Gender, Language, and Communication

The point of understanding ourselves and the inevitable relationship we have with media is in how the media and its consumers interact to create the varying meanings that derive from our interactions with those media (Kimmel 2003: 238). The meaning of media is something that is developed through the interaction connecting the media outcome and the consumers who interrelate with it. The best way to blur the lines between producer and consumer in media is to create our own media platforms, in the form of videos, music, pamphlets, blogs, and other cultural production. Therefore, while the media forms ideologies and narratives that reproduce dominant and normative standards, media consumers from different standpoints can and do modify and reject the intended meanings of media This would be the best way to intersect those boundaries perpetrating harmful doctrines.  Take for instance this video I created a year ago, documenting memories of my school journey from an app called Magisto. Ho...

Hegemonic Masculinity refers to a specific type of culturally-valued masculinity tied to marriage and the characteristics of being sexually attracted to solely to people of the opposite sex (heterosexuality), and patriarchal authority in the workplace and family life and these positions of thought are maintained in its advantage through subordinating other less dominant forms of masculinity. For example, the power and influence over others, like men of lower socioeconomic classes or gay men. This is my family, and I wouldn't refer us all to traditionally comply with the normative ideal of femininity, as it is oriented toward serving the interest of men, wherein, this is focused as Emphasized femininity (Cornell 1987).

Media and language are both powerful tools that ignite or disengage us. Over and over again, media and language reinforce or worsen the gap in the United States. A simple example I can give is when there is a room full of girls and we call them 'guys', we say, "hello guys". When we become aware of the English language we can begin to recognize the linguistic sexism, meaning, language that intentionally or unintentionally excludes or privileges one sex over the other. However, more times than not, women are being excluded or trivialized, while maintaining the sex status quo from which men are currently benefiting. Some example of spoken everyday language we use is fireman, policeman, postman, the explanation of those words assumes male dominance in these fields, the proper alternatives would be Firefighter, Police Officer, Postal worker, especially because we all know that female workers do have professions in those fields. 

The academic world and parents to a degree are having concern that Disney princesses are "bad for girls" because they are defined by their beauty, their appearance and often misleads the development of young girls to be rescued by men rather than act on their own, hence, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, etc. Sociologist however, are more concerned with the fact that most classic Disney princesses are white and Western. In these cartoons, beauty is associated with these little girls to think the importance of it culturally, as 'beauty' is what makes a female valuable. Studies done around How Disney Princesses Influence Girls Around the World, according to Susie Neilson, intern on NPR's Science Desk, states that data points continued to show reinforcement on these stereotypes to be harmful beliefs about who's good enough and who can be considered beautiful. Often times, in media, as little kids only see White characters, characters that all peo...