Culture

Gender & Society in the Classroom: Culture

Organized by: Lucia Lykke, University of Maryland – College Park
Updated by: Erielle Jones, University of Illinois – Chicago

Culture is a broad term, and Gender & Society offers a variety of approaches and discussions on the subject. Gender & Society articles include: Cultural representations of gender, race, and sexuality; cultural norms and expectations; cross-cultural perspectives and non-Western cultures; and cultures/subcultures. This guide contains a selection of articles that deal with culture in each of these ways. Articles are organized in reverse chronological order.

Oh, Eunsil, & Eunmi Mun. 2022. “Compensatory Work Devotion: How a Culture of Overwork Shapes Women’s Parental Leave in South Korea.” Gender & Society 36 (4): 552–577.
Despite growing concerns that parental leave policies may reinforce the marginalization of mothers in the labor market and reproduce the gendered division of household labor, few studies examine how women themselves approach and use parental leave. Through 64 in-depth interviews with college-educated Korean mothers, we find that although women’s involvement in family responsibilities increases during leave, they do not reduce their work devotion but reinvent it throughout the leave-taking process. Embedded in the culture of overwork in Korean workplaces, women find it justifiable to use leave only when they are highly committed to work and adjust the length of leave to accommodate workplace demands. Upon returning to work, they try to compensate for their absence by working harder than before, thereby showing that they are more committed than their colleagues. Given this “compensatory” work devotion, women question their own entitlement in the workplace, and some quit when they cannot meet their goal of compensating by doing more than others. This study highlights how the workplace culture shapes women’s work devotion during and after leave.

Kan, Man-Yee; Muzhi Zhou; Kamila Kolpashnikova; Ekaterina Hertog; Shohei Yoda; and Jiweon Jun. 2022. Revisiting the Gender Revolution: Time on Paid Work, Domestic Work, and Total Work in East Asian and Western Societies 1985–2016”. Gender & Society, 36(3): 368-396
We analyze time use data of four East Asian societies and 12 Western countries between 1985 and 2016 to investigate the gender revolution in paid work, domestic work, and total work. The closing of gender gaps in paid work, domestic work, and total work time has stalled in the most recent decade in several countries. The magnitude of the gender gaps, cultural contexts, and welfare policies plays a key role in determining whether the gender revolution in the division of labor will stall or continue. Women undertake more total work than men across all societies: The gender gap ranges from 30 minutes to 2 hours a day. Our findings suggest that cultural norms interact with institutional contexts to affect the patterns of gender convergence in time use, and gender equality might settle at differing levels of egalitarianism across countries.

Craig, Lyn, and Brendan Churchill. 2021. “Unpaid Work and Care During COVID-19: Subjective Experiences of Same-Sex Couples and Single Mothers in Australia.” Gender & Society 35 (2): 233-243.
This paper draws on data from Work and Care During COVID-19, an online survey of Australians during pandemic lockdown in May 2020 (n = 2,722). It focuses on how subsamples of lesbian, gay, and bisexual mothers and fathers in couples (n = 280) and single mothers (n = 480) subjectively experienced unpaid work and care during lockdown compared with heterosexual mothers and fathers in couples, and with partnered mothers, respectively. During the pandemic, nonheterosexual fathers’ subjective reports were less negative than those of their heterosexual counterparts, but differences between heterosexual and lesbian/bisexual mothers were more mixed. Unlike their partnered counterparts, more single mothers reported feeling satisfied than before with their balance of paid and unpaid work and how they spent their time overall during the pandemic, perhaps because they avoided partnership conflicts and particularly benefited from relaxed commuting and child care deadlines.

