph.D. student in the department's Clinical Program — examined the effects of social media on the self-perceived body image of young women. Mills and Hogue published theirfindingsin the journal Body Image. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323725.php
Thin Ads + Low Body Image = Stress? Ads Showing Skinny Models Might Hurt Self-Worth In Vulnerable Young Women Viewing ads of super-skinny models may make young women feel worse about themselves, especially if they have body image problems, according to a new study. Researcher Gayle Bessenoff, Ph.D., reports the findings in Psychology of Women Quarterly. Bessenoff is an assistant professor in the University of Connecticut's psychology department.
What Studies Show: Links Between Media and Self Esteem in GirlsMany studies conclude that there is clearly a link between young women’s self esteem and the media. *The Journal of Research on Adolesence, in a study of body image and self esteem (Daniel Clay, Vivian L. Vignoles, Helga Dittmar - 2005), imparts that the the declining self esteem that girls often experience entering into adolescence is in part due to social comparison with media models. In a 2006 study of girls' body satisfaction and self esteem from the American Psychological Association (Hayley Dohnt,, Marika Tiggemann), research also illustrates that media creates a negative influence on girls' body images and self-esteem – particularly in regard to acceptable levels of thinness.
A particularly alarming media trend is the sexualization of women at younger and younger ages. Medical News Today discusses how suggestive images of young women negatively affect girls self-esteem, playing a role in onset of depression, eating disorders, and low-self-esteem.
Sexualization Of Girls Is Linked To Common Mental Health Problems In Girls And Women Science Daily (Feb. 20, 2007) — A report of the American Psychological Association (APA) released today found evidence that the proliferation of sexualized images of girls and young women in advertising, merchandising, and media is harmful to girls' self-image and healthy development.
Dying to Fit In- Literally! Learning to Love Our Bodies and Ourselves By Christine Hartline, MA In the United States approximately 10% of girls and women (numbering up to 10 million) are suffering from diagnosed eating disorders. Of these at least 50,000 will die as a direct result! Recent data reported by the American Psychiatric Association suggests that of all psychiatric disorders, the greatest excess of patient mortality due to natural and unnatural causes is associated with eating disorders and substance abuse.
Teen Body Image Media images have a strong effect on people's body image, particularly for women, because the ideals the media presents for women are farther from the average woman's body. The Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC) reports that in 1972, the ideal woman shown in the media (models, movie stars, etc.) weighed less than the average woman, yes, but only by 8%. By the late 90s, the difference had become 23%... In one study from Harvard University reported by (SIRC), it was found that by age 17, 7 out of 10 teens have been on a diet and as many as 80% of teens may have a negative body image....The onset of eating disorders for 86% of people is before they finish their teens.
Look at this powerful video about how people are made to think about themselves and how different that can be from reality.
Killing Us Softly 4 is a video that highlights the dangerous influence that media has had on our culture - especially how women are socialized to think about themselves, but also men too. (Click here to watch it on mediacast). The video highlights how destructive these images are. Here is the discussion guide for the documentary. Pages 5-7 provide a summary of key ideas in the movie. Here is a link to Jean Kilbourne's website which includes resources for you to fight these messages. There are a lot of interesting resources there so please check it out.
The main topics are:
Advertising Environment - How does the socialization of females occur in media?
Ads are everywhere and it has been happening for 40yrs. In some ways it is getting worse. The message is subconscious and cumulative. It creates a toxic culture and promotes unhealthy values.
Objectification - What are the socialization messages the media creates for women?
Beauty is physical. We strive for a perfection that is unattainable. Photoshopping creates this. Women are objectified and dehumanized and that shapes how women see themselves as well as how men see them.
Cult of Thinness - What are the socialization messages the media creates for women?
Media portrays desirable women only as thin, busty, young and white who are sexual but innocent, experienced but virginal.
Sexual Pathology - How do the socialization messages about gender affect the feelings about sexuality?
Sex is only shown as something for the young and beautiful who we can't become so we are all left unfulfilled. Products are pushed to fulfill or satisfy that void.
The Results of Advertising: Consumerism and Violence - What are the manifest and latent messages from the media?
Here is a preview clip:
This video called "Onslaught" from the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty highlights the unbelievable number of negative ads that young girls are shaped by:
