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Steven S Funk

Mayo Clinic, Nursing, RN

Montana State University Billings, English, Philosophy and Modern Languages, Adjunct

Montana State University Northern, Veterans Upward Bound, Faculty Member

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Dr. Steven Seth Funk (he/they) teaches and advises for a large state university, grant-funded program in Montana. Proudly serving the nation's #1 medical center as an RN, Steven has taught writing and media research at various universities and community colleges while editing for award-winning newspapers and peer-reviewed journals. Competing in ultra marathons, Steven is passionate about distance running and health. Steven’s work in healthcare and education focuses on serving vulnerable populations and supporting thisgender youth.
Phone: 4064135158
Address: 1500 University Drive
Cisel Hall, 106
Billings, MT 59101

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Kenan Omercajic

Western University Canada

Santa Fe Community College

Judith M . Dunkerly

Old Dominion University

University of Massachusetts, Boston

Elizabethe Payne

MOLLIE MCQUILLAN

University of Wisconsin-Madison

California State University, Chico

Catherine A Lugg

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Ashley McErlean

Capella University

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Papers by Steven S Funk

From a Pedagogy of Vulnerability to a Pedagogy of Resilience: A Case Study of the Youth and Gender in Media Project

Much media attention has recently focused on gender expansive students in schools. Whether arguin... more Much media attention has recently focused on gender expansive students in schools. Whether arguing over bathroom rights or wardrobe freedoms, many educators feel caught in a crossfire between protecting their students and maintaining the status quo of an extremely binary educational system. After reviewing the history of the pathologization of gender expansiveness and the normalization of the gender binary, this study reveals the data from an examination of four workshops conducted by the Youth and Gender Media Project over the course of two years. The experiences of educators, mental health experts, healthcare providers, and primary caretakers of gender expansive individuals who participated in the workshops are described using qualitative methods. The findings underscore the need for introducing gender expansive and gender inclusive materials into curricula while expressing the frustration of those who feel that this is important, yet difficult. This article suggests that educator...

An Analysis of Transparent Through Dispossession

Using dispossession as an analytical lens, this essay problema-tizes the way in which the transge... more Using dispossession as an analytical lens, this essay problema-tizes the way in which the transgender "coming out" experience is depicted on the Amazon original serial, Transparent (2014-). Contextualizing Butler and Anathasiou's (2013) work on dispossession within the history of the pathologization of gender expansiveness in the United States of America, this essay argues that Transparent's use of "coming out" rhetoric dispossesses the transgender protagonist, Maura (Jeffrey Tambor), of the very gender autonomy the show has the potential to portray. While Transparent undoubtedly increases visibility for gender expansive individuals in the media, and often renders Maura in a sympathetic manner, its pilot season ignores the history of the pathologization of gender expan-siveness while often reinforcing "wrong body" rhetoric concerning transgender individuals. Transparent depicts Maura as a dynamic character, yet it also depicts her dispossession ...

Trans*+ and Intersex Representation and Pathologization: An Interdisciplinary Argument for Increased Medical Privacy

As other countries continue to expand cultural, medical, and legal distinctions of gender, practi... more As other countries continue to expand cultural, medical, and legal distinctions of gender, practices of the United States often reify the gender binary. Subsequently, this Article underscores the need for a critical interdisciplinary examination of the gender binary and its effects on the (re)production of gender stereotypes in media, within the medical sciences, and in law. By exploring the cultural, medical, and legal reification of the gender binary, we argue that the United States healthcare system should begin to acknowledge the spectrum of gender and to broaden patients’ legal protections regarding non-disclosure and privacy.

An Analysis of Transparent Through Dispossession

Using dispossession as an analytical lens, this essay problematizes the way in which the transgen... more Using dispossession as an analytical lens, this essay problematizes the way in which the transgender “coming out” experience is depicted on the Amazon original serial, Transparent (2014-). Contextualizing Butler and Anathasiou’s (2013) work on dispossession within the history of the pathologization of gender expansiveness in the United States of America, this essay argues that Transparent ’s use of “coming out” rhetoric dispossesses the transgender protagonist, Maura (Jeffrey Tambor), of the very gender autonomy the show has the potential to portray. While Transparent undoubtedly increases visibility for gender expansive individuals in the media, and often renders Maura in a sympathetic manner, its pilot season ignores the history of the pathologization of gender expansiveness while often reinforcing “wrong body” rhetoric concerning transgender individuals. Transparent depicts Maura as a dynamic character, yet it also depicts her dispossession that results from sociocultural forces ...