Flores, Glenda M., and Maricela Bañuelos. 2021. “Gendered Deference: Perceptions of Authority and Competence Among Latina/o Physicians in Medical Institutions.” Gender & Society 35 (1): 110-135.
Prior studies note that gender- and race-based discrimination routinely inhibit women’s advancement in medical fields. Yet few studies have examined how gendered displays of deference and demeanor are interpreted by college-educated and professional Latinas/os who are making inroads into prestigious and masculinized nontraditional fields such as medicine. In this article, we elucidate how gender shapes perceptions of authority and competence among the same pan-ethnic group, and we use deference and demeanor as an analytical tool to examine these processes. Our analysis underscores three main points of difference: (1) gendered cultural taxation; (2) microaggressions from women nurses and staff and; (3) the questioning of authority and competence to elucidate how gendered racism manifests for Latina/o doctors. Taking demonstrations of gendered deference and demeanors are vital to transforming medical schools and creating more inclusive spaces for all physicians and patients. Conclusions are based on experiences reported in interviews with 48 Latina/o physicians and observation in their places of work in Southern California.

Hu, Yang. 2021. “Divergent Gender Revolutions: Cohort Changes in Household Financial Management across Income Gradient.” Gender & Society 35 (5): 746-777.
The ways in which partners manage their money provide important clues to gender inequality in and the nature of couple relationships. Analyzing data from nationally representative surveys (N = 11,730 couples), I examine changes across British cohorts born between the 1920s and 1990s in their household financial management, and how the changes vary across individuals and couples occupying differential income positions. The results show divergent, nuanced cohort trends toward gender equality in couples’ money management. Across successive cohorts of low-earning women, there has been a subtle relaxation in the form of male control, reflected in a decrease in the proportion of men adopting “back-seat” management by retaining the majority of the couple’s money while delegating the chore of managing daily expenses to their partners. By contrast, the empowerment of high-earning women is reflected primarily in an individualization of financial management, evident in a cohort decrease in joint financial management and an increase in independent management. The trend of individualization is particularly prominent among couples in which both partners have equally high earnings. The findings provide new insights into and important extensions of the theorization of gender relations in and the individualization of couple relationships.

Kamran, Sidra. 2021. “A Patchwork of Femininities: Working-Class Women’s Fluctuating Gender Performances in a Pakistani Market.” Gender & Society 35 (6): 971–94.
Scholars have studied multiple femininities across different spaces by attributing variation to cultural/spatial contexts. They have studied multiple femininities in the same space by attributing variation to class/race positions. However, we do not yet know how women from the same cultural, class, and race locations may enact multiple femininities in the same context. Drawing on observations and interviews in a women-only bazaar in Pakistan, I show that multiple femininities can exist within the same space and be enacted by the same individual. Working-class women workers in Meena Bazaar switched between performances of “pariah femininity” and “hegemonic femininity,” patching together contradictory femininities to secure different types of capital at the organizational and personal levels. Pariah femininities enabled access to economic capital but typically decreased women’s symbolic capital, whereas hegemonic femininities generated symbolic capital but could block or enable access to economic capital. The concept of a patchwork performance of femininity explains how and why working-class women simultaneously embody idealized and stigmatized forms of femininity. Furthermore, it captures how managerial regimes and personal struggles for class distinction interact to produce contradictory gender performances. By examining gender performances in the context of social stratification, I explain the structural underpinnings of working-class women’s gendered struggles for respectability and work.

Kleinman, Sherryl, Martha Copp, and Kalah B. Wilson. 2021. “We’ve Come a Long Way, Guys! Rhetorics of Resistance to the Feminist Critique of Sexist Language.” Gender & Society 35 (1): 61-84.
We provide a qualitative analysis of resistance to calls for gender-neutral language. We analyzed more than 900 comments responding to two essays—one on AlterNet and another on Vox posted to the Vox editor’s Facebook page—that critiqued a pervasive male-based generic, “you guys.” Five rhetorics of resistance are discussed: appeals to origins, appeals to linguistic authority, appeals to aesthetics, appeals to intentionality and inclusivity, and appeals to women and feminist authorities. These rhetorics justified “you guys” as a nonsexist term, thereby allowing commenters to continue using it without compromising their moral identities as liberals or feminists. In addition to resisting an analysis that linked their use of “you guys” to social harms, commenters positioned the authors who called for true generics as unreasonable, divisive, and authoritarian. We conclude with suggestions for how feminists can challenge the status quo and promote social change.

