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

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Where We Have Been…<br />History of Gender Studies<br />Sex/Gender Distinction<br />Becoming Male or Female<br />Gender socialization; paths to learning gender.<br />Gender Systems<br />Masculinity/Femininity<br />Gender as systems of beliefs and behaviors<br />

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Where We Are Going…<br />Gender in Popular Culture<br />Gender in Advertising<br />Popular Culture (TODAY)<br />Gender in Social Relations<br />Gender and Power<br />Gender and Work<br />Gender, Here and Now<br />Gender in Singapore<br />

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Where We Have Been…<br />History of Gender Studies<br />Sex/Gender Distinction<br />Becoming Male or Female<br />Gender Systems<br />Foundations of Gender Studies<br />How we become gendered.<br />What gender is…<br />1. Systems of Belief and Behavior.<br />2. What we do, not what we are.<br />

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Where We Are Going…<br />Gender in art, literature, language, popular culture.<br />Ideas, beliefs about gender.<br />Representations of gender.<br />Gender in Popular Culture<br />Gender in Social Relations<br />Gender, Here and Now<br />Social structure, Economics, Politics, Power. Gender in Practice.<br />Applying Gender Studies to…<br />Singapore<br />Your own life<br />

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So Much to Cover!<br />“The scope is pretty large, perhaps a tighter scope would be better?” (IVLE Feedback comment)<br />SC2220 is a Survey Class… an overview of an entire field.<br />Other, more narrowly focused courses include:<br />JS2228: Gender and Sexuality in Japan<br />SN2234: Gender and Society in South Asia<br />EN3244: Gender and Literature<br />GE3206: Gender, Place and Space<br />PH3217: Women in Philosophy<br />PS3237: Women in Politics<br />SW3206: Gender Issues in Social Work Practice<br />And many more…<br />

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How do I apply this knowledge?<br />Immediate Application<br />How do I write an essay for the final exam?!<br />To be discussed more in the latter part of the course.<br />Lifelong Application<br />How does gender affect my life?<br />Drawing connections, lecture-to-lecture.<br />Questions and “food for thought”.<br />

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Today’s Lecture…<br />Masculinity and Femininity in Traditional and Popular Cultures<br />Fathering (Chopra)<br />Change over Time<br />Race and Gender<br />Sexuality and Power<br />Male Gaze<br />Female Tease?<br />

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“Retrieving the Father” (Chopra)<br />Revising Feminist views of Masculinity<br />“Absent” Fathers<br />Father as provider and authority; not caregiver<br />Kopo’i – Father Love<br />Traditional Cultures<br />Fathering in film.<br />Popular Cultures<br />Chopra is arguing:<br />For diverse fathering<br />Father love is masculine and distinct from “mothering”<br />

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Transitions Through Time and Space<br />Masculinity and Femininity are constructed differently in different times and places.<br />Two Examples: Traditional Cultures; Popular Culture<br />“Where Have all the Trans-Gender Ritual Specialist Gone?” (Peletz 2006, Current Anthropology)<br />Hollywood Images of Masculinity in the Late 20th Century<br />

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Examples of Transgender Ritual Specialists in Southeast Asian History<br />Pre-Colonial Southeast Asia: Widespread Evidence of “Trans-Gender” Ritual Specialists<br />Sida-Sida (Peninsular Malay)<br />Bissu and others (Bugis)<br />Basir and Balian (NgajuDayak)<br />HauBralin (Khmer Initiation Ritual)<br />Acault (Burma)<br />As well as others…<br />

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Where have all the Transgender Ritual Specialists Gone?<br />Southeast Asia Today: Less tolerant attitudes; Greater marginalization of transgender practices<br />But still many examples and more tolerance than elsewhere: Pondan (Malaysia), Banci (Indonesia), Khatoey (Thailand), Bakla & Bantut (Philippines)<br />Why less tolerance? Modernity? State bureaucratic rationalism? Religion (esp. the spread of Islam and Christianity)? Capitalism? Westernization?<br />Transition from “gender pluralism” to “gender dualism” (see: Peletz, Current Anthropology, 2006)<br />

