EXTRA CREDIT-Shocked about Disney

When we watched the Disney documentary in class I was amazed at the controversial issues behind the popular films. I was especially shocked by the sexuality of female characters and power and dominance of male characters. Female main characters in Disney films normally dress provocatively and have a voluptuous figure. They seem to prance around on the screen, displaying their curves. During one scene in Aladdin, Jasmin even used her body to seduce another character to get what she wanted. This is sending very harmful messages to young girls and boys that sexuality, not logic or reasoning, can be used to achieve a lot. Also, in Beauty and the Beast, the Beast is extremely controlling, powerful and very abusive. He constantly yells and at Bell and throws objects when he is angry. However, Bell stays with him and he becomes a nice prince in the end. This demonstrates to young females that if a boy is abusive, show him kindness and he will eventually treat you well. When I was young and watched Disney movies I did not notice any of these issues as being wrong. This could be a good thing because I was naive and did not see the messages, or a bad thing if children are becoming desensitized to sexuality and violence. It is a problem that Disney is allowed to represent such issues and problems because they control so much of our media.

EXTRA CREDIT-Sexual Exploitation Lecture

Last week I attended a lecture series at King's Daughters Children's Hospital. The lecture was given by Cordelia Anderson who expressed her concerns about a sexually toxic environment that has consumed our world. She explained that through various outlets of technology, such as the Internet, television and media, children are being sexually exploited-personally or socially. One thing that amazed me about the talk was the media's apparent urge for girls to embrace their sexuality at a younger age. However, men were rarely featured in the examples of covert sexuality. For example, Ms. Anderson showed images of costume choices for young women, which included a sexy French Maid, sexy Disney characters, or a sexy nurse. However, on a similar website, costumes for boys included fully-clothed super heroes or action figures. I thought this was interesting because it sends a message to young women that they should make sure they are sexy in whatever they choose to pursue as a career. Ms. Anderson also showed a commercial that I believe aired during the Superbowl. involving a teacher that is urged to do a strip dance in front of her classroom by the males in the class. I remember watching the commercial on TV and do not remember questioning the messages that it sent. She also showed images of adult media icons that have been made to look younger through hair styles or props. satisfying the desires of many pedophiles. I think that it is a major problem that our media environment is being increasingly sexual, to the point that we do not even recognize images that would have been obscene fifteen, twenty years ago. It is also an issue that women are exposed to images and messages that reinforce a view that they should maintain a great level of "sexiness" in everything they pursue in life.

Real Housewife Out of Control!

I have mentioned in my previous blogs about the fact that I enjoy watching Bravo TV shows, especially the "Real Housewife" series. In this season of the "Real Housewives of New York City there is a new housewife, named Kelly Killoren Bensimon. Kelly has been described on the show as bland and boring, even though she used to be a top model and was married to the famous fashion photographer, Gilles Bensimon. Viewers have very high expectations for their housewives and do not appear impressed or interested if they are not rude, obnoxious, loud, extremely wealthy and successful, and do not frequent the top clubs in New York City. However, about four weeks ago Kelly was arrested on assault charges for punching her fiance. She was originally charged with misdemeanor third-degree assault, but her fiance does not feel that this is a fair solution. He has complained to reporters and police that she deserves much worse because, he states, "if I had done it to her, I would have been put in jail immediately … My injuries are worse than Rihanna's — and Chris Brown was charged with two felonies." I have a minor in criminal justice and inequality in charges based on gender is very common in the United States. Only recently have more women been arrested because of "mandatory minimum" sentencing laws that do not allow judges to be bias. However, most crimes do not specify mandatory minimums and women recieve lighter sentences than men. When I saw this case on the news I thought it was really sad that Kelly Bensimon will not be given the punishment that she deserves because of her female gender. I also thought it was interesting that now, because she committed a violent act, Kelly is seen by viewers as less boring and bland.

"Lost"

I recently began watching the series, "Lost," and have now finished the first season. The show is very entertaining and I find it interesting to observe the behaviors of different people while they are confined on an island. My favorite character in the show is Katie. Katie seems very sweet, caring, and compassionate, but soon we learn that she is a felon that is "on the run" for murder. Everyone on the show appears shocked to hear about Katie's past because she appears so kind and innocent. However, Katie is actually very resilient, tough, and courageous (which are typically not adjectives used to describe females). She always joins the men when they go on a mission in the woods and insists that she be treated equally and allowed to participate in "male" activities, such as boar hunting or searching for explosives. A few times during the show, Jack, another main character, tells Katie that she cannot join the men because it is unsafe (the audience assumes this is because she is a woman)- of course, she does not listen. During the end of the season, four people out of the group on the island go into the woods to search for dynamite or other explosives. They find the highly dangerous dynamite and must decide who should carry it back to their "camp." Katie eagerly agrees to carry it in her bag and is met with criticism by Jack, who eventually agrees to let her carry the explosives, but actually puts them in his bag instead of hers. Despite a few variances, Katie is treated as an equal with the men and boldly sacrifices herself to help the group. I love seeing a female character that is so courageous and accepted among others and appreciate this about the character of Katie in "Lost."

