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In his book Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them, David Anderegg uses an episode of Seinfeld, entitled “The Abstinence,” to make an argument about nerds and sex, called the Seinfeld Axiom. His argument states that the absence of sex in George’s life, caused by his girlfriend’s Mononucleosis, actually caused him to get smarter and when he finally has sex in the end of the episode and lost touch with his new knowledge, that it was sex that caused him to get “stupid” again. Yet, deeper into the episode, Anderegg blatantly ignores that a second main character, Elaine, faces abstinence with opposite effects. Instead of gaining intelligence, she begins to lose it until she cannot focus on anything. Looking at the evidence in the episode, it is clear to see that the abstinence played a limited role in the increased and decreased intellect. As George and Elaine were stimulated by knowledge while abstinent, it was George who grew more intelligent because he was being stimulated by knowledge he already had while Elaine faced new information with little to no value to her.
Analyzing the episode starts with understanding George and his level of intelligence prior to his abstinence. Throughout the first season of the show it is established that George is at least moderately intelligent, though his laziness may be at fault for his inability to do something with this intelligence. In “The Abstinence,” the episode opens with George being told his six-week sentence of abstinence while his girlfriend is still contagious from Mononucleosis. To a man as driven by sex as George, something that does not appear to match most representations of a nerd to begin with, this is met with an apparently lack of enthusiasm and seems like something ...
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...and thus play no role in nerds and sex. It is a goal to figure out how about pop cultures portrayal of nerds and sex and how these portrayals affect how nerds view sex and how their peers view them in a sexual context. This episode also raises questions about ideas of gender and race, as well as the role they play in sexualization of nerds. Understanding these ideas will lead to a better understanding of how nerds are wrongly portrayed in pop culture to be unsexual beings and how this affects the lives that they live.
Works Cited
“The Abstinence.” Seinfeld, NBC. NBC, New York. 21 Nov. 1996. Television
“The Café.” Seinfeld, NBC. NBC, New York. 06 Nov. 1991. Television
“Qualifying Test Scores.” American Mensa. American Mensa, Ltd., n.d. Web. 24 March. 2012.
Anderegg, David. Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them. New York: Penguin, 2007. Print.
The teenage years are especially important in the establishment of social and cultural core principles that provide the base for further growth in the future. Sociologist C.J. Pascoe links her personal experience with scholarly research in her ethnography titled, Dude, You’re A Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School. Pascoe’s year and a half study at a Northern California School known as River High School sheds light on how bullying, power, and sexual innuendos are all components in the makeup of social life in Americas public schools. Her analysis of these components through observational data research is centered around the subject of the challenges associated with masculinity as well as sexual inequality, and the refinement of gender
In today's society, much of America's high schools and colleges have put athletics on a pedestal. Kids who have high academic achievements are nothing compared to successful athletes. In “America Needs Its Nerds”, Leonid Friedman acknowledges this unfair imbalance and decides that it's time to change the way nerds or geeks are viewed by society. Fridman develops his argument over why nerds should be held higher by using a shift of tones, compare and contrast, and figurative language.
Behind George’s impulsive enigma you can see just how much he wants to be accepted and make friends. Isolated and lonely, George bullied children who were smaller than him and appeared as ‘easy targets’ because deep down he didn't feel good about himself and wanted to be accepted due to his learning difficulties and other assorted problems. George readily agrees to the invitation to Sam’s birthday, seeing the trip as an opportunity to finally make friends. You see a glimpse of his caring nature when he gives Sam a birthday present, using all his savings to purchase him a water pistol, and ensuring he likes it. However, he was unaware of the true purpose of his invitation by the resentful Sam, forcing you to sympathise further on George and expressing his innocence and desperation to form friendships. This is further demonstrated later in the film where he lies and tells the group that he smokes cigarettes in hopes to be accepted in the group and appear as ‘cool’ by doing the things they
What is a geek? A geek is “a street performer who… bites off heads of live chickens.” In the passage “America Needs Its Nerds” by Leonid Fridman, Fridman argues why “America needs its nerds.” He begins by illustrating how the “intellectually curious” and “academically serious” are ostracized. From there he displays in the open why “nerds are ostracized while athletes are idolized.” Fridman develops his argument by displaying why “nerds are ostracized while athletes are idolized” and comparing the U.S with other countries across the globe on an intellectual platform.
Leora Tanenbaum’s book Slut! imposes the argument of the unfairness and small mindedness of the sexual double standard between teenagers and what leads them to label others of the name slut. Throughout the book, the author discloses many different studies and stories to help the readers understand the underlying cause and issue of the name slut and how it affects different girls and women around the country.
Rankin, S., & Beemyn, G. (2012). Beyond a Binary: The Lives of Gender- non conforming youth. About Campus, 17(4), 2-10.
