I came across these pictures and since we were talking about beauty ideals this week I thought that this would be a interesting thing to talk about. Disney princesses are idealized by many young girls because they are adventurous, courageous, but most often because they are beautiful. Even at a young age girls learn to associate beauty with being thin. These pictures show that our society's beauty ideas have become part of the hidden curriculum. When we watch these Disney movies we do not even question the fact that these women have unrealistic bodies. As someone who loves Disney movies, I know that I never stopped to think about the bodies of the princesses in these movies, I just thought about how cool it would be to be one of them. However, when realistic waistlines are put on the princesses there is a notable difference in the way they look. I think the most important thing to notice about this is that we have normalized the appearance of these characters, children who see these images begin to desire them and this can help to the normalizing of self hatred of ones body that was talked about in the book. I think as such an influential company, Disney should make the conscious effort to try and change its portrayal of the female body. This would give girls more realistic role models that are no less adventurous or brave.
I completely agree with you that Disney Princesses are role models of many young girls. It is sad to realize that the Disney Princesses' idealized body image is presented as society's norms. It is abnormal to have waists as tiny as the princesses. We associate having a small waist as beauty since advertisement promotes curvy bodies. In reality, this body type is unnatural and is not possible without plastic surgery. In order for women to stop obsessing about perfecting thier appearance, we must recognize that media's representation of beauty is artificial and sickening.
I also agree with what you are both saying. Disney princesses, much like advertisements, are huge factors in how girls see themselves. Little girls grow up admiring these princesses and ultimately develop a desire to be like them in terms of smartness, courageousness, and looks. The cartoon a a Disney Princess is also similar to the body of Barbie Doll. Both portray unrealistic standards for young girls. This can greatly affect their self confidence.
Hi Kelly! What a great topic of discussion! I also think Disney should work toward developing a character that resembles a more realistic female body. It is surprising how influential shows, toys, and movies are on young girl's perceptions of an ideal self-image.
Going off of our discussion about street harassment last class, I wanted to share a video from CNN that discusses the holla back video campaign against street harassment and cat calling. The interview includes a female comedian and a male author of several men/gentleman related books. The woman, Amanda Seales, explains many of the points brought up in the discussion, but what I found appalling about this video was the man's reaction to Seales points. When Seales points out that she has similar experiences as the woman in the video, the man interrupts here with a "Nice!". He then proceeds to assert that women "wouldnt mind if the men were attractive" and makes several other demeaning remarks. It horrifies me that a person like this man would hear someone express how uncomfortable catcalling makes them only to retort with comments such as "it should bolster your self esteem!". I think that the mentality that women are primarily concerned with how others, specifically men, perceive their appearances is a huge factor that inhibits women from being taken seriously in careers and as intellectuals in life. Though I recognize that some women do perhaps enjoy that type of attention, it is wrong to assume that all comfortable with it and want to be perceived as "sexy" or good looking when they are simply walking down the street. As Seales points out, it is frustrating that people hear this standpoint on street harassment and merely try to negate it. Instead, we need to recognize that a large group of people are offended and made uncomfortable by catcalling and should look into ways to make them feel more comfortable rather then continuously telling them why their feelings and reactions are wrong. The only positive aspect of this video was that the man clearly became flustered at the end as Seales combated his erroneous and offensive comments with finesse. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HI4DC18wCg
Hey Rachelle! Nice analysis of the video, I too share some of the view points that you have. It is sad how demeaning people can be toward women and how such ignorance can occur on public television.
