Culture Scope Volume 111: Table of Contents

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Culture Scope Volume 111: Table of contents

Feature Articles: • Gender Inequality devalues women’s work – Nick Baker (Social Inclusion and Exclusion) • Hip Hop, You Don’t Stop! - Morganics (Popular Culture) • Myanmar Film Industry mocks LGBT community – Nick Baker (Popular Culture) • Women bear the brunt of Natural Disasters – Nick Baker (Continuity and Change)

What’s the A-gender (Resources from, and to supplement August 2017 PD Day) Personal and Social Identity • Gendered Toy content analysis table – Louise Dark, Newcastle High School • Genderisation of Colours – Katherine Dzida, Figtree High School • Reviewing the concept of gender PPT – Amanda Webb, Moorebank High School • The way we talk to girls and boys – Amanda Webb, Moorebank High School Social and Cultural Continuity and Change • #technologyandgender – Louise Dark, Newcastle High School • Women in Poland – Katherine Dzida, Figtree High School Popular Culture • Assessment task: Kardashian’s Content analysis – Amanda Webb, Moorebank High School • Assessment task: Contemporary Values and contribution to social change – Amanda Newell, Clancy Catholic College Additional resources: • Spotlight on Popular Culture (Reality TV) Part 2 – Kate Thompson, Aurora College • Using Speeches to compare Social Inclusion and Exclusion (ATSI) – Kevin Steed, Macquarie University

Many thanks are extended to those who have contributed to this edition. We acknowledge your ongoing support of the Association and teachers of Society and Culture through the quality submissions you have prepared, and continue to submit for publication. These articles take significant time and effort to write and reference and your expertise and innovation is appreciated.

Warm regards, Louise Dark (CultureScope Editor) Title: Gender inequality devalues women’s work: Oxfam Author: Nick Baker Area of Study: Social Inclusion and Exclusion Additional notes: Reprinted from Myanmar Times, with permission of the author Link: https://www.mmtimes.com/national-news/yangon/20647-gender-inequality-devalues-women-s- work-oxfam.html Original date of publication: 3rd June 2016

The additional course concepts: • power • authority • gender • identity • technologies • globalisation

Related depth study concepts: • social mobility • social class • socioeconomic status • life course • ‘race’ and ethnicity • social differentiation • equality • human rights • prejudice and discrimination

Contemporary context The following points are to be integrated across the study of Social Inclusion and Exclusion: • use examples drawn from contemporary society Focus study Within ONE country, students are to examine: • different genders In relation to access to EACH of the following socially valued resources: • employment

Gender inequality devalues women’s work: Oxfam

“They think that we are like animals.” That’s how countless female garment workers are treated in Myanmar, according to Ma Ei Yin Mon. Along with many others from rural areas of the country, Ma Ei Yin Mon came to Yangon in the wake of Cyclone Nargis in 2008 looking for work.

She took a job in the textiles industry with the aim of supporting her family, but conditions turned out to be unbearable. “I don’t want to keep working at the factory because the base wage is so low and we are pressured to do long hours of overtime. We are always being told to work faster,” she said.

“I know I have no rights to make a complaint, so I have to bear it. I have been working here so many years and we try our best to meet the production targets so that we won’t be told off, but sometimes [the yelling] is unbearable.” Ma Ei Yin Mon’s situation is far from the exception. In fact, it is closer to the norm for women across Myanmar and around Asia – making her story the focus of a new Oxfam report.

“Underpaid and Undervalued: How Inequality Defines Women’s Work in Asia” was launched this week to coincide with the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Malaysia. It claims that growing inequality across the continent is “deeply gendered”.

“Overwhelmingly, the richest in society are men, while women continue to be concentrated in the lowest paid and most insecure jobs,” the report said. On average in Asia, women earn between 70 and 90 percent of what men earn, and 75pc of women’s work is in the informal economy – without access to benefits such as sick pay or maternity leave.

The report claims that pervasive gender inequality is resulting in women’s work being devalued, with women far less empowered to claim their labour rights. “This means women are more likely to have these rights abused, often with devastating consequences.”

Oxfam spokesperson Trini Leung said, “High street retailers and Asian governments have built their businesses and their economies on the backs of low-paid women workers across Asia.” “This has to stop. Governments and businesses must ensure all workers are paid a living wage so they have enough money to pay for essentials.”

The garment industry in Myanmar, which provides jobs for around 300,000 workers, was presented as a microcosm of this situation. Oxfam surveyed a group of garment workers – 90pc were women – including Ma Ei Yin Mon, the majority of whom expressed concern about low wages, long hours and safety issues.

Most of those surveyed said they could not afford housing, food and medicine with the income they earned at the factories – even with overtime. The average base salary was just US$1.50 a day. Workers reported doing between three and 20 hours of overtime each week but almost 40pc said that overtime negatively affected their health.

The report called on countries in the region to urgently take measures which tackle gender inequality in the workplace.These include implementing living wages, increasing access to social protection, putting in place progressive tax policies that can finance good-quality universal public services, and recognising, reducing and redistributing unpaid care work.

It was a call echoed by Ms Leung. “Women across Asia are working a double day,” she said, “They work long hours … as well as caring for their family and managing all the household chores. Women are the backbone of the economy yet they receive little support.” “Governments and businesses must help lift the burden from women’s shoulders by providing benefits such as maternity pay and childcare support, and by investing [more] in basic infrastructure,” Ms Leung said.

Women work in a garment factory at Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone in Yangon on July 10, 2015.EPA Title: Hip Hop, You Don’t Stop!

Author: Morganics

Area of Study: Popular Culture

About the author: Morganics is a Melbourne based Hip Hop artist, director and community worker. Morganics makes regular appearances at SCANSW PIP Days, where his use and application of sociocultural terms and concepts is always very well received. He exists online at https://www.facebook.com/morganicsonline/ and https://www.youtube.com/user/morganicsonline.

Contemporary context The following points are to be integrated across the study of Popular Culture: • use examples drawn from contemporary society • assess the impact of technologies, including communication technologies, on popular culture • examine a contemporary issue in popular culture using the research method of content analysis. Focus study Students are to examine ONE popular culture that conforms to the distinguishing characteristics and has a global acceptance by examining: the creation and development of the popular culture: • the origins of the popular culture • the development of the popular culture from a local to a global level • the process of commodification for the popular culture • the role of mythology in the creation and perpetuation of the popular culture • continuities and changes to the popular culture the consumption of the popular culture: • the consumers of the popular culture and the nature of its consumption • the relationship of heroes and mythology to media and consumption • how globalisation and technologies have influenced consumption • the relationship of access and consumption to age, class, ethnicity, gender, location, sexuality • how consumption and ownership of paraphernalia influence a sense of identity the control of the popular culture: • the ownership of the popular culture and the tensions between consumers and producers • the stakeholders and how they influence the popular culture – family, peer groups, media, marketers, governments, global groups • the role and impact of official and unofficial censorship • the influence of power and authority at the micro, meso and macro levels the different perceptions of the popular culture: • groups that accept and reject the popular culture • changing perceptions and the value of the popular culture to groups in society • how the popular culture constructs or deconstructs gender the contribution of the popular culture to social change: • how the popular culture expresses contemporary social values • the positive and negative impact of the popular culture on wider society • the ways in which the popular culture has contributed to social change.

DJ Kool Herc is the person, America is the society, Hip Hop is the culture, the South Bronx in New York City is the environment, and 1973 is the time.

Hip Hop you don’t stop, from the birth place to the tip top,

from the ghetto to the world non stop, oh yeah!

Bboys and Girls gonna get down, way before Netflix was in your town, from rags to riches putting rappers in pictures, we’ve come so far femcees aint bitches, from Queen Latifah to the one Jean Grae, now Jay Z’s Mum has come out gay, times have changed from way back in the day, when we said “Old School” the records they played were The Trecherous Three and The Furious Five, now Melle Mel’s on TV trying to survive

“Don’t push me ‘cause I’m close to the edge….” of being that guy that raps in a TV car commercial.

True story. That car commercial on TV with a guy rapping “Don’t push me” is the original Melle Mel, one of the first MCs ever, the king of socio-political commentary with “The Message” being his masterpiece as one member of Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PobrSpMwKk4 Salt’n’Pepa are in another accompanying TV ad singing their song “Push It” – no irony there yeah? I watched a Holden car ad with a young white boy top rocking in the great outdoors and since I’m a new father I couldn’t help but love the toilet paper TV ad with a computer animated baby busting out some Bboy moves in the clouds to sell, wait for it……toilet paper. Hip Hop You Don’t Stop!

But before we get carried away, a couple of basic questions; what is Hip Hop, who invented it and where does it come from? Discussions about Hip Hop often end up focussing on mainstream recording artists as if they are the be all and end all of the culture, but we need to be aware that this is a reflection more of recording labels and their marketing departments than the full breadth of the culture. It’s a limited scope and shows a small amount of knowledge when people frame these discussions around what I would define as Hip Pop. To be clear, they think that Hip Hop is rapping, that it’s MCs, that it’s just a form of music – it’s not.

Hip Hop is a cultural form that started in the South Bronx in New York City in the early 70s, that has four elements;

1. MCing (or rapping) 2. DJing 3. Bboying or Bgirling Disclosure with KRS One (breakdancing) and, https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9483Y5L5nG0/maxresdefault 4. Graffiti.

Some would argue that the fifth element is the vocal percussion form known as Beat boxing, others such as KRS One https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppR7s19c1RY would argue that other elements include philosophy, street entrepreneurship and fashion, but you get the idea, Hip Hop is not just rapping, it’s a multipronged urban cultural form. The inventor of Hip Hop is universally acknowledged to be DJ Kool Herc, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhisX4mVoDI a Jamaican DJ who travelled to New York with his mother on her search for a better life. He pulled from the dub and reggae scene of Jamaica to transplant the idea of two turntables and a sound system as a way to share music and also “battle” with other DJs or crews in a musical form. One of the first names for Hip Hop was “Punk, Rock, Disco”, because there was no actual word to describe what was happening as all these different cultures, people, fashions and ideas started to meld themselves together in the South Bronx in the early 70s. It was the birth of a global – even interplanetary – form of funk music. A new form of movement such a Bboying pulled from elements of gymnastics, mime, Kung Fu movies and Puerto Rican folk dances. Hip Hop invented DJ culture as we know it, chopping, mixing and sampling from German electronic groups like Kraftwerk to Aussie rock like AC/DC, from James Brown’s drum breaks to disco bass lines. The MCs channelled the call and response of the gospel church, the fiery invocations of the preacher, the poet and the boxer to cajole, entice, enrage and excite the crowd. Graffiti artists turned the New York train system into a moving museum of aerosol art on wheels.

One thing that all these forms had in common was the unique attitude of making an object do something that it wasn’t supposed to. For example, an aerosol can wasn’t designed to do huge colourful works of art, so the graffiti artists made their own nozzles so that the paint flow could be better controlled and directed. Record turntables weren’t designed to spin backwards, records themselves weren’t designed to be “scratched” and there was no machine that allowed DJs to listen to one record in their headphones while the other one played through the speakers – that is, until DJ Grandmaster Flash https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA-OpvH4CIQ invented it. An MC on the mike could hype the crowd at a basketball court in a housing project and turn the location into a party place, a party for the whole block, a “Block Party”.

