The social movements: Woman and Men

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Social movements are collective efforts to challenge and change

•         Attitudes
•         Roles
•         Laws
•         Policies

 Men’s movements address issues of what manhood means to seek a better social reality.

The social reality for men today is masculinity

Describing & responding to masculinity is difficult.

Current male role--a set of contradictory, no-win behaviors, attitudes, & conditions.

Men powerless due to women’s sexual power.

Feminism has “emasculated” men.

Seeks a return to traditional roles that value men’s contributions

All these specific movements attempt to solve problems of masculinity.

Began in the 19th century

Reemerged in late 1960s & early 1970s as a response to the women's movement. 

Pro-Masculine Perspectives

The Conservative Perspective

Defends traditional gender roles; essentialist.

         Men= Protectors & Providers

         Women=Child bearers & Caregivers

Socio-Biological Conservatives  

          Men naturally aggressive, dominant, & competitive. 

          For men to become civilized, women must fulfill traditional roles.

          Feminism thus subverts the natural male role.

The Spiritual Pro-masculinist Perspective

Promise Keepers.

traditional, conservative Christian group.
Exhorts men to support their wives & take responsibility for their families.

       Mythopoetic (e.g. R. Bly)
      The mythopoetic men's movement grew as a reaction to the second-wave feminist movement. The mythopoetic men's movement aims to liberate men from the constraints of the modern world which keep them from being in touch with their true masculine nature, and is best known for the rituals that take place during their gatherings. While in the public eye in the early 1990s, the movement carries on more quietly in The ManKind Project and independent psychologico-spiritual practitioners. Mythopoets adopted a general style of psychological self-help inspired by the work of Robert Bly, Robert A. Johnson,Joseph Campbell, and other Jungian authors

       Masculinity created & maintained by interactions between society & archetypal images. 

Often ridiculed in mainstream press.

Main concepts:

       Men suffer fragmentation while growing up, over-emphasizing the “feminine.”
       Through male-bonding activities, men find the "wild man" inside.
       Often requires a reconciliation (or forgiveness) with the father.

Profeminist Perspectives

Male feminism.

     Generally support liberal feminist perspectives.

     Accept male domination/patriarchy, maintained through threat of violence.

     Masculinity is a toxic social construction.

     Masculinity actually quite fragile.

            Consists of contradictory messages.

            Maintained through social structures (family, school, church, sports, media, jobs, etc.).

Anti-Feminist Movement 

 

NOMAS (National Organization For Men Against Sexism)

     Most liberal group.

     Seeks to expand awareness of problems of socially constructed “masculinity.”

     Fathering Task Group promotes nurturing of children.

     Also seeks to change homophobic attitudes.

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Men’s Anti-Violence Groups

    The White Ribbon Campaign (WRC)

    Seeks end to male violence against women.

    Formed by Canadian men in response to the Montreal Massacre.

    Criticized as not going far enough.

Visual Communication of Gender Communication

Visual Communication of Gender Communication

All of how our visual seeps into our consciousness creating rituals through which we communicate. Over time, as we know, those rituals, words, phrases, visuals can change as well as be reinforced.

Take a look at this article from the Washington Post. What is equality and what is political correctness and then what is plain old silly?

Jon Stewart also tackled this point recently with a discussion on the new surgeon general and the gun lobby. This is important for the visual perspective but it raises an important question:

Is couching something in the "proper" gender and political frame taking advantage of our ethical selves when creates not equality but commerce? Commodification . . .

So what ideas does this lead to . . .

Visual analysis

Read:  Be familiar with Goffman's concepts of ritual display, function ranking, relative size, feminine touch and rituals of subordination. Journal: Select two of Goffman’s categories listed above and find examples of them in a media artifact (keep your final project in mind!) Do the writing now so you don't have to do it later.

Outline for Final Project:

I. Thesis statement: In one sentence state an argument about whether the artifact challenges or reinforces (or some of each) gender stereotypes and how it does so. Perhaps the best way to word your thesis is to argue that the artifact you have chose challenges the prevailing patriarchy or supports it or both.

II-IV.  In a full sentence, state the three arguments you will use to support your thesis.

Under these arguments, explain how you will them by using:

      a. Mythological archetypes

      b. Semiotics or narrative criticism

      c. Visual communication or gendered verbal and/or nonverbal communication

      d.  Feminist theory and the Men's Movement

These means of analysis should be integrated with your arguments.  You must use a, b, c and d.