Kukreja, Reena. 2021. “Colorism as Marriage Capital: Cross-Region Marriage Migration in India and Dark-Skinned Migrant Brides.” Gender & Society 35 (1): 85-109.
This article, based on original research from 57 villages in four provinces from North and East India, sheds light on a hitherto unexplored gendered impact of colorism in facilitating noncustomary cross-region marriage migrations in India. Within socioeconomically marginalized groups from India’s development peripheries, the hegemonic construct of fairness as “capital” conjoins with both regressive patriarchal gender norms governing marriage and female sexuality and the monetization of social relations, through dowry, to foreclose local marriage options for darker-hued women. This dispossession of matrimonial choice forces women to “voluntarily” accept marriage proposals from North Indian bachelors, who are themselves faced with a bride shortage in their own regions due to skewed sex ratios. These marriages condemn cross-region brides to new forms of gender subordination and skin-tone discrimination within the intimacy of their marriages, and in everyday relations with conjugal families, kin, and rural communities. Because of colorism, cross-region brides are exposed to caste-discriminatory exclusions and ethnocentric prejudice. Dark-skin shaming is a strategic ideological weapon employed to extract more labor from them. The article extends global scholarly discussion on the role of colorism in articulating new forms of gendered violence in dark-complexioned, poor rural women’s lives.

Ruppanner, Leah, Caitlyn Collins, Liana Christin Landivar, and William J. Scarborough. 2021. “How Do Gender Norms and Childcare Costs Affect Maternal Employment Across US States?” Gender & Society 35 (6): 910–939.
In this article, we investigate how state-to-state differences in U.S. childcare costs and gender norms are associated with maternal employment. Although an abundance of research has examined factors that influence mothers’ employment, few studies explore the interrelationship between maternal employment and culture, policy, and individual resources across U.S. states. Using a representative sample of women in the 2017 American Community Survey along with state-level measures of childcare costs and gender norms, we examine the relationship between these state conditions and mothers’ probability of employment. We pay careful attention to differences in mothers’ level of education. Our results suggest that expensive childcare is associated with lower maternal employment, particularly for those with less education. For the college educated, expensive childcare is negatively associated with maternal employment in states with traditional gender norms that uphold mothers as primary caregivers. Among mothers with lower levels of education, gender norms have a limited association with employment. These findings suggest that highly educated mothers mobilize resources to remain in the labor force when paid work is supported by local gender norms. For less-educated mothers, expensive childcare predicts lower employment regardless of gender norms, indicating that structural constraints outweigh normative expectations among those with fewer resources.

Sendén, Marie Gustafsson, Emma Renström, and Anna Lindqvist. 2021. “Pronouns Beyond the Binary: The Change of Attitudes and Use Over Time.” Gender & Society 35 (4): 588-615.
Gender-inclusive language, such as the Swedish pronoun hen, may aid in breaking a binary notion of gender and avoid sexism. The present study followed the implementation of a gender-inclusive third-person pronoun singular (hen) in Swedish in two surveys with representative samples in 2015 (at the time when hen was introduced in the official Swedish dictionary; N = 1212) and in 2018 (N = 2009). The surveys comprised measures of attitudes toward, and use of, hen as well as possible predictors such as area of residence, age, preferred pronoun, political orientation, and interest in gender issues. Results showed that attitudes toward hen became more positive and that use of hen increased between 2015 and 2018. About half of the population used hen in their communication in 2018, which is a 14-percentage-point increase from 2015. Younger age, she or hen as preferred pronoun, political left-wing orientation, and interest in gender issues predicted a more positive attitude and a more frequent use. Furthermore, the positive change between 2015 and 2018 was larger among younger people, indicating that hen will remain in the Swedish language. The present research is unique in that it follows a gender-fair language initiative during its implementation in representative samples, thereby providing insights for social movements aiming for gender-fair language. We also discuss the theoretical implications of a gender-inclusive pronoun in comparison with past studies on gender-fair language.

