I have taken a women and gender studies class before, and due to the instructor did not enjoy the class, therefore I was hesitant to take this class; I'm so glad I did. This class has changed the way I look at everything around me; I cannot look at an advertisement, watch a television show or listen to a song without analyzing and critiquing it; its amazing to me how oblivious I was to this before, especially in TV shows that I watch on a regular basis; I enjoy this new way of looking at things.
I have enjoyed all aspects of this class. The work has correlated well with the material; I especially believe this blog was helpful, because it made us apply what we learned in the class. I also enjoyed the videos we watched; not only were they helpful, but also relevant and educational - its much easier to learn a concept when you are shown different examples of it. I have learned a lot, and I am especially proud of my work in this class. I have never considered myself a strong writer, but I am very proud of and did very well on my papers in this class. A big part of this was the workshops. At first I had no desire to have my papers workshopped, but after having it done on the second essay, I jumped at the chance to have my final essay workshopped. The workshop is so helpful, and gives you a lot of insight. Overall, it was a great experience for my Junior composition class.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Research Proposal Essay #3
For the past couple weeks throughout my daily routine I have seen several things that I thought would make a good topic for the research paper. Now that I'm sitting here trying to work on it I can't remember a single of those things! Go figure...I thought about sticking with the Dolce & Gabbana advertisements that I am writing my 2nd essay on, but I don't think I will have enough to write. Therefore, I believe I am going to stick with my blog topic from last week - the movie Legally Blonde. I am throwing around the idea of including the sequel, but as of now I am only going to focus on the first.
I think it will be interesting to research this movie and some of the stereotypes and challenges it presents. I secretly love this movie, and now I realize that it is full of the ideas that we've been discussing in this class. I am curious about further analyzing the stereotypes of our society that this movie reinforces. I am not sure on what I'm going to revise yet. I think it would be interesting to revise it that she doesn't get into law school..it would also be interesting to change the ending. The ending, as it is, has Warner wanting Elle back now that she is a successful law student, and she declines - basically throwing his words back at him (from when he broke up with her). What if she took him back? This would just further those stereotypes while at the same time challenges ideas that "men are the providers". I still need to decide this...
My intended audience of this is going to depend on which revision I decide to go with, but will still be aimed mostly at Females. I am worried that the hardest part of this is going to be finding the sources. In doing this research I hope to show just how prevalent stereotypes towards women are in our society.
I think it will be interesting to research this movie and some of the stereotypes and challenges it presents. I secretly love this movie, and now I realize that it is full of the ideas that we've been discussing in this class. I am curious about further analyzing the stereotypes of our society that this movie reinforces. I am not sure on what I'm going to revise yet. I think it would be interesting to revise it that she doesn't get into law school..it would also be interesting to change the ending. The ending, as it is, has Warner wanting Elle back now that she is a successful law student, and she declines - basically throwing his words back at him (from when he broke up with her). What if she took him back? This would just further those stereotypes while at the same time challenges ideas that "men are the providers". I still need to decide this...
My intended audience of this is going to depend on which revision I decide to go with, but will still be aimed mostly at Females. I am worried that the hardest part of this is going to be finding the sources. In doing this research I hope to show just how prevalent stereotypes towards women are in our society.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Are you "Legally Blonde"?
I'm not sure why, but I had a hard time coming up with something to blog about this week. I looked around my apartment - through my iTunes and my DVDs. I saw the movie Legally Blonde, and a bunch of ideas popped into my head.
For help, I went to IMDB and the first few lines made me laugh out loud (which made people laugh at me since I'm sitting at a table alone in the Front Room). "Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) has it all. She's the president of her sorority, a Hawaiian Tropic girl, Miss June in her campus calendar, and, above all, a natural blonde. She dates the cutest fraternity boy on campus and wants nothing more than to be Mrs. Warner Huntington III". Are you kidding me? Apparently "all" consists of popularity and looks and lets not forget a man to complete the package! This is the message that we are sending to teenage girls these days.
However, there is a silver-lining. If you've never seen the movie, Elle expects a proposal from Warner, but instead he dumps her because he is going off to Law school, with many high goals and Elle is "too blonde" for him. She then decides to follow Warner to Harvard for Law School. Elle overcomes all the stereotypes against her, and ends up become a very successful lawyer. This is a wonderful message sent to girls - that no matter who or what you are, you can achieve your goals.
