Intersectional Feminism Using Food Metaphor [Video]

In this video, writer and comedian Akilah Hughes uses the metaphor of pizza to explain intersectionality.  In brief, it goes something like this: in a world made for Burgers, Cheese Pizza is trying to argue that it deserves the same rights as Burgers.  In that struggle, what is a Pizza with toppings other than cheese supposed to do?

It's not a perfect metaphor, but I think it's a way to help students start thinking about intersectionality.

Link to video: http://feministing.com/2015/04/13/intersectional-feminism-brought-to-you-by-pizza/

Accountability and doing gender while being a police man [Video]

This in-car camera footage ("Dash Cam Confessionals") of a Dover police officer captures him singing (and dancing) along to the Taylor Swift song "Shake It Off." Students find this 4 minute video clip helps them understand "doing gender" and how we are accountable for our gender performances. Have your students watch (and probably laugh) as this policeman changes from enthusiastic sing-along exuberance to "cool and collected" greeting-behavior when he drives by other people.

Video link: http://youtu.be/8XFBUM8dMqw

Masculinities and playing basketball in a wheelchair [Video]

I ask students in my gender classes to think about intersectionality and hierarchies of power within gender categories. This semester I used Coston and Kimmel’s (2012) article “Seeing Privilege Where It Isn’t: Marginalized Masculinities and the Intersectionality of Privilege” to encourage students to think about non-hegemonic masculinities.  Coston and Kimmel ask how men in their study who are disabled, gay, or working-class “navigate and access their privilege within the confines of a particular social role that limits, devalues, and often stigmatizes them as not-men.”  They apply Goffman’s (1963) three strategies used to neutralize stigma: minstrelization, normification, and militant chauvinism.
In addition to talking about Coston and Kimmel's study, I like to show students this advertisement of men playing basketball in wheelchairs.  I ask students to discuss the video clip in light of what we have learned about minstrelization, normification, and militant chauvinism.  You might consider asking other questions like: What assumptions do we have about masculinity and bodily ability?  What characteristics or qualities in men does this ad validate?

Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwndLOKQTDs

References:

Coston, Bethany M. and Michael Kimmel. 2012. “Seeing Privilege Where It Isn’t: Marginalized Masculinities and the Intersectionality of Privilege." Journal of Social Issues 68(1): 97-111.

Goffman, Erving. 1963. Stigma: Notes on the Management of a Spoiled Identity. Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Is there a gender wage gap? An economist's argument using socialization and human capital [Video]

In this video clip, "Do Women Earn Less than Men?" by LearnLiberty.org,  the speaker uses graphics to explain the argument that once socialization and human capital are accounted for, the wage gap between men and women grows smaller.  He also articulates the argument that wage differences are due to individual choice rather than discrimination in the labor market.  Although I present this video alongside sociological arguments that dispute the one presented in the video, I do think it is useful for students to gain a better understanding of why the gender wage gap is a controversial and disputed topic.  Additionally, it is useful for them to consider how different perspectives—both using data—can come to different conclusions with different “real life” implications.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwogDPh-Sow

The "baseball analogy" as a sexual script [Activity]

What does it mean to “get to first base?”  What is "second base?"  And "third base?"  What counts as a “hook up?”  These two graphics are useful in discussing the idea of sexual scripts.  The first, here, is a playful depiction of the “baseball analogy” of sexual activity.  The second, here, is a list of analogies built off the baseball metaphor.  I find these are fun ways to start a conversation about sexual scripts.

As an activity, you might assign individuals or groups to draw a baseball diamond and label each base with the corresponding sexual activity (according, of course, to their understandings of the bases).  Then, as a class, you can discuss the variations and similarities between individuals'/groups' work.  Be mindful that not everyone will be familiar with this analogy--or with the baseball diamond!


Links:

http://xkcd.com/540/

http://www.collegehumor.com/post/6995709/the-entire-baseball-to-hookup-analogy-chart