Cars, trucks, Vans --> what do these have in common?

What do they have in common? --> A focus audience !!

Cars --> bigger, more sensable, wholesome cars are marketted to women and women with families. The smaller sports car are often thought of as being the honey to the bee for men who own them and the women that flock to them. OK< Definately not all women flock to them, but look at all the car shows, mens magazines, television ads that have the girls oggling over the guys TOTALLY RAD car!

Trucks --> MOST ... television ads show some man driving a truck through rough terrain and then getting out at some work station or a building site. VERY masculinized. These are the hardy work trucks that are built "Ford ;)" tough for men and their heavy work loads. Even the 'dirty jobs' host is in on the advertising for the companies. (for those people who don't know what that show is, it is on Discovery channel and it is about this guy that tries all the dirty jobs) Ok, that show is very masculinized as well.

Vans --> Marketted for the family and it almost like that ad slogan that says "tough enough for a man but made for a woman". .... SO i am generalizing here, .... the van allows the housewife (or in some cases, mr. mom) to run the children around to their daily schedules and after school programs.

AND ... take for example the Baritt Jackson car sale, majority of buyers are male and NASCAR! ... i am pretty much very sure that Danica Patrick is the very first woman to race in the NASCAR. Very much an ol' buys club,.. that markets the actual driving as being male dominated and not in anyway a space for women to compete. While i'm sure she has had her fair share of ups and DOWNs and many hurdles to cross, Danica Patrick is 'paving' the way for more women to enter the male dominated world of not only NASCAR, but she is an example for girls everywhere to become more interested in automobiles all together.

~Freddie Mercury~

Weight Training

So following from the idea that sports are gendered, so too is working out in general. An example online is http://www.bodybuilding.com. This is a great site to gain workout tips and routines from, the only issue is that is directed for men. Nearly every picture on this page is of a jacked up guy, and the supplements sold on the site are directed towards men as well. There is a link to a women's section on the site...which is great but also means that the general main site is for men.

The reason I like and visit this site is because it gives a lot more challenging workouts than do workout sites directed towards women. An example of this is http://www.shape.com. The site, as well as the magazine are made "for women". The exercises and tips provided in these are so different from the ones for men. There are tips on how to cut back on calories, elongate the muscles and "tone up with a few simple moves you can do at home", whereas the men's site has tips on how to get lift heavier and get stronger.

It is interesting to see the differences between what men and women are socialized in doing to get the "ideal" look from their workouts.

-BritFan

Designing your room

All of this thinking about what texts are gendered and why. Well i was thinking about where does it all start back to the beginning of a child's life. You find out you are having a boy or a girl what do you do? Paint the room pink or blue accordingly or a 'neutral' colour like yellow or green. What if your having a girl and you paint your room blue? what if her favorite colour is going to be blue? Do you get matching pink furniture to go with all your little girls needs?

SO going back to the beginning I thought I would check out a few of the designer website, for ideas plans and options for decorating. I first started with IKEA personally I love IKEA.. they surprised me. They didn't have a break down of boys rooms and girls rooms ideas on their website. (at least not listed) as you scrolled through the rooms one was ALL PINK Furniture, walls, carpets, chairs EVERYTHING PINK. But they listed it as a children's bedroom.

I then ended up on a Lowe's website to choose wallpaper for your rooms. An easy 1-2-3 step system to choose the right wallpaper for your needs. In the list of choosing styles we see "search by specialty" among about 10 choices of specialty we found boys and girls. Some of the options within these boys and girls "specialties" were pretty 'neutral' colour wise but then you found things in the girls section like "flower power" or in the boys section like "earth explorer" or "get into action". The girls options also portray "leap into action" as opposed to the boys "get into action"? leap is a very delicate word compared to 'GET'. Looking into the two of them the girls leap into action portrayed fun bright colours and the boys portrayed dark colours and army images.

Also when you are selecting a room to which you want to place this border you can select bedroom or boys or girls. Providing you with 3 different layouts of bedrooms.

Some of the earth explorer ones were of tropical places ( i want that in my room now) and a wallpaper border for puppies but of course dinosaurs too. so why is it listed under the boys section?
the more i look at this website the more i wonder where they got their "gendered" ideas from.
(Complete side note: when i clicked a piece of wall paper decoration they showed a sample bedroom where the boys bed was made out of wooden sticks and a latter of wood sticks up to another part of his room).