Hi Rachelle, I find it degrading that the guy found it "nice" and thinks we should take it as a postitive --“compliment, boosting women’s self esteem.” I find it very subjective that he feels this way. On the other hand, all over my facebook a few weeks ago I stumbled upon “Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism by FCKH8.com” where little girls say “fucking unequal unsexist way” they claim that they have to say vulgar and drastic acts in order to get attention. Which is true…… this did it! It caught many people’s attention. FCKH8 grabbed people’s attention with “f bombs” to grab peoples attention.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/29/beauty-industry-women_n_5127078.html This week, I would like to talk about how modern beauty standards distorts many women’s self-image. Scherker, from the Huffington Post, explains about seven insecurities of women shaped by advertisements. According to markets, women can achieve perfection by having blonde hair, tanned skin, long-eyelashes, cellulite free legs, and flawlessly manicured nails. By socially constructing these insecurities, corporations have successfully convinced women that they can fix their physical imperfections with money. This article relates to Chapter 5, explaining the destruction of women’s health and identity by stereotyped beauty standards. Advertisements objectifies and commodifies women’s body to make them desirable to men and acceptable to society’s specifications. Therefore, the definitions of beauty are only pertained to these limited factors, which causes women to conform to these norms and to battle against their true will. By losing their confidence and identity, women develop disorders like anorexia and bulimia. I feel that these advertisements victimize women by correlating success with physical attractiveness. Having an impeccable appearance is more prevalent in women than men since men can achieve status without being treated as objects. We must understand these norms are distorted and many socio-economic factors inhibits most women from becoming ideal bodies. I believe that one way to help eliminate these beauty stereotypes is for women to communicate with themselves. By helping these women cope with their insecurities, they can regain health and self-confidence.
Hi Yurie! I agree that the beauty industry sets unreachable standards for women. We all know that there is no way that we can obtain all of these characteristics however we feel a pressure to try and reach them. The idea of communication is a good idea however I believe that these standards have become so ingrained in our society that it will be difficult to change the way women think about what it means to be beautiful. Companies will also continue to act on insecurities to make a profit. So until we can help women feel beautiful the cycle or advertisement and ideals will continue.
We have talked a lot about beauty standards and sexual harassment in the past two weeks, and so I thought it was appropriate to talk about the current controversy of Victoria’s Secret’s new ad. Girls of all ages grow up surrounded and constantly exposed to advertisements that encourage a ‘the ideal image’ of a girl, whether it is a body shape or style. The store originally created an ad that read “The Perfect Body” across ten tall and thing supermodels. I’m honestly quite shocked that the idea for the campaign passed through corporate in that it seems blatantly obvious to me that this ad can be very harmful to girls everywhere in that it implies that every girl should be ‘perfect’ and look like a supermodel. It further encourages the idea that a girl is supposed to be ‘perfect’ in regards to looks, and brains. After much backlash, Victoria Secret re-released the ad and changed the slogan to “A Body for Every Body.” Although the company tried to do some damage control over their horrible slogan, their new slogan is still slapped onto the image of ten supermodels. In my opinion, it still negatively contributes to how girls, teenagers and even women, see themselves.
Hey Audrey! I actually remember when this ad came out and I thought the same thing! I didn't know however that the company actually changed the slogan after receiving complaints, that's really interesting!
This was the first I heard of Victoria's Secret ad and I dont find it surprising that they'd put that kind of message out for advertisement. It especially targets young girls by having young models with this type of body displayed. This body image is not realistic for everyone and should not be advertised by an elite company as the "perfect body."
In relation to Chapter 5 in the textbook, Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives, which discussed beauty ideals and standards, I would like to discuss the effects that the popular Barbie doll has on young girls self-image. Recently in a 2014 study on the influence Barbie dolls have on girls' career choices, young girls were given a Mrs. Potato head doll to play with and a Barbie doll. These were the results: "After a few minutes of play, the girls were asked if they could do any of 10 occupations listed when they grew up. They were also asked if boys could do those jobs. Half of the careers were traditionally male-dominated and half were female-dominated. Girls who played with Barbie thought they could do fewer jobs than boys could do. But girls who played with Mrs. Potato Head reported nearly the same number of possible careers for themselves and for boys" (Sherman, 1). While not entirely conclusive, certain dolls and toys that children play with can influence their career choices due to the adverse subliminal messages these dolls give. Barbie in fact serves as an unrealistic example of a woman's body image, and therefore creates a vulnerable/helpless perception that if young girls look as Barbie does, they will not be able to accomplish the same tasks as men, whereas Mrs. Potato head, who is more neutral in body-design serves as a more positive role model for young girls, allowing them to believe that they can obtain any career they want.
