Guenther

= Gretchen Wilson =




 * She was born in rural Pocahontas, Illinois on June 26, 1973.
 * Her father left Gretchen and her mom when she was 2 years old.
 * Eighth grade education.
 * At the age of 14 she was a bartender at Big O's bar to make a living.
 * When she was 15 she was living on her own and managing the roughneck joint and kept a loaded 12-gauge shotgun behind the bar for protection.
 * She is a single mom.
 * Her single "Redneck Woman" was at #1 on Billboard's country airplay chart for five weeks in 2004.
 * She won the CMA Horizon Award in 2004.
 * She won CMA Female Vocalist Award in 2005.
 * She co-wrote a book about her experiences and that appeared in 2006.

Date: 2-19-10

I would not condsider Gretchen Wilson as a "Princess" or someone who would want to be one. She as a hard core redneck. She likes to go mudding and do the kinds of things guys do. She is like one of the guys. As you can see from the two photos of her she wears makeup and earings to dress herself up a little but if you look at the picture on the right you can tell that she isn't afraid to get dirty. She is not the type to wear dresses to an event you will usually see her in jeans and tank tops. She will dress up her wardrobe with a little bit of makeup, earings and a dog tag necklace.

According to Linda T. Parsons Ella Evolving: Cinderella Stories and the Construction of Gender-Appropriate Behavior, Gretchen Wilson in a way kind of has a fairy tail life Parson would say because she grew up in poverty and made her way up to being a successful singer. She grew up in a rural town that is full of trailer parks, cornfields, and pig farms. From the age of two she grew up without a dad becuase her dad had left her and her mom and Gretchen only has an eighth grade education. From the age of 14 she bartended at a bar and then at the age of 15 she was living on her own and having to manage roughneck joint and had to have a shotgun behind the bar for her protection and she had to do all of this just ot make a living. Now she is a country singer and is doing what she loves and she has everything that she wants when she grew up with pretty mucn nothing. In a way she is kind of like Cinderella who grew up with just about nothing and had to bust her butt off and then in the end she got everything that she wanted and can live happily ever after.

In one of Gretchen Wilson's songs "California Girls" she talks about how it's still nice to know that there are are girls that aren't all like Claifornia girls and that it is okay to not be a size two, or have fake spray on tans, and that there are still girls out their that will eat fried chicken, and that men aren't looking for women that aren't fake. That kind of has to go with this reading on princesses because a lot of women that think thay need to be skinny and pretty and be a sex object for men to get them to notice them. And Gretchen is saying how that it's okay not to be like that and that is not what a real man wants. All of the Disney princesses wear the big ball gowns and fancy jewelry and are skinny. Women in real life don't go around wearing ball gowns everyday and not everyone is skinny or a size zero. Parson would also point out that Gretchen Wilson is not a princess because she doesn't wear dresses and most of her songs are about drinking, being a redkneck/one of the guys, and about how you shouldn't care what people think of you, you are who you are.

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​  Date: 3-12-10

__"Teena Means Business"__:

The magazine, Seventeen, is designed for the image of a teenage girl. It was first designed for teenage girls during World War II. Seventeen included things such as movie and music columns, popular teen canteens, fashion, and beauty articles. Seventeen was designed to make teenage girls feel like better teenage girls and not rushing into adulthood. The advice given in the magazine appeard as if it were a voice from an older sister or someone older and experienced and it had the public image of a teen girl as her own power. The seventeen magazine gives positive advice to young girls and also shows them the in-style fashion and beauty tips and styles. The first editor-in-chief of Seventeen magazine wanted to have articles about how young girls relate to their families and friends, how we present ourselves, and also about what was happening in the real world around us. Seventeen magazine is kind of a strong role model for young girls becuase it gives them positive advice and by having all of the different kinds of make-up and clothing/fashion it lets girls have the power of to decide what makes up their own kind of fashion by what they see in the magazine.

