Blog 21

Here are some postings from my classwork today.  I finally have a framework for my introduction, thanks to Dr. Chandler!  WooHoo!  These are just some notes, as soon as I get home, I will edit this post and add a full working introduction, so I hope!

 

Notes

Majority research done on gender equality

About emotions, how the girls feel about being a cheerleader and their connection to their teammates.

Role it plays in their self-image and how important their relationships to others

How they negotiate the ways they think about themselves, individual and as part of a team, kind of complicated moves they make to come up with a story on who they are as an individual

Story of who I am as a cheerleader told as a cheerleader themselves

Study is different because of different focus and because I am an insider

Peer to peer, sister to sister conversation

Cheerleading as an American institution and it has pretty hardcore stereotypes to it, sexual objects, take apart the stereotypes

Representations are from the outside in

Gee method for how I am going to take that stereotype apart, literature review

What my study does and how I am going to do it

 

Introduction Guideline:

• Cheerleading as an American Institution, staple in American culture, recognized with positive as well as negative values, background on cheerleading in America as a stereotypical, feminine sport
• All previous studies have been on gender role and gender equality, none have observed the role cheerleading plays on self-image (state other studies, two)
• My study will show the role cheerleading plays in self-image and the importance of the cheerleaders relationships to one another
• It will negotiate, through observations and an interview, the way they think about themselves as an individual as well as part of a team, which complicates moves they make to come up with a story on who they are as an individual
• The study will differ from others, aside from topic, because it is written by an inside source rather than an observer not in the field.  The interviews done are from a peer to peer perspective rather than a stranger to cheerleader perspective.