Tags: crime/law/deviance, gender, organizations/occupations/work, violence, war/military, masculinity, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2010 Length: 4:57 Access: YouTube Summary: In this interrogation tape, Spc. Adam Winfield tells an Army investigator about a series of premeditated murders of innocent Afghan civilians by fellow platoon members. Speaking of the “ringleader” of the misconduct, Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, Winfield says, “He likes to kill things. He is pretty much evil incarnate.” While Winfield attributes “evil” to Gibbs’ predilection for killing and violence, Cynthia Enloe’s essay “Wielding Masculinity Inside Abu Ghraib” offers an alternative explanation. Contrary to arguments about a few “bad” (or “evil”) apples, Enloe points to the systematic masculinized culture of the US military. This culture (characterized by violence, assumptions around American/Western superiority, and the subjugation of femininity) goes unaccounted for in most military scandal investigations. Enloe argues men and women are pressured to endorse and participate in this culture of masculinity. Responding to how Gibbs might have reacted to Winfield’s refusal to take part in the killing, Winfield says, “I think -- one, he wouldn't have kept me in the loop on things and, if they had thought I had ratted, they would have come after me.” After the killing Winfield said Gibbs told him “he was part of the group.” The investigator asks, “Did he ever hold against you that you killed a man?” Winfield replies, “No, he told me I was a made man after that.” Coupled with Enloe's essay, this clip is useful for showing students how organizations are gendered, and the ways in which patriarchy functions as a system (and is not the product of "a few bad apples"). Submitted By: Valerie Chepp
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Tags: children/youth, gender, culture, rape, sexual assault, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2010 Length: 1:43 Access: Jezebel.com Summary: This clip is taken from a local news report about a group of boys and men who drugged and raped a 16-year-old girl in a field nearby a party they were attending. Some time later, pictures of the rape were posted on Facebook, and according to reports, each time the pictures were taken down by Facebook, they were reposted. Note in the clip that against the victim's own claim of being raped and despite reports that she was given a date rape drug, the students who were interviewed by the news station assert their belief that consensual sex occurred, not rape. At about 40 seconds into the clip, the teens go further by suggesting that the victim was at fault. I see this clip as working well to facilitate two sorts of discussions. The first is a discussion of the concept of rape culture, which is articulated well in the book Transforming a Rape Culture: "A rape culture is a complex of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression and supports violence against women." Feminist blogger, Melissa McEwan, has also posted an influential essay on the topic. A second more thorough discussion from this clip might draw from Elizabeth Armstrong's article, "Sexual Assault on Campus," to explore how rape is often the result of cultural factors working in tandem with organizational arrangements. Submitted By: Lester Andrist Tags: children/youth, consumption/consumerism, education, gender, inequality, knowledge, media, social construction, standpoint theory, 00 to 05 mins Year: 1998 Length: 1:31 Access: YouTube Summary: The YouTube caption for this clip reads, "By Phil Lord and Chris Miller - This was a fake commercial we made in 1998 for a series of educational shorts about action figures based on historical figures. Its educational value was somewhat suspect. It was never aired." While the clip may not offer quantitative data, it works well to broach the topic of gender inequality. The Bronte sisters action figures must fight evil publishers who discriminate against women authors. At a minute and a half, the clip is brief but incredibly useful for stimulating discussion about one way gender inequality works. For instance, students can be encouraged to contemplate that the standpoints of women are systematically suppressed through a publishing bias in favor of works written by men. A second point to take away from the clip is the positioning of women as action figures who fight evil. I would argue that even as toys women are rarely represented as such in the United States unless they are also sexually objectified. In this clip, the Bronte sisters are dressed rather modestly. I would like to thank Elisa Kreisinger for suggesting this clip. Submitted By: Lester Andrist Tags: discourse/language, gender, media, sex/sexuality, social construction, masculinity, popular culture, 06 to 10 mins Year: 2009 Length: 6:70 (segment 1) and 1:30 (segment 2) Access: YouTube Summary: In the summer of 2009, the reality TV show The Bachelorette featured a fascinating discussion about "Man Code." Originally appearing in the men's magazine Maxim, Man Code is a "collection of rules that every man should live by." I use this clip in my Sociology of Gender class, asking student to use Connell's concept of hegemonic masculinity and Kimmel's concept of masculinity as homophobia to make sense of (1) what Man Code is, (2) how it is policed, and (3) who does the policing. The discussion of Man Code takes place in segment 1 (starts around min. 3:36) and segment 2 (runs until approx. min. 1:30) of this episode. Submitted By: Valerie Chepp Tags: children/youth, gender, social construction, masculinity, socialization, 00 to 05 mins Year: 1994 Length: 1:53 Access: YouTube Summary: This is a short clip from the The Smell of Burning Ants, "a haunting documentary on the pains of growing up male...Through formative events of a boy’s life, we come to understand the ways in which men can become emotionally disconnected and alienated from their feminine side. The common dismissal that “boys will be boys” evolves into the chilling realization that boys frequently become angry, destructive and emotionally disabled men. The Smell of Burning Ants illustrates how boys are socialized by fear, power and shame" (description from the film's website). There are also parts 1, 2 and 3 available on YouTube. Submitted By: Valerie Chepp Tags: