Tis The Season 1: Gender & Pop Culure's Toy Shopping Fieldwork

Little Heroes

My little cousin’s birthday is coming up soon, so I wanted to get him a toy that he would enjoy. Like most 5 year olds I know, Jason is obsessed with superheroes: his favorite is Superman. As I started to peruse the toy offerings that Amazon.com had to offer, I started to notice a pattern.

Toy Story

...The Toys 'R Us song is very straightforward:"I don't want to grow up/I'm a Toys 'R Us kid/There's a MILLION toys at Toys 'R Us that I can play with!/MORE bikes, MORE trains, MORE video games/It's the BIGGEST toy store there is!"Consumerism is not the only issue at play here (pun intended); because toys and gadgets are introduced at such an early...

Blue Jeans and Coca-Cola - Nov 13, 2008 (4 days ago)

We R Toys - Children Learn Gender through Toys

...person is shopping for toys for a child, what is one of the dichotomist classifications? Any website or catalog will more than likely ask you to choose between either “for a boy” or “for a girl.” In each of these classifications and sections, you will find a gendered-biased selection of hegemonic normative toys for the different sexes; everyon...

Rebel with a Culture Blog - Jul 25, 2008 12:44 AM

The Journey through Target

...prompt the toys we play with as a child, shaping the child’s role in society. Target was my first stop when I started shopping for my friend’s nephew, a boy named Charles, 9 years old. He’s smart, wide eyed and comes from an interracial one parent house hold. I want to appease him because he is staying with her and her family all summer and I d...

Stef's Gender & Pop Culture Blog - Jul 25, 2008 1:02 PM

What Teaches Girls To Be Made of "Sugar and Spice" vs. Boys To Be Made of "Snails and Puppy Tails"?

...stereotypes their toys are already feeding their infant minds. Among all their toys, a few stood out to me: the Leapfrog LittleTouch LeapPad (in pink), the Evenflo Exersaucer Mega – Tea for 1-2-3, the Fisher-Price Dreamland Soother (also in pink), Infantino’s Mallory the Monkey, and the Fisher-Price Musical Fairyland Gym. After looking up the to...

Maria's Gender & Pop Culture Blog - Jul 25, 2008 12:42 AM

Gendered Toy Consumerism

...a childhood toy, we can find difference based on gender between the toy preferences of boys and girls. We will never see a male child playing with Barbie Ballerina or a female child engaging in play with a Power Wheel Ford F-150 in any televised commercial or advertising display. Toy products marketed for children as young as newborns suggest ge...

Aneka's Gender and Pop Culture Blog - Jul 24, 2008 11:56 PM

Consumerism and the Female Youth

...stereotypes through toys. In addition to learning ‘appropriate’ gender rules, today’s popular toys (such as board games and computer games) socialize girls to be consumers. Deciding to test this gender-consumption theory, I asked a nine-year-old girl to make a wish list of three different toys, which I analyze below:Toy #1: Webkinz stuffed anima...

Down with Prince Charming! - Jul 31, 2008 9:50 PM

Toy Shopping Field Work

...I went shopping at the nearest Walmart to find clothes and toys for my 7-year old goddaughter Joy. I wanted to get her a couple of light shirts and skirts, seeing as how the weather has been getting pretty hot lately. I also wanted to get her a couple of learning toys since the school year is about to start up again. Upon my arrival, I immediate...

Linda's World of Gender & Pop. Culture (My Blog) - Jul 24, 2008 11:09 PM

Emma's Wish List

...getting new toys, candy or whatever floats her boat at the moment. However, when I have her, tantrums don’t bother me and she knows that. I will only buy her certain toys that I approve of. I tend to stay with educational toys such as books, puzzles, or games but there have been times where I will by her the princess toys she craves. Her fav...

First one ever - Jul 24, 2008 9:27 PM

Family Guy and Identities

...takes her shopping, which did not work out too well. With a play of luck Meg receives a makeover which transformed her from an average looking high school girl into this sexy, blonde, pop icon. As Meg is receiving her makeover Peter decides to form a rock band. This, however, fails. Meg’s new sexy looks saved Peter’s band from failing comple...

