Lecture 6: Gender and Popular Culture

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. Today’s 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 Kopo’i – 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 “I’m 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 (“you’re 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

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.

28. Reaction to “Second Wave” Feminism

29. Largely assumes that women do have or should have equal status.

30. Rejects the de-feminized and de-sexualized image of “bra-burning feminists”

31. Represented in Popular Culture by the Spice Girls as a “Girl Power” Pop Group.

33. About the PCD (according to Wikipedia):

34. Formed as a Burlesque Troupe, 1995-2003.

35. Gained notoriety after 1999 Playboy pictorial.

36. Re-cast as Musical Group, 2003-Present.

37. Debut Album (PCD): 2005.

41. “Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me… a freak like me… fun like me”

43. The lyrics suggest a sexually intimate (heterosexual?) couple. (“We’ll be making love endlessly. I’m with you. Baby, I’m with you.”)

46. “Typical. Hardly the type I fall for.”

47. “You say you’re a big boy but I can’t agree. ‘Cause the love you said you had ain’t been put on me.”

50. PCD: “Boy, why you trippin’ like that? You think cause you’re tricking you get it just like that? . . . Baby please, I’m fine, I’m not one of these hoes. Chasing dreams not diamond rings. So don’t call me no more . . .”

52. Useless

53. Interested only in sex

54. Too aggressive AND Not aggressive enough

55. Expected to please and provide for women

56. Sexuality

57. Women can get what they want through sex/desirability.

58. Men should please women sexually (but women need not please men).

59. Positive portrayals of aggressive female sexuality.

60. Negative portrayals of aggressive male sexuality.

61. Overcoming the “male gaze” (that objectifies women).

63. Female-Female Competition

64. “Hoes” give men sexual satisfaction in exchange for material things; PCDs just take without “giving it up” (?)

65. Simultaneously deriding and empathizing with the “not hot” girlfriend (“Don’t Cha”)

66. “Gynearchal” Double Standards for Men?

67. “Aggressor/Loser” Complex? (vs. “Madonna/Whore”)

69. Is the “Double Standard” a big deal?

70. Some think so…

71. Warren Farrell (The Myth of Male Power) has argued since the 1980s that men, not women are “oppressed”.

73. Problem of Sexuality and Power “Dancing on the Mobius Strip” Bernadette Barton, Gender and Society, 2002 Barton studied the experience of women who worked in strip clubs. She examined whether women felt empowered or disempowered through the experience. For most women: initially they felt empowered. However, the longer they continued working the more disempowered they felt; both because of age and because of long-term objectificaiton. Only a few women were able to maintain feelings of empowerment over the long-term (these were the at the high-end of the profession and able to make it a career they controled). Recall: “Killing Us Softly” – advertising presents young women with a questionable sense of “empowerment”.

74. Gender, Power and Imagery What are the implications for gender and power relationships?

75. Gender, Power and Imagery What are the implications for gender and power relationships?

76. Gender, Power and Imagery What are the implications for gender and power relationships?

77. Gender, Power and Imagery What are the implications for gender and power relationships?

78. Final Questions to Ponder What are your favorite movies, television programs, or music? What do they “teach” you about how to act as a man or a woman? What do they teach you to expect from the opposite sex? What do they teach you about what is ok or not ok in gendered behavior?