5. Gender

be feminists | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

5 Minutes Of What The Media actually Does To Women
“Real Women Have Curves” href=”http://www.cineddhh.org/guias-didacticas/mujeres-de-verdad/i-introduccion/#g”> Real Women Have Curves.Information from IPES about this film (Spanish & Vask)

This is the story of Ana, a first generation Mexican-American teenager on the verge of becoming a woman. She lives in the predominately Latino community of East Los Angeles. Freshly graduated from high school, Ana receives a full scholarship to Columbia University. Her very traditional, old-world parents feel that now is the time for Ana to help provide for the family, not the time for college. Torn between her mainstream ambitions and her cultural heritage she agrees to work with her mother at her sister’s downtown LA sewing factory (a sweatshop ). Over the summer she learns to admire the hardworking team of women who teach her solidarity and teamwork. Still at odds with what her mother expects of her, Ana realizes that leaving home to continue her education is essential to finding her place proudly in the world as an American and Chicana.

INTERVIEW Patricia Cardoso (A vivir que son dos días- Cadena SER):05-10-2013 Patricia Cardoso: “La tiranía de la estética es una dictadura para la mujer”

*WHAT IS GENDER? (definition by FAO Produced by: Economic and Social Development Department:)

Gender is defined by FAO as ‘the relations between men and women, both perceptual and material. Gender is not determined biologically, as a result of sexual characteristics of either women or men, but is constructed socially. It is a central organizing principle of societies, and often governs the processes of production and reproduction, consumption and distribution’ (FAO, 1997). Despite this definition, gender is often misunderstood as being the promotion of women only. However, as we see from the FAO definition, gender issues focus on women and on the relationship between men and women, their roles, access to and control over resources, division of labour, interests and needs. Gender relations affect household security, family well-being, planning, production and many other aspects of life (Bravo-Baumann, 2000).

[Box 1] DEFINITION OF GENDER ROLES AND GENDER RELATIONS

Gender roles are the ‘social definition’ of women and men. They vary among different societies and cultures, classes, ages and during different periods in history. Gender-specific roles and responsibilities are often conditioned by household structure, access to resources, specific impacts of the global economy, and other locally relevant factors such as ecological conditions (FAO, 1997).

Gender relations are the ways in which a culture or society defines rights, responsibilities, and the identities of men and women in relation to one another (Bravo-Baumann, 2000).

*Gender studies
From Wikipedia
Gender studies is a field of interdisciplinary study which analyses race, ethnicity, sexuality and location.[1]
The philosopher Simone de Beauvoir said: “One is not born a woman, one becomes one”.[2] In gender studies, the term “gender” is used to refer to the social and cultural constructions of masculinities and femininities, not to the state of being male or female in its entirety.[3] The field emerged from a number of different areas: the sociology of the 1950s and later (see Sociology of gender); the theories of the psychoanalyst Jaques Lacan; and the work of feminists such as Judith Butler.
Each field came to regard “gender” as a practice, sometimes referred to as something that is performative.[4] Feminist theory of psychoanalysis, articulated mainly by Julia Kristeva[5] (the “semiotic” and “abjection”) and Bracha Ettinger[6] (the “matrixial trans-subjectivity” and the “primal mother-phantasies”), and informed both by Freud, Lacan and the Object relations theory, is very influential in gender studies.

Interesting page related to many intelligent women written in Spanish (it is worth having a look at it).The section is called ¿Quién es la más inteligente? and it is included in the section “celebrities” from the page masquechicos.com

QUESTIONS ON THE MOVIE (Real Women …)

1.- In Los Angeles, one of the biggest cultures is Mexican, or more generally known as, Latin-
There are different cultures in your city, which are they?

2.- Do you think that the shock of generations happens in all the cultures in the same way (like with Ana and her mother)?

3. Do you think Ana is a strong person? Why or why not?

4. What do you understand by beauty?

5. What kind of relationship can we have between anorexia and bulimia and standards of beauty that we usually see on TV, magazines and fashion?

6. Is Estela’s little factory really a sweat shop? Do you agree that selling a dress for $18 which later sells at Bloomindales for $600 is “just not right”?

7.Acording to the information taken from several newspapers, the Spanish retail chain ZARA, was found to be using “slave labour” to make garments. Would you buy clothes (even if ther are really cheap) if you knew they came from these labour conditions?

8. What did you like and not like about this movie?

*MUSIC in the film (Lila Downs…)

………………………………………………………………………………………..