Missy Mood Input - Jul 18, 2008 1:52 PM

Barbies, Homemakers, and Gender Inequality as the “New” Black

...just a toy. Before getting a new toy may have been difficult because parents were working or doing other tasks. So taking time out to go to the toy store was out of the question after an exhausting day. But in 2008 the world of online shopping has become a great source. Online shopping is really easy, especially if an individual is looking for t...

" PoP CuLtUrE aNd WhY iT PoPs" - Jun 30, 2008 4:49 PM

Children in a Toys World

...to the toy store to buy my birthday presents, I am giving you a wish-list! All of these presents are from www.toysrus.com, where Grandma helped me search (and write this letter) for the presents that I want.Imaginarium Glitter Suite Dollhouse (so my Barbie’s have a house to live in)Barbie Fashion Fever Raquelle Doll (so I can dress her up!!)8 ft...

Sarah Lauren - Jun 30, 2008 8:29 AM

Gendered Consumers/ Engendering Consumerism - Toy Shopping

...Toys are cultural products that are marketed to innocent children in order to gender them. People are brought up on consumerism; it is all around each one of us and it is almost impossible to escape. If we are born biologically as males and females, then American toy companies make it their business to construct the “boy” and “girl” genders. Chi...

Juliana's Pop Culture Blog - Jun 29, 2008 2:33 PM

Blog Post #1 - Children's Toys' Effect on Gender Identity

...in the toys and games we play with as children. This belief is widely shared among many societies. So you can believe me when I say I was very surprised to see that on the homepage of the Toys R Us website there is no search that you can do by gender. There is a “SHOP BY AGE”, “SHOP BY CATEGORY”, and “SHOP BY BRAND”, but nowhere on the homepage ...

Erin's Gender & Pop Culture Blog - Jun 30, 2008 9:57 PM

Blog Post #1

...s toys wrongfully back up these stereotypes further facilitating the understanding of normative gender roles. Several years removed from the Easy-Bake Oven crisis, I phoned Connor to inquire about four or five toys currently on his “must have” list. Without hesitation he replied the video game Call of Duty 4, Lego Airplane Set, Guitar Hero, and ...

Pop Culture Blog - May 27, 2008 5:11 PM

Blue & Pink: The Socialized Gender Roles of Children's Toys

...s toys. Products and toys marketed for children partake in methods of gendered socialization, because these gender-specific (gender bias) toys have become socially normalized.On one popular children’s toy website, toys are categorized into several different groups, each displaying a picture and a short description generalizing which toys it cont...

Whatev is Whatev - Jun 30, 2008 5:34 AM

Toy Shopping- Selling Gender Identity to Youth

...s toys, it was expected to find that “girl” toys would be feminine and domesticated, and that “boy” toys would be masculine and nature oriented. The first place to look in my mind was Babies “R” Us and its partner Toys “R” Us. In searching these websites, I was hoping to find what toys were clearly aimed for girls and what was aimed for boys a...

Gender in the Media - May 27, 2008 5:11 PM

Gendered Consumers/Engendering Consumerism

...that big toy companies are sending with their products are encoded with all kinds of philosophies, values, and ideals about today’s society. In particular, nearly every product on the market is advertised towards a specific gender. Take Transformers and Barbie Dolls, for example. The very use of the words “action figure” and “doll” are cues towa...

Danny Boy's Blog - Jun 30, 2008 9:54 PM

Blog Post #1

...affected by toys, teaching behaviors, and advertising. Before I observed the classrooms, I expected boys and girls to learn their behaviors from engendered toys and different types of media. While I found no evidence to support my theory from the center, this does not mean that the internalization of gender roles does not take place through thes...

Dawn's Gender and Pop Culture Blog - Jun 28, 2008 11:06 PM

Toy Shopping- Selling Gender Identity to Youth

...s toys, it was expected to find that “girl” toys would be feminine and domesticated, and that “boy” toys would be masculine and nature oriented. The first place to look in my mind was Babies “R” Us and its partner Toys “R” Us. In searching these websites, I was hoping to find what toys were clearly aimed for girls and what was aimed for boys a...

Gender in the Media - May 19, 2008 8:35 PM

Sugar N' Spice and Everything Nice, That's What Girls are Made of... Right?

