Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder?

I'm interested to your response to our discussions of female bodies and beauty. Using an image or an idea from one or more of the texts, either the readings or the television shows, analyze the messages our culture sends about what it means for women to be beautiful, what beauty means, and why we're supposed to want to be perceived as beautiful. You might think about the role advertising plays, about how we should go about decoding and countering the messages we see, about the potential dangers in such messages. For your analysis, I'd like for you to focus on one, specific passage or scene, and read it closely and carefully to make your points.

Are Princess Fairy Tales Good for Girls?

For this response, I'd like for you to figure out a way to answer this question, using your own analysis of the readings and/or movies we've discussed in class. Be specific and use particular details to prove and sustain your argument (which, of course, need not be a single yes/no answer). You might think about the role of play for kids and what it teaches them, how gender figures into childhood fantasy, what it means for little girls to want to be princesses, how your own experience matches up or veers from what we've read and talked about. Feel free to focus on a particular princess character or movie or on one main idea from any of the articles (including Douglas's chapter that you're reading for Friday). What I'm looking for: some deep, critical thinking about these issues, a focused point or question, and developed ideas that sustain that point or attempt to answer the question. Try to avoid: overly simplistic generalizations. You should aim for around 500 words.

*More specific guidelines about responses are posted in the links list on the class website.*

Response for Friday, Sept. 19

We've covered many concepts and terms talked about in the articles we've read, so I'd like for you to use this response to practice applying one of those concepts to a media source. Choose a concept or term from one of the readings, explain how you understand the concept to work (what it means), and then pick an example either from a popular text or from a literary one that illustrates that concept. This response will be two-part, your definition of the concept/term you're working with (and this is the place you'll refer to the reading), and an analysis of an image (created either using visuals or written text or both) using that concept. The kind of analysis we did in class of the People cover, using the concept of symbolic annihilation, is one example of how this might work.

A couple of caveats: if you use Google image search to find an image, you must identify the source for the image. Remember that context matters, so a picture of Brittney Spears published on a random website just for viewing is not the same thing as a picture that occurs within an advertisement, magazine or news article, or television show or film.

You might think of the response this way: identify the concept, identify the text, and then analyze: how does this text illustrate the concept you're talking about? This means you won't just tell us what you find in the image the text is creating, you'll tell us how what you see communicates particular messages (in other words, what does it mean?)

You can simply describe the image you're using (making sure to identify the source), but instead, if you'd like to include a link in your post to the image you're working with, here's how you do that:

1. Copy (ctrl-C is the keyboard shortcut) the URL from the address bar.
2. Where you want the link to appear in your post, type in the following html code, replacing the square brackets with angled ones: [a href=“http://Internet URL goes here”]Title the visitor sees.[/a]
3. Paste the URL inside the quotation marks. Type in the word or phrase you want to carry the link (what you want readers to click on) where it says "Title the visitor sees."

You can preview your post before you publish to make sure you did it correctly.

To get you started, here are some concepts that might make for fruitful analysis: symbolic annihilation, framing, biological determinism, reinforcing the status quo, dominant ideology, stereotyping, gendering, postfeminism, media literacy, intersectionality, social construction, priming.

Welcome and First Response (required!)

Welcome to the blog for English 2593-1. Here is where you will post your reading responses; consider this an out-of-class space for discussion. I encourage you in your responses to read what your classmates have already said, both so that you don't repeat one another, and also so that you have ideas to work off of -- feel free to agree, disagree, revise, respond to anything anyone else says, so long as you are respectful.

Which brings me to your first response assignment: on one of our first days of class, we talked about compiling a statement of respect, by which we will all agree to abide. What follows is a draft of the statement, based on your suggestions from that day in class. What I'd like for you to do in your response is to reflect on the statement as it is worded, making any suggestions for revision, additions, or deletions, and explain why you think such changes would help make our class a safe space for discussion. Additionally, based on our reading and discussion so far, I'd like for you to explain why establishing such guidelines might be important in a class like this one. Or, if you don't think guidelines are necessary, explain why not. As you're responding, you might think about the following questions: Why is it risky to talk about gender? What about images of women in popular culture might make people uncomfortable? What issues can you imagine coming up that might pose particular difficulties? This response is due by class time on Friday; bring a hard copy to turn in to me.

Here's the statement draft:
"A safe space is an environment where everyone can feel comfortable to express his or her opinions, to be able to be herself or himself without the fear of judgment. In order to achieve such an environment, we all agree to conduct our discussions respectfully by: listening carefully to others before responding; committing ourselves to learn from others who see things differently than we do, including the authors we read; being mindful that we all come from different backgrounds and experiences; thinking about how what we say might affect someone from a different background or experience; remaining open-minded by carefully considering all sides of an issue; pushing ourselves to think outside of what's familiar or safe; deeply and critically thinking about what we read and what we discuss; accepting others and supporting their opinions without compromising our own identities; letting everyone who wants to have a chance to speak (regardless of gender); being comfortable with disagreement; speaking openly and honestly; refraining from interrupting, insulting others' positions, or insisting that we're right; showing respect for others at all times, regardless of their gender, race, age, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or politics."

To post a response: click on comments, type your response (or paste it) into the box, choose Name/URL and type your first name and last initial into the Name box, complete the Word Verification, and hit "Publish Your Comment." I suggest that you type your response in a word processing program first and then copy and paste it into the comments box to make sure you don't lose it.