Instructor: Catherine H. Palczewski, Ph.D.

Office: Lang Hall 341

Office hours:

Tues: 11:00am - 12:30pm, 5:00pm-6:00pm

Weds: 11:00am - 12:00p

Thurs: 11:00am - 12:00pm

If these times do not work, feel free to call or email to make an appointment.

Office Phone: 273-2714 Mailbox: Lang Hall 326 e-mail: palczewski@uni.edu

Course Description: People "do" gender through their communicative practices, and gender is constructed through the communication produced by social institutions. The purpose of this course is to raise students' awareness regarding the ways in which gender is created, maintained, and/or changed through communication. Students will gain theoretical insights and develop analytical skills to identify gendered expectations, and to learn how such expectations serve to limit behavior for both women and men. The course will enhance understanding of how predominant social assumptions and communication norms can devalue and silence women and other non-dominant groups, and how students can become change agents to enhance our collective lives.

Course Objectives: At the end of the course, students should understand that gender in communication is complicated by a variety of factors beyond sex. Thus, by the end of the class, students should understand how the following concepts are central to understanding gender in communication:

1. Intersectionality. Persons are not just female or male, feminine or masculine. To more accurately study gender, we must study gendered lives in the context of other social identities, particularly race, ethnicity, social class, sexual orientation, and national origin. Students should understand that gender is always about more than a person's sex.
2. Interdisciplinarity. To understand gender/sex in communication, one must fuse and balance social scientific, humanistic, and critical methods. Students should be able to identify the various contributions of these approaches to the study of gender/sex in communication.
3. Gender diversity, not sex differences. Gender as a form of difference does not explain the complexity of gender in communication. Thus, students should understand the range of genders available to people, and not look at gender in communication as merely a way to track differences between men and women.
4. Masculinity. Students should understand that the study of gender is not just the study of women.
5. Gender is a performed social institution. Students should understand that gender is something a person does, not something a person is. Gender is not something located within individuals, but is a social construct which institutions and individuals maintain (and occasionally challenge).
6. Violence. To study gender in lived experiences means to study the darker side of gender: oppression and violence. Students should more fully recognize the consequences of the prevalent gendered society in which most people live.
7. Emancipation. Even as we recognize violence, we also want to recognize the emancipatory potential of gendered practice. Gender identity need not be oppressive and limiting to persons. Students should be able to identify the way their own gendered practices hold the potential for personal and social emancipation.

Required Texts:

DeFrancisco, Victoria Pruin and Catherine Helen Palczewski. Communicating Gender Diversity. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2007).

Strongly Recommended Texts

Style manual of choice – either APA Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (at bookstore) or MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (in library)

General Information: see www.uni.edu/palczews/general.htm. This site includes my late policy, the university accommodation policy, the university plagiarism policy, as well as paper format descriptions.

Student Etiquette: Lively debate, discussion, and disagreement on issues are encouraged in class. But respect for other people, their opinions, and experiences is essential. The most productive way to disagree with another is to say, “I disagree with you because…” and explain and justify your position. Although everyone is entitled to her/his opinion, the reality is that some opinions are better supported and more reasonable than other opinions; thus, be able to explain why you hold the opinion you do and why you think your opinion is better supported than another’s. Engage each other in a reasoned exchange of ideas. In other words, present an argument (a claim supported by data, with reasons/warrants as to why that data is relevant to the claim).

Throughout the semester we will encounter a variety of sensitive issues given gender/sex is an intensely sensitive and personal aspect of being human. The content of this class has the potential to stir up strong emotional reactions. You will encounter ideas and theories that challenge you. Students are asked to follow some guidelines to help maintain a constructive learning environment. Participants in this class must be open to looking at gender from a variety of perspectives. Further, it is possible that films, readings, images, music, etc. used in this class may be considered “offensive” by some. A student’s decision to stay enrolled in the class is an agreement to approach all course content with a critical academic lens. Above all, participants must treat each other with respect. The most fundamental way to respect class participants is to complete daily readings, listen to others, and ground your own comments in principles of critical thinking. Class discussions should take place within the context of academic inquiry and in the spirit of understanding diverse perspectives and experiences. Do not engage in private conversations, interrupt another student who has the floor, keep pagers and cell phones on, or show general signs of disrespect for the course, professor, or other students. Non-course related materials such as newspapers and items from other courses must be stowed away when class begins.