Clevenger, Casey. 2020. “Constructing Spiritual Motherhood in the Democratic Republic of Congo.” Gender & Society 34 (2): 307-330.
Drawing on an ethnographic study of Roman Catholic sisters in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I show how women in the Global South draw on religious imagery to redefine cultural ideals of womanhood and family responsibility. By taking the religious vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, the Congolese sisters I interviewed seemingly betray local expectations regarding women’s responsibility to reproduce and repair the clan. Although sisters’ vows subject them to social ridicule for violating cultural expectations to bear children and support kin, they devise new strategies to negotiate the connection between womanhood and the maternal role of caregiver and nurturer outside of marriage and fertility. In social ministries that affirm their communal, moral, and spiritual ties to others, the sisters realize these cultural ideals through a “spiritual motherhood” that transforms their traditional heteronormative obligations. Framing their decision to live outside accepted kinship structures in religious terms mutes the radicalness of this lifestyle and provides religious legitimation for what would otherwise be considered a selfish choice for a woman acting independent of family well-being. In this context, I demonstrate how doing religion is inseparable from doing gender as Catholic sisters embody alternative ways of being a woman in post-colonial Congolese society through their religious practices.

Dejaeghere, Joan, and Aditi Ashok Arur. 2020. “Education for All: How Schooling is Creating Social Changes for Lowered-Caste Girls in Rural India.” Gender & Society 34 (6): 951-975.
Arguments for the expansion of formal schooling have long focused on individual outcomes from schooling, including increasing income, reducing poverty, delaying marriage, and improving health, particularly for girls and women. For nearly three decades now, global education agendas have supported girls’ education in an effort to achieve these outcomes. A large body of research analyzes girls’ individual empowerment from schooling, but less attention is given to how schooling is creating change in families and communities, particularly for lowered-caste girls in India. This article places longitudinal data from a three-year qualitative interview study of schoolgirls in Rajasthan alongside qualitative life-history interviews of girls who completed secondary school in Uttarakhand to understand how schooling affects social changes for lower castes. The analysis, using an intersectional and relational approach, illustrates how girls’ schooling shifts kin and caste relations connected to marriage and work but in ways that do not transform the stickiness of caste and gender norms. We argue that educational policies and programs must attend to the ways in which caste is implicated in achieving outcomes of delayed marriage and formal employment for lowered-caste girls in Indian communities if schooling is to create positive social change.

Gonsalves, Tara. 2020. “Gender Identity, the Sexed Body, and the Medical Making of Transgender.” Gender & Society 34 (6): 1005-1033.
In this article, I argue that the medical conceptualization of gender identity in the United States has entered a “new regime of truth.” Drawing from a mixed-methods analysis of medical journals, I illuminate a shift in the locus of gender identity from external genitalia and pathologization of families to genes and brain structure and individualized self-conception. The sexed body itself has also undergone a transformation: Sex no longer resides solely in genitalia but has traveled to more visible parts of the body, implicating racialized aesthetic ideals in its new formulation. The re-imagining of gender identity as genetically and neurologically inscribed and the expanding locus of sex correspond to an inversion of the relationship between gender identity and the sexed body as well as shifts in medical jurisdiction. Whereas psychiatrists in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s understood gender as stemming from genital sex, the less popular idea that gender identity precedes the sexed body has gained traction in recent decades. If gender identity once derived from the sexed body, the sexed body must now be brought into alignment with gender identity. The increasing legitimacy of self-defined gender identity, the expanding definition of racialized sex, and the inversion of the sex–gender identity relationship elevates the role of surgeons in producing racialized and sexed bodies.

