Dr. Blaine is a senior lecturer at USC and teaches both writing 340 and swms 301. She received her Ph.D. at UCLA in 1995, and wrote her dissertation on sex and death.
In her dissertation, she explains how corpses of women are portrayed in western culture media. She has an amazing slide show presentation that displays pictures of dead women through out history, describing the implications of race, class, and gender. Below is one of the many pieces she analyzes. It is a representation of dead Ophelia, who drowned herself at the end of Hamlet. Dr.Blaine had this painting up in her room as a child.
She applies feminist theory to concrete realities such as the picture above, as well as Jonbenet Ramsey, Versace advertisements, music, and Hollywood films. Right now she is working on a book about breast implants - Why I Won't get Breast Impants But You Might Want To.