Focusing on the point that female identities continue to form using the reference point of the male image or identity, a study juxtaposed a qualitative research project and the expressions of patriarchy represented in two television milk commercials. Subjects, 12 sixth-grade girls at a small Catholic elementary school in central New York, were interviewed in weekly group meetings and individually. The study examined how the 12 subjects made meaning out of their schooling experience and identified various themes that emerged from the group sessions. The study also analyzed two milk commercials which depict the plight of two "unsuccessful" early teens who begin to drink milk and become "successful" older teens for genderizing of content. Findings suggest the need for a critical feminist pedagogy where students delve into the politics of difference and representation to realize that all knowledge is partial and ridden with complex relations of power. (Contains 18 references.) (NH)