Promoting Global Competencies Through Media Literacy

Advances in Media, Entertainment, and the Arts

The twenty-first century citizens must develop their media literacy competence at several levels ... more The twenty-first century citizens must develop their media literacy competence at several levels such as technique, reflective and creative, auto-regulation, social participation and pedagogical. Even though the citizens' empowerment is a general society responsibility, school plays a crucial role, especially if school is able to respond to a set of challenges, namely breaking the traditional resistance to change, integrating formal and informal learning, educating for the media beyond the technical dimension, overcoming the digital divides, protecting citizens' data, and training teachers. This chapter focuses on this last challenge, presenting three research projects which involved in-service teacher training (2007-2011; 2012-2015; 2016-2018). Results showed that K-12 teachers are able to develop media literacy activities with their pupils, using traditional and/or digital technologies, during in-service teacher training courses. As such, they are also able to overcome the...

Transgender Dispossession in Transparent: Coming Out as a Euphemism for Honesty

Sexuality & Culture, 2016

Since the 1990s, television narratives have increased visibility for LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisex... more Since the 1990s, television narratives have increased visibility for LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual) individuals and underscored the need for a deep exploration of the heterosexism (homophobia) that pervades much mainstream American programming (Lee and Meyer in Sex Cult 141:234–250, 2010; Manuel in Soc Semiot 19(3):275–291, 2009). One such serial, Transparent, has been credited by many major media outlets with transforming the way Americans think about transgender, gender expansive (Ehrensaft in Gender born gender made, The Experiment, New York, 2011), or trans*, individuals. Exploring Transparent through Butler and Athanasiou’s (Dispossession: the performative in the political, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2013) framework of dispossession, this essay argues that the depiction of dispossession in Transparent may serve to hypostasize the gender binary rather than to disrupt it. By severing the rhetorical act of “coming out” from the historical pathologization of non-normative sexualities and gender expansiveness in America, Transparent risks undoing the very social progress that it has the potential to further. While the show could powerfully disrupt cisgender privilege (Brydum in The true meaning of the word cisgender, 2015), as of its second season, instead, it merely illustrates how the media produced trans* “coming out” narrative all too often reifies the gender binary and cisgender privilege. Although it is tempting to praise Transparent for its representation of gender expansiveness, its problematic use of the “coming out” rhetoric should not be ignored.

Handbook of Research on Media Literacy in the Digital Age

With the current ubiquity of technological tools and digital media, having the skillset necessary... more With the current ubiquity of technological tools and digital media, having the skillset necessary to use and understand digital media is essential. Integrating media literacy into modern day education can cultivate a stronger relationship between technology, educators, as well as students. The Handbook of Research on Media Literacy in the Digital Age presents key research in the field of digital media literacy with a specific emphasis on the need for pre-service and in-service educators to become familiar and comfortable with the current digital tools and applications that are an essential part of youth culture. Presents pedagogical strategies as well as practical research and applications of digital media in various aspects of culture, society, and education.

A Trans*+ Media Literacy Framework for Navigating the Dynamically Shifting Terrain of Gender in Media

Promoting Global Competencies Through Media Literacy

Of the many identity markers that students claim and encounter throughout their educational journ... more Of the many identity markers that students claim and encounter throughout their educational journeys, none might be more salient than gender. While much of the European Union seems to be sloughing off the gender binary as a vestige of the 20th century, many educators and students in the U.S. continue to reinforce the binary through explicit and implicit strategies that normalize the cisgender condition while othering those who are trans*+. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the entrenchment of the gender binary in the American post-secondary system, to analyze the media frenzy currently addressing trans*+ identities, and to offer a theoretical framework of Trans*+ Media Literacy, borne of Critical Media Literacy, to address specifically how post-secondary educators and students can create gender expansive and inclusive spaces that might foster the growth of students prepared to think of gender representation and media production that challenge the binary and encourage gender expansiveness to flourish.

Critical Media Literacy as Transformative Pedagogy

Handbook of Research on Media Literacy in the Digital Age, 2000

This chapter provides a theoretical framework of critical media literacy (CML) pedagogy and examp... more This chapter provides a theoretical framework of critical media literacy (CML) pedagogy and examples of practical implementation in K-12 and teacher education. It begins with a brief discussion of literature indicating the need for educators to use a critical approach to media. The historical trajectory of CML and key concepts are then reviewed. Following this, the myths of "neutrality" and "normalcy" in education and media are challenged. The chapter takes a critical look at information and communication technologies and popular culture, reviewing how they often reinforce and occasionally challenge dominant ideologies. Next, this critical perspective is used to explore how CML interrogates the ways media tend to position viewers, users, and audiences to read and negotiate meanings about race, class, gender, and the multiple identity markers that privilege dominant groups. The subjective and ubiquitous nature of media is highlighted to underscore the transformative potential of CML to use media tools for promoting critical thinking and social justice in the classroom.

