More handpicked essays just for you.
The evolution of gender roles and its role in society
Gender roles are influenced by society
The evolution of gender roles and its role in society
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Plan of Investigation
The purpose of the essay is to answer the question: How has Archie Comics reflected changing gender norms in the United States of America from World War II to the present of women in contemporary American society, in its eventual challenge of the position of men as the dominant sex, and in its inclusion of previously marginalized sexual orientations? As entertainment primarily targeted to middle-class America, Archie is a helpful avenue by which to understand acceptable views. This paper will present gender roles portrayed in Archie Comics in three different time frames: the Forties, the Sixties, and the new millennium. It will analyze the establishment of traditional gender roles set forth in the earliest Archie Comic strips. Next it will critique the ways in which it responded to the challenges to these traditional norms and assess whether the comic incorporated these challenges or rebuffed them. Finally, this paper will evaluate the role of modern-day Archie Comics as a vanguard in the new discussion of gender roles and sexual orientation in America. For the purpose of analysis, issues of Archie representative of the era will be examined in conjunction with larger historical developments. These include: the sexual revolution of the 1960s, the post-feminist world following the 1970s, and the rise of LGBT acceptance.
Often changes in social norms move at a glacial pace. Particularly difficult in assessing social norms is the definition of what is normative to begin with. For that reason, most historians will look at what artifacts and documents signify popular culture. While these artifacts and documents may reveal what norms existed at a given time, tracking changes in norms relies upon the existence o...
... middle of paper ...
...ItemClick=true&searchText=helen&searchText=mayer&searchText=hacker&searchText=WOMEN&searchText=AS&searchText=A&searchText=MINORITY&searchText=GROUP&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dhelen%2Bmayer%2Bhacker%2BWOMEN%2BAS%2BA%2BMINORITY%2BGROUP%26amp%3Bprq%3Dhelen%2Bmayer%2Bhacker%26amp%3Bhp%3D25%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bso%3Drel%26amp%3Bracc%3Doff.
Paul Kupperberg. “Life With Archie #16.” In Archie The Married Life, 3:23–24, 2012.
———. “Life With Archie #20.” In Archie The Married Life, 4:20, 2012.
———. “Life With Archie #22.” In Archie The Married Life, 4:9, 2012.
———. “Life With Archie #23.” In Archie The Married Life, 4:20, 2012.
Universe, Funding. “Archie Comics Publications, Inc. History.” History Of Archie Comics, n.d. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/archie-comics-publications-inc-history/.
Sex and Gender was the subject of the two movies Dreamworlds 3 and Further Off The Straight & Narrow. In Dreamworlds 3 Sex is portrayed as a status of life and happiness in the media. This media displays people as objects that can be manipulated for sexual pleasure. As the media is populated with sex it tiptoes around gender, specifically that of gays or lesbians. The film Further Off The Straight & Narrow emphasized the movement through media gay and lesbian topics. This text analyzes iconic television programs and how they reflect the societal stance during that time. As a member of a generation that has had the topic of these issues prominent I believe they are important but are banal. In this reflection I will be responding to two questions, what would woman driven Dreamworlds look like? And Do you agree with the statement that if you are not on television you don’t exist?
behaviours and values shared by a large group or groups within society at a particular period of
In the graphic novel Fun Home, by Allison Bechdel, sexual self-discovery plays a critical role in the development of the main character, Allison Bechdel herself; furthermore, Bechdel depicts the plethora of factors that are pivotal in the shaping of who she is before, during and after her sexual self-development. Bechdel’s anguish and pain begins with all of her accounts that she encountered at home, with her respective family member – most importantly her father – at school, and the community she grew up within. Bechdel’s arduous process of her queer sexual self-development is throughout the novel as complex as her subjectivity itself. Main points highlight the difficulties behind which are all mostly focused on the dynamics between her and her father. Throughout the novel, she spotlights many accounts where she felt lost and ashamed of her coming out and having the proper courage to express this to her parents. Many events and factors contributed to this development that many seem to fear.
Jimmy Draper’s (2010) article “Gay or not?!”: Gay men, straight masculinities, and the construction of the Details audience” analyzes the representation of gayness in the magazine industry. This article specifically targeted and analyzed the relationship how gayness was used to help construct straight masculinity in the men’s lifestyle magazine known as Details.
Henry, Matthew. ""Don 't Ask Me, I 'm Just A Girl”: Feminism, Female Identity, And The Simpsons." Journal Of Popular Culture 40.2 (2007): 272-303. Academic Search Premier. Web. November 10, 2014
how the “approval” of society fluctuates throughout the seventy years that are looked at in this
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." Images of Woman in American Popular Culture. Ed. Angela G. Dorenkamp, et al. Port Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1995. 78-89.
According to Human Sexuality in a World of Diversity 's gender role is a “learned role by observing behaviors of their parents, peers and media” (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2014, p. 25). Research shows how gender roles in America have evolved and have changed over the last centuries, although there could be many reasons for this change I will examine some causes for the change in gender stereotypes. The following topics were studied during my research: Increased technology and access to internet, violence and explicit content in video games, movies and television shows resulting in gender stereotypes. In addition, the media can have a large influence on societies perception on how women and men are should look like which are sometimes
Strinati, D. (2004). An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture (pp. 52-79). New York, NY USA: Taylor & Francis.
In this essay I intend to explore what is meant by the terms popular culture and high culture. I will also look at how the relationship between these two terms has become distorted and blurred over time. In order to reinforce what I am saying about popular and high culture I will be using a range of examples from the music industry to show how the line between high culture and popular culture has become ambiguous. I will also call upon the work of John Storey to give my work an academic foundation. Although Storey is the main academic I will be looking at, I will also include references to a number of other academics who have written about popular culture and high culture.
Willer, R., Kuwabara, K., & Macy, M. W. (2009). The false enforcement of unpopular norms. American Journal of Sociology, 115(2), 451-490. doi: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/journals/journal/ajs.html
Popular Culture. Ed. John Woodward, Farmington Hills, MI: Thompson Gale, 2005. 138-140.
Saenger, G. "Male and female relation in the American comic strips" in The funnies: An American idiom M. White & R.H. Abel editors, The Free Press, Glencoe IL, 1963, p. 219-223
Time is at a premium to take popular culture more seriously as a terrain of academic inquiry and ensuring a significant change in the outlooks of people at large turning it into more of established discipline. Conceptual barriers between so-called high and low culture have broken down, accompanying an explosion in scholarly interest in popular culture, which encompasses all diverse media. The question whether popular culture can actually resist dominant ideology, or even contribute to social change, is much more difficult to answer. A conscious effort by all can not only bring a positive change in attitude and ideas in relation to discrimination, but make huge social changes for a better world in the days to come.
“Culture” is a term that over the years, has taken many forms, served many purposes and has been defined in a variety of contexts. At the rise of the industrial era, inhabitants of rural areas began to migrate to cities, thus starting urbanization. As this new era began to unfold, urbanization, mass production, and modernization became key ingredients in the transformation of culture. As more people became literate and the production of mass media such as magazines, pamphlets, newspapers etc. increased, many had the option and desire to identify collectively – popular culture began to rise. Popular or “mass” culture can be described as a “dynamic, revolutionary force, breaking down the old barriers of class, tradition, taste, and dissolving