I had never before really stopped to think about how culture perceived camp counselors and/or camp directors. Because it's something I'm so familiar with, I've been content to form my own opinions and maybe every now and then listen to the opinions of my peers.
With a few exceptions, the images I got from Google are fairly accurate. I won't lie, I was shocked that the first image of the 20 was from a Sport's Illustrated swimsuit edition and that later, a "sexy counselor" Halloween costume was featured, advertising Camp Pitchatent. For the most part though, the images were those that I expected of young adults interacting with kids, grouped up, playing games, and having fun together.
When I first started looking for YouTube clips about camp counselors, I was focused mostly on simply finding clips. I was glad for a few minutes to step back and analyze what these clips actually said about being a camp counselor/director. Most were men (incorporating the feminist theory we discussed earlier in the day). However, the theory I used most when giving these videos a second look was critical literacy. These counselors/directors have been given either one of two stereotypes. They are either the goofy friend of the camper, or the enemy, an evil rule enforcer.
I find it interesting that most of the counselors you found were men. I associate camp counselors with teachers (maybe because that's my profession), and so I think more of women or college girls when I think of camp counselors. Are there really more men than women who are camp counselors or is that an incorrect perception?
ReplyDeleteI think it's really sad that the first picture that came up was from Sport's Illustrated. That just proves that many women's jobs these days have become about their sex appeal and not about the job that their actually doing. I'm not surprised that a lot of the directors were men honestly, although I usually think of an even gender split in camp counselors, I usually think of the directors as men. I'm not sure if you're going to approach this from the feminist view or not, but I think its interesting how much the job has warranted a certain amount of sex appeal in its stereotype. I wouldn't really have guessed that a camp counselor/director would be as such.
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