Making Them Feel Like a Natural Woman: Constructing Gender Performances on The Maury Povich Show Goth teems drenched in black become teeny-bopper darlings in pink dresses and platform sneakers. Male couch potatoes in flannel shirts become debonair gentlemen in tuxedos. Scantily clad women popping out of halter tops and leather mini-skirts become responsible women in business suits and subtle make-up. The make-over is a popular talk show tool used by everyone from Oprah to Jenny Jones. These transformations embody Lancaster's argument in "Guto's Performance" by demonstrating how we are all participating in one big drag show, presenting our gender through our dress, our play. We construct our genders, moment by moment, through our performance, fluidly moving from one to the next. On "Oprah," an over-worked single mom in sweat pants who devotes all her time to working outside the home and raising her children (in a combination of constructed masculine and feminine gender roles) sits slumped in her chair. Soon, lipstick and sequins transform her into a confident, sensual woman, strutting across the stage ready to take the arm of the handsome, well-dressed man chosen to take her out for an evening on the town (she now takes on a different, more feminine, gender role). But there is underlying tension in Lancaster's argument and make-overs on talk shows. Instead of made-over guests choosing their type of dress and performance, they are usually shuffled into these roles by a team of television producers, make-up artists, stylists, family and friends, and audience members. Often, talk show make-overs reinforce our rigidly constructed ideas of what is "masculine" and "feminine" by highlighting the taboo of stepping out of these roles and re-constructing a person's performance to fit the correct social mold. A recent episode of "The Maury Povitch Show" featured make-overs of women who worked in "manly" professions. There was a tow-truck driver, a car mechanic, a bike messenger, an electrical repairperson, a firefighter, a "pooper-scooper," a zoo-keeper, and a lumberjack. Each of the guests made there entrance dressed in their working clothes, some with appropriate props, strutting to the tune of "She Works Hard for the Money." After each guest had the opportunity to talk about her job, she was whisked away by stylists with makes-up brushes and blow-dryers only to be returned in fancy ball gowns to work the runway for the approving audience, pausing for a brief moment to pose beside their "before" photo.
While dealing with Jonestown it could be perceived as both a cult and a conspiracy theory. The way it fits into being a conspiracy is that many do not believe what was reported and feel that the government, especially the CIA had involvement and made efforts to alter peoples minds for uses of a social experiment. Jonestown also could be considered a cult because in 1955 roughly 1000 citizens formed “The Peoples Temple” in Indiana. It was later progressed to California then finally in 1974 they made there final stop in Guyana. These members usually large in diversity would have mass gatherings and preach
The Peoples Temple came about initially structured as an inter-racial mission for the sick, homeless and jobless. Jim Jones assembled a sizeable following of 900+ members in Indianapolis, IN during the 1950's. He preached a social gospel of human freedom, equality, and love...which required helping the least and the lowliest of society's members.
Society has evolved significantly from its initial gender stereotype of the black and white images of the hard-working husband and the loving, domestic housewife. According to Raewyn Connell in his book Gender (2009) he says that men are or at least should be the ‘producers or breadwinners’ and that women should be the ‘consumers’. However, it was around the middle of the 20thcentury during the onset of the feminist movement when the idea of the perfect woman was featured by glamorous magazines and television. Yet, there has been much controversy about the ways in which the mass media represents women and how they have been affected by these images. In the patriarchal society of the period, there was a decrease in strong women being emotionally and mentally stable, intellectual and sexually attractive. Building on that premise, this paper will examine and analyse the different stereotypical roles the female characters of Desperate Housewives portray, how they are viewed by the audience, and what impact these gender constructions have on society.
Jonestown is a docudrama that was produced on January 15, 2007. It tells the story about Jim Jones and the People’s Temple which ended tragically in the infamous mass suicide of over 900 American citizens in 1978. The story follows Reverend Jim Jones and his followers during Jones’ rise from a socially active small town preacher to an important and respected Clergyman working toward a higher socialist goal. In this mass suicide, the children were included. Everyone in that town either willingly took the poison, or they were forced, even if it had to be injected. My question is, why would so many people knowingly kill their own children and commit suicide because of what one person has told them?