Back when I started Bboying in North Sydney in 1984 there were no “Hip Hop” clothing labels, no “Hip Hop” friendly electronics companies, no local “Hip Hop” record labels; if you wanted to be a “Hip Hopper” you had to make it yourself. Hip Hop, like Punk music, was a DIY culture, a participatory culture. I went to the chemist and bought some white gloves for my mime inspired popping moves, I went to Paddy’s markets to buy a local fashion label called “Odyssey” that made baggy pants that local Bboys dug because they were good to dance in. I went to a Hobbyco store in Crows Nest to buy paint and glue to stick coffee jar lids and lego tyres onto my stereo to make my own “ghetto blaster” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=- DeTR8n7eTU We practiced our Bboying in a car park next to North Sydney train station, learning off each other in a time before the internet. We went to hardware stores to buy rolls of linoleum – we called it “lino” – to dance on when we were busking down at Circular Quay.

From the periphery of mainstream society Hip Hop has quickly moved to the centre of the production of consumer culture. Will Smith started out as an MC, as did other Hollywood actors Queen Latifah, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube. Ice Cube was in N.W.A. the group famous for their song “F--- the Police” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7-TTWgiYL4 I can remember Triple J playing the song, then some politicians said they shouldn’t be playing it, that it should be banned, so they played it on repeat for 24hrs. Now Ice Cube makes kids movies like “Are We There Yet?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFvco0kn7bw

Red Bull spends thousands on the international Red Bull BC One Bboy championships https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9oEzPGZiTE692KucAsTY1g Apple paid millions for Dr Dre’s headphone brand Beats, Missy Elliot plays for halftime entertainment at The Superbowl, Obama publicly states that he likes Jay Z’s album “The Blueprint” and Jay Z starts his own streaming service, Tidal, while Kanye West….well, let’s just leave it there. Hip Hop culture is ubiquitous, it’s everywhere, it’s universal, it links millions worldwide and it makes millions worldwide. A culture created in the ghettos by outsiders has now become intrinsic to what we would call mainstream culture.

I mentioned Netflix in my opening rhyme, and a good documentary to check for the commodification of Hip Hop fashion that I watched on Netflix is “Fresh Dressed” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ9LyiNrA-s The sometimes uneasy relationship between an underground culture and big business is fascinating to watch. Where would Adidas be without the endorsement of Run DMC and Missy Elliot? How about Timbaland boots in the mid-90s? One of the biggest Hip Hop producers is in fact called “Timbaland”. Many Hip Hoppers idealised labels like Tommy Hilfiger since they represented the elite, the rich, the polo players of society. To this day, on the streets of Sydney or Melbourne I can pick young men who love local MCs like Kerser, https://www.youtube.com/user/TheKERSER rocking their Polo, Gucci and the latest Nike Air Maxs with pride. You can look at labels like FUBU (For Us By Us) which focussed on the African American market, labels like Ecko (founded by a graffiti artist which I can now buy in Kmart), or Karl Kani and RocaWear which pride themselves on being as elite and expensive as Tommy Hilfiger – the outsiders coveting the elite, mimicking them and replicating them, with their own small twist on the style. Look at the lines of young people lining the streets when Kanye releases a new pair of sneakers or a sloppy joe with a font that mimics Chicano graffiti artists from Los Angeles, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSIuCPuiub4 with a ticket price of $200.

So let’s talk about the capitalist co-opting of Hip Hop culture and ask ourselves; is bigger always better? Is the success or importance of a culture judged by its ability to make money? Who owns Hip Hop now? Who controls it? Who uses it? Who sells it? Who consumes it? These are tough questions, big questions that change through time and geography. Since its birth, Hip Hop has spiralled out to wrap itself around the world as arguably the most influential cultural form of the last 40 years. On that journey, the culture itself has been used, experimented with – many would argue it was an experiment to start with – twisted, transformed and exploited through the powers of mass market capitalism in ways that its founders could never have imagined.

Speaking to a Senegalese, French arts worker the other day he said to me, “I can’t really dig the message or the music of what is in the charts today. For example, I used to like The Black Eyed Peas, but what happened? Look at Will I Am now making house songs with Justin Bieber, that’s not Hip Hop.” “I agree” I said “I really liked that Senegalese Hip Hop crew Daara J, they rhymed in Wolof, French and English yeah? There were so many Hip Hop crews in Senegal and one of the first and most famous French MCs who mixed Jazz and Hip Hop while sampling French artists like Serge Gainsbourg was..” “MC Solaar!” we said together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSG2qHBm7WM

Hip Hop has flourished in many unlikely settings worldwide. I have been lucky enough to produce a whole album with ex street kids in Tanzania, West Africa, all recorded in their language Ki-Swahili, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_gB9n2KjqA I have recorded songs with school students in Cambodia, sampling old Cambodian pop songs, recording their raps in Khmer and English. I’ve thrown down with Bboys on the streets of Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo, I have worked in remote Aboriginal communities all around Australia recording songs in a myriad of different languages https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zB_EoB-A9k I’ve been to Hip Hop Festivals in Rio and seen the amazing distinctive styles of Brazilian graffiti. All over the globe graffiti is there whether we like it or not, street artists like Adnate use graffiti to repopulate Australian cities with larger than life depictions of indigenous Australians. Sydney based graffiti artist and community Worker, Spice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW9Pnzl5mmk works with young people throughout Western Sydney; she was the opening act - as an MC - for Ice T when he first toured to Australia years back. Mentioning Spice brings me to another big question;

Where do women fit in Hip Hop?

Are they just there to shake their booty in the background of a Kendrick Lamar clip or can they rap themselves? Women have always been involved in Hip Hop, the founder of the first Hip Hop record label, Sugarhill Records, was Sylvia Robinson – she is often referred to as the mother of Hip Hop. The first female MC was Sha-Rock, who along with Lisa Lee and Debbie D formed Us Girls who starred in the seminal Hip Hop film “Beat Street” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkRPu8CUA_k One of the most famous pioneering graffiti artists was Lady Pink, she appeared in the classic Hip Hop film “Style Wars” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EW22LzSaJA

However, over the years, particularly after West Coast Gangster Hip Hop appeared, women started appearing as backup dancers in Hip Hop video clips wearing less and less clothing. LA MC Ice T, now an actor and member of black heavy metal group Body Count, is married to a porn star, so to argue that Hip Hop is a feminist movement would be a hard argument to mount indeed. However with women like Queen Latifah https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLvcx3Ja8XQ or locals such as Spice, there have always been strong role models to be found as well.

Phillipino Australian Bgirl Demi Sorono came fourth on “So You Think You Can Dance” starred in Australia’s first Hip Hop Feature Film “Survival Tactics” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZQB5 17d2P8 teaches in juvenile jails and performs nationally. Turkish-Mexican Australian MC Maya Jupiter hosts the Australian Hip Hop show on Triple J for years before moving to LA and continuing to use Cast of “Survival Tactics” Hip Hop as a tool of activism recently http://www.survivaltacticsmovie.com/wp- releasing a powerful song addressing the issue of rape. Sydney based all-female graffiti collective “Stay Fly”, with artists such as Thorn and Iresh, mount all female graffiti exhibitions and run workshops with young people in community centres. In LA, battle MCs like Gavlin represent while Butterscotch beatboxes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROgUkFCjVSw with Mike Patton and classical orchestras. In France, MC Pumpkin makes futuristic, soulful Hip Hop, in London DJ Sarah Love spins true school Hip Hop with Josie Styles on the wheels in Sydney. In the US, Bgirl Rokafella https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkj4N2sQltk performs at The White House and is one of the choreographers for the Netflix program “The Get Down”. In Melbourne, one of the most active Hip Hop producers on the scene bringing that boom bap sound to your ears is Sadiva.

Last week, just outside Melbourne I ran a workshop in Melton Library. An 11 year old South Sudanese girl called Nana wrote and recorded her first rap with the line “I’m a ghetto kid from the land down under, I rap so loud it sounds like thunder”. She left the room with a mad smile on her face, happy and proud of what she’d done, and that, for me, is real Hip Hop - Hip Hop You Don’t Stop! Title: ‘Humiliating’: Myanmar film industry mocks LGBT community Author: Nick Baker Area of Study: Popular Culture Additional notes: Reprinted from Myanmar Times, with permission of the author Link: https://www.mmtimes.com/lifestyle/26227-humiliating-myanmar-film-industry-mocks-lgbt- community.html Original date of publication: 1st June 2017

Additional course concepts: • power • authority • gender • identity • technologies • globalisation

Related depth study concepts: • commercialisation • consumption • ideology • commodification • change • institutional power • continuity • conflict • values

Focus study • the different perceptions of the popular culture: • groups that accept and reject the popular culture • changing perceptions and the value of the popular culture to groups in society • how the popular culture constructs or deconstructs gender

‘Humiliating’: Myanmar film industry mocks LGBT community

Every few weeks, Thamada Cinema in Yangon displays grand new billboards to promote the latest Myanmar film on offer. Larger-than-life characters strike larger-than-life poses. There’s the young male hero, the innocent girl, the brooding matriarch and – almost without fail – the bumbling LGBT character.

It’s usually an effeminate gay man or transgender woman, lost in silliness or a cringeworthy, semi-sexual position. In many local films screened inside Thamada and around the country, this is the only way LGBT people are portrayed: jesters, there for a laugh. “These characters in the movies wear funny clothes and act in exaggerated ways for comedic effect. They are often portrayed as incompetent, wacky characters,” U Aung Myo Min from LGBT rights group Equality Myanmar told Weekend.

As the country lurches forward through rapid social and economic changes, the dominant representation of the LGBT community in film remains stubbornly backward. Co-director of &PROUD and program director for Colors Rainbow LGBT Network Ko Hla Myat Tun bluntly said that the portrayal of LGBT characters in Myanmar films was “all negative”.

“[Filmmakers] are humiliating the LGBT community,” he said, adding that these portrayals make it difficult to promote “equality and non-discrimination”. “The censorship board of the Myanmar Motion Picture Organisation does not understand the concept of human rights for LGBT people.”

Weekend reached out to director of Myanmar Motion Picture Organisation Panchi Soe Moe who said that “due to the country’s political, economic, social and educational situations, people like to watch comedy movies which can entertain them”. “I have to say the censorship board usually goes with what the public and producers want.”

However, U Aung Myo Min stressed that these representations have a major effect on public understanding of the LGBT community: “It encourages the public to bully and mock LGBT people”.

But perhaps the most worrying element is how LGBT characters often end up disavowing their sexuality – to the delight of audience members. U Aung Myo Min said that LGBT men and women are “miraculously cured” and “turn straight at the end of the movies”. He said sometimes a gay or transgender person would simply touch a woman’s body and suddenly change their mind about their sexuality.

One recent example stands out: Kyi Kyi Kyal Kyal. Here, a transgender woman moves from the country to the city – only to ‘turn back’ into a heterosexual man and live happily ever after. “Many movies promote the misconception that homosexuality can be cured … It’s like being LGBT is a disease,” U Aung Myo Min said.