* We are going to work on the scenes in which Ana, before meeting her boyfriend, goes into the drugstore (chemist´s in british English) to buy condoms and the two following scenes, the moment in which she is with her boyfriend in a bedroom and after being with him she says goodbye to him for ever. Why do you think she says bye in that way? Does she really love him? Why does she say good bye in that way?.
At the end of this fragment, her mother realizes Ana´s lost her virginity and talks to her. What do you think about her mother’s reaction?
See from minute 1.30

– What do you think about the fact of Ana buying the condoms?
– Why does she say good bye to her friend?
-Why do you think she doesn´t want to meet him again?What does she tell him?
– What is her mother´s reaction?
Short Film: Because I´m a girl
Storyboard-How the short film was prepared:
Animate short film” Because I´m a Girl

Differences men / women in publicity

VERY interesting article about gender
Los hombres que no amaban a las mujeres
Text taken from the radio programme “Carne Cruda” and written by Javier Gallego. Radio 3 (93.00 FM)
Once you are reading the article in Radio 3, there is a link (where it says aquí) which will take you to the work done by the media artist Yolanda Dominguez. You can see, among other works, Poses. We will talk about it in the classroom.
Here you have another interesting link from the programme “Carne cruda” with the first Spanish woman film director Josefina Molina with her ideas about cinema, and situation of women in the cinema, television…

Is it possible to be a mother in the distance? Is it possible to educate from a booth? Women who travel thousands of miles to give a better future to their children, tell us how they live through the reality of being mothers across a telephone or a computer, making the booth their second home and transforming their voices into their most valuable resource.
Madres 0,15 el minuto
Read the information about this shor film using the link (you will be able to read and see part of this very interesting short film about these women)
Once you have read about the shor film, see the following video with information related to the above information about these women.


*Related matters to create debate:
Video I love impartiality
What do you think about the Chicago´s Orchestra case and the matters bellow?
-Male–female income difference, also referred to as the “gender gap in earnings”
-Evidence on Discrimination in Employment: Codes of Color, Codes of Gender

After the above matters, see this short cut about a group of children from a poor neighbourhood in Panama. They are in the beach and one of the girls speaks about her wishes (related to the violence her stepfather uses against her mother…).

Short Cut LUPITA MUNDI (la risa Panamá).

ITALIAN DOCUMENTARY. What do we think about women?
*Books on obesity (miraculous recipes for losing weight, analyses of the phenomenon) are so popular that The New York Times has given them their own category in its best-seller list.

Why do you think women pay more attention to their look, go on diets… than men?

Text from the book Cuestiones de género by Juan Vicente Aliaga (Editorial Nerea 2008)

Link to BBC programme on DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

POSTER: ARE WE BRINGING UP IN EQUALITY?

What do you think about the different presents for boys or girls?
Do you think boys don´t like dolls? Why?
Do you think football balls are only for boys?

What do you think about this poster created for a gender meeting?


Made by ANA GARCÍA

After reading this story ( link below), we will talk about your opinions and read some of the commentaries written by other people.After it, we will see other documentaries about this topic.
COMIC by Ana Garcia about gender (woman surroundes by women publicity)* in a different file

Short films about gender done by students 3ºESO IES Pérez Comendador,Plasencia (Cáceres)

Debate about the different short films

QUEEN OF THE SCOTTISH FAIRIES

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Read more about the film Los invisibles (in English) directed by the actor Garcia Bernal:

=Watch this second part from the film INVISIBLES by Garcia Bernal.

Six Out of Ten
Gael García Bernal talks to three women from Honduras who are travelling in search of a better life for their families. They are taking a huge risk. Six out of ten women who attempt the journey are sexually abused.

What do you think about the way of acting of these women in the film?
Can you imagine the way of life these women are going to have in the case they reach their goal?
What kind of families are they trying to support or do they belong to?

Short Cut: REMESAS (by Juan Carrascal Ynigo)*See Guía didáctica in Making of Nº78(last pages)

After watching REMESAS, you will see that Angelita´s family is a matriarchy. What is the meaning of MATRIARCHY?
What kind of families do you know?
Could you mention some of them?

La Jaula de oro (Diego Quemada-Díez)
Las mujeres migrantes
Competencias: Comprensión Escrita, Comprensión Oral / Expresión escrita y/o Expresión Oral
Mira de nuevo el tráiler y cuenta cómo se prepara Sara para el viaje:

watch
– ¿Por qué crees que se viste de esa forma y que cambia de nombre?
– Sara representa a las mujeres dentro de la migración. ¿Por qué crees que el viaje puede ser más peligroso
para las mujeres que para los hombres?
Visita la siguiente página y explica a qué tipo de violencia pueden estar confrontadas las mujeres
http://www.thinglink.com/scene/498603121866440705
Actividad 8.DOSSIER
PÉDAGOGIQUE
FILM PROJETÉ DANS LE CADRE
DU 24E FESTIVAL DU CINÉMA
ESPAGNOL DE NANTES
Examples of FAMILIES in the cinema:

After having seen PRECIOUS. What kind of family is Precious going to form?
VARIOUS TYPES OF WOMEN IN THE CINEMA:

Little Miss Sunshine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmZPwn0PfSQ

Camino

FILM FRAGMENTS from several films to comment about the way women are treated/ seen… in films.Most of the commentaries and titles of the films are taken from the course Cine y DDHH organizado por IPES y el CAP-Pamplona(Enero 2011)

Stereotypes of women in different films:

Jeane Dealman By Chantal Akerman………… (the woman seen as a mother)


What do you think is the role of this woman? What does she represent?

