UPDATE!!!

As fresh-faced high schoolers cruise the round their necks proclaiming "I'm a new freshman!", I realized that itUSC campus with bright yellow lanyards a is--yet again--freshman orientation. These 2-day events bring all the new students to campus, along with their eager parents, to check out the programs, academics, campus, dorms, and all of the other perks the university has to offer.

But, I bet you didn't know that USC also offers a special overnight orientation for prospective LGBT students. Yep, that's right. It turns out that USC is the only school in the country that offers such a niche and inviting opportunity.

In fact, LGBT resources at USC are so great they have recently been recognized by the City of Los Angeles. Some of the university's standout programs include the USC LGBT Resource Center, the USC Lambda Gay and Lesbian Alumni Association, and the GLBT Student Assembly.

The article, which can be found on the main page of USC's Web site, also noted that USC tied for the nation's highest score in the most recent Advocate College Guide ranking of the "Top 20 Best of the Best Campuses for LGBT Students."

"USC also received a 'five-star' rating (highest possible) by the Campus Climate Index and was named a 'diversity leader' by the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition for its inclusive non-discrimination policy," the article added.

For me, this effort to reach out and make EVERYONE feel welcome is a big step--especially as a girl coming from the Deep South where differences aren't always celebrated. This is a breath of fresh air and a definite step in the right direction.

Some Sort of Fairy Tale...

OK, let’s play a quick game of word association. I’ll “say” a word, and then you say out loud the first thing that comes to your head. Ready?

Television! [Insert your word here.]
Girl! [Insert your word here.]
Children’s Movie! [Insert your word here].

Now, you’re probably wondering why you just played that game, right? Well, if your brain works like mine, then we probably came up with some similar responses. Here are mine:

Television! [Shows]
Girl! [Boy]
Children’s Movie! [Disney]

Four recent, ground-breaking studies conducted by Dr. Stacy Smith (University of Southern California) and a team of student researchers from the Annenberg School for Communication found that there is a major problem with children’s programming (i.e. film and television). Even though females are half (actually slightly more than half (51%), according to the 2006 U.S. Census) of the world’s population, they are highly under represented on the small and silver screens.

[Click here to see a breakdown of the studies.]

As if that weren’t enough, the study also shows that females are characterized as being either hyper-sexual (Britney Spears a là “Slave for You”) or traditional (Stepford Wives)—neither of which is particularly healthy for young female viewers.

Joining with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media, Dr. Smith presented her team’s findings at the 2008 Conference on Children and Gender in Film and Television, hosted by USC. [To see pictures from the event, click here.]

Examining the G, PG, PG-13, and R rated movies of the last 16 years, Dr. Smith and her Annenberg team examined 12 different leading ladies in 13 different G-rated, animated and live-action films (most of them produced by Disney).

Smith and her coding crew “assessed the protagonists’ aspirations, romantic inclinations, and appearance norms within the context of the plot” (p. 16, GDIGM conference brochure).

Are you curious about how these films were coded to reveal such detailed information? Well, Dr. Smith and Marc Choueiti, one of the team leaders of the Annenberg coding team for this study, explain how the coding process works.

Now, even though Dr. Smith mentioned that the study found no particular culprit of these hyper-sexualized / traditional images, I can’t help but see the part that Disney films have played in my own formation of gender identity. I mean, as a child of the 80s I basically grew up singing along with Ariel, dreading midnight with Cinderella, and sleeping beautifully with Aurora.

These images of Disney princesses have been commodified and sold to girls of all ages. There’s a whole line of Disney-themed clothing. There are Facebook quizzes asking college students, “Which Disney Princess are you?” In fact, I just saw a commercial the other night for a Disney Princess doll whose crown lights up when you brush her hair. The slogan: “You never forget your first Disney Princess.”

So in my quest to get to the bottom of this Disney Princess takeover, I came across the “official” website of the Disney Princesses. Yes, they even have their own website.

By clicking on the images below, you can catch a glimpse into the “About Me” sections of some of the princess’s web pages featured on the website (and a quick commentary of my own).

**If you want to know what these princesses are singing about, click here**

After perusing this website, there is no doubt in my mind that Dr. Smith and her students hit the nail on the head with their study. As long as Disney’s female characters sing songs like “Some Day My Prince Will Come” and are praised mainly for their beauty, girls are going to grow up being deceived.

Gendered Spaces, Public Places

It's 2:00 pm on a Thursday afternoon at USC. Classes are in full swing. Trousdale Parkway is bustling with students. Besides these surface-level observations, what would you see if you just sat and watched the crowd pass by? How would gender function in the space? As I sat on a concrete bench and recorded my observations, this is what I saw:

The fountain in front of the Hancock building selfishly covers the sound of the bustling campus center, leaving the people to move around silently--lips moving, but no voices heard.

Here, clothing speaks louder than words. It's either school pride or high fashion on this street. For those who choose the latter, Trousdale becomes USC's own fashion runway. Girls in skinny jeans, high boots, tight shirts, and designer sunglasses strut by, their wanna-be celebrity personas eminating from them like the bright California sun.

For guys, it's either California "cool," comfy-casual, or Trojan-inspired. No stillettos for these guys.

iPods play soundtracks that only they can hear. Cell phones to ear lobes, their mouths move but nothing is audible over the hundreds of others going through the same motions.

Bicycles and skateboards whiz by. A girl attempts to readjust the part in her hair, and the handle bars wobble dangerously from side to side. She recovers, every hair in place, and zig-zags her way through the crowd.

A clothing and accessory vendor has a tent set up, drawing a flock of girls who admire themselves in small hand mirrors as they try on a new pair of earrings or a new, even larger pair of sunglasses. "Those look great on you!" the vendor mouths to her newest customer. The girl smiles, pulling out her leather wallet.

In the shadow of the Gwynn Wilson Student Union, a couple kisses passionately. She struggles to balance on her skateboard as he kisses her more intensely. Balance is a hard feat to accomplish with closed eyes. They pull back from each other, smiling.

A girl sits forlornly at the foot of the statue of Tommy the Trojan, her head in her hands. A book is in her lap, but she is paying more attention to the people as they pass than the words on the page. She is alone.

Three girls sit on a bench close by. A mish-mash of brunette and blonde, tall and short, together they are anything but quiet. Over the bubbling of the fountain, the song "I Love Rock n' Roll" penetrates into the atmosphere. The tall blonde is playing the air guitar as her friend plays the "drums." Their pretense of uncaring is see-through. Attention is what they crave.

As two guys pass by, they stare and smile, giving rise to a stage-worthy performance. The louder, the better--or at least that appears to be the girls' philosophy. Gyrating her hips, the tall blonde, makes sure her iPod ear bud is in place before she continues. The girls giggle at her increasingly energetic performace. Two thumbs up for showmanship.

As her friends leave, the blonde girl is left alone. With her audience's back turned, she sits, more quietly now. Only head-bobbing and foot-tapping are left. She lights a cigarette and flicks it with the thumb of her left hand like a movie star. Show is over.

The thoroughfare begins to clear now. Classes are soon to begin, lunchtime hours are soon to pass, and, soon enough, it will all happen again tomorrow.