Weekend also talked to well-respected local filmmakers and film experts to get their opinion of more mainstream Myanmar offerings.Co-founder of the Wathann Film Festival – one of the country’s more renowned film events – Thaiddhi said LGBT people are usually portrayed as either “comic characters” or “sexual predators”.

He said this was especially the case in slapstick comedy films where “you can even see Myanmar Academy Award-winning actors and other leading actors portraying these stereotyped characters”.

“And these films are usually blockbusters so they have a big impact on our society. The way we see LGBT people is distorted because of these films.”

Filmmaker Lamin Oo, who was mentioned by President Barack Obama during a 2014 speech in Yangon, said he was disappointed that LGBT content here primarily consists of “male characters dressing up as women as a trick to get cheap laughs from the audience”.

“[There’s] zero understanding of the nature of their sexuality … I believe these films help to legitimise the stereotypes about LGBT people that are already prevalent in our society.” Lamin Oo cited progress in other national film markets around LGBT content, citing the recent “nuanced and touching” The Danish Girl and the “brilliant and funny” Filipino film Anita’s Last Cha Cha.

“I think it’s [such] a missed opportunity here because the stories of LGBT lives can become wonderful films,” he said.

“Myanmar has a long way to go”. Title: Women bear brunt of Natural Disasters Author: Nick Baker Area of Study: Social and Cultural Continuity and Change Additional notes: Reprinted from Myanmar Times, with permission of the author Link: https://www.mmtimes.com/national-news/22164-women-bear-brunt-of-natural-disasters.html Original date of publication: 26th August 2016

Integrated concepts The fundamental, additional and related concepts listed below are to be integrated across the study of Social and Cultural Continuity and Change. Fundamental course concepts: • persons • society • culture • environment • time

Additional course concepts: • power • authority • gender • identity • technologies • globalisation

Related core study concepts: • continuity and change • modernisation • sustainability • tradition • beliefs and values • empowerment • westernisation • cooperation and conflict

Contemporary context The following points are to be integrated across the study of Social and Cultural Continuity and Change: • use examples drawn from contemporary society

Women bear brunt of natural disasters

Women in Myanmar are worse affected than men by natural disasters and climate change, according to a major UN agency.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recently investigated this divide in Ayeyarwady Region villages that were heavily damaged by Cyclone Nargis in 2008 and continue to be hit with severe weather. Isabelle Louis, acting regional director and representative for UNEP Asia-Pacific, said women disproportionally lose their lives in storms and other disasters. “This is largely because of social and traditional norms that limit their ability to protect themselves and survive,” Ms Louis said.

She cited the town of Labutta, where “women’s responsibility for children, sick and elderly people [can] hinder their timely escape”. As such, research from the agency said women in coastal areas of Myanmar “live in constant dread of another monster sea storm”.

This assessment comes after the 2016 Global Climate Risk report named Myanmar as one of the countries most-affected by extreme weather events between 1995 and 2014. The bad news continued as the UNEP also found Myanmar women were expected to be more exposed to the growing consequences of climate change in the years ahead.

“Women predominate as fishers in coastal ecosystems, including mangroves, reefs, tidal flats and coastal estuaries, often gleaning and cultivating shellfish. Therefore, women have a high dependency on natural resources that are threatened by climate change,” Ms Louis said.

But the UNEP’s findings showed that although women are actively engaged in these industries, their role in these sectors is still not recognised and, as a result, they are “often excluded from climate change adaptation training for farmers and fishers”.

In response, material from the agency recommended that Myanmar “overcomes barriers that limit women’s access and their ability to borrow, invest or start a business as this could be a way for them to find alternative income sources to adapt to climate change”.

The UNEP assessment echoes previous international work on the relationship between gender and environmental disasters. A UN Women publication claims that “when disasters strike, women are more likely than men to die”, citing the 2004 Asian tsunami where 70 percent of the fatalities were women.

The climate change differentiation was perhaps best summed up by a negotiator at the 2015 Paris Agreement, Andrea Jacobs. “Climate change is not gender-neutral,” Ms Jacobs said. “[And many] women still lack knowledge about the negative impacts of climate change and how it affects the socioeconomics within the communities. There is a need for more public awareness.”

A woman holds her child in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, which devastated the Ayeyarwady Delta in May 2008. Photo: Thandar Khine

Title: Gendered Toy ads content analysis activity Author: Louise Dark, Newcastle High School Area of Study: Personal and Social Identity

The nature of the development of personal and social identity Students will develop knowledge and understanding of the nature of the development of personal and social identity through the study of:

• the development of personality, self-awareness and self-concept

• the development of identity and the social self

• the role of socialisation and the influence of agents of socialisation on the development of personal and social identity

• the influence of each of the following on the development of personal and social identity: − family and kinship − ethnicity and culture − gender − sexuality − beliefs − location, class and status − peers − school − media, including contemporary communication technologies

Watch ‘Gendered toy ads collection’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwysTF0NwvE)

Ads Male Female After viewing twice, and in Name of ad relation to your chosen and toy/product ads, answer the following depicted questions throughout the ads?

1. How do gender specific ads and toys Colours represented relay messages about throughout gender identity? the ads?

2. What kind of role might these Language used gendered toys play in throughout the ads? preparing children for in society?

3. Outline the ways in

Tone used which gender specific throughout the ads? toys and ads contribute to ideas

about gender roles and gender being

How does socially constructed. the ad target a specific gender or audience?

Additional links for comparison and discussion:

• https://www.buzzfeed.com/sarahburton/we-traded-gendered-bath-products-and-heres-what- happened?bffboz&utm_term=.aqLmj6kPnV#.fndVWrQjDP • Why gender specific toys are bad for kids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFPQYBDvU5I • Today tonight – gender toys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vU5GGtMhmo

TEDTALK: Beyond the Pink and Blue divide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdHJGH97vyo

Published on Nov 16, 2015: Elizabeth Sweet talks about gender and toys at a 2015 TEDx salon event at UC Davis.

Elizabeth Sweet is a sociologist whose research on gender, children’s toys, and social inequality examines this question. She has written about gender and toys for the New York Times and The Atlantic and her work has been featured in many national and international press outlets, including The Guardian, NPR, and MSNBC’s Melissa Harris- Perry Show. Born and raised just outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Elizabeth spent a decade living in Oregon before coming to Davis, California for graduate school. She teaches sociology at UC Davis and at Sacramento State and is currently working on a book based on her research. She is the proud mom of a 13-year-old daughter and three feisty cats.

Gender stereotypes and change: • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs: #likeagirl campaign • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIGyVa5Xftw: GoldieBlox – a toy company that set out to show the world that girls deserve more choices than dolls and princesses. This video depicts femininity as strong, depicting girls as building the future. • http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-24/regional-street-artists-lead-the-way-in-gender- equality/8554636 • https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/entertainment/heres-9-female-street-artists-taking-over-the- auss/926c00c8-3eaf-4c54-b4d9-b92eb0903c79.htm • http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-25/mackay-mens-group-teaches-young-men-to-be-men/8532440 • http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/axe-is-it-ok-for-guys_us_591c6507e4b0ed14cddb2c17

Title: Genderisation of colour: The Pink and Blue project Author: Katherine Dzida, Figtree High School Area of Study: Personal and Social Identity

The nature of the development of personal and social identity Students will develop knowledge and understanding of the nature of the development of personal and social identity through the study of:

• the development of personality, self-awareness and self-concept

• the development of identity and the social self

• the role of socialisation and the influence of agents of socialisation on the development of personal and social identity

The Pink and Blue Projects: Exploring the Genderisation of Color By Maria Popova

Full article: https://www.brainpickings.org/2009/12/11/pink- and-blue-project/ “Pink was once a color associated with masculinity, considered to be a watered down red and held the power associated with that color. In 1914, The Sunday Sentinel, an American newspaper, advised mothers to ‘use pink for the boy and blue for the girl, if you are a follower of convention.’ The change to pink for girls and blue for boys happened in America and elsewhere only after World War II.”

TEDTalent talk: Jeongmee Yoon: An artist explores little girls' love of pink https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFXMTUcUi44

1) Outline JeongMee Yoon’s project and what compelled her to do it.

2) “Yoon found that girls’ preference for pink and boys’ for blue was universal and widespread”. What did her research find that was the reason for this?

3) How have the associations of the colours pink and blue changed over time?

4) Explain the irony that occurred when the colours were swapped in an attempt for gender equality.

5) How do the images of the children make you feel? What does it make you think about?

6) Do you think society needs colours to symbolise the genders? Are colours an accurate representation of gender?

GENDER PERSONAL AND SOCIAL IDENTITY SYLLABUS DOT POINTS The nature of the development of personal and social identity Students will develop knowledge and understanding of the nature of the development of personal and social identity through the study of:

• the role of socialisation and the influence of agents of socialisation on the development of personal and social identity

• the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate WALT WILF ▪ Understand how secondary socialisation ▪ Written response on role of the gender in agents influence our sense of self the socialisation process CONCEPTS

IDENTIFY WHICH OF OUR FUNDAMENTAL, ADDITIONAL & RELATED CONCEPTS WILL APPLY

GENDER – THE SOCIETY & CULTURE DEFINITION ▪ The socially constructed differences between females and males. ▪ Social life – including family life, roles, work, behaviour and other activities – is organised around the dimensions of this difference. ▪ Gender also refers to the cultural ideals, identity and stereotypes of masculinity and femininity and the sexual division of labour in institutions and organisations. ▪ Gender reflects the values a society places on these social constructs, which are particular and unique to a society. THE SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FEMALES AND MALES ▪ Our masculinity or femininity (or both) is/are shaped by both biology and the experiences of our lives.

▪ Our biological sex IS NOT our gender.

▪ We are born with a ‘sex’ but we socially construct our gender. “As far as I’m concerned…any gender is a drag”. ▪ Patti Smith

▪ What do we think this means? FAMILY LIFE, ROLES, WORK, BEHAVIOUR ETC, ARE ORGANISED AROUND GENDER DIFFERENCE. Boys Girls HOW DO WE SOCIALLY CONSTRUCT THE DIFFERENCE?

What do we teach each to do?

How do we talk about each? WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF OUR TABLE? “If gender is constructed, could it be constructed differently, or does its constructedness imply some form of social determination?” ▪ Judith Butler

LIST THE DANGERS OF HAVING PRESCRIBED ROLES & LANGUAGE FOR EACH ▪ Remember, masculine/feminine are binary opposites. GENDER IDENTITY AND ‘PERFORMANCE’ ▪ … One is not born a woman, but rather becomes, a woman… (Simone de Beauvoir).

Ideas of masculinity and femininity are adopted and learnt throughout the socialisation process. Gender is performed as a social ritual, in other words, people perform or ‘do’ masculinity or femininity as though what they are doing comes naturally and is a part of their essential biological make up or gendered roles.

