Thank you for a great class...

Hope you enjoyed the class as much as I did.

Your grades will be input sometime tomorrow (Wednesday). Keep an eye out for a last minute email from me in case I have a question about something.

Have a great summer. Please keep in touch.

Expository Essay Extra-Credit

Prompt:

Guyland is the world in which young men live. It is both a stage of life, a liminal undefined time span between adolescence and adulthood that can often stretch for a decade or more, and a place, or, rather, a bunch of places where guys gather to be guys with each other, unhassled by the demands of parents, girlfriends, jobs, kids, and the other nuisances of adult life. In this topsy-turvy, Peter-Pan mindset, young men shirk the responsibilities of manhood and remain fixated on the trappings of boyhood, while the boys they still are struggle heroically to prove that they are real men despite all the evidence to the contrary.

—Michael Kimmel,
Guyland: The Perilous World
Where Boys Become Men

Write a well-developed essay in which you 1) explain the meaning of the passage, referring to specific ideas and phrases; and 2) drawing on your own personal experiences, observations, and readings, discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the passage.

Due: Submit via email by Friday, May 21 at midnight

Week 17

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy.
No man does. That's his.

—Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

Week 17
M 5.17
IN-CLASS: Course review, Presentations (Sec. 67: Katie A., Eric A., Sharon S., David K., Ryan A.; Sec. 69: Anthony L., Dante N., Justin L., Kate E., Evan C.)
Note:

• Research paper due via email by midnight on Wednesday, May 19th
  
• Expository essay extra-credit due via email by midnight on Friday, May 21st

Wednesday, May 19th by Midnight

That is the NEW time your research paper is due. Be sure to email me by midnight.

Hope the extra time helps. Good luck!

For Your FInal Exam...

Below I've attached the sample prompts we discussed in class yesterday. I've also included the rubric from which your essay will be scored.

Sample prompt A
Sample prompt B
Final exam rubric

I've also included a sample essay. It's for the 1A exam, but obviously the goals are the same.

Sample 1A prompt
Sample 1A essay

Finally, see you in BBC 130 @ 10 AM this Saturday.

Week 16

Who would give a law to lovers? Love is unto itself a higher law.

Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy

Week 16

M 5.10
IN-CLASS: Final Exam Prep; Writers workshop; Presentations: Zack A., Andrew D., Yuna K.; Sec. 69: Colleen C.; Christina G.; Viviana R.)
DUE: Bring in three copies of the first eight pages of your research paper

W 5.12
IN-CLASS: Presentations (Sec. 67: Nathalie A., Jonathan C., Jefferson B.; Sec. 69: Ian T., Stephanie G., Rachel G., Jeffrey N.)

S 5.15
FINAL EXAM: Time and location TBA (Bring a yellow book)

UPCOMING:

Week 17
M 5.17
IN-CLASS: Course review, Presentations (Sec. 67: Katie A., Eric A., Sharon S., David K., Ryan A.; Sec. 69: Anthony L., Dante N., Justin L., Kate E., Evan C.)
DUE: Research Paper

Note: Expository essay extra-credit due via email by midnight on Friday the 21st

Assignment: Research Paper

After choosing one of the previously posted prompts (here and here), you will write a 10-page research paper on a gender-related issue.

Technical Requirements:

• Minimum of ten pages in length
• MLA style, including parenthetical citation (Note: Papers lacking citations will result in an automatic "F")
• Minimum of 6 outside sources (do not list Wikipedia as a source), listed in an attached MLA works cited page

Look for examples of MLA style, parenthetical citation, and works cited pages under "Writing Resources"

Analytical Requirements:

• Provide a clear thesis, making an arguable statement about your topic
• Include contextual information about your subject, as well as potential future outcomes
• End with a conclusion that illustrates your understanding of the complexities of your topic

Due: 12.15.09 (No late papers accepted)

Elisabeth Hasselback's Apology to Erin Andrews: Was it Enough?

By Jennifer Armstrong, Entertainment Weekly
May 5th, 2010

The View‘s Elisabeth Hasselbeck has apologized, publicly and privately, for snarking it up on yesterday’s episode with regards to Erin Andrews’ skimpy Dancing With the Stars costumes, which apparently Hasselbeck found, well, too slutty for a stalking victim. For those who aren’t familiar with the Andrews stalking saga, a quick rundown: The ESPN sportscaster-turned-Dancing contestant was filmed nude through a peephole in her hotel room, and the video was subsequently posted online. (The perpetrator was sentenced in March.)

But it turns out she hasn’t been acting victim-y enough. Sadly, Hasselbeck was just saying out loud what far too many still think: that a victim of any kind of sex-related crime ought to act demure forever after: “In the past three weeks she’s been wearing next to nothing,” Hasselbeck said. “In light of what happened and as a legal [matter] — and as inexcusable as it was for that horrific guy to go in and try to peep on her in her hotel room. I mean, in some way if I’m him, I’m like, ‘Man! I just could’ve waited 12 weeks and seen this — a little bit less — without the prison time!’”

Andrews subsequently told People the comments were “a slap in the face to victims of stalking and sexual predators. As a mother and a woman, I’m disappointed she went there.”

It seems like, perhaps, Hasselbeck was trying to make fun of the idiocy of the guy who did this, but, wow, she should leave the jokes to the comediennes who make up the rest of the View panel. (Note Joy Behar’s dig directed at Hasselbeck’s own strapless dress.) And God bless Gabourey Sidibe, who was trying to defend Andrews’ right to wear what she wants on Dancing, but missed the mark a tad by noting that she’s “getting paid” for this one, and not for the peephole video. How about just: She can wear whatever she wants because she can wear whatever she wants.

Nonetheless, Hasslebeck’s argument is really the problematic one here, apology or no. “To her credit, she wore gorgeous classic gowns at some point in the competition,” Hasselbeck noted. Yes, God forbid a woman — who happened to be the victim of a stalker — show both her “classic gown” side and her “wearing next to nothing” side. Not to mention: Have you seen how little everyone on this show wears? (Andrews’ male partner included, and, um, this.) I don’t want to make showing a little leg or midriff into the greatest of feminist acts, but I will say this: If a woman tones down and reins in any hint of her sexuality just because she was victimized, well, that means such crimes can be used to tame and control women. It’s about more than just Hasselbeck being thoughtless, though I’m happy her daughter talked her into saying she was sorry.

The apology’s a good start — but if one of the hosts of the show that makes women’s voices matter on television could even think these thoughts, we have a long way to go.

Ozomatli Sings About "Gay Vatos in Love"

Daniel Hernandez, The Los Angeles Times
May 2, 2010

The song is mellow and bluesy, with that distinct "Eastside oldies" vibe, like something you'd hear on an old Freddy Fender record. But the chorus of this track on the new Ozomatli album is sure to surprise any casual listener: "Gay vatos in love," the song goes. "Gay vatos in love."