This website portrays gendered ideas that are portrayed as very specific to a boys or girls bedroom. If the girls bed they provide is pink and you want to put in a dinosaur border/wallpaper. That doesn't match very well. Companies that provide the designing should list things by a subject heading rather then a gendered heading like boys and girls.
List puppies, dinosaurs, flowers and flare separately.

Wow, makes you think....

- Kate Bauer

~~Sports Stores~~

Sports Stores~ ... so stores such as Mountain Equipment Co-op www.mec.ca and Foot Locker http://www.footlocker.ca

Are gendered towards men. As said in class the women are not highly sought after because if they are 'too active' they are then thought of as not feminine. This is perpetuating the cycle and not disrupting it. While other sport companies have marketted to the female consumer, they (the woman) some how looses her sex appeal and become somewhat masculinized by the thought of her being active in sports.

The logo for footlocker is a man in a position that says he is somewhat of a leader or in a high position. This emblem is not neutral, but definately based on masculine ideology.

~freddie Mercury~

Home Depot

Nothing says Home Depot like that bright orange store. http://www.homedepot.ca

Home Depot: Directed at men? ... I say yes!

While they show both men and women in the commercials and ads, the overall store is directed towards the male gender. Historically, men were the 'fixers' and "Handy men" around the household. Even the whole name "handy-man" is overty sexualized in the masculine form. Because men are the 'stronger' sex, they must be the ones to do all the labour.

I think even the way the flyers are, are very masculine because of the bright orange colour and the way that they are placed out. ///... are i way off .? ... i found them that way but not necessarily everyone else will see them as that.

~Freddie Mercury~

Beer!

I was at the gym when this commercial for Stella Artois came on, and it was surprising how gendered it was. I always assumed that beer was more marketed to a male demographic but this commercial really made it hit home.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKpiYTRNsh8

So within this video, we see the woman is being compared to the Stella glass while she gets ready for an evening out, with the ending saying that they are both "things of beauty".
It was surprising that they tried to gender this in a more subtle way. Molson and Coors commercials are a bit more...blunt with their marketing, always showing men partying with attractive females who are apparently attracted to men drinking that brand of beer. This commercial was almost trying to be more classy.

This commercial reminded me of the "Male gaze" we've been talking about because the beer and the woman were both being looked at through what was supposed to be a male view. Also, at the end of the commercial they were both sort of presented to the man as the thing of beauty. The woman in the commercial as well as the beer were being "prepared" for the man.

I know that there are alcohols marketed towards females as well, but has anyone seen a commercial which is marketed for women, but with commercials done through a "female gaze"?? I couldn't think of any. Interesting anyway!

-BritFan

LCBO - Ya the liquor store!

LCBO - gives out the Food & Drink magazine which usually has great! recipes in it. Although i usually have better intentions than action. Which means that i usually go pick up the magazine but don't really get around to making the recipes! ;)

Well.... as it was on the chair beside my couch i looked at the binding on it where it says the title and year and whatnot, i noticed it said "THE ART OF ENTERTAINING"

Which made me think~ ... hmmm .. the art of entertaining .. . this reminds me of those old books and magazines directed towards women to teach them on how to be a good housewife, how to cater to your husband's needs .. and whatever else "how to's" there were in the '50's and around that era.

This magazine i view as being gendered toward women because historically they were the ones to host parties and while those magazine of the '50's "seemed" to have gone away, it is obvious, that they have now taken on a different form.

~~Freddie Mercury~

YOO TUBE ...

www.youtube.com

GREAT INVENTION!!!

is it gendered? ... TOUGH ONE!!

In my opinion .. it think it is somewhat neutral? .. . not only are they "how to put on makeup videos" on there but there are "car videos" that are generally thought of as masculinized. Anyone can post a video under an annoymous name which could tell your gender or could keep it neutral for either sex.

It was created by 2 men but was later bought out by a huge conglomerate company. (can't remmber which one)

This site could be feminized by allowing women to "gossip and reveal their feelings" .. and network and creat relationships with others ... and on that note! ... you can become friends or subscribe to anothers homepage which could beseen as relational ??

But also, someone pointed out that men perhaps participate in the same activities in things such as Facebook but do not admitt to it. Men could "creep" others pages and videos that will allow them to view but not admit it.

What do YOU think?

~Freddie Mercury~

Google Search

So I've titled this post google search b.c what better way in finding an gendered website then by searching "websites for girls" or "websites for boys"

Not surprising when searching for girls i found this website http://www.gurl.com/
I am still deciding whether or not I like this website because as i continued to browse some things were actually helpful to girls but at the same time it is very very gendered.

One thing i took note of was the advertisements for jewelry, tampons, and cheerleading. BUT further looking into it is open to more types of sexuality not just the heterosexual.