...s toy market provides a large and seemingly disturbing variety of gadgets and accessories that, according to society, should define the lives of female youth. Items such as vanities and makeup kits provide little girls with weapons that allow them to mark and mess themselves and not knowingly, reconsider her appearance. The famous “Pretty, Pre...

Nat's Blog - Jun 28, 2008 7:32 PM

Toys and Normalized Gender

...and toys, just to name a few. Toys make for an interesting case study on the gender cues they provide to children. First, it is important to determine whether or not toys are actually gender specific. Next, we seek to identify examples of these toys in large, accessible, and frequently used market places, specifically those designed for girls...

P.Mooney - Jun 29, 2008 8:01 PM

Adam G. Wolf. Brideland. 61-62

Adam Gonzalez
9/11/07
Gender and Pop Culture 220
Brideland. Naomi Wolf pg 61-62

Description
• Women in our society have certain expectations and predictable desires because of how media portrays women's feelings, in particularly in regards to weddings.

Analysis
• Bridal magazines map out how a wedding is "supposed" to be. (pg 62)
• Even children's books portray how weddings are supposed to be and these predetermined drawings remain in the minds of the readers. (pg 62)
• Bridal magazines have many articles on what women want as if to place the reader in that category and structures how a wedding needs to be. (pg 62)

Vision
• Not stated

Strategy
• Not stated

Joe Coleman Higginbotham

Joe Coleman
Outline for Higginbotham
October 2, 2007

Description
Teen Magazines negatively influence girls in their youth and can transform them into superficial beings.
Analysis
· These magazines work off of the assumptions that all girls need model like improvement to “catch” guys.
· The magazines in a way show girls how to look sexy and attract boys, but say nothing about self-defense or self-esteem boosters. Everything is about looks.
· All the articles and ads reinforce every know stereotype concerning the woman’s second-class place in society.


Vision
Girls have readily said in surveys that they criticize the magazines, but read them anyway. There needs to be a change.

Strategy
Make a magazine that explores more choices depending on the person reading, and articles that explore the real reasons behind the actions of girls. “if they can be so brazen about teaching a girl how to kiss the boy of her dreams, they can teach her how to kiss a girl. They just won’t.”

Joe Coleman Moskovich

Joe Coleman
Outline for Moschkovich
September 18, 2007

Description
The letter centers on a Jewish-Latina-American citizen. She is fed up with others making blanket assumptions about her and her culture, and this is a response letter to a widely spread letter which showed an ignorant view of Latin-American culture.

Analysis
· Lack of knowledge or understanding regarding other cultures is the basis for the oppression.
· Isolationist educations allow for such narrow-mindedness and miss-education.
· She likens it to the struggle between men and women in a patriarchal society. Men are like the people who do not understand the culture and do not make any attempts to understand them while women try to adapt to the male-dominated society.
· Uninformed people usually latch onto one single country of origin, not even knowing that there are other places that people’s heritage come from, i.e. Latinos only from Spain, African-Americans only from Africa. They use this to make assumptions about the type of people who have heritage from these countries and continue to make mistakes in speech and writing. This is especially true if the United States tried to aid them, because then “everyone” is an expert.
· The author urges people to get information regarding people’s cultures from those people themselves rather than trust sources who have no idea.

Vision
The author wishes to see women educated in a way where new feminist ideals that are thought of are not bogged down in a manner that is cluttered with their own Anglo patriarchal views, but rather enlightened by some in-depth research. This does not include just going out and reading one book, or listening to one conversation, or clinging to stereotypes.

Strategy
have an attitude of care and respect for each other from an educated point of view, and new ideas and mindsets might actually catch on through research or spreading awareness.

Joe Coleman Brideland

Joe Coleman
Outline for September 14, 2007
Brideland
Description
When the fact hits that a woman is getting married, she goes through a transformation involving many of the subconscious ideals that even gender studies educated people throw to the wayside sometimes.