V. 10 citations in MLA or APA style.

Assume one page for your thesis and introduction and 1-2 pages for each kind of analysis one page for a conclusion for an average of 7-10 pages. This excludes your bib page. (Assume 250 words per page; I will.)

Then you will take the essence of this paper and condense it into a 2:00 to 2:30 IMovie.

First draft of paper due: April 15

Return drafts: April 22 (review Feminist theory and the Men's Movement)

Final paper due: April 29

IMovies due for class to watch: Final time (with pizza)

You just don't understand or Are you listening to me?

Genderlect Theory – Deborah Tannen

Tannen believes that the best way to describe communication between the genders is in a cross-cultural format. Women use rapport talk to establish meaningful connection with others, while men use report talk to gain status in relation to others. Because women and men use language differently, Tannen suggests they are speaking different dialects, or genderlects. The goal of genderlect theory is to acknowledge and appreciate the language of the opposite sex and achieve mutual respect and understanding. (Semiotic and socio-cultural traditions) Genderlect theory is evaluated on the back of this page.

Tenet	Clarification
Why We Communicate: Women seek connection, men seek status.	Women engage in communication to build and maintain relationships with others. By contrast, men are more likely to engage in talk only when it makes them look good, strong, competitive, or independent.
Style of Communicating: Women use rapport talk, men use report talk.	Women express emotions, share personal feelings, relate stories, and listen empathically (rapport talk). Men engage in competitive joking and assertive speech that wins control of the conversation (report talk).
Language: We speak the same language, but each gender has its own dialect.	Each gender has its own set of vocabulary and preferred topics, and they use spoken language differently: men talk to get things done (instrumental approach); women talk to interact with others (relational approach).
Goal of Genderlect Theory: Mutual respect and understanding.	In contrast to feminist viewpoints that criticize men for inferior communication that represses women, Genderlect Theory simply identifies the differences between us and encourages us to acknowledge and accept the communicative culture of the other.

Here is Debra talking about it

• Women - talk more than men, talk too much, are more polite, are indecisive/hesitant, complain and nag, ask more questions, support each other, are more co-operative, whereas
• Men - swear more, don't talk about emotions, talk about sport more, talk about women and machines in the same way, insult each other frequently, are competitive in conversation, dominate conversation, speak with more authority, give more commands, interrupt more.

Robin Lakoff, in 1975, published an influential account of women's language. This was the book Language and Woman's Place. In a related article, Woman's language, she published a set of basic assumptions about what marks out the language of women. Among these are claims that women:

• Hedge: using phrases like “sort of”, “kind of”, “it seems like”,and so on.
• Use (super)polite forms: “Would you mind...”,“I'd appreciate it if...”, “...if you don't mind”.
• Use tag questions: “You're going to dinner, aren't you?”
• Speak in italics: intonational emphasis equal to underlining words - so, very, quite.
• Use empty adjectives: divine, lovely, adorable, and so on
• Use hypercorrect grammar and pronunciation: English prestige grammar and clear enunciation.
• Use direct quotation: men paraphrase more often.
• Have a special lexicon: women use more words for things like colours, men for sports.
• Use question intonation in declarative statements: women make declarative statements into questions by raising the pitch of their voice at the end of a statement, expressing uncertainty. For example, “What school do you attend? Eton College?”
• Use “wh-” imperatives: (such as, “Why don't you open the door?”)
• Speak less frequently
• Overuse qualifiers: (for example, “I Think that...”)
• Apologize more: (for instance, “I'm sorry, but I think that...”)
• Use modal constructions: (such as can, would, should, ought - “Should we turn up the heat?”)
• Avoid coarse language or expletives
• Use indirect commands and requests: (for example, “My, isn't it cold in here?” - really a request to turn the heat on or close a window)
• Use more intensifiers: especially so and very (for instance, “I am so glad you came!”)
• Lack a sense of humour: women do not tell jokes well and often don't understand the punch line of jokes.

Here are some pop culture examples 

But is it all possible? From The Guardian yesterday.

How well do we spot gender? Try it for yourself with Gender Spotting (Scroll about halfway down)

Here is another quiz about gender and language. 

Some pop culture references

 

Journal for next week based on this week's discussion

• How do these patterns reflect our socialization?
• How do they reflect our society’s preference for certain god and goddess archetypes over others?
• How might an evolutionary biologist explain them?

You will need to watch the Debra video to understand!