With it, the iconic fusion band whose sound is seen as representative of multicultural Los Angeles is arguably taking one of its most politically daring steps this year. The track that celebrates same-sex relationships -- and also deals with gay violence and denial -- is included in the group's fifth studio record, "Fire Away," which was released April 20. (In his review, The Times' Reed Johnson gives the album three out of four stars.)

With its classic sound but sharply gay-friendly message, "Gay Vatos in Love" breaks into uncharted territory that borders on the music industry, politics, sexuality and Latino pop culture. "If the world can't understand," the song says. "Stand by your man." You can listen to an excerpt here. The full-length track is uploaded by a YouTube user here.

Raul Pacheco, one of the band's lead singers, tells La Plaza that there was "a lot of debate" within the band over how to approach the subject.

How would the fans react? The media? The LGBT community? And what about Latin American and Latino listeners? In those communities, "vato" is generally understood as a term referring to a tough male from a tough neighborhood. "I think the hardest thing was, how do we present this in a way that's not a joke? And not a hammer either. Pretty much saying what the song says: 'Do your thing,' " Pacheco said.

The band began putting together "Gay Vatos in Love" during the height of the Prop. 8 debate in California and while one of the band's members, Asdru, was working on writing music for a independent film project about a Mexican American gay gangster.

"We bring in everything we're working on," Pacheco said of the band's writing process. "Asdru just had a chorus, and the producer heard that and said, 'You guys have to do a song about it.'"

We met with Pacheco last weekend in Mexico City, outside the entrance gates to the big Vive Latino music festival. Ozomatli had just finished playing an early-afternoon set at the festival's main stage. Although the band didn't play "Gay Vatos in Love" during this particular show -- "Here we need rock, heavy songs, because that's what these kids want" -- Pacheco said the track had been receiving lots of buzz in the media.

They'd played "Gay Vatos in Love" live on several recent tour stops, and the reaction was sometimes mixed, Pacheco said. "It can be polarizing." So, he added, "we had to find a way to suck people in without giving it away."

The singer says he now prefaces the song by asking audiences: "Do you believe in love?" The response is almost always enthusiastically affirmative. "People are like, 'Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!' And we just start singing." Pacheco laughed.

Still, the song consistently challenges comfort levels among some listeners, the singer admitted. "I think people get confused, they don't know where we're coming from. Some people ask, especially in the Spanish press, 'Who's gay in the band?' So there's an assumption there."

(When reporters ask about the sexuality of the band's membership, Pacheco says he sometimes responds with a purposely blank, "I don't know.")

"For us it's a bigger issue," Pacheco went on. "We felt that [gay rights] is just another in a long line of underdogs, so I think we connected to it on that level. It was totally natural for us to take that stance."

But "Gay Vatos in Love" is not just a celebration ballad. The lyrics, as provided by Pacheco, address gays in the closet as well:

Javi and Kike with their girlfriends in the car/
Fronting on Crenshaw, knowing who they are

The track also mentions Angie Zapata, the 18-year-old transgender woman in Colorado who was killed in 2008 by a sexual partner who discovered she was male. Zapata's killer was convicted last year of murder and a bias-motivated hate crime.

That level of complexity in a studio album cut is what is surprising gay-rights advocates as the track spreads on the Internet. Francisco Dueñas, who organized around LGBT Latino issues with Lambda Legal in Los Angeles, said in an interview that he found it "amazing" that the song was just not celebratory but also "substantative" in dealing with gay issues.

"It's powerful, a very inspired move on their part," Dueñas said. "As people of color, as progressives, there are other causes that would be easier for them to take up. Immigration, obviously, housing rights, economic justice. But this song is about just another part of the community that they're from and that they're talking about."

Journal 6: Dating in the Age of Facebook / Interracial Relationships

Choose one of the following two options:


A) Dating in the Age of Facebook

Facebook, eHarmony, LinkedIn, and other social media sites, have revolutionized the ways in which people, particularly those under 30, approach dating. In this new world of high-tech dating, emoticons, relationships statuses, user profiles, friend requests, and tagged photos, have dramatically altered the rules of engagement. Today, people have far more available information about potential mates than at any time in the past. For example, consider how common the practice of Googling someone is these days. But new technology also means new rules. Just what are the spoken and unspoken rules of dating in the Facebook age? What are some of the potential pitfalls of dating through technology? And what must you contend with that perhaps older generations did not?

Include at least one of the following pieces in your discussion:

• "Facebooking for Love, Part 1—Jasmine's Tech Dos & Don'ts" (CNET)
• "5 Ways Facebook Changed Dating (For the Worse)" (Mashable.com)
• "New Dating Websites Find Niches" (Crain's New York Business)
• "Teen Serves Time for Facebook Threat" (NBC Chicago)

Articles are located in the eR.


B. Interracial Relationships

While President Obama is often lauded as our first black president, he might more accurately be identified as our first biracial president. His white mother and black father were together at a time when such relationships were discouraged by American society. But what was taboo then is increasingly more commonplace today. In fact, recent census date continues to illustrate surges in the number of interracial marriages and relationships. But while their numbers are on the rise, it would be disingenuous to imply that mixed-race relationships today do not face hardships. What issues arise from interracial relationships in 2010 America? What challenges do couples engaged in these relationships face? For example, do racial stereotypes and myths persist? On a personal level, what is your experience with interracial relationships?

Include at least one of the following pieces in your discussion:

• "Asian Pop: Opening the Box" (SFGate.com)
• "Black Men in Interracial Relationships" (The Washington Post)
• "White Male Seeking Sexy Asian Women" (Salon.com)
• "Singles Open to Interracial Relationships Because of President Obama: Poll" (KCAU)
  

Articles are located in the eR.

Due: Wednesday, May 5 (Email your journal to me by 7 PM)

Images of Gender: Vanity Fair

Church Counsels Women Addicted to Pornography

By John Leland, The New York Times
May 2, 2010

LENEXA, Kan. — It was the final session for the women at Westside Family Church’s Victory Over Porn Addiction group, and the youngest member, a 17-year-old named Kelsie, had not had a good week.

“I slipped two nights this week,” she said, to nods of support from the other women in the group.

“I decided that every time I’m tempted I’ll just let everything out to God,” she said, “then pray specifically for someone else, do selfless acts, to get away from being selfish.”

The group’s leader, Crystal Renaud, offered gentle counsel. “Pray for yourself, too,” she said.

To the wide array of programs offered by evangelical megachurches like Westside, the group adds what Ms. Renaud says is something long overdue. While churches have addressed pornography use among the men in their congregations and among the clergy, a group for women who say they are addicted to pornography is new territory, she said.