Assignments

Assignments are worth a total of 100 points. However, for each assignment you can earn fractions of points (so, you can think of it as a 1000 point scale if it makes you feel better). If you need to figure your letter grade at any point in the semester, simply divide the number of points you have by the number of possible points you could have earned. For your final grade, simply add up all the points for each assignment. Points are noted in brackets. Simply doing the base requirements of each assignment will earn you a "C" -- this means you have done acceptable work. To earn a "B" you must go beyond the assignment expectations or fulfill them in an above average way. To earn an "A" you must go far beyond the assignment expectations and fulfill the base expectations in an exceptional manner.

Detailed descriptions of all assignments appear on this syllabus. You are free to ask questions in class about the assignments, or contact me outside of class by email or phone. But, please be aware, I will NOT answer any questions about an assignment in the 48 hours before it is due. I recognize that students procrastinate, so, consider this an inducement to begin work early. This means if you have a question, you need to be prepared to ask it in the class session before your paper is due. I will not answer questions after that time. Assignments are due at the beginning of class on the date listed.

Page limits on all assignments will be rigorously enforced. You should spend time finding ways to write more concisely and clearly. If I find your paper long-winded, and you go over the page limit, I will quit reading. (If however, you are brilliant and keep me captivated, I may not notice). And, given the expectations of each of the assignments, you probably will need to use the number of pages required. If, however, you are exceptionally concise, then I may not notice if your paper falls short of the required pages.

A bibliography should be turned in with every assignment. It will not count toward your page limit. On the top of the page, indicate the style (APA or MLA) that you think you are using.

TurnItIn requirement: For assignments 1, 2 (and possibly 5a), students are required to use TurnItIn in order to check they are not plagiarizing. Thus, for an assignment to be considered "turned in", students must have submitted an electronic version to TurnItIn before the assignment's due date and time, and also turn in a paper copy to the professor at the assigned due date and time. I have activated the TurnItIn website in such a way that you are allowed to submit drafts of your paper and receive originality reports. These reports should be used to assist you in making sure you are attributing authorship in an ethical way. The only originality report I will see is the final report on the version of the paper you turn into me. Students can access the TurnItIn website for each assignment via the class's eLearning site. Check the TurnItIn file, and then select the icon for the appropriate assignment. Please understand: using TurnItIn is only the first step in making sure your are abiding by citation guidelines and providing fair attribution. TurnItIn is only one way to check the originality of your work, and just because your work passes the TurnItIn check does not guarantee you have not plagiarized. You are responsible for using style manuals to make sure your citation format is correct and consistent.

Amount of work expected: The general guideline is that one semester hour of credit is the equivalent of approximately three hours of work (one hour of in-class time + 2 hours of out-of-class preparation) each week over the course of a whole semester. In a typical lecture/discussion course, each hour of class normally entails at least two hours of outside preparation for the average student. That means that for every week, students should set aside 6 hours outside of class to read, research, work on assignments, study for tests, etc. This standard is the basis on which the Registrar's Office assigns hours of University credit for courses.

Graduate students: Your assignments are determined in negotiation with the professor, and should involve work of a more in-depth nature. By the end of the second week of class, you should have turned in an assignment proposal that includes,

1. name of assignment,
2. description,
3. due date,
4. point worth (for a model format, see the undergraduate assignments below).

Your proposal should include as much detail on the assignments as does this syllabus. Graduate students also will meet an additional hour each week for an intensive seminar, at a time to be determined by your schedules. Additional readings will be required for these meetings.

