New students discuss ‘phallocracy,’ Playgirl in intro to college classroom

“No sex, please. I’m 12!” was one of many comments made in professor Jennifer Maher’s “Gender, Sexuality, and Popular Culture” class for Intensive Freshman Seminars this summer.

That comment was in reference to “teenybopper” magazines such as Cosmo Girl and Tiger Beat that display a more feminine deviation of masculine role models for young girls than what is typically portrayed in more widely distributed American media.

The course observes the making of masculine and feminine sexualities within popular culture while examining scholarly texts that analyze media’s social constructions of gender and sexuality.

Intensive Freshman Seminars occur during the three weeks leading up to IU Welcome Week. Each student enrolls in one specially designed course. Topics range from climate change to Shakespeare to human genetics. Courses are taught by IU faculty members. Each class is limited to 20 students, according to the IFS Web site, www.ifs.indiana.edu.

Constructions of masculinity was the topic of discussion at Friday’s 9 a.m. session.

CLASS CULTURE
Maher greeted her students warmly at the start of class as ballpoint pens clicked and chairs shuffled as the students focused their attention on her.

She mentioned taking a class field trip to the movie theater.

“‘Bruno’ is still playing,” she suggested. “Last summer we saw (Adam) Sandler in some stupid firefighter movie – ‘Chuck and Larry.’”

“Oh whatever, it’s great,” a male student shouted back.

“It’s horrid,” Maher responded.

Students laughing and chatting among themselves set the tone for the light tone of the rest of the class.

Maher commanded attention.

“Pass notes if you want to talk to each other,” she advised.

The class next door erupted in sound.

“We’re gonna play something louder, a Madonna music video,” she said.

Maher said she wrote her dissertation at the University of Wisconsin on “Silence of the Lambs” and Madonna, titled “Like a Thesis.”

At the end of Madonna’s “Open Your Heart” video, the class erupted in conversation about the content of the video, which took place at a peep show.

It was argued the video put Madonna in a position of power over the male gaze of female bodies.

“Madonna is different from the Spice Girls,” Maher said, referring to Madonna’s control of her public and professional image. “But of course, once a culture text is out in the masses, it is then subject to a variety of interpretations.”

Class discussion
This was followed by a discussion of “phallocracy,” which argues that society is ruled by male influence – namely phallic objects.

After that, homoerotic film content was the focus.

“The most macho of films tend to be the most homoerotic,” Maher said, calling out fans of testosterone-driven films such as “300” and “Troy.” “They’re touching each other to hurt each other, but, of course, their phallic muscles glisten perfectly while they are touching each other.”

Maher said glistening muscles in film are used as phallic objects because they are always hard and controllable, citing men who work out for hours at a time in the gym.
She made it a point to identify the range of masculine and feminine sexualities on a spectrum.

“I’m not saying men who enjoy these films are secretly gay,” she said. “I’m not saying anything is wrong or right about film portrayals of men, but they should be examined.”
Maher said she simply wanted to call out homophobic messages in male-dominated society.

As an example, she showed the beach volleyball scene from “Top Gun” starring Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer. It showed shirtless men playing volleyball in floral print shorts and tight jeans, and the soundtrack featured the song “Playing With the Boys” with lines like “I’m obsessed with desire.”

The class then moved to a segment about the male pin-up and the now-defunct Playgirl magazine.

“The idea of a male pin-up doesn’t work because it could never live up to its potential,” she said.

Maher said this was because the nude female body is so normalized in popular culture that little thought is given to it. This is why the female pin-up will always have a place in society, she said.

“Playgirl tried hard to market to straight women,” Maher said. 

She told the class about a time she marched in like a “weird heterofeminist” into Borders and found Playgirl in the “Men’s Interest” section and not in the gay or lesbian literature section.

Class response

Ashleigh Smith
“The class is interesting. I’m learning differences between masculinity and femininity. There are lots of shades of gray. I like how Professor Maher is not all wrapped up in the fact that she’s a teacher.”

Zack Montgomery
“I love the class. It’s a fresh, totally new and interesting
perspective on masculinity and femininity that I wouldn’t think of on my own. Maher is easily the best teacher I’ve ever had.”

Amanda Casey
“The teacher makes all this stuff that we don’t really think about every day, so it’s exciting to actually learn about. Waking up at 9 isn’t fun, but in this class, you can’t wait to see what happens next.”

Kelly Casper
“There are some abstract topics in this class that we can apply to anything. It totally changes the way you look at stuff in general. It’s humorous that I see so many things as phallic symbols now.”