Ispa-Landa, Simone, and Mariana Oliver. 2020. “Hybrid Femininities: Making Sense of Sorority Rankings and Reputation.” Gender & Society 34 (6): 893-921.
Gender researchers have only recently begun to identify how women perceive and explain the costs and benefits associated with different femininities. Yet status hierarchies among historically white college sororities are explicit and cannot be ignored, forcing sorority women to grapple with constructions of feminine worth. Drawing on interviews with women in these sororities (N = 53), we are able to capture college women’s attitudes toward status rankings that prioritize adherence to narrow models of gender complementarity. Sorority chapters were ranked according to women’s perceived heterosexual appeal to elite men. Women believed that top-ranked sororities conferred social power whereas middle- and bottom-ranked sororities offered greater freedom from policing over members’ bodies, fashion, and socializing. However, middle- and bottom-ranked sororities sometimes sought to rise in the rankings. When this occurred, existing members were marginalized, and a new pledge class with a greater tolerance for socializing with high-status “rapey” fraternities was sought. Women’s discussions of sorority rankings show evidence of a hybrid femininity that fuses practices from traditional models of gender complementarity and more recent models of women’s empowerment.

Mishel, Emma, Paula England, Jessie Ford, and Mónica L. Caudillo. 2020. “Cohort Increases in Sex with Same-Sex Partners: Do Trends Vary by Gender, Race, and Class?” Gender & Society 34 (2): 178-209.
We examine change across U.S. cohorts born between 1920 and 2000 in their probability of having had sex with same-sex partners in the last year and since age 18. Using data from the 1988–2018 General Social Surveys, we explore how trends differ by gender, race, and class background. We find steep increases across birth cohorts in the proportion of women who have had sex with both men and women since age 18, whereas increases for men are less steep. We suggest that the trends reflect an increasingly accepting social climate, and that women’s steeper trend is rooted in a long-term asymmetry in gender change, in which nonconformity to gender norms is more acceptable for women than men. We also find evidence that, among men, the increase in having had sex with both men and women was steeper for black than for white men, and for men of lower socioeconomic status; we speculate that the rise of mass incarceration among less privileged men may have influenced this trend.

Pike, Isabel. 2020. “A Discursive Spectrum: The Narrative of Kenya’s ‘Neglected’ Boy Child.” Gender & Society 34 (2): 284-306.
In this article, I examine a narrative that on the surface could be backlash to gender equality efforts: that after years of policy attention to girls, Kenya’s “boy child” has been neglected. Through a content analysis of Kenyan online newspaper texts spanning the past two decades, I chart the evolution of this discourse, finding that it was present as early as 2000, intensified around 2010, and began to produce concrete actions around 2013. I argue that the narrative is a reaction to expanded women’s rights, but not always in the sense of negative backlash. Some boy child claims-makers were indeed concerned with a decline in men’s power. However, others, mostly women, used the boy child narrative to redirect attention to issues that profoundly affect the well-being of women such as violence and the struggle to find a partner. These results point to the value of a discursive spectrum approach for analysis of potential backlash to gender equality as well as discussions around policy attention to boys and men.

Springer, Emily. 2019. “Bureaucratic Tools in (Gendered) Organizations: Performance Metrics and Gender Advisors in International Development.” Gender & Society 34 (1): 56-80.
This article contributes to a growing conversation about the role of numbers in promoting gendered agendas in potentially contradictory ways. Drawing from interviews with gender advisors—the professionals tasked with mainstreaming gender in development projects—in an East African country, I begin from the paradox that gender advisors articulate a strong preference for qualitative data to best capture the lives of the women they aim to assist while voicing a need for quantitative metrics. I demonstrate that (women) gender advisors come to imagine metrics as expeditious bureaucratic tools able to inspire cooperation from otherwise reluctant (men) coworkers. I argue that development organizations are gendered in ways—acutely seen in how advisors struggle, are sidelined, and attempt to advance their goals with numbers—that lead to the utility of valuing quantitative metrics over qualitative ones. I establish two theoretical contributions: (1) Gendered organizations theory is essential to understanding the adoption and globalization of performance metrics, and (2) in an age of evidence-based decision making, the utility of quantified data to garner resources is heightened, rewarding those who adopt quantified knowledge production. I coin the term “the paradox of quantified utility” to describe how these material advantages encourage even skeptics to value quantitative metrics.

