ABSTRACT

In this article we explore the utility but also limitations of gender stereotyping lessons, a common undertaking by teachers introducing media analysis to youth. We document our collaboration with a Canadian high school teacher as she translated her understanding of critical media literacy into practice in a unit addressing questions about the gendered nature of pop music videos. Informed by feminist cultural studies, we explore challenges that arose when teaching about gender stereotyping. Factors that circumscribed deeper inquiry included (a) discussing whether media texts were unrealistic rather than focusing on meaning-making practices; (b) inattention to hidden yet active media texts that worked to sustain dominant meanings; (c) lack of access to counter-frames; (d) inattention to intersectionality so that gender was conflated with sex and sexuality, allowing heteronormativity to go unrecognized; and (e) the ambiguities of how sexual power operates in commercial pop culture, making it difficult for students to discern feminist parody.

摘要

在本文中，我们探讨了性别刻板印象课程的实用性和局限性，这是教师向青少年介绍媒体分析的一项共同任务。我们记录了我们与加拿大高中老师的合作，她将自己对批判性媒体素养的理解转化为实践，在一个单元中解决了有关流行音乐视频的性别特征的问题。通过女权主义文化研究，我们探索在教授性别刻板印象时出现的挑战。限制深入探究的因素包括 (a) 讨论媒体文本是否不切实际，而不是关注意义制造实践；(b) 不注意隐藏但活跃的媒体文本，这些文本有助于维持主导意义；(c) 无法使用反框架；(d) 不注意交叉性，从而将性别与性和性行为混为一谈，从而使异性恋不被承认；(e) 商业流行文化中性权力如何运作的模棱两可，使学生难以辨别女权主义的模仿。