For help, I went to IMDB and the first few lines made me laugh out loud (which made people laugh at me since I'm sitting at a table alone in the Front Room). "Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) has it all. She's the president of her sorority, a Hawaiian Tropic girl, Miss June in her campus calendar, and, above all, a natural blonde. She dates the cutest fraternity boy on campus and wants nothing more than to be Mrs. Warner Huntington III". Are you kidding me? Apparently "all" consists of popularity and looks and lets not forget a man to complete the package! This is the message that we are sending to teenage girls these days.
However, there is a silver-lining. If you've never seen the movie, Elle expects a proposal from Warner, but instead he dumps her because he is going off to Law school, with many high goals and Elle is "too blonde" for him. She then decides to follow Warner to Harvard for Law School. Elle overcomes all the stereotypes against her, and ends up become a very successful lawyer. This is a wonderful message sent to girls - that no matter who or what you are, you can achieve your goals.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Dolce & Gabbana
I originally planned on picking a television show as the topic of my second essay, but was having trouble picking one. I turned to Google. I typed in "Ad Campaigns", and it auto completed it with "that degrade women". I thought - how fitting! The first thing that came up, was a Dolce and Gabbana advertisement. I'll be honest I don't think I've ever even seen one of their ads until now. The further I looked into their ad campaigns, the more surprised I was. I had no idea that their ads were so controversial, and they have even had legal problems with some of them.
Therefore, I am going to write my second essay on Dolce & Gabbana. Instead of focusing on one single ad campaign, I am going to pick and choose a few from different campaigns. The thing that I find interesting is that D&G does not stick to one form of ads. Their ads explore all angles of sexuality. However they do still degrade both men and women. At first I was appalled, but now I'm curious and excited to learn more about their stance on their ads.
I will need to work on furthering this, but to begin...I believe my thesis to be "Dolce and Gabbana ads challenge heteronormativity and at the same time strengthen the violence that it ensues." Through my analysis of Dolce & Gabbana's ads, I hope to show my audience that although their ads are bold and futuristic, they are still harmful.
Therefore, I am going to write my second essay on Dolce & Gabbana. Instead of focusing on one single ad campaign, I am going to pick and choose a few from different campaigns. The thing that I find interesting is that D&G does not stick to one form of ads. Their ads explore all angles of sexuality. However they do still degrade both men and women. At first I was appalled, but now I'm curious and excited to learn more about their stance on their ads.
I will need to work on furthering this, but to begin...I believe my thesis to be "Dolce and Gabbana ads challenge heteronormativity and at the same time strengthen the violence that it ensues." Through my analysis of Dolce & Gabbana's ads, I hope to show my audience that although their ads are bold and futuristic, they are still harmful.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Can you "Fight like a Girl"?
Are midterms over yet...? :-(
Hey guys! Hope you're having a better week 4 than me! This week, I wanted to talk about one of my favorite songs, "Fight like a Girl" by Bomshel. It’s one of those songs, that no matter what my mood, whenever I hear it, I get pumped up and feel better. “Fight like a Girl” is the first song released off of their debut album released in October of 2009. For those of you that don’t know the song, I have attached a link for the lyrics, as well as a link for the music video. The main point made in the song, is that no matter what age you are, or what you’re going through in your life, stand up and fight it. What makes this song so remarkable to me is that it is telling us to fight like a girl. How often do we hear “stand up and fight like a man” “be a real man” etc?; A lot more than we hear “fight like a girl”. When we do hear “fight like a girl”, it is usually in the form of an insult (towards both males and/or females). The examples in the song are a young girl being made fun of on the playground, the same girl at 31 hitting “that same glass ceiling”, and the same woman further down the road battling cancer. To each of these instances, she is told by her mother to Hold your head high. Don't ever let 'em define The light in your eyes. Love yourself, give them Hell. You can take on this world. You just stand and be strong And then fight Like a girl”.
