Videos on Masculinity

PART 2 OF 2

This semester will mark the twentieth year I have taught a class on
masculinities.   I've used a variety of exercises to try and begin the
process of making gender visible in the class.  One that has worked well is
I hand out Charlotte Perkins Gilman's marvelous short story (it's about 7
pages long) called "If I Were a Man" in which a woman imagines moving
through a day as a man.  Then I ask the students to write one page on how
their lives would be different if they were the "other" gender.  What's
interesting is that both women and men "see" the privileges attendant upon
being a man pretty readily -- from general to genital physicality, to
physical safety and earning more as a man.  (Some men object to the
exercise in principle, as if even imagining being a woman is demeaning.)
One can then ask how much of these differences in experience are
biologically based as a way to begin the conversation about social
construction.

For class assignments, I have them use social science readings to analyze
different fictional texts.  They read three works of fiction in the class
-- last time we used Gus Lee's CHINA BOY, DEATH OF A SALESMAN, and Russell
Banks's AFFLICTION.  This year I think I'll use Anthony Giardela's RECENT
HISTORY, a stunning novel about homophobia and homoeroticism among
adolescent boys.

For films, well, most people will tell you that TOUGH GUISE is provocative
and interesting, especially early on in the semester.  I use it and it
works well in generating lots of discussion.

And I cannot resist a self-promotional plug as well.  The instructor's
manual to MEN'S LIVES (the 6th edition of which is about to appear) comes
complete with film suggestions and exercises as well as assignments and
test banks.

Good luck!
Michael

***********************
Michael Kimmel
Brooklyn, NY
michaelskimmel  AT  compuserve.com
www.michaelkimmel.com

Hi All,

This is a belated follow up to Kate Waits' "must see video" query.

I finally saw parts of _Wrestling with Manhood_ from www.mediaed.org
-Sut Jhally and Jackson Katz's fairly recent video.

I had expected a media violence/social construction of violent
masculinity theme so I wasn't in a great big hurry to see it. I was
thinking it would be a more specific or topical version of "Tough
Guise".

It's not.

I was surprised to see how graphically the film illustrates the
mainstreaming of the pornographic messages "women like/deserve to be
hurt" and "violence against women is sexy".

I was also shocked (and nauseated) to see the extent to which the
wrestling "storylines" directly mimic heterosexual male batterers'
narratives about domestic violence.

I don't watch wrestling and I had no idea that women were so involved
as objects of violence by men or that the storylines were so
explicitly borrowed from what batterers say-- not just in the typical
way that we are used to seeing where men's violence against women is
used in film and TV to establish a bad guy's "badness", but by the
characters portrayed as good and bad guys.

I highly recommend the film to anyone who teaches about gender and
violence generally but heterosexual domestic violence in particular.

This is definitely a must-see video, especially for those of you who
teach about violence against women or media literacy or who have women
or men in your classes ;o)


Molly Dragiewicz
Women's Studies and Cultural Studies
George Mason University
mdragiew  AT  gmu.edu
http://mason.gmu.edu/~mdragiew
www.cavnet.org

Monica,

I was shocked by the video, and I work on batterer narratives every
day. Maybe that has made me more sensitized to hearing their views
elsewhere, but the women and men in the audience at the screening all
looked pretty shocked too.

Molly Dragiewicz
Women's Studies and Cultural Studies
George Mason University
mdragiew  AT  gmu.edu
http://mason.gmu.edu/~mdragiew
www.cavnet.org

Molly,

The 'shock' value in my view will, perhaps, be effective at penetrating
students' usual 'ho-hum, I've seen this all before and it doesn't have any
effect on me' response to other audiovisuals (that always shock me). Thanks
again for your comments and recommendation.

in peace

************************************

Monica D. Lange, Ph.D.
Department of Women's Studies
California State University Long Beach
1250 Bellflower Blvd.
Long Beach, CA 90808
paradoxmdl  AT  aol.com

Hello all,

First, let me say that I have watched professional wrestling on tv on and
off for about 5 years now (and did as a kid in the 1980's) and in many ways,
this video is right-on in its critique.

Second, let me also say that it is absolutely dangerous for scholars to
"just take Katz's/Jhally's word for it".  If you haven't watched wrestling,
watch it and see if you agree.  You can't discern what is going on from
watching inflammatory clips montaged together - after all, isn't that what
watching CNN these days is?  I guess I ask those of you wishing to teach
this video, PLEASE use it only after watching the shows in context.

Third, with that being said - it is absolutely degrading to women,
heterosexist and sometimes violent -- to everybody.  I'm not dismissing
that.  But, I can tell you that pro wrestling is incredibly popular with our
undergrads.  If you use this video without the knowledge of the pro
wrestling industry behind you, as a teacher you will turn your students off
quickly - trust me on this one, I've seen it happen.  Teachers come off
looking like fuddy-duddy's who aren't "with it".  So, go into the classroom
armed with a little knowledge and having done your homework.  Only then can
you talk to students on their level, and have them listen to your concerns
about this violent form of media.

Jennifer

PS - as a sidenote from someone who has watched the stuff - ask your
students what they think about the "battle of the sexes" material where
women win, and it is seen as empowering for women to beat men in a match.
This gets at a good discussion of hegemony - women win only sometimes, but
look at how they are treated as a whole, etc..... There is so much other
material to talk about with pro-wrestling, I just don't want to see it get
reductive as it is a useful text for pointing out norms in culture.


*********************************************
Jennifer Musial
American Culture Studies Program
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43402
*********************************************
Woman is ...  finding that the career you've chosen exacts more than just
study or hard work -
                     --- an emotional price of being made to feel "less than
a woman"....
(_Sisterhood is Powerful_ ed. Robin Morgan)