gender

The centaur scene in Disney’s highly acclaimed cartoon Fantasia (1940) clearly communicates gendered expectations for men and women, but there are also racial politics. First, note that, in the film as released, all of the centaurs end up in color-matched heterosexual pairs.  Second, most people do not know that the original centaur scene included a pickaninny slave to the centaur females and exotic, brown-skinned zebra-girl servants.

Here’s a link to the whole thing (embedding disabled, but it works as of Feb. ’11).

A clear still in black and white:

Fuzzy color stills from the youtube clip:

Don’t miss our post showing bugs bunny in blackface, too.

Another one from Jason.

Found here.

Since we’re on a plastic surgery kick…according to members of the American Society of Plastic Surgery, breast reduction is the most common cosmetic procedure among 13-19 year olds (girls and boys combined). Members performed 17,269 in 2006. A set of photos available here shows is how trivial the difference is between the before and after pictures. These men were diagnosed with “moderate” gynecomastia. The belief that men are flat chested and women are breasted is not based in biology. In reality, there is a great deal more overlap between men’s and women’s bodies than we’re comfortable with… so off to the plastic surgeon.

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Warning! These images may not be safe for your workplace.

more...

This is an ad for a diet pill called SlimQuick:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66oZY3NcxLA[/youtube]

My friend Jason is giving a talk on the constitutional limits of video surveillance (thank goodness someone is) at the 2008 California Police Chiefs Association Conference. In case you’re still trying to convince your students that jobs are gendered, that there is an imperative to marry, that heteronormativity is in place, and that women are expected to conform to emphasized femininity… check this out:

The conference website has a page for “Spouse Events”. The spouse is implicitly a woman, and a rather girly one at that. The “gift set” (for which they “spare no expense”) is from “…Victoria’s Secret… [and includes an] engraved picture frame, lipstick case, spirits and sweets all in a tote.” A tote! Spouses also get “special outings,” “hospitality,” and a “whirlwind of memories.” She gets to choose from number of feminine pasttimes, including the spa, shopping, antiquing, and dance, or she can get a taste of what the big boys do (for “action adventure types” only).

This is an ad for Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B. line’s cologne. The text next to her face says, “I want you all over me.” I’ll leave it to you to decide if the look of ecstasy on her face and the droplets showering her body imply she’s being sprayed with anything other than water.

I found this ad in Entertainment Weekly.