Tag: Julie Heffernan

Gender Socialization of Masculinity

Presenter: Alexis Skaw

Co-Presenters: April Wheeler, Brent Koekkoek

Faculty Mentor: Julie Heffernan

Presentation Type: Poster 37

Primary Research Area: Humanities

Major: Education

As soon as a child is born in the United States, they are assigned a sex in the male/female gender binary and gender socialization automatically begins. For boys, this means they will be taught to be tough, strong and control their emotions in order to enact masculinity. While much of this socialization occurs in the child’s home, it is also strongly enforced throughout social institutions. Sometimes this socialization is explicitly taught while other times
the lessons are implicitly engrained into traditions and practices. Schools, as social institutions, contribute to student’s socialization regarding gender, race and class. Our focus is on how gender socialization of masculinity, which can intersect with race and class, affects boys at different stages of their development. Hyper-masculinity, the exaggeration of masculinity which emphasizes aggressive and impulsive behavior, is associated with a breadth of emotional and physical ramifications. By pointing out the negative effects of hyper-masculinity, we hope to inspire teachers to enact pedagogy which encourages boys to explore non-gender conforming hobbies, sports, studies
and careers among other activities. By fostering an environment where students do not feel pressured to enact masculinity, boys will feel less burdened to become hyper-masculine and in turn, they can avoid situations which have negative effects on their mental and physical well-being.

Women and Femininities in Relation to Sports

Presenter: Megan Schucht

Co-Presenters: Megan Davis, Amy Lee

Faculty Mentor: Julie Heffernan

Presentation Type: Poster 36

Primary Research Area: Humanities

Major: Educational Foundations

In what ways has gender roles and stereotypes affected women’s relationship to sports?
There is a need to improve the quality of women’s athletic experience. With Title IX, there has been an increase in sport participation but a significant decrease in women coaching the sport. However, female athletes are rarely included in the media and are often sexually objectified when they do receive media attention. Female athletes who are able to display the balance of masculinity and femininity receive the most attention and positive outputs by the media whereas those who are not able to show that balance are not shown or interviewed by the media. In order to be a successful female athlete, one must be able to provide that impossible balance of femininity and amazing skill. Our society has created an invisible line between what is too feminine and what is too masculine. This balance between masculine and feminine traits is known as the feminine apologetic where masculine power roles must be counter balanced with feminine qualities. This project has helped us gain an in depth understanding of the women’s role in sports and how it has made a significant impact today and will continue to make a change in the future.

How Dress Codes Perpetuate Gender Policing Presentation Type: Poster 30

Presenter: Kara Orsolini

Co-Presenters: Lexie Gordo, Georgeana Gutierrez

Faculty Mentor: Julie Heffernan

Presentation Type: Poster 30

Primary Research Area: Social Science

Major: Educational Foundations

Whether it was a school uniform of slacks and a polo with the option for a skirt/dress, or a dress code that requires girls’ shoulders to be completely covered, these regulations on what students wear work to further police the way they believe they must look based on their gender. Dress codes reinforce the norms we have about gender and force students to conform to their assigned biological sex. Additionally, dress codes tend to target girls unfairly. Dress codes show students whose bodies are being sexualized that the education of those who may be distracted by these random body parts is more important than the education of that girl. This work examines how the dress codes placed within schools work to police gender, specifically looking at the ways it increases bullying, the implications for gender nonconforming students, and the ways in which students have pushed back against dress codes.

Understanding Gender-biased Government Control

Presenter: Xiaoran Li

Co-Presenters: Jessica Hawe, Chris Wilson

Faculty Mentor: Julie Heffernan

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Humanities

Major: Education

Funding Source: Population press; The Washington Post

China published one-child policy in 1979. That works well in those years. However, the rate of abortion sharply increased in China. Therefore, in 2001, government published a new law to prohibit using B ultrasound to examine infants’ gender. Until 2005, Chinese government decided to abolish one-child policy. Another section that we are hoping to look into is how women hold less than 20% of the political power in Congress. A shocking statistic when over half of the population is made up of women. This is determined by many factors, one being how girls are almost invisibility put into tracks towards non-feminine professions, and pushed away from college majors like Business and Law. We hope to express how these tracks are formed, and how the politician decisions about gender made in the government is from a very unbalanced gender system. Branching off the idea that structures of government benefit from gender-biased population control, our group will allot a portion of our project to highlight and critique how young people fit within those power structures. The feature example of gender-biased government (school) control will be the existence and policing of dress code. We will go into detail the history of gender-biased body policing in schools and the radical idea that young people, particularly young women, can be politically charged against normative culture.

Hook-up Culture: How the Idea of Everyone “hooking up” Influences and Continues the Cycle of Sexual Assault on College and University Campuses

Presenter: Kelsey Dunne

Co-Presenters: Erika Stanford, Dayna Silvani

Faculty Mentor: Julie Heffernan

Presentation Type: Poster 9

Primary Research Area: Social Science

Major: Educational Foundations

On today’s college campuses, there is a sensation created around “hooking-up.” Created and enforced by mass media, the idea of everyone taking part in casual sex is commonly believed as a true practice occurring on college campuses. Through the book, Gender: Ideas, Interactions, Institutions (Wade & Ferree, 2015) we come to understand that those with the most influence and power, “…white, wealthy, heterosexual, conventionally attractive, able-bodied, and socially adept,” validate and perform these actions that shape the sexual culture. However, this image of sexual activity is disproportionately presented, as the majority of students do not take part. With the research of many others, the realizations of pressures to take part in these practices become apparent. This can cause a dangerous atmosphere as we regulate the sexual actions of others, ensuring that it falls within the lines of the sexual script, the guidelines that rule sexual interaction. This makes way for a dynamic in which men are assumed to initiate sexual contact and the acceptance or denial is up to the woman. However, this makes space for miscommunication or mixing of signals, producing the opportunity of unwanted sexual interaction.