"Millionaire Matchmaker"

The other day I was flipping through the channels on TV and decided to check out "Millionaire Matchmaker" on Bravo. In the show, a matchmaker has men that are millionaires as her clients who pay to be set up on dates with beautiful women. I have nothing against reality dating shows and trying to find love on TV, but the entire concept of this show is disgusting. The men on the show seem perfectly content with dating a woman that obviously only wants them for their money. During the particular episode that I was watching, there were two very old men that only liked to date younger women. One of the men was in his late forties and he had met his previous girlfriend when she was only 18! The matchmaker on the show could not convince the men to date older women, so she set up a one sided mirror so that the men could see the young women and approve of them based on their looks. It was shocking to me that the men had complete control of the situation, as the women could not see them at all. They were able to choose which women they found attractive and decide to go on dates with them. I was appalled by this episode and found the way that the (ugly) men critiqued (beautiful) women that were not "perfect enough" for them to be absolutely ridiculous. As the article, "Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast" explained, television is increasingly casting shows and sitcoms with beautiful women dating ugly men that have complete power and control.

Real "Housewives"?

I really enjoy watching the "Real Housewives" series on Bravo, which includes groups of women from New York, Orange County, and Atlanta, that are very wealthy. The show follows the women throughout their day and viewers get a glimpse of what it would be like to live such a lavish lifestyle. Many of the women and their families own numerous houses, vacation houses, or nice boats. However since I began watching the series, I have been confused out the name, which does not represent the women at all. First of all, this is not the life of a "real" or normal housewife in America. Second, none of the women are actually fit the definition of a "housewife" as defined by dictionary.com as "a married woman who manages her own household, esp. as her principal occupation." Most of the women in the house do manage their own homes well and their husbands are rarely seen, but they have very successful jobs away from the home. Vikki, an Orange County housewife, is the best example of this because she is a realtor for very expensive homes and is ALWAYS working. When "the girls" go out for the weekend, Vikki is notorious for bringing her lap top and typing away the whole time. She defends herself by saying that she has extra time and does not want it to go to waste. The women all seem very independent and in control of their homes and jobs.
I thought that this was worth mentioning because, to me, the word "housewife" has a bad connotation and describes a woman whose only place is in the home- to cook, clean, and relax when those are completed. The women on the "real housewives" are not lazy and do not only reside in their homes. This reminded me of the article we read in class titled, "Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast," which sends a message to readers that producers of television shows are not as innocent as they may seem because they have seemingly successful women that always submit to their husbands in the end. In this case, the women are submitting to the production series by being given the label "housewives."

The Bachelor... Again!

Surprise, surprise I watched the Bachelor this week... This past Monday was not a regular episode because the Season Finale is next week. The last episode before the finale is always a special Bachelor edition: "The Women Tell All"... or the "Men Tell All," for female Bachelorettes. During the show, the producers invited Jason, the Bachelor during this season, and all the girls that were rejected in past episodes to talk and "dish" about their experiences. They also featured couples that are still together from the Bachelor or Bachelorette. Trisha and Ryan, the famous "bachelor couple that is still together!" spoke about their family and children. When I was watching Trisha and Ryan the thought occured to me that Trisha was the Bachelorette, which means that she asked Ryan to marry her. This made me think about the different roles that women and men are beginning to play in marriage and relationships. During the time when my grandparents, or even parents, grew up it would be outrageous for a woman to ask a man to marry her- especially on national television! This shows an increasing trend in our society of gender-equality. Obviously there are still many stereotypes and inequalities among both sexes, but I think this is a step in the right direction toward independence and confidence among women in relationships.

Girlfight

In class we watched the movie, "Girlfight," which is about a girl named Diana who wishes to be a boxer. Most people make fun of her and think that she is joking when they first find out, however, many become supportive of Diana when they discover that she is really serious about this dream. Her father is very traditional and believes that her brother, Tiny, should box and that she should wear dresses and do "girly"things. I do not think that Diana wants to be "girly" or "not girly," she just wants to be herself and enjoys boxing. Diana wants to be treated as an equal among the men that she fights in the ring. I thought that this was a great movie because the characters, Diana and Tiny, defied "gender rules" and each pursued their own dream. I do not think that the idea of a girl boxing is as foreign today as it was when this movie was filmed (about 10 years ago).
I went to "Cagefest Extreme" recently and the first two fighters were girls making their professional debuts into cage-fighting. Also, in high school there was a girl on our football team (which was in the best district in the state of Virginia and wins the state championship regularly) that was on the team because she was a good player and was about the same size as many of the boys on the team. Some people thought this was strange, especially the guys on the team, but most were happy for the girl and saw no problem with her being on the team because she was talented at playing football.