Analysis
· One must analyze the whole picture and terminology of weddings. The author presents an interesting look at the origins of the word honeymoon and some chilling laws in certain states.
· The overly advertised and trendy ad campaigns of bridal shops and magazines really play to
· the patriarchal system and its hard for women to not give in to something that portrays a fantasy they have been conditioned to yearn for since they played with Barbie dolls.
· The best word to describe the state that the person is in is a haze. She gives the example of her own wedding announcement and says that even though she saw everything that was going on and noticed a lot of the wrong and demeaning aspects about the process, she still was caught up in said haze.
Vision
Wedding advertisements are a great example of the complete patriarchal system that we live in.

Strategy
None Given

Joe Coleman Newman Chapter 3

Joe Coleman
Reading outlines September 14, 2007
Newman chapter 3
Description
Everyday assumptions in language, words, and symbols are some of the biggest problems in the fight to stop the demeaning of gender and culture.
Analysis
· People do not even realize what they assume about people every day i.e. the Christmas assumption story.
· Symbols work in different ways to add fuel to the fire. Slurs are conditioned at young ages and stay with people all their lives. They are among the hardest habits to drop.
· The process of calling men who appear weaker “girls” or women associated slurs also fits into the symbol way that women are demeaned in our culture.
· Words also get used to lump similar looking people into groups regardless of what their background is.
· Political correctness usually exacerbates the situations that it tries to help
· Commercials and TV commonly use stereotypes of women in the kitchen roles and men as the breadwinners.

Vision
The media is bloated with all the points mentioned above, thus creating a huge task of trying to stop the everyday use in order to alleviate the problem.


Strategy
The problem is deep seeded, making it far more difficult to handle. The best advice to try to stop this is to train people to think on their feet and interpret what they see from a sociological standpoint. This will at least make an attempt at some reform.

Joe Coleman Wolf outline

Joe Coleman
Outline for Wolf
October 2, 2007

Description
The obsessions with the beauty ideology in female society has been the hardest to shake for the activists.
Analysis
· Women have come a long way coming into contemporary times, but older women feel burnt out after their battles and the younger women are wrapped up with their obsessions with beauty.
· Cosmetic surgery is the fastest growing form of medical specialty.
· The myth, as described by wolf, is very feudal, if not caveman.


Vision
She gives examples of other triumph for women, like Ibsen’s Nora slamming the door on the Doll’s House. She cites the beauty issue as near impossible to drop. There is no real shock that can jump people out of their indifference or obsession.

Strategy
Women need “a new way to see”. I suppose this means publications that are not so superficial and get to the real idea of what life is about. It also can be educating women and trying to educate others.

Jen Hatrak Jackson Katz. Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity: From Eminem to Clinique for Men. Pgs 349-358

Jennifer Hatrak
October 12, 2007
WGS 220-01 Gender and Pop Culture
Jackson Katz. Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity: From Eminem to Clinique for Men. Pgs 349-358

Description:
• Masculinity is constructed in a hegemonic fashion throughout the media in mainstream advertising and normalizes male violence (pg 350)
Analysis:
• Advertising suggests that "real" mean are strong (pg 351)
• Men's magazines feature men who are aggressive which is supposed to be sexy and feature violent male icons (pg 351)
• Violence in the media, especially violence against women tends to make men feel valued and self-respected (pg 352)
Vision:
• A more developed sense of masculinity is needed as well as a further examination of how men are represented in society (pg 357)

Strategy:
• In order to achieve this developed sense, we need to examine other areas of the media in order to understand the construction of gender and violence (pg 357)

Jen Hatrak Pat Kirkham and Alex Weller Cosmetics, A Case Study. pgs 268-273

Jennifer Hatrak
October 12, 2007
WGS 220-01 Gender and Pop Culture
Pat Kirkham and Alex Weller. Cosmetics, A Case Study. Pgs 268-273

Description:
• The authors discuss the gendering of Clinique products for men and women which illustrates the stereotypical gender roles for men and women; forcing men and women to comply to certain standards of beauty set forth by society (pg 268)
Analysis:
• The advertising of the products is gendered – for women, products are soft colors, the typical Clinique light green on most bottles, and for men it is a gray or blue color (pg 269)
• Language used to sell the products is also gendered- men's products are sold with words expressing strength and business, while women's products are sold with without expressing words and just shown the product (pg 270)
• Women taught that by using the product they will be more beautiful and sexual, men are told that one can still be masculine by using the product; even featuring explicitly male actors for the commercials (pg 271)
Vision:
• Not stated; just lists the gendered differences
Strategy:
• Not stated; just lists the gendered differences

Katie K. Katz. Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity.

