preview

Gender Disparity In The Political Cartoon 'Big Man On Campus'

Decent Essays
Open Document

In the political cartoon “Big Man on Campus” the central message is the troubling occupation of Gender Disparity in high school sports. The cartoon clearly conveys the message by contrasting the praise of a male and female athlete. The male is shown to be surrounded with shimmering awards and falling confetti, but the female is depicted with only one trophy with no attention.
The creator of the political cartoon Jeff Parker intentionally drew several objects in the illustration that each held a symbolic meaning. The most noticeable of the objects are the trophies. The man on the left has nearly dozens of awards, while the woman has only one. They symbolize the recognition for the work each gender receives from society. The clothing both characters wear also hold symbolic significance. If you peer closely you will notice that the male still has the tags attached to his hat, shirt, sweater, and pants. The girl unfortunately has no tags. This implies that the boy’s clothes are newer and perhaps more expensive than the female’s. The symbolic meaning can be traced to a sense of …show more content…

The number two on the woman’s jersey represents the idea of females being treated as second class citizens and being inferior to man. Though easy to brush off, the words printed on the trophies all represent a specific component of Gender Disparity. One award displays the phrase “Better chance of athletic scholarship”, and another contains the words “State of the art facilities”. A sharp distinction of the genders is symbolized by the words “Boys athletics” and “Girls athletics” being emphasized. Located on the hats of the athletes are the letters G and B. This also highlights the idea of a prominent wall dividing males and females that should not be crossed. Although the illustrations of a political cartoon surely define its meaning, words can also dictate the overall message of the

Get Access