"He's Just Not that Into You"

Tonight I went with four of my roommates to see the new film, "He's Just Not that Into You." When I was a sophomore in high school, I wanted to find out more about "how men think" and bought the book which pretty much states-- if he's not calling you back, if he's not asking you out, and if he's cheating on you-- maybe he's just not into you. I loved how the movie starts because it shows a little girl on a playground that is bullied by a boy and her mom explains, "that's because he likes you." This seems so strange, but I can guarantee that almost every girl has been told this nonsense at least once during her childhood. The problem is that this attitude transcends into future relationships and provides an explanation for why men act like jerks and yet we are still convinced that they like us. I loved the movie and found it really entertaining, mostly because it was more realistic than most movies. It showed men and women vulnerable and eager to find love. There was a girl that acted pathetic in the presence of men and stood by her phone waiting for a call, but there were also men in the movie that waited for women to call them, frantically checking their phones every fifteen minutes. When I first heard about the movie, I assumed by the title that it was only centered on girls that wonder why a guy does not like them. I immediately thought, why is the choice up to men to decide who likes who- can't a girl "just not be into" a guy? But the movie was actually about both male and females and the struggle to find love, or friendship, or fall out of love, or to just find yourself. It was refreshing to see a movie that, in my mind, treated men and women equally.

Wife Swap

I often watch “Wife Swap” on Lifetime Television for entertainment. The producers of the show choose two women from different families to live in another household for two weeks. The first week is an observation week where the wives watch how the other family lives and the next week the wives are allowed to make their own rules for the family. The object of the show is to find two families that are run in very different manners so that they learn something about the other way of life. I saw an episode this past weekend that involved a very religious family compared with a family that was run by Atheist parents. There was one particular scene when the show was focused on the religious family, when the father made some very offending comments about women. He believes that men should not clean at all and when he saw the wife that had swapped with his making his son clean the bathroom he said, “I don’t want my son to be like a woman…I want him to grow up like a man…girls should clean the toilets not men.” He refers to his philosophy of thinking as “The Man Law.” Obviously, this is not a subtle statement about differences in gender, but I thought that it was too great of an example not to mention. This was such an extreme statement and offended every female that I was watching television with, but so many men actually do think this way. I know that men and women are very different, but no man should be able to sit back and watch a woman clean and cook at all the time.

cleaning commercials

When I was thinking what to do my blog on this week I decided to sit and watch TV and wait for some idea to come to me. I suddenly thought, I have been watching TV for about two hours and did not notice a huge gender undertone. Every commercial that I saw that involved cleaning a house or doing dishes had women as the main characters. For example, the laundry commercials with Katie Couric, Swiffer commercials, and commercials for new dishwashing soap- all had women trying out the products. In a way, this responds to social norms that the women cleans and then men provide money for the household, but many men clean and enjoy cleaning products as well. I think that the reason why I did not think that this was abnormal at first when I was watching is that in my family my mother cleans and cooks and my dad provides for the family most of the time. I just thought it was interesting… I think it would be a nice comical change if there was a guy testing out the new Swiffer in replace of his old mop.

The Bachelor

On the 5th of January a new season of the Bachelor started. My friends and I all got together to watch as girls from all over the country arrived at the mansion where the show is shot and began to throw themselves at Jason, the star of this season. It was pretty funny to watch the girls try to win Jason over by either dancing with him, reading him a love poem, or explaining the art of "vision boards." There was a part in the show where a girl named Jillian explains her theory about men and hot dogs that has become a jovial topic of conversation among many of my girl and guy friends. Jillian explains to the other girls that she has specific criteria that a man has to meet as far as his hot dog toppings, before she will considering dating him. She says that if a guy liked ketchup on his hot dog that he's a "mamma's boy," mustard and he is ready to commit and start a family, guys that like onions on their hot dogs are never going to marry, and if a guy likes sauerkraut that he is a jerk or "bad boy" and you should steer clear. So, as a result, my roommates and I have annoyed many guys by jokingly asking them what they like to put on their hot dogs (my boyfriend likes everything on his-not sure what that means). But it was interesting to me when I actually started to think of the idea of judging what kind of man someone is by something so trivial. There are so many "tests" like this for guys and girls and most of them are meant completely as a joke, but some people, like Jillian, follow them religiously. Also, can a guy not be a "mamma's boy" and want to settle down and get married? Is there something wrong with being a "mamma's boy? I just thought that this was funny and brought up some interesting questions about labels and masculinity.