Stokes, Allyson. 2015. “The Glass Runway: How Gender and Sexuality Shape the Spotlight in Fashion Design.” Gender & Society 29 (2): 219-243.
Fashion design is a feminized occupation, but there is a widespread perception that gay male designers are advantaged in receiving awards, publicity, and praise. This article develops the notion of a “glass runway” to explain this inequality. First, using design canons and lists of award recipients, I show that men, especially gay men, receive more consecration than women. Second, I show how men and women are consecrated differently by analyzing the content of 157 entries in Voguepedia’s design canon and 96 fashion media articles. Attributions of value and legitimacy construct a gendered image of the ideal fashion designer through discourses of art and culture that reinforce essentialist ideas about gender difference. Because cultural value is ambiguous, processes of valorization are shaped by gender essentialism, pushing male cultural producers down the glass runway and into the spotlight of fame, consecration, and legitimation. Finally, the case of fashion design offers insights into how intersecting inequalities can shape the glass runway. Gay designers experience both valorization and discrimination from intersections of gender and sexuality.

Currier, Danielle M. 2013. “Strategic Ambiguity Protecting Emphasized Femininity and Hegemonic Masculinity in the Hookup Culture.” Gender & Society 27 (5): 704-727.
Hooking up is a term commonly used in contemporary American society to refer to sexual activity between two people who are not in a committed romantic relationship. Data show that although many college students are engaging in hookups, there is no consensus on how to define a hookup. The author uses the concept of “strategic ambiguity” to explore the intentionality and usefulness of the vagueness of this term. Specific to hookups, strategic ambiguity is when individuals use the term “hookup” to describe their sexual activities rather than give details about their sexual activities as an impression management strategy to protect their sexual and social identities. Analyzing data gathered through interviews with heterosexual students at a mid-sized public university in the South, this article addresses the normative character and the myriad definitions of hookups; addresses the underlying heterosexist bias in the definitions of hookups; and analyzes how the ambiguity of the term “hookup” serves women and men in different ways and both reinforces and challenges the current gender order, allowing men to conform to and preserve components of hegemonic masculinity and women to conform to and preserve components of emphasized femininity.

Balogun, Oluwakemi M. 2012. “Cultural and Cosmopolitan Idealized Femininity and Embodied Nationalism in Nigerian Beauty Pageants.” Gender & Society 26 (3): 357-381.
This article uses a comparative-case research design of two different national beauty pageants in Nigeria to ask how and why gendered nationalisms are constructed for different audiences and aims. Both contests claim to represent “true Nigerian womanhood” yet craft separate models of idealized femininity and present different nationalist agendas. I argue that these differences stem from two distinct representations of gendered national identities. The first pageant, “Queen Nigeria,” whose winners do not compete outside of Nigeria, brands itself as a Nigerian-based pageant, centered on a cultural-nationalist ideal, which is focused on revitalizing and appreciating Nigerian culture to unify the nation. In contrast, the second contest, “The Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria,” utilizes “international standards” to select and send contestants to Miss World and Miss Universe, the top pageants in the world, and promotes a cosmopolitan-nationalist ideal, which remains concentrated on propelling and integrating Nigeria into the international arena.