“In the Christian culture, women are supposed to be the nonsexual ones,” said Ms. Renaud, who also runs an Internet site called Dirty Girls Ministries, choosing the name to attract people searching for pornography. “It’s an injustice that the church is not more open about physical sexuality. God created sex. But the enemy has twisted it.”

Ms. Renaud, who is taking a DVD course in sexual addiction counseling from the American Association of Christian Counselors, said she started the group and the Web site based on her own experiences. She became interested in pornography at age 10 after finding a magazine in her brother’s bathroom. After that, she said, “I wasn’t able to get enough of it.”

“At school I wanted to go home and look at it more,” she said. “Then I went online. I’d stay late at the library to look at it. Eventually I got into masturbation, phone sex, cybersex.” She also cracked the code on the family’s satellite television service, she said. “That was my life for eight years.” Then, she said, she met a Christian woman who helped her stop.

The Victory Over Porn Addiction workshop, which Ms. Renaud started in 2008, is the smallest of small groups. Last week’s graduation ceremony, the end of a nine-week curriculum, had three members.

But Ms. Renaud is nothing if not entrepreneurial, tapping the networking possibilities of the Internet and Christian conferences — for women, for sex addicts, for church speakers and for parachurch groups. “So much of it these days is being able to be viral,” she said. “I use Facebook, Twitter, e-blasts to get traffic to the site. You get people to do your marketing for you.”

In May she plans to attend a three-day seminar in Las Vegas called Launch 501c3, for Christians who want to start nonprofit organizations. The founder of Launch 501c3 is Craig Gross, a youth pastor who in 2002 helped start a Web site called XXX Church, one of the first ministries for pornography users. For Ms. Renaud, XXX Church is a model for building her ministry.

After a cool reception in the early years, 200,000 to 250,000 unique visitors now view XXX Church’s site each month, and its free Internet monitoring software, X3, is downloaded 500 times a day. And Mr. Gross and others in the group have paid speaking engagements most weekends. A 30-day online workshop sells 100 copies a month, at $99 each, Mr. Gross said. About 20 percent of the buyers have been women, he said.

Michelle Truax, the event planner for Fireproof Ministries, which includes XXX Church, said that when churches asked for programs directed at men, she suggested that they also consider programs for women.

But Mr. Gross said: “The problem is, most churches have male leadership, and if you want to pitch an event like that, they’ll say, ‘Our women don’t struggle with that.’ This is going to be the next wave, but you’re going to get a lot of blank stares. ‘Really? Come on, this isn’t a big deal.’ ”

The programs at Ms. Renaud’s group and at XXX Church diverge from secular sexual theory by treating masturbation and arousal as sins rather than elements of healthy sexuality. Emphasis is on recovering “sexual purity,” in which thoughts of sex outside marriage are illicit.

Ms. Renaud uses weekly assignments from a sexual addiction workbook called “L.I.F.E. Guide for Women,” which emphasizes prayer, Christian fellowship and the use of “accountability partners” to hold the users to high standards of abstinence.

Chanel Yeary, 19, said that she had considered a secular therapist but that it was too expensive. Besides, she said, therapy when she was younger had little benefit. “With a shrink you have to pay her to be there,” she said. “Here, with my accountability partner, I know she’ll be there for me.”

Michele L. H., 27, who spoke on the condition that her last name not be used out of respect for her husband and son, said Ms. Renaud’s group had helped her stay in her marriage. When she was young, she said, relatives sexually abused her and made her look at pornography as instruction in how to behave. As an adult she needed pornography to be aroused with her husband, she said.

“I’m learning the correct way of intimacy and bonds,” she said of the group. “It’s learning what your spouse wants, his needs.” In her first weeks, she recalled, she struggled to avoid masturbation.

“She’ll text me with loophole questions,” Ms. Renaud said. “I’ll say, ‘No, it doesn’t work that way.’ ”

“But I need to release myself,” Michele said.

“I’ll say, ‘O.K., pray about it,’ ” Ms. Renaud said. She added, “Distraction is a big part of recovery.”

Kelsie, the 17-year-old, also agreed to speak on the condition that her full name not be used. She said that she had been taught secular views about masturbation, but that Ms. Renaud’s way made more sense.

She added: “You have to take into consideration what’s best for the one you’re going to be with. Say someday I’m married and my husband can’t please me as much as I please myself. That’d be terrible.”

For the graduation ceremony, Ms. Renaud passed out balloons and asked the group to write down the things they were giving up. Out came the bad stuff: Porn, Masturbation, Lustful Thinking, Cutting, Feeling Useless, Dad’s Bad Choices, Self-Gratification, Self-Mutilation, Unhealthy Thoughts.

They finished by popping the balloons and hugging. Ms. Renaud allowed that the culture’s forces were against them.

“This group should be much larger, but they’re afraid to come forward,” she said. Even after seven years without pornography, she told the group, looking at it too long it might attract her. Recently, she said, she watched “Titanic,” including the nude scene, without a relapse.

Kelsie seemed to draw inspiration from Ms. Renaud’s story. “It’s a cool thing to be able to say, ‘I’ve overcome sexual addiction,’ ” she said. Then she added, “I want to get there.”

Week 15

She might've considered kissing him, even after the horrible first
date, but he just didn't seem to know what to do. However, Jeremy
does have one outstanding quality. He likes her. And this quality in
a person makes them infinitely interesting to the person being liked.

—Steve Martin, Shopgirl

Week 15

M 5.3

IN-CLASS: Presentations (Sec. 67: Anand R., Justin N. Maninder B., Ricardo D.; Sec: 69: Melissa A., Kourtney B., Linda C., Emily F.)
DUE: Editorial essay

W 5.5
NO CLASS—Furlough Day (This class only)
DUE: Journal 6 (Must be emailed by 7 PM for credit)

UPCOMING:

Week 16

M 5.10
IN-CLASS: Final Exam Prep; Writers workshop; Presentations: Zack A., Andrew D., Yuna K.; Sec. 69: Colleen C.; Christina G.; Viviana R.)
DUE: Bring in three copies of the first eight pages of your research paper

W 5.12
IN-CLASS: Presentations (Sec. 67: Nathalie A., Jonathan C., Jefferson B.; Sec. 69: Ian T., Stephanie G., Rachel G., Jeffrey N.)
DUE: Expository essay extra-credit

S 5.15
FINAL EXAM: Time and location TBA (Bring a yellow book)

Week 17
M 5.17
IN-CLASS: Course review, Presentations (Sec. 67: Katie A., Eric A., Sharon S., David K., Ryan A.; Sec. 69: Anthony L., Dante N., Justin L., Kate E., Evan C.)
DUE: Research Paper

Oil Spill In Gulf: Women Lead The Clean Up

By Jenna Goudreau, Forbes
April 30, 2010

The devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has created a massive 100-mile-long slick that today reached the coast of Louisiana. It could be one of the worst disasters in U.S. history, and the leadership in charge of cleaning up BP’s mess is largely female.

