"Girls Can't Play Baseball": Sports Are Gender Specific

Blog 2

The first time I have experienced a gender issue was when I was in elementary school and I wanted to play a sport, but the boys who were playing would not let me because I was a girl. At an early age boys and girls learn through socialization what they can and can not do. The boys who were playing took on a dominate male role and said I could not play with them because I was a girl. Those boys learned that they were then superior and thought girls could not do the same things as them, and the girls are supposed to listen and do something else (submissive role). This connects to the term hegemony: "those in power secure the consent of the socially subordinated to the system that oppresses or subordinates them... to persuade the populous that the hierarchical social and economic system is fexed and 'natural' and therefor unchangeable" (Dines & Humez, p. 627). I grew up with two older brothers with whom I have done a lot of “boy” things with. I guess you could say I was a tom boy. So, when the boys said I couldn’t play with them I was confused because I thought I could do what they were doing since I have before with my brothers. Growing up, I soon learned that male and female sports kept getting separated and no longer was there a mixed gender sport for awhile (until out of high school and into co-adult leagues). The boys in my elementary class were showing signs of hegemony in that they did not want girls in their all boy sports, because boys believed girls were weak and slow (stereotype) and they wanted to keep them out of their team (strong and fast). 

 

Nowadays, if girls play on a boys team or a boys sport they are considered as butch (lesbian), or the women will have uniforms on that are extremely skimpy and very revealing. I believe, women wear skimpy uniforms because of their sponsors or because they want attention from male audience and to do so is to be very sexually explicit. I do not believe that these women personally chose to wear lingerie while playing football due to the fact that football is a rough sport and women should not have to be naked in order to get an audience. Do women really feel they must be half or all the way naked to feel accepted or noticed? If so, this shows something is wrong in this society to allow this type of degrading of women.

References

Dines, G. & Humez, J. M. (2011). Gender, race, and class in media: A critical reader.
                Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

The Importance of a Multiperspectival Approach.

Blog 1

     According to Douglas Kellner, in order to have a multiperspectival approach to studying the media, we must look at textual analysis, audience perception, and the political economy. “Textual analysis should use a multiplicity of perspectives and critical methods, and audience perception studies should delineate the wide range of subject positions, or perspectives through which audiences appropriate culture” (Kellner, p. 15). The importance of these three perspectives allows us to gain a greater understanding of the research being conducted. This strategy “sees the importance of analyzing the dimensions of class, race and ethnicity, gender and sexual preference within the texts of media culture” (Kellner, p.15). Studying how audiences read and interpret the media is very important also for studying the media. The effects the media has on its audiences can be very big since the twenty-first century is heavily influenced by the media. The media (newspapers, tv shows, magazines, posters, ads, and the news) is everywhere and can create or reinforce stereotypes among its audiences. The media can also influence hegemony and sexism. “A critical cultural studies attacks sexism, racism, or bias against specific social groups and criticizes texts that promote any kind of domination or oppression” (Kellner, p. 15). Criticism allows individuals to open their eyes and to be able to evaluate the media and their portrayal of stereotypes, sexism, racism, and so on. This allows the individuals to separate the real world and the fictional world (media), and understand what should be changed or fixed in the media that is portraying something (groups, genders, races) badly.

Hegemony refers to “those in power secure the consent of the socially subordinate to the system that oppresses or subordinates them… through… control of religious, educational, and media institutions, attempts to persuade the populous that the social and economic system is fixed and “natural” and therefore unchangeable” (Dines & Humez, p.627). Basically, the oppressed stay oppressed by the oppressor in order for the oppressor to keep their high statues in the society. Like the saying “the rich keep getting richer”. Through the media, big conglomerate owners are able to oppress women, classes, and races by degrading them in television, pornography, movies, ads, and so on. This tactic allows groups to stay submissive and down because that is what they have learned is ok through the media by the dominant groups. I have seen through the television show “Always Sunny in Philadelphia” that the only main woman character is Dee, and she has a tough time getting all the other male characters to respect her and be nice to her. Sometimes they are nice and sometimes they are not, and choose to ignore the character when she wishes something from them (listening, friendship, help, and ect.). Through just this observation, it shows how women are the oppressed and the men are the dominant group in the television show. This is an occurring theme in the media and has been throughout many years. I am still waiting for the day the public finally gets a say over the big media conglomerate men and diminish stereotypes, oppression, racism, and much more.

References

Dines, G. & Humez, J. M. (2011). Gender, race, and class in media: A critical reader. Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage.

Kellner, D. (2011). Cultural studies, multiculturalism, and media culture. In G. Dines & J.

Humez (Ed.). Gender, race, and class in media: A critical reader (pp. 7-17). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.