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Hollywood Images of Masculinity<br />1970s: Clint Eastwood: Independent, Solitary Figure (High Plains Drifter 1973, Dirty Harry 1971)<br />1977: Luke Skywalker: The New-Age Spiritual Male<br />1993: Falling Down: Hegemonic Middle-Class, White, American Masculinity Hegemony in Crisis<br />Struggling to come to terms in a changing world.<br />Vigilante (“Dirty Harry”) is now the Bad Guy.<br />1999: “Fight Club”: Reclaiming Masculinity<br />

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Falling Down: Notes and Reflections<br />Crisis of Hegemonic Masculinity: White, Middle-Class, English-speaking, Middle-Age, American Family-Man<br />“I’m the bad guy?”: The world turned upside-down.<br />Intersection of Gender, Race, Class, Age<br />Falling Down in Singapore?<br />Chinese, Hokkien-Speaking, Middle-Class, Middle-Age, Singaporean Family-Man?<br />Is there a “crisis of masculinity”?<br />If so, how does it play out?<br />

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Fight Club: Notes and Reflections<br />Fight-Therapy (Masculine) vs. Talk-Therapy (Feminine)<br />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?)<br />Problematic relationships with women (single mothers; dysfunctional heterosexuality)<br />Struggling with symbolic status competition and identity (“you’re not your f***in’ khakis”)<br />

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Gender, Race and Masculinity<br />The Green Hornet<br />1966-1967 TV series, with Bruce Lee as Kato<br />2011 Movie, Jay Chou (pop star) as Kato and Seth Rogan (comedian) as Green Hornet<br />Who is the leader?<br />Who is the sidekick?<br />Who “gets the girl”?<br />Does Hollywood produce “Asian” masculinity?<br />

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A Pop Culture Critique of Pop Culture…<br />“Stupid Girls”<br />

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Second & Third Wave Feminism<br />Pink “Stupid Girls”<br />“Second Wave” Feminism<br />Rejection of “Emphasized” Femininity<br />Gain Power through Competing with Men (“What happened to the dream of a girl President…”)<br />Spice Girls “Wannabe”<br />“Third Wave” Feminism<br />Assume Equality/Status as a Given<br />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.)<br />

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Imagery, Representations & Power<br />The “Male Gaze” versus the “Female Tease”<br />How are women represented in popular culture?<br />What sort of power (and vulnerability) do pop culture representations create?<br />

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The Male Gaze<br />Women are subject to “the male gaze” through advertising and in public spaces.<br />Gender/feminist theorist argue that the male gaze operates as a form of harassment, discipline and control.<br />Women subjected to the male gaze must learn to control their own bodies in public.<br />

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The Female Tease?<br />Third Wave feminist argue that women should assert themselves sexually as a form of power.<br />Does the “female tease” reverses or contests the power of the “male gaze”?<br />Example: Pussy Cat Dolls<br />

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Traditional Themes of Feminism and Gender Studies:<br /><ul><li>Double Standard for Women:

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The “Madonna/whore” complex

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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.

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Objectification of Women as Sex Objects.

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The “male gaze” as agent of objectification.

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Oppression of women by patriarchal culture.</li></li></ul><li>“Third Wave” Feminism<br /><ul><li>From 1990s

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Reaction to “Second Wave” Feminism

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

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

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

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For example “Wanna Be” (“If you wannabe my lover, you gotta get with my friends…”; Priority of girlfriends over boyfriends.) </li></li></ul><li>Pussycat Dolls<br /><ul><li>“Girl Power” Group, very much in the mold of Spice Girls (but taken to a greater extreme?).

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About the PCD (according to Wikipedia):

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Formed as a Burlesque Troupe, 1995-2003.

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Gained notoriety after 1999 Playboy pictorial.

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Re-cast as Musical Group, 2003-Present.

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Debut Album (PCD): 2005.

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Second Album (Doll Domination): 2008.</li></li></ul><li>

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“Don’t Cha”(PCD’s First Hit Single)<br /><ul><li>“I know you like me. I know you do. That’s why whenever I come around, she’s all over you… And I know you want it. It’s easy to see. And in the back of your mind, I know you should be ****me.” (**** =“home with me”; “holdin’ me”; “f***in’ me”; different versions)

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

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“Fight the feeling. Leave it alone. ‘Cause if it ain’t love, it just ain’t enough to leave a happy home…”</li></li></ul><li>“StickWitU”(Second Hit Single)<br /><ul><li>Chorus: “Nobody gonna love me better. I must stick with you forever. Nobody gonna take me higher. I must stick with you.”