Turn to any number of important instances--think about the "No one saw this coming" markets' collapse--and it seems that women are jumping in to mop up the mess. This catastrophe is no exception.

Meanwhile, mega-fuel company BP, responsible for the underwater oil leak, has a team of all-male top executive officers who now have to pay for the clean-up (hundreds of of millions of dollars), face their investors with stock losses of more than 8% (valued at $25 billion), as of Thursday, and somehow respond to the expected $1 billion in claims and costs to the insurance industry. That, and answer for the tragic man-made disaster to the citizens of the Gulf and the world.

President Obama announced that he will use every resource available to control the oil spill, and he has dispatched women leaders like U.S. Homeland Security’s Janet Napolitano; Carol Browner, the assistant to the president for Energy and Climate Change; Dr. Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lisa Jackson, who has organized aircraft in the area to gather information on air quality.

The spill is one of the largest ecological disasters to date and threatens the many families dependent on the fishing industry in the Gulf. It’s been reported that 5,000 barrels of oil are pouring into the water everyday, and nearly 6,000 National Guard troops have been deployed to reign in the damage. It will take skilled leadership to control the devastation, and the many women in charge seem up to the challenge.

Assignment: Editorial Essay

We have recently examined female representations in popular advertising, pornography, and hip-hop. And as we've seen, there are a variety of perspectives on what are acceptable and unacceptable ways in which to portray women. Your task is to write an editorial in which you explore the issue of female representation in one of these fields. The specific subject matter (e.g. a controversial ad or video) is up to you so long as it is A) a current issue or B) pertains to female imagery in either advertising, pornography, or hip-hop.

About editorials:

Editorials are opinion-based writings. They should, however, still be fact-based. The goal is not to fill two and a half pages with just your opinion, rather, it is to state an opinion and support it with evidence. Editorials are much like persuasive essays in that the goal is to convince your readers of your point of view. However, editorials give you more leeway to personalize your appeal. In other words, editorials can rely more on emotion (e.g. outrage, humor) to convince readers. This also means it is acceptable to write in the first person. Here, using "I" is an acceptable and effective technique in relaying your thoughts on a topic. Another key difference with persuasive essays is the tone of editorials, which are less rigid, and might even be sarcastic or condemning (keep in mind, however, that a little of these go along way). In persuasive essays, a formal academic tone is ideal. In editorials, the tone is a stylistic choice; you choose the tone that best conveys your point of view. In this way, your voice is perhaps more prominent than in other styles of writing. But whatever approach you take, your editorial must be anchored in facts.

Here are some sample editorials about several current issues:

• "Pedophilia Scandal Deserves Full Vatican Disclosure" from The Dallas Morning News
• "Porn Corrupts America" from The Washington Times
• "Ending ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell'" from The New York Times
• "Archie, Veronica, Betty, Jughead and Kevin, the Gay Guy" from The Seattle Times
• "Sexual Assaults Deserve a Locker-Room Rebuke" from Bloomberg Business Week

Requirements:

• MLA format, including parenthetical citation
• 2.5-page minimum

The best papers:

• Focus on a specific issue from either advertising, pornography, or hip-hop
• Have a concise thesis which clearly outlines a position
  
• Clearly support their thesis with solid evidence
  
• Have a clear and compelling voice
  
• Properly cite evidence using MLA's parenthetical citation method
  
• Are in compliance with MLA Style

Due: Monday, May 3rd

In the Tech World, Porn Quietly Leads the Way

By Doug Gross, CNN
April 23, 2010

(CNN) -- It was just days after the release of the iPad -- Apple's slate computer heralded as a tool for gaming, book and magazine reading and Web consumption -- when the announcement arrived.

One of the world's biggest porn companies claimed it had created a way to stream its videos onto the device, skipping the Apple store and its restrictions on salacious content.

The announcement illustrates a widely acknowledged but seldom-spoken truth of the technology world: Whenever there's a new content platform, the adult-entertainment industry is one of the first to adopt it -- if they didn't help create it in the first place.

"It's not necessarily that the porn industry comes up with the ideas, but there's a huge difference in any technology between the idea and the successful application," said Jonathan Coopersmith, a professor at Texas A&M University who teaches the history of technology.

"They're kind of the shock troops, and one of the nice things for them is that they can claim, 'Hey, I'm advancing technology.' "

While the shadowy nature of the adult-entertainment industry makes exact figures hard to nail down, it's generally acknowledged that porn was the first product to make money on the Internet and still rakes in upward of $1 billion annually online.

[Although porn, like many industries, has felt the pinch of the last couple year's recession, leading Hustler's Larry Flynt and others to jokingly ask for a federal bailout].

From the printing press to instant cameras, from pay-per-view to VCRs, pornographers -- both professional and private -- have been among the quickest to jump on board with newly developed gadgets.

The first public screening of a movie was in 1895. Less than two years later, Coopersmith notes, the first "adult" film was released.

"The classic example is the VCR," said Oliver Marc Hartwich, an economist and senior fellow with Centre for Independent Studies, a conservative Australian think tank. "When it was introduced, Hollywood was nervous because the big studios feared piracy. They were even considering suing the VCR producers.

"Not so the adult industry. They saw it as a big new market and seized the opportunity."

On the internet, streaming video, credit-card verification sites, Web referral rings and video technology like Flash all can be traced back to innovations designed to share, and sell, adult content.

iReport: Porn and the economy

Experts attribute much of the success of AOL, the social networking forbearer of sites like Facebook and Twitter, to its private chat rooms -- and anyone who remembers scanning the user-created chats remembers the adults-only nature of many of them.

Websites that require memberships, encryption coding, speedier file-sharing technology -- all can trace their roots back to the adult industry.

These days, in addition to the race for the iPad screen, at least a couple of porn flicks are in production using burgeoning 3-D technology. While Hollywood has scored with a few blockbusters, 3-D tech for the television is still in its infancy -- and porn, as always, is right there to capitalize.

"Just imagine that you'll be watching it as if you were sitting beside the bed," Hong Kong-based producer Stephen Shiu Jr. said of his movie, "3D Zen and Sex," which is set to begin filming this month with a budget of nearly $4 million. "There will be many close-ups. It will look as if the actresses are only a few centimeters from the audience."

For adult-entertainment companies, staying on the cutting edge of technology can be necessary to survive.

Ilan Bunimovitz is the CEO of Private Media Group, the company that announced the iPad porn offering, which uses cloud computing to store a customer's videos.

In effect, he's saying it's like an iTunes for porn -- an online service that lets users buy and access a personal collection of adult videos via their iPads. Of course, the slate computer's browser can already be used to surf the internet for adult content.

