gendercommunicationsblog

[gendercommunicationsblog]

America Ferrera's Monologue In Barbie

Barbie, which came out in the summer of 2023, broke records at the box office and was the highest-grossing movie in 2023. It is no surprise that this movie sparked much debate and controversy over gender roles and inequality. In Barbieland, the women are the leaders, it is a matriarchy. When Ken and Barbie enter the real world, it is a stark contrast to what they are used to. This scene from the movie is one that I have seen all over the internet, and it is one that women everywhere seem to resonate with. It portrays the mental battle that many women struggle with to be "good enough" in society. As women in a changing society, the expectations set by society are often so contradicting. On one hand, we need to stand up for ourselves and be leaders, but on the other hand, we can't be too demanding. We are supposed to look nice and be polite, but we can't try too hard or care about our looks. This scene exemplifies the societal standards on women's voices and bodies.

#Youtube

[gendercommunicationsblog]

Transgender Athletes

In January 2023, the Virginia House of Delegates advanced a bill that would force transgender students to compete according to their biological sex. Virginia delegate Karen Greenhalgh stated "Males will always have the physical advantage over females," thus this bill is being proposed to protect the girls and women who would otherwise need to compete against biological men. This article is an example of the biological theory of sex. In this new bill, it does not matter what medications or hormones you may have taken, all that matters is the biological sex that was determined at birth. In the past, students were able to compete based on their gender identity as long as they also provided a list of medications they were on to prove that they were in fact transitioning to their identifying gender. The definition of gender that this article infers is by chromosomes and genitalia, not hormones.

[gendercommunicationsblog]

Gender Bias in Professional Fields

I found this post when searching "gender" on Instagram. When I first saw this post, it was almost funny to me how this is still occurring. When I first came to college as a pre-med student, I would say the male-to-female ratio was almost even, if not more females. It didn't even cross my mind that this was still an issue in the medical field, as shows nowadays like Grey's Anatomy, Chicago Med, ER, and a whole lot of others surrounding the medical profession have always shown women as doctors, not just nurses. This was until I started working in the hospital. I have seen patients request male doctors, white doctors, or even just older doctors. More specifically, they would request to have "that lady doctor" or "kid doctor" removed from their service and replaced with someone who "knew what they were doing". After having witnessed this myself, this post made me almost upset. It takes a lot to be a nurse, it is not an easy job, but why is it that the white men in the group are always assumed to be "the one in charge", while the women or non-white males are presumable "the helpers." This post is an example of institutional discrimination, and how institutions are in place to maintain the values of the predominant group.

#Instagram

[gendercommunicationsblog]

Correlation Between Genitals and Skills

One phrase that I think most women have heard, especially from a heterosexual male, is that "_______ is for women" or "_____ comes naturally for women, not for me." Whether that be cooking, cleaning, or taking care of children, this skill, usually concerning domestic or household labor, is done better by women or is meant for women, not men. This phenomenon that domestic and life skills correlate to a person's gender, sex, and essentially their genitals, is so far off from reality and just another way that gender roles have been pushed onto us from a young age. This post came up when I searched gender roles on my Instagram Explore feed. The poster insinuates that there are people out there, mostly men, who think these life skills are "genetically coded in women" and not men. I can personally say that cooking are cleaning are not things that came naturally to me as a woman. It took a lot of time and effort for me to learn how to properly clean things and keep them that way. I enjoy cooking, but it took years of practice and failure to really figure out what I was doing before that. Whether these are things you are good at or enjoy, they are necessary life skills that must be learned and can be learned by everyone, no matter what genitals they may have. This post can relate to the biological theory of gender as it refers to gender as the genitalia as well as the DNA that we possess. I think that this post can also relate to the psychological theory of gender, more specifically social learning, as historically women have played a larger part in domestic labor, and as children grow up, these gender roles are seen and later displayed in their own lives if they are not taught differently.

[gendercommunicationsblog]

Pay Disparity in Sports

I saw this post on TikTok after the WNBA draft. Isaac Rochell, the poster of this video, is a professional football player who has been playing in the NFL since 2017. In this post, he talks about the insane pay disparity between men's and women's sports. Although football and basketball are two different sports, the point still stands that professional female athletes do not make nearly as much as their male counterparts. The women he is talking about in this video have changed the game for women's sports this year. Caitlin Clark, a senior at the University of Iowa, was the overall number draft pick for 2024. Clark, along with many other female athletes, has brought a huge wave of attention to the sport and will continue to do so in her WNBA career. Despite this, her starting salary for a four-year contract, even as the number one pick, is less than half that of a rookie in the NFL for one year. In her contract, she is slated to make $76,535 for the 2024 season. The NFL rookie minimum is over $700,000. That is just over 10% of what a male professional athlete would make.

[gendercommunicationsblog]

Representation of Women in New Dune Adaptation

After watching the new Dune 2 adaptation, I was interested in learning more about the differences in this new adaptation from the original and the novel and came across this article. The director, Denis Villeneuve, has been adamant about wanting to bring focus to the women in the story. He wanted to showcase the relationship between femininity and power, and also the place of women in society. However, critics have claimed that the changes made may not have been the best way to support his motive. His changes to female characters, specifically Jessica and the Bene Gesserit may be more stereotypical than intended. One change is how many male figures are not afraid or intimidated by the Bene Gesserit in the movies, whereas in the books it is depicted to show their influence on the world. In the movies, the Bene Gesserit are depicted as cold, uncaring, and manipulative. Another change is in Jessica's character and relationships. She is depicted in the films as over-emotional and ignorant, and though she has been named the new Reverend Mother, the religious leader in the series, she is not treated as such in the movie. In fact, her relationship with her son crumbles throughout the movie as she falls further into what almost seems like delusion. In the book, the mother-son relationship is quite the opposite, where she is a trusting figure who guides and shapes him. These changes align with many stereotypes about women and women in power. Although the intent is there, the execution in these movies may have been more harmful than good in depicting women in power, as the women are still stereotypically emotional.