Critical Media Literacy as Transformative Pedagogy

Handbook of Research on Media Literacy in the Digital Age, 2000

This chapter provides a theoretical framework of critical media literacy (CML) pedagogy and examp... more This chapter provides a theoretical framework of critical media literacy (CML) pedagogy and examples of practical implementation in K-12 and teacher education. It begins with a brief discussion of literature indicating the need for educators to use a critical approach to media. The historical trajectory of CML and key concepts are then reviewed. Following this, the myths of "neutrality" and "normalcy" in education and media are challenged. The chapter takes a critical look at information and communication technologies and popular culture, reviewing how they often reinforce and occasionally challenge dominant ideologies. Next, this critical perspective is used to explore how CML interrogates the ways media tend to position viewers, users, and audiences to read and negotiate meanings about race, class, gender, and the multiple identity markers that privilege dominant groups. The subjective and ubiquitous nature of media is highlighted to underscore the transformative potential of CML to use media tools for promoting critical thinking and social justice in the classroom.

Critical Media Literacy in Pedagogy and in Practice: A Descriptive Study of Teacher Education Instructors and Their Students

Proquest Llc, 2013

Transgender Dispossession in Transparent: Coming Out as a Euphemism for Honesty

Since the 1990s, television narratives have increased visibility for LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisex... more Since the 1990s, television narratives have increased visibility for LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual) individuals and underscored the need for a deep exploration of the heterosexism (homophobia) that pervades much mainstream American programming (Lee and Meyer in Sex Cult 141:234–250, 2010; Manuel in Soc Semiot 19(3):275–291, 2009). One such serial, Transparent, has been credited by many major media outlets with transforming the way Americans think about transgender, gender expansive (Ehrensaft in Gender born gender made, The Experiment, New York, 2011), or trans*, individuals. Exploring Transparent through Butler and Athanasiou’s (Dispossession: the performative in the political, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2013) framework of dispossession, this essay argues that the depiction of dispossession in Transparent may serve to hypostasize the gender binary rather than to disrupt it. By severing the rhetorical act of “coming out” from th...

Trans*+ and Intersex Representation and Pathologization: An Interdisciplinary Argument for Increased Medical Privacy

by Jaydi Funk and Steven S Funk

Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law and Justice, 2019

As other countries continue to expand cultural, medical, and legal distinctions of gender, practi... more As other countries continue to expand cultural, medical, and legal distinctions of gender, practices of the United States often reify the gender binary. Subsequently, this Article underscores the need for a critical interdisciplinary examination of the gender binary and its effects on the (re)production of gender stereotypes in media, within the medical sciences, and in law. By exploring the cultural, medical, and legal reification of the gender binary, we argue that the United States healthcare system should begin to acknowledge the spectrum of gender and to broaden patients' legal protections regarding non-disclosure and privacy.

Trans*+ and Intersex Representation and Pathologization: An Interdisciplinary Argument for Increased Medical Privacy

by Steven S Funk and Jaydi Funk

Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice, 2019

As other countries continue to expand cultural, medical, and legal distinctions of gender, practi... more As other countries continue to expand cultural, medical, and legal distinctions of gender, practices of the United States often reify the gender binary. Subsequently, this Article underscores the need for a critical interdisciplinary examination of the gender binary and its effects on the (re)production of gender stereotypes in media, within the medical sciences, and in law. By exploring the cultural, medical, and legal reification of the gender binary, we argue that the United States healthcare system should begin to acknowledge the spectrum of gender and to broaden patients' legal protections regarding non-disclosure and privacy.

EDUCATION 2013 - ED.D UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES DISSERTATION: CRITICAL MEDIA LITERACY IN PEDAGOGY AND IN PRACTICE: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF TEACHER EDUCATION TEACHERS AND THEIR STUDENTS

From a Pedagogy of Vulnerability to a Pedagogy of Resilience: A Case Study of the Youth and Gender in Media Project

by Jaydi Funk and Steven S Funk

Much media attention has recently focused on gender expansive students in schools. Whether arguin... more Much media attention has recently focused on gender expansive students in schools. Whether arguing over bathroom rights or wardrobe freedoms, many educators feel caught in a crossfire between protecting their students and maintaining the status quo of an extremely binary educational system. After reviewing the history of the pathologiza-tion of gender expansiveness and the normalization of the gender binary, this study reveals the data from an examination of four workshops conducted by the Youth and Gender Media Project over the course of two years. The experiences of educators, mental health experts, healthcare providers, and primary caretakers of gender expansive individuals who participated in the workshops are described using qualitative methods. The findings underscore the need for introducing gender expansive and gender inclusive materials into curricula while expressing the frustration of those who feel that this is important , yet difficult. This article suggests that educators play a critical role in challenging the history of discrimination against gender expansive individuals and that their willingness to avail themselves of the material that currently exists is not merely a matter of taste, but a matter of social justice, of equity, and of proactively evolving the discourse of gender and its ideological implications in the classroom.