He said his company, with its 25-member technology department, began working on ways to take advantage of theiPad the day it was announced in January. By the time Apple released the device in early April, the system was ready, he said.

"Every step of the way, when there's a new technology, we explore it," said Bunimovitz. "In the adult business, many times the traditional venues are not available to us, so we have to be innovative to get our content to the consumer.

"With adult content, you need to create your own solutions."

Porn companies can capitalize on the latest technological advances because of their deep pockets and the relative certainty that their investments will be returned by customers willing to pony up for their product, experts say.

"People are willing to pay a premium for pornography," said Coopersmith, the Texas A&M professor. "You see this with movies, with VCRs -- which is when it first really became noticeable. DVDs, computer games, cable TV -- if you look at the price of those [adult] products, they're higher profit margins for the vendors."

That fact creates a conundrum for product developers. Often, any new product's pornographic potential remains a dirty little secret -- privately discussed by the manufacturer but left unspoken in public.

One of Coopersmith's favorite examples is the early days of instant cameras. Manufacturers were fully aware how many customers would use a camera that didn't require you to go to the local pharmacist to have your film developed, he said.

One of the earliest was Polaroid's provocatively named camera, "The Swinger" -- ostensibly so-called because of a strap that let it dangle from the user's wrist.

In a television ad, a young man uses it to photograph a bevy of gyrating, bikini-clad models before eventually picking one to walk off into the sunset -- with only the camera between them.

"One of the silent slogans of the porn-tech world is 'Don't ask. Don't tell. Do sell," Coopersmith said. "You don't want to be public, but you've got your own private corporate plans."

"As for the future, Bunimovitz says he doesn't expect his industry to back away from the cutting edge of technology. He's currently intrigued with the potential of artificial intelligence, which he said one day might simulate a live porn star who could "interact" with the user.

"There's always something new," he said. "At any point in time, we'll be working on new initiatives. Some of them will flop and some of them will be big -- but there's always something in the works."

Nike’s Women Problem

By Timothy Egan, The New York Times
April 21, 2010

Is there anything creepier than a big, beer-breathed celebrity athlete exposing himself in a night club and hitting on underage girls, all the while protected by an entourage of off-duty cops? Well, yes. It’s the big, corporate sponsor — Nike, in this case — that continues trying to sell product with the creep as their role model.

You have to go a long way to find anything as disgusting as a night on the town with Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, as described in a 572-page Georgia police report of a sexual assault accusation against him last month.

After hours of drinking and carousing, the six-foot-five-inch football player followed an intoxicated 20-year-old student into a club’s bathroom and forced her to have sex, the woman told police. When her friend appealed for help, she was ignored by the bodyguards, the report indicated.

Prosecutors said they would not file charges against the quarterback — in part because of sloppy police work by officers who fawned over the athlete — but they castigated his behavior. This was the second time in less than a year that Roethlisberger has been accused of sexual assault. Last year, a woman claimed in a civil suit that Roethlisberger raped her in a hotel room in Lake Tahoe, an allegation he denies. The Georgia report also mentioned a third woman who said a drunken Roethlisberger accosted her repeatedly on two occasions.

If this guy didn’t have a pair of Super Bowl Rings and a $102 million contract to entertain us on Sundays, most people would see him for what he is: a thug with a predatory sense of entitlement.

On Wednesday, the NFL suspended him for six games and ordered him to “comprehensive behavioral counseling.” The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which has a done an admirable job of bringing the tawdry details to a troubled Steeler Nation, has editorialized about the “sting of betrayal” that fans feel, so much so that he may even be traded imminently. Even a local sponsor, the maker of Big Ben’s Beef Jerky, has dropped him, citing his recent behavior.

But Nike, the shoe-maker to the world, the biggest brand in the endorsement game, is standing by Roethlisberger — at least for the moment — just as they continue to back Tiger Woods after his serial infidelities.

For Nike, Roethlisberger has been used in commercials to sell the aptly named “Marauder” cleats. The company did not return my phone calls for comment, but in an e-mail earlier they said, “Ben continues to be part of the Nike roster of athletes.”

Really? Ben Roethlisberger, a man most parents would not let near their daughter, let alone their community center, is a fit representative for one of the premier American corporations.

What, exactly does it take for Nike to dump a jock? Dog-fighting will do it. After Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick pleaded guilty to running a felony dog-fighting ring, Nike took action. “We consider any cruelty to animals inhumane and unacceptable,” the company said at the time.

But cruelty to women is O.K. I don’t know how else to read the company’s inconsistent stand. Here is a guy who treats women like garbage, yet a company that boasts of having humane corporate values uses him as their front man. Ditto Tiger Woods. Same with Kobe Bryant after a rape allegation, a case that was later dropped.

I’m sure Roethlisberger can live without his beef jerky contract or the praise of the hometown newspaper. But if you took away his swoosh, that would sting. Throughout the sporting world, and in many schools, the real pariah is the lone athlete not carrying Nike’s water.

Besides, what’s the point of having someone like Roethlisberger wearing a company logo in public? Do people really decide to buy shoes because a brute who spends his nights drunkenly pawing at women, and worse, lent his name to them?

Our culture puts a premium on athletic performance, and very little on off-field character. So it is. And “corporate ethics,” of course, is one of those oxymorons that should be explained to fresh-faced business students. Kids: in American capitalism, we reward Wall Street failure and Back Street sexual assault.

Perhaps a certain creepy cred does help move product. Sales of Nike’s golf line have remained consistent in the months since Tiger Woods was found to be a nightmare husband.

But I’ve come to expect more of Nike with regard to women. I’ve met women runners and soccer players who are at the top of their game, world-class athletes, who have been ignored by all but Nike. At the company headquarters in Oregon, Nike helps obscure female athletes train and find a community of equally motivated women.

That’s one message from Nike. The other is: It’s O.K. for a buffoon of a man to disrespect women, so long as he continues to throw a football well.

Week 14

I love him so much it just turns to hate.