Undergraduate students:

1) Gendered Lens Analysis of the Intersectional Self: [10 points]. (5 pages). Apply course readings and discussion to reflexively identify and examine the social construction of your own gender identity. Include specific observations and descriptions from your life. Your goal is to apply an intersectional view of gender (and 3 other relevant course concepts) to examine your own gender identity. Be sure to demonstrate your understanding of the terms you use, rather than merely name-drop. Write a coherent essay that features your voice, not just a list of concept applications. No external references are required. When analyzing yourself, you do NOT need to reveal EVERYTING about yourself. (Face it, I will not know if you choose to leave something out). Just to be clear, you only need to discuss what you are comfortable discussing. If there is an aspect of your gender/sex identity that is private, do not feel compelled to discuss it. Due: October 6.

2) Gender Analysis of Institutional Artifacts: [15 points]. (5 pages). Although these papers are short, they are each worth 1/10th of your final grade and, thus, should reflect a proportional amount of work. They should be well-written, organized, free of typographical or grammatical errors, and present and support a clear thesis. In order to do well on this assignment, you may need to write a much longer draft, and then edit down to the 5 page limit.

Select a social institution of interest: family, education, work, media, religion. Select an artifact (or if it is short, a combination of artifacts) from this institution that you feel can be analyzed from a gendered perspective. An artifact must be something original from the social institution, such as a specific grade school’s curriculum, textbook, anti-bullying policy; a university’s guidelines for athletes; media advertisements; a movie or television sit-com; a selection from brochures or speech texts of religious groups; businesses’ policy statements on sexual harassment, or guidelines for promotion; laws on equal pay, rape, marriage; health care guidelines or advice; an advice book on family communication, parent/child communication, etc. A gendered analysis means that you select relevant concepts from this course to apply as you conduct a close analysis of the artifact, and answer the following questions:

A) How is this artifact (and thus its institution) gendered or how does it gender? Describe and analyze the artifact. Consider both the visual and verbal components of the artifact. How do you believe gender (and perhaps race, social class, heterosexism, etc.) is being constructed, maintained, and/or changed through this institutional artifact?

B) How does the used of a gendered lens expand, alter or inform your analysis?

C) Finally, does this act of communication matter and, if so, what change do you recommend?

D) Attach a copy of the artifact to the paper and bring a version of it to class that can be seen by the entire class (advertisements can be placed on the elmo projector, a digital image of a billboard could be shown on the computer, a song could be played (but bring a copy of the lyrics for everyone to read).

You must apply 3 or more relevant concepts from the course to defend your interpretations. Be prepared to share your analysis in class as we discuss each social institution.

Possible Due Dates: October 18, 25; November 1, 8, 29

3) Reading responses (RR): [5 responses at 2 points each] The goal of these 2 page papers (with reasonable font and margins, double spaced) is to help process the assigned readings and also prepare for in-class discussions. They are not meant to be "book reports" or mere descriptions of the readings. You should engage the readings: summarize, highlight, agree, disagree, apply, extend, rework, combine, synthesize, play. I expect work that has been proofread and edited. A paper rife with typographical, grammar, or citation errors will be returned ungraded. These short papers should be good practice for your analysis papers. Possible due dates: August 30; September 6, 13, 20, 27; October 4, 18, 25; November 1, 8, 29; December 6. You are required to complete 5 of these. (Should you choose to write on more than 5, you earn the top 5 grades).

FORMAT: Each response must adhere to the following format:

1. Concisely state a main point of the textbook chapter (or assigned pages).

2. Respond to any two of the following prompts:

• I agree with this argument and this is why.
• I disagree with this argument and this is why.
• This relates to my life in this way.
• I am confused about _______ and this is why.

3. Given what I learned in this chapter, I would respond to the non-textbook reading (or video) by saying ______.

New option: On Nov 15 and 17, you will watch two videos. On Nov 18 (friday) you can turn in an RR that is in response to either one of the videos. Email the RR to me by 5pm on Nov 18. The RR can be on one or both of the videos.