Judith Butler – Your behaviour creates your gender https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo7o2LYATDc IN WHICH ENVIRONMENTS ARE GENDER NORMS/STEREOTYPES MOST PROMINENT? ▪ ▪ ▪ Why ▪ these ▪ places, do you think? ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ FASHION ▪ We are socialised to understand that one of the best tools we have at our disposal in representing our social gender identity is, fashion. WHEN/HOW CAN WE CHALLENGE TRADITIONAL GENDERED FASHION NORMS/EXPECTATIONS? DISCUSS - HOW DO IDEAS OF GENDER HELP US DEVELOP OUR IDENTITY? ▪ Personal Identity:

▪ Social Identity: YOU CAN’T ASK THAT - TRANSGENDER

http://iview.abc.net. au/programs/you- cant-ask- that/LE1517H003S0 0#pageloaded DISCUSS - HOW DOES THE TRANS COMMUNITY DESTABILISE THE MALE/FEMALE BINARY? EXTENDED RESPONSE QUESTION (APPROX. 300 WORDS)

Relate cause and effect; make the relationships between things evident; provide why and/or how

Explain the role gender plays in the socialisation process. Title: The way we talk to girls and boys Author: Amanda Webb, Moorebank High School Area of Study: Personal and Social Identity

The nature of the development of personal and social identity Students will develop knowledge and understanding of the nature of the development of personal and social identity through the study of: • the development of personality, self-awareness and self-concept • the development of identity and the social self • the role of socialisation and the influence of agents of socialisation on the development of personal and social identity • the influence of each of the following on the development of personal and social identity: − family and kinship − ethnicity and culture − gender − sexuality − beliefs − location, class and status − peers − school − media, including contemporary communication technologies • the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate

The way we talk to girls and boys

Fundamental course concepts: Additional course concepts: Related depth study concepts:

 persons  power  the self and self-concept  society  authority  social construct  culture  gender  socialisation  identity

Task Read the article ‘The way we talk to girls is different to the way we talk to boys’ (SMH, 2017) and answer the Know/Use/Apply questions 1-12

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/news-and-views/opinion/the-way-we-talk-to-girls-is-different- from-the-way-we-talk-to-boys-20170123-gtwwm4.html

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L E P E gendered Consider your meso world and provide three examples of gendered rhetoric larger gender norms stereotypes? and Select a quote from the article that suggests boys socially are constructed as active and girls are socially Consider your micro world and provide three more examples of Who is authorthe of article? the Why do you think the authorwas happy to her house? Consider our Read and annotate the extract from Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble paragraph in response to the Explain, using examples, how terms the used for author’s the three year old boy make his behaviour seem moreacceptable than those used for girl. old year five her Describe the difference in the qualities associated wi What is article the about? Where has the article been published? boy in the womb compared to those for a girl. Why does try author the herhardest tell not she to is her daughter that selfish? class, using then her work article, the and write a PEEL

11. 12. 9. 10. 6. 8. 5. 2. 3. 4. 7. 1.

How have we constructed the socially acceptable male/female through through male/female acceptable socially the constructed we have How discourse*?

like media, politics, medicine, law, and education— Know Use Apply http://sociology.about.com/od/Ask mainstream (dominant discourses), and stigmatized, and considered wrong, extreme, dangerous. and even Sociologists see discourseas embedded in and emerging out of relationspower, of becausethose in control of — institutions knowledge are intimately connected, and work together to hierarchies. create ourrelationships lives, others,society. think know. with In this sense, to and shapes are thus able and we what It sociologists frame discourse as a productive force because it shapes our thoughts, ideas, beliefs, values,tities, iden interactionswith our others, behavio and Discourse refers think to how and communicate we about people, things, theial organis soc relationshipsbetween among all and Discourse three. typically politics (among others), by virtue and structure of giving and order toand though languaget, it structures orders and *Discourse

#technologyandgender

• Choose from ONE of the following topics related to the interaction of technology and gender.

o #likeagirl o #2amillioncampaign o #whereismyname o #redrawthebalance o #mansplaining o #redefinemasculinity o #metoo

• Complete the following questions (all that can be applied) using your # • Prepare a one-page fact sheet with images, screenshots of # comments and information related to your #

1. Research the meaning behind the chosen # 2. How popular or influential do you think your chosen # has been? 3. What are some of the changes that may occur as a result of this #? 4. Can you identify any catalysts (reasons/causes) for these changes? 5. Which changes are positive and which are negative? Justify your response 6. Can you identify any continuity within your chosen #? 7. Can you link this # to any of the ‘i-sations’? 8. Can you apply a theory of social change to this #? 9. What are the main SAC concepts that apply to this #?

Syllabus dot point: Contemporary context

• examine the impact of technologies, including communication technologies, on continuity and change

Title: Women’s Resistance to Change Author: Katherine Dzida, Figtree High School Area of Study: Social and Cultural Continuity and Change

Additional course concepts: • power • authority • gender • identity • technologies • globalisation

Related core study concepts: • continuity and change • modernisation • sustainability • tradition • beliefs and values • empowerment • westernisation • cooperation and conflict

Contemporary context The following points are to be integrated across the study of Social and Cultural Continuity and Change: • use examples drawn from contemporary society

Women’s resistance to change

Watch: https://youtu.be/WBeC5IS_YB4

Women across Poland are holding a general strike to protest the country’s abortion ban

By Marta Waldoch and Laura Colby 04/10/2016 Thousands of women to demonstrate in front of the Polish parliament against a legislative project that will effectively outlaw all abortions. Source: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/news-and-views/news-features/women-across-poland-are- holding-a-general-strike-to-protest-the-countrys-abortion-ban-20161003-grtjna.html

Extract from the article: Polish women are wielding their economic clout to protest a proposed law that would ban abortion in this Catholic-dominated country of 38 million.

Almost 100,000 women planned to miss work on Monday following a call to action by actress Krystyna Janda, best known for her roles in films by Oscar- winning film director Andrzej Wajda. The 63-year-old theatre director said she terminated two pregnancies that were life-threatening, telling Radio Zet this week that Polish "women are absolutely left out" of the debate over what they can People attend the anti-government, pro-abortion demonstration in and can't do with their own front of Polish Parliament in Warsaw. bodies.

After watching the clip and reading the article, complete the following questions:

1. What is the change? 2. What is the catalyst of the change? 3. Is the change positive or negative? Justify your response 4. Identify the type of change – evolutionary, transformative or is there a resistance to change? 5. Can you identify continuity? 6. Could you consider the change progress? 7. Who/which groups benefit? Who/which groups don’t? 8. Can you link this change to any of the ‘isations’? 9. Which SAC concepts apply to this article/issue?

Specific article questions:

10. How are issues of power and authority affecting the rights of women in Poland? 11. What do you think will happen in the future? Why? Title: Kardashians – Commercialising Gender

Author: Amanda Webb, Moorebank High School Area of Study: Popular Culture

Students examine Keeping up with the Kardashians (drawn from the genre of television series) and its global acceptance by examining:

• the creation and development of the popular culture: − the role of mythology in the creation and perpetuation of the popular culture • the consumption of the popular culture: − the relationship of heroes and mythology to media and consumption • the different perceptions of the popular culture: − how the popular culture constructs or deconstructs gender

Syllabus Outcomes H1 evaluates and effectively applies social and cultural concepts H3 analyses relationships and interactions within and between social and cultural groups H9 applies complex course language and concepts appropriate for a range of audiences and contexts H10 communicates complex information, ideas and issues using appropriate written, oral and graphic forms

Context For The Task

This assessment task will examine how Keeping Up With the Kardashians constructs gender using the research method of content analysis. Students will analyse both the content and consumption of the popular culture in order to comment on the contribution of the popular culture to social change.

The Task: Parts a, b and c

Part A (10 marks):

Students are to view TWO episodes of Keeping Up With the Kardashians and complete a content analysis sheet for each. The content analysis will target the following syllabus dot-points:

− the relationship of heroes and mythology to media and consumption − how the popular culture constructs or deconstructs gender. Part B (15 marks): Students are to analyse the data from their content analysis, and write up their findings in report format. They should use their data to make judgements on how Keeping Up With the Kardashians constructs, perpetuates and/or deconstructs notions of gender (specifically, femininity) through heroes* and mythology**.

*Heroes are the champions of your pop culture, like Kim and Kourtney of the Kardashians, they serve to provide a connection to the legacy of the show, and a role model for fans. **Mythology is the beliefs and narratives attached to the pop culture that give meaning to the content of the pop culture. Words: 600 approx. Part C (20 marks): Students are to respond to the following question:

To what extent does the commercialisation* of gender in Keeping Up With the Kardashians express contemporary social values? * The process of adding value to an idea, product or commodity with the aim of selling it and making a profit. Commercialisation is about preparing the item for sale and making money from it. The success of commercialisation often relies on marketing and advertising. Words: 1000 approx.

Rubric:

In your answers you will be assessed on how well you:

• demonstrate knowledge and understanding relevant to the question • apply course concepts and language appropriate to this Depth Study • analyse relationships within and between social and cultural groups • present a sustained, logical and cohesive response

Supporting Information:

• You should use relevant examples from your content analysis in both Part B and Part C.

• The ‘to what extent’ directive asks you to make a qualified judgement on how much.

Keeping Up With the Kardashians – Content Analysis 1 Episode Scene/Chapter or General statement about Social issue(s) Cinematic feature(s) Related course How does the example construct, time type of content addressed used to enhance concept(s) perpetuates and/or deconstruct (what’s happening in the Hero? message notions of gender, e.g. femininity scene?) Myth? (consumption, i.e. Gender? cinematic feature are concerned with how the view gets the message)

Keeping Up With the Kardashians – Content Analysis 2 Episode Scene/Chapter or General statement about type Social issue(s) Cinematic feature(s) Related course How does the example construct, time of content addressed used to enhance concept(s) perpetuates and/or deconstruct (what’s happening in the Hero? message notions of gender, e.g. femininity scene?) Myth? (consumption, i.e. Gender? cinematic feature are concerned with how the view gets the message)

Part A - Content Analysis Sheets (10)

• Presents two content analysis sheets for two separate episodes, with at least 10 examples on each 8-10 • All categories are complete for each • Information is comprehensive, yet succinct • Shows deep understanding of course concepts • Presents two content analysis sheets for two separate episodes, with 5-10 examples on each 6-7 • Most categories are complete for each example • Information is descriptive • Shows understanding of course concepts • Presents one/two content analysis sheets for one/two separate episodes, with at least 10 4-5 examples in total • Most categories are complete for each example • Information is descriptive • Shows some understanding of course concepts • Presents one/two content analysis sheets for one/two separate episodes, with 1-5 examples 1-3 • Some categories are complete for each example • Information is basic or limited • May mention course concepts Feedback

Part B - Evaluation of content analysis (15)

• Demonstrates comprehensive use of content analysis data to inform judgements 12-15 • Demonstrates a high level of understanding of the construction of gender through heroes and mythology • Makes informed judgement(s) about how cinematic features contribute to meaning • Presents a sustained, logical and cohesive response • Effectively applies a range of concepts, language and appropriate examples

• Demonstrates thorough use of most content analysis data to inform judgements 8-11 • Demonstrates a sound understanding of the construction of gender through heroes and mythology • Makes judgement(s) about how cinematic features contribute to meaning • Presents a logical and cohesive response • Applies a range of concepts, language and appropriate examples

• Demonstrates use of some content analysis data to inform judgements 4-7 • Demonstrates a some understanding of the construction of gender through heroes and mythology • Attempts to makes judgement(s) about how cinematic features contribute to meaning • Presents a mostly logical response • Uses course concepts, language and may include examples

