SOC 058 PZ -Gender and Media

Institution: Pitzer

Description: This course will explore how and why gender matters in society today, with an emphasis on how the mass media shapes gender identities, perceptions, and real life outcomes. Our examination of gender will involve discussions of the meaning of sex and gender, different theoretical arguments concerning gender, and how individuals are socialized into gender behaviors by other individuals, institutions, and especially the mass media. The lectures and readings will reflect a number of different theoretical and feminist perspectives, and they will include an equal focus on issues affecting women and men today. Students will gain the conceptual and theoretical tools to analyze the personal, social, and institutional consequences of different social constructions of gender - and how they are influenced by the media. Finally, this course is designed to explore depictions of gender within various mediums of the media - including advertisements, sports, scripted television, reality television, film, pop music, alternative music genres, internet, gaming, comics, the sex industry, and the news.

For up-to-date information on current course offerings and details, please refer to the Pitzer class schedule on MyCampus2 Portal.