McCabe, Janice, Emily Fairchild, Liz Grauerholz, Bernice A. Pescosolido, and Daniel Tope. 2011. “Gender in Twentieth Century Children’s Books: Patterns of Disparity in Titles and Central Characters.” Gender & Society 25 (2): 197-226.
This study examines the cultural representation of male and female characters in children’s books. The authors track the prevalence of male and female title characters and central characters in over 5,000 children’s books from the twentieth century.  The authors find that male characters are represented in titles almost twice as often as female characters and are 1.6 times more likely to be central characters, pointing to symbolic annihilation of women and girls in children’s literature. The authors also draw a connection between representation of women and girls in children’s books and social change throughout the twentieth century, noting that female characters were least represented in the time period between the first and second wave of the women’s movement, 1930’s to the 1960’s.

Cairns, Kate, Josée Johnston, and Shyon Baumann. 2010. “Caring About Food: Doing Gender in the Foodie Kitchen.” Gender & Society 24 (5): 591-615.
This study examines how men and women “do gender” in Western “foodie” culture, in which people are passionate about eating and learning about “good food.”   While food is more traditionally considered part of the female domain, foodie culture seems to appeal to both men and women. The researchers interview 30 foodies across the U.S., finding that foodies consider food culture to be central to their identities. The researchers find instances of both gender reproduction and gender resistance in foodie culture.  For example, in participating in foodie culture, women found it difficult to balance their own pleasure in food consumption and knowledge with the cultural expectation of performing care work for others, while men found the discourse of foodie culture to be more compatible with cultural expectations for men. 

Hamilton, Laura, and Elizabeth A. Armstrong. 2009. “Gendered Sexuality in Young Adulthood: Double Binds and Flawed Options.” Gender & Society 23 (5): 589-616.
Hamilton and Armstrong follow a group of college women through their heterosexual dating experiences in order to examine the U.S. college culture and the role of “hooking up” (casual sexual encounters).  Hamilton and Armstrong focus on the ways in which gender and class structure college women’s sexuality.  Hamilton and Armstrong find that although women would prefer to be in relations, the “hook up” has come to dominate college culture and is preferred by college men.  The women in the study found themselves subjected to a sexual double standard and felt the need to employ strategies to keep themselves safe from sexually aggressive men at parties.  Middle-class college women found that their personal expectations and the college sexual culture meshed; however, lower or working class college women found the college sexual culture to be foreign and alienating.

Hill, Shirley A. 2009. “Cultural Images and the Health of African American Women.” Gender & Society 23 (5): 747-767.
Hills’ essay examines cultural constructions of Black womanhood that focus on strength, motherhood, and big bodies.  Hill argues that while these images arose as a means of distinguishing the experiences of Black women from cultural constructions of white femininity, the images simply invert derogatory images of Black women: for example, the “Mammy” becomes a focus on motherhood that may foster teen pregnancies.  Further, Hill argues that these cultural images are based on the experiences of the poorest and least powerful Black women and have negative consequences for Black women’s health and well-being, mandating that Black women enact their “strength” to survive in situations of great hardship and exploitation and that Black female beauty include acceptance of obesity.

Ridgeway, Cecilia. 2009. “Framed Before We Know It: How Gender Shapes Social Relations.” Gender & Society 23 (2): 145-160.
Ridgeway presents a theoretical argument for recognizing gender as a primary cultural frame that shapes social relations.  Gender operates as a primary frame in that it provides necessary shared cultural knowledge that allows us to categorize ourselves and others and act accordingly.  These cultural beliefs about gender are institutionalized in media, law and policy, and organizational practices, and shape individual behaviors and judgment.  Ridgeway provides two examples of how gender acts as a background frame.  First, she discusses small high-tech firms, comparing the experiences of women scientists in life science firms vs. engineering/physical science firms, finding that women in life science firms with flexible structures are less disadvantaged because life sciences are not as strongly gender-typed as engineering/physical sciences, and because women are able to perform better in organizations without rigid hierarchical structures.  Second, Ridgeway draws on research that shows that men and women in more affluent societies that place value on self-expression tend to rely on cultural beliefs about gender when choosing occupations.  For example, more affluent societies have greater disparity between boys’ and girls’ expressed affinity for math. 

