1. SC2220: Gender StudiesLecture 6: Gender inPopular Culture
Eric C. Thompson
Semester 2, 2010/2011

2. Where We Have Been
History of Gender Studies
Sex/Gender Distinction
Becoming Male or Female
Gender socialization; paths to learning gender.
Gender Systems
Masculinity/Femininity
Gender as systems of beliefs and behaviors
3. Where We Are Going
Gender in Popular Culture
Gender in Advertising
Popular Culture (TODAY)
Gender in Social Relations
Gender and Power
Gender and Work
Gender, Here and Now
Gender in Singapore
4. Where We Have Been
History of Gender Studies
Sex/Gender Distinction
Becoming Male or Female
Gender Systems
Foundations of Gender Studies
How we become gendered.
What gender is
1. Systems of Belief and Behavior.
2. What we do, not what we are.
5. Where We Are Going
Gender in art, literature, language, popular culture.
Ideas, beliefs about gender.
Representations of gender.
Gender in Popular Culture
Gender in Social Relations
Gender, Here and Now
Social structure, Economics, Politics, Power. Gender in Practice.
Applying Gender Studies to
Singapore
Your own life
6. So Much to Cover!
The scope is pretty large, perhaps a tighter scope would be better? (IVLE Feedback comment)
SC2220 is a Survey Class an overview of an entire field.
Other, more narrowly focused courses include:
JS2228: Gender and Sexuality in Japan
SN2234: Gender and Society in South Asia
EN3244: Gender and Literature
GE3206: Gender, Place and Space
PH3217: Women in Philosophy
PS3237: Women in Politics
SW3206: Gender Issues in Social Work Practice
And many more
7. How do I apply this knowledge?
Immediate Application
How do I write an essay for the final exam?!
To be discussed more in the latter part of the course.
Lifelong Application
How does gender affect my life?
Drawing connections, lecture-to-lecture.
Questions and food for thought.
8. Todays Lecture
Masculinity and Femininity in Traditional and Popular Cultures
Fathering (Chopra)
Change over Time
Race and Gender
Sexuality and Power
Male Gaze
Female Tease?
9. Retrieving the Father (Chopra)
Revising Feminist views of Masculinity
Absent Fathers
Father as provider and authority; not caregiver
Kopoi Father Love
Traditional Cultures
Fathering in film.
Popular Cultures
Chopra is arguing:
For diverse fathering
Father love is masculine and distinct from mothering
10. Transitions Through Time and Space
Masculinity and Femininity are constructed differently in different times and places.
Two Examples: Traditional Cultures; Popular Culture
Where Have all the Trans-Gender Ritual Specialist Gone? (Peletz 2006, Current Anthropology)
Hollywood Images of Masculinity in the Late 20th Century
11. Examples of Transgender Ritual Specialists in Southeast Asian History
Pre-Colonial Southeast Asia: Widespread Evidence of Trans-Gender Ritual Specialists
Sida-Sida (Peninsular Malay)
Bissu and others (Bugis)
Basir and Balian (NgajuDayak)
HauBralin (Khmer Initiation Ritual)
Acault (Burma)
As well as others
12. Where have all the Transgender Ritual Specialists Gone?
Southeast Asia Today: Less tolerant attitudes; Greater marginalization of transgender practices
But still many examples and more tolerance than elsewhere: Pondan (Malaysia), Banci (Indonesia), Khatoey (Thailand), Bakla & Bantut (Philippines)
Why less tolerance? Modernity? State bureaucratic rationalism? Religion (esp. the spread of Islam and Christianity)? Capitalism? Westernization?
Transition from gender pluralism to gender dualism (see: Peletz, Current Anthropology, 2006)
13. Hollywood Images of Masculinity
1970s: Clint Eastwood: Independent, Solitary Figure (High Plains Drifter 1973, Dirty Harry 1971)
1977: Luke Skywalker: The New-Age Spiritual Male
1993: Falling Down: Hegemonic Middle-Class, White, American Masculinity Hegemony in Crisis
Struggling to come to terms in a changing world.
Vigilante (Dirty Harry) is now the Bad Guy.
1999: Fight Club: Reclaiming Masculinity
14. Falling Down: Notes and Reflections
Crisis of Hegemonic Masculinity: White, Middle-Class, English-speaking, Middle-Age, American Family-Man
Im the bad guy?: The world turned upside-down.
Intersection of Gender, Race, Class, Age
Falling Down in Singapore?
Chinese, Hokkien-Speaking, Middle-Class, Middle-Age, Singaporean Family-Man?
Is there a crisis of masculinity?
If so, how does it play out?
15. Fight Club: Notes and Reflections
Fight-Therapy (Masculine) vs. Talk-Therapy (Feminine)
Lack of male role models (divorce culture, absentee fathers, Our fathers were our models for God. If our fathers bailed, what does that tell us about God?)
Problematic relationships with women (single mothers; dysfunctional heterosexuality)
Struggling with symbolic status competition and identity (youre not your f***in khakis)
16. Gender, Race and Masculinity
The Green Hornet
1966-1967 TV series, with Bruce Lee as Kato
2011 Movie, Jay Chou (pop star) as Kato and Seth Rogan (comedian) as Green Hornet
Who is the leader?
Who is the sidekick?
Who gets the girl?
Does Hollywood produce Asian masculinity?
17. A Pop Culture Critique of Pop Culture
Stupid Girls
18. Second & Third Wave Feminism
Pink Stupid Girls
Second Wave Feminism
Rejection of Emphasized Femininity
Gain Power through Competing with Men (What happened to the dream of a girl President)
Spice Girls Wannabe
Third Wave Feminism
Assume Equality/Status as a Given
Gain Power through leveraging Femininity and Sexuality (If you want to be my lover, you have got to give i.e. you get sex if you do what I want you to do.)
19. Imagery, Representations & Power
The Male Gaze versus the Female Tease
How are women represented in popular culture?
What sort of power (and vulnerability) do pop culture representations create?
20. The Male Gaze
Women are subject to the male gaze through advertising and in public spaces.
Gender/feminist theorist argue that the male gaze operates as a form of harassment, discipline and control.
Women subjected to the male gaze must learn to control their own bodies in public.
21. The Female Tease?
Third Wave feminist argue that women should assert themselves sexually as a form of power.
Does the female tease reverses or contests the power of the male gaze?
Example: Pussy Cat Dolls
22. Traditional Themes of Feminism and Gender Studies:

Double Standard for Women:

23. The Madonna/whore complex 24. Patriarchal culture expects women to be both chaste (Madonna the virgin Mary) and sexually available/promiscuous (whore); creating a difficult double standard for women to follow. 25. Objectification of Women as Sex Objects. 26. The male gaze as agent of objectification. 27. Oppression of women by patriarchal culture.