From a Pedagogy of Vulnerability to a Pedagogy of Resilience: A Case Study of the Youth and Gender in Media Project

by Steven S Funk and Jaydi Funk

Much media attention has recently focused on gender expansive students in schools. Whether arguin... more Much media attention has recently focused on gender expansive students in schools. Whether arguing over bathroom rights or wardrobe freedoms, many educators feel caught in a crossfire between protecting their students and maintaining the status quo of an extremely binary educational system. After reviewing the history of the pathologiza-tion of gender expansiveness and the normalization of the gender binary, this study reveals the data from an examination of four workshops conducted by the Youth and Gender Media Project over the course of two years. The experiences of educators, mental health experts, healthcare providers, and primary caretakers of gender expansive individuals who participated in the workshops are described using qualitative methods. The findings underscore the need for introducing gender expansive and gender inclusive materials into curricula while expressing the frustration of those who feel that this is important , yet difficult. This article suggests that educators play a critical role in challenging the history of discrimination against gender expansive individuals and that their willingness to avail themselves of the material that currently exists is not merely a matter of taste, but a matter of social justice, of equity, and of proactively evolving the discourse of gender and its ideological implications in the classroom.

Handbook of Research on Media Literacy in the Digital Age

by Douglas Kellner, Jeff Share, and Steven S Funk

This chapter provides a theoretical framework of critical media literacy (CML) pedagogy and examp... more This chapter provides a theoretical framework of critical media literacy (CML) pedagogy and examples of practical implementation in K-12 and teacher education. It begins with a brief discussion of literature indicating the need for educators to use a critical approach to media. The historical trajectory of CML and key concepts are then reviewed. Following this, the myths of "neutrality" and "normalcy" in education and media are challenged. The chapter takes a critical look at information and communication technologies and popular culture, reviewing how they often reinforce and occasionally challenge dominant ideologies. Next, this critical perspective is used to explore how CML interrogates the ways media tend to position viewers, users, and audiences to read and negotiate meanings about race, class, gender, and the multiple identity markers that privilege dominant groups. The subjective and ubiquitous nature of media is highlighted to underscore the transformative potential of CML to use media tools for promoting critical thinking and social justice in the classroom.

An Analysis of 'Transparent' through Dispossession

Using dispossession as an analytical lens, this essay problematizes the way in which the transgen... more Using dispossession as an analytical lens, this essay problematizes
the way in which the transgender “coming out” experience is depicted on the Amazon original serial, Transparent (2014-). Contextualizing Butler and Anathasiou’s (2013) work on dispossession within the history of the pathologization of gender expansiveness in the United States of America, this essay argues that Transparent’s use of “coming out” rhetoric dispossesses the transgender protagonist, Maura (Jeffrey
Tambor), of the very gender autonomy the show has the potential
to portray. While Transparent undoubtedly increases
visibility for gender expansive individuals in the media, and
often renders Maura in a sympathetic manner, its pilot season
ignores the history of the pathologization of gender expansiveness
while often reinforcing “wrong body” rhetoric concerning
transgender individuals. Transparent depicts Maura
as a dynamic character, yet it also depicts her dispossession
that results from sociocultural forces and from her own internalized
transphobia (cissexism) as a “normal” part of “coming
out”. The authors conclude that exposing the transgender dispossession
depicted in Transparent could disrupt the normality
of cisgender privilege to open a critical dialogue about the
reification of the gender binary in media.

Title: Critical media literacy in pedagogy and in practice: A descriptive study of teacher education instructors and their students

This dissertation was based on a qualitative study that explored the exchange between post-second... more This dissertation was based on a qualitative study that explored the exchange between post-secondary Critical Media Literacy instructors and their students, describing their understandings of Critical Media Literacy, as well as their pedagogical struggles, within the context of a teacher education program.

From a Pedagogy of Vulnerability to a Pedagogy of Resilience: A Case Study of the Youth and Gender in Media Project

Much media attention has recently focused on gender expansive students in schools. Whether arguin... more Much media attention has recently focused on gender expansive students in schools. Whether arguing over bathroom rights or wardrobe freedoms, many educators feel caught in a crossfire between protecting their students and maintaining the status quo of an extremely binary educational system. After reviewing the history of the pathologization of gender expansiveness and the normalization of the gender binary, this study reveals the data from an examination of four workshops conducted by the Youth and Gender Media Project over the course of two years. The experiences of educators, mental health experts, healthcare providers, and primary caretakers of gender expansive individuals who participated in the workshops are described using qualitative methods. The findings underscore the need for introducing gender expansive and gender inclusive materials into curricula while expressing the frustration of those who feel that this is important, yet difficult. This article suggests that educator...

