“We all come from different backgrounds and bring different perspectives to the classroom—we have so much to learn from listening to how we all approach a topic differently.”

– Dr. Kathryn Kein

Lilly Tomlin, Phyllis Diller and Gilda Radner

My research and writing focus largely on the relationship between comedy and feminism. While conventional wisdom of second wave feminism believes that feminists aren’t funny and can’t take a joke, I subvert that assumption by studying the work of Lilly Tomlin, Phyllis Diller, Gilda Radner and others. While writing about comedy isn’t always as funny as one would hope, my dog seems to enjoy most of my jokes.

Looking at the World in a Different Way

My teaching style emphasizes class discussion and interaction. Explaining our perspective, listening to those of others, and figuring out where we stand is often how we learn the most. In Gender & Women’s Studies, we’re asking you to try a new way of looking at the world, which can be very difficult. But students find that it opens up so many ideas they hadn’t considered, and that is really fun to be a part of.

GWST:  Something for ALL Majors! 

One of the most important things my students gain in GWST courses is a lens through which to look at the world that applies to other academic disciplines and to our everyday lives. A STEM major might not think GWST relates to his or her academic field, for example, but students consistently find that the analytical tools we develop can make them more well-rounded and informed engineers, scientists, doctors, etc. And while we might take a class about Gender and Sitcoms for a fun elective, learning how to cast an analytical eye on the culture we consume every day helps us to be more critical viewers and to be more cognizant of the ideas put forth in media we consume every day.

Winter Session 2018

I am teaching GWST 323 – Gender and Sitcoms. What’s so unique about this course is that it takes something we think of as trivial, like a TV sitcom—fun, maybe, but not an important thing to study in school—and takes it seriously as a part of our culture that influences how we see and interact with the world. We get to watch 30 Rock for homework, but we’ll also pair it with a text about the show’s exploration of discourses of feminism in popular culture. We can debate if we think Liz Lemon’s feminism is the same as that of Tina Fey.

“In winter courses you are giving a topic your undivided attention. You can learn a lot about a subject when you have the luxury of devoting so much of your intellectual energy to it.”

“Man, Image, Idea: Photographs of Men” from the Mark Rice Collection is an exhibition of about 75 photographs donated to the Special Collections at the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery at UMBC in 1998. The beautifully composed photographs display the male form in a vulnerable context that most people are not accustomed to.

Men, especially in America, have to display a strong sense of masculinity to avoid being labeled as “effeminate” or “gay.” Meanwhile, female expression of sexuality is so normalized in almost every form of media. From television, movies and advertisements, it is not shocking to see nude female bodies hanging off of the magazine racks at the grocery store. However, nude male bodies create unease.

Rice’s exhibit is important because it takes steps to portray men as something other than stoic and unemotional beings. Most photographs utilize foggy backgrounds so that the man is the central focus with nothing else to distract from his nakedness. The viewer’s eye is then forced to rest for longer than it usually would on the subject which results in the revelation that there was nothing to be afraid of in the first place.

Since male bodies are not typically displayed in galleries as beautiful things to look at, it seems wrong to linger for too long. However, it is simply the unfamiliarity that is scary for most people. More representations of men in media that do not follow the format of hyper-masculinity is desperately needed.

Hyper-masculinity can be defined as a gross exaggeration of male stereotypical behaviors such as aggression and physical strength. Chidi Ede, a junior computer science major, says “I grew up in a place where it was swing first and ask questions later. I would get into fights over the most stupid things but if I had just talked about it I wouldn’t have had to fight.”

Being raised on hyper-masculinity can have a far more detrimental effect than childhood fights. Douglas Kellner is the George F. Kneller Chair of Philosophy of Education at UCLA and author of the recently published book, “Guys and Guns Amok.” In his work, he explains this statistic: 98 percent of mass shooters in America are men.

He argues that men are taught to embrace their violent feelings because violence is a sign of strength. “The crisis in masculinity is grounded in deteriorating socio-economic possibilities for men and is aggravated by our current economic crisis,” he says. “It is also produced in part by a media which shows violence as a way of solving problems.”