I also found an article about Barbie dolls. This article explains that a woman designed a "normal Barbie." This doll has more reasonable proportions and comes with acne stickers, stretch mark stickers, and other stickers to aide in the reality of becoming a woman. The dolls got positive results from children (which I didn't expect) and they were happy that the dolls looked like real normal women. It's very interesting how Barbies have shaped kids' perceptions of reality and the extent to which people have gone to point it out/try to change it.
We are constantly shaped by culture and society. I always heard comments like "girls can't do sports" or "only boys can play basketball" where I grew up. That really sent a subliminal message to my brain and I still hear it in my head every time I imagine myself playing basketball. I always felt like I don't have what it takes to play it well. It really affects my potential to excel in a competitive sport.
I found your post really interesting since I believe marketers and producers really shape our society. The producers main goals is to persuade consumers that they "need" their product so they can meet societies standards. Many activities are now gendered which tells us what we can and can't do.
Hi McKenna! This is a really interesting study, its fascinating that just a couple minutes of play with a certain toy can influence their responses. It would be really interesting to see if giving girls blocks or race cars versus baby dolls and other stereotypically girly toys would have a similar impact. Since we learned in the book that beauty ideals can make you mentally and physically ill, its really worrisome that children are being wrongfully influenced about what their bodies should look like and what their body abilities are from such a young age.
Photo retouching in magazine ads is highly deceptive, yet still remains a huge contributor to our unrealistic beauty standards today. In fact, our growing use of technology in advertising has promoted the use of airbrushing and digital enhancements now more than ever before. More often than not, photographs are being manipulated with meticulous use of lighting and exposure, as well as retouching software that makes celebrities and models appear seemingly perfect. I find myself constantly asking: “Why is it that ads are setting a standard that no one can reach?” And then it hits me. These ads are effective in making us feel badly about ourselves, which leads us to thus by the product as a means of feeling better about ourselves. This is a vicious cycle. I think that this should be addressed more severely, because let’s face it, pictures are often more believable than words, no matter how false they may be. I don’t understand how we live in a society where so much is based off of making others feel like the way that they look is not enough. I think that after having struggled with two eating disorders, the most helpful things has been to stop reading magazines all together.
I'm really glad you posted about this Ashley; this is a subject all-to-often left out of the public dialogue. I am a man, yet the media has made me self-conscious about my weight since I put on weight as a young teenager. I highly respect those in the media, however, that strive to make a difference and/or simply bring our culture's OBSESSION with vanity, like I said, into the realm of public dialogue i.e. the first place to begin to shift our culture toward one that embraces any form you may take physically (skinny, fat, youthful, or elderly). If you are interested, go to the Ted Talk website; there is a video in which Cameron Russel (a Victoria's Secret model) condemns, in a manner of speaking, the fashion business as it is currently run.
So I got into this show recently, "Queer as Folk". I strongly recommend this show for various reasons firstly, this show is a great way of learning how to interact in social situations as a gay man, secondly, it covers many social issues the U.K. version did not (one example being the recurrence of a couple in which one of the partners is HIV-positive and the other HIV-negative). This show also was one of the first big American television shows to have lengthy gay sex scenes as a regular and necessary aspect of its presentation. For more about why gay sex was so important to arguably America's first mostly embraced (explicit sex and all) gay primetime show, click my name to follow the link.
This video/article is a response to the street harassment video that went viral a couple weeks ago. Although that video was eye opening and allowed for some women to relate with eachother, it was too limited. This article criticizes the Hollaback campaign for not including white males and colored or transgender women. By omitting these groups, the campaign was unable to represent the group of women who are more endangered by street harassment. I found this video and article very important and helpful for people by including a more intersectional approach when highlighting harassment against all women.
I recently learned from a couple police officers that accounts of rape in Davis (and most likely other college towns, too) are often not taken as seriously as the victim may like. These accounts are often completely discounted because of the culture that has been formed around rape. The police expressed that it has become extremely difficult to decipher between rape and regretted drunk sex. It is disgusting to think about the way the word "rape" has changed over the past couple decades. In the past, rape had a very negative connotation (rightfully so) and each account was taken seriously. More recently, the word rape has become more of a casual term as well as an idea of unwanted drunken sex, discounting the severity of the true meaning. Women (and men) who are victimized and demoralized as a result of rape are now becoming victimized further because of lack of police action. It is upsetting to know that our culture and society have been shaped in a way that discounts the severity of rape. I wonder if this would have had the same outcome if men were the primary victims. Would it still be discounted to the extent that it is? Or would it have kept its true meaning, even in our society today?
