Week # 6 Good bye for now....

Well it's a wrap! What a remarkable performance this semester! The passion and energy and overall excitement for gender studies was so satisfying as a teacher. Thank you for making it a great class! The class was so successful because you cared about sharing and promoting your ideas with one another. An online class needs students that are passionate, and have an intellectual curiousity. This shouldn't be the ending but the beginning. Take the ideas shared in this course (text, blogs, wikis, Bb, etc.) and continue to explore, recognize and continue to live them. I would really appreciate it if you would NOT delete your blog. I would like to be able to use your blogs in the future in my teaching and faculty training. I am proud of the work that has been done this semester. I am always here for you if you want to continue this gender communication discussion! Enjoy your summer! Wishing each of you all the best!

Week #4 Eureka Moment

Chastity Bono has begun transitioning her gender. What are your thoughts on this story especially after taking this class?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,525869,00.html

Week #3 Eureka Moment

So, I have been "half watching" a reality show called "the Cougar". ("Half watching" means keeping it in the background while I do other things...) The premise of the show is a 40 year old woman looking for a partner. The men on the show are all in their twenties. I gringe each time I turn it on and see the title...trying to portray an older women as a loose, or immoral for being interested in a younger man, This reality show premise was to hype the reverse role expecations on gender and age as being "wrong" or unnatural for an older woman to date a younger man. The life experiences of the people involved was more of an issue than the older woman and younger men scenario. Gender was less of an issue than life experience. The woman was a strong, independent, self sufficient woman not looking for a caretaker but a partner. The stereotypes of a younger guy interested in a physical relationship were also debunked. It was a show that promoted itself on the gender role expectations and yet, they weren't illustrated and even moreso, these new expectations seemed so natural... it was a reality TV show and like all shows, I don't believe that anyone can really consider themselves in love without time and committment to the couple experience, but, it was interesting to see that even thought we want to promote the stereotypes of this gender reversal, it didn't seem to exist.

Prof. M's Eureka Moment Week #2

Everyone did nicely for an opening post and comment on the class blog. Our individual blogs are now up and running. My Eureka moments come from beginning to be conscious of the little things that I take for granted everyday. My daughter is three years old and attends daycare. The toys in the classroom are played by both the boys and girls regardless if our society has placed the title of a "girl toy" or "boy toy" on them. My daugher loves playing with the dinosaurs and the computer games like Diego. She will pick up a puzzle that is about trucks and cars. She plays with the dolls and the supermarket too, but, doesn't limit herself to "girl toys". She sees the fun in all toys. I have noticed some little boys playing with the girls in the supermarket or puppet theater. There are no gender expectations put on these children. The children have free time in the morning and afternoon and are free to play with whatever toys they choose. What is these expectations weren't defined for children later on by their parents, teachers, televisions shows? Would more females explore current male dominatd professions and vice versa? And, how would relaxing these expectations change so much of our current gender communication? Would men express emotions differently than they do now? Would more women seek out leadership opportunities? Or, be more assertive in situations? Hmmmmm...........

Eureka Moment

Gender Communication - Summer 2009 GND311 OL

Welcome to Gender and Communication. I am looking forward to reading your posts each week. We will be using this blog each week in our course to make the connection from our course studies to the "real world:". We will be posting each week our "Eureka Moments". Those moments that we realize a new perspective, recognize a gender issue is occurring in our life. This could be as simple as recognizing your language in a conversation at work to noticing something in a movie or reading something in the newspaper. It could be something that you recognize based on our class reading. Any time that you can create a link to your Eureka Moment to another web site or news site or dress up the blog with an embedded image would be great. If you aren't a technology wizard, that's okay too. Find the right words to create an image or feeling that other student readers can relate to when they read your post. So, I have created a sample of a post. We will use the class blog to post this week. Go to the bottom of this blog and you will find the word comments. Click on it and it will bring up a comment box. Share your Eureka moment. Then, click post. I want this blog to start you to be a more in each moment or more aware to pay attention to all the gender issues that are in our life each and every day that before now have gone unnoticed. Take the opportunity in this blog to start paying more attention to gender communication in all it's forms in our world today.

Week#6 Gender ,Cartoons,Television

So, these days whenever I have the TV on it is usually on the Nick Jr channel. My daughter has joined the ranks of preschoolers that loves Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go, and The Backyardigans, and recently added to the list is Kai-lan. Many of have you have commented on gender messages that you have seen in sitcoms or drama series like Sex in the City or Grey's Anatomy. How about cartoons? What are your thoughts about the gender messages that are coming through these shows? And, how have these messages changed from when you were a child and watched cartoons? Recently, even Sesame Street introduced a new female character named AbbyCadabby after years of male characters moving to Sesame Street. Dora is an explorer, and with her side kick Boots the monkey they take on adventures! My daughter is learning a lot of words and images, music from this show but what messages about gender? Dora isn't the sidekick but leads the adventures. She figures things out and solves problems as her famous line at the end of the show says "we did it". Kai-lan is another female lead. I watch her as she watches these shows and I am wondering what is she really learning here. What messages about how to think, act, behavior is she absorbing? I like the idea of female leads in these shows as I never had cartoons or really any children's programming when I was a child. (Actuallly, Sesame Street didn't come into existence until I was about 12 y ears old. So, do you think cartoons are adhering to gender stereotypes or are we breaking new ground? What are the words, dress and other nonverbals seen in these characters? How about the storylines? Many women have remarked in journal entries and posts that you weren't allowed to play rough in "boy" play when you were younger. Dora climbs mountains, swings from ropes, and jumps over alligators, and even rides on the backs of dolphins! she dresses in shorts but has a little bracelet on. Wears sneakers but wears clothes that are purple (girl) and orange(boy).
Do you think cartoons are early messages to our preschoolers about gender? If so, what are these messages.