FORMAT for video response

1. Concisely state a main point of the video.

2. Respond to any two of the following prompts:

• I agree with this argument and this is why.
• I disagree with this argument and this is why.
• This relates to my life in this way.
• I am confused about _______ and this is why.

3. I now understand ________ better. (In other words, did the video clarify something in the textbook?)

4) Midterm Exam: [15 points] Understanding the concepts introduced in the first 6 chapters is essential to understanding the chapters examining social institutions. The midterm exam will focus on reading comprehension with a combination of definition and short essay questions. You should use the key terms listed in the syllabus to construct a study guide sheet. No notes will be allowed in exams. Due Date: October 13.

5) Final Exam: The final exam will be composed of two parts.

A) A take home essay exam. [20 points]. The exam will ask you to incorporate work done in your response papers, your analysis papers, and class discussion. More details will be provided later in the semester.

B) Oral presentation: [5 points]. Students will have approximately 5 minutes to present their exam answers. Depending on class size, the duration of the presentation may be altered. The presentation should focus on the core point the student made in the final exam.

More helpful hints:

1) Do NOT simply read your exam for your presentation. The presentation should be formal and professional, but not scripted. I suggest you speak from a detailed outline (remember to include quotations from the textbook in the outline to illustrate the points you want to make). Please bring two copies of the outline: one to speak from and one for me. DO practice the presentation to make sure your outline fits within the time limits. Time limits will be strictly enforced.

2) Presume the audience is not familiar with your exam, but is educated about gender in communication. Your presentation does NOT need to include detailed definitions of common terms from the textbook. However, do provide sufficient theoretical explanation of more complicated concepts so that the audience can follow your analysis.

3) Do not try to present all the arguments in your exam. You will not be able to cover everything in just 5 minutes. Instead, give a brief overview of all your arguments, and then pick one or two on which to focus the presentation.

Due date: 3-4:50 p.m. Tuesday, December 13

NEW INFORMATION (this is what I handed out in class)

Gender issues in communication, Fall 2011    Final exam

The final exam is composed of two parts:
    A) Take home essay exam. [20 points].
    B) Oral presentation: [5 points].

A) Take home exam: The exam will ask you to incorporate work done in your reading responses and institutional artifact analysis papers. The final exam should be typed, double space, and should be between 7 to 10 pages long (the bibliography is NOT included in the total page count). The final exam should advance a clear argument. In other words, do more than just describe -- also analyze, assess, argue.

The question: Using the gendered lens provided by the textbook, analyze yourself. Using yourself as data, indicate places where you agree or disagree with the textbook (please quote the passage with which you are agreeing or disagreeing) and assess the explanatory power of the concepts in the textbook. Finally, identify the extent to which the concepts can be applied to events occurring in the institutions in which you participate.

When writing your answer, you should do the following:

• Incorporate work done in the reading responses and analysis papers. 
• Use at least one concept from each of the chapters. In other words, when analyzing yourself, make sure you use the precise vocabulary provided by the textbook. Bold the concepts when you use them. Provide citations. Also, please indicate which chapter the concept comes from: APA (DeFrancisco & Palczewski, 2007, ch. 2, p. 47) or MLA (DeFrancisco and Palczewski, ch. 2, 47)
• Make sure to speak about your location within all 5 institutions.

I will be looking for the degree to which you correctly define and apply the concepts in the text, and the degree to which you recognize what enables and constrains your doing of gender/sex.

When analyzing yourself, you do NOT need to reveal EVERYTING about yourself. (Face it, I will not know if you choose to leave something out). Just to be clear, you only need to discuss what you are comfortable discussing. If there is an aspect of your gender/sex identity that is private, do not feel compelled to discuss it. Also, if you choose to discuss something in your test, but are not comfortable discussing it in the presentation, you do not need to. Remember, you get to choose what you focus on in the presentation (you will not have time to cover everything you write in your test).