The other day I went to Walmart with my boyfriend. We went through different aisles on the way to the checkout. As I was approaching the checkout, a guy in his 40s looked straight into my eyes and looked down and stared right at my body. Then when he looked up again, he was looking into my eyes like I was meat. I stared right back at him, looked back and gave him the deadliest stare after I walked passed by him. He kept staring at me until my boyfriend came to me and I finally turned around. I was afraid that my bf would have started a fight with the old dude but I was glad he didn't. After we got out, he told me that he actually wanted to beat the dude up but wasn't sure if he read the situation correctly. So yeah, street harassment does exist and we are not ok with it!
Recently, I watched a movie called Fire. It's about two sister-in-laws (Radha and Sita) breaking tradition and struggling to start a new life together. Both marriages are emotionally empty without love and passion. Radha is barren while his husband has sworn to celibacy. Sita had an arranged marriage hoping to carry on the family name, but her husband is openly in a relationship with the girl he loves. Both husbands ignore their spouses' emotional and sexual needs. In a matter of time, Radha and Sita look to one another for comfort and to satisfy their own passions, but their love contains its share of painful obstacles. In the film, female homosexuality is depicted in an unambiguous way. The film was denounced as obscene, immoral, and offensive to the Indian culture while it was upsetting that the film also goes against traditional values.
http://hellogiggles.com/disney-princesses-look-like-realistic-waistlines
ReplyDeleteI came across these pictures and since we were talking about beauty ideals this week I thought that this would be a interesting thing to talk about. Disney princesses are idealized by many young girls because they are adventurous, courageous, but most often because they are beautiful. Even at a young age girls learn to associate beauty with being thin. These pictures show that our society's beauty ideas have become part of the hidden curriculum. When we watch these Disney movies we do not even question the fact that these women have unrealistic bodies. As someone who loves Disney movies, I know that I never stopped to think about the bodies of the princesses in these movies, I just thought about how cool it would be to be one of them. However, when realistic waistlines are put on the princesses there is a notable difference in the way they look. I think the most important thing to notice about this is that we have normalized the appearance of these characters, children who see these images begin to desire them and this can help to the normalizing of self hatred of ones body that was talked about in the book. I think as such an influential company, Disney should make the conscious effort to try and change its portrayal of the female body. This would give girls more realistic role models that are no less adventurous or brave.
Hi Kelly,
DeleteI completely agree with you that Disney Princesses are role models of many young girls. It is sad to realize that the Disney Princesses' idealized body image is presented as society's norms. It is abnormal to have waists as tiny as the princesses. We associate having a small waist as beauty since advertisement promotes curvy bodies. In reality, this body type is unnatural and is not possible without plastic surgery. In order for women to stop obsessing about perfecting thier appearance, we must recognize that media's representation of beauty is artificial and sickening.
Kelly and Yurie,
DeleteI also agree with what you are both saying. Disney princesses, much like advertisements, are huge factors in how girls see themselves. Little girls grow up admiring these princesses and ultimately develop a desire to be like them in terms of smartness, courageousness, and looks. The cartoon a a Disney Princess is also similar to the body of Barbie Doll. Both portray unrealistic standards for young girls. This can greatly affect their self confidence.
Hi Kelly! What a great topic of discussion! I also think Disney should work toward developing a character that resembles a more realistic female body. It is surprising how influential shows, toys, and movies are on young girl's perceptions of an ideal self-image.
