Part 1: The idea of the loophole woman, is a female who uses aspects of her sexuality whether it be certain physical

traits, the ability to flirt, or certain illusions or promises of seductionto interact with men to help her advance in the workplace or other areas of her life. The concept of the loophole woman states that she must use these facets of her feminine side because they are very often the only way she can progress upward in the workplace and in the public sphere, which is still commonly been referred to as a mans world, as it has always been a male-dominated environment. By engaging in these practices, the loophole woman by definition must separate herself from her female peers in order to move up the company ladder and the social hierarchy. This issue is relevant to not just females who find themselves in a work environment, but to all women everywhere, as it is still a very pervasive problem. Because the loophole woman perceives that it is a mans world in the workplace, she believes that she has to make herself appealing to the man in charge, even if it means at the risk of alienating herself from her peers (Caplan, pg. 174). One possible motive for embracing her sexual features is for the loophole woman to try to become specifically appealing to her male peers because she thinks that being associated with other females in the work place can lead to low self-esteem. Being seen as just another woman in the workplace can eventually lead to a womans fear of success (Caplan, pg.175). If a woman is not recognized as an individual in the workplace, it can be very difficult for her to receive promotions, even if her work merits recognition for being exceptional. If this happens, it can lead to a growing internal belief inside the woman that the reason why she did not receive the

promotion was from fault of her own, without ever being aware of blatant misogyny or sexual favoritism demonstrated by her male superior(s). Rather than realizing that it is the fault of the establishment, a woman will develop a motivation to avoid success in the future. In a study done by psychologist Matina Horner, she found that most young adults associated womens success with unhappiness that stemmed from losing friends or lovers, or finding disaster instead. This of course might be caused by women traditionally being punished for achieving success in the past by losing boyfriends who could not stand the thought of being dumber than their girlfriends (Caplan, pg. 176). This might have been the reason why some women in the workplace have developed such low selfesteem in the past, and the embracing of intense sexual objectification by women is to ensure they are at least noticed for their feminine characteristics. In some instances however, these women see their actions as a way of combating sexual harassment brought about by men. While they realize that there is no way they can openly express their discomfort with these comments, some women try and blend in with their male peers by using some of their own crude and misogynistic comments, directed at women and occasionally children (Bradley, pg 35). By doing this, they are widening the gap not just between men and women in the workplace, but also themselves and their female peers. While men are able to act more collectively in order to consolidate their power in the workplace by making these sexist jokes or comments, women must assimilate to these same rules in order to gain any sort of individual or positional leverage in a work environment, as no consolidation with female coworkers is possible. Unfortunately in some instances, this can lead to a woman being no better than an Uncle

Tom (Lisle, pg. 170). Unfortunately, even by circumventing the perceived shortcomings which become associated with a woman based upon her gender and finally achieving some form of success, the loophole woman is actually setting herself and her entire sex up to stop the progress achieved by the feminist movement. By embracing and flaunting their sexuality, these women are undercutting all of the progress made by this movement to help ensure women would be considered equals in the workplace because of their occupational competency, not because of their sexuality. The loophole women who embrace the comments and actions directed towards them because of their sexuality are actually further perpetuating sexual and gender harassment in the workplace (Karsten, pg. 57). This concept not only applies to a work environment. Even in social settings, there are some women who are comfortable separating themselves from their female peers by becoming one of the guys, and embracing more masculine characteristics in order to fit in with her male friends. Whether her intentions are to gain their attention through sexual channels of attraction or just through the adoption of male-oriented interests, the loophole woman who is in a social situation is not afraid to detach from her female friends in order to meet her individual goals. While some women might perpetuate these actions unknowingly, there are others who are fully aware of what they are doing. Some young women prefer to exploit their exploitation by using their sexual prowess as a means to achieve an end (Keetley, pg. 419). These women find their actions to be very empowering since it gives them a way to fight back against sexism on their terms. However by finding strength in the ability to flaunt their bodies, they are also falling victim to the demands of society as well. While in their minds they view