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

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The video portrays an intimate (but not sexual) friendship among the women in the group – especially overcoming struggles and having a long history together.</li></li></ul><li>“Beep”(with will.i.am)<br /><ul><li>will.i.am: “It’s funny how a man only thinks about the (beep). You got a real big heart, but I’m lookin’ at your (beep). You got a real big brain, but I’m lookin’ at your (beep)…”

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PCD: “I don’t give a (beep). Keep lookin’ at my (beep)… Every boy’s the same, since I been in the seventh grade. They’ve been trying to get to me. Trying to hahaha, hahaha…. I keep turning them down… You’re too aggressive.”</li></li></ul><li>“Buttons”(with Snoop Dog)<br /><ul><li>“I’m telling you loosen up my buttons baby. But you keep fronting. Say what you going to do to me. But I see nothing…”

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“Typical. Hardly the type I fall for.”

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“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.”

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“I can see that just like most guys your game don’t please.”</li></li></ul><li>“I Don’t Need A Man”(Self-explanatory)<br /><ul><li>“I see you looking at me. Like I got something for you. And the way that you stare. Don’t you dare. ‘Cause I’m not about to, just give it on up to you.”

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“I don’t need a man to make it happen. I get off being free. I don’t need a man to make me feel good. I get off doing my thing. I don’t need a ring around my finger to make me feel complete. So let me break it down. I can get off when you ain’t around.”</li></li></ul><li>“Wait A Minute”(with Timbaland)<br /><ul><li>Timbaland: “Girl, why you do me like that? You take all my money, can’t even call a player back?”

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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 . . .”

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End of song… PCD: “See I don’t want your money. . . Wait a minute. Uh, yeah, you can give me that back.” (Keeps the keys to the Cadillac.)</li></li></ul><li>PCD Themes<br /><ul><li>Masculinity; Men are…

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Useless

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Interested only in sex

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Too aggressive AND Not aggressive enough

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Expected to please and provide for women

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Sexuality

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Women can get what they want through sex/desirability.

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

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Positive portrayals of aggressive female sexuality.

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Negative portrayals of aggressive male sexuality.

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

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Asserting the “female tease” (as a form of power)?</li></li></ul><li>PCD Themes (Cont.)<br /><ul><li>“Girl Power” Bonding (most notably in the odd disconnect between the lyrics and video for “StickWitU”)

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Female-Female Competition

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

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

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“Gynearchal” Double Standards for Men?

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

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Men as sexual subjects (agents; seeking what they desire) are rejected as aggressors/predators (e.g. “Beep”); men who are not aggressive enough when a woman desires it are losers (e.g. “Buttons”).</li></li></ul><li>What to make of the PCDs?<br /><ul><li>So what, it’s just a pop group? (True; just like “Advertising doesn’t effect me!”)

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Is the “Double Standard” a big deal?

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Some think so…

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

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Less extreme, Susan Faludi (Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man) argues that post-feminist America sends confused, conflicting messages to men and provides no positive models of masculinity for them to follow. </li></li></ul><li>What to make of the PCDs?<br />Is the Double Standard a big deal?<br />On the other hand…<br />Place PCD in a broader context of R&B/Rap/Pop and broader American/Western pop culture.<br />Rap is dominated by masculine sexuality (having enough “bling” to get sex from “hoes”).<br />PCD’s assertive sexuality can be seen as one way to deal with the excessive power of the “male gaze” (by leveraging the “female tease”).<br />

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Problem of Sexuality and Power<br />“Dancing on the Mobius Strip” Bernadette Barton, Gender and Society, 2002<br />Barton studied the experience of women who worked in strip clubs. She examined whether women felt empowered or disempowered through the experience.<br />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.<br />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).<br />Recall: “Killing Us Softly” – advertising presents young women with a questionable sense of “empowerment”.<br />

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Gender, Power and Imagery<br />What are the implications for gender and power relationships?<br />

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Gender, Power and Imagery<br />What are the implications for gender and power relationships?<br />

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Gender, Power and Imagery<br />What are the implications for gender and power relationships?<br />

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Gender, Power and Imagery<br />What are the implications for gender and power relationships?<br />

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