B) Oral presentation: Students will have 5 minutes to present their exam answers. Please bring 2 copies of your presentation outline (one for you to use and one for me to write on). The presentation should focus on the central argument you make in the final exam.
You can take a more performative turn in your presentations, or you can choose to combine your time for a group presentation/debate. If you do choose to combine your time, make sure it is a GROUP presentation, and not just a series of 3 speeches.
More helpful hints:
1) Do NOT simply read your exam for your presentation. The presentation should be formal and professional, but not scripted. I suggest you speak from a detailed outline (remember to include quotations from the textbook in the outline to illustrate the points you want to make). Please bring two copies of the outline: one to speak from and one for me. DO practice the presentation to make sure your outline fits within the time limits. Time limits will be strictly enforced.
2) Presume the audience is not familiar with your exam, but is educated about gender in communication. Your presentation does NOT need to include detailed definitions of common terms from the textbook. However, do provide sufficient theoretical explanation of more complicated concepts so that the audience can follow your analysis.
3) Do not try to present all the arguments in your exam. You will not be able to cover everything in just 5 minutes. Instead, give a brief overview of all your arguments, and then pick one or two on which to focus the presentation.

6) Visual Artifact: [10 points]. Pick a concept, example or passage from Communicating Gender Diversity and find a visual illustration of it. These illustrations can include screen captures, video stills, photographs (from magazines, newspapers, or websites), diagrams, tables, etc. (but NOT cartoons). To complete this assignment, you will need to turn in:

• the original, or a high quality reproduction, of the visual artifact
• full information about the image (source, creator, description of content, date, place, etc.)
• information on how to access the original (i.e., bibliographic citation, url)
• a 1 page explanation of how and why the image illustrates the concept. Make sure you clearly identify the concept or passage from the textbook which you are illustrating (include a page number), and then provide a clear description of how the visual enhances your understanding of the concept or passage and/or how the passage or concept helped you understand the image.

The point of this assignment is to encourage you to think about how you might visualize research and make a verbal concept come alive. It also should help you see how concepts in the book can help you analyze and understand things you see in the world.

Due datee: Any time during the semester before the end of class on December 6.

7) Discussion: [20 points]. The success of this class depends on your participation. You will be expected to read assignments prior to the date assigned and to join in ALL class discussions. Students are encouraged to participate by bringing in relevant artifacts (newspaper articles, advertisements, TV shows, songs, job ads, etc.) to discuss. It is expected that we will have varying view points on issues discussed in class, and that we can learn from such disagreement. The professor should serve as a muse or a guide, but not a drill sergeant. For a class to be a location of invention, and not just regurgitation, you must come ready to talk, to think, to rethink and to engage. Otherwise, a seminar format class can devolve into just being an instance where the professor tells you what to think. Being a good participant does not mean that you always have the answer; it can also mean that you know when to ask the right questions and when to recognize that the answers have already been offered by the class but need to be synthesized. Discussion is a central component of this class insofar as each person's analysis of the readings can be enhanced by others' insights. For a detailed description of the criteria used in the assessment of discussion, see my discussion link.

Preface

Ch 1

1. What is intersectionality? How will this concept inform your study of gender in communication?

2. What is sex? What is gender? Why do the authors use these together as gender/sex? If you are unclear on why sex is a complicated term, see: Intersex Society of North America website: FAQ “What is intersex?” FAQ “How common is intersex?” FAQ “What's the difference between being transgender or transsexual and having an intersex condition?”