The SyFy Channel’s reality television show Heroes of Cosplay follows a predominately female cast of cosplayers as they participate in several competitions on the fan convention circuit (Brady et al, 2013). Suzanne Scott notes that, in the show, men are shown as the “invisible laborers” whose work is confined to domestic spaces, while their partners, the female cosplayers, move freely through and work in the “public sphere” by participating in conventions (Scott, 2015, p. 152). This can be seen as a direct gender role reversal from traditional gender roles. Traditional gender roles say that women should be mothers and place family over potential careers (). While men should, according to traditional gender roles, be the worker in the outside world and be “bread winners”(). Additionally, traditional gender roles leave the work women do in the home under appreciated whereas in the show it is seen that the women take the bulk of the acknowledgement regardless of the male participation in constructing the costumes (Scott, 2015, p. 152). Heroes of Cosplay has been criticized in some instances for verifying what Suzanne Scott says is the “inherent masculinity of material fan labor” (Scott, 2015, p.153). The show has also been criticized for downplaying the women’s work on their costumes implying that the men actually do the bulk of the work while the women are just objects whose purpose is to display these works (Scott,
Everyday, there are many horrid acts that happen in our world in the name of religion. One of the most infamous of these cases of martyrdom in the postmodern world is Jonestown. Jonestown was the mass suicide of more than 900 members of the Peoples Temple cult in 1978. It is recalled today for its use of Kool-Aid in the mass suicide, the members actually drank the beverage mixed with cyanide. With it also being memorable for its involvement of mind control and dictatorship, Jonestown goes down as one of the most horrid events of postmodern society.
In a study done by The 4Th Estate, the results showed men are quoted around five times more than women in stories regarding women (Pesta 1). With media being so male centered, it is not surprising that often women become the target of sexual objectification in all realms of media. With the concept of “Sex Sells” still holding true, many advertising outlets have continued to fund ads with sexually focused content. Whether you are listening to the radio, reading your favorite magazine, or just window shopping in the mall you are being targeted by media’s gendered advertising.
The social learning theory of gender development understands that parents, media and culture act as socialising agents – as they explicitly teach children the significance of gender appropriate behaviour. Parents contribute towards gender development as they positively reinforce (reward) children when a gender-appropriate act is carried out therefore increasing the likelihood of that specific behaviour being repeated again (Lewis, 1975). Stereotyped gender behaviour is outwardly expressed in media and this creates a guide for appropriate behaviours, children learn and observe these through vicarious reinforcement (Gunter, 1986). Culture also influence gender mannerisms and also portray gender stereotypes, for example, western societies acquire a stereotypical concept which believes that men are aggressive and competitive whereas women and expressive and cooperative. Therefore, it can be argued that gender identity is not inherent but in fact it is manipulated by social and cultural environments, (Argosy University,
In the past, women weren’t given the same opportunities as men. Men always seemed to have the upper hand. Women used to not be able to vote, work, or even be able to drive a car. To this day, women still are not taken seriously. Women who aspire feminine jobs such as modeling, fashion, and even acting receive an exceptional amount of criticism as well. They also are seen as easy bait for men to take advantage of. Unfortunately, Farrah Fawcett was one of them. Farrah Fawcett was a 1976 Charlie’s Angel, then soon became the decade’s premier poster girl. The 1980’s and on Farrah was an Emmy award winning actress. Nonetheless, the blank on blank video “Farrah Fawcett on Stiletto power” is a powerful eye opening interview about a taxi incident that utilizes compelling imagery, effective sound, appeal to emotion, and exceptional strength, in which Farrah Fawcett is finally seen as something more than a pretty woman in stilettos.
Friendships are a major theme in the story and are expressed through having faith, their explorations, exchanging items, and sharing similar views. When Tom and Becky separate from the rest of the group, they venture throughout the cave by themselves. Soon after realizing that they are both lost, they rely on each other to find a way out of the cave and back to civilization. Another journey is when Joe Harper, Huckleberry Finn, and Tom go to Jackson’s Island which indicates the boyish, sociable relationship among each other. The companionship between Huck and...
