“Men are presented as desirable not because of their personal qualities, but because of their bodies (Gamble, 2003)(p.354).”

While finding a YouTube video for another post, I ran across this video that was taken on out very own campus in Santoro Hall. It’s an absolutely interesting insight of what goes on behind the closed doors of an adolescent teenage boy. In the video, this college freshman (Santoro is a freshmen residence hall) stands in front of his mirror and goes on and on about how “jacked” he is getting. He’s absolutely thrilled that his work outs are paying off. He even goes as far as to lift his shirt to view his stomach area and tries to get his roommate to put the camera down–but trusts him when the roommate says he “won’t”.

This shows the other side of how media and gender communication can effect people. Here, the boy is obviously proud of his tough, “jacked” body because he’s been influenced by the media and through various other sources. He’s absorbed the idea that men should be masculine, tough, and muscular (according to some new stereotypes about looks regarding men) (Gamble, 2003). It’s funny, but at the same time, it’s interesting to see a candid shot of someone behind closed doors. You could almost say that “Mr. Jacked” has a personal relationship with his roommate in the sense that he feel comfortable behaving this way without feeling insecure.

College roommate CNU. (2008). posted by sweepersnake. YouTube.com. See link above.

Gamble, T. K., & Gamble, M. W. (2003). The Gender Communication Connection. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

“We recognize that through the years, gender inequity has assumed many different forms, and we realize the extent to which issues of gender inequalitiy either have or have not been addressed (Gamble, 2003)(p.5).”

What is it with girls posting everything about their recent pregnancies on Facebook? On one hand, you have the gender expectations that girls should want and should reproduce. On the other hand, society’s taught us that us girls should be “pure” and get married before they have sex–or a baby, for that matter. If she’s young and unwed, does that make her a “slut” or a “whore”? It seems to. But why does that slut and whore factor fall on girls? What about the responsibility of the guy involved? He should know how to wrap it up. There are so many double standards when it comes to gender communication between men and women.

These double standards also correlate with the differences between the stereotypes of men and women. Women are traditionally the vulnerable, child rearing compliment to men, and they must listen to the man because he is superior. Men, after all, are the ones who have to go out and bring home the bacon (Gamble, 2003). It’s so easy to call a girl a whore based on their actions or the way they dress at a party, but call a man the male equivalent? Then, it’s okay. Don’t worry, he just had sex with 20 girls last month, no worries. The introduction to the texts tells us that we need to ask ourselves what we see in our gendered lives–here’s mine: I see my gendered life as one day leaving behind double standards. Then again, we don’t live in a Walgreens commercial.

Gamble, T. K., & Gamble, M. W. (2003). The Gender Communication Connection. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Again with the homophobias and I can’t come up with a quoted title at the moment to go with the rest of my gender blogs for the portfolio

Here’s a video that was posted by some of my residents last semester (they were so proud of them when I first met them (I’m a mid-year hire)). It features them in their own version of a music video to the song What Hurts the Most by Rascal Flatts. The begin arguing at a conference table while one boy slumps in his seat, sad. As the video ebbs on, a romantic relationship is revealed… between two boys (not that this is a bad thing). They also look like Backstreet Boys with their suit jackets on. <3

Despite the fact that they make fun of a favorite song of mine, it’s intriguing they way they’ve put this imaginary relationship together. After peeling away the top layers of their concept, you can see where there’s issues of homophobia (because the two boys aren’t public about their relationship) and Willie finds Andy making out with a girl after screening his calls. Willie stalks away and slaps Andy for cheating and being insensitive, and also for denying his attraction to guys. Knowing the boys that put this whole video together, they weren’t trying to deliberately make fun of being a homosexual, but they’ve come up with this performance that shows how society can effect someone’s actions if that person thinks that society won’t like what they’re doing–meaning that Andy was making out with a girl because that’s an acceptable thing to do for a guy, whereas being homosexual can still be considered a taboo subject in different areas of the country because it goes against the traditional gender norms for a man (Gamble, 2003).

Gamble, T. K., & Gamble, M. W. (2003). The Gender Communication Connection. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Morgan, T. (Director & Producer). (2008). 3 East Boyz: What hurts the most. YouTube.com, See link above to YouTube video.

“The secret being kept isn’t homosexuality; it’s homophobia and heterosexism (cited in DeFrancisco, 2007)”

Even as society becomes more and more open to the gay and lesbian community, there are still plenty of people who disagree with it. I have two best friends who came out to me in the past year or so and since they’ve revealed their sexual orientation to me and our closest friends, I find myself more sensitive to subject (even though I’ve never opposed gay or lesbian relationships). I think that the most difficult part of being a best friend of two young gay males is that I’m unsure sometimes of how to emotionally support them. I can’t say that everything’s going to be okay because I can’t possibly imagine the types of discrimination that they may have dealt with, and I don’t know if or when they’ll be able to start a family through adoption or if I can go to each of their weddings.

Since they’ve come out to me, I’ve completely decided that every American should have the same legal rights–no matter what their sexual orientation is. My hope is that the general idea of homosexuality will soon be accepted in our lifetime–perhaps even with the help of the media. In our recent readings, one phrase stood out to me the most–it basically said that homosexuality itself isn’t being kept out of the limelight of the media, it’s “homophobia and heterosexism (DeFrancisco, 2007)”. I’m a Resident Assistant on campus and a majority of my residents are male and I’ve frequently noticed their interactions with one another. I often find them using “insulting” terms with one another out of habit, the most frequent being “fag” (even after the numerous times I’ve told them to refrain from using the word). To them, it’s an insult to be called a fag, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re actually offended by the word. Regardless, it’s used in a derogatory fashion that has a negative connotation towards the gay and lesbian community. Even though we’ve progressed in the terms of accepting gayness, there’s still a vast amount of homophobia evident in the upcoming generations (I’ve even heard my little brother use the term)–though I’m not really sure why. One day, I hope that being homosexual is as accepted as being black is today (in comparison to the racial discrimination from only two generations ago).

DeFrancisco, V., Palczewski, C. (2007). Communicating gender diversity: a critical approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.