DeleteGoing off of our discussion about street harassment last class, I wanted to share a video from CNN that discusses the holla back video campaign against street harassment and cat calling. The interview includes a female comedian and a male author of several men/gentleman related books. The woman, Amanda Seales, explains many of the points brought up in the discussion, but what I found appalling about this video was the man's reaction to Seales points. When Seales points out that she has similar experiences as the woman in the video, the man interrupts here with a "Nice!". He then proceeds to assert that women "wouldnt mind if the men were attractive" and makes several other demeaning remarks. It horrifies me that a person like this man would hear someone express how uncomfortable catcalling makes them only to retort with comments such as "it should bolster your self esteem!". I think that the mentality that women are primarily concerned with how others, specifically men, perceive their appearances is a huge factor that inhibits women from being taken seriously in careers and as intellectuals in life. Though I recognize that some women do perhaps enjoy that type of attention, it is wrong to assume that all comfortable with it and want to be perceived as "sexy" or good looking when they are simply walking down the street. As Seales points out, it is frustrating that people hear this standpoint on street harassment and merely try to negate it. Instead, we need to recognize that a large group of people are offended and made uncomfortable by catcalling and should look into ways to make them feel more comfortable rather then continuously telling them why their feelings and reactions are wrong. The only positive aspect of this video was that the man clearly became flustered at the end as Seales combated his erroneous and offensive comments with finesse.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HI4DC18wCg
Hey Rachelle! Nice analysis of the video, I too share some of the view points that you have. It is sad how demeaning people can be toward women and how such ignorance can occur on public television.
DeleteHi Rachelle,
DeleteI find it degrading that the guy found it "nice" and thinks we should take it as a postitive --“compliment, boosting women’s self esteem.” I find it very subjective that he feels this way. On the other hand, all over my facebook a few weeks ago I stumbled upon “Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism by FCKH8.com” where little girls say “fucking unequal unsexist way” they claim that they have to say vulgar and drastic acts in order to get attention. Which is true…… this did it! It caught many people’s attention. FCKH8 grabbed people’s attention with “f bombs” to grab peoples attention.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqHYzYn3WZw
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/29/beauty-industry-women_n_5127078.html
ReplyDeleteThis week, I would like to talk about how modern beauty standards distorts many women’s self-image. Scherker, from the Huffington Post, explains about seven insecurities of women shaped by advertisements. According to markets, women can achieve perfection by having blonde hair, tanned skin, long-eyelashes, cellulite free legs, and flawlessly manicured nails. By socially constructing these insecurities, corporations have successfully convinced women that they can fix their physical imperfections with money. This article relates to Chapter 5, explaining the destruction of women’s health and identity by stereotyped beauty standards. Advertisements objectifies and commodifies women’s body to make them desirable to men and acceptable to society’s specifications. Therefore, the definitions of beauty are only pertained to these limited factors, which causes women to conform to these norms and to battle against their true will. By losing their confidence and identity, women develop disorders like anorexia and bulimia. I feel that these advertisements victimize women by correlating success with physical attractiveness. Having an impeccable appearance is more prevalent in women than men since men can achieve status without being treated as objects. We must understand these norms are distorted and many socio-economic factors inhibits most women from becoming ideal bodies. I believe that one way to help eliminate these beauty stereotypes is for women to communicate with themselves. By helping these women cope with their insecurities, they can regain health and self-confidence.
Hi Yurie!
DeleteI agree that the beauty industry sets unreachable standards for women. We all know that there is no way that we can obtain all of these characteristics however we feel a pressure to try and reach them. The idea of communication is a good idea however I believe that these standards have become so ingrained in our society that it will be difficult to change the way women think about what it means to be beautiful. Companies will also continue to act on insecurities to make a profit. So until we can help women feel beautiful the cycle or advertisement and ideals will continue.
http://mashable.com/2014/11/07/victorias-secret-perfect-body/
ReplyDeleteWe have talked a lot about beauty standards and sexual harassment in the past two weeks, and so I thought it was appropriate to talk about the current controversy of Victoria’s Secret’s new ad. Girls of all ages grow up surrounded and constantly exposed to advertisements that encourage a ‘the ideal image’ of a girl, whether it is a body shape or style. The store originally created an ad that read “The Perfect Body” across ten tall and thing supermodels. I’m honestly quite shocked that the idea for the campaign passed through corporate in that it seems blatantly obvious to me that this ad can be very harmful to girls everywhere in that it implies that every girl should be ‘perfect’ and look like a supermodel. It further encourages the idea that a girl is supposed to be ‘perfect’ in regards to looks, and brains. After much backlash, Victoria Secret re-released the ad and changed the slogan to “A Body for Every Body.” Although the company tried to do some damage control over their horrible slogan, their new slogan is still slapped onto the image of ten supermodels. In my opinion, it still negatively contributes to how girls, teenagers and even women, see themselves.