3. What does it mean to “do gender”? In what ways is the study of communication central to the study of gender?

Ch 2 pp. 26-43

Stewart, Jon (Anchor), & O'Neil, Chuck (Director). (2011, April 13). Toemageddon [Television series episode]. In Rory Albanese and Jon Stewart (Executive producers), The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. New York: Comedy Cenrtral. Retrieved from http://www.thedailyshow.com

Cooper, Anderson (Anchor), & . (2011, 6-7). The sissy-boy experiment. In David Doss & Charles Moore (Executive producers), AC360º. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com

Bloom, Lisa. (2011, Jue 22). How to talk to little girls. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com

GRAD: Kane, Emily W. (2006). "No way my boys are going to be like that!" : Parents' responses to children's gender nonconformity. Gender & Society, 20, 149-176. doi: 10.1177/0891243205284276 on e Learning

1. What is a theory and why are theories important and influential? How does theory relate to the reconstruction of your “gendered lens”?

2. What are the three world views of theories? How do these approach the study of gender? How might these approaches affect what we come to call knowledge about gender in communication?

3. What criteria should be used for assessing theories? What do you feel are important criteria? Apply the criteria you select to the theories presented in the remainder of the chapter. What did you find? How do the three primary approaches compare?

Ch 2 pp. 43-60

Stanford University Medical Center. (2006, July 14). Transgender experience led Stanford scientist to critique gender difference. ScienceDaily. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com

Barres, Ben A. (2006, July 13). Does gender matter? Nature, 442(7099), 133-6. doi:10.1038/442133a

GRAD: West, Candace, & Zimmerman, Don H. (1987). Doing gender. Gender & Society, 1, 125-151. doi: 10.1177/0891243287001002002 on eLearning

Sept 6: RR possible

1. Two-Culture Theory, Standpoint Theory, and Social Constructivism are especially prominent in the study of gender in communication. How do they explain gender? What do you see as strengths and weaknesses of each?

2. Why do the authors subscribe to the Multi-Determined Gender Diversity Approach? Is this just a simple compromise? What is your assessment of this approach?

3. What expectations do you have for appropriate gender-related behaviors? Do these expectations occur as a result of your cultural background? Have you ever had to negotiate contested gender roles in your experiences with others? Describe the experience(s) and outcome(s).

Ch 3

Rebecca Traister. (2011, January 21). Cowgirl country. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.newyorktimes.com

and

Hennessey, Kathleen. (2010, October 16). It's a strange year for gender in politics. latimes.com. Retrieved from http://latimes.com

OR

Pohl, R.D. (2011, June 5). Naipaul reconciles with Theroux, then denigrates all women writers [Web log post]. Buffalonews.com. Retrieved from http://blogs.buffalonews.com

and

Solani, Dhvani. (2011, June 4). "Naipaul needs a psychiatrist." MidDay. Retrieved from http://www.mid-day.com/news/

GRAD: Mansbridge, Jane, & Flaster, Katherine. (2007). The cultural politics of everyday discourse: The case of "male chauvinist." Critical Sociology, 33, 627-660. doi:10.1163/156916307X210973 on eLearning

1. What is the Feminist Post-Structuralist Discourse Analysis Approach? How might it be useful in developing your critical gendered lens?

2. Did Julia Wood’s (2007) girls’ and boys’ “rules of play” seem familiar to you? Did you know children in grade school who did not comply with these norms? How were they treated by other children and the teachers? Do the rise of video games affect play? Since the advent of Title IX, team sports have increasingly become open to girls and women. Would you predict that shifts in conversational style will follow as more girls grow up playing rule based games?

3. How does one study power in discourse? Why is this important? What are the limitations of doing so?

6. How might employing diverse gendered styles become a communication resource for individuals? What are examples of this?

Ch 4

Hill,Marc Lamont. (2011, April 27). Let's see a show of hands: How is manhood defined? Philadelphia Daily News. Retrieved from http://articles.philly.com

McCain, Meghan. (2011, May 12). Shut up about my body, Glenn Beck. The Daily Beast. Retrieved from http://www.thedailybeast.com

1. Why is Butler’s notion of gender as performance particularly relevant here?

2. How might objectification be experienced in everyday life?

3. What do you think of the limitations discussed regarding the research on emotional expression and nonverbal sensitivity? How might information relate to our later discussions of romance and relationship development?