[gendercommunicationsblog]

Gender Gap in Higher Education

This article came up in a conversation with my friend when speaking about our college experiences. After the conversation, I decided to look up the article and see what exactly was being said. The article goes over how the gender disparity in higher education has essentially flipped since the 1970s, and now women are more likely to receive a bachelor's degree. In fact, "this disparity starts as early as kindergarten, where girls are just generally the stronger sex in academics." According to the article, this drastic change has left boys and men feeling as though they are behind and often wondering what their purpose is. The problem that is at the root is not necessarily this disparity, but the fact that men's mental health is suffering and it is often because they feel "useless". This "masculinity crisis" has much to do with the attack on hegemonic masculinity, where men are supposed to be the breadwinners. There are two sides to this dilemma, one seeing this as a win for women, and the other seeing it as a loss for men.

[gendercommunicationsblog]

Olivia Rodrigo - All-American Bitch

Olivia Rodrigo's song titled “All-American Bitch”, encapsulates the societal expectations of what you should do and act like as a young woman and how frustrating it can be to be judged and ridiculed for not following these “rules”. Women should be empathetic, happy, carefree, and obsessed with their looks. Women are nice to look at and should keep their opinions to themselves. Women are kind and they definitely should not yell or express themselves in an “over the top” manner. The lyrics and message in this song are a great example of gendered voices and conversation work. Although women are expected to follow these societal rules about how we speak and act, the truth is that women swear, scream, get mad, and don't always want to be polite.

#Youtube

[gendercommunicationsblog]

Daisy's Vocal Fry

Daisy Kent is a 25-year-old woman who recently participated in a popular reality show known as "The Bachelor". During the show, she revealed that she had lost her hearing at the age of 15 and had later decided to get cochlear implants. Many commenters on her social media, though, have been noticing something else. When looking through the comments on her videos, many have said "I just can't listen to her speak it bothers me so much" in response to her "creaky voice", also known as vocal fry. Vocal fry occurs when speakers lower their vocal pitch at the end of sentences to the lowest register they are capable of producing. This creates irregular vibrations of the vocal cords resulting in a creaky, gravelly sound. In videos where Daisy is explaining how hearing loss has affected her mentally and how she has been able to deal with it growing up, commenters continue to mention her vocal fry. The ridicule and negativity she receives due to this is an example of the differing standards between men and women. How vocal fry is fine for men, but if a woman uses vocal fry she is unladylike.

[gendercommunicationsblog]

Custody and Father's Rights

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/02/01/arleta-ramirez-breastfeeding-custody-dispute/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/02/07/breastfeeding-infants-penalized-mens-rights/

I came across this article when researching men's rights in the news. This article covers an ongoing custody battle between a man and a woman over their newborn baby. The mother had intended to breastfeed the child, but after the separation, she may be legally required to bottle or formula feed. The reason for this ruling is so that the baby's father can have uninterrupted visits and that he may bond with the baby by feeding as well. There is often judgment towards women who decide to formula or bottle feed, however, the common consensus is that "fed is best". As long as the baby is eating and healthy, there is nothing wrong with either option. In this case, many factors lead to the mother being hesitant to switch to bottle feeding. These include the fact that the baby will often not take the bottle and pumping does not produce much for the mother. These concerns are being used against the mother in this case, where the father's lawyers are claiming she is using breastfeeding to "try to revive a relationship." The father has every right to be a part of this child's life, however in this case of father's or men's rights, it is important to also think about the health and wellbeing of the child as well.

[gendercommunicationsblog]

Sexualization of Girls

This video came across my "For You Page" on TikTok. This video explains how children's beauty pageants are sexualizing young girls. Every age group in this competition, including infants, must participate in a bikini competition. They also speak about how these young girls are coached to act sexually and "flirt" with the judges. This artifact is an example of how girls are being sexually objectified at extremely young ages, even infancy, and taught to internalize this sexualization.

[gendercommunicationsblog]

An Imbalanced Distribution of Housework

This artifact illustrates how the nuclear family model affects relationships today, especially in the distribution of domestic labor. Although this video is a funny skit in which the wife is mocking the way her husband “announces” when he does his chores, the message behind this video shows how there is often an unbalance in domestic labor in relationships. The husband announces that he is doing his part so that it is acknowledged and maybe even praised while it is just implied that the wife is supposed to do her part, which tends to be significantly larger than his. This imbalanced distribution is a huge indicator of how the nuclear family is still impacting society today, even though both partners are paid workers. The women in the comments of this video are laughing and agreeing with the video, some saying things like “So we all going to start doing this simultaneously” and “the accuracy, lol”. The reception of this video is positive, indicating how normal this scenario is in many relationships.

[gendercommunicationsblog]

Olivia Rodrigo - Pretty Isn't Pretty

In her song "Pretty Isn't Pretty", Rodrigo discusses the changing standards of beauty in today's culture and how women are constantly being perceived and compared based on how they dress and look. These changing standards and fads make us feel as though we can never keep up. We will never be able to be or feel pretty, or at least as pretty as that girl on Instagram. This song is an example of how the beauty ideal is not the norm. It is impossible for many women to reach this "ideal standard of beauty" simply because of their skin color, hair texture, and figure. "You can win the battle but you'll never win the war. You fixed the things you hated but you'd still feel so insecure." We are constantly being pushed this image of an "ideal woman" that no matter how hard we try, we will never be pretty enough.

#Youtube