An Analysis of Transparent Through Dispossession

Using dispossession as an analytical lens, this essay problema-tizes the way in which the transge... more Using dispossession as an analytical lens, this essay problema-tizes the way in which the transgender "coming out" experience is depicted on the Amazon original serial, Transparent (2014-). Contextualizing Butler and Anathasiou's (2013) work on dispossession within the history of the pathologization of gender expansiveness in the United States of America, this essay argues that Transparent's use of "coming out" rhetoric dispossesses the transgender protagonist, Maura (Jeffrey Tambor), of the very gender autonomy the show has the potential to portray. While Transparent undoubtedly increases visibility for gender expansive individuals in the media, and often renders Maura in a sympathetic manner, its pilot season ignores the history of the pathologization of gender expan-siveness while often reinforcing "wrong body" rhetoric concerning transgender individuals. Transparent depicts Maura as a dynamic character, yet it also depicts her dispossession ...

Trans*+ and Intersex Representation and Pathologization: An Interdisciplinary Argument for Increased Medical Privacy

As other countries continue to expand cultural, medical, and legal distinctions of gender, practi... more As other countries continue to expand cultural, medical, and legal distinctions of gender, practices of the United States often reify the gender binary. Subsequently, this Article underscores the need for a critical interdisciplinary examination of the gender binary and its effects on the (re)production of gender stereotypes in media, within the medical sciences, and in law. By exploring the cultural, medical, and legal reification of the gender binary, we argue that the United States healthcare system should begin to acknowledge the spectrum of gender and to broaden patients’ legal protections regarding non-disclosure and privacy.

An Analysis of Transparent Through Dispossession

Using dispossession as an analytical lens, this essay problematizes the way in which the transgen... more Using dispossession as an analytical lens, this essay problematizes the way in which the transgender “coming out” experience is depicted on the Amazon original serial, Transparent (2014-). Contextualizing Butler and Anathasiou’s (2013) work on dispossession within the history of the pathologization of gender expansiveness in the United States of America, this essay argues that Transparent ’s use of “coming out” rhetoric dispossesses the transgender protagonist, Maura (Jeffrey Tambor), of the very gender autonomy the show has the potential to portray. While Transparent undoubtedly increases visibility for gender expansive individuals in the media, and often renders Maura in a sympathetic manner, its pilot season ignores the history of the pathologization of gender expansiveness while often reinforcing “wrong body” rhetoric concerning transgender individuals. Transparent depicts Maura as a dynamic character, yet it also depicts her dispossession that results from sociocultural forces ...

Promoting Global Competencies Through Media Literacy

Advances in Media, Entertainment, and the Arts

The twenty-first century citizens must develop their media literacy competence at several levels ... more The twenty-first century citizens must develop their media literacy competence at several levels such as technique, reflective and creative, auto-regulation, social participation and pedagogical. Even though the citizens' empowerment is a general society responsibility, school plays a crucial role, especially if school is able to respond to a set of challenges, namely breaking the traditional resistance to change, integrating formal and informal learning, educating for the media beyond the technical dimension, overcoming the digital divides, protecting citizens' data, and training teachers. This chapter focuses on this last challenge, presenting three research projects which involved in-service teacher training (2007-2011; 2012-2015; 2016-2018). Results showed that K-12 teachers are able to develop media literacy activities with their pupils, using traditional and/or digital technologies, during in-service teacher training courses. As such, they are also able to overcome the...

Transgender Dispossession in Transparent: Coming Out as a Euphemism for Honesty

Sexuality & Culture, 2016

Since the 1990s, television narratives have increased visibility for LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisex... more Since the 1990s, television narratives have increased visibility for LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual) individuals and underscored the need for a deep exploration of the heterosexism (homophobia) that pervades much mainstream American programming (Lee and Meyer in Sex Cult 141:234–250, 2010; Manuel in Soc Semiot 19(3):275–291, 2009). One such serial, Transparent, has been credited by many major media outlets with transforming the way Americans think about transgender, gender expansive (Ehrensaft in Gender born gender made, The Experiment, New York, 2011), or trans*, individuals. Exploring Transparent through Butler and Athanasiou’s (Dispossession: the performative in the political, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2013) framework of dispossession, this essay argues that the depiction of dispossession in Transparent may serve to hypostasize the gender binary rather than to disrupt it. By severing the rhetorical act of “coming out” from the historical pathologization of non-normative sexualities and gender expansiveness in America, Transparent risks undoing the very social progress that it has the potential to further. While the show could powerfully disrupt cisgender privilege (Brydum in The true meaning of the word cisgender, 2015), as of its second season, instead, it merely illustrates how the media produced trans* “coming out” narrative all too often reifies the gender binary and cisgender privilege. Although it is tempting to praise Transparent for its representation of gender expansiveness, its problematic use of the “coming out” rhetoric should not be ignored.

Handbook of Research on Media Literacy in the Digital Age

With the current ubiquity of technological tools and digital media, having the skillset necessary... more With the current ubiquity of technological tools and digital media, having the skillset necessary to use and understand digital media is essential. Integrating media literacy into modern day education can cultivate a stronger relationship between technology, educators, as well as students. The Handbook of Research on Media Literacy in the Digital Age presents key research in the field of digital media literacy with a specific emphasis on the need for pre-service and in-service educators to become familiar and comfortable with the current digital tools and applications that are an essential part of youth culture. Presents pedagogical strategies as well as practical research and applications of digital media in various aspects of culture, society, and education.