The author of "Teena Means Business" would say that Gretchen Wilson, at least according to her songs, doesn't think that is necessary to buy expensive name brand things if you can buy the same product for a lower cost. However, it is hard to say that she doesn't buy expensive name brand items because she does co-write some of her songs, and with that said we don't know if it is her or the co-writer that comes up with some of the ideas in the songs. In most if not all of her songs are about her life and what she is like as a person. She is a very strong women and a role model to both girls and women. Gretchen has lived an adult life since she was 15 years old and imagine only having an eighth grade education because you had to help out your family by working at a bar to make it through life. Once she found her talent of singing she moved to Nashville and even though it was hard for her to get a record deal at first she is now very successful because she fought for what she wanted and didn't give up. Gretchen considers herself as a redneck women and a redneck is someone who is a poor white person living in the south who has a sunburnt neck from working in the fields all day. Rednecks usually have a beer belly, buy cheap beer and don't spend a lot of money on expensive things, wear cut-off t-shirts and jeans. In her song "Redneck Woman" she says that she's never been the barbie doll type and she's not a high class broad, she's just a product of her raisin'. Some people may look down on her but she doesn't give a rip because she is who she is and if they don't like it then who cares. She also says in the song that Victoria's Secret is real nice but she can find the same thing on a Walmart shelf half price and still look as sexy as the models on TV and she doesn't need a designer tag to make her man want her. She is saying just becuase something has a designer's tag on it doesn't make it that much better, your just paying more for the name. However, in today's society it still tells girls that they should buy lingerie to please their man even though it doesn't matter where you get it from. Another reason why Gretchen Wilson is a good role model is because she says you shouldn't care what people think of you or how you dress, we all have our own styles that make us who we are.

The author would also agree that even though Gretchen Wilson and Seventeen are role models for young girls they are some what different in how they are role models. Seventeen shows girls all of the in-fashion and styles and gives positive advice although they don't tell young girls that this is what they have to wear it gives a variety of in-fashion for girls with different styles. Gretchen says that you should be who you want to be and it doesn't matter what people think of you and you don't have to spend a lot of money on designer names because you can get the same stuff for a lot less. Both Seventeen magazine and Gretchen Wilson are strong and positive role models for young girls in the way that they express themselves. media type="youtube" key="82dDnv9zeLs" height="385" width="480"

Date: 3-17-10

__Sanitizing Puberty: The American Way to Menstruate-__

Sanitizing Puberty was about how girls deal with menstration. Girls usually get their period when they are around 13 years old and girls will either talk about it with their friends, go from what they know about it from what they learned in school, and some will talk about it with their mothers. Some parents would stick pamphlets and feminine hygeine stuff in their daughters drawers to aviod talking to them about it and even schools teach girls when they are in fifth grade about menstration becuase starting menstration varies in age. The article talks about how young girls should talk about their period with their friends and how menstration should be mature. From the past generations feminine hygeine products have changed dramatically and even today they are still changing in how comfortable and how much protection they have.

Gretchen Wilson grew up in poverty and was constantly moving down the street to a new trailor house when her mother didn't have the money to pay rent. Her mother was addicted to alcohol and drugs because of domestic violence. From a few articles that I read, this may on mother's day Gretchen Wilson is going to try to reconnect with her mother becuase they haven't talked for several years and now her mother's life is doing better than in the past. The author of "Sanitizing Puberty", Joan Brumberg, would say that due to her and her mother's relationship, Gretchen probably didn't talk to her mother about menstration. It's hard to say for sure but I think Gretchen was one of them girls that either learned about it through school depending on when schools started teaching girls about menstration or she might have talked about it with her friends. However, Gretchen is known as one of the guys and hangs out with the rowdy crowd so I don't think that she really had a lot of people to talk to about her period. By knowing some of the experiences that Gretchen has gone through in her childhood such as only having an eighth grade education and having a job at the age of 14 to make a living for her and her mother and not going to school and moving out on her own at the age of 15 she learned to be strong and very mature for a teenage girl. I think that the reading, Sanitizing Puberty, Joan Brumberg would also agree that Gretchen Wilson was a mature teenage girl or had a mature menstration at that age. Also in the articles I read about Gretchen reconnecting with her mother she says how her daughter, Grace, is just like her and Gretchen eventually got her G.E.D. and she says that her daughter will graduate from school because a G.E.D. is something that she doesn't have that her mom does. Gretchen's daughter is at the age where in a few years she will be at that age where she will be getting her period and since her and Gretchen are so close that she may go to her mom and talk about how to deal with her period depending on Grace's personallity. Eventhough a girl and her mom can be very close talking about her period to her mom might be awkward.

