METHODS AND TECHNIQUES Rethinking the Romance: Teaching ...

METHODS AND TECHNIQUES Rethinking the Romance: Teaching the Content and Function of Gender Stereotypes in the Psychology of Women Course Mary Crawford University of South Carolina To understand the content and function of gender stereotypes, students in a psychology of women course read a typical Harlequin~style romance novel of their choice. They write a paper analyzing its messages about femininity, masculinity, love, and relationships as well as addressing why women write and read these books. Later, students use their graded papers as resources for a class discussion. Student reaction to the assignment is positive. Gender stereotyping is a core topic in courses on the psychology of women and gender. It is important for students to learn the content of gender stereotypes (i.e., the characteristics that are ascribed to women and men) and their function as social demands. Although gender stereotyping is widespread in the mass media, students have rarely learned to think critically about what they read and see in entertainment media, such as television, comic strips, magazines, and popular fiction. Moreover, many students mistakenly believe that the women's liberation movement of the 1970s freed women from sexism and discrimination, so that today's woman can be and do anything she wants. They are surprised to learn that gender stereotypes show considerable cross-cultural consistency (Williams & Best, 1990), have changed little over the past 30 years (Ruble, 1983; Werner & LaRussa, 1985), and are held by both women and men (Wallston & O'Leary, 1981). If it is difficult to convince students that gender stereotyping is alive and well in the 1990s, it is even more difficult to convince them that gender stereotypes function not just as static images but as guiding models by which women and men are judged as worthy members of their sex. Because gender stereotypes consist of a network of associations involving personality traits, social roles, behaviors, and psychological characteristics, they have a prescriptive and a descriptive function. They inform people about what behavior ought to be as much as they tell them what it is, providing compelling "scripts" for behavior. Thus, stereotypes operate as mechanisms of social control. Most textbooks on the psychology of women cover images and stereotypes of women, sexuality, love and relationships, and issues of status and power (Hyde, 1990; Lott, 1994; Unger & Crawford, 1992). As a supplement to the textbook material, for the past 10 years I have used a two-part writing and group discussion project that has been enduringly popular with students and very successful in helping them dis-

cover for themselves the content and functions of stereotypical images of women and men. The project is to read a romance novel critically and discuss a set of questions about it with others who have read similar novels. By providing concrete examples of human behavior, books make gender stereotypes more salient to students (Bovatzis, 1992). In addition, novels increase students' motivation to learn and their awareness of how abstract concepts such as gender stereotypes could be reflected in human behavior (Fernald, 1987; Levine, 1983). Whichever textbook or novels are chosen, for maximum educational value in connecting the romance novel's contents to psychological research, it is best to set a due date that follows reading and class discussion of these topics.

Method

The Reading Assignment Paperback romance novels are ubiquitous. Most students are familiar with the genre and will have no trouble obtaining an example at low cost. Any mass-market bookstore will have several racks devoted to popular series; used copies are readily available for about 25¢ at secondhand bookstores. Many students report borrowing one from a sister, roommate, or friend. I also keep a stock on hand, which I obtain by the bagful at yard sales, to lend to students. Students are instructed that novels published by Harlequin and Silhouette are eligible. These include the Second Chance at Love series that feature older heroines (a favorite with nontraditional students) and the Candlelight Ecstasy series that are somewhat more sexually explicit than the norm for this genre. Not eligible are historical romances (a.k.a. "bodice-rippers") or those involving supernatural events. Instructions to students are as follows: Read a Harlequin romance. In a S-page paper, analyze its plot and characters for the message it gives about femininity, masculinity, love, and relationships. Connect your analysis to research and theory in (relevant chapters of text). Address the following questions:

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Why are these books so popular among women, and why do women choose to write them? Criteria for grading include the extent to which the student has recognized the gender stereotypes in the attributes of the heroine and hero and analyzed the assumptions about women's and men's proper roles and priorities inherent in the plot. Moreover, I look for insights into why these novels are so popular with women. These should go beyond the superficial (e.g., escape) and avoid blaming women for their social position. Useful analyses for instructors to read on this point (which could also be assigned as related reading for more advanced students) are those by Radway (1984), Rose (1985), and Modleski (1980). While grading the papers, I note particularly compelling examples of images of women and men and the social prescriptions for the experience of love and romance. I jot the student's name next to the relevant question for the subsequent class discussion.

Class Discussion This part of the assignment is essential. Because each student has read a different romance novel, each has arrived independently at an original analysis of similar but not identical instances of stereotyping. Through group discussion and analysis, the solitary reading and writing assignment becomes an opportunity for shared and expanded learning. I ask one or two students to read aloud the relevant passages in their papers as we discuss responses to such questions as the following: What are the personality traits of the heroine and hero! What are their material resources and social status! How is falling in love experienced by each! What is the relative importance of love versus work! How are women's multiple identities as daughter, sister, friend, worker, and romantic partner portrayed as integrated or separate! Students discuss the sexual backgrounds and experience of the female and male characters, the occurrence of sexual coercion in the novels, the absence of recognition of sexually transmitted diseases, and the need for contraception. Finally, I raise the question of the possible effects of repeated exposure to romantic fiction: How do romantic stereotypes and scripts shape the way we interpret our experiences! The exercise concludes with discussion of the phenomenal popularity of romance novels. Simply by obtaining a book for the assignment, students will have noticed their ready availability. Romance novels account for 25% of all paperback sales in the United States, forming a $250 million industry each year. Each month, 120 new titles are published, and most sell out (Brown, 1989). This information can provoke thought and discussion about the effects of exposure to the genre on the self-perceptions and aspirations of its readers. Evaluation I have used the romance novel project in undergraduate and graduate psychology of women courses at four institutions, including a very selective undergraduate liberal arts college, a selective public institution, and two public universities. The schools ranged in size from 1,600 to 25,000 students, and three of the four enrolled more women than