A Trans*+ Media Literacy Framework for Navigating the Dynamically Shifting Terrain of Gender in Media

Promoting Global Competencies Through Media Literacy

Of the many identity markers that students claim and encounter throughout their educational journ... more Of the many identity markers that students claim and encounter throughout their educational journeys, none might be more salient than gender. While much of the European Union seems to be sloughing off the gender binary as a vestige of the 20th century, many educators and students in the U.S. continue to reinforce the binary through explicit and implicit strategies that normalize the cisgender condition while othering those who are trans*+. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the entrenchment of the gender binary in the American post-secondary system, to analyze the media frenzy currently addressing trans*+ identities, and to offer a theoretical framework of Trans*+ Media Literacy, borne of Critical Media Literacy, to address specifically how post-secondary educators and students can create gender expansive and inclusive spaces that might foster the growth of students prepared to think of gender representation and media production that challenge the binary and encourage gender expansiveness to flourish.

Critical Media Literacy as Transformative Pedagogy

Handbook of Research on Media Literacy in the Digital Age, 2000

This chapter provides a theoretical framework of critical media literacy (CML) pedagogy and examp... more This chapter provides a theoretical framework of critical media literacy (CML) pedagogy and examples of practical implementation in K-12 and teacher education. It begins with a brief discussion of literature indicating the need for educators to use a critical approach to media. The historical trajectory of CML and key concepts are then reviewed. Following this, the myths of "neutrality" and "normalcy" in education and media are challenged. The chapter takes a critical look at information and communication technologies and popular culture, reviewing how they often reinforce and occasionally challenge dominant ideologies. Next, this critical perspective is used to explore how CML interrogates the ways media tend to position viewers, users, and audiences to read and negotiate meanings about race, class, gender, and the multiple identity markers that privilege dominant groups. The subjective and ubiquitous nature of media is highlighted to underscore the transformative potential of CML to use media tools for promoting critical thinking and social justice in the classroom.

Critical Media Literacy as Transformative Pedagogy

Handbook of Research on Media Literacy in the Digital Age, 2000

This chapter provides a theoretical framework of critical media literacy (CML) pedagogy and examp... more This chapter provides a theoretical framework of critical media literacy (CML) pedagogy and examples of practical implementation in K-12 and teacher education. It begins with a brief discussion of literature indicating the need for educators to use a critical approach to media. The historical trajectory of CML and key concepts are then reviewed. Following this, the myths of "neutrality" and "normalcy" in education and media are challenged. The chapter takes a critical look at information and communication technologies and popular culture, reviewing how they often reinforce and occasionally challenge dominant ideologies. Next, this critical perspective is used to explore how CML interrogates the ways media tend to position viewers, users, and audiences to read and negotiate meanings about race, class, gender, and the multiple identity markers that privilege dominant groups. The subjective and ubiquitous nature of media is highlighted to underscore the transformative potential of CML to use media tools for promoting critical thinking and social justice in the classroom.

Critical Media Literacy in Pedagogy and in Practice: A Descriptive Study of Teacher Education Instructors and Their Students

Proquest Llc, 2013

Transgender Dispossession in Transparent: Coming Out as a Euphemism for Honesty

Since the 1990s, television narratives have increased visibility for LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisex... more Since the 1990s, television narratives have increased visibility for LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual) individuals and underscored the need for a deep exploration of the heterosexism (homophobia) that pervades much mainstream American programming (Lee and Meyer in Sex Cult 141:234–250, 2010; Manuel in Soc Semiot 19(3):275–291, 2009). One such serial, Transparent, has been credited by many major media outlets with transforming the way Americans think about transgender, gender expansive (Ehrensaft in Gender born gender made, The Experiment, New York, 2011), or trans*, individuals. Exploring Transparent through Butler and Athanasiou’s (Dispossession: the performative in the political, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2013) framework of dispossession, this essay argues that the depiction of dispossession in Transparent may serve to hypostasize the gender binary rather than to disrupt it. By severing the rhetorical act of “coming out” from th...

Trans*+ and Intersex Representation and Pathologization: An Interdisciplinary Argument for Increased Medical Privacy

by Jaydi Funk and Steven S Funk

Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law and Justice, 2019

As other countries continue to expand cultural, medical, and legal distinctions of gender, practi... more As other countries continue to expand cultural, medical, and legal distinctions of gender, practices of the United States often reify the gender binary. Subsequently, this Article underscores the need for a critical interdisciplinary examination of the gender binary and its effects on the (re)production of gender stereotypes in media, within the medical sciences, and in law. By exploring the cultural, medical, and legal reification of the gender binary, we argue that the United States healthcare system should begin to acknowledge the spectrum of gender and to broaden patients' legal protections regarding non-disclosure and privacy.