themselves as fighting back by embracing themselves for who they are, they are actually setting themselves up to be objectified. This in turn negates any sort of empowerment thought to be gained from this self-exploitation. Making women aware of the loophole woman tendencies demonstrated by themselves as well as others is the primary goal of our project. We hope to benefit them by making them more aware of their potential tendencies to embrace different aspects of the loophole woman in the future. By documenting three different young women in their early-to-mid twenties becoming aware of their propensity to engage in these actions, the main focus of our groups project is to further the awareness of female exploitation in society and to stop undercutting the advancements of feminism. By implementing four different aspects of James Potters chart, we have established a means to which we can help women persona locus on this issue. By showing our three different female participants different television clips of female characters embracing the roles of being one of the guys, we have made them cognizant of just how much these shows perpetuate these notions of loophole women in media content. In order to help them see just how much pull these effects can have on an audience, we have asked them to provide us with feedback on the content about how they perceive each specific scene and to how they can apply these situations to their lives in the real world. By the combination of these four aspects of Potters media literacy chartmedia effects, media content, real world, and selfwe have helped our participants craft their own personal locus as a template for which other women can make themselves aware of these same problems as well. In hopes that our project will help garner the attention of all females, both young and old, we also aspire to inform these women about all the different facets of the

loophole woman. Paper Part Two: Lesson Design When we sent out to create a video that discussed the issues in the way women are portrayed in the media we were mostly focused on the loophole woman in a more social setting. A loophole woman being the type of woman who acts like one of the guys yet still appears feminine. From watching our video we hoped that our audience would become more media literate and maybe see that they themselves are influenced by the media and in doing so they might change the way they act and present themselves. We hoped they would take it upon themselves to develop their personal locus and seek to more fully understand all the ways in which the media affect them as women and the way they act as modern women. We hoped that they would realize that the media create these messages for a reason and that their messages do in fact influence their behavior and the behavior of those around them. At the very least, we hope that they are just more aware of the presence of the loophole woman in the media and perhaps the way in which the media portrays women and how that affects the way women act in the real world. There is no real way to know if we have accomplish this goal of enlightening women, other than to look at the posts they left on the video. Some of the responses we got did hint at a small change in their perception and at the very least a few of them said that it just made them aware of the medias portrayal of women. Whether or not they realized how it affected them is anyones guess. We can only hope it made an impact.

Our target audience is women, mostly women between the ages of 18 and 35, however in our research we found that women even above the age of 35 are influence by the portrayal of the loophole woman on television. However we mostly wanted to target younger women because of their part in the business aspect of the loophole woman in addition to the social aspect as fitting in as one of the guys. This business and social aspect of the loophole woman just seemed more relevant to the younger generation, since this new form of feminism only became more socially acceptable in the last few decades. Older women have less experience with this newer phenomenon so they were less of a concern., but we still value their feedback. Also men, having no personal locus in the issue of the portrayal of women, were not figured into our target audience. We hoped that maybe a few men would watch our video and give us some feedback of their thoughts just so we could see the male perspective and luckily a few men did, but it was not our main goal to enlighten men, mostly because most men are not concerned with this issue and have no personal locus in the issue. Our procedure involved creating a short film about 15 minutes in length that showed clips from the media that were used as examples of womens portrayal on television. These short clips were followed by interviews with everyday women who were influenced by these television portrayals. We then followed up these interview segments with commentary recorded by two of our group members discussing the deeper meaning to things discussed in the interviews and then relating it back to the bigger picture, like these ideas related back to Potters work, issues brought up in the book Female Chauvinist Pigs and things from other class materials.

To recruit people to watch our video we simply uploaded the video to YouTube and then posted the link of each group members Facebook page. Here we had friends of each group member watch it and then post their comments and reactions below. We asked them to Please include feedback in relation to the concepts presented in the video and how they relate to you and your everyday life. From this request we received a lot of really great feedback, mostly from women as that was our target audience, but also from a few guys and from a few older women as well. When going back and looking at some of the posts we could tell that we really did influence people. Some of the posts stated that the participants found that their thoughts and feelings towards the portrayal of women in the media had changed. Many of them said that we had opened their eyes to these issues, saying that they really had never considered them before; some even thanked us for doing so.

The video we created first talks about the loophole women and shows interviews with everyday loophole women. This segment is followed up with a discussion between Dana and I about why this loophole woman is present in the media and whether or not this concept of hanging out the guys is more fun or if it is just a stereotype perpetuated by the medias portrayal of both men and women. Then the video moves on to the issue of the loophole women in the work place. An example is shown from an episode of House M.D. and then followed up with an interview of a 27 year old business woman, who works with a lot of old fashion men who make a lot of sexist jokes. In her interview she talked about how beneficial it is to fit in as one of the guys at her job and provides an example of how a young girl who joined their team, but wasnt able to fit in as one of the guys, ended up proving disastrous for her career. This segment of the video is wrapped up by a discussion between Dana and I of this concept of discrimination against women who are unable to conform to this idea of a loophole woman and how as in the example provided in our interview, not being as abatable as the loophole woman can keep one from being successful in the work place. The next segment focuses on the loophole woman in a more social setting, for example hanging out in a strip club or playing video games with the guys. The interviewees are shown discussing the type of activities they enjoy doing with the guys. The segment is followed up with commentary from Dana and I on whether or not these girls really do find it fun to participate in these masculine activities or if they just like this idea of being one of the guys and feeling cool. The next segment addresses the issue of Taking it too far, that is taking the idea of the loophole woman too far. The discussion is kicked off by several examples from television where the woman is being too masculine and has crossed the line of being cool and one

