The concept of gender stereotypes permeates the lives of youth in the United States. This article provides background information and rationale for incorporating gender stereotype analysis into family and consumer sciences (FCS) coursework. The critical analysis of gender stereotypes includes numerous activities and assessments that encourage…

Every day people are bombarded with information about romantic relationships. Magazine articles offer how-to advice on flirting, dating, and fixing relationship problems. Advertisements--from billboards to radio commercials to email marketing campaigns--feature products that promise to help people attract a special someone. Television and movie…

Shows how adolescent femininity is constructed in 34 adolescent romance novels written from 1942-1982. Most feature the "good girl" characterized by filial obedience and adherence to male-dominated romantic conduct, although sixties and seventies novels showed strain in gender relations. Narrative versions of femininity are fictional…

Discusses fu, a flowery form of rhetorical writing developed in China during the Han Dynasty. Provides historical background and criticisms of the genre. Emphasizes the feminine principle of fu rhetoric with its resort to pleasure, ornamentation, and flattery. Argues that what is considered love poetry was actually political allegory. (DK)