Trans*+ and Intersex Representation and Pathologization: An Interdisciplinary Argument for Increased Medical Privacy

by Steven S Funk and Jaydi Funk

Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice, 2019

As other countries continue to expand cultural, medical, and legal distinctions of gender, practi... more As other countries continue to expand cultural, medical, and legal distinctions of gender, practices of the United States often reify the gender binary. Subsequently, this Article underscores the need for a critical interdisciplinary examination of the gender binary and its effects on the (re)production of gender stereotypes in media, within the medical sciences, and in law. By exploring the cultural, medical, and legal reification of the gender binary, we argue that the United States healthcare system should begin to acknowledge the spectrum of gender and to broaden patients' legal protections regarding non-disclosure and privacy.

EDUCATION 2013 - ED.D UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES DISSERTATION: CRITICAL MEDIA LITERACY IN PEDAGOGY AND IN PRACTICE: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF TEACHER EDUCATION TEACHERS AND THEIR STUDENTS

From a Pedagogy of Vulnerability to a Pedagogy of Resilience: A Case Study of the Youth and Gender in Media Project

by Jaydi Funk and Steven S Funk

Much media attention has recently focused on gender expansive students in schools. Whether arguin... more Much media attention has recently focused on gender expansive students in schools. Whether arguing over bathroom rights or wardrobe freedoms, many educators feel caught in a crossfire between protecting their students and maintaining the status quo of an extremely binary educational system. After reviewing the history of the pathologiza-tion of gender expansiveness and the normalization of the gender binary, this study reveals the data from an examination of four workshops conducted by the Youth and Gender Media Project over the course of two years. The experiences of educators, mental health experts, healthcare providers, and primary caretakers of gender expansive individuals who participated in the workshops are described using qualitative methods. The findings underscore the need for introducing gender expansive and gender inclusive materials into curricula while expressing the frustration of those who feel that this is important , yet difficult. This article suggests that educators play a critical role in challenging the history of discrimination against gender expansive individuals and that their willingness to avail themselves of the material that currently exists is not merely a matter of taste, but a matter of social justice, of equity, and of proactively evolving the discourse of gender and its ideological implications in the classroom.

From a Pedagogy of Vulnerability to a Pedagogy of Resilience: A Case Study of the Youth and Gender in Media Project

by Steven S Funk and Jaydi Funk

Much media attention has recently focused on gender expansive students in schools. Whether arguin... more Much media attention has recently focused on gender expansive students in schools. Whether arguing over bathroom rights or wardrobe freedoms, many educators feel caught in a crossfire between protecting their students and maintaining the status quo of an extremely binary educational system. After reviewing the history of the pathologiza-tion of gender expansiveness and the normalization of the gender binary, this study reveals the data from an examination of four workshops conducted by the Youth and Gender Media Project over the course of two years. The experiences of educators, mental health experts, healthcare providers, and primary caretakers of gender expansive individuals who participated in the workshops are described using qualitative methods. The findings underscore the need for introducing gender expansive and gender inclusive materials into curricula while expressing the frustration of those who feel that this is important , yet difficult. This article suggests that educators play a critical role in challenging the history of discrimination against gender expansive individuals and that their willingness to avail themselves of the material that currently exists is not merely a matter of taste, but a matter of social justice, of equity, and of proactively evolving the discourse of gender and its ideological implications in the classroom.

Handbook of Research on Media Literacy in the Digital Age

by Douglas Kellner, Jeff Share, and Steven S Funk

This chapter provides a theoretical framework of critical media literacy (CML) pedagogy and examp... more This chapter provides a theoretical framework of critical media literacy (CML) pedagogy and examples of practical implementation in K-12 and teacher education. It begins with a brief discussion of literature indicating the need for educators to use a critical approach to media. The historical trajectory of CML and key concepts are then reviewed. Following this, the myths of "neutrality" and "normalcy" in education and media are challenged. The chapter takes a critical look at information and communication technologies and popular culture, reviewing how they often reinforce and occasionally challenge dominant ideologies. Next, this critical perspective is used to explore how CML interrogates the ways media tend to position viewers, users, and audiences to read and negotiate meanings about race, class, gender, and the multiple identity markers that privilege dominant groups. The subjective and ubiquitous nature of media is highlighted to underscore the transformative potential of CML to use media tools for promoting critical thinking and social justice in the classroom.

