Gender Scavenger Hunt by Cathy Dolin

Cartoon Sexism

cathydolinxx — 2021-05-27 20:23:23 UTC

This cartoon assumes that men are incapable of communication and that women have a natural ability to communicate. It also seems to imply a strict binary that is perpetuated in their office setting. It highlights the deeply rooted habits of binary gender roles and binary gender norms. Additionally, I think it builds on the fact that men are not socially "allowed" to express themselves in social settings, particularly in settings that are dominated by other males.

Article on Transgender Folks

cathydolinxx — 2021-05-27 20:33:32 UTC

This is an article on a man named Chella who is a deaf, transgender influencer, artist, and activist who has been very open and transparent on social media about his transition. I was drawn to this article because it made me think about the article we read about coming out on social media. I am often inspired by those who share their deepest vulnerabilities online as it often seems to result in creating community and a support system. It is interesting to relate this to the idea that social media has monetized the experience of sharing the deepest parts of our selves online, where identities outside of the binary makes those people more interesting as an online presence.

Gravestone

cathydolinxx — 2021-05-27 20:50:26 UTC

This is a photo of a gravestone that reads "BELOVED WIFE AND MOTHER" in all capital letters, above the woman's name. I chose this photo because I think it really portrays the long held belief that women are meant to be a good wife and good mother and that nothing else that they do will ever amount to that duty. This belief is so strongly adhered to that it is often the only message written on the gravestones of women.

Gender Neutral Baby Congratulations

cathydolinxx — 2021-05-27 20:56:23 UTC

This is a gender-neutral congratulations card for a new baby. It is yellow, which is a color often used to denote gender neutrality for infants in our society. Other colors that denote gender neutrality in our society are brown, green, white, and orange. This kind of gender neutral option, while inclusive in a way, is also perpetuating the binary because it is the "other" option; the option outside of that acceptable binary, while still being "acceptable" in our social world.

Gender Reveal Party

cathydolinxx — 2021-05-27 21:04:06 UTC

This is a collage of 4 photos depicting gender reveal parties. In the bottom left picture, the parents themselves are adhering to the colors that have been prescribed to the gender binary: pink and blue. Many people want to put an identity on the child they are bringing into the world, to contextualize that tiny person into our society. The issue with this is that they are taking the biological sex of the baby and conflating that with the socially prescribed gender (boy/girl) that "goes along with it". Additionally, the cake on the upper left corner has pronouns on it, which put labels on the baby that ends up in this world.

Taller Woman Advertisement

cathydolinxx — 2021-05-27 21:22:23 UTC

I struggled to find a magazine ad of a woman taller than the male counterpart in the photo. I did, however, find this comic that depicts a shorter man kissing a taller woman in public. This cartoon shows a crowd staring at the couple kiss. This emphasizes the fact that this is not a relationship dynamic that we see in the media, where we are told that traditionally the male is taller than the female in a heterosexual relationship. This cartoon shows the "shock value" of deviating from the norm.

Kohl's Children's Clothing

cathydolinxx — 2021-05-27 21:31:30 UTC

This is an advertisement for children's clothing from Kohl's. The girls' clothing is vibrant, pink and blue, with flowers and hearts depicted all over them. One girl is even wearing cat ears as an accessory. They are posed looking giggly and happy. The two boys depicted are in neutral colors, one in a shirt with a number on it to reference sports. They are posed to look tough, even as children, with confidence. Also, there are only two boys and the girls seem to be giggling about them, suggesting flirtatiousness, even though they are literal children. Parents buy these clothes for their children for similar reasons as throwing gender reveal parties. They want their children to check the acceptable boxes within their prescribed identities. That means looking, speaking, acting "like a girl", and speaking, dressing, acting "like a boy".

Same Sex Couple Front Cover

cathydolinxx — 2021-05-27 21:38:43 UTC

This is a cover of the magazine called Parents. On it is a family consisting of two young children and to fathers. This beautiful family is pictured against a neutral colored background which makes their colorful clothing pop. Bright, rainbow colors on the front of the magazine seems to not so subtly represent the rainbow pride of the community. The family looks extremely happy and playful. The couple pictured is dressed well, in casual clothing that suggests they are on the go parents that still have a sense of style.

