Bristol Palin and Malala Yousafzai, a Memoir Comparison on Jezebel

I recently posted this article on my Facebook page:  http://jezebel.com/their-struggles-bristol-palin-malala-yousafzais-memo-1647761703?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

The article compares the memoirs of the two young women.  One of my former students wrote this in response:

I've been trying to write out why this article bothers me, and I feel like I just can't put my finger on it. What do we gain by comparing these two women this way? What point was this article trying to make? That Bristol Palin is a moron? Do they just want to make fun of someone who clearly isn't doing well? Bristol Palin was mocked by an entire nation for something that happens to teenagers all the time. She has been and apparently still is being used as a political tool, and as fodder for gossip. So what if she wrote a book about it? Why does her story have to be compared to Malala's? Why can't we discuss it as someone coming to terms with, I don't know, being bullied by an entire country, feeling like she has to justify her life? Or does the article just want to make her look like a dumb white girl? I found this article to be INCREDIBLY petty.

Here is my response:

As I was reading it, while Bristol was the main target, she remains for me, the personification of the ugly and narcissistic American. She has made various choices to put herself in the media eye after her mother did so. She is damaged and easily made fun of. That said, she is emblematic of Americans and how immature we are. Was she the comparison? Yes. Has Malala gotten a lot of press for her amazing acts of courage? Yes. Are they incredibly different? Yes. I see one as the ideal and one as the clown in terms of what we expect from our young people. Bristol is the caricature of American teens--uneducated, stupid, pregnant, beer-drinking, etc. Malala is who we aspire to be. What better way to see he difference than with a side by side comparison. I understand your issue with the article, but understood it in a different way.

Perhaps a dissection or discussion of this kind of article would be appropriate for a gender or sociology class.


The Teaching High School Sociology web site

Halloween Costumes--An Analysis

I posted the blog below on the Teaching High School Psychology blog earlier.  As I was thinking about it, I realized that from a sociological perspective, analyzing costumes in the aggregate could be a great observational activity lending connections to socialization and culture and subcultural norms.

Have students create categories of costume types (the Teaching Tolerance link has some good examples).  Is the costume ethnic/racial, a fictional character from childhood or from some literature, a political figure, or something humorous.  Classes from different schools could do this analysis to see if there are different patterns that emerge in different schools, regions, or states.  What are acceptable costumes for what students wear at school versus what they might wear to parties with their friends or families?  What norms are there for the various events?  What consequences/sanctions are given for those who violate the norms of their group?

It seems to me as I write this that there are so many possibilities for this activity.  If you can, please be sure to add more in the comments section.

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I am in my social psychology unit for regular psych and decided to take a look at what was available for analyzing costumes--whether it be for stereotypes or gender or politics.  For this post, I will simply share what I discovered in terms of some examples of what is out there.  Before using any of these with students, I would recommend checking them out yourself first.  Whether it's unleashing a hidden side of yourself or modeling someone you admire or mocking someone you abhor, the costume you wear may say a lot about you and your personality.

Just like projective tests, I would recommend being very cautious using any kind of analysis in class with students.  Perhaps it would be better to have them do the analyzing and the adults guiding them in that pursuit.

Teaching Tolerance--the most school-appropriate item I could find--costume type, gender representation, racial/ethnic or age representation
http://www.tolerance.org/activity/what-do-halloween-costumes-say

Psychoanalyzing 10 Popular Halloween Costumes from US News
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2012/10/25/psychoanalyzing-10-popular-halloween-costumes

A Psychoanalysis of Costumes from Boston.com
http://www.boston.com/dailydose/2012/10/29/weekly-challenge-psychoanalysis-your-halloween-costume-choice/Ad5FA9h9ppnFasYbkIf19J/story.html

Emme Magazine (I had not heard of it either)--a cheeky examination of costumes for women
http://www.emme-magazine.com/2012/10/21/your-halloween-costume-your-personality-dr-hughes-analyzes-what-your-halloween-costume-reveals-about-you/

Arizona Central--Women Rethinking Their Role as Eye-Candy
http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/specials/halloween/articles/20121026women-rethinking-roles-as-halloween-eye-candy.html

For Humor--decoding her/his costume (From Match.com)
http://www.match.com/magazine/article/9024/Decode-Her-Halloween-Costume/
http://www.match.com/magazine/article/9023/Decode-His-Halloween-Costume/

Good Girls Go Bad, For a Day
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/fashion/19costume.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

The Glory of Wearing the Same Costume Every Year
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/10/the-glory-of-wearing-the-same-halloween-costume-every-year/264060/

Media Analysis--a Cultural Appropriation of Halloween
http://www.karanovic.org/courses/mca006/2012/10/26/cultural-appropriation-of-halloween/

For those who like stats and lots of data analysis with their economics, there is this Stanford paper
http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs341/reports/04-PraveenCS341ProjectWrite-Up.pdf

Images courtesy of a search.creativecommons.org with images available for use without copyright protection.

posted by Chuck Schallhorn

The Teaching High School Sociology web site

Offensive Clothing Designs

10 of the Most Offensive Clothing Designs
This article on AlterNet really could create some fascinating discussion about values, offense (many of my students claim not to be offended by much), and generation gaps.  Whether it's a shirt that is "pro-ana," that is, promoting anorexic behavior or sneakers with a shackle, there is much to discuss with this article.

The article can be found here:
http://www.alternet.org/culture/10-most-offensive-clothing-items-ever-created?paging=off

The Teaching High School Sociology web site