ENG 102: Composition II

ENG 102: Composition II

Professor Bailey-Kirby

`Discussions Questions on “’Bros Before Hos’: The Guy Code” by Michael Kimmel and “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body” by Susan Bordo

Answer all the questions assigned for “’Bros BeforeHos’: The Guy Code” by Michael in complete sentences and number your typed response to each question. (Note: You will have a minimum of 350 words in total for your response to all of the questions below for Kimmel, but most students choose to exceed this word count and are even encouraged to do so. Hence, exceed means “go over” this amount since most students put a lot of pride, care, and thought into their response to each question without reservations.)

1. What are the “rules” associated with the Guy Code, according to Kimmel? To what extent do these rules reflect your own understanding of what it means to be a man? Discuss Kimmel’s assertion that “the Guy Code fits as comfortably as a straightjacket” (para. 30), and then address why it might be a factor to problems of violence and violent crimes in society?
2. Outline the psychology of the Guy Code: How do boys become men, according to Kimmel, and how does their development affect their emotional lives and relationships with others? Draw upon at least two advertisements (in a magazine, online, on a billboard, etc.) for any products featuring a male in the image and explain how it depicts the “Guy Code”. Include the image (paste it in your response) when addressing what hyper-masculine message it depicts and how it might harm a teenage boy?
3. Kimmel writes that “masculinity is coerced and policed relentlessly by other guys” (para. 30). Write a response detailing any encounters you’ve observed or experienced that involved such “gender police.” What happened, and how did you react at the time? (Note, you do not need to be a male to answer this question, so the females in class should also address this question along with the males in class on what type of gender policing they have witnessed that seems to happen to males.) Did the incident(s) have any lasting effect on your thinking or behavior? If so, how and why?
4. Kimmel argues that homophobia plays a central role in defining and reinforcing the Guy Code. What evidence do you see that young men are or are not pressured “to offer constant proof that [they] are not gay” (para. 24)? For one full day, keep track of every time you hear the word “gay” used as a pejorative term in conversation or in the media. In each case, is the speaker male or female? Who or what is he or she referring to? Is he or she joking or serious? Bring your notes to class to compare with others’ observations. Do your findings bear out Kimmel’s assertion that “Homophobia…is the animating fear of American guys’ masculinity” (para. 24)?
5. How does the image on page 463 reflect both the rewards and the costs of the Guy Code? How do you interpret the meaning and placement of the “Think again” message? Then, try to come up with a list of “rules” you associate with what it means to be a woman. Does a Girl Code exist, and if so, what does it consist of and how is it taught and reinforced?

Answer all the questions assigned for “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body” by Susan Bordo in complete sentences and number your typed response to each question. (Note: You will have a minimum of 350 words in total for your response to all of the questions below forBordo, but most students choose to exceed this word count and are even encouraged to do so. Hence, exceed means “go over” this amount since most students put a lot of pride, care, and thought into their response to each question without reservations.)

1. After you read each section, you will need to identify the 2-3 main points by summarizing the most significant ideas discussed in each of the following subsections: a.) Men on Display b.) Thanks, Calvin c.) Rocks and Leaners d.) “Honey, What Do I Want to Wear?” e.) Male Decorativeness in Cultural Perspective
2. Having carefully considered and summarized Bordo’s ideas, now you should identify what points you agree or disagree with and why. What trends have you personally noticed in advertisements for men, masculinity, and the male ideal that you can identify to support your claims for or against Bordo’s ideas?
3. Considering the trends or portrayals of men/masculinity in advertisements, answer the following: What does it mean to be a man according to these trends in advertisements? What do you think the expectations of men are today when you consider these advertisements and how we define masculinity or the male ideal?
4. What can you identify as the significant difference between the male ideal of men fifty years ago versus twenty-five years ago or only ten years ago? How has the portrayal of men and masculinity changed? Is it a negative message or a positive change? Why or why not? (Note: It might help you to do a Google search of images for male advertising from 50 years ago or 25 years ago vs. 10 years ago or even a more current ad. See some examples below.)
   

1. At one point, Bordo speaks directly to you and invites you into her project. She writes, “So the next time you see a Dockers or a Haggar ad, think of it not only as an advertisement for khakis but also as an advertisement for a certain notion of what it means to be a man.” You don’t have to be limited to Dockers, Haggar, or khaki, but keep your eye out for advertisements that come your way during the next week and clip these or copy/paste them with your response to the following: What does the current advertising seem to imply about the male ideal and masculinity? Do you find it to be an accurate or inaccurate way of defining masculinity or a male’s role today? Is it a negative or positive portrayal? Why or why not?

Discussions Questions on “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals” by Jib Fowles

Answer all the questions assigned for “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals” by Jib Fowles in complete sentences and number your typed response to each question. (Note: You will have a minimum of 350 words in total for your response to all of the questions below for Fowles, but most students choose to exceed this word count and are even encouraged to do so. Hence, exceed means “go over” this amount since most students put a lot of pride, care, and thought into their response to each question without reservations.)