At first sight too the website seem for "teeny boppers" but further looking into the website also suggests otherwise as the questions on the "ask heather" section are for older girls, but i guess at the same time a safe place for young girls to ask questions about sexuality sex and growing up in general.

THis website has just left me with a lot of questions about itself and how its connecting to the broader social ideas

as for searching for websites for boys i had much greater difficulty ..most things that appeared were websites for games for kids. Fun interactive games for kids. Do boys not need this advice column or these fun interactive games to make your own sweetheart? what about a website of blogs and questions about homosexuality and heterosexuality in the same place so that they can i have a safe place to learn more if they are still nervous or scared aorund their friends and family...

just lots of questions that i have on this one .. let me know what you guys think


-Kate Bauer

GENDERED RAZORS?

This is a somewhat random post, I know. But, this is something that bothers me a little, and I thought I would talk about it!
RAZORS! Why are they gendered?!
There are a couple legitimate reasons, which DO make sense to me...
1) men's razors are typically for their faces so yes, they need to be gentle, sharp, and precise
2) on second thought, that's the only reason I can think of.

Razors are always coloured in a way which the makers' believe specific genders would ideally prefer. For instance, typically female razors are coloured pink, purple, light blue, or red. In contrast, male razors are usually coloured either a simple black, grey, or silver, dark blue, or dark green. We're all taught from a very young age what these particular colours mean, and I find it interesting that they incorporate it into toilettry tools such as razors, which are only meant to do one thing - remove hair cleanly, leaving skin soft and smooth. That's the jist of it, is it not?
Another feature of razors I've noticed, is that for SOME odd reason, men's razors are more durable and strong than women's razors. A Gillette Fusion razor can endure more impact and roughage than a Venus for women.

And, that ALSO brings me to my next point... "Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman." What is that supposed to mean? This is a slogan for shaving products. If this is "strong enough for a man", then why can't a man use it? Oh yeah- because it's "made for a woman", because it is coloured purple. For this reason, often times companies will over-price women's razors, because they are certain we'll buy them because of their aesthetic appearance. I don't know about you, but all I want is smooth legs, and I don't really care how I get there. (If it's a black razor or a hot pink one).

That being said, I own a Gillett Fusion! I've been given razors as presents throughout the years, and ... *surprise surprise*! Always gendered. My first razor was purple and baby blue, and the second one I got was a Venus. I found the blades got duller quicker than any razor I'd ever had before, and for some stinkin' reason, I could NEVER get a smooth shave.

I got frustrated at this. Should it really be so hard? So, I went to Shoppers Drug Mart and asked someone to help me find the best MEN'S razor they had. This woman who worked there even said that all men's razors do a MUCH, MUCH better job than any women's razor on the market, and all women will get a much better 'bang for their buck' if they just 'swallow their feminine pride', and buy a nice, plain, 'heavy-duty', 'strong enough for a man', navy blue razor.

Gossip!

A guilty pleasure of mine is celebrity gossip sites and magazines. Celebrity gossip websites, are generally gendered towards a female audience. A great example of this would be one everyone knows, http://www.perezhilton.com/.

At first glance the site is gendered as it is all pink. As talked about in class, the content of the site being called "gossip" is also geared towards women, because we all know it is only women who gossip ;). Also, like the facebook idea, this website provides one story about a certain celebrities, as well as links to more stories about them, or other celebrities they are involved with, in the circular form of writing/communication that we discussed in class.

This site also provides a forum, where readers can comment and critique the lives of the celebrities under alias's, which also goes with what was discussed in class. Women (or men for that matter) can comment on the actions of the celebrities and feel as if they know them all from their own home.

The advertisments along the side of the sites are generally all for women's clothing as well, assuming that the majority of visitors to the site are female.

Another great feature? The site provides your daily Robert Pattinson picture!! :P

-BritFan

C R E E P I N G!!!!

This was brought up in class the other day ...

FACEBOOK!!

Creeping: ok well all know what that entails .. many minutes or hours "creeping" (viewing ) others photos, infos, videos, and links ...

Is Facebook gendered?

first impressions: No? ... Because as I took and overall quick glance of my 'friends' list, there 'seems' to be an equal representation of both men and women there.