• Demonstrates limited use of content analysis data to inform judgements 1-3 • Demonstrates a limited understanding of the construction of gender through heroes and mythology • May use course concepts, language and/or may include examples

Feedback

What I like about your work is…

And it would be even better if…

Because…

Part C - Extended Response (20)

• Demonstrates a thorough understanding of how the commercialisation of gender in the show express 17–20 contemporary social values • Makes informed judgement(s) about the extent to which the commercialisation of gender in the show express contemporary social values • Presents a sustained, logical and cohesive response • Effectively applies the course concepts and language • Effectively integrates appropriate examples throughout • Demonstrates a sound understanding of how the commercialisation of gender in the show express 13–16 contemporary social values • Makes judgement(s) about the extent to which the commercialisation of gender in the show express contemporary social values • Presents a logical and cohesive response • Applies relevant course concepts and language • Integrates appropriate examples throughout • Demonstrates some understanding of how the commercialisation of gender in the show express 9–12 contemporary social values • Makes a limited judgement about the extent to which the commercialisation of gender in the show express contemporary social values • Presents an organised response, using some course concepts and language • Uses examples • Provides a limited understanding of how the commercialisation of gender in the show express 5–8 contemporary social values • Uses some course concepts and language • May use example(s) • Mentions commercialisation of gender and/or social values 1–4 • May use course concepts Feedback

What I like about your work is…

And it would be even better if…

Because…

Title: Assessment task: Contemporary values and contribution to social change Author: Amanda Newell, Clancy Catholic College Area of Study: Popular Culture Additional information: This assessment task includes helpful reference links that may assist students in developing ideas related to contemporary issues specific to gender within the genre of Reality TV (Dating and Marriage)

Focus study: Students are to examine ONE popular culture that conforms to the distinguishing characteristics and has a global acceptance by examining:

the creation and development of the popular culture: • the origins of the popular culture • the development of the popular culture from a local to a global level • the process of commodification for the popular culture • the role of mythology in the creation and perpetuation of the popular culture • continuities and changes to the popular culture the consumption of the popular culture: • the consumers of the popular culture and the nature of its consumption • the relationship of heroes and mythology to media and consumption • how globalisation and technologies have influenced consumption • the relationship of access and consumption to age, class, ethnicity, gender, location, sexuality • how consumption and ownership of paraphernalia influence a sense of identity the control of the popular culture: • the ownership of the popular culture and the tensions between consumers and producers • the stakeholders and how they influence the popular culture – family, peer groups, media, marketers, governments, global groups • the role and impact of official and unofficial censorship • the influence of power and authority at the micro, meso and macro levels the different perceptions of the popular culture: • groups that accept and reject the popular culture • changing perceptions and the value of the popular culture to groups in society • how the popular culture constructs or deconstructs gender the contribution of the popular culture to social change: • how the popular culture expresses contemporary social values • the positive and negative impact of the popular culture on wider society • the ways in which the popular culture has contributed to social change.

School ______School Logo Task Number ____ Year 12 HSC: Society and Culture ______Extended Response: Hand-in

GENERAL DETAILS

Task number - Weighting – 20% Total marks – 20 Total Word Length - 1500 words Date issued - Due date - Please note: All first drafts received via email after 5pm on FRIDAY 14th June will not be responded to via email.

OUTCOMES TO BE ASSESSED

A student; H1 evaluates and effectively applies social and cultural concepts H2 explains the development of personal, social and cultural identity H3 analyses relationships and interactions within and between social and cultural groups H5 analyses continuity and change and their influence on personal and social futures H7 selects, organises, synthesises and analyses information from a variety of sources for usefulness, validity and bias H9 applies complex course language and concepts appropriate for a range of audiences and contexts H10 communicates complex information, ideas and issues using appropriate written, oral and graphic forms

CONTEXT FOR THE TASK

As part of the Depth Study: Popular Culture, students have been engaging in a focus study of ONE popular culture: dating and marriage reality television. Through the focus study students have been able to examine the specific features of popular culture and apply them to dating and marriage reality television. An essential component of a popular culture is the ability to provide a communicative medium through which contemporary social values can be constructed, deconstructed, explored, reinforced, debated and even challenged. Dating and marriage reality shows allow for contemporary issues surrounding dating and marriage to be explored in wider society with both positive and negative impacts.

In particular, students are being asked to construct informed judgements in relation to the capacity of dating and marriage reality television as a genre to contribute to social change across various contemporary issues related to dating and marriage both nationally and internationally.

TASK DESCRIPTION

Your task is to research and write an extended response (1500 words) to the following question:

To what extent does ONE popular culture express contemporary values that contribute to social change?

In your response, you should address the following the points:

● The nature of dating and marriage reality television as a form of popular culture.

● Specific examples of contemporary values expressed in dating and marriage reality television.

● The ability of dating and marriage reality television shows to have a positive and/or negative impact on wider society through the contemporary values promoted in them.

● The extent to which dating and marriage reality television expresses contemporary values that may or may not contribute to social change.

TASK RUBRIC

You will be assessed on your ability to:

● demonstrate knowledge and understanding relevant to the question ● construct informed and sustained judgement(s) in relation to the extent to which ONE popular culture expresses contemporary values that contribute to social change ● apply course concepts and language appropriate to the Depth Study ● analyse relationships within and between social and cultural groups ● present a sustained, logical and cohesive response ● accurately reference all secondary sources using footnotes. Please see Macquarie University Modern History Footnoting guide for more details:

http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/faculties_and_departments/faculty_of_arts/mhpir/current_studen ts/writing_essays_in_history/

HELPFUL LINKS https://theconversation.com/scarcity-and-sexism-does-watching-the-bachelor-make-you-a-bad-feminist-47417 https://theconversation.com/how-the-bachelor-turns-women-into-misogynists-62423 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18745.Female_Chauvinist_Pigs https://theconversation.com/saying-i-dont-to-reality-tv-romance-25788 https://theconversation.com/if-you-are-the-one-and-the-bachelor-know-how-to-get-to-us-we-all-fear-dying-alone-49053 https://theconversation.com/married-at-first-sight-latest-reality-tv-show-poses-as-social-experiment-44056 https://theconversation.com/rupauls-tranny-debate-the-limits-and-power-of-language-27220 MARKING RUBRIC

Through the completion of the extended response, the student has been able to:

Outcome E D C B A 0 – 4 5 – 8 9 – 12 13 – 16 17 – 20

H2 Make reference to Demonstrate a Demonstrate some Demonstrate a sound Demonstrate a thorough H5 popular culture limited understanding of understanding of how understanding of how and/or understanding of how ONE popular ONE popular culture ONE popular culture contemporary popular culture culture expresses expresses contemporary expresses contemporary values and/or and/or contemporary values that contribute to values that contribute to change. contemporary values that social change. social change values and/or social contribute to social change. change.

H1 Make reference to Make statements Make a limited Make a judgement(s) Construct an informed H3 popular culture relating to popular judgement about about the extent to and sustained H5 and/or culture and/or the extent to which which ONE popular judgement(s) about the contemporary contemporary ONE popular culture culture expresses extent to which ONE values and/or values and/or social expresses contemporary values popular culture change. change. contemporary that contribute to social expresses contemporary values that change. values that contribute to contribute to social social change. change.

H7 Make direct or Use limited Use accurate Apply accurate and Synthesise accurate and indirect reference information from information from detailed information detailed information to secondary secondary sources reliable secondary from a range of from a range of sources. as evidence. sources as evidence. secondary sources as secondary sources into supporting evidence supporting evidence drawn from relevant drawn from relevant micro, meso and macro micro, meso and macro levels of society. levels of society.

H9 Use a course Use some Use course concepts Apply a range of relevant Integrate a range of concept or term. appropriate course and terms related to course concepts and complex course concepts concepts and terms. the question. terms relevant to the and language relevant to question. the question.

H10 Present a Present a response Present a generally Present a logical and Present a sustained, response that may with some elements well-structured cohesive extended logical and cohesive be disjointed of an extended extended response response, with extended response with and/or very brief. response. with some attempts consistent footnoting accurate and consistent at referencing. throughout. footnoting of secondary materials throughout.

Title: Spotlight on Popular Culture (Reality Television Genre) – Part 2: Social Surrogacy

Author: Kate Thompson, Aurora College

Area of Study: Popular Culture

Information about this resource: This is the second section of a four- part series (Part 1 featured in Culture-Scope Vol. 109 and discussed the creation and development and, the role of mythology in the creation and perpetuation of the genre). See table below for information regarding Part 2: Social Surrogacy.

The consumption of reality TV

Consumers of reality TV Television is such a pervasive phenomenon in families today 1 and has remained the major form of entertainment and source of news for some time now. People spend 43 percent of their media time with television, watching on average 21.5 hours per week (100 hours per month in 2012). This compares to 14.2 hours for radio, 10.7 hours for the internet, 3.3 hours for newspapers and 1.7 hours per week for magazines.

The figures echo OzTAM and regional TAM official ratings data that show in 2008 Australians on average spent 3 hours 8 minutes a day watching television in metropolitan markets, and 3 hours 21 minutes a day in regional markets. Since 2000 the proportion of this time spent watching reality programs is likely to have increased as scheduling sequences have become saturated during prime time.

Time spent viewing, regardless of time of day or gender, increases steadily from the age of 25 with people aged 65+ being the biggest consumers of television across the board. With the exception of the 0–13 and 14– 17 age groups, women spent more time in 2011 viewing free-to-air television in the evenings (6pm– midnight) and daily (2am–2am) than men in both metropolitan and regional markets.

Average daily viewing in regional markets was stronger (3:13 hours) than metropolitan markets (2:51 hours). Evening viewing was also strongest in regional markets as well (1:51 hours), although by a narrower margin (metropolitan viewing 1:43 hours)2.

Like many other popular cultures, the target market of reality TV is the younger demographic. This was particularly the case for Big Brother leading viewers in the 5 – 49 age bracket. The median age for viewers was 30 years old and 80% of the audience was over 15. Older viewers don’t really like reality shows as much as younger viewers, yet they are needed to deliver larger audiences to advertisers. Border Security most the popular reality TV program with those aged 50 – 64 years at the time of an ACMA survey in 2007.3 Gender and strength of religious belief were not relevant in predicting whether a person was likely to watch reality television or not. But all viewers tended to be ‘flighty’, meaning they will look one TV program and decide to move on quickly.4

Activities

1. Identify the consumers of The Bachelor, The Block and/or MasterChef. 2. Television is considered a pervasive phenomenon – do you think reality TV is considered that too? Provided reasons for your answer. 3. Provide reasons you think older people like reality shows such as Border patrol. 4. Examine the pie graph and construct another two predicting what the proportions will look be in 2015 and 2020. 5. Design and administer a questionnaire to determine your class’s consumption of reality TV. Graph your results and analyse your finding. Use an online survey tool such as surveyplanet.

