Challenging Hegemonic Masculinities: Female Police Officers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H676Q16WK4

I thought this video really related well to McElhinny's article and what we talked about in class today. In the video, Milwaukee police officers Amy Bartol and Stephanie Seitz describe what it's like working as female cops together in male dominated society. What's interesting is the fact that these two are not only partners together, but are partners assigned to the most dangerous part of their section. They are truly defying female stereotypes by taking on this tough job. They say they have to earn trust and respect.

I thought the part of the video where a nurse at a hospital makes the comment, "Oh they let two of you work together?", was very interesting. It is typically unusual to find two female police officers working together on the job without any male counterparts. These two ladies really have to hold their own, which appears that they do well after seeing them in action during the traffic stop. They both have confidence in themselves and in each other, which they say is very important for not only just a cop, but especially a female cop. Our society doesn't typically think of females as being aggressive or threatening, so female cops don't tend to receive much respect unless they prove they can defy the stereotype. The female officer was very aggressive and assertive when she was arresting the boy who tried to swallow the bag of weed . While she had male officer backup, she clearly was the one in control the whole time and shouting orders. Even when she was telling the crowd of people to move along, she had an authoritative tone of voice which suggests not to mess with her. At the end they said sometimes being a female officer is beneficial to them, because a lot of people don't see them as threatening and that makes it easier for them to handle a situation. This relates back to the article where McElhinny talks about how female cops are usually the easier ones to talk to. Women are better at sorting out problems and handling the more emotional part of the job. These two cops seem like they do a pretty good job of handling the physical part as well.

Brady Wolfe

What No Bedtime Story Means

In another class of mine, Children and the Media, we talked about how a child’s brain is developing the fastest between the ages of 0-2 more so than any other stage of development. We discussed how a child’s brain grows from interactions with the people in his or her environment, particularly mothers and fathers. Reading bedtime stories to young children is not only a bonding moment, but as Heath discusses in her article, it is a chance for children to learn skills that can be applied in later years. In an article I found online, the author discusses 12 benefits of bedtime storytelling.

http://hanagem.hubpages.com/hub/12-Benefits-of-Bedtime-Storytelling

The first claim the author makes directly relates to Heath’s reading. It states that bedtime stories develop a child’s language. By listening to parents read stories, children are hearing a variety of new words they might have never heard before thus expanding their vocabulary. Hearth talks about how in Maintown parents are continuously labeling the objects in the books and are repeating the words to instill it into the child’s brain. The second benefit mentioned in the article is that bedtime stories can help enhance listening and oral communication skills. It states that a good storyteller interacts with the listeners and asks them questions. Maintown also demonstrates this practice. Parents in the town constantly stop in the story and ask the child what different things in the story are, also known as seeking what-explanations. In the town of Trackton, on the other hand, parents are not as involved in tutoring their child and preparing them for school and do not engage in bedtime storytelling. By not practicing storytelling they are really putting their child at a disadvantage. The article stating benefits of storytelling goes on to say that bedtime stories help ignite interest in reading and writing, develop thinking and problem solving skills, and enhances creativity. I think that when I have a child I would want to do all that I could in order to enhance their learning and would follow the procedures practiced in Maintown. A child is most affected by the environment they grow up in, so I believe that a child would be more successful in school if they listened to bedtime stories and were encouraged to participate in answering questions about the topics they are reading about.

Chrissie Bock

Professional Vision- Charles Goodwin

• Today's article discussed was Professional Vision by Charles Goodwin. He starts out by using the word, "Discursive Practices. " This means (and is the basis of the whole article) the way members of a profession shape events in the domain subject to their professional scruinty. In other words, people use their jobs/identities to make others see the way they do. An example of discursive practices is the Rodney King Case. As show in class, the officers flogged and beat a black man for speeding. The officers were able to use discursive practices to brain wash the judge into viewing the video the way they wanted the judge to see it.
• There are two main words in the article that are key to understanding the article: coding and highlighting. Highlighting is more of the big picture and coding is picking out what the profession focuses on. For example, the police invloved in Rodney's case highlighted the fact that they are officers and have authority. The coding would be the police coding scheme they used to make the jury see the video in a specific manner.
• http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/03/19/148905661/killing-of-fla-teen-trayvon-martin-becomes-national-story-about-race
• In summary, this article is about a 17 year old African American boy who was shot by a neighborhood patrol officer because he looked "suspicious." This is an example of abusing your profession because the neighborhood patrol officer thought he had more authority than he did. Racism also ties into this, similar to the Rodney King Case, due to the fact that authorities treat black men more harshly than whites. Despite the fact that the neighborhood patrol officer had blood on his fists, he was not found guilty because there was" no evidence. " Discursive Practices come into play here because although the court knew the 17 year old boy was unarmed, the police portrayed themselves as using self defense and abused their profession's authority.
• In conclusion, Professional Vision is a very in depth article and has many aspects to it. The big picture is how people use their profession to influence others.