Blog #5

This week we had a guest speaker talk to us about media and the influences the media has on body image.  I really enjoyed the assignment that we had this week.  Looking at certain advertisements with a critical eye really made me reconsider what I am buying.  I believe that women are totally and completely subjugated in a lot of advertisements.  Women are totally demeaned and basically shown like a piece of meat.  Not only are women portrayed like this, but also men in certain advertisements.  I noticed that in many products that men usually buy women were portrayed very badly.  This was mostly in cigarette and alcohol advertisements.

These women also are extremely skinny and look very unhealthy.  This is also one of the main reasons why little girls that are in middle school have eating disorders.  They are looking at these “glamorous” models and they think they should look like them.  Celebrities are also giving little girls a false reality.  Little girls want to look like Lindsay Lohan and Mary-Kate Olsen, and these celebrities are not healthy. 

We also watched “The Merchants of Cool” and it showed us something that I had never heard of before, but I have noticed.  It was called the “mid grif.”  This is when a girl is a pre mature adult and she cares a lot about what she looks like.  She thinks that she has to be sexy in order for boys to like her, and that is not true.  This is also making little girls want to be sexy when they are barely in their teens.

I made this video for my Race, Gender, and the Media class!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AKyKd0CupU

Male Body Image

On Monday February 9^th we had a guest speaker come talk to us about male body image.  The speaker described body image as how we perceive our exterior to look.  He said in many cases this can be dramatically different from how they actually appear to others.  He says this can happen with both women and with men.  Many people automatically put body image with women, but it also goes with men.  Just as women are concerned with their bodies and how others look at them, men do care about their exterior, as well. 

Unlike women, men do not have to worry about being super skinny, but men have to worry about being muscular and fit.  But like women men have to worry about being obese, for as obese people are not as desirable as fit people, or so they think.  I do think that men like Brad Pitt and David Beckham give men a false reality as to what the ideal man should look like.  The speaker also talked about certain body types associated with different sports.  He put huskier boys with sports like football and rugby, and skinner boys with sports like soccer and baseball.  He says that if boys are in certain sports that their body types are more widely accepted.

In my opinion I do not think that muscular is necessarily desirable.  I always judge a man on what is in the inside, not about what he looks like.  I really hope that is how men view us women, even though unfortunately I know that is not the case.

Media Analysis

Blog #3--Mona Lisa Smile

This past week in class we watched “Mona Lisa Smile.”  This movie is based on 5 women and their struggles they face in the 1950s at an all girls university, Wellesley University.  In the movie these women struggle with the challenges that they are brought upon.  In the 1950s it was quite unheard of if a woman went to college.  In the 50s women’s sole role was to be a good housewife, not a college graduate.  These women’s worlds are turned upside-down when a new art history professor comes to Wellesley and tries to change how these women view their own lives.  Katherine Watson is a thirty something professor from California that does not believe every woman has to be married.  Professor Watson tires to get these girls to think differently and help them believe that they can be something bigger and better than just an average housewife. 

I have seen this movie before, but watching it with a critical eye this time really made me think about it differently.  I could never imagine getting out of college and immediately marrying a man, much less marry in college, like the main character Betty does.  I think it is really silly that women once thought they couldn’t go on to college and be as successful in life as their husbands.  Personally, I would absolutely go crazy if I had to stay home all day and cook, clean, and do the laundry.  Women have a much greater purpose in life than just raising the kids and taking care of the house.  Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that we should do all of those things, as women, but we also deserve to have a job and contribute just as much as the man of the house does.

Week #2 Blog

            When I signed up to take this class I thought it was just going to be about body image and we were just going to read book after book.  I really like how we have guest speakers and they do have a lot to teach us.  The belly dancer really taught me a lot about how to be comfortable with my body.  She also showed me that belly dancing should not necessarily be thought of as “sexy” but as an art form. 

            The guest speaker that we had on Friday was also very informative.  Nicole spoke about stress and how it affects our mind and our bodies.  She said, “stress is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension that can lead to illness or disease.”  I think this is very relevant to our class because in order to keep our bodies healthy we should not stress too much.  She gave us many good tips on how to handle and also how to prevent stress. 

            This weeks reading was over Naomi Wolf’s book The Beauty Myth.  She describes the beauty myth as, “a violent backlash against feminism that uses images of female beauty as a political weapon against women’s advancement.”  The chapter over work is very interesting.  She says that women work a lot harder than men and do not get adequate recognition for it.  I completely agree with this.  She also mentions sex discrimination in the work force and how it is still prevalent today.