Kathryn Kokoszka
Friday Oct. 12, 2007
WGS 220-05
Jackson Katz. Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity.

Description:
• Male violence is normalized by the hegemonic ideals of masculinity in advertising. (350)

Analysis:
• Key source of the hegemonic constructions of masculinity is the movie industry, they produces many violent male icons. (351)
• Icons became popular because they were introduced at a time in which there was economical instability, women's movement was challenging hegemony. (351)
• "Manhood" is defined by the physical body and its potential for violence. (351)
• Males are posed as aggressive in many ads. (351)
• People who don't agree with the violence of males in advertisements are often seen as not getting it or having a sense of humor. (353)
• Use of male icons from history gives the idea that men have always been aggressive, dominant, and violent beings, therefore it is biologically based. (354)
• Military and sports are also key sources of masculinity and violence, so advertisers take advantage of this. Military uses the words leadership, respect, and pride in their ads to have appeal. (355)

Vision:
• The understanding of cultural constructs of masculinity and its link to the prevalence of male violence needs to be examined and then focused on more anti-violent advertising. (357)

Strategy:
• In order for change our society need to focus on and study the representation of men and their relationship with violence. This starts with critically looking comic books, magazines, toys, videos, and porn, the areas where male violence is produced and accepted. (357)

Katie K. Kirkham, Pat & Alex Weller. Cosmetics: A Clinique Case Study

Kathryn Kokoszka
Friday Oct. 12, 2007
WGS 220-05
Pat Kirkham, Alex Weller. Cosmetics: A Clinique Case Study

Description:
• Clinique toiletries genders products for men and women particularly with advertising. (268)

Analysis:
• How a product is presented and the looks of it is as important as the product itself. (268)
• Advertisements follow the binary opposites accepted and related to men and women.(269)
• One distinction is color; men's products are grey and blue, women's are pastel or soft colors like pink, these reinforce gender stereotyping. (269)
• Pastel colors signify softness, gentleness, innocence, and caring. Male colors like black and blue show strength and boldness. (269)
• In men's products advertisers put more information on toiletry about the product because they think men don't have much knowledge about the products. (270)
• Females have no information because it is assumed they were taught it by other women. (270)
• Advertisers, like Clinique, use different language on male products so there isn't any relation to being feminine. For example, instead of calling a face wash "foaming cleanser" they call it "scruffing lotion or face scrub" so it seems rough, tough, and ok to buy. (272)

Vision:
• Need to breakdown the boundaries and gender stereotypes in product promotion. (273)

Strategy:
• Some advertisements allow men and women to accept and use certain products that were originally intended for the opposite gender. (273)

Chris R. Giroux, Henry. Kids for Sale: Corporate Culture and the Challenge of Public Schooling. pgs. 171-175

Chris Refsdal
9/28/07
WGS 220-05

Description:

• The amount of corporate advertising in many public schools undermines the democratic values that our education system seeks to instill in children. (pg. 171-175)
  

Analysis:

• Instead of learning civic courage, corporate advertising transforms genuine knowledge into recognizing brand names and learning attitudes for low-skilled and low-paying occupation (pg. 173)
• Many educators justify the intrusion of corporations by claiming that it truly empowers children to learn, allowing the practice to persist. (pg. 173)
• Corporate advertising can in some cases suppress freedom of choice and opinion, as with the students who were punished by wearing Pepsi logos to a Coke-sponsored event. (pg. 174)
  

Vision:

• Schools should not need to rely on corporations for funding, and should uphold the need to teach the values of a democracy of citizens and not those of a democracy of consumers. (pg. 174)
  

Strategy:

• Implied. Schools must first recognize that corporate advertising does have a detrimental effect on students and that it intrudes upon the values that educators attempt to teach. Schools should look for alternate methods of funding, or at least teach students not to be swayed by corporate advertising.