—Courtney Love, "Doll Parts"

Week 14

M 4.26
READ: CL—“Sexy Rap Videos Suspected to be Damaging to Young Girls” from Reuters, “What Hip-Hop Has Done to Black Women” by Johnnetta B. Cole, “Hip-hop's Socially Conscious Side” by Jeff Chang and Dave Zirin; eR—“Sexism, Hip- Hop and Misogyny” from Talk of the Nation

W 4.28
IN-CLASS: Writers workshop, Presentations (Sec. 67: Allan T.,Cristina J. Trixie B.;Sec. 69: Peter B., Kathleene E.)
DUE: Bring in four copies of the first five pages of your research paper

UPCOMING:

Week 15

M 5.3

IN-CLASS: Presentations (Sec. 67: Anand R., Justin N. Maninder B., Ricardo D.; Sec: 69: Melissa A., Kourtney B., Linda C., Emily F.)
DUE: Editorial essay

W 5.5
NO CLASS—Furlough Day (This class only)
DUE: Journal 6 (Must be emailed by 7 PM for credit)

Week 16

M 5.10
IN-CLASS: Final Exam Prep; Writers workshop; Presentations: Zack A., Andrew D., Yuna K.; Sec. 69: Colleen C.; Christina G.; Viviana R.)
DUE: Bring in three copies of the first eight pages of your research paper

W 5.12
IN-CLASS: Presentations (Sec. 67: Nathalie A., Jonathan C., Jefferson B.; Sec. 69: Ian T., Stephanie G., Rachel G., Jeffrey N.)
DUE: Expository essay extra-credit

S 5.15
FINAL EXAM: Time and location TBA (Bring a yellow book)

Week 17
M 5.17
IN-CLASS: Course review, Presentations (Sec. 67: Katie A., Eric A., Sharon S., David K., Ryan A.; Sec. 69: Anthony L., Dante N., Justin L., Kate E., Evan C.)
DUE: Research Paper

Lingerie Ads Nixed Due to Plus-Sized Model?

Lane Bryant, citing Victoria's Secret ads that have aired, charges double-standard by nets that claim its spots too racy.

April 24, 2010

(CBS) A plus-sized controversy is flaring over the initial refusal by ABC and Fox to run an ad for lingerie from Lane Bryant, the maker of clothes for plus-sized women.

The ad features plus-sized model Ashley Graham.

At first, ABC wouldn't air it on "Dancing with the Stars," and Fox refused to show it on "American Idol."

Now, both are apparently going to broadcast it -- but only during the later portions of the shows, outside the time considered too early to run racy material.

Charges, counter-charges and denials have been flying in all directions, with Lane Bryant claiming that a double standard is being applied, since commercials for Victoria's Secret (featuring thinner models in similarly skimpy attire) do run in earlier time slots.

On "The Early Show on Saturday Morning," Graham said it all smacks of discrimination against plus-sized women.

"It's actually sad" that the Lane Bryant ads will run, but not until the so-called Family Hour is over, she told co-anchor Chris Wragge. "I know there's plenty of women my size watching 'American Idol,' watching 'Dancing with the Stars' who would love to see what they look like on the television screen. And I feel bad for the plus-women out there who can't see that, and that has to be, like, part of a discrimination."

Graham observed that, "Victoria's Secret commercials are airing all throughout the day, but when it comes to a Lane Bryant commercial, we have a little bit of extra, you know, overflowing, and then everybody freaks out."

Does she think it was because "there's too much of you?" Wragge asked.

"I think so," Graham replied.

Wragge wondered if the content of the ad, in which Ashley is seen scheduling a rendezvous with "Dan," might have been inappropriate: "You're texting your boyfriend in your underwear. Do you think maybe there was a more underlying message that they wanted to stay away from?"

"I don't think so," Graham responded, "considering that the Victoria's Secret models flaunt around and dance around wearing basically nothing, and then for me just to be getting ready to go see my boyfriend in my lingerie, I don't see much difference between the two stories."

Graham said it never entered her mind her ad would cause such a dustup.

"Oh, my goodness!," she exclaimed. "I was so honored to be part of the commercial, to represent women of my size, that we can be confident and sexy in our lingerie, and to have it on television."

The flap over the ad is "actually hilarious to me, considering all the press that plus girls have been getting lately. We've been naked in all different kinds of magazines. I'm naked in Oprah magazine this month. And this is a much bigger story than that?. It's very shocking to me."

Could it be Lane Bryant knew what would transpire and did the ad for the attention?

"It's great for Lane Bryant," Graham says. "I don't think they were using me, per se, to make it a publicity stunt, but I think that this is great for them. But I don't think there was a publicity stunt."

So no ulterior motive on Lane Bryant's part?

"I have no idea," Graham answered. "I haven't actually asked that."

---

ABC released this statement about Lane Bryant:

"Their statements are not true. The ad was accepted to run in "Dancing With the Stars." Lane Bryant was treated absolutely no differently than any advertiser for the same product. We were willing to accommodate them, but they chose to seek publicity instead."

Fox Entertainment released this statement

"Lane Bryant submitted the lingerie ad for the 8 PM hour of "American Idol." Because the 8 p.m. hour is considered "family hour," we requested they make some edits. Lane Bryant refused and they didn't want to change the ad. We did agree to run the ad on the 9PM hour. Fox has scheduled to run the ad this Wednesday, April 28th during the 9 p.m. hour."

Lane Bryant released this news release:

Lane Bryant released a memorandum from ABC, Inc. rejecting its Cacique ad from a number of programs including Dancing With The Stars.

The memo dated April 9, 2010 said, "UPON APPROVAL, THIS COMMERCIAL IS RESTRICTED FROM THE FOLLOWING PROGRAMMING/TIME PERIODS (ET): Post 9 PM: Extreme Makeover, Home Edition and Wipeout, Animated Wonderful World of Disney, Wonderful World of Disney, Dancing With the Stars, America's Funniest Videos, Game Shows."

"ABC's statement that 'Lane Bryant was treated absolutely no differently than any advertiser for the same product' is simply not true. It was only after we got the rejection and raised the fact that they were operating under a double standard that they reluctantly agreed to put us in the last pod of the program. The Victoria Secret ads, which had aired on Dancing With The Stars prior to the date our ad was rejected were not subject to the same restrictions. We have records of their ads airing in earlier time slots," a Lane Bryant spokesman said.

"There was absolutely no rationale for us to be relegated to the back of the bus, when our ads were no more risqué than those of Victoria Secret. The only difference is the size of our models. We would have expected better from a company owned by Disney," the spokesman for Lane Bryant added.

Bisexual Men Claim Bias for Disqualification at Gay Softball World Series

By Doug Stanglin, USA Today

Apr 21, 2010

Three bisexual men have sued a national gay-athletic organization for discrimination for disqualifying their team at the 2008 Gay Softball World Series team by deeming the three not gay enough to participate, The Seattle Times reports.

The lawsuit filed in Seattle Tuesday by the three Bay Area men accuses the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance of violating Washington state law barring discrimination.

An attorney for the alliance denies the allegations, the paper says.

The three plaintiffs played on a team called D2 that qualified for the 2008 competition, which stipulates that each team can have no more than two heterosexual players.

After a competing team complained, the lawsuit says, the alliance ruled the three bisexual men were "nongay" and stripped D2 of it second-place finish, The Times says.

The Seattle Weekly reports that the dispute erupted in the middle of the championship game and that play was stopped several times because of the protests.