of the guys to being too masculine and gross. One of the girls we interviewed offers and example of one of her friends who often takes it too far. Then Dana and I offer up our opinion on the subject. We discus the idea of the loophole woman and how it has become this balancing act for women, because in order for them to be cool they have to act a certain amount of masculine, but they cant take it too far because then they are seen as gross. The entire video is then wrapped up with the concept of the third person effect and the feedback loop. Dana and I discuss the fact that all of the girls we interviewed when asked if they thought the medias portrayal of women affected them, all of them said that it didnt, yet offered plenty of examples of how it affected their friends. We also discussed the idea of a feedback loop where the women copy the media and then the media copy women.

(Our video can be found at this URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZVSvjQleNY It can also be found by searching PunkinR3 in Google to find my YouTube channel.) Part III: In conducting the media literacy lesson, the four of us (Madison, Jessica, Dana, and Nick) all posted the video to our facebook walls asking our fellow facebookers for feedback. We continued to seek out feedback as well via text messaging our friends, family, etc. In the end however, all feedback was given on the link to the video posted to facebook (which can also be accessed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZVSvjQleNY). Ultimately, we received feedback from a fairly wide range of ages and genders, which gave the group some solid insight into the effectiveness of our lesson.

As discussed briefly in part one of the paper, the groups goal was to encourage people to ultimately develop their motivation to seek out the meaning behind media messages and understand the ways in which the media affect us. Potter refers to this motivation in his model of media literacy as ones personal locus. In the model of media literacy, the building blocks leading up to developing ones personal locus consist of media content, media effects, media industries, the self, and the real-world. These are of utmost importance as, in order to find a motivation to be media literate, one has to make particular note of these blocks in media context. Potter believes the personal locus is a key aspect in the quest to become media literate, as this element is crucial to becoming proactive concerning media exposure and the embedded messages in the media we consume.

In this media literacy lesson, where we believe that all of Potters blocks are relevant to the topic of the loophole woman, we mainly encouraged the development of the personal locus via media effects, the self, and the real-world. In our feedback from facebook, there was evidence concerning the effectiveness of the lesson pertaining to these blocks. In one comment we received, a man makes note of a situation in LA that alludes to the media industries block. This is interesting in itself, as this was not one of the blocks we intended on promoting in this lesson. After watching the video he says, Living in LA, I did see how the tv/film industry is still driven by mostly male producers and writers. When writing scripts, the Loophole woman is their ideal woman for these guys since she shares the same interests as men. ...She's attractive, likeable, and is as fun as any of the other guy characters (Reed). Its reasonable to conclude that after watching our video on facebook, Reed has taken note of one of the fundamental building blocks in the model of media literacy and is now one step closer to developing his personal locus to continue on in developing information processing tools. Another participant in the feedback of our media literacy lesson made a valid point as well, after watching the video, concerning women in the workplace. She says, Watching the video definitely helped me see the bigger picture. It made me realize that women in the work place today do have to be more masculine and be able to hang with the guys (at least it certainly helps). Especially with more female engineers and scientists (Kollar). We thought this feedback was particularly useful in that, within the workplace, the job she holdsin historically male-dominant professions, evidence of the

loophole woman is made apparent in a real-life scenario. Kollar comes right out and says that after watching our video she can automatically understand and identify the loophole woman in the media and everyday life. As far as the effectiveness of our lesson goes, the feedback speaks for itself. We found most people, after watching the video, could pull from particular aspects of their lives and relate a situation or person back to the concept of the loophole woman; which was our ultimate goal to begin with. In conclusion, the loophole woman can be seen as feminine or anti-feminine in her own right. She is masculine with a feminine look and no matter which way she is viewed, she is powerful and prevalent in a plethora of media contexts today. We developed this lesson to expose people to characters in the media that embody the characteristics of a loophole woman. The goal was to then in turn, promote the fundamental ideas of Potters model of media literacy to lead our participants to the development of their own personal locus. In reviewing our lesson, we felt for further research/lessons it would be important to also take a closer look and analyze the ways in which the media portray men. It might have also been beneficial to conduct video interviews with men, considering a large percentage of our feedback came from males. Also interestingly enough, among our feedback we noted that the most quality feedback came from men. If we did interview men in the future, it may allow us to take a deeper look into the way they view the loophole woman in the media vs. real life experiences and open new views on women. In the end, we feel we did an effective job educating women and men on the idea of the loophole woman and how she is portrayed in the