An Analysis of 'Transparent' through Dispossession

Using dispossession as an analytical lens, this essay problematizes the way in which the transgen... more Using dispossession as an analytical lens, this essay problematizes
the way in which the transgender “coming out” experience is depicted on the Amazon original serial, Transparent (2014-). Contextualizing Butler and Anathasiou’s (2013) work on dispossession within the history of the pathologization of gender expansiveness in the United States of America, this essay argues that Transparent’s use of “coming out” rhetoric dispossesses the transgender protagonist, Maura (Jeffrey
Tambor), of the very gender autonomy the show has the potential
to portray. While Transparent undoubtedly increases
visibility for gender expansive individuals in the media, and
often renders Maura in a sympathetic manner, its pilot season
ignores the history of the pathologization of gender expansiveness
while often reinforcing “wrong body” rhetoric concerning
transgender individuals. Transparent depicts Maura
as a dynamic character, yet it also depicts her dispossession
that results from sociocultural forces and from her own internalized
transphobia (cissexism) as a “normal” part of “coming
out”. The authors conclude that exposing the transgender dispossession
depicted in Transparent could disrupt the normality
of cisgender privilege to open a critical dialogue about the
reification of the gender binary in media.

Title: Critical media literacy in pedagogy and in practice: A descriptive study of teacher education instructors and their students

This dissertation was based on a qualitative study that explored the exchange between post-second... more This dissertation was based on a qualitative study that explored the exchange between post-secondary Critical Media Literacy instructors and their students, describing their understandings of Critical Media Literacy, as well as their pedagogical struggles, within the context of a teacher education program.

Promoting Global Competencies Through Media Literacy

by Steven S Funk and Belinha De Abreu

Promoting Global Competencies Through Media Literacy is an advanced reference publication featuri... more Promoting Global Competencies Through Media Literacy is an advanced reference publication featuring the latest scholarly research on transdisciplinary and transformative assessment practices from primary-level to university-level educational settings. Including coverage on a broad range of topics such as digital storytelling, virtual environment, and cross-cultural communication, this book is ideally designed for academicians, researchers, and librarians seeking current research on current trends in media literacy in educational settings.

Funk 2018 A-Trans_--Media-Literacy-Framework Published in: Yildiz, M.; Funk, S.S., & DeAbreu, B. (2018). Promoting Global Competencies through Media Literacy. Hershey, PA: IGI.

Of the many identity markers that students claim and encounter throughout their educational journ... more Of the many identity markers that students claim and encounter throughout their educational journeys, none might be more salient than gender. While much of the European Union seems to be sloughing off
the gender binary as a vestige of the 20th century, many educators and students in the U.S. continue to reinforce the binary through explicit and implicit strategies that normalize the cisgender condition while othering those who are trans*+. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the entrenchment of the gender binary in the American post-secondary system, to analyze the media frenzy currently addressing trans*+
identities, and to offer a theoretical framework of Trans*+ Media Literacy, borne of Critical Media Literacy, to address specifically how post-secondary educators and students can create gender expansive
and inclusive spaces that might foster the growth of students prepared to think of gender representation and media production that challenge the binary and encourage gender expansiveness to flourish.

Critical Media Literacy as Transformative Pedagogy

by Steven S Funk, Melda Yildiz, Jeff Share, and JEFF SHARE

This chapter provides a theoretical framework of critical media literacy (CML) pedagogy and examp... more This chapter provides a theoretical framework of critical media literacy (CML) pedagogy and examples of practical implementation in K-12 and teacher education. It begins with a brief discussion of literature indicating the need for educators to use a critical approach to media. The historical trajectory of CML and key concepts are then reviewed. Following this, the myths of “neutrality” and “normalcy” in education and media are challenged. The chapter takes a critical look at information and communication technologies and popular culture, reviewing how they often reinforce and occasionally challenge dominant ideologies. Next, this critical perspective is used to explore how CML interrogates the ways media tend to position viewers, users, and audiences to read and negotiate meanings about race, class, gender, and the multiple identity markers that privilege dominant groups. The subjective and ubiquitous nature of media is highlighted to underscore the transformative potential of CML to use media tools for promoting critical thinking and social justice in the classroom.

Weathering Through: How a Doctoral Candidate with White Male Privilege Succumbed to Racial Battle Fatigue

Chapter 12 of Racial Battle Fatigue: Insights from the Front Lines of Social Justice Advocacy, E... more

Holistic Grading Rubric

The following holistic rubric was a collaborative effort between Steven S. Funk and Miriyam Glaze... more

Critical Media Literacy Framework (updated Nov. 2016)

by Steven S Funk and Jeff Share

Trans-forming Terminology and Ideology in Media, Medicine and Mental Health: Zebras among Us

Trans-forming Terminology and Ideology in Media, Medicine and Mental Health: Zebras among Us, 2021

This book offers research-based evidence for considering the next generation of trans*+ individua... more This book offers research-based evidence for considering the next generation of trans*+ individuals and for making classrooms, healthcare facilities, and clinics affirming spaces for people of all genders. Brazenly challenging what once may have seemed standard, it presents the findings of a large-scale mixed-methods research project. The text offers a deep dive into the literature surrounding trans*+ topics and controversies in media, medicine, and mental health. Introducing a new addition to ‘LGBTQIA’, ‘Thisgender’, the book approaches trans*+ studies with provocative questions and illuminating answers.