4. How does gender perform you? Consider the discussions of attractiveness, objectification theory, eating disorders and body image.

5. What are the primary ways in which persons have “refused the command performance”? Are there any ways in which you have refused a command performance?

Ch 5

Poisson, Jayme. (2011, May 21). Parents keep child's gender secret. parentcetrnal.ca. Retreived from http://www.parentcentral.ca on eLearning

Borsuk, Amy. (2011, May 28). Enough about Storm’s gender. Let’s talk about the pronouns [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://msmagazine.com/blog/

Weeks, Linton. (2011, May 28). The fa-word: An insulting slur in the spotlight. npr.org. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org

Thompson, Christie. (2011, Summer). Taking slut for a walk. Ms., 21(3), 14. on eLearning

GRAD: Sowards, Stacey. (2010). Rhetorical agency as haciendo caras and differential consciousness through lens of gender, race, ethnicity, and class. An examination of Dolores Huerta's rhetorix. Communication Theory, 20, 223-247. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2010.01361.x on e Learning

GRAD: Campbell, Karlyn Kohrs. (1973, February). The rhetoric of Women’s Liberation: An oxymoron. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 59, 74-86. on e Learning

GRAD: Lloyd, Moya. (2007). Radical democratic activism and the politics of resignification. Contellations, 14(1), 129-146. on e learning

1. The authors argue language can oppress and liberate. Identify and explain five examples of each within the chapter. Why is recognizing both the liberatory and oppressive effect important?

2. Are there any examples of language as a tool of oppression or liberation that you had not considered previously? If so, what do these insights suggest to you? Why might they be useful to recognize?

3. What is the ethical debate regarding “speaking for others”? How do the authors suggest we address the debate? Do you agree or disagree and why?

4. Resignification of language is offered as an alternative. Do you think resignification is possible? Why or why not? Why would some groups or people choose such a strategy?

Ch 6

De Nies, Yunji, & Springer, Andrew. (2011, April 25). McDonald's Beating Caught on Tape: Was it a Hate Crime? Good Morning America. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/

Kimmel, Michael. (2000). The gender of violence. The Gendered Society. New York: Oxford University Press. on e Learning

Oct 4: RR possible

October 6: Gendered Lens Analysis of the Intersectional Self due

1. Do you agree gender is a social institution? Why/why not? If you agree? What qualifies it as an institution?

2. What is privilege? Can you identify ways in which your sex, gender, race, sexual orientation, or able-body privileges you?

3. How do institutions wield power? What are cultural ideology and cultural hegemony?

4. What is institutionalized gendered/sexed violence? What evidences of it did you discover? Is it necessary to address violence in our study of gender in communication? Why?

5. What is hegemonic masculinity? How does it relate to an institutional focus in the study of gender in communication?

Ch 7

Coontz, Stephnie. (2006, February 23). "Traditional" marriage has changed a lot [Guest column]. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved from http://www.stephaniecoontz.com

and

Coontz, Stephanie. (2005). The evolution of matrimony: The changing social context of marriage. Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association, 8(4), 30+. Retrieved from Academic OneFile.

or Bolick, Kate. (2011, November). All the single ladies. Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com

Oct 18: RR possible

October 18: Family artifact analysis due

• Sally K
• Amy C
• Emily A

1. What evidences do the authors give to illustrate the claim: ”families and gender are so intertwined that it is impossible to understand one without reference to the other. Families are not merely influenced by gender; rather families are organized by gender” (from Haddock, Zimmerman, and Lyness, 2003, p. 304)

2. What is a nuclear family, how did the concept become and remain so powerful, and why is it important to understand in our study of gender in family according to the authors? Do you agree or disagree and why?