After the game, the plaintiffs charge, they were grilled in front of some 25 people as to their sexual attractions and desires, purportedly to determine their gayness.

At one point, the lawsuit alleges, one of the plaintiffs was told: "This is the Gay World Series, not the Bisexual World Series."

The men are seeking $75,000 for emotional distress and also want D2's second-place finish reinstated, The Times says.

Clarification and correction at 4:01 p.m. ET: A reader wrote in the say that the headline and story in the original posting was inaccurate because the three were not kicked off the team. That's a fair point. Here's what happened, according to the complaint by the Plaintiffs. At the time of the incident, the legaue's Protest Committee recommended that the plaintiffs be suspended for a minimum of one year from participation in world series and NAGAAA Open Divisions events. Then, in January, the NAGAAA decided to withdraw the suspension. The phrase "kicked off" was perhaps too sharp a description, especially since that the committee's statement was a recommendation -- and even that was not carried out by the national organization. I have adjusted the story and headline accordingly.

One other point: Some comments have pointed to the reference to the 25 people who observed the grilling of the three men and inferred that that was the size of the crowd watching the game. That is wrong. The incident took place after the game was over and was carried out in a conference room. It is not totally clear who the 25 people were, but it did include, among other, members of the Protest Committee and, presumably, other members of the team. In any case, I find no record as to how many people were in stands to watch the game itself.

Those Who Have Been There Praise Obama's Mandate on Gay Visitation Rights

By Darryl Fears and Lena H. Sun, The Washington Post
Saturday, April 17, 2010

Kate Fleming was dying.

But her partner, Charlene Strong, couldn't get to her. A social worker at a Seattle hospital barred Strong from the room because she wasn't a blood relative, she said.

Strong said it took 20 minutes to locate a relative on the phone. "A minute felt like a hundred hours," she recalled. Hours after she entered, Fleming was removed from life support.

"I was horrified. I thought it was so wrong," Fleming's mother, Audrey, said Friday from her home in Alexandria. Her daughter died in December 2006 after nearly drowning.

Strong and Fleming praised President Obama's mandate to give hospital visitation rights to domestic partners. Strong and Kate Fleming were nearly inseparable for 10 years. They exchanged vows in a commitment ceremony at Audrey Fleming's house in Alexandria in July 1998. They were in their Seattle home when a flash flood trapped Kate Fleming in the basement.

Susan Gregg-Hanson, a spokeswoman for Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, said Fleming and Strong were mistaken. The hospital's policy was to treat everyone the same and allow loved ones to visit patients in trauma. Strong could enter the room, she said, but she did not have a family member's power to make life-and-death decisions for Fleming.

But Strong said she was barred from doing anything. She produced an award-winning documentary, "For My Wife," advocating domestic partnership rights in hospital visitation. When she learned of Obama's decision Thursday night, "I could not stop crying," she said.

In Baltimore, Lisa Polyak also applauded Obama's decision. Eleven years ago, Polyak said, her partner, Gita Deane, was delivering their baby at Union Memorial Hospital. But Polyak said the anesthesiologist told her to leave and that if she did not, Deane would not get anesthesia for pain relief.

Even though Polyak had medical power of attorney, she felt she could not argue with the doctor. "Having the right document doesn't mean anything in a crisis."

A hospital spokeswoman confirmed the birth but said she was unable to reach anyone who recalled the incident. "That said, I cannot underscore more emphatically, how the incident as described, counters the genuinely caring culture of Union Memorial Hospital," Debra Schindler said in a statement. "I can assure you it was not, and is not, an acceptable practice."

Week 13

Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same...

—Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

Week 13
M 4.19
READ: CR—“Hooked” by Clea Simon, “The Incredible Shrinking Model” by Emily Nussbaum, “In Defense of the Skinny Girl” by Mihal Freinquel; eR—“Should Fashion Reflect Fantasy or Reality?” from Talk of the Nation
IN-CLASS: Watch—Killing Us Softly 3 (1999)
DUE: Process essay

W 4.21
READ: CR—“Girls Gone Bad” by Kathleen Deveny and Raina Kelley, “How Internet Porn is Changing Teen Sex” by Eric Spitznagel, “Porn: Enjoy It, or Don't...” by Sonia Vasile, “The Porn Myth” by Naomi Wolf
IN-CLASS: Reading discussion; Presentations (Sec. 67: Yamah A.; Sec. 69: Medi G.)

UPCOMING:

Week 14

M 4.26
READ: CL—“Sexy Rap Videos Suspected to be Damaging to Young Girls” from Reuters, “What Hip-Hop Has Done to Black Women” by Johnnetta B. Cole, “Hip-hop's Socially Conscious Side” by Jeff Chang and Dave Zirin; eR—“Sexism, Hip- Hop and Misogyny” from Talk of the Nation

W 4.28
IN-CLASS: Writers workshop, Presentations (Sec. 67: Allan T.,Cristina J.; Sec. 69: Peter B., Kathleene E.)
DUE: Bring in four copies of the first five pages of your research paper

Images of Gender: Lady Gaga

Assignment: PowerPoint Presentation Schedule: UPDATED

Here is the updated PowerPoint Presentation schedule. Please check your assigned date.

W 4.21

Sec. 67

1. Yamah A.

Sec. 69

1. Medi G.

W 4.28

Sec. 67

1. Allan T.
2. Cristina J.
3. Trixie B.
   

Sec. 69

1. Peter B.
2. Kathleene E.

M 5.3

Sec. 67

1. Anand R.
2. Justin N.
3. Maninder B.
4. Ricardo D.

Sec. 69

1. Melissa A.
2. Kourtney B.
3. Linda C.
4. Emily F.

M 5.10

Sec. 67

1. Zack A.
2. Andrew D.
3. Yuna K.

Sec. 69

1. Colleen C.
2. Christina G.
3. Viviana R.
   

W 5.12
Sec. 67

1. Nathalie A.
2. Jonathan C.
3. Jefferson B.

Sec. 69

1. Ian T.
2. Stephanie G.
3. Rachel G.
4. Jeffrey N.

M 5.17
Sec. 67

1. Katie A.
2. Eric A.
3. Sharon S.
4. David K.
5. Ryan A.

Sec. 69

1. Anthony L.
2. Dante N.
3. Justin L.
4. Kate E.
5. Evan C.
   

The New Wonder Women of Comics

Once only a boys’ club, the world of comic books has drastically changed, as female artists, writers, and editors have risen to prominence. Will readers follow?

By Shannon Donnelly, The Daily Beast
April 7, 2010

When Marvel set out in 2007 to create a collectible statue of Mary Jane, Spider-Man’s girlfriend, they ended up causing a controversy instead. Comic book fans, not known for their restraint in voicing their opinions, railed against the depiction of Mary Jane as a barefooted, generously proportioned nymphet washing her boyfriend’s clothes. The statue seemed like yet another way of saying comic books were strictly a boys’ club.