gender, marketing/brands, media, sex/sexuality, violence, doing gender, masculinity, rape, representation, sexual objectification, sexual violence, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2008 Length: 5:33 Access: YouTube Summary: The description under this YouTube clip reads, "Dreamworlds 3...examines the stories contemporary music videos tell about girls and women, and encourages viewers to consider how these narratives shape individual and cultural attitudes about sexuality." Specifically, this five minute excerpt links popular media with the objectification of women and the masculine violence directed toward them. This clip might also work well as a means of introducing the concept of "doing" gender. The clip makes it clear that men must learn masculinity, and it is not something that flows from them naturally. Submitted By: Lester Andrist Glenn Beck and other television personalities use rape metaphors Tags: gender, intersectionality, media, nationalism, rape, masculinity, femininity, subtitles/CC, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2009 Length: 2:15 Access: YouTube Summary: This remix features conservative commentators such as Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Michael Savage employing rape metaphors when discussing various political policies. A number of references in the remix rhetorically position women as the victims of rape and unscrupulous men as the rapists. Thus the clip can be used to underscore the way gendered violence is often keyed to a host of political issues in order to provoke the public or suggest a greater sense of urgency. Taking the analysis a step further, one can trace symbolic intersections between gender and nation, as when Rush Limbaugh suggests that his listeners are being "gang raped" by the Democrats. Here Limbaugh's listeners represent the nation and the Democratic Party becomes the assailant. In another example, Michael Savage remarks that "The Statue of Liberty is crying; she's been raped and disheveled...by illegal aliens...How about missing country and the rape of a nation." By suggesting the Statue of Liberty is a victim of rape and undocumented immigrants are the assailants, commentators are able to connect gender violence to nation, thereby shoring up the basis for their outrage. "This is no longer about the tragedy of an individual," the commentators seem to be saying, "it is instead an attack against the American community." The video can be useful to illustrate the way nation and gender are constitutive of each other and how these two dimensions often work together to give meaning and urgency to political issues. Submitted By: Lester Andrist Tags: bodies, emotion/desire, gender, marketing/brands, media, race/ethnicity, violence, hegemonic masculinity, ideal beauty, rape, representation, sexual violence, 06 to 10 mins Year: 1999 Length: 7:03 Access: YouTube Summary: This clip, featuring Jackson Katz, examines popular media representations of men and masculinity in the United States. The excerpt is only the first 7 minutes of an 84 minute documentary (find more information about the film at mediaed.org). In it, Katz explores the harmful consequences associated with contemporary masculinity. Some students might perceive the examples used in "Tough Guise" to be outdated, but Katz's recent book, "The Macho Paradox," can be used effectively to update and supplement the film. Note that instructors might find this clip useful for introducing Connell's concept of hegemonic masculinity. Submitted By: Lester Andrist Tags: consumption/consumerism, emotion/desire, gender, media, culture, feminism, gender stereotype, representation, sexual liberation, subtitles/CC, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2010 Length: 5:15 Access: YouTube Summary: Sociologist Tracy L. Scott, from Emory University, explains what effect Sex and the City has had on culture and society. She attempts to answer whether the program had a positive impact in promoting gender equality and whether the show was truly as ground breaking as people believed. She concludes that while the show initially explored sexual liberation among women, it gradually moved toward a traditional story about women being preoccupied with romantic relationships. In this sense, the show resembled other programs of the 1970s and did not necessarily challenge gender stereotypes. A good point is made about the way this show promotes a particular kind of consumerism among women. This clip would work well in a class that seeks to introduce the concept of gender stereotypes and the way they are reinforced in popular media, particularly in shows which claim to be modern and progressive. Submitted By: Lester Andrist Tags: class, gender, intersectionality, marriage/family, media, race/ethnicity, representation, welfare, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2010 Length: 4:10 Access: YouTube Summary: This is Sade’s music video for the song “Babyfather.” The video depicts Sade in what many Americans identify as the traditional homemaker role from the 1950s. On the one hand, this video can certainly be criticized as yet another sexist attempt to pair women with homemaking. On the other hand, the video's protagonist is a Black woman in a role the media almost exclusively reserves for white women. The video further challenges stereotypes by featuring this Black woman in a reasonably affluent suburb, thereby derailing easy and problematic associations of Blacks and poverty. The clip might be useful for jump starting a discussion about how the characters of visual media are so often narrowly written with a set of attributes, which are closely tied to the character's race and gender. Perhaps it's true that the re-creation of these raced and gendered archetypes are aligned with audience expectations, but one shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the media was instrumental in creating those expectations in the first place. Because so few stories about Americans during the 1950s ever prominently feature Blacks as residents of the growing suburbs, this music video can be analyzed as an example of subversive media, and on that score, it works well with Beyoncé’s video "Why Don't You Love Me," (here) which similarly depicts an affluent Black woman homemaker in 1950s America. Submitted By: Lester Andrist |
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