Joan Brumberg, would also say that Gretchen Wilson is kind of a commercialized product because her albums refelct who she is as a person and on CMT Insider when an artist has a new, "big" album coming out in stores they talk to the artist about the CD and why people should buy it. If artist don't try to get people to buy their albums they're not going to make a living. Also, when commercials have famous people advertising their products it is going to make people want to buy it. If Gretchen Wilson were to do an advertisement for a feminine hygene product people that like her or that are fans of her will want to buy that product because Gretchen Wilson uses it or likes it so it must be a good product. Gretchen Wilson and her daughter Grace

Date: 4-2-10

__The Phenomenon of Harry Potter, or Why All the Talk?-__ ​

The author of this reading says that Harry Potter books are formulaic and sexist and when I reading the first book I didn't really feel like it was sexist but after going back and thinking about it it does seem like it is sexist a little bit because there are more male characters than female characters and also both Hermione and Prof. McGonagall are book smart and nerdy which shows formulaic. Also he talks about how the women in Harry Potter are accessories and Hermione kind of is an accessory to Harry and Ron becuase they always shut down her ideas and she kind of just kind of tags along with them but however, if it wasn't for her they wouldn't accomplish any of their adventures and beat all of the "bad guys" and she never gets any of the credit. The author of the reading "The Phenomenon of Harry Potter, or Why All the Talk? does kind of agree that Harry is a role model for boys but he is too flawless. From what I remember reading about Harry Potter and from watching some of the movies Harry isn't always flawless and do everything right. He does get in trouble by some of the teachers throught out the series and he does make mistakes once in a while and it is good for children to know that you don't have to do everything perfect and you learn from your mistakes. To me I thought that the author was more bashing Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling and she has made a lot of money off of these books which shows that people do like them.

The author of "The Phenomenon of Harry Potter, Why all the Talk" might say that J. K Rowling and Gretchen Wilson are kind of a like in how their life has kind of ended up. Both J. K Rowling and Gretchen Wilson grew up with having nothing to following their dreams and having what they want. J.K Rowling lived out of her car and wrote part or all of the first Harry Potter book on a napkin and after gettiing turned down by many publishers one in London liked her ideas and now she is making millions of dollars off of her books. Gretchen grew up in a trailer park in poverty and finally realized that she had musical talent from her father and moved to Nashville. Same with her she got turned down many times and finally got a record deal and her life has completely changed. I saw an interview of her on a show called CMT Insider and she was saying how she doesn't have millions of dollars in the bank because she bought land and has a house and a ranch that she has always wanted and for her new album that just came out she had to take out a mortage for it. It shows in both of them that if you follow your dreams and never give up you can eventually succeed and get what you want. 

__From Sexist to (sort of) Feminist Representations of Gender in the Harry Potter Series__

The reading talks about how the female characters in Harry Potter don't show the same qualities as the boys do and the boys in the series are more powerful than the girls and for a girl to be shown as somewhat powerful she is smart or nerdy and is bossy. One quote from the article is, "The girls are not involved in the most complex moments of play and never play dirty or get badly hurt" (pg 142). Also the article talks about how in the series of the books their are 115 girl characters and 201 boy characters. The authors talk about how for a women in Harry Potter to be pretty she has to wear make up and a girl can't be both smart and pretty like Hermione. For the ball Hermione got a complete make over and went from having big teeth and frizzy hair to having short teeth and sleek, shiny hair with the help of a spell. However, Hermione is kind of that tomboyish girl because she hangs out with two boys and goes on rough adventures with them but she also has that motherly way about her and she has to go by the rules. In a way if you really think about it Harry Potter is kind of sexist but the authors mentioned that as the series go on the girls do become more powerful.