An Old Maid card. What does this card game reveal about our attitudes toward older, single women?

cathydolinxx — 2021-06-01 01:37:25 UTC

This old maid card, and several others I found online, depicted this elderly woman sitting in a rocking chair, knitting, with her cat at her feet. This plays on the ageist idea that elderly women are seamstresses, only good for staying at home and participating in widely accepted "feminine" activities. She is also understood to be as too old to marry, suggesting that there is an "expiration date" for those things. This game teaches children to shrink women in their lives down to what they can offer as females in our society.

Cosmo Cover

cathydolinxx — 2021-06-01 02:21:10 UTC

This photo of a Cosmo Magazine Cover depicts a man clearly smoldering at the camera, surrounded with advertisements for how to make sex better, more pleasurable, and more entertaining. These articles are clearly directed at men, and they only perpetuate male/female inequality within sexual relationships. These articles give power to men, suggesting that a bigger penis leads to better sex, and that a hotter body is the ideal. He is also in a leather jacket, wearing all black juxtaposed with a colorful background/words. He looks tough, scary, but is clearly meant to look sexy. Frankly, he frightens me.

Rewrite the Declaration of Independence using inclusive language (not just he/she). How does this change the nature of what is being said?

cathydolinxx — 2021-06-01 02:44:15 UTC

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume amoung the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of HUMANkind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident that all HUMANS are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness-- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among PEOPLE deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. -- \That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that HUMANKIND are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
...

These changes to the document make it far more inclusive. It no longer completely excludes women and seems to be pretty open to all people written this way.

Find a nursery rhyme with a male or female (or both) as the main character(s) and rewrite it to make the character(s) more androgynous. How does this change the images presented in the rhyme?

cathydolinxx — 2021-06-01 02:44:38 UTC

Jack and Jill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down
And broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.
////////
Jade and Jax 
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water. 
Jade fell down 
and broke their crown
and Jax came tumbling 
after.

The changes in names are to make the poem a bit more gender neutral which serves to make us question why their genders matter to us at all. Also, it no longer rhymes.

An advertisement with a sexually objectified person who is selling something unrelated to them (e.g., an attractive person in a car commercial)

cathydolinxx — 2021-06-01 02:44:58 UTC

A burger commercial. This is a commercial for... food. This woman, clearly being sexually objectified, is being paid to sell a hamburger for a fast food company. Sex sells in this situation, but sex has the farthest thing to do with fast food. Just another way we objectify, commodify, and profit from the female body.

An article and/or news report on transgender folks - how are they depicted?

cathydolinxx — 2021-06-01 02:45:26 UTC

Elliot Page is interviewed by Time in the article below, explaining the difficulties and triumphs of his journey of coming-out and transitioning. He notes that his mother was raised in a conservative religious household, and at first was hesitant about this change for Elliot, but eventually came around to accept it wholeheartedly. Elliot says that this is a "testate to how people really change". He also details his decision to et top surgery, making sure to emphasize that it is not a necessary part of being trans, and that not getting surgery does not make your experience of being trans less valid. For him, surgery has allowed him to get comfortable in his body and rediscover the energy that he has for life.

A sexist rule, regulation, or statement in any relatively recent or current Seattle University document (e.g. housing rules, handbook describing the college, or the Spectator, etc.). What is it about the statement that makes it biased?

cathydolinxx — 2021-06-01 02:46:10 UTC

This housing handbook drives me crazy. The book clearly states that the decisions regarding room assignments are made "without regard to race, color, religion, SEX, national origin, age, disability, marital status, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, political ideology or status... as a veteran..." The housing department at SU at the same time requires students to live "with students of the same gender...Only guests of the same gender as their resident hosts are permitted to stay overnight..."
This completely excludes all people who do not identify with either gender within the male/female binary. It essentially states that people outside of the gender binary are not permitted to sleep over at any other student's dorm, which is entirely rooted in homophobia.