Boys who grow up believing that being a man equates to never crying are the same men who end up associating emotion with weakness.  If men in media are allowed to be soft and vulnerable, the next generation of boys will be able to feel secure in whatever ways they choose to express themselves.

The collection will be on display until December 12, 2017.

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For information about advising appointments for registration clearance, please visit the following post:

https://my.umbc.edu/groups/coeitadvising/posts/69976

James 5:13-15(NIV) - “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

This verse makes the bold claim that if we pray in faith, God will heal the person for whom we pray. The verbal roots for “sick” and “raise up” can be used for both physical and spiritual afflictions and their cures, but in the context of anointing most likely refer at least primarily to physical illnesses. “Raising up” thus refers to their getting out of bed after they are well again. The promise of healing for the sick offers a much needed corrective for those of us who have trouble praying boldly, for we fear or even assume that God will not do what we ask of him. Instead, we ought to pray boldly, believing that he is a God of power and love and that he listens to the prayers of his people. A necessary caveat, however, requires us to remember that he chooses how and when he heals, as Paul lays out clearly in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10, and that complete healing never occurs in this life. In fact, every other time James uses “save”, it refers to spiritual salvation. While this passage most likely refers to physical healing, we must remember that ultimately God is more interested in eternal, spiritual life than temporal, physical health. Somewhere in our prayers we must find a balance between never expecting God to heal and requiring him to heal on demand. [Blomberg, Craig L.. James (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on The New Testament series Book 16) (Kindle Locations 7010-7022). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.]

We pray because He is our Father in Heaven who cares about our needs and concerns. He knows our needs so well, better than us and He listens to our prayers. Let’s go to our Father God with all of our needs with hearts trusting in His good and perfect love for us.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqz8K7exK2o

- DP

James 5:13-15(NIV) – “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

This verse makes the bold claim that if we pray in faith, God will heal the person for whom we pray. The verbal roots for “sick” and “raise up” can be used for both physical and spiritual afflictions and their cures, but in the context of anointing most likely refer at least primarily to physical illnesses. “Raising up” thus refers to their getting out of bed after they are well again. The promise of healing for the sick offers a much needed corrective for those of us who have trouble praying boldly, for we fear or even assume that God will not do what we ask of him. Instead, we ought to pray boldly, believing that he is a God of power and love and that he listens to the prayers of his people. A necessary caveat, however, requires us to remember that he chooses how and when he heals, as Paul lays out clearly in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10, and that complete healing never occurs in this life. In fact, every other time James uses “save”, it refers to spiritual salvation. While this passage most likely refers to physical healing, we must remember that ultimately God is more interested in eternal, spiritual life than temporal, physical health. Somewhere in our prayers we must find a balance between never expecting God to heal and requiring him to heal on demand. [Blomberg, Craig L.. James (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on The New Testament series Book 16) (Kindle Locations 7010-7022). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.]

We pray because He is our Father in Heaven who cares about our needs and concerns. He knows our needs so well, better than us and He listens to our prayers. Let’s go to our Father God with all of our needs with hearts trusting in His good and perfect love for us.

• The Office of Research Protections and Compliance (ORPC) at UMBC will facilitate the workshop. ORPC will provide guidance to students so that they can utilize this allotted time to complete their certifications.
• The speakers from ORPC will present during the first 30 minutes of the session to discuss creating a user profile, provide instruction regarding which certification blocks need to be completed (according to the type of research being conducted), and address questions. After the first 30 minutes, all participants will work independently within the space, using their own laptops to finish the certification online.
• BRING YOUR LAPTOP AND CHARGERS/POWER CORDS. We will provide the space, electrical cords/power strips, food, and beverages to facilitate completion. We encourage students to set aside this time to complete their certifications during the session.
• CITI has retroactively updated all RCR training completion expiration dates. When faculty and students log into their individual accounts, they should now be able to see when to take the refresher course. Please let the Compliance Office know if this is not the case. Users should also receive a reminder email from CITI when the refresher training is due. RCR training information can be accessed using the following link: http://research.umbc.edu/2135-2/. Human Subjects Use Training can be accessed using the following link: http://research.umbc.edu/human-subjects-use-training-2/. Questions? Contact compliance@umbc.edu.