Gretchen Wilson is not your average girl who likes to get all glammed up and get spray on tans. She does look girly but she is a Redneck which is another word for saying she is a tomboy. She likes to go out and hang with the guys and growing up she was known as one of the guys. She likes to go out and play rough and isn't affraid to get mud on her. Even though she is a tomboy she still dresses femine because she wears the tight jeans, make-up, earings, and etc. She has a feminine tomboy style. She lives on a ranch and cleans out her horses stalls and works hard. She also chews tobacco and I can't say that I know a lot of women that chew. Also in one of her songs, Redneck women she says how shes never been the barbie doll type and she can't swig that sweet champagne and she'd rather drink beer all night. Champagne is more known as a girly drink and beer is more what guys drink. In away she is kind of like Hermione who hangs out with two boys becuase Gretchen hangs out with mostly guys and they both like the adventure except Hermione is more of a goody-goody and has to follow the rules where Gretchen Wilson is more of a rebel and a hard core Redneck.

The authors of "From Sexist to (sort of) Feminine Representations of Gender in the Harry Potter Series" would say that if you look at Gretchen Wilson's store on her official website, [|www.gretchenwilson.com], her items are pretty well equal to the amount of male and female items. She has a Gretchen Wilson stock car, three Gretchen Wilson T-shirts that could be worn by both men or women, a tank top for women, a 8x10 photo of her, a flag, a Gretchen Wilson sticker, and a gift card. The authors would also say that if you look at the covers of all four of Gretchen Wilson's CD's they are pretty well gender neutral by the color and the picture on the cover. On her first three albums the cover picture has a sexual appeal that would attract the men into buying them and the fourth album cover has colors of red and blue that could attract both men and women. It looks like they keep her items of this years tour pretty gender neutral compared to when you look at stores of Harry Potter items because most of their items are more for guys than girls. Also, most of their items have Harry Potter, Ron, Draco and other male characters on them than Hermione. Even the jewelry that they have looks more like jewelry that guys would wear than girls and they had one pair of flower earings of Hermiones from the ball.

Date: 4-10-10

__Challenging Notions of Gendered Game Play: Teenagers playing The Sims-__ By Catherine Beavis and Claire Charles

The article on Teenagers playing The Sims is about how The Sims is more of a feminine game but yet gender neutral and both boys and girls enjoy playing the game. Girls play the game in more of a nurturing way compared to boys. When boys play the game they do take the role of responsibility and they find it fun to have your people go to work, but they also like to start their houses on fire or put TVs in the bathroom or in other wierd places in the house. When girls play they like to make families that usually refer to them and they like to take care of their house and their children, and make their "dream" house. When it comes to video games boys are usually the ones to play the games compared to girls because boys are usually better at the technology stuff compared to girls.

On Gretchen Wilson's official website ([|www.gretchenwilson.com]) under the "news" page she talks about how people need to work on being healthy because obesity is one of the top leading causes of death in America and how parents need to stop letting their kids sit on their butts all day playing video games because that doesn't help the cause. I think that with her having a daughter she probably limits the time to how much computer time Grace (her daughter) gets.

Catherine Beavis and Claire Charles would say that instead of looking at how much Gretchen Wilson plays video games and what kinds she plays they would look at what types of fans she has because The Sims is a gender neutral game that both boys and girls enjoy playing. By looking at Gretchen Wilson's facebook page she as 23,064 fans and they seems to be a few more women but it is still pretty much equal between the men and women that are her fans. If you look at her wall where people leave her comments there are both men and women that write on it but there seems to be more women than men that write to her. Beavis and Charles would both say that Gretchen Wilson can be liked by both men and women. Her songs can fit the lives of both genders because her songs are about drinking, being one of the guys/Redneck, having a good time, and etc. Both men and women can be Rednecks and like to get dirty, hang with a rowdy crowd, and have a good old time and it's not just for men, and Gretchen proves that herself by being a women and loving to do those types of things that men do. When you read some of the comments that people write her on her Facebook wall most of them are men and women telling her how much they like her music and how it helps their day when they listen to it and also some tell her that she did a good job at the concert they went to see her at.