men. In all four, the majority of psychology majors and psychology of women students were women. Evaluations of the romance novel project in a Psychology of Women course at the University of South Carolina and at Swarthmore College revealed strong positive reactions to the assignment (see Table 1). Students rated the assignment on its effectiveness at exposing representations of women and men in mass media and increasing knowledge and interest in the cultural impact of gender. Students were nearly unanimous in recommending that future students read romance novels for the course. Their comments about the romance project were as follows: (a) "Doing this assignment ... made me realize just how much my consciousness has, and continues to be, raised. Now everything I read or see is held to much more scrutiny"; (b) "Saw how insidious [mass media representations of women and men] can be"; (c) "Came away from [the assignment] with new understanding and renewed anger"; (d) "This project has raised my awareness of ... the troubling issue of romance as the ultimate goal for women." At various times I have experimented with giving students a choice of two out of three short writing assignments. Typical options included the romance project, a personal essay on "Gender in My Family," and an analysis of sexism in a print advertisement. Although the romance novel project is the only option that requires extra reading, it has been chosen at least as often as the other options. For example, at West Chester University, 80% of students chose the romance novel project, compared with 70% for the family essay and 47% for the advertisement essay. When the assignment is optional, those who did not do it can still learn from the class discussion. Discussion Reading a romance novel takes little time. Most are only about 200 pages, and all constitute a quick read. Most students approach the assignment eagerly and in a spirit of adventure. They often report completing the reading in one Table 1. Project Evaluations From the University of South Carolina and Swarthmore College

uscProject Evaluations In doing this project, I gained in my understanding of how women, men, and gender relations are represented in the mass media. Doing this project added to my understanding of the cultural impact of gender. Doing this project contributed to my interest in the study of women and gender. I would recommend using the Harlequin romance project again in a course of this type.

Swarthmore b

M

SO

4.63

.48

4.60

.80

4.75

.43

4.80

.40

4.14

.64

4.80

.40

4.88

.31

4.80

.40

M

SO

Note. Scores range from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree

(5).

an = 8. bn = 5. Teaching of Psychology


sitting, although one male student noted that he took his romance novel along on spring break-in a plain brown wrapper! Students receive positive feedback on their analysis of the novel by being asked to share portions of it with their classmates. They learn more about the concept of a literary genre when they directly compare the formulaic plots and the stereotypic attributes of heroines and heroes. Most important, they come to see aspects of gender that were previously unexamined, and this can be a powerful experience. The cumulative effect of 12 or more romance novels, all with naive, malleable heroines and experienced, dynamic heroes engaged in a predictable game of domination and submission, can teach students more about the content and function of gender stereotypes than any other single assignment. References Boyatzis, C. J. (1992). Let the caged bird sing: Using literature to teach developmental psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 19, 221-222. Brown, E. A. (1989, June 9). Happily ever after. Christian Science Monitor, p. 13. Fernald, L. D. (1987). Of windmills and rope dancing: The instructional value of narrative structures. Teaching of Psychology, 14, 214-216. Hyde, J. S. (1990). Understanding human sexuality (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Levine, R. V. (1983). An interdisciplinary course studying psychological issues through literature. Teaching of Psychology, 10, 214-216.

Lott, B. (1994). Women's lives: Themes and variations in gender learning (2nd ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. Modleski, T. (1980). The disappearing act: A study of Harlequin romances. Signs, 5, 435-448. Radway, J. (1984). Reading the romance: Women, patriarchy, and popular literature. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. Rose, S. (1985). Is romance dysfunctional? lntemational}oumal of Women's Studies, 8, 25~265. Ruble, T. L. (1983). Sex stereotypes: Issuesof change in the 19705. Sex Roles, 9, 397-402. Unger, R., & Crawford, M. (1992). Women and gender: A feminist psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill. Wallston, B., & O'Leary, V. (1981). Sex makes a difference: Differential perceptions of women and men. In L. Wheeler (Ed.), Review of personality and social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 9-41). Beverly Hills: Sage. Werner, P. D., & laRussa, G. W. (1985). Persistence and change in sex-role stereotypes. Sex Roles, 12, 1089-1100. Williams, J. E., & Best, D. L. (1990). Measuring sex stereotypes: A multination study. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Notes 1. I thank Ruth L. Ault and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on a draft of this article, Lori Fitton for assistance in manuscript preparation, and Jeanne Marecek for collecting evaluation data from her Swarthmore College class. 2. Requests for reprints should be sent to Mary Crawford, Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208.

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