Catalano Research​
Reflections
In the past school year, I have dedicated myself to working on this research project. Now that I have finished my research there is so much to reflect and look over, not only in what I learned in my research and findings but also in the steps I took to get there. Additionally, there are many areas to discuss in what comes next for me and for this research.
CONTENT
First of all, there is so much to look at in what I learned in this research process based on what I found. I learned so much as I was reading and looking at my data. I had many expectations going into this research on what I would find and there were so many different layers and aspects that I hadn't been anticipating. First of all I learned that the way men and women portray women is entirely different. Although overall the total amount of sexism seems to be relatively similar there are many areas where we can see the differences peaking through. Initially I thought the main difference would be how much sexism was present in their plays, when in reality the greatest difference lied in how they used this sexism and how it has evolved. Overall male playwrights have tended to increase their use of many certain stereotypes, specially in areas regarding sex and appearance. For female playwrights, there were fewer categories where they have increased their use of overtime, but it cannot be placed into a single category. Overall I've leaned that the main difference lies more in the type of sexism than the quantitative value. There are so many different ways that this research could evolve in the future. First of all, an identical study could be done, except with the portrayal of men rather than women. Additionally, I think it would be interesting to look at these plays and many others, to discover whether or not the marks of sexism observed were because of the issue of sexism and its areas of increasing prevalence or because people are beginning to take a stand against sexism. This study was purely quantitative so it would be interesting to look at the sexism in plays to see where or not playwrights are using this art as a tool to stand against sexism.
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PRODUCT
In addition to the actual content that I found, the process of making my presentation and writing my paper has taught me so much. It has first of all taught be the importance of using other's knowledge in my presenting and paper. The scholarly conversation had so many different layers to it, but understanding it helped to enforce the importance of my project, not only in the minds of others but also in myself. With my oral presentation, I learned that it is important to be personable and friendly, even when taking about something more scholarly. My paper specifically taught me how to eloquently pack a bunch of information into 5000 words, and to focus on the most important aspects of my research.
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PROCESS
Finally, in addition to both the content I looked at and the product of my research, by far the most valuable lesson have have learned would be about myself, and the revelations I had regarding who I am as a researcher throughout this process. First of all, I learned that I always underestimate how much time something will take. Although I did have some moments of procrastination, mots of the time when I fell behind it was because I did not believe that a certain task would take as long as it did. This has taught me to always allow for extra time in my research process, so that I can wrap up my research in a much more collected and calm way, rather than scrambling at the last minute because I only gave myself just enough time. Not only does this apply to me as a researcher but also as a student in general. Finally, everything about this process taught me the importance of being passionate in my pursuits of being researcher, student, and as a person. It was always clear to me that I would be fond of the content I was looking at because of my love for theatre, but I did not realize the extent that I would feel passion for this research. this passion and my belief that what I was doing mattered was at times the only think that pushed me forward and made me want to continue, especially when I reached roadblocks in my process.
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Acknowledgements
Although I chose not to have an expert advisor in my research journey, that does not mean that there are not specific people who have helped me throughout this journey. These people are mainly my two teachers, Ms. Dobos and Mr. McBride. Both of those people helped me (and put up with me) as a struggled through my process. In moments of doubt, confusion, or uncertainty they were always there to help drive me forward in my research project. They helped me overcome roadblocks I didn't think I could overcome. They helped to make me believe in my research, and at some points believed that much more than I did myself. They also helped light a fire under me and spur me into action when I stopped moving in a positive direction in my research. Overall I have these two people to thank for making my research process what in was.
Abstract
In life there is an abundance of sexism that young girls face from a very young age. There are so many different areas of life where this comes from and some studies suggest that society may be learning some of these patterns from theatre. There have been an abundance of studies looking at sexism and stereotypes in literature, where many common themes occurred. However the gap in this research lies within the fact that plays are not entirely included in these studies, and there seemed to be a lack of any study looking at a broad time period. My goal in this research was to discover how the portrayal of women in dramatic plays by male and female American playwrights has contrasted and developed between the 1920s to the 2010s. In order to determine this I looked at a wide variety of stereotypes and characteristics that had either been identified in previous research or that I saw myself. Then I read 20 plays, two written in each decade I was studying, with one play written by a male playwright and one written by a female playwright for each decade. Then I counted all of the specific characteristics and stereotypes in each play. In the end I found that overall there has been a total decrease in the amount of sexism in plays over time, but this pattern is slightly less definable in plays written by men. Additionally there are some areas that have increased in its prevalence over time, sometimes overall, and sometimes just in plays written by men or women individually. Overall however, there have been more areas that have increased only in plays written by men. Additionally, the difference in the total amount of sexism written in plays by men and women was very small, however plays written by male playwrights had slightly more occurrences in them. Overall, there are many different layers to this research and although overall there has been a decrease in the total amount of sexism in plays, there is still much room for improvement for everyone.
If you want to learn more about my research, here is a link to my final presentation and my academic paper:
What's Next?
I plan on attending the University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign this fall and I will be working to receive my Bachelor of Musical Arts in Lyric Theatre. My research pursuits will be put on hold for now, as I dedicate myself even more to theatre, but who knows what may happen in the future?