Hey Audrey! I actually remember when this ad came out and I thought the same thing! I didn't know however that the company actually changed the slogan after receiving complaints, that's really interesting!
DeleteThis was the first I heard of Victoria's Secret ad and I dont find it surprising that they'd put that kind of message out for advertisement. It especially targets young girls by having young models with this type of body displayed. This body image is not realistic for everyone and should not be advertised by an elite company as the "perfect body."
DeleteIn relation to Chapter 5 in the textbook, Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives, which discussed beauty ideals and standards, I would like to discuss the effects that the popular Barbie doll has on young girls self-image. Recently in a 2014 study on the influence Barbie dolls have on girls' career choices, young girls were given a Mrs. Potato head doll to play with and a Barbie doll. These were the results: "After a few minutes of play, the girls were asked if they could do any of 10 occupations listed when they grew up. They were also asked if boys could do those jobs. Half of the careers were traditionally male-dominated and half were female-dominated. Girls who played with Barbie thought they could do fewer jobs than boys could do. But girls who played with Mrs. Potato Head reported nearly the same number of possible careers for themselves and for boys" (Sherman, 1). While not entirely conclusive, certain dolls and toys that children play with can influence their career choices due to the adverse subliminal messages these dolls give. Barbie in fact serves as an unrealistic example of a woman's body image, and therefore creates a vulnerable/helpless perception that if young girls look as Barbie does, they will not be able to accomplish the same tasks as men, whereas Mrs. Potato head, who is more neutral in body-design serves as a more positive role model for young girls, allowing them to believe that they can obtain any career they want.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5fMTWlp3i8
I also found an article about Barbie dolls. This article explains that a woman designed a "normal Barbie." This doll has more reasonable proportions and comes with acne stickers, stretch mark stickers, and other stickers to aide in the reality of becoming a woman. The dolls got positive results from children (which I didn't expect) and they were happy that the dolls looked like real normal women. It's very interesting how Barbies have shaped kids' perceptions of reality and the extent to which people have gone to point it out/try to change it.
Deletehttp://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingiano/this-normal-barbie-comes-with-cellulite-stretch-marks-acne-a
We are constantly shaped by culture and society. I always heard comments like "girls can't do sports" or "only boys can play basketball" where I grew up. That really sent a subliminal message to my brain and I still hear it in my head every time I imagine myself playing basketball. I always felt like I don't have what it takes to play it well. It really affects my potential to excel in a competitive sport.
DeleteI found your post really interesting since I believe marketers and producers really shape our society. The producers main goals is to persuade consumers that they "need" their product so they can meet societies standards. Many activities are now gendered which tells us what we can and can't do.
DeleteHi McKenna! This is a really interesting study, its fascinating that just a couple minutes of play with a certain toy can influence their responses. It would be really interesting to see if giving girls blocks or race cars versus baby dolls and other stereotypically girly toys would have a similar impact. Since we learned in the book that beauty ideals can make you mentally and physically ill, its really worrisome that children are being wrongfully influenced about what their bodies should look like and what their body abilities are from such a young age.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePhoto retouching in magazine ads is highly deceptive, yet still remains a huge contributor to our unrealistic beauty standards today. In fact, our growing use of technology in advertising has promoted the use of airbrushing and digital enhancements now more than ever before. More often than not, photographs are being manipulated with meticulous use of lighting and exposure, as well as retouching software that makes celebrities and models appear seemingly perfect. I find myself constantly asking: “Why is it that ads are setting a standard that no one can reach?” And then it hits me. These ads are effective in making us feel badly about ourselves, which leads us to thus by the product as a means of feeling better about ourselves. This is a vicious cycle. I think that this should be addressed more severely, because let’s face it, pictures are often more believable than words, no matter how false they may be. I don’t understand how we live in a society where so much is based off of making others feel like the way that they look is not enough. I think that after having struggled with two eating disorders, the most helpful things has been to stop reading magazines all together.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad you posted about this Ashley; this is a subject all-to-often left out of the public dialogue. I am a man, yet the media has made me self-conscious about my weight since I put on weight as a young teenager. I highly respect those in the media, however, that strive to make a difference and/or simply bring our culture's OBSESSION with vanity, like I said, into the realm of public dialogue i.e. the first place to begin to shift our culture toward one that embraces any form you may take physically (skinny, fat, youthful, or elderly). If you are interested, go to the Ted Talk website; there is a video in which Cameron Russel (a Victoria's Secret model) condemns, in a manner of speaking, the fashion business as it is currently run.