Date: 4-23-10

__"Anti-Barbies"-__ By Sherrie A. Inness

This article was about the American Girl Dolls and how they differ from Barbie dolls. American Girl dolls are very expensive dolls that were $82 each and people can also buy all of the dolls accessories. There are historical dolls like Addy, Molly, Felicity, and many others and there are also dolls that you can make look just like you. American Dolls are different than Barbies because they teach children more education than Barbies do. The historical American Girl dolls come with books that tell you about their childhood and how they grew up and you can buy their furniture that looks like it was from the time period they lived in. These dolls can help children learn about how life was back then for these girls compared to how it is now. Barbies on the other hand teach young girls that you should be beautiful and worry about fashion and beauty. However they did make Barbie occupation dolls that have different jobs such as a babysitter, teacher, nurse, and a computer engineer. The American girls do come with hair brushes, hair accessories and other beauty accessories but they don't focus on it as much as Barbies do. American Girl dolls also come in different ethnicities such as white, African American, Native American, and if you design one to make it look like you there are many different skin tones, hair colors/styles, and eye colors to choose from where as Barbies there are mostly blonde haired, but there is one African American doll and one or two brown haired dolls.

Inness would look at Gretchen Wilson as a person and how she educates children from her music. Inness would say that Gretchen's long hair resembles femininity. In Inness's reading she says that, "Hair has become a symbol of fimininity and masculinity. The ineveitable long hair of American Girls serves as a subtle reminder that girls and women should have long hair. The politics of assent works to show long hair as only "natural" on women and implies that short hair is unfeminine" (Inness, 177). Gretchen doesn't dress in fancy clothes and worry so much about being primped all of the time. She doesn't mind getting dirty when mudding and she also doesn't have the Barbie image with the big bust, super skinny waist, and the blonde hair. Inness would also look at how Gretchen Wilson educates children from the songs that she sings about her life growing up. Gretchen teaches kids that not everyone grows up with a lot of money and you have to work hard to get where you want to be in life. She also tells women/ young girls that it is okay to not be super skinny and you shouldn't worry about what people think of you because we are all are our own person and if they don't like it, then so be it. Much like the American Girl dolls that educate children about their lives growing up with their books, Gretchen educates people about how her life was growing up as a child and all of the hardships she had to go through in her songs.

__"It's a Girl Thing": Tough Female Action Figures in the Toy Store__- By Sherrie A. Inness

This reading is about how male dominance in action figures really shows through. Action figures are Barbies for boys pretty much but are masucline and have powerful roles compared to Barbies. Action figures had the roles of military men, spies, super heros and there were even evil action figures. G.I. Joes are the most famous type of action figure and they decided to make a female action figure that was a nurse but neither boys or girls really found much interest in this action figure. Another action figure that G.I. Joe made was a women helicoptor pilot. Many stores did not have her on the shelves to buy all they had were all of the men G.I. Joes. The female G.I. Joes and even other female action figures didn't size up to the male action figures. Boys just weren't interested in playing with girl action figures. Even in the Batman action figures there were all male action figures and one girl action figure (Catwomen) and in the Power Rangers there are all men and two women. The girl action figures are all surrounded by a team of men action figures. Also when you look at the outfits of the girl action figures they have that feminine or sex appeal to them. In the Power Rangers the outfits that they were are the same but the men wear bright colors such as blue, red, black, and white, and the females where pastel yellow and pink colored suits. When you look at Catwomen she wears a tight leather suit that forms and shows off her body and supergirl also wears the tight outfit and has a big bust. It shows that even in action figures women have to have sex appeal or have the feminine look.

Inness would probably view Gretchen as both going with and against the views of women in the action figure world. Much like the female action figures Gretchen Wilson is also usually among a bunch of men because she is known as one of the guys in her hometown because growing up and even today she hangs out with mostly guys. She dresses like a tomboy but has a feminine style to her because in today's society it is a lot about sex apeal and with Gretchen Wilson being a singer she likes having sex appeal because you have to do what sells but she also doesn't get too carried away and you have to know what is right. However, Inness would say that Gretchen is a strong independent women who isn't affraid to speak her mind and doesn't care what people think of her. Both her and the female action figures are strong women who shoot guns and do some of the roles that men do but Gretchen seems to be more powerful or a step ahead of the women action figures because the action figures are kind of stuck behind the men and there not as gender neutral as Gretchen seems to be. Both men and women like and listen to Gretchen's music and buys her CDs where not it doesn't seem that as many men and women buy the female action figures. The men action figures have higher up roles than what the females do, where as Gretchen Wilson does many things that men do. Gretchen seems much like a guy by the things that she does but has that feminine side to her by the way she dresses.