However, once i start thinking (smoke coming of ears!) ... is it really unbiased? Well not really, we view 'creeping' and new statuses as almost gossip, becuase come on let face it, we have all said ..."did you see what so and so's status said the other day?"
This is a form of gossiping, which overall is viewed as 'feminine' and "Low culture" Therefore, not worth spending valueable time on! However, as previously stated in another blog, How is this different that Checking sport scores, which are represented as "masculine"

Plus, !! ... i think Facebook creators, (or maybe current managers?) market to women with their ad bars on the right hand side of the page. ... I see many pictures of men men who have mysteriusly lost their shirt, appealing to dating sites and weight loss regimes/plans!

And ... it is somewhat of a classist site, becasue you need to have access to a computer, and have enough money to be able to have internet hook ups and pay for those monthly payments ...

Whatchya think??....

~Freddie Mercury~

LAyered underneath it all!

Here in my unusual post!

So i was in bed just now thinking about putting on some clothes in the washing machine and in the smae thought I was thinking about how as "we" get older we become more aware of the pointless money we spend on "things" [meaning me] ... just because of societal pressure and becuase of the fear of what others may think!

--> Ok, so we (my family) had to buy a new clothes washing machine a couple years ago and so we went into Sears and instantly I saw the red washing machine. It was a good brand with a good reputation and had a great approval rate. Well it was more money because of the colour. BUT it was so COOL!! ...

WELL as i was laying in bed just minutes ago with many thoughts/about what i need to be doing/ school/ washing clothes? ... I think about how we got duped by the colour "RED"!!

GAH!--> Duped again by the marketing ploys aimed at women! .. And well (i/we) fell for it!! Good one boys! good one~! wish I thought of that .. "Lets colour our washing machines and then women [because they are the ones running them ;)...] will be so in love with them they will pay more money for them .... MOO AHHH (insert evil voice here!)

Well i am returning to my bed that has carefully marketed sheets and pillows on it aimed just for us "women" ;) Have a good night ...

~Freddie Mercury~

This culture jam exudes the idea of the upper/middle class male as "suffering" from the guilty conscience which is associated with being in the seat of power and therefore oppressing the masses...must be a hard days work! I love this idea of the sale of ethic supplement, just in case you were short due to your classist upperhand.....This culture jam really illustrates the appropriation of certain groups pain and oppression by the dominant cultures....how does this fit into feminism? In what way do men appropriate the work and oppression that women experience? Is it fair to say that white, middle to upper class males have a reason to feel guilty even though they were born into that social position.....?

Miss Frizz

World-Wide Togetherness?

https://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd

One World-wide day that everyone stops shopping??

--> Wouldn't that be a great idea of how we as a society could fight back against the multi-billion dollar business that take advantages of everyone. All of the consumers that are constantly ripped off and taken advantage of. "We" could show these huge media/marketing/purveyors of westernization and pop culture would listen to what we have to say and what our needs are.

While this sounds like a great idea. It is kind of a pipe dream. The reality of Everyone gathering/banding together to do this is delusional. The reality is that people will buy regardless. Even if there is a community or whatnot that decides to do this, there will always be a link in the chain that will deviate from the plan or not agree with this. In this case, while this idea promises of great change, it is filled with holes that are not realistic.

~Freddie Mercury~

This very public form of culture jamming explodes the idea of the binary oppositions that cohorse ourselves into everyday! Women and men....seperate washrooms, seperate behaviours, which are understood to each ideal. What about those who don't fit into one of those two options....there's an Ani Difranco quote, in which she talks about school and how "they tried to teach me different was bad." How does mandatory conforming neglect, exclude and at the same time support the hegemony that is present in society? Is it possible to not conform?

Miss Frizz

Do They??

So True!! .. But Really? .. do they pay her less?
Does anyone know? I would really like to know!

If she doesn't get equal pay then what are we supposed to do!

http://www.savetheshirts.com/causes/hillary/

~Freddie Mercury~

Introducing Mary g

I came across this culture jam when I simply typed in “culture jams”. I found this image among others by a fellow blogger, Martin Krzywinski. There is a series of culture jams with a similar thread of the woman being controlled by a game controller which would be controlled by a man. The product in this advertisement is the woman, and is titled “mary.g” which is a modification of marriage. This advertisement is considered a culture jam in that it plays on the idea of the latest electronics, a product of SONY. This culture jammer, indicates to the viewer that in our modern society, in which new technologies are being created and distributed to make our hectic lives easier, men would prefer to go back to the 'old days' when women's roles were clearly defined within marriage.
Even though women have moved so far forward in breaking those limiting roles of being a woman (or so we thought?). Women still have certain expectations of them within marriage, in a dual working households women still have the majority of responsibilities of cleaning, organizing and managing the home. So really, have we moved that much farther than we were 20, 30, 40 years ago? In terms of whats expected of women, these expectations and attitudes about women and marriage have been so embedded into society that one wonders when will it change? Will it ever change? So something like the use of culture jamming helps to stimulate the thoughts of the people and to acknowledge the longstanding outdated views on woman's roles in marriage and society.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/fullaperture/559219647/


~ Cedar

'I'll say anything to sell this crap.'