media. We hope these participants will continue to progress through the blocks of Potters model of media literacy and use it to analyze the copious amounts of media messages we are exposed to on a daily basis.

Comments on our Video: Susan Marshall Kollar: The video did a good job showing television shows and how it actually happens in real life. It brought up some points I have never thought of before. Thought provoking. Jaclyn Kollar: Great job Jess! Watching the video definitely helped me see the bigger picture. It made me realize that women in the work place today do have to be more masculine and be able to hang with the guys (at least it certainly helps). Especially with more female engineers and scientists. It has definitely helped me be successful and get to where I am today! John Singer: The idea of the loophole woman is an interesting one. When looking back at the majority of television about a group of friends most contain the loophole woman. The sexy woman who is one of the guys, or even out mans the guys. I will definitely watch out for more in the future. Jeff Scott: I remember talking to you about this! And I agree with John, in that I tend to find "the loophole woman" more attractive than a woman who isnt. I dont think its necessarily a physical attribute, but knowing that I will have more in common ...with them. I think it comes from women seeking equality, not necessarily in the workplace, but in life in general; searching for that connection with their significant other; and finding new ways to entertain themselves. I have never been able to figure out what "girly girls" like to do in their free time other than things that make themselves more physically attractive, movies, music (that could be why Im single), and i think those things can become quite boring. Becoming one of the guys can open up a new social network, while adding new forms of entertainment. Oh, and I completely agree with the "role model" point you had near the end. Mitch Lawless: I think that the concept of a "loophole woman" is a common site in the current American culture. Many more women are beginning to break the trends of the 1950's house wife and begun to shift toward more masculine activities. This video really highlights how Hollywood and television are showing more female characters that embody this persona. The video also illustrates how modern, everyday women are becoming more like the "loophole woman". Over all this video is well put together and very informative.

Leslie Kollar: I think you may have a biased pull from the media as women are not always depicted this way. However, it does give me something to think about even if my industry seems to be mostly women. Adrian Reed: Great video! Living in LA, I did see how the tv/film industry is still driven by mostly male producers and writers. When writing scripts, the Loophole woman is their ideal woman for these guys since she shares the same interests as men. ...She's attractive, likeable, and is as fun as any of the other guy characters. In my own life, I've always surrounded myself with Loophole woman as friends because of those reasons too. I think your video does a great job in raising the question if more loophole woman are becoming visible to fit into male social/work groups or if the media is influencing this social trend? Or both? Lori Anne: I agree with the liking to hang out with boys better because like many of the girls said girls are more catty and are way more full of drama then boys. That is why I like to hang out with boys better than a whole group of girls. As far as w...omen in the business world go there are studies that have been done that men respect women managers more then they respect men. I think that this is because women have to work harder in the corporate world to get where they are so when they (women) become a manager men respect them more. As far as a loophole girl I think that Kendra and Chelsea Handler would be perfect examples of one. They are both pretty girls but they can "hang" with the men. Lisa Baniak: I disagree with the idea that women are influenced to be a loop hole woman by the media. I also don't believe that all women are catty and dramatic but I do believe that finding some that arent is a rarity but always appreciated! I enjoy do...ing "guy stuff" not to be seen as cool or one of the guys but these activities usually take place when I'm with a group of guys because the majority of girls aren't gonna wanna watch football or play video games, if they did I would do those activities with a group of girls just as much as I would with guys. I don't see myself being a loop hole woman as a problem whatsoever, I don't act the way I do so guys will like me. Guys just like me because of who I am. Also, we need to be aware that this isnt just occurring in women but men also go through the balancing act of being masculine but also having feminine qualities. If theyre too feminine they are judged for it and some girls may be turned off by it just as men are turned off when women are too masculine. We can't act like women are the only ones being influenced by the media and its a problem, men face the same obstacles as we do when it comes to how they should act. It's the way of the world and it's all in the name of social interaction. We're not all gonna be in perfect balance to everyone and I don't worry about that, if youre happy with who you are then thats what matters. Jamie Ross: Women have always been stereotyped for being dramatic and bitchy. Of course there are tons of women that fit into these categories, but there are tons that don't. I am not sure if I agree or disagree about women being influenced by the medi...a to be loophole women, because I think it takes a certain personality type to be a loophole