1 Christopher et al (1989) ‘Family Television Viewing: Implications for Family Life Education’ in Family Relations, National Council on Family Relations, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 210-214 2 Screen Australia, Audio Visual markets – Television accessed on 13/3/13 at URL http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/research/statistics/tvviewingftv.aspx 3 ACMA (2007) Reality Television Review: Volume 1, Final Report’, Australian Government, March 30 4 Brown, M. (2004) ‘The truth behind reality TV’ in The Guardian, May 31 2004 The nature of reality TV consumption It is widely accepted that children under 5 years may confuse fiction and reality on television. For adults, thinking processes and memories may also be affected by the media as the lines between the real world and reality shows becomes blurred. Adult perceptions of reality are also based on what could have happened. Many adults will consider a situation real if the scenario is plausible and if it follows a logical sequence.5 Some viewers subconsciously activate a ‘suspension of disbelief’ and immerse themselves in the action or storyline as it develops. This causes them to forget the participants are surrounded by camera crew, sound crew, setting technicians and directors. But adults must remain aware that reality TV series such as Survivor, Amazing Race and My Kitchen Rules are created and highly edited to attract the most viewers possible.6

Audience interactivity with program content extends the traditional ‘lean back’ experience of television viewing into a more active ‘lean forward’ activity through computer technology. 7 According to one researcher, the audiences tend to progress through several stages when following reality programs8 (refer to diagram).

Stages of interactivity when engaging with reality TV

Sequential Simultaneous activities Merged activity experience (watch a (interact online program then (watching and while watching interact with interaction in 1 2 program on TV 3 content online) the same medium)

Illusionary relationships with the characters and personalities on consumers’ favourite TV shows, including reality TV, can provide those people with feelings of belonging. This is known as social surrogacy – meaning humans can use technologies like television to satisfy their experience of belonging when in real life, this hasn’t happened. 9 This theory claims that when people may have low self-esteem or have been rejected by friends and family they are able to turn on the television and feel better about themselves and their life. Research by the University at Buffalo and University of Ohio found evidence for this hypothesis but questioned, does TV suppress feelings of belonging or does it actually fulfil them? The answer may be suppression, although social surrogacy is considered a poor substitution for real human interaction.

Cognitive priming is another process that can take place whilst consuming TV. Such grooming of the brain means the aggressive ideas seen in violent scenes have the ability to activate other aggressive thoughts in

5 Pitner, S. (2009) ‘How Media constructs Reality Television shows: do they depict real life or fiction?’ accessed via Media Literacy Suite on 27/10/10 at URL http://www.suite101.com/content/how-media-constructs-reality-television- shows-a98159 6 ibid 7 Baltruschat, D. (2009) Reality TV formats: the case of Canadian Idol’ in Canadian Journal of Communication 34(1) pp 41 – 59 accessed on 18/3/13 at URL http://www.u.arizona.edu/~karaj/GPSC/Wk1CanadianJournal.pdf 8 Murray (1997) in Baltruschat, D. (2009) Reality TV formats: the case of Canadian Idol’ in Canadian Journal of Communication 34(1) pp 41 – 59 accessed on 18/3/13 at URL http://www.u.arizona.edu/~karaj/GPSC/Wk1CanadianJournal.pdf 9 Author unknown (2009) ‘A warm TV can drive away feelings of loneliness and rejection’ in Psychology and Sociology, April 22 accessed via E-Science News at URL http://esciencenews.com/articles/2009/04/22/a.warm.tv.can.drive.away.feelings.loneliness.and.rejection viewers. 10 When one thought is activated, other thoughts that are strongly connected through their association in memory pathways are also activated. Immediately after a violent film, the viewer is primed to respond aggressively because a network of memories involving aggression is retrieved. Therefore if this theory was to be applied to anti-social or negative behaviours consistently evident in reality TV, programs such as Real Crime, would those consumers with high levels of consumption have a higher potential to behave in a negative manner?

Some people see the social value in self-improvement reality TV programs such as The Biggest Loser, Jamie’s Kitchen and The Apprentice but at the same time tend not to take programs too seriously.11 It is noteworthy, that many respondents to an ACMA survey were surprised at the nature of reality TV participants, specifically how good-humoured and resilient they were.

The success of reality TV is dependant to some extent on what is known as schadenfreude. This is a German term with no English equivalent, meaning to seek enjoyment from others misfortune or humiliation. It is particularly evident on reality talent search shows such as Australia’s Got Talent, Australian Idol, So You think You Can Dance and X-Factor where audition bloopers, performance mishaps, hideous pitches, woeful routines and other embarrassing moments are filmed and broadcast purely for viewers’ enjoyment and satisfaction in order to boost ratings.

But what is it that consumers like about reality TV? Is it really because there’s an element of schadenfreude or is there more to it? An ACMA study in 2007 surveyed 702 people about what they enjoy most when watching reality television and found that most people (23%) stated ‘nothing’. It should be noted that such a response is different to an inability to identify what exactly it is they like. This indicated an appeal to consumers about the everyday nature of reality TV content. While some find it entertaining (20%), others liked the use of real people (14%) and the ability to promote inspirational or positive values (9%).

A key component of consuming reality TV is voyeurism. By watching other people closely a degree of intrigue sets in. As the anonymity of the viewer contrasted with the intimate and personal portrayals of the participants grows further apart, so do notions of reality, blurring the distinction between what is acceptable and what is not, what is right and what is wrong. The long terms effects of developing a surveillance type culture have not yet been documented. Are we seeing voyeurism on a macro scale? Will it lead to real invasions of privacy or worse, moral decay?

Whilst watching reality TV we all either consciously or sub-consciously engage in a process of self- comparison. We select people who are better than us (though not by much) and compare our outcome to theirs – we call this upward comparison. Research has frequently examined this process in schools. Students who downward compare, seeking to feel better because “at least I didn’t do as bad as _____ on the exam” actually did worse on later exams. Those who do upward comparisons, however, end up doing better. What does this all mean? While upward comparisons are useful in terms of self-improvement, downward comparisons make us feel good about ourselves. This has implications for who we become close to and how we treat our friends when they succeed. We often celebrate the accomplishments of our friends – but not when they are in a domain that we think is our specialty.

Finally, when audiences watch reality TV they are not only watching for entertainment, they are also engaged in critical viewing of the attitudes and behaviour of ordinary people in the programs and the ideas and practices of the producers and consumers. Constantly questioning authenticity of such behaviours has been documented in reality TV studies by Catherine Lumby at the University of Sydney.

10 Berkowitz (1984) in Felson, R. (1996) ‘Mass Media Effects on Violent Behaviour’ in Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 22, pp. 103-128 11 ACMA (2007) Reality Television Review: Volume 1, Final Report’, Australian Government, March 30

Activities

1. Outline what is meant by the term ‘suspension of disbelief’. 2. Critique the theory of social surrogacy. 3. Is cognitive priming a legitimate excuse for violence? Why/why not? 4. Define voyeurism. Is this a positive or negative cultural trait? 5. Have you changed your viewing habits of reality TV? Use personal reflection to analyse your own levels of self-comparison with reality TV contestants. 6. Watch a few episodes of different reality TV programs (particularly the auditions in talent search shows). Comment on the extent of ‘schadenfreude’ evident throughout. Do more successful programs eliminate this ‘schadenfreude’? 7. How has reality television contributed to your socialisation?

The relationship of heroes and mythology to media and consumption of reality TV Reality TV creates a number of myths, in particular the myth that fame and money bring happiness. Winners of Idol and X-Factor have guaranteed short term success with record deals. Why does reality TV have such an enormous following? Do we love watching others being humiliated and deprived? Or is it simply just because we think ‘that could be me’?

Contestants are carefully hand-picked from thousands of applicants and branded by things such as their occupation such as in the case of Survivor, The Bachelor and The Apprentice, every time they are interviewed. It also allows the viewer to stereotype the typical carpenter, waitress or lawyer for example, and judge their comments or behaviours according to a predetermined standard in the viewers mind.

The internet’s increasingly global culture means TV struggles to match the internet’s ability to tell culturally specific stories. Yet culture is crucial to consider when distinguishing between fantasy/ reality distinctions. "Truth varies across acceptable social groups and ... essentially the same belief can be judged as a delusion or a non delusion depending on the social conditions of the believer.... Different epistemologies yield different facts, different truths, different realities"12

Gendered images circulate in society through many institutions and reality TV is no exception. Footage is strategically edited to portray some people as the stereotypes that producers would have them represent. Regardless of the program genre, women are portrayed as being weak, highly emotional, nags and helpless during problematic times. In the same way, men are often portrayed as overly masculine, violent and aggressive.

Stories and characters often take on a life of their own and give rise to fads and fans in the ‘real’ world. Feminists have criticized prevailing cultural constructions of women as victims.13 On television, women and children are depicted as being vulnerable to criminals, who are usually men. In 2013 My Kitchen Rules on the Seven Network was accused of portraying people from an ethnic background as villains. 14

12 Taylor, M. (1997) The Role of Creative Control and Culture in Children's Fantasy/Reality Judgments’ in Child Development, Blackwell Publishing Vol. 68, No. 6, pp. 1015-1017 13 Cavendar et al (1999) ‘The Construction of Gender in Reality Crime TV’ in Gender and Society, Sage Publications, Vol. 13, No. 5, pp. 643-663 14 Vickery, C (18/2/13) My Kitchen Rules is not racist, says Channel Seven, News Limited Network accessed via URL http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/television/my-kitchen-rules-is-not-racist-says-channel-seven/story- e6frfmyi-1226580346334#ixzz2Mc1KHH4X Now, try to answer the question below from the 2012 HSC exam paper. Marking guidelines can be found on the BOSTES website.

Heroes refers to the portrayal of characters with sound values and high morals. They triumph over evil, save others from peril, have power and are in control of the situation. In series like Survivor this is certainly the case. Careful editing builds a picture about participants where snippets of comments out of context, a ‘look’ and good or bad actions are played over and over again just to get viewers hooked for the following week, therefore increasing consumption and profit. And viewers fall for it time after time.

Some people do ‘live on’ as the term heroes connotes. As one researcher puts it, ‘wanna be celebrities could build a platform from which to launch an entirely new career. Year after year we saw season after season of these hopefuls become more and more strange and needy, vying for our attention, with their career prospects after the show becoming bleaker every time. ’15 Interestingly though, some reality TV stars are famous for doing nothing...they’re just famous. However, some reality TV contestants have been rather successful and continue to be in the public eye. For example:

• Blair McDonough from Big Brother was cast in Neighbours • Johnny Ruffo from X-Factor was cast in Home and Away • Trevor Butler from Big Brother got a job at a Gold Coast radio Station • Guy Sebastian from Australian Idol has enjoyed continued success and prominence plus became a judge on X-Factor • Jessica Mauboy from Australian Idol played a lead role in the movie The Sapphires

The Voice was a unique approach to a reality program where searching for talent was purely based on a contestant’s voice rather than their age and appearance. Judges decided on which contestants made ‘the cut’ through blind auditions where appearance was ignored. This dispelled myths about people and why they were selected (i.e. on the basis of talent alone) and most viewers appreciated the honesty and fresh approach.

There is one truth that pervades all TV - good is equated to beauty and evil to ugliness, and that fame and money bring happiness.

Activities

1. Distinguish between mythology and heroes. 2. Would a reality show work if each character was a counter-stereotype? 3. Do you believe reality TV shapes ethnic images? Explain 4. Outline the myths as portrayed on reality TV about different genders and different professions. 5. Explain how ‘The Voice’ attempted to avoid stereotyping contestants.