It is such an empowering song, and it’s so nice to hear for once; especially when you compare it to the many songs that degrade and insult women. I know it’s only one song, but it’s a step in the right direction. Could this be the beginning of the end of passive, submissive, innocent and weak women? I think yes, even if it only motivates a single girl in the entire world to be strong, I think it is worth it. Music is a big part of my life, and this song, believe it or not, has helped me in many ways. My father passed away last year, and this song never ceased to make me feel better if only just a bit. “This is just another test God gave me. and I know just how to handle this I'll hold my head high I'll never let this define The light in my eyes Love myself, give it Hell I'll take on this world If I stand and be strong No, I'll never give up I will conquer with love And I'll fight like Like a girl”
Hey guys! Hope you're having a better week 4 than me! This week, I wanted to talk about one of my favorite songs, "Fight like a Girl" by Bomshel. It’s one of those songs, that no matter what my mood, whenever I hear it, I get pumped up and feel better. “Fight like a Girl” is the first song released off of their debut album released in October of 2009. For those of you that don’t know the song, I have attached a link for the lyrics, as well as a link for the music video. The main point made in the song, is that no matter what age you are, or what you’re going through in your life, stand up and fight it. What makes this song so remarkable to me is that it is telling us to fight like a girl. How often do we hear “stand up and fight like a man” “be a real man” etc?; A lot more than we hear “fight like a girl”. When we do hear “fight like a girl”, it is usually in the form of an insult (towards both males and/or females). The examples in the song are a young girl being made fun of on the playground, the same girl at 31 hitting “that same glass ceiling”, and the same woman further down the road battling cancer. To each of these instances, she is told by her mother to Hold your head high. Don't ever let 'em define The light in your eyes. Love yourself, give them Hell. You can take on this world. You just stand and be strong And then fight Like a girl”.
It is such an empowering song, and it’s so nice to hear for once; especially when you compare it to the many songs that degrade and insult women. I know it’s only one song, but it’s a step in the right direction. Could this be the beginning of the end of passive, submissive, innocent and weak women? I think yes, even if it only motivates a single girl in the entire world to be strong, I think it is worth it. Music is a big part of my life, and this song, believe it or not, has helped me in many ways. My father passed away last year, and this song never ceased to make me feel better if only just a bit. “This is just another test God gave me. and I know just how to handle this I'll hold my head high I'll never let this define The light in my eyes Love myself, give it Hell I'll take on this world If I stand and be strong No, I'll never give up I will conquer with love And I'll fight like Like a girl”
Monday, January 18, 2010
Cosmo (Girl)
Last week, we spent some time looking at magazine covers and obviously that is the topic of our group presentations tomorrow. I hope I’m not stepping on anyone’s project here, but I just had an interesting thought and wanted to share.
My group got together, and we chose a Cosmopolitan cover to discuss for our project. We had a lot to talk about, and made a lot of good points. We agreed that Cosmopolitan’s target audience is single females, ages 19-30. Johnson’s article, which discussed the “cover lines and cover images” of Cosmopolitan, compared the amount of sex/relationship cover lines to those that include intimacy, or cautionary stories. We talk about this in our project, so I won’t go in depth, but it got me thinking about the “Cosmo Girl” magazine they have.
With all the concern about body image and self-esteem for younger girls, in my opinion, this magazine does nothing but encourage negative thoughts. Don’t get me wrong, it is important to have a source from which you get personal hygiene/beauty/fashion info from, but I think some of the content in this magazine in inappropriate for the ages it is aimed at (12-18 approximately).
I think this is a problem, because not only does it add to the insecurities that teenage girls already have, but it also encourages sexual tendencies/ behavior in younger girls, which as we all know just leads to bigger problems in Jr. High and High School, and possibly further still. What are your thoughts on this early exposure to such mature material?
My group got together, and we chose a Cosmopolitan cover to discuss for our project. We had a lot to talk about, and made a lot of good points. We agreed that Cosmopolitan’s target audience is single females, ages 19-30. Johnson’s article, which discussed the “cover lines and cover images” of Cosmopolitan, compared the amount of sex/relationship cover lines to those that include intimacy, or cautionary stories. We talk about this in our project, so I won’t go in depth, but it got me thinking about the “Cosmo Girl” magazine they have.
With all the concern about body image and self-esteem for younger girls, in my opinion, this magazine does nothing but encourage negative thoughts. Don’t get me wrong, it is important to have a source from which you get personal hygiene/beauty/fashion info from, but I think some of the content in this magazine in inappropriate for the ages it is aimed at (12-18 approximately).
I think this is a problem, because not only does it add to the insecurities that teenage girls already have, but it also encourages sexual tendencies/ behavior in younger girls, which as we all know just leads to bigger problems in Jr. High and High School, and possibly further still. What are your thoughts on this early exposure to such mature material?
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Alyssa Lies
My name is Heather. I am from Burton, Ohio. Since no one has ever heard of it, I usually just tell people about 30 miles east of Cleveland. I’m a Junior Sociology/Criminology major. I am unsure exactly what I want to do with this yet (I’m thinking something towards the Social work end of things), but I know I’m in the right area. My father was a police officer for about 30 years, until he passed away last December. Growing up submersed in law enforcement is part of why I am so passionate about it. My older sister, lives in Pa, and is a corrections officer in Erie. People usually say it must run in our blood. I am a member of Alpha Phi Omega, the National Service Fraternity on campus, and I love every minute of it. We volunteer and do service all around the community. I especially enjoy the service project I participate in every quarter, which is bowl on a league with members of ATCO. It is a lot of fun, and very rewarding.
