Princess and the Frog

Hi! Random thought...but I was watching movie trailers and I came across the trailer for the Princess and the Frog disney movie we talked about in class...it looks interesting! Here is the link...

http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/princessandthefrog/

Is VH1"s New Reality Show "Tough Love" Really Helping Women?

VH1 has recently aired a show called "Tough Love." The show is hosted by Steve Ward, a successful matchmaker. The show picks eight single women, unsuccessful in love, and puts them into an eight-week "boot camp" with Steve. Occasionally, Steve's mother, also a successful matchmaker, appears on the show to help Steve find love for his loveless female clients. At boot camp Steve gives the women a 'crash course' on the male perspective. He also sets the women up on dates and analyzes their interactions with men. Afterwards, Steve bluntly critiques the women about what they are doing right, but more importantly, what they are doing wrong; in other words, what these women do or don't do that keeps them from making connections with men and finding love with men. So far, the show seems like a great way to help these lonely single women. However, condsider the following....
In one of the first episodes of "Tough Love," Steve brings in a small group of men to give input about the single women. One by one each of the women comes outside and walks by the men and stands there for them to look at and judge her strictly on her appearence. After she leaves, the men then give Steve their honest opinion about each of the women. Most of their opinions happen to be not so nice and very rude and hurtful. Does this seem to be helpful to the women? What kind of message is this sending to viewers? Men stand there and hasrshly judge these women without ever knowing them or speaking to them. I think that this reinforces the idea that women are to be seen and not heard, and also that they are objects to be looked at and judged by men.
In one of the other episodes Steve sets up a game show with a male audience. Each of the men in the audience has a sign that says "crazy" on one side and "cute" on the other. Steven reads aloud a fact about each of the women. After each fact is stated, the men stick up their sign and tell the women that the fact told about them either makes them sound "cute" or "crazy." The men just so happen to think that most of the facts read about the women make them sound "crazy," and many of the women are visibly humiliated by this. Is it really necessary to make a game show out of these women's personal preferences and habits in order to help them find love? Doesn't this again put these women on display for entertainment purposes rather than treating them as individuals? It seems to me that the game show made a mockery of these women for the sake of making "Tough Love" a hit show for VH1.
In another episode the women are once again put on display, this time as sex objects. The women have to participate in a photo shoot, dressed in sexy underwear or little clothing to show off their sex appeal. Then Steve, once again, brings in men to judge each of the women's photos. The women's success with this challenge is based solely upon the feedback of the men.
In my opionion, the main point of this show is to teach women how to gain male approval so that they can find love. Although some of the women say that Steve and his mother have taught them to value and love themselves first before they set them up to find love, these lessons don't seem to make it into the show.
Here are some links that might help you if you have never seen the show or don't know what it's about:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llg4mkcc78Y and videogum.com/archives/reality-tv/vh1s-tough-love-has-an-importa_056141.html?

So what do you think about this show?? Do you think that Steve Ward and his mother are truly trying to help these women or make a good television show? Do you think that the message this show sends is that women cannot be complete and happy until they find love with a man? Talk about your views and opinions of the show.

Stripping a Pro-feminist Act?

It's a simple question: is stripping pro-feminist or does it reinforce negative and suppresive gender stereotypes? However, this question is more complicated than one may think. Sarah Katherine Lewis, a writer and adult entertainer (a.k.a stripper), argues in her article posted on AlterNet, that stripping offers good pay for many working class women. Lewis's mother is a 1970s feminist, who was strongly opposed to Sarah's occupation as a stripper, so Sarah quit. She went back to working minimum wage jobs, such as waitressing, working long hours and feeling objectified by her menial work and low pay. Sarah could barely make rent each month when she wasn't stripping. So finally she went back to it. She says that stripping in itself does not give her a feeling of empowerment, but the ability to pay her bills and the freedom that comes along with that does make her feel empowered. She believes that her stripping does not affect the way that society already views women, so while she doesn't necessarily believe that her stripping makes her a better feminist, she feels that it doesn't make her a worse feminist either.

Read Sarah's article in the link provided. What do you think about stripping? Is it pro-feminist or anti-feminist? Does stripping reinforce negative female stereotypes and set back other women in our society? If a woman can pay to provide shelter and food for herself or pay for college tuition by means of stripping, is it okay? Is it then empowering?
http://www.alternet.org/sex/51408

'Educate a woman ...'

Has anyone seen these Albright promotional videos from the 1950s? I found them fascinating, especially the comments on educating women. It would be great to see promo videos from each decade, no?