Date: 4-30-10

__Introduction of Let a Women Jump-__ By Kyra Grant

This article looks at the culture of African American women. African American women are extremely good at jumping double dutch rope. They make up their own moves that go with the music and they also make up their own chants and routines. Their chants and routines/moves are a way of them expressing themselves. In the story there are four double dutch divas that are in there in their middle ages and they jump rope for the fun of it like they did when they were younger and they also do it to stay in shape. Their team/group has their own look, they wear black leggings with a bright yellow shirt that has their team name on the front and their nickname on the back. Every culture has their own recreation, way of doing things, and style.

Looking at Gretchen Wilson Grant would look at her culture by where she grew up and lives today, by what she does for fun, and by what her style of clothes is. Gretchen Wilson grew up in poverty in rural Pocahontas, Illinois and lived in a trailer park. When she was a teenager she bartended at a bar and moved out of her house when she was 15. Today, Gretchen lives on a ranch in Nashville, Tennessee where her aunt and uncle live with her and her daughter. Gretchen Wilson calls herself a redneck women. A redneck is a slang word for a poor southerner and came to be from working in the fields all day and having a sunburnt neck. Today, redneck means someone from the southern states that is conservative, racist, rural, and a white working class person who has ancestry from northern Europe. Rednecks are usually people that have most of the following characteristics: they have a beer belly and consume cheap beer, they don't spend money on really expensive things, they live in a trailer and drive a big, beat up pickup with a gun rack in the back window, and they also wear a cut-off shirt, blue jeans with a trucker hat, and have missing teeth. Women can also be rednecks but have a feminine side. They enjoy hunting, drinking beer, fishing, NASCAR, monster truck rallies, have things piled up in their yards, and like country music. Gretchen fits many of those characteristics and enjoys being one of the guys, drinking beer, mudding, working hard, and usually wears a tank top, jeans, and a pair of boots. She has more of a Southern culture and it is much different than the African American culture where they were a lot of bling and the baggy clothes that somewhat resembles the rap or hip-hop style. Much like the African Americans that do chants to their double dutch routines as a way of expressing themesleves, Gretchen Wilson expresses herself through her music and singing.

Date: 5-7-10

__Pretty in Pink: What Girls Wear__

This reading was about the way girls dress. From when girls are babies parents dress their little girls in pink and pastel colored clothing with ruffles and boys are dressed in the blues, greens, and other masculine clolors and in sporty clothing. The style of clothing for girls hasn't really changed. When you look at the racks at store you see a lot of pink and purple clothing in the girls section with ruffles, flowers, butterflies, animals, and other prints that resembles feminine. Most girls either like pink or they avoid pink in their style of clothing. The clothing that is other colors than pink still have a feminine style to them by having ruffles and cute girly sayings. In the article it states, "Pretty in pink has lately been accompanied in the girls' departement with sassy in red. The red girl is not like the others gilrs and can develop into not liking what makes those other girls who they are, putting them down for being too girly and weak" (pg. 19). When you go to a lot of the stores they have many different styles that match young girls styles whether it is girly pink, sassy, rocker girl, animal lover, or sporty girl but yet they all still have that feminine touch to them from the colors and the designs of the clothing.

Lamb and Brown, the authors of "Pretty in Pink: What Girls Wear", would say that Gretchen Wilson has a redneck/ tomboy style but yet with a feminine and sex appeal touch to it. Gretchen wears what is comfortable and functional to what she is doing. In the picture of her on the very top of the page you see her wearing jeans and green shirt with a white longsleve shirt under it while mudding, you don't see her in good clothes or her performance clothes that she would wear when shes up on stage. Instead she is wearing clothes that she isn't affraid to get dirty and she has a tomboy style in that picture, but yet she still looks feminine from her earings, tight jeans, makeup, and her long hair. Gretchen also wears a lot of tank tops or t-shirts that have a feminine look to them because they are tight fitting, show cleavage, and has a sex appeal to them. Also, Lamb and Brown would say that by looking at many pictures of Gretchen Wilson she is not wearing pink, she is usually wearing black, dark or neutral colored tops with blue jeans and boots. She is not a girly girl by the colors of clothing that she wears, she has more of a sassy/sex appeal to the way that she dresses and also casual.