Gender, Pop Culture and Social Media
Taught in the Department of Gender Studies, University of Victoria, 2018
Course by Dr. Kat Sark
"Feminism is about releasing the unique humanity in each person. Men, women, everybody."
(Gloria Steinem, interview 2012)
Course by Dr. Kat Sark
"Feminism is about releasing the unique humanity in each person. Men, women, everybody."
(Gloria Steinem, interview 2012)
Course Outline:
(Subject to changes / in progress)
|
Week 1
|
Introduction
CASE STUDIES: Award-Winning Web Projects Daring Discussion Tool Kit Calling in rather than calling out READINGS:
VIDEO: Michael Kimmel, Gender Equality (TED Talk) |
GROUP WORK: Rank different kinds of media you use, analyze your online activity
DISCUSSION: What is culture? What is pop culture? Who defines it? What is ideology? Who are your feminist role models or icons? What does feminism mean to you? |
|
Week 2
|
Cultural representations
CASE STUDIES: “Going Home Star” Royal Winnipeg Ballet Red Dress Project Janet Mock's podcast, Never Before READINGS:
|
DISCUSSION: How are Indigenous and transwomen represented in mainstream culture? How are people of colour represented? Is reconciliation possible?
|
|
Week 3
|
Comedy
CASE STUDIES: Tina Fey Amy Poehler, Palin Rap SNL sketch Caitlin Moran, How to be a Woman (2012) READINGS: Tina Fey, Bossypants (2011), selections |
ASSIGNMENT: Google female stand-up comedians, pick one you like best and present her work to the class, explaining why you chose her.
|
|
Week 4
|
Literature
CASE STUDIES: Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own (1929) Margaret Atwood, "Gertrude Talks Back" (podcast), Discussion questions Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper (1892, full text) André Aciman, Call Me by Your Name (2007) |
GROUP WORK: What constitutes feminist literature?
|
|
Week 5
|
Poetry
CASE STUDIES: Dorothy Parker, "For a Lady Who Must Write Verse" (1928) Adrianne Rich, "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" (1929) READINGS: rupi kaur, milk and honey (2015) and the sun and her flowers (2017), selections |
DISCUSSION: What constitutes feminist poetry?
ASSIGNMENT: Present a feminist poem. |
|
Week 6
|
Film
CASE STUDIES: Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (2010) Miss Representation (dir. Jennifer Siebel Newsom, 2012) Laurence Anyways (dir. Xavier Dolan, 2012) Headless women of Hollywood (posters) Thriller Prize for films that avoid representations of violence against women Gloria - In Her Own Words (HBO, 2011) - NY Times Review READINGS:
|
DISCUSSION: What constitutes feminist film and film-making?
How is gender represented in mainstream media and culture? What are some challenges with these representations? What are some possible suggestions, improvements, inspirations? ASSIGNMENT: Find a feminist film clip and present it in class. |
|
Week 7
|
TV Shows
CASE STUDIES: Sex and the City: quotes Being Erica Parks and Recreation READINGS: Astrid Henry, “Orgasms and Empowerment: Sex and the City and the Third Wave Feminism” |
ASSIGNMENT: Present a feminist TV-character to the class.
|
|
Week 8
|
Music
CASE STUDIES: Lady Gaga: "I am a feminist" Beyoncé's Lemonade Country music and racism READINGS:
PODCAST: Still Processing on Jay-Z and Beyoncé and Still Processing - Beychella |
GROUP WORK: Compare one song from Lemonade to one song from 4:44 from a critical feminist perspective
DISCUSSION: Who are the feminist icons in today’s music scene? |
|
Week 9
|
Fashion
CASE STUDIES: Ban on body-shaming ads in London READINGS:
VIDEO: Ashley Graham (TED Talk) |
GROUP WORK: How is meaning constructed through clothing and appearance? How does clothing signify a threat to the dominant social order? How does physical appearance – gender, race, disability – shape the way these items of clothing get interpreted?
DISCUSSION: Is there such a thing as feminist fashion? ASSIGNMENTS: Present a feminist advertisement in class. |
|
Week 10
|
Art
CASE STUDIES: Sophie Calle Guerrilla Girls presentation at MOMA Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present at MOMA Global Feminisms, Brooklyn Museum, 2007 (video) Cindy Sherman Re.act Feminism (performance artists) |
DISCUSSION: What constitutes feminist art?
ASSIGNMENT: Find examples of feminist art and share with the class. |
|
Week 11
|
Representations of Dating, Sex, Desire, and Sexuality
CASE STUDIES: Girls (HBO, 2012-now) Sex and the City (HBO 1998-2004) Magic Mike XXL (2015) Never Date a Man Who is Not a Feminist READINGS:
|
DISCUSSION: How are female desire and sexuality represented in mainstream culture? What are some examples of feminist relationships in mainstream culture?
ASSIGNMENT: Find examples of feminist desire and sexuality and share with the class. |
|
Week 12
|
Representations of Girlhood, Young Women, Adolescents
CASE STUDIES: Alice in Wonderland Pippi Longstocking Inside Out (dir. Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen, 2015) Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton, 2010) READINGS:
VIDEO: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (TED Talk) |
DISCUSSION: How are girls and young women represented in mainstream culture?
|
|
Week 13
|
Social Media and Digital Feminism
CASE STUDIES: #blacklivesmatter bell hooks (video interview) Feminist Ryan Gosling author interview Jezebel Feminist Frequency Ms. Magazine Feministing Who Needs Feminism BUST Suites Culturelles |
DISCUSSION: How are women represented in media and technology? Who are the feminist role models in the world of media and technology?
|
Bibliography:
- Kim Akass and Janet McCabe, Reading Sex and the City (2004)
- Simone de Beauvoir, Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter (1958)
- Susan Bordo, Unbearable Weight (1993)
- Cornelia Butler and Lisa Gabrielle Mark, WACK!: Art and the Feminist Revolution (2007)
- Judith Butler. Gender Trouble (1990)
- Whitney Chadwic, Women, Art, and Society (World of Art Series, 2007)
- S. Faludi, Backlash: The Undeclared War Against Women (1992)
- Guerrilla Girls, The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art (1998)
- J.Jack Halberstam, Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender, and the End of Normal (2012)
- Joanne Hollows and Rachel Moseley, Feminism in Popular Culture (2006)
- bell hooks, Outlaw Culture: Resisting representations (1994)
- bell hooks, Feminism is for Everybody: passionate politics (2000)
- bell hooks, Feminist Theory: From margin to center (2000)
- Teresa de Laurentis, Technologies of Gender: Essays on Theory, Film, and Fiction (1987)
- M. Leonard, Gender in the Music Industry: Rock, Discourse and Girl Power (2007)
- Myra Marx Ferree and Aili Mari Tripp, Global Feminism: Transnational women's activism, organizing, and human rights (2006)
- Angela McRobbie, The Aftermath of Feminism: Gender, Culture and Social Change (2009)
- Maura Reilly and Linda Nochlin (Eds.), Global Feminisms: New Directions in Contemporary Art (2007)
- Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History (2007)
- Sue Thornham, Women, Feminism and Media (2007)
Disclaimer: The contents of this site are copy-right protected and cannot be reproduced without the author's permission. © Katrina Sark, 2019