Riding in cars with boys………………………(the woman with a different view about maternity)

Do you think she really dislikes her son?
Do your know anyone of your age who is a young mother?

The Godfather (first three minutes)…………………………..(the woman seen as a “saint”)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdjRoYxUO5k

Topic: HONOR. What kind of woman does the father like?(he would really like her doughter to be a …….)
What do you understand by the sentence he says “she was obliged to drink”. What does the father think?
What does the father think about her daughter once she has lost her virginity?

Torrente ………………..(Women as an object)

New ways of representing women:

North Pole (2005)En tierra de hombre………………(woman as “Juana de Arco”)


Is she a kind of heroine?(working as a miner…)

Irina Palm………………………..(.every day heroins)

What do you think about the representation of this “everyday heroine” in this film?

Transamerica /Breakfast on Pluto…………………………transexual women

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<
Song by The Gossip “Listen up” kill the rock

What do you think about the singer´s appearance/look and the rest of the women in the video?

*Museo en femenino

POWER RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GENDERS

Antony and the Jhonsons- Video: Cut The World

Lyrics- Cut the World

for so long I’ve obeyed that feminine decree
i’ve always contained your desire to hurt me

but when will i turn and cut the world?

my eyes are coral, absorbing your dreams
my heart is a record of dangerous scenes
my skin is a surface to push to extremes

but when will I turn and cut the world?

SECRETARIA. Song by MOCEDADES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH0Wqoj2xcU

Can you relate both videos (Cut the World and Secretaria)?
Can you find similarities?. What is your opinion?…
Representations of Gender in Advertising

CINEMA AND VIOLENCE TOWARDS WOMEN
Saving Face (trailer)Nomenee Oscar´s 2012

Film: PRECIOUS

In Harlem, an overweight, illiterate teen who is pregnant with her second child is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that her life can head in a new direction.

Discussion Questions
1. Precious is a very powerful film depicting intense situations – including graphic
language, images, and situations.
a. What feelings and/or reactions did you have while viewing it?
b. What scenes and images in the film stand out for you?
c. For the images that stand out the most, why do they stand out? How do
they relate to your life?
d. How did the film affect you?
e. In Push, Precious says she feels invisible. What does Precious mean when she says that
she’s “invisible”?
f. Who thinks that Precious is invisible? Why?
g. What forces, both internal and external lead her to feel that way?
h. The word “push” also appears in different contexts in the film, and of
course it is the title of the book that Precious is based on. Why do you think Sapphire titled the book Push?
a. Do you feel that Precious feels this way as a result of abuse or as a result
of society?
b. What contributes the most to this feeling –her obesity, marginalization, all
of the above?

http://www.uhu.es/cine.educacion/cineyeducacion/mujer_maltratada_cine.htm
fragment copied from the web which is above this line.
Para analizar una secuencia. Del guión de Solo mía. Secuencia 11
from minute 8.44 to 11.12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3YRciA9ZeI
Bedroom Ángela-Joaquín. Night

Ángela y Joaquín go into their bedroom…

FILM: THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbthtLM5VS4

Review (BBC)

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Reviewed by Stella Papamichael
Updated 05 October 2006 Contains mild language

The humour is as spiky as a pair of Manolo Blahniks yet The Devil Wears Prada isn’t just a satire on the fashion industry. Anne Hathaway provides a soft centre as wannabe journalist Andy struggling to reconcile her ambition with a deeper core of human decency. Except for a dull romance plot, helmer David Frankel brings believable warmth to Lauren Weisberger’s scathing book. Still, the real joy is in a smoulderingly sinister turn by Meryl Streep as Andy’s egomaniacal boss.

Magazine editor Miranda Priestly is so imposing, she doesn’t need to shout. Her indictments of Andy’s weight and dress sense are softly spoken, languid and bitterly funny. As one colleague points out to the new assistant, “pressed lips” denote “catastrophe”. But Streep presents more than a simmering cauldron of evil. Besides the designer clobber, she wears a discreet veil of tragedy and draws sympathy even while turning her nose up at the less fabulous.

“HOLDS A MORBID FASCINATION”

Frankel wisely avoids any mushiness in portraying what is basically a sadomasochistic mentor-protégé relationship. Andy takes as much humiliation as Miranda can dish out, but within that perverse dynamic, mutual respect develops convincingly and quite movingly.

It’s a shame that Frankel ties pretty bows around the story in the end and it could have had more bite. Still what he does reveal about the fashion biz holds a morbid fascination. Understated moments like the withering once-over Andy is subjected to during her interview with Miranda are classic. Hathaway is an endearing foil, but it’s Streep strutting her best stuff that really ties it all together.

Filmms recommended:
China Blue: documentary
In Spanish Subt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLdqz0ooj_Y&list=PLB2BD921D57B484B9
Profession, maid:a photographic film
La fuente de las mujeres” La source des femmes
FILM: ANTONIA´S LINE (to analise Antonia´s character)

The Guerrila Girls
The Guerrilla Girls

About Miguel Santos de Vega

Profesor de inglés en IES. Navarro Villoslada, Pamplona.
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