Graduate student Sarah Heiss opened us up with a power point on Gender and Food testing us on our perceptions masculinity and femininity and food! One of her main points was the idea of performance, and what expectations we associate with foods. Light, smaller dishes are associated mostly with women. Meaty, heaping dishes mostly with men. In all, bringing light to the fact that we hold these expectations unconsciously to a degree, pointing them out is food for thought!
Second up, Dr. Raymie Mckerrow discussed the role of power in third-wave feminism. This was one of my favorite topics of the forum. I never recognized the movement modern feminists have moved toward before listening to Dr. Mckerrow. I did not associate girls in tight
skirts and four-inch heels as being feminists. Our generation of 'power chicks' in our society are accepted to being 'pretty' and not bra-less lesbians anymore. He noted author Naomi Wolf and her book, "The Beauty Myth" based on third-wave feminism and her depictions of societal structure forming women today. Dr. Mckerrow has not yet finished his research on the topic, but his groundwork is intriguing and delightful to listen in on. He was well-versed on feminism rhetoric and in the future I can only hope I can have a class with him to learn more about his ideas.Laura Russel, President of GradCo (a graduate student led communication group at OU) spoke with us about teen pregn
ancy and the interesting bout she had with society's use of finger pointing. The images we see of Jamie Lynn Spears and Bristol Palin on OK magazine, and TV shows like "Teen Mom" on MTV or Lifetime's "Pregnancy Pact", are all mostly negative depictions of teen moms. Laura brought a bright idea to the room when she reminded us all how we look at teen moms and essentially blame them, and only them, for getting pregnant. If you consider our fascination with the driving force of media today it helps formulate why we foresee the girl 'who should have known better'. The father is hardly never represented and we must realize what is triggering this instant judgment on girls in this "scarlet letter" design of our generation.Our very own advisor, Dr. Jennifer Bute, who teaches classes here at Ohio University each quarter on Gender and Communication, spoke with us on her research concerning infertility. We began discussing our general ideas of infertility and what you might associate with the idea. Immediately everyone began to think about a women, and not being able to get pregnant as a woman's disability. In a similar light to Laura's study, it is noticed that in our society we place so much association with reproduction on the women that men are lost in the shadows. Dr. Bute went on to remind us of our society's structure and expectations within it. Immediately after you are married, the question could be asked as soon as the reception following the wedding, "when are you going to have babies?" She painted an obvious picture about where our thoughts have wandered all this time, beyond all the ages about couples, and the wife bearing baby. She placed images of infertility advertisements and asked us, "How would you answer the question about being pregnant if you were infertile?" The many sad and scary ideas we associate with women, not men, being infertile really makes you think about why we carry associations around with us and the weight of their burden on some people's shoulders.
Lastly, graduate student Jeffery Kuznekoff shared his research on gender and video games. Initially hearing this I wasn't sure what to think, but after his presentation it became clear what bottom lines and barriers he was trying to breech. We realized after he spoke that half a million people a day are online, chatting and connecting with others, by means of video games like Halo. He showed us a few images of women characters in the games and their sexed up construction much to the appeal of the 'men' who are playing these games. He continued to further support his point by letting us listen to a sound clip he conducted of a game being played by a woman, using a few prerecorded positive phrases with a woman's voice which was used when a good play was made by a teammate. This voice said things like, "Great job," or, "Great game guys," and all that was received by these phrases was violent cursing and explicit sexual references. Jeff made quality points about the lack of credibility taken for people who are verbally abusive by means of web connected video games. He made us ask ourselves if we thought that a young boy's mother who allows him to play these games realizes underneath his headphones what conversation is really happening.
The Dialogue Forum on Communication and Gender was a great success. It was well-received by both the participants and the audience. I look forward to hosting another forum in the fall. We really have amazing students and staff for being so willing and open to participating with our group. It was a pleasure to look further into their personal areas of interest articulated by intellect, beyond what we see of them in the classroom.