Throughout Seinfeld’s eight-season stint on network television the show and its creator’s have stereotyped everything from young Puerto Rican boys to Jewish Priests. The main stereotype of this sit-com is the very florid portrayal of the generational age groups of the characters. The main characters represent the beginning of the Generation X culture. The parents and relatives of Jerry Seinfeld and that of George Costanza present the presence of the members of the Silent or GI generation. Throughout the television series we have seen the elderly as stereotypically helpless individuals with little or no purpose. The character’s Jerry Seinfeld, George Costanza, Elaine Benes, and Cosmo Kramer, represent the Generation X culture. These half-witted characters are often unreliable and uncaring about the society they live in. These characters often care about nothing more about life outside their own. The stereotype of these characters and the success of this very popular television show have contributed to the media’s wide usage of stereotyping generations. The article, “My Inner Shrimp,” can be directly correlated to George’s eccentric ego trips with his problems with shortness, unemployment, and baldness. George’s character is often portrayed as a very loud, very rambunctious person who is often seeking to be on top.
American culture has evolved, and Society tends to ostracize people for their intelligence, and our culture has been giving these intellectuals derogatory names like nerd and geek. Leonid Fridman believes that these anti- intellectual values that pervade our society must be fought and should stop for the sake of America. The author supports this position in the passage “America Needs It’s Nerds” through the use of rhetoric by giving definitions of terms such as geek, offering comparisons through juxtaposition, adding a tone shift, and posing rhetorical questions to the reader.
In his article, “The Gender Gap at School,” David Brooks scrutinizes common gender roles and introduces the idea that biological factors may play a role in human development. He begins his essay by analyzing the three gender segregated sections in any airport, which include the restrooms, security pat-down areas, and the bookstore. He goes on to explain that the same separation occurs in the home. Brooks includes a study given to nine hundred men and women who were asked to name their favorite novel. The study determined that men preferred novels written by fellow men, whereas women favored books written woman.
‘Lad flicks’ or ‘lad movies’ is a type of film genre that emerged in the late 1990s. They are defined as a “‘hybrid of “buddy movies”, romantic comedies and “chick flicks”, which centre on the trials and tribulations of a young man as he grows up to become a ‘real man’. ‘Lad flicks’ respond in part to the much-debated ‘crisis in masculinity’” (Benjamin A. Brabon 116). This genre of film explored what it meant to be a ‘real man’ in the twentieth century and in order to do so, they would have to grow up and leave their juvenile ways behind to enter the heterosexual world. Gender relations in ‘lad flicks’ portray masculinity as a troubled, anxious cultural category hiding behind a humorous façade and also rely greatly on a knowing gaze and irony. The two ‘lad flicks’ that will be analyzed are The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Judd Apatow 2005) and Role Models (David Wain 2008).
American culture is filled with stereotypes that puts out false message about gender roles. These derogatory roles puts images out about the cultural views held about certain positions dominated by men. What was originally created for encouraging consumerism is now being used to promoted mass media productions. The negative connotations produced by mass media portrays nega...
Secondly, George experienced a depressive episode during his employment at the junior college once he found out that his assistant coach was leaving the track teams to pursue other opportunities. Throughout this episode, George exhibited symptoms of depression such as exhaustion, sleep issues, rumination, hopelessness, and guilt. He questioned his presence in the world and resorted to considering suicide as an option, which indicated the severity of his condition. Thirdly, George demonstrated manic symptoms during an important week for his track teams. He neglected his sleeping needs, talked egoistically and profusely about his reputable track teams to anyone around him, and engaged in risky behaviors, such as bringing a sword to a track meet. The climax of this episode occurred in an interview when George revealed that he would use the fundraiser money intended for the track sector of the college to go on a trip with of the female athletes to a meet in another state, which led to the department-wide search for George, a range of arguments, and delusions, where George claimed that he was given the
...ve begins generating rumors for male peers who do not qualify as a stereotypical male. For instance, Olive pretends to have sex with a male peer during a popular house party (Gluck, 2010). This imaginary hook-up benefits the male peer’s bullying dilemma. Again, gender policing occurs between men when masculinity is questioned (Kimmel, 2008). “One survey found that most Americans boys would be rather be punched in the face than called gay” (Kimmel, 2000, p.77). The gender police govern Olive’s and the male peer’s status in social standings. America’s obsession with sex disregards if a girl truly sleeps around.
Gail had never heard of Babe. Gail writes movie reviews and articles in the Arts section. Gail is a chain smoker. She used to cut gym everyday to smoke under the bleachers with her friends. She hasn't owned a pair of sneakers since the third grade. In high school she used to think there were three kinds of kids: the nerds, the jocks, and the freaks. She was some combination of the first and last group. She still held that opinion and liked to sneer at joggers in the park. She was, thus, unhappy about this assignment.
‘Like it or not … one cannot be gender-neutral in this culture ' (Bordo 2003: 242). With reference to your own examples, discuss the construction of gendered identities and differences in popular culture.