4. What is compulsory heterosexuality? Why is it important when analyzing gendered/sexed family communication?

5. What are some ways in which relations among adult friends and lovers tend to construct gender?

Ch 8

Talbot, Margaret. (2002, February 24). Girls Just want to be mean. New York Times Magazine, 24-29+. on e Learning

Oct 25: RR possible

October 25: Education artifact analysis due

• Abigail F
• Garrett B

1. What are some ways in which education constructs and constrains gender? Can you offer examples of any of these from your own educational experiences?

2. Single-sex education is a hot topic in the media, particularly with President Bush’s ruling October 18, 2006, to relax standards for Title IX compliance to allow for more single-sex programs. What are the pros and cons of single-sex education? Why do you think this is a hot topic in media and education institutions?

Ch 9

Fishman, Charlotte. (2005, Ocotber 19). Mothers at work are canaries in the mine. womensenews.org. Retrieved from http://www.womensenews.org

Marin, Rick, & Dokupil,Tony. (2011, April 17). Dead suit walking. Newsweek. Retrieved from Http://www.newsweek.com

Nov 1: RR possible

November 1: Work artifact analysis due

• Nick L
• Hilary S
• Cody N
• Grace C
• Chase A

1. Often, when women who are primary caregivers use day care, they are seen as bad mothers. Why is it putting a child in daycare does not make a man a bad father? Discuss the way this gives insight into the existence of double standards and the way motherhood figures into women’s identity differently than fatherhood does into men’s.

2. Do you agree that organizations are masculinized? Why or why not?

3. Throughout the chapter, we describe ways in which African American women, in particular have created emancipatory strategies to survive and thrive in the work place. What are some of these strategies?

Ch 10

Chloe. (2011, May 12). Female genital cutting: a rite, a torture, or both? [Web log post]. feministing.com.

Samhita. (2011, April 14). The limits of a WOC feminist stance within the context of global racism [Web log post]. feministing.com.

Nov 8: RR possible

November 8: Religion artifact analysis due

• Alissa H.
• Amber W.

1. Why is it necessary to understand relationships between spiritual equality and social equality?

2. What are some ways in which religion constructs and constrains gender?

3. What are some ways in which religion has liberated and/or empowered persons or groups?

4. . What is Muscular Christianity? Offer some examples.

Watch Codes of Gender and Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes

Ch 11

Fortini, Amanda. (2008, November 24). "The "bitch" and the "ditz". New York, 30-34. e Learning

Samhita. Behind every strong man, there is an even stronger Beyonce [Web log post]. feministing.com. Watch the featured video: "Lies"

GRAD: Renegar, Valerie, & Sowards, Stacey. (2009, Spring). Contradiction as agency: Self-determination, transcendence, and counter-imagination in Third Wave Feminism. Hypatia, 24(2), 1-20. on eLearning

Nov 29: RR possible

November 29 Media artifact analysis due

• Ann D
• KatelynP
• Nana S
• Felicia C

1. Can you think of ways in which individual agency (or gender) is commodified and sold (Goldman, Heath, & Smith, 1991; Talbot, 1998)?

2. In what ways does “television ‘mak[e] present in public’ a vocabulary that prefers the dominant audience’s interests”?

3. Do media representations of romance normalize violence?

4. What are some ways in which media interlocks with other institutions? What does this interlocking suggest about the role of media in society?

5. What are “the gaze/s” and “oppositional gaze”? How might this be a useful tool in your critical gender lens toolkit?

Ch 12

GRAD: Shome, Raka. (1996, February). Postcolonial interventions in the rhetorical canon: An "other" view. communication Theory, 6(1), 40-59. on eLearning

Dec 6: last chance to turn in a visual artifact

Dec 6: RR possible

1. What are the limits of a differences approach to the study of gender in communication?

2. Raka Shome and Rada Hegde make clear that the effect of globalization is not to make the category of identity disappear. Instead, one should focus on “how identity becomes a matter of struggle” (p. 179). In other words, not only is identity itself complex, but identity alone is not the only axis of power. Given this, can you identify instances in which identity has become a matter of struggle?

3. Where do locations of gender domination exist in a globalized world?