Three years later, well, we’ve come a long way, baby—mostly. Marvel and DC, the two giants of comic publishing, are embracing female readers. Marvel comics recently launched a new, three-part short anthology series called Girl Comics to celebrate women working in all facets of the industry. Each of the three issues is entirely written, drawn, lettered, and edited by women. “I wanted to show that there are women in every aspect of making comics,” says Jeanine Schaefer, the series’ editor.

DC Comics, meanwhile, lured superstar writer Gail Simone back to helm Birds of Prey, the all-female superhero title that launched Simone to prominence in 2003. Even the smaller presses, such as Dark Horse, an independent publisher, and Yen Press, an imprint of Hachette, are scoring big with adaptations like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight that draw sizeable female fanbases across platforms.

Not that women necessarily need help getting into comics, thanks to the rise of manga—the Japanese-style comics that have traditionally had a female fanbase—and the overall mainstreaming of comic books. “The Internet has made it hugely more acceptable for women to read comics, and many of our best commentators are female,” says Simone. “The numbers of female attendees at conventions has absolutely skyrocketed, and I meet more women aspiring to make comics themselves every year.”

It’s impressive coming from an industry that has had to overcome the boys’ club reputation that has plagued it almost since its inception. If you don’t know what that reputation is, you probably haven’t read “Women in Refrigerators”, the 1999 essay by Simone. In it, she and other comic fans list all of the female characters “who have been either depowered, raped, or cut up and stuck in the refrigerator,” Simone wrote at the time, taking her title from the grisly fate of Alexandra DeWitt, girlfriend of the Green Lantern who was iced—both figuratively and literally—to teach the superhero a lesson.

“For many decades, comics (and film, and television) did a relatively poor job of representing female characters (and gays, and minorities) at all,” Simone wrote in an email interview. “So the pool of established, well-liked characters of those types was small to begin with, and having the majority of them be depowered, raped, and mutilated with metronomic frequency was, I think, very alienating.”

“The superhero genre is basically adolescent male power fantasies,” says Karen Berger, executive editor of DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint. This has unfortunately translated into some troubling storylines for women in superhero titles. A few examples include the Black Cat, whose erratic behavior was explained away by a sexual assault in her past, and Jessica Jones, star of Marvel’s Alias title who gave up costumed crime fighting in lieu of private investigating after, you guessed it, a sexual assault. And, of course, Alexandra DeWitt, the woman in the refrigerator. G. Willow Wilson, writer of DC’s Air and Vixen: Return of the Lion, says that using violence against women as a quick way of establishing a character is a depressing industry practice. “I think it’s a way to get cheap thrills and attract the lowest common denominator. I don’t think putting yourself in such an adversarial position towards half the planet is a good way to get new readers.”

Wilson, who revived the Justice League character of Vixen for a five-issue mini-series in October 2008, said that writing a female superhero came with its own set of baggage. “Because she’s been written primarily by men, primarily for men, and so to shape her into a character more women would empathize with, you’ve gotta wrestle with a lot of her history in previous stories that have been written by men.”

And even when female characters weren’t being slaughtered or assaulted, they still had a tendency to be even more two-dimensional than the boys sharing their panels. “There was a time when there were two kinds of women in these books: simpering airheads or ‘men with tits,’ basically male characters but in spandex stripper outfits, and sans penis,” Simone says.

This increased awareness has left comic book editors feeling like they have to weigh the potential fallout of every plot twist and treat female characters with kid gloves, Schaefer says.“That’s not what any of us want. What I would like to see is more women having their own stories in their own right, and if, in the course of that arc, something bad happens to them, and they have a character arc of ups and downs and fatal flaws in their characters that bring them to a certain point, that is all fair game. As long as it’s not just to service the story of someone else.”

The move to make female comic book characters more vivid extends to the artwork, as well. Rebekah Issacs, the artist for DC’s DV8, says that the industry shift toward photorealism in general has led to “a move away from that tiny little waist you can put one hand around and the gigantic, double G breasts, that almost sickening ideal. You don’t really see that as much anymore.”

The biggest change in the decade since “Women in Refrigerators,” however, has been how well-represented women are behind the pages, and not just on them. “DC was run by Jenette Kahn, a woman, for over 25 years,” Berger says. “I’m in a very high editorial position, I have three female editors on my staff of nine, and on the superhero side there are a couple of women editors working on that material, too. There are definitely more women at the table than there were 10 years ago.” Schaefer echoed that, saying there are lots of women working at Marvel. “I’m so lucky to be working in comics when I am, because of all the women who came before me, and who have made it possible for women to work in editorial, and made it possible for women to want to make comics.” Indeed, Girl Comics more than illustrates how many talented women are working in the industry right now, and what happens when they join forces.

Isaacs says that the smaller percentage of women applying for comic book artist positions also means it’s easier for an aspiring artist to catch an editor’s eye. “If you’re a guy trying to get work you’re just one fish in a huge ocean, but because there has been such a push to get more female readers and represent both genders equally, it’s come to a point now where it’s a boon to be a woman trying to get work in this industry,” she says. There is a flipside, however: The lingering tendency to think women are only suited for, and indeed only interested in, certain genres that are more typically thought of as women-friendly, such as romance, plot-driven paranormal tales like Sandman, and manga. “When I was trying to get work at first, I would always get comments like, ‘Oh, you don’t draw like how I would expect you to,’ and I was always taken aback by that. Basically what they were saying was ‘You don’t draw like a girl.’ I always wanted to ask them, ‘What does a girl draw like?’”

There’s also the persistent challenge of marketing comics to female readers, a vital component in continuing the growth of women working in the industry. After all, girls who don’t read comics won’t grow up to be women who make comics. In 2007, Berger launched an imprint for DC Comics called Minx that was aimed at teenage girls. “With the Minx books we were trying to be more ‘real world’ and not do a lot of the genre stuff that we do at Vertigo, the horror or the supernatural backdrop,” Berger says. “We really made a huge effort, with Minx, in directly marketing to women through women’s magazines and women’s networking sites.” But the imprint was canceled after one year. “I think the material was very good but we just were not able to connect to the reader,” Berger laments.

At Marvel, Schaefer says the focus is less about getting women in particular to pick up Girl Comics. “There is not a formula that will make girls read comics. I really think it’s less making a thing girls will want to read, and more showing them this isn’t not for you. This doesn’t say No Girls Allowed on it.”

Simone, meanwhile, knows exactly what she wants to see happen now: “I’d love to have a female write a breakthrough mainstream hit, like Harry Potter or Twilight, but originating in the comics medium. Nothing demolishes antiquated preconceptions like undeniable success.”