DeleteSo I got into this show recently, "Queer as Folk". I strongly recommend this show for various reasons firstly, this show is a great way of learning how to interact in social situations as a gay man, secondly, it covers many social issues the U.K. version did not (one example being the recurrence of a couple in which one of the partners is HIV-positive and the other HIV-negative). This show also was one of the first big American television shows to have lengthy gay sex scenes as a regular and necessary aspect of its presentation. For more about why gay sex was so important to arguably America's first mostly embraced (explicit sex and all) gay primetime show, click my name to follow the link.
ReplyDeletehttp://jezebel.com/a-hollaback-response-video-women-of-color-on-street-ha-1655494647
ReplyDeleteThis video/article is a response to the street harassment video that went viral a couple weeks ago. Although that video was eye opening and allowed for some women to relate with eachother, it was too limited. This article criticizes the Hollaback campaign for not including white males and colored or transgender women. By omitting these groups, the campaign was unable to represent the group of women who are more endangered by street harassment. I found this video and article very important and helpful for people by including a more intersectional approach when highlighting harassment against all women.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI recently learned from a couple police officers that accounts of rape in Davis (and most likely other college towns, too) are often not taken as seriously as the victim may like. These accounts are often completely discounted because of the culture that has been formed around rape. The police expressed that it has become extremely difficult to decipher between rape and regretted drunk sex. It is disgusting to think about the way the word "rape" has changed over the past couple decades. In the past, rape had a very negative connotation (rightfully so) and each account was taken seriously. More recently, the word rape has become more of a casual term as well as an idea of unwanted drunken sex, discounting the severity of the true meaning. Women (and men) who are victimized and demoralized as a result of rape are now becoming victimized further because of lack of police action. It is upsetting to know that our culture and society have been shaped in a way that discounts the severity of rape. I wonder if this would have had the same outcome if men were the primary victims. Would it still be discounted to the extent that it is? Or would it have kept its true meaning, even in our society today?
ReplyDeleteThe other day I went to Walmart with my boyfriend. We went through different aisles on the way to the checkout. As I was approaching the checkout, a guy in his 40s looked straight into my eyes and looked down and stared right at my body. Then when he looked up again, he was looking into my eyes like I was meat. I stared right back at him, looked back and gave him the deadliest stare after I walked passed by him. He kept staring at me until my boyfriend came to me and I finally turned around. I was afraid that my bf would have started a fight with the old dude but I was glad he didn't. After we got out, he told me that he actually wanted to beat the dude up but wasn't sure if he read the situation correctly. So yeah, street harassment does exist and we are not ok with it!
ReplyDeleteRecently, I watched a movie called Fire. It's about two sister-in-laws (Radha and Sita) breaking tradition and struggling to start a new life together. Both marriages are emotionally empty without love and passion. Radha is barren while his husband has sworn to celibacy. Sita had an arranged marriage hoping to carry on the family name, but her husband is openly in a relationship with the girl he loves. Both husbands ignore their spouses' emotional and sexual needs. In a matter of time, Radha and Sita look to one another for comfort and to satisfy their own passions, but their love contains its share of painful obstacles. In the film, female homosexuality is depicted in an unambiguous way. The film was denounced as obscene, immoral, and offensive to the Indian culture while it was upsetting that the film also goes against traditional values.
ReplyDelete