Richards, Patricia. 2007. “Bravas, Permitidas, Obsoletas: Mapuche Women in the Chilean Print Media.” Gender & Society 21 (4): 553-578.
Richards analyzes media representations of Mapuche women in Chilean print media from 1997 to 2003 in order to see how racialized and gendered nationalist assumptions are perpetuated in media sources.  The Mapuche are an indigenous group that is engaged in struggles for land and cultural preservation in southern Chile.  Richards uncovered three archetypal portrayals of Mapuche women in the media sources. First, mujeres bravas, or fierce women, who fight for Mapuche rights and simultaneously evokes awe and reprimands from media sources. Richards argues that bravas serve to differentiate Mapuche women from “normal” Chilean women. Second, mujeres permitidas are represented in a positive light by media sources and reflect an international trend of acceptance of multiculturalism. Third, mujeres obsoletas, older Mapuche women, represent the cultural assumption that Mapuche culture is doomed to disappear.

Yodanis, Carrie. 2005. “Divorce Culture and Marital Gender Equality: A Cross-National Study.” Gender & Society 19 (5): 644-659.
Yodanis explores the relationship between marital equality and divorce culture.  In a divorce culture, marriage is seen as optional and conditional, with divorce a viable option if the marriage doesn’t work out. Yodanis compares data across 22 countries from the International Social Survey Programme.  The U.S. was found to have the strongest divorce culture. Yodanis concludes that strong divorce culture is related to greater gender equality in marriages.  This relationship is more salient when divorce culture is considered at a national level, rather than an individual level.  Yodanis argues that the study indicates the complexity of growing divorce culture, in which aspects of divorce culture, such as more progressive gender ideology, may be positive.

Emerson, Rana A. 2002. “‘Where My Girls At?’: Negotiating Black Womanhood in Music Videos.” Gender & Society 16 (1): 115-135.
Emerson analyzes the representations of Black women in rap and hip-hop music videos, buliding on previous research that focused either on misogynistic representations of Black women in music culture, or on women’s agency as performers.  Emerson uses 56 music videos featuring Black women performers (as lead singers, rappers, or guest performers — background dancers and singers were not included), played on TV in 1998. Emerson found several themes in the videos’ representations of Black women: The videos emphasized Black women’s bodies; Black women are presented as one-dimensional being, youthful “eye candy” for men; Black women in videos were presented under the guidance of a male artist or sponsor.  Despite these oppressive themes, Emerson also found evidence of Black women’s resistance and agency in the videos. Black women positively identified with Black culture and aesthetics, asserted autonomy and independence, and expressed partnership or collaboration with other Blacks. Emerson concludes with a discussion on the ambivalent and contradictory nature of Black women’s relationship to Black popular culture.

Milkie, Melissa A. 2002. “Contested Images of Femininity: An Analysis of Cultural Gatekeepers’ Struggles With the ‘Real Girl’ Critique.” Gender & Society 16 (6): 839-859.
Milkie interviews editors at two national girls’ magazines to discover how these cultural gatekeepers respond to critiques that the magazines present inauthentic images of girls. Media sources tend to narrowly define femininity and female beauty, and both the producers and the consumers of media struggle with and contest these representations. Milkie seeks to understand how the people with the power to create culture – magazine editors – negotiate representations of femininity and female beauty. Milkie finds that girls’ magazine editors agree with their readers criticisms of how girls are presented in the magazines, but claim that it is beyond their control to change the images due to the influence of the art world, the influence of advertisers, or the influence of the culture at large. Simultaneously, however, editors delegitimize girls’ critiques of magazine images, claiming that girls are not properly interpreting the images.