Chris R. Henley, Nancy & Jo Freeman. The Sexual Politics of Interpersonal Behavior. pgs 84-93

Chris Refsdal
9/7/07
WGS 220-05

Description:

• Components of social interaction, both verbal and nonverbal, serve to continually remind women of their inferiority, so much so, that it becomes habitual. (pg. 84)
  

Analysis:

• The posture and dress of women has generally been perceived as “restricted” and “confined”. While clothing from the beginning of the 20^th century concealed much of a woman’s body, modern dress can still be seen as “confined”, being that most women’s clothing is made to be tight in order to highlight her features. (pg. 86)
• Touching is seen as the action of a superior towards an inferior, so men generally initiate touching towards women. In this way, it is seen as an act of power. However, if women initiate touching, it is seen as an act of intimacy. (pg. 87-88)
• Forms of verbal dominance, such as swearing and interrupting, are most often seen in men. Swearing allows men to vent their anger without resorting to physical violence, yet women are encouraged to simply direct their anger inwards. Likewise, men were found to more often interrupt conversation than women. (pg. 89)

Vision:

• Implied. The asymmetry in the interpersonal behaviors of the sexes should be eliminated. One sex should not have so many means of power and dominance over the other.
  

Strategy:

• Simply acknowledging that an asymmetry exists is the first step towards change. However, this does not mean that women should simply start using the actions of power and dominance that men have used. As shown, these actions could be misinterpreted as signs of intimacy or otherwise. Instead, the gradual revealing of emotions and increased expressivity in both sexes could better both the individual and society as a whole. (pg. 91)

Douglas Kellner. Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism, and Media Culture. pgs. 9-20

Description:

• Media portrayals can positively shape our world and define our values, but can also reinforce negative or otherwise undesirable aspects of society. (pg. 9)
  

Analysis:

• Television, film, and music tend to give either liberal or conservative views, though extreme or oppositional views are occasionally seen. This serves to reinforce political homogeneity. (pg. 10)


• Ideologies can enforce domination and subordination, such as class ideologies celebrating upper-class life and degrading that of the working class, or gender ideologies promoting sexist representations of women. (pg.11)


• Because the majority of television and film are controlled by large corporations primarily oriented toward profit, these media outlets are dominated by genres that establish homogeneous systems and well-defined boundaries. (pgs. 12-13)
  

Vision:

• Cultural studies provide individuals and citizens with the means to productively analyze and criticize a media-rich environment, which enables them to resist socio-cultural manipulation and domination. (pg. 10)
  

Strategy:

• Studying the production and political economy of culture is the first step in cultural studies. This refers to examining how cultural texts are produced and inserted into mainstream culture (pgs. 12-13).
• The next step is textual analysis, which requires close examination of cultural texts using a multiperspectival approach (pgs. 14-15).
• Finally, studying audience reception to cultural texts allows one to examine how members of different societies react to texts (pgs. 15-17).

Rachel S. Gilman, Susan Jane. Klaus Barbie and other dolls I'd like to see. Pg. 72-75.

Description:
• Dolls are girls' first impressions of what is considered to be beautiful and Barbie dolls give girls an impression of an unattainable, Aryan image. (pg. 73)

Analysis:
• Barbies are more of an "adult cult and aesthetic obsession" than merely a children's toy. (pg. 73)
• All of the different Barbie dolls that have ever been introduced from different backgrounds than the traditional blonde, Aryan Barbie depiction have been labeled as "special" or "limited edition" thus characterizing them as "other." (pg. 74).

Vision:
• Barbies need to serve the purpose of expanding girls' images of what is beautiful, rather than constricting them. (pg. 74)

Strategy:
• New models of Barbie dolls should be created, in all ethnicities, shapes and sizes. (pg. 74-75)

Rachel S. Gender, Sexuality and Popular Culture. Pg. 22-25.

