Click on the following links. Please note these will open in a new window.

Video Links

• Video 1: “The Mask You Live In”: The Mask You Live In follows boys and young men as they struggle to stay true to themselves while negotiating America’s limited definition of masculinity. Pressured by the media, their peer groups, and even the adults in their lives, our protagonists confront messages encouraging them to BE A MAN.

• Video 2: “The Adorkable Misogyny of The Big Bang Theory” PART 1: The Big Bang Theory provides a perfect lens through which to deconstruct a popular media trope I like to call the Adorkable Misogynist. Adorkable Misogynists are male characters whose geeky version of masculinity is framed as comically pathetic yet still endearing. Their status as nerdy “nice guys” then lets them off the hook for a wide range of creepy, entitled, and sexist behaviors.

• Video 3: “The Adorkable Misogyny of The Big Bang Theory” PART 2: The Big Bang Theory delights in poking fun at its male characters for their geeky obsessions but there’s something even more pernicious going on just under the surface. Beyond the mocking of Geekdom, the show is relentless in making fun of its male leads for not being “real men.” In their quest to prove their manhood the four geeks then end up being complicit in many of the most harmful aspects of hypermasculinity.

Web Resources

• Web 1: Children and the Media: Resources on media and children from the advocacy group Children Now.

• Web 2: Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood: A coalition dedicated to limit the impact of commercialism on children.

• Web 3: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). Liberal/left media watch group that publishes Extra!

• Web 4: The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press: Public opinion research focused on attitudes toward the press and public policy, including a biennial news consumption survey.

• Web 5: Project Censored: Dedicated to public education about censorship and press freedom.

• Web 6: Center for a New American Dream: Organization that seeks to alter American values, especially around consumerism.

• Web 7: AlterNet: An independent news magazine that seeks to inspire activism on a range of social issues.

Audio Links

• Audio 1: Radiolab, Smile My Ass: Candid Camera is one of the most original--and one of the most mischievous--TV shows of all time. As the show succeeded, it started to change the way we thought not only of reality television but also of reality itself. Looking back at the show now, a half century later, it’s hard NOT to see so many of our preoccupations--privacy, propriety, publicity, authenticity--through a funhouse mirror, darkly.

• Audio 2: Radiolab, Darkode: It would be seem that hackers today can do just about anything they want--from turning on the cell phone in your pocket to holding your life’s work hostage. This episode shines a light into those shadows to see the world from the perspectives of both cybercrime victims and perpetrators.