This course examines various images of gender in various communication contexts, focusing on the late 20th century to the present. Using theories from cultural studies, film and gender studies, and rhetorical studies, we explore different processes and practices of gender, specifically in terms of media representations of femininity and masculinity. The purposes of the course are to gain insight into the ways in which gender, and its intersections with race, ethnicity and class, is enacted, represented, and impacts cultural formations and communication at different levels and in different contexts. We will explore the socio-cultural mechanisms that shape our individual and collective notions of identity and essentially teach us what it means to be male or female. Cultural rhetoric plays a major role in "constructing" gender and 'popular' views of what appropriate gendering is, in turn, shaping how we communicate with each other. The fact that gender differences can only result in a "battle of the sexes," or the view that men and women are basically alien to one another ('Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus'), is a cultural myth that maintains binary differences (hence inequalities), and perpetuates stereotypes that do a disservice to both men and women. In examining these cultural myths as well as ongoing debates on gender construction, we will consider how gender is tied in with notions of power, identity, voice and other defining identity categories (race, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, etc.).