What do you think about changes in the college and views of men's vs. women's education? How do these videos reflect the histories we've covered?

Part I (See 4:45 especially)

Part II (See 2:50 especially)

-- Prof. Lehman

Designing the New 2009 BMW Z4

Up until the twenty-first century, there has been notable progress in the professional careers afforded to women. However, it seems as though the traditional ideals surrounding women’s work have not changed. Cheryl Jensen’s article titled, “It’s Macho, Without the Men” says reporters were surprised to find out that the designers of the new 2009 BMW Z4 were women. Nadya Arnaout designed the new BMW Z4's interior and Juliane Basi was the exterior designer. I myself was even surprised to discover that the designers for the new BMW were women. I never really gave much thought to the idea of women designing for a company like BMW because one would assume that the company is dominated by men. Furthermore, society associates men with cars and vice versa. In addition, I was surprised to find out that a woman, named Yrma Rico is President of Weber BMW which is located in Fresno, CA.

I asked several people whether they thought a male or female designed the car and their response was overwhelmingly female. When I asked them why, most agreed that the design of the car was feminine because it had smooth and round shapes. Others agreed that the car’s design was sleek and would be appealing to the female consumer. Overall, people tended to generalize and go along with the traditional ideals surrounding women’s work being feminine. On the contrary Ms. Blasi said, “if you look at the car you should not be able to see whether it was designed by a woman or a man.”

Do you think the traditional ideals surrounding women’s work have or have not changed? Do you think women as the presidents and CEO’s of companies are acknowledged in the same context as men? Does it surprise you that the designers of the new 2009 BMW Z4 are women?

Feminism, Sexuality and Empowerment

According to Douglas, the early 1960s marked the beginning of what came to be known as the Sexual Revolution. Before the sexual revolution women were encouraged to be pure. In the past girl’s have received mixed messages about women’s role in society and women and work. Girls began to receive confusing messages about sex with the emergence of the sexual revolution. Different types of media such as, magazines were suggesting that females were not interested in sex. However, other magazines were saying that some women liked sex and premarital sex was not as rare as people thought. As a result, the mass media was blamed for the emergence of the sexual revolution.

Media ranging from magazines and books to television and film began to emphasize the idea that female liberation came through sex. The pregnancy melodrama emerged at the beginning of the sexual revolution. The majority of female characters in the pregnancy melodramas represented a broad range of female sexuality, from prim and proper to promiscuous. Furthermore, the pregnancy melodramas demonstrated that there was a conflict between traditional, American beliefs and the sexual freedom available to women. Today, television shows such as, Sex and the City represent the fact that feminism is dependent upon a person’s ability to make individual choices. The four characters in Sex in the City constantly make choices that challenge traditional ideas concerning heterosexual feminism. The women are never punished for being sexually active; instead they openly discuss their sexual experiences.

Do you think that sexual freedom and pleasure are central to women’s political liberation or do you think sexuality is a site of oppression and danger to women, or both? What do you think was responsible for the emergence of the sexual revolution? Do you think third wave feminism depends upon people’s ability to make individual choices?

Female Directors

I know this isn't a blog that I signed up for but I did a presentation in my other class on female directors. There is an article and a few youtube clips that go along with it.

Outside the U.S. females in the movie business
· The first African woman film director to gain international recognition was the Safi Faye with a film about the village in which she was born (Letter from the village) 1975
· Mira Nair, Aparna Sen, Deepa Mehta and Gurinder Chadha are among the best known Indian women filmmakers
· Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, a writer and a director, is probably Iran's best known and certainly most prolific female filmmaker.
· Marta Rodriguez is a Colombian documentary film maker
· Elvira Notari was a pioneer of Italian cinema
· Marta Meszaros has been making important films for decades in Hungary.
· Sally Potter is a prominent British feminist film maker. British filmmaker Ngozi Onwurah explores the legacies of colonialism

Sofia Coppola- director
· Leading female director in Hollywood
· Wrote and directed The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation, and Marie Antoinette

Facts:
· Women’s achievement in filmmaking devalued
· Although the statues of directors grew in the 1960’s and 1970’s, recognition of Hollywood features remained rare.
· In the history of the Academy Awards only 3 women have received an Academy Award nomination for directing a feature film:
o Lina Wertmuller in 1976 à Seven Beauties
o Jane Campion in 1993 à The Piano
o Sofia Coppola in 2004 à Lost in Translation
· Female directors outside the U.S. often receive more funding opportunities for film development
· When women in the U.S. get such an opportunity it is often because their popularity as actors has given them the power to produce or direct. Barbara Streisand, Jodie Foster