1. What are advertising’s fifteen basic appeals? Sum up each one in your own words, and then, has Fowles neglected to consider other appeals that you believe to be equally important? If so, can you think of one or more advertisements that employ such appeals omitted by Fowles? (Include a picture of the ad in your response.)
2. In paragraph 4, Fowles cites a study indicating that only a fraction of the advertisements bombarding consumers every day are even noticed, much less acted upon. How do the results of this study square with your own experience? About how many of the commcerial messages that you view and hear every day do you actually pay attention to? What kinds of messages draw your attention? What elicits positive reactions for you? Negative reactions? What kinds of appeals are most successful in making you want to actually purchase the advertised product?
3. Why is advertising more common in highly industrialized countries like the U.S. than in countries with “quieter” economies as well as how are advertisers’ attempts to communicate their messages, and to break through customer resistance, keyed to their conception of human psychology, according to Jib Fowles?
4. What are the “two orders of content” of most advertisements as well as identify how should appeals to our need for sex and our need to aggress be handled carefully, according to Fowles. Also, Fowles asserts that “[c]ontrary to impressions, unambiguous sex is rare in [advertising] messages.” This article first appeared in 1982. Does Fowles’s statement still seem true today? Why or why not? To what extent do you believe that advertisers in recent years have increased their reliance on overt sexual appeals? Cite examples. Finally, how does the use of humor or the use of celebrities fit into Fowles’s scheme?
5. Conduct your own analysis of a set of contemporary advertisements. Select a single issue of a particular magazine, such as Time, New Yorker, or any other ones that you choose. Review all of the full-page ads, classifying each according to Fowles’s categories, and you should address a minimum of five ads for this activity (Of course, you can exceed this amount and evaluate more ads than just five). Note, an ad may make more than one appeal (as Fowles points out in paragraph 89), but generally one will be primary. What do your findings show? Which appeals are the most frequent? The least frequent? Which are most effective? Why? You may find it interesting to compare the appeals of advertising in different magazines aimed at different audiences—for example, a general interest magazine, such as Newsweek, compared with a more specialized magazine, such as New Republic, or People, or Glamour, or Guns and Ammo. To what extent do the types of appeals shift with the gender or interests of the target audience?

Discussions Questions on “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt” by Jean Kilbourne and “Just Between You, Me, and My 622 BFF’s” by Peggy Orenstein

Answer all the questions assigned for “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt” by Jean Kilbourne in complete sentences and number your typed response to each question.(Note: You will have a minimum of 350 words in total for your response to all of the questions below for Kilbourne, but most students choose to exceed this word count and are even encouraged to do so. Hence, exceed means “go over” this amount since most students put a lot of pride, care, and thought into their response to each question without reservations.)

1. What parallels does Kilbourne see between advertising and pornography? How persuasive do you find the evidence she offers? Do the photos of the ads she describes strengthen her argument? Why or why not?
2. Why is it dangerous to depict women and men as sex objects, according to Kilbourne? Why is the objectification of women more troubling, in her view? Do you agree or disagree? Why?
3. How does Kilbourne explain the appeal of ads that allude to bondage, sexual aggression, and rape – particularly for female consumers? How do you respond to the ads reproduced in her essay?
4. What does Kilbourne mean when she claims that the depiction of women in advertising constitutes “cultural abuse”? How does she go about drawing connections between advertising images and social problems like sexual violence, harassment, and addiction? Which portions of her analysis do you find most and least persuasive, and why?
5. Survey the ads in two contemporary magazines – one designed to appeal to a predominantly female audience (Address 2-3 ads) and one aimed at a largely male audience (Address 2-3 ads). What differences, if any, do you see in the kinds of images and appeals advertisers use in the two magazines? How often do you see the kinds of “pornographic” ads Kilbourne discusses? Do you find any ads depicting the “relational skills” that she suggests are rarely emphasized in popular culture? Referring back to Fowles’s essay on advertising’s appeals, identify what type of appeal each of your ads might be categorized by.

Answer all the questions assigned for “Just Between You, Me, and My 622 BFF’s” by Peggy Orenstein in complete sentences and number your typed response to each question. (Note: You will have a minimum of 350 words in total for your response to all of the questions below for Orenstein, but most students choose to exceed this word count and are even encouraged to do so. Hence, exceed means “go over” this amount since most students put a lot of pride, care, and thought into their response to each question without reservations.)

1. How does a person “become a brand” in the online world? What other changes in personality and values can be linked to social media, according to Orenstein? In your own experience, what do you notice about “selfies” and how someone uses their image/pose in the picture to brand and ‘sell’ themselves? Find an example online, and identify what Fowles’s advertising appeals seem to be used unwittingly by the person.
2. Megan Meier, Phoebe Prince, and Alexis Pilkington committed suicide following episodes of cyberbullying. Why are teenage girls particularly vulnerable to digital abuse, in Orenstein’s view? What sorts of cyberbullying have you witnessed or even experienced yourself?
3. Is “sexting” a matter of freedom of expression or sexual power? Why or why not?
4. One of the things that worries Orenstein most is the indelibility of online images—the fact that a potentially embarrassing picture you post to one friend can be forwarded to two of his friends, who then forward it to their friends, and so forth. How legitimate is her concern about “loss of control over your image”? (para. 20). Is there anything you can do to prevent this happening, other than forswearing social media entirely? Brainstorm strategies for maintaining privacy online.
5. How do electronic media “both forge greater intimacy and undermine it”? (para. 21). What seems to be Orenstein’s overall view of social media, particularly for teenagers? Do you agree with her assessment? List the pros and cons of e-media, and share it with your peers during class.