I sat here trying to figure out what I wanted to write about for our first blog, and not really sure how to begin. I decided to look through my iTunes to see if anything sparked my interest. Ironically one of the first songs that it shuffled to was Alyssa Lies by Jason Michael Carroll. I think this is a great place to start.
I’ll give a short summary of the song for those of you who have never heard it. It is from the perspective of a father, whose young daughter meets a new friend (Alyssa). The daughter tells her father “Alyssa Lies to the classroom, Alyssa lies everyday at school, Alyssa lies to the teacher, as she tries to cover every bruise.” The father goes to school the next day to try to get Alyssa some help, and “My little girl asked me why everybody looked so sad, the lump in my throat grew bigger with every question that she asked. Until I felt the tears run down my face and I told her that Alyssa wouldn’t be at school today. Because she doesn’t lie in the classroom, she doesn’t lie anymore at school. Alyssa lies with Jesus, because there’s nothing anyone would do.”
I have very strong feelings about domestic violence. Although it has become a more known problem in recent years, I don’t believe that people in our society know enough about it. Did you know that “Approximately 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United States”? (1) Or did you know that “20,608 domestic violence cases were filed in OHIO in 2006”, “345 of which ended in death”? (2) (That doesn’t include the probable thousands that AREN’T reported!) Obviously violence towards women is much more prevalent, but violence towards men DOES occur-more often than you might have thought. Even more heart wrenching is that violence towards children occurs quite often as well.
This song obviously illustrates domestic (which just means within the house or family) violence towards a child. It is such a sad song but at the same time it enrages me. It takes a young girl to realize that her friend is in trouble. And once someone (the father) gets up the courage to say something and do something to help this little girl, it is too late. Which unfortunately happens ALL the time. People don’t want to say anything because they don’t want to get involved. And people who are experiencing it don’t say anything for fear of making it worse.
I believe this ties in well with the part of Yep’s article that refers to violence. The main thing to remember is it happens to everyone, of every race, age or sexuality.
Works Cited
1) Patricia Tjaden & Nancy Thoennes, U.S. Dep't of Just., NCJ 183781, Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, at iv (2000), available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/183781.htm
2) National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
I sat here trying to figure out what I wanted to write about for our first blog, and not really sure how to begin. I decided to look through my iTunes to see if anything sparked my interest. Ironically one of the first songs that it shuffled to was Alyssa Lies by Jason Michael Carroll. I think this is a great place to start.
I’ll give a short summary of the song for those of you who have never heard it. It is from the perspective of a father, whose young daughter meets a new friend (Alyssa). The daughter tells her father “Alyssa Lies to the classroom, Alyssa lies everyday at school, Alyssa lies to the teacher, as she tries to cover every bruise.” The father goes to school the next day to try to get Alyssa some help, and “My little girl asked me why everybody looked so sad, the lump in my throat grew bigger with every question that she asked. Until I felt the tears run down my face and I told her that Alyssa wouldn’t be at school today. Because she doesn’t lie in the classroom, she doesn’t lie anymore at school. Alyssa lies with Jesus, because there’s nothing anyone would do.”
I have very strong feelings about domestic violence. Although it has become a more known problem in recent years, I don’t believe that people in our society know enough about it. Did you know that “Approximately 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United States”? (1) Or did you know that “20,608 domestic violence cases were filed in OHIO in 2006”, “345 of which ended in death”? (2) (That doesn’t include the probable thousands that AREN’T reported!) Obviously violence towards women is much more prevalent, but violence towards men DOES occur-more often than you might have thought. Even more heart wrenching is that violence towards children occurs quite often as well.
This song obviously illustrates domestic (which just means within the house or family) violence towards a child. It is such a sad song but at the same time it enrages me. It takes a young girl to realize that her friend is in trouble. And once someone (the father) gets up the courage to say something and do something to help this little girl, it is too late. Which unfortunately happens ALL the time. People don’t want to say anything because they don’t want to get involved. And people who are experiencing it don’t say anything for fear of making it worse.
I believe this ties in well with the part of Yep’s article that refers to violence. The main thing to remember is it happens to everyone, of every race, age or sexuality.
Works Cited
1) Patricia Tjaden & Nancy Thoennes, U.S. Dep't of Just., NCJ 183781, Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, at iv (2000), available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/183781.htm
2) National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
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