The way they are portrayed has a major effect on the self-esteem of Women and young girls. Women compared to Men are not represented equally in media, this is shown in many ways. How Genders Work: Producing the J. CREW Catalog by Paul Muhlhauser and Kelly Bradbury represents how both Women and Men are portrayed in their magazines. What was found that the font used to describe the models clothing was significantly different between Men and Women. A skinny small font was used for the Women and a big and bold font was used for the Men. This was meant to emphasize that it should be kept skinny for Women and not to emphasize curves or shape in body type whereas the Men’s font was used to represent the work that men do, implying they do some sort of physical labor (Muhlhauser and Bradbury). The way that Men and Women models pose and are photographed also has a significant difference. Women are posing to appear fragile and off balance as if they need a prosthetic or Man to rely on. The Men however are posing with their bodies posing strong and stable (Muhlhauser and Bradbury). Women often should be photographed with other girls to represent how “women are social beings who work at being dreams or developing playful girl-friendships”. Also women are photographed sometimes not showing their faces or only showing fragments of their bodies to “Emphasize how fragmented Women’s lives are without Men” (Muhlhauser and Bradbury). The differences between how Men and Women are photographed set a very disempowering feeling to Women. A commercial starring talk show host Kelly Ripa sets am example on how Women are being portrayed. This commercial is for kitchen appliances and it shows her running around the house cooking, cleaning, and taking care of her children. In a certain part of the commercial she says how the appliances help her “be the charming co-host” implying that her husband is
For example, the representation of women on television was for a long time restricted to roles of “loving wives, dutiful daughters, gossiping girlfriends, fashion plates, and the occasional dowdy maid, nanny, or granny” (Zeisler 2008, p. 9), which is a reflection on the roles it was considered ‘acceptable’ for women to take on in real life. Often going against the hegemonic gender ideal is used as shorthand for comedy within popular culture, such as men dressed femininely being played for laughs on countless sitcoms. Popular culture that genuinely challenges hegemonic ideology often faces backlash, as was the case when Ellen DeGeneres’ character coming out on Ellen (1997), as did the actress in real life, resulted in the show being cancelled after only one more season. This is reflective of what was the pervasive belief, that heterosexuality is the only acceptable option, though the changing attitudes about this can be seen through the increased inclusion of gay and bisexual characters in pop culture over the past two decades. Looking at the relationship between gender and popular culture consequently becomes important to the field of gender studies as it provides a way to study not only what is considered to be the gender norms in a society, but how these norms have
... decide to enter the cave. Meanwhile, Huckleberry Finn sees two men with a box and follows them. He hears Injun Joes “revenge” plan of killing Widow Douglas. He decides to tell the people about it and warn her. Later on, Tom and Becky are discovered to be missing in the caves; so all the men begin looking for them. Tom and Becky are too weak to call out to them though. Tom ends up seeing Injun Joe in a nearby passage in the cave. He later discovers a way out of the cave and he and Becky return home. When he returns, he informs them about Injun Joe, not wanting him to starve as Tom and Becky did. When the cave is unsealed, Injun Joe is found dead. Later, Tom and Huckleberry Finn return to look for the treasure and find over twelve thousand gold coins. They become rich and Huckleberry Finn was now under the protection of Widow Douglas and is part of Tom Sawyers gang.
HBO's Sex and the City has become a cultural icon in its 6 seasons of running. Based on Candace Bushnell's racy book Sex and the City, the show exhibits an unprecedented example of the sexual prowess of women over the age of 35. The result is an immense viewing audience and an evolving view on the "old maid" stigma that a woman's chances of finding love are significantly reduced after thirty-five. In this paper, we will closely analyze the characters and themes of Sex and the City to explain the significance of what the show represents in American culture.
About a week later, Tom takes Huck to the cave and they find the box of gold coins. When Huck's bravery is revealed, the Widow tells the people of St. Petersburg that she is adopting and will be taking care of Huck from now on. Tom runs and gets the money and splits it in to two shares, and both Tom and Huck receive a considerable prize as a result. Huck soon got adjusted living with the Widow, but Tom convinces him and supported him living with her. Despite of all the complications, this novel ends with a happy ending.