woman. These type of women are usually laid back, smart, humorous, driven, and do not let small things bother them. As far as the business world goes, It takes this type of personality trait in general for people to respect an authoritative figure rather than just doing what they are told but at the same time despising their boss women or not. We've grown up having a small, close group of girl friends and a group of guys friends that we constantly hung out with. We always had fun whether we were paintballing or swimming. Being a part of the guys was just easy for us because we wanted to have fun without being dramatic or gossipy. Alyssa Fixley: I disagree about women being influenced by the media to be a loophole woman. I think that certain women are drawn to be a loophole woman but I don't think I would necessarily agree that the media influences that. I think that a woman who is... able to "be one of the guys" isn't doing so because the women in the media are, but probably more because they enjoy men's company, activities that men do or dislike the way many women act. Sure, not all women are caddy and bitchy, but a majority are- which is why I would prefer to hang out with guys almost any day. I, personally, enjoy watching sports and going 4 wheeling or fishing and if I had girl friends who were interesting in things like that then I think that I would for sure do those activities with them. I would consider myself being a loophole woman to be influenced more because I grew up with a big brother and many of my interests that I still have today were influenced by him, not the media. Jeff Delbert: I think this video is very well constructed. However, the interviews make me a bit sad. What strikes me is that all these women who don't like "catty" women can't enact "non-catty" behaviors when they're together. Do you think that women also like hanging out like men much like people like to go to the zoo to watch the animals interact? Dustin Michael: I thought it was great. Good insights on how the stereotype is selfperpetuating now, with the women all reporting negatively of other women and positively of men. When I teach comp again, I'd like to use this if it's okay with you. Kudos to you and your team.

Citations for Video: Baniak, L. (2010, November 16). The Loophole Woman in the Media [Personal interview]. Bays, C., Kuhn, M., & Thomas, C. (Writers). (2009, September 28). Double Date [Television series episode]. In How I Met Your Mother. CBS.

Faulkner, E. (2010, November 16). The Loophole Woman in the Media [Personal interview]. Fey, T., & Weiner, R. (Writers). (2010, February 4). Verna [Television series episode]. In 30 Rock. New York City, New York: NBC. Hsueh, B., Thomas, C., & Bays, C. (Writers). (2006, February 6). Zip, Zip, Zip [Television series episode]. In How I Met Your Mother. CBS. Kollar, J. (2010, November 28). The Loophole Woman in the Media and the Business World [Personal interview]. Lorre, C., Prady, B., & Aronsohn, L. (Writers). (2009, March 2). The Cushion Saturation [Television series episode]. In The Big Bang Theory. CBS. Lorre, C., Prady, B., Aronsohn, L., & Glickman, J. (Writers). (2007, November 5). The Dumpling Paradox [Television series episode]. In The Big Bang Theory. CBS. Lorre, C., Prady, B., Molaro, S., Kaplan, E., & Lorre, N. (Writers). (2008, October 6). The Barbarian Sublimation [Television series episode]. In The Big Bang Theory. CBS. Shore, D., & Moran, T. L. (Writers). (2010, February 8). 5 to 9 [Television series episode]. In House M.D. Fox. Shore, D., Lewis, M. V., & Friedman, L. (Writers). (2009, April 27). House Divided [Television series episode]. In House M.D. Fox. List of those interviewed: Lisa Baniak Sophomore at University of Missouri Tuesday November 16th at 2pm Emily Faulkner Sophomore at University of Missouri Tuesday November 16th at 2pm Jaclyn Kollar Purdue University Graduate Sunday November 28th at 5pm

Works Cited Bradley, H. (1998). Gender and Power in the Workplace: Analyzing the Impact of Economic Change. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Caplan, P. J. (1993). The Myth of Womens Masochism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Karsten, M. F. (2006). Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Workplace: Issues and Challenges for Todays Organizations. Westport, CN: Praeger Publishers. Keetley, D. (2003). Public Women, Public Words: A Documentary History of American Feminism. Madison, WI: Madison House Publishers. Levy, A. (2005). Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture. New York: Free Press. Lisle, L. (2009). Westover: Giving Girls a Place of Their Own. Middletown: CN: Wesleyan University Press.