As I was sifting through a variety of culture jams on the internet, I stumbled upon this form of a culture jam:


(Image from here)

I have heard of these stickers before; you can buy them, or make your own, and slap them on a public wall, advertisement, poster, etc and voila! Instant culture jam. This one came from http://www.mixthemessage.com.

However, when I was looking at this one, I slowly began to question the message given out by a culture jam such as this one. Could it create a positive message for one person, while another person may find it creates a negative message?

For instance, my first thought of course was that this is a culture jam against large corporations, advertising companies, big brand names, and in this case, against the beauty industry. A simple sticker to represent the idea that advertisments and corporations will sink to any level to up their sales and get as many people using their product.

However, I started wondering... Could this imply other messages? Instead of advocating against mass media and the big corporations, could it at the same time be creating another message?

The sticker is placed so that the woman in the advertisement is saying it. From this I find it starts to feel less like it's the companies and the beauty industry that are giving the message of “I'll say anything to sell this crap” and more like it's the woman in the advertisement that is saying it. Instead of the corporations using whatever means to get what they want, it's the model – the woman – who will do anything to get what she wants. This idea plays into certain cultural stereotypes: the shop-a-holic who loses control and can't keep track of her own spending, the spoiled girlfriend who always gets things her way, the high-class office woman who will sabotage anyone in her way to stay on top – it's the woman who always gets what she wants.

This reminds me of the discussion we had in class about individual interpretation. Depending on your social location, the messages perceived in popular culture and culture jams will reflect your own personal experiences and beliefs.

In terms of feminist social justice, the effectiveness of certain culture jams really depends on the creator, the audience and the individual interpretation. I think that in some contexts, culture jamming could actually work against the idea of feminist social justice. If a difference is made from culture jamming, who gets the 'social justice'? Does this mean that at the same time it may be oppressing or reinforcing stereotypes about another group of people?

-Cyoinea

Can "we' Do it?

ok, got everything working right now and my first post...
So was peruzzing (sp?) the internet and came across a very cool website called crackunit.com
which was/is a link from the website adbusters.com. (Also very cool website) Anyways, it challenged it's readers to a week os using anything that is technology (ie: computers, texting etc.. you get the point) But you could use a phone. It is a counter against the corporate companies that pretty much rule over us little ants that comply and use their gadgets. Our reliance on technology is amazing. Reading over this guys blog about how he got through the week was pretty interesting. While I think it would be an effective tool if EVERYONE was to do it worldwide, i don't think this could really effect corporate companies. And, while this would be a great counter against coporate companies that pretty much own/run our lives with their technology, it is a very elitist idea. NOT everyone has a computer, not everyone has a cellphone .. AND some people need these technologies to make ends meat. So overall i think it would be effective if everyone banned together against Huge conglomerates, however, not everyone has that luxury

guess it would be good if i gave you the link ;) -->http://www.crackunit.com/2008/04/30/10-things-i-learned-from-mental-detox-week/

~Freddie Mercury~

Thank you, Corporate America!

This culture jam excellently illustrates the power of the male ruled society. Especially how news is presented to us, by networks owned and run by white upperclass males, which is sure to present them in the best light and keep everyone else in their tidy little cliches.....which is perpetuated by the idea of the woman behind the typerwriter. (She's in her place doing women's work!) The overall idea in this culture jam is focused on the idea of money = power and the ability to therefore control the media and the country as the media is the source of information in society, so the idea of coorporations ruling and controlling the people is cleary articulated in the messages proscribed in the culture jammer. The WWII propoganda style of the jammer alludes to the misrepresentations that are projected by this overly bias coorporate news and how the media/ news misleads the population to favour their beliefs....never mind what's actually happening.....this is all you need to know, kind of coverage. The idea that the less we, as society, know the better off we are.

Miss Frizz

image from: http://www.insanereagan.com/images/culture_jammers.jpg

Getting started...

In terms of feminist socialist justice, is culture jamming making a difference? Is it too elitist to make a difference, or is guerrilla art - or civic art - an underground movement that 'speaks to the people'? Is culture jamming an effective feminist tool?

The Doctor

In class teaching stuff

Testing testing test

Checking the Blog

This is a test...