Thursday, April 25, 2019

Feminism

76 minutes

       Learning Targets: I can think critically about representations of gender in advertisements

I can discuss and analyze an article with my classmates

HOMEWORK FOR NEXT Monday, April 29:  Read and annotate and write a response paper on “I Won. I’m Sorry,” by Mariah Burton Nelson. Submit into Google Classroom BEFORE THE START OF CLASS. Use the “Reading the Text” questions at the end of this article to help you to frame your response paper. Also, this article originally appeared in 1998. Is Nelson’s argument still relevant /accurate 20 years later? Use the Google to search for confirmation and/or counterarguments. 5

Last time, we talked about whether or not The Codes of Gender was critical of femininity and of female athletes who are portrayed in sexual ways, and in ways that male athletes are not. Is the documentary critical of “femininity” and sexuality or is it critical of the ways in which advertisements / media represent femininity in very sexually narrow and stereotypical ways? Is it critical of women wanting to be sexual or is it critical of the narrow ways in which feminine sexuality is represented and reinforced through advertisements? The problem is that “sexy” or “hot” is expressed through poses that are frivolous, childlike, submissive, and dependent. The question should be posed: is feminine sexuality naturally submissive and vulnerable or is this a cultural / social construction? And what are the consequences for women and men to have this representation of female sexuality / femininity so prominently featured in media? Why should female athletes feel compelled to present themselves as posing in ways that are coded as sexually available and submissive? 5 (10)

1.   Finish Killing Us Softly 4 (take notes in notebook, titled “Notes on Killing Us Softly”) 

2.   Free-Write: Title this “Response to Killing Us Softly, April 25, 2019”: In your notebook, write your thoughts and responses to the argument that Jean Kilbourne makes 

3.   Discuss video in small groups and as a whole class 

HOMEWORK FOR NEXT Monday, April 29:  Read and annotate and write a response paper on “I Won. I’m Sorry,” by Mariah Burton Nelson. Submit into Google Classroom BEFORE THE START OF CLASS. Use the “Reading the Text” questions at the end of this article to help you to frame your response paper. Also, this article originally appeared in 1998. Is Nelson’s argument still relevant /accurate 20 years later? Use the Google to search for confirmation and/or counterarguments. 5