Women’s Studies L111: Women in Culture
Representation Presentations
On the weeks we have presentations scheduled, you will be assigned one specific day for your presentation. You will make a total of three presentations and three corresponding reports this semester.
On that day, you will bring in a cultural representation of gender: female, male, or both genders represented together. This representation may be any number of things or images—advertisements, magazines, a short video clip, a song or a CD, a poster or postcard, a short story or an article, a greeting card, a t-shirt, among others. Be sure that the representation you’ve chosen is something specific—a book, for instance, or a movie is too broad a topic for a representation presentation, although you may choose a scene or specific episode to discuss.
In your oral presentation, about 10-15 minutes, you should informally explain how you believe gender (and race or class, if relevant) is represented in the object you’ve chosen. In other words, how does the object you’re analyzing reflect our culture’s ideas about gender, sex roles—overall, our culture’s expectations for the gender(s) represented there (you may also choose representations from other cultures for one of your presentations if those are available to you)? Oral presentations will be informal; part of your role is not only to present your ideas but to encourage discussion from the group as well.
In your written critique, which should be 1-2 typewritten, double-spaced pages in length, you should address