Description:
• In our society, the media has an obsession with adolescent girls. (pg. 22)

Analysis:
• There is a subculture of heterosexual patriarchal privilege where men are entitled to the bodies of girls. (pg. 23)
• When girls internalize negative sexual images, they become mistrusting of their own bodies and feelings. (pg. 23)

Vision:
• Girls need to become aware of their sexuality through sexual education. (pg. 24)

Strategy:
• The sexual education can be achieved when taught through close relationships that girls have control over their bodies and additionally, that girls do live in a society in which men take advantage of them. (pg. 24)

Jill L. anastasia higginbotham, teen mags, 93-96

Jillian Limone
October 2, 2007
Gender and Popular Culture: section 5
Anastasia Higginbotham. Teen Mags: How to Get a Guy, Drop 20 Pounds, and Lose Your Self- Esteem. 93-96.
Description:
• Teen Magazines tell young girls how to make themselves prettier, cooler, better and more like that image of "an ideal girl" instead of exploring the reality of true girlhood.
Analysis:
• Teen magazines provide "hints and tips" to be successful in the social world. (93)
• The magazines provide girls how to be super sexy but then do not continue with safety skills, self defense or self esteem articles. (95)
• Provide contradictory articles relating to diets and boy-related problems. (95)
• Reinforce many negative stereotypes of women in today's society. (95)
• The provide unrealistic size requirements for girls, racist definitions of beauty as well as stress the importance of make-up, hair dos and prom queen. (96)
Vision:
• Magazines need to reflect the true reality of girls' lives and the constant pressures from society that they face.
Strategy:
• Magazines need to inject "real life stories" of girlhood and provide articles that every girl can relate to.

Jill L. naomi wolf, the beauty myth, 120-125

Jillian Limone
October 2, 2007
Gender and Popular Culture: section 5
Naomi Wolf. The Beauty Myth. 120-125

Description:
• As society focuses more on physical appearance, bodies, faces, hair and clothes, women feel their freedoms poisoned by self-hatred and the "terror of aging." (120)
Analysis:
• As women become more successful, the crueler and more demeaning images of female beauty arise in our society. (120)
• Under women's success is a climate of confusion, cynicism and exhaustion. (120)
• Studies show that women have been becoming more powerful and independent; however eating disorders rose as well as cosmetic surgery being one of the top medical procedures. (120)
• Women begin to worry too much about losing a few pounds rather then achieving their life long dreams.
• Our society is using images of female beauty as a political as well as a psychological weapon to hinder women's liberation- also known as the beauty myth. (120)
• Women fall under social control.
• Woman want "beauty" and men want women who have that "beauty." (121)
• The beauty myth "prescribes behavior" and is composed of "emotional distance, politics, finance and sexual repression." (122)
• The beauty myth is about institutional power as well as male power. (122)

Vision:
• Society must not allow the contemporary economy to depend on the representation of women through the beauty myth. (124)
Strategy:
• Women can not allow themselves to lose self-confidence from contemporary culture's power of their "beauty."

Jesenia R. Paulo Freire, “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”. (5-23).

Jesenia Ramirez
17 September 2007
WGS 220-05
Paulo Freire, “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”. (5-23).

Description
The oppressed cannot participate in developing the pedagogy of their liberation (9).

Analysis
The have to confront reality critically, objecting it and acting upon it (11).
Pedagogy of the oppressed cannot be practiced by the oppressor (13).
Violence begins by oppressor, who fail to recognize others as people (13).

Vision
Oppressed have to take power away from oppressors to dominate, to restore to oppressors the humanity they have lost (14).

Strategy

It is necessary for oppressed to pursue fight to solve inconsistency they are caught in which will be solved by new man in process of liberation (14).

Jesenia R. Moschkovich, Judit. "But I Know You American Woman"

Jesenia Ramirez
17 September 2007
WGS 220-05
Judit Moschkovich, “But I Know You, American Woman”. (83-88)

Description
Lack of knowledge and ignorance of other cultures is basis for cultural oppression.(83)

Analysis
“It is not the duty of the oppressed to educate the oppressor”. It is not up to us who know to teach the ignorant who don’t want to learn. There is so much information out there, people should read and find out (83).
Many insult Latin culture, without knowing about it, so it becomes hard to want to respond to anything, or want to teach anyone (84).
Author lives in America, follows American rules, and customs and all she receives is ignorance and people who believe in myths and stereotypes they hear.

Vision
To see everyone past the need to explain their cultures (88).

Strategy

To learn about different cultures. However, it needs to be a sharing experience where we all learn from each other, making it balanced. This takes time, and respect towards each other.