The media is a powerful player in propagating television. Mass media, and television in particular, have become a major agent of socialization in modern society. Values, attitudes and beliefs can be developed in

15 Higgins, C. (2009) Reality TV – a noughties phenomenon: How voyeur television took over the 2000s’ accessed via Media Literacy Suite on 27/10/10 viewers as they follow their favourite programs. The most watched weekly television in 2009 in Australia was Packed to the Rafters which attracted 2 million viewers and the Biggest Loser which had 1.7 million for the 2009 final.16 Now the most popular shows are My Kitchen Rules and The Block which regularly attract over 1 million viewers each episode. But does this mean the depicted interactions and values from these programs are adopted into people’s lives? If so, as a society, we’d want some positive values and progressive themes to shine through... in fact, all forms of the mass media strongly emphasize traditional gender roles.

But perpetuating conflict is one of the easiest and most cost effective methods media can use to entice the ‘grazers’ to watch. Grazers are those people who constantly flick channels using the remote control device so they actually ‘watch little, but see lots’. It’s a very post-modern type of behaviour where a barrage of images is the experience.

The media deliberately directs grazer’s attention to novel forms of violent behaviour they might not otherwise consider. There are even documented cases in which bizarre events on television are followed by similar events in the real world; the similarities seem too great to be coincidental. In addition, hijackings and political violence tend to occur in waves.17

The news media even reports on reality TV shows and the controversy created by contestants. One example is that of a gay contestant who ‘came out’ on Big Brother and was subsequently the subject of Australian Story, aired 1 November, 2010. Auditions for reality TV shows are also advertised in print media, as well as on television, radio and websites. They promise interested youth a slice of their celebrity dream.

News media emphasises information through a quick-paced and highly repetitive news anchor presentation. Additional information is also readily available through flashy text scrolling simultaneously at the bottom of the screen. Furthermore, quick segues to supplemental video or satellite footage is often accompanied by colourful graphics and sound effects.18 Reality TV programs have adopted some of these attention-grabbing techniques to generate and maintain consumer interest. The barrage of images from different camera angles, the used of music and montages are evident in programs such as Big Brother, Farmer wants a wife and Australian idol.

The media, and television in particular, distorts knowledge about the dangers and threats present in the real world, creating unrealistic fear19. The continual representation of traumatic events, in reality programs such as NT Cops and RPA can serve to create an underlying sense of fear in viewers about medical conditions and safety respectively.

Research shows that heavy television viewers are more distrustful of others and overestimate their chances of being criminally victimized. 20 This notion that television viewing fosters a distrust of others and a misconception of the world as dangerous has been referred to as the cultivation effect.21 This principle can be applied to reality TV programs such as Border Security, The Mole and Cheaters where participants are viewed with a harsh degree of scepticism, ultimately being accused of not behaving in a genuine manner that is beneficial to others.

Activities

16 Idato, M. (2009) ‘TV facing its own diet’ in Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend Edition, May 2-3, 2009 17 Felson, R. (1996) ‘Mass Media Effects on Violent Behavior’ in Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 22, pp. 103-128 18 Forgette, R. and Morris, J. (2006) ‘High-Conflict Television News and Public Opinion’ in Political Research Quarterly, Sage Publications, Vol. 59, No. 3, pp. 447-456 19 Bandura (1983) in Felson, R. (1996) ‘Mass Media Effects on Violent Behavior’ in Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 22, pp. 103-128 20 Felson, R. (1996) ‘Mass Media Effects on Violent Behaviour’ in Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 22, pp. 103-128 21 Gerbner & Gross (1976) in Felson, R. (1996) ‘Mass Media Effects on Violent Behaviour’ in Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 22, pp. 103-128

1. What is meant by media? What does the mass media encompass? 2. Analyse ways in which the media affect consumption of reality TV. 3. Outline the theory of post-modernism. 4. To what extent (i.e.: assess) can post-modernism explain continuities or changes in consumption of reality TV? 5. Provide examples of the media perpetuating conflict to ensure reality TV viewers tune in to watch. 6. Debate the following statement: The media (via reality TV) is solely responsible for creating unrealistic fear. 7. Investigate the cultivation effect. Elaborate upon the effects of reality TV on viewers, according to this effect (note any positive effects too)

Now, try to answer the question below from the 2015 HSC exam paper by thinking about one of the distinguishing characteristics of the pop culture being closely associated with commercial products and paraphernalia. Marking guidelines can be found on the BOSTES website.

How globalisation and technologies have influenced consumption

Synergies between television and the Internet have brought about innovative ways of considering the role of audiences and amplifying the reception of programs. Interactive technologies have transformed (and will continue to do so) the way television communicates with the audience and also increased the opportunities for audience feedback and engagement with programs. Reality shows are increasingly produced bearing in mind their online distribution, with spectators turned into users who are able to interact more intensively.22 The progression and integration of technologies has enable broader and richer access to reality TV for consumers. Viewers are part of a new interactive audience who want to have a say in the outcome and who see digital content as integral to the viewing experience. Much of this happens via hand held devices.

These developments have been labelled social television, for they allow remote viewers to socially interact with each other via the television set, smart phones, tablets or the PC, where viewers might be separated in time and/or in space.23 Features in social TV include remote talking or chatting while watching a television program, content-aware lists that show what your friends are watching, sharing and recommendation of video material based on social network statistics and trends, and easy accessible Twitter streams associated with a particular program.

22 Deery (2003) in Garcia-Aviles, J (2012) ‘ Roles of audience participation in multiplatform television: From fans and consumers, to collaborators and activists’ in Journal pr Audience and reception studies , Universidad Miguel Hernández, Spain, vol 9(2) Accessed 5/3/13 at URL http://www.participations.org/Volume%209/Issue%202/24%20Garcia-Aviles.pdf 23 Cesar and Geerts (2011) in Garcia-Aviles, J (2012) ‘ Roles of audience participation in multiplatform television: From fans and consumers, to collaborators and activists’ in Journal of Audience and reception studies Universidad Miguel Hernández, Spain, vol 9(2) Accessed 5/3/13 at URL http://www.participations.org/Volume%209/Issue%202/24%20Garcia-Aviles.pdf Social television constitutes a fundamental shift in how people interact and socialize around audio-visual content. Websites are combining video streaming services with social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Branding is consistent across such web 2.0 sites and all accounts are integrated to provide consumers with seamless interaction and updates from a variety of technological devices. These changes also led to reinventing the very concept of audience24. The Web 2.0 opened up unprecedented opportunities for more inclusive public engagement. In the meantime, use of the internet enhances viewing experiences of viewers in two main ways:25

1. Collating votes for example in X Factor, Big Brother and Australian Idol. Allows viewers to vote for their favourite contenders, allowing for a more diverse range of audiences to participate 2. Relay information and provides extra information to those interested for example Survivor, one of the highest rating reality shows in the world, were able to watch the progress of ‘All Stars’ votes cast by members of the general public.

Most voting shows should be regarded as commercial transactions, where presenters behave like ‘sellers’ who exhibit a persuasive rhetoric, which seeks to engage viewers en masse26. It includes the use of sites associated with the programs, where fans might engage in lively chat discussions and forums such as Zeebox and Fango. Hosts then integrate real time results of opinion polls and comments into actual TV content.

There are also initiatives to support the production of a program financially with donations or with crowdfunding, which allows people to sponsor broadcast projects, obtaining in return several advantages27.

Activities

1. How is broad access to reality TV assisted by media and communication technologies? 2. Outline the features of social television. 3. Explain how technology has improved viewers’ interaction with reality TV 4. Comment on how you think synergies between different technologies, branding and reality programs will impact the consumption of reality TV.

Now, try to answer the question below from the 2014 HSC exam paper. Marking guidelines can be found on the BOSTES website.

24 Garcia-Aviles, J (2012) ‘ Roles of audience participation in multiplatform television: From fans and consumers, to collaborators and activists’ in Journal of Audience and reception studies, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Spain, vol 9(2) Accessed 5/3/13 at URL http://www.participations.org/Volume%209/Issue%202/24%20Garcia-Aviles.pdf 25 Barton, L. (2004) ‘Reality TV and its use of the Internet’ from Encyclopaedia of New Media accessed 27/10/10 at URL http://wiki.media-culture.org.au 26 Nightingale and Dwyer (2006) in Garcia-Aviles, J (2012) ‘ Roles of audience participation in multiplatform television: From fans and consumers, to collaborators and activists’ in Journal of Audience and reception studies, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Spain, vol 9(2) Accessed 5/3/13 at URL http://www.participations.org/Volume%209/Issue%202/24%20Garcia-Aviles.pdf 27 Carvajal et al., (2012) in Garcia-Aviles, J (2012) ‘ Roles of audience participation in multiplatform television: From fans and consumers, to collaborators and activists’ in Journal of Audience and reception studies, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Spain, vol 9(2) Accessed 5/3/13 at URL http://www.participations.org/Volume%209/Issue%202/24%20Garcia-Aviles.pdf

The relationship of access and consumption to age, class, ethnicity, gender, location, sexuality Access to all popular cultures is widespread however, some groups of people experience difficulties in identifying popular cultures because they are targeted to appeal to the majority of people in order to make maximum profit. So, those in minority groups, rural or regional areas, the elderly for example may not be able to access reality TV due to either not being the target market, technological or geographical restrictions, class based focus etc.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is a statutory authority within the federal government portfolio of broadband, communications and the digital economy. ACMA aims to increase the diversity of broadcasting services, and provide audiences with better access to those services. The ownership and control rules regulate for diversity of control to promote diversity of views, 28 therefore increasing the ability of a greater range of people to access and identify with television for example.

Television is widely accessible however issues do arise. Reality shows have deliberately represented people from different minority groups in Australia. Perhaps this could be viewed as a positive step towards a unified and truly multi-cultural, non-discriminatory nation but cynics would suggest otherwise...minority groups are there to increase the number of viewers and ultimately profit in this commercial activity.

When screening, participants are carefully selected, there is no shortage of applicants, although there are significantly younger people because reality TV appeals to that age group. Approximately 10 000 people applied for the 2007 season of The Biggest Loser in Australia. Of those 400 were interviewed and 14 were selected. They are selected to serve the end of the production, which is to entertain. Participants are selected for their potential interest to the viewing public, which may be further manipulated by putting them in specific circumstances or setting certain challenges29

MasterChef has gone out of its way to showcase female talent in both contestants and experts. In an effort appeal to the maximum number of viewers possible, gender has been targeted as a strategic issue. Of the 50 people who successfully auditioned for the second series, 25 were women and 11 were among the final 24. On the expert side 10 of the 45 award-winning chefs were women – this is still a little above what actually occurs in the restaurant business where 8 out of 55 ‘chefs hat’ restaurants in NSW were women. Access for women in the industry has improved due to the set up of a steering committee to implement ‘Tasting Success’ mentoring program for female hospitality students at the Sydney Institute.30

Similarly, access to reality TV based on sexuality and ethnicity has also attracted attention. Finalists in 2009 MasterChef reflected the melting pot that is Australia with two gay contestants, three Asians and two were disillusioned lawyers who wanted more. They represented a shift in social trends, evident before MasterChef, but crystallised by the show. Had MasterChef been produced 30 years ago it would have been very different – there would be a notable absence of Asian cuisine, and no coining of the phrase ‘plating up’. In 1980 gay contestants would not have made their sexuality public as homosexuality was not legalised in NSW until 1984. Nobody blinked when a contender, Courtney Roulston spoke about being a lesbian. In 2001 Big Brother made a big deal of its first gay housemate Johnnie Cass.31

28 ACMA Broadcasting ownership and control, access on 11/3/13 at URL http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_91734 29 ACMA (2007) Reality Television Review: Volume 1, Final Report’, Australian Government, March 30 30 Greenwood, H. (2009) ‘Reality TV? Chefs still mostly masters’ in Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend Edition, July 24- 25, 2010 31 Feneley, R. (2010) ‘The melting pot that is modern Australia’ in Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend Edition, July 24- 25, page 4 Queer Eye for the Straight Guy used homosexuality to celebrate the style, cleanliness and culinary expertise of the gay community in an effort to assist heterosexual men in improving the quality of their life and relationships. Programs such as this, target non-mainstream groups and increase consumption as a result.

Producers of reality TV program and a television network develop a strategy to increase profit

Auditions begin and a number of people from different minority groups are selected and then represented on the reality TV program

The number of viewers from those minority groups increases because they can identify with the participants/contestants. Viewers can develop pride in the representation of like-minded people

Marketing companies invest in ads to be aired during the reality TV show due to increased viewers and aim to satisfy their target market

Increased revenue stream for advertisers because their product / service has been seen by millions of people (thousands of whom act upon their wish to have the product / service) and TV networks benefit from further advertiing deals

Figure: Access for different groups of people via reality show auditions

The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) also receives funding which means each of it is accountable to the government for content and political messages aired. SBS was established by the Commonwealth government in 1978 aiming to reflect the multicultural nature of Australian society by providing multilingual services. It is mandated to cater for audiences with specialised ethnic, religious or other needs, therefore increasing access and consumption.

Location affects access to television. Poor reception in rural areas diminishes the quality of the product. The federal government has used funds from the sale of Telstra to fund part of the Black Spots program where some communities have been provided with upgraded services or an ability to watch free-to-air television for the first time. Although a switch to digital television was supposed to improve access, residents in far north Queensland have been negatively affected. Upset viewers report intermittent breaks, pixilation, loss of sound and blue screens during their favourite TV shows on ABC, SBS, Seven, Nine and Ten32 – many of which are reality TV programs.

It should also be noted that The Biggest Loser used location to increase consumption. It gained support for changing lives – first on a micro level where it focussed on individual competition and subsequently introduced couples and families to the show in later seasons. Then in recent years, it has adopted the support of entire communities and towns where unhealthy weight is an issue. So, not only is one entire town ‘on board’ supporting, participating and/or watching but locations (towns or communities) with similar demographic profiles are able to empathise and therefore increase consumption.

‘Class-based comeuppance to the arrogant rich’ as one author puts it, is evident in Undercover Boss. It draws attention to hierarchies evident within the workplace and highlights the ‘hardworking poor’ who slave away for long hours in low status, low skilled jobs just to make ends meet. ‘At the close of each episode, the comparatively wealth abundant corporate CEO who has labored incognito in the lowest ranks of his company indulges a sentimental display of obligatory nobility, such as a promotion or a paid vacation-and in one case, a $5,000 down payment on a mortgage for an employee at a call center. ‘ The New York Times' television critic denounced this end-of-episode executive flourish as "embarrassingly feudal."33 People like seeing the ‘rich’ try to experience life as a middle or lower class person – there is something satisfying about the CEO realizing the struggles and perspectives of low paid employees.

Activities

1. What is meant by ‘access’ to popular culture? 2. What do you think would happen if ACMA didn’t promote diversity in the media? 3. Construct a table similar to one below and fill in each column. 4. Read the article from the LA Times at URL http://articles.latimes.com/2012/nov/03/entertainment/la-et-st-reality-tv-gays- acceptance-20121103 and comment on the changes in access to reality TV for gays and lesbians. 5. Decide which group out of all those examined in the table have the most restricted access to reality TV?

32 Michael, P (7/4/12) ‘Viewers turned off by digital as blackspots rollout’ in Courier Mail, accessed on 11/3/13 at URL http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/tv-viewers-turned-off-by-digital/story-e6freoof- 1226320717914 33 Lehman, C (2010 Rich People Things: Reality Television’ accessed on 13/3/13 at URL http://www.theawl.com/2010/09/an-excerpt-from-rich-people-things-reality-television What issues Is access to reality Which reality TV surrounding TV easy or shows cater for access exist for this difficult? this group? group?

Youth

Elderly

Male

Female

Australian background

Ethnic background

Metropolitan residents

Rural / remote residents

Homosexual

Heterosexual

High class (wealthy)

Working class (poorer)

How consumption and ownership of reality TV paraphernalia influence a sense of identity

Demand for reality TV has developed and expanded due to media, marketing and very efficient and cost- effective information dissemination channels. All this also increases demand for not just a reality program itself, but associated products and paraphernalia. The commercial value of spin off products is worth millions, and many businesses both large and small seek to make a profit by exploiting the success of reality TV shows.

Paraphernalia includes items or equipment that accompanies the main item, in this case, reality TV. Complementary products and services for reality shows may include web forums, magazines and the spin- off shows, full episodes available online, video games, competitions, recipes and photo galleries. The table below shows just some of the paraphernalia associated with two reality TV programs in Australia. Don’t forget these shows are a worldwide phenomenon so different countries have their own versions and nuances with their own range of products and services.

MasterChef paraphernalia Biggest Loser paraphernalia

• Web forums • DVDs – workout, boot camp, circuit, cardio • Recipes online burn, fit and firm, weight loss warrior, 5 • Magazine minutes a day • Spin off shows – Juniors and Professionals • Cookbook - Crunchtime • Cookbooks from judges and contestants • Biggest Loser club • Aprons and oven gloves • Meal replacements e.g.: soups, breakfast bars, • Junior Pizza kit shakes • Junior Cupcake kit • Commando’s weight analysis service • CD ‘Music from another platter’ • Spin-off shows – couples, families, next • Kitchenware – knives, tongs, saucepans generation • Food and wine hub • Online videos – sneak peeks and past episodes • Facebook and Titter • Photo gallery online • Photo gallery online • Healthy eating quiz • Online videos – tips and past episodes, • Ask a Dr feature online exclusive web extras • Healthy meal planner • Competitions – caption this, rate the plate, • Facebook and Twitter trivia • Training tips • Forum and newsletter

The ownership and use/consumption of all the different types of paraphernalia can create and influence a sense of identity. For example, through membership to online groups, subscribing to magazines and newsletters, buying certain products a person can start to feel a real sense of belonging and purpose that they may not otherwise have felt. They tend to have at least some characteristics, ideology and topics for discussion in common with other consumers of the same reality TV show.

Consumers then align themselves with the values and practices as seen on the reality TV show and also adopt similar goals, language and other traits that distinguish them form others. For example, cooking like a MasterChef cooks as endorsed and promoted by celebrity chef, Curtis Stone, and using the terms ‘the hero of the dish is…’; or adopting the same training regime and mind set with similar weight loss targets as a Biggest Loser contestant.

Activities

1. Define ‘paraphernalia’. 2. Examine the websites or social media feeds of 2-3 other reality TV programs and identify the paraphernalia. 3. Explain how paraphernalia increases levels of reality TV consumption and vice versa. 4. Discuss where ethical boundaries should lie when marketing to children (e.g.: junior cupcake kits as a result of Junior MasterChef) or other vulnerable members of society. 5. How do the concepts of institutional power and access impact the consumption (of paraphernalia) of reality TV? 6. Research the effect MasterChef has had on Coles sales. Refer to specific items and statistics. 7. How does reality TV paraphernalia influence a sense of identity among consumers?

Now, try to answer the question below from the 2013 HSC exam paper. Marking guidelines can be found on the BOSTES website.

Title: Using speeches to compare social inclusion and exclusion Author: Kevin Steed, Macquarie University Area of Study: Social Inclusion and Exclusion (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander)

Contemporary context The following points are to be integrated across the study of Social Inclusion and Exclusion: • use examples drawn from contemporary society • assess the impact of technologies, including communication technologies, on individuals, groups and institutions • examine a contemporary issue related to social inclusion and/or exclusion using the research method of data analysis.

The nature of social inclusion and exclusion Students develop an understanding of the nature of social inclusion and exclusion by examining: • the pluralist nature of societies and cultures • an overview of similarities and differences between individuals and groups in societies and cultures • the concept of ‘socially valued resources’ • how individuals and groups experience social exclusion within Australia at the micro, meso and macro levels.

Focus study Within ONE country, students are to examine:

Inclusion and exclusion for ONE of the following groups: • a different ‘racial’ or ethnic group • those who follow different belief systems and cultural practices • people with a disability • those living in different environments – urban, rural, isolated • different ages • different genders

In relation to access to EACH of the following socially valued resources: • education • housing • employment • health care • technologies • the justice system The implications of access for this group in relation to life chances for its members

The perception of this group by other groups within the country: • influences on individuals’ perceptions of others • how attitudes of group members towards other groups influence their behaviour towards those groups, including stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination • the initiatives of governments and community organisations in implementing programs focused on social inclusion for the group.

In relation to the broad society of the country studied, students are to examine: • the role and influence of historical, economic, political and legal forces in the generation and maintenance of social inclusion and exclusion • emerging social exclusion resulting from limited access to modern technologies and communications, and its implications.

The focus of this depth study relates to the nature of social inclusion and exclusion and its sociocultural implications for individuals and groups. The task that follows draws upon two powerful speeches that serve to highlight the historical and political forces that have impacted upon the social inclusion and exclusion of indigenous Australians over the last two centuries.

Part A: Social Exclusion

Go to the following website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEOssW1rw0I

Answer these questions:

1. According to Stan Grant, when did Australia ‘look into its soul?’ How and why did this happen? 2. What was the ‘message’ contained in the ‘howl of humiliation’ that Grant describes? How is this an example of social exclusion? 3. What do you understand by the notion of the Australian dream? Are indigenous people really ‘included’ in the Australian dream? Why? 4. What was terra nullius? Why was it a catalyst for the social exclusion of Australia’s indigenous people? 5. What did Charles Dickens write about the so-called ‘noble savages’ (including indigenous Australians)? What are your thoughts on that view? 6. Should our indigenous people be written into the Australian Constitution as the first inhabitants of this land? Why? 7. How were indigenous soldiers excluded socially upon returning to Australia from war? Why? 8. How difficult is it for indigenous Australians to succeed in our country? Why? 9. Is Australia a haven of equal opportunity for indigenous Australians? Why? 10. Do you agree with Grant that racism is killing the Australian dream? Why?

Part B: Social Inclusion

Go to the following website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsXmYHiuJ8s

Answer these questions:

1. Name the law that was passed by the Whitlam Government in June 1975? Explain how it could be regarded as an attempt to include indigenous people in the mainstream of Australian society? 2. How did Pearson describe life on indigenous reserves prior to the passing of the above law? 3. List the things that the Whitlam government did in an attempt to make Australia a more socially-inclusive country. 4. According to Pearson, what were the 3 main objectives of the so-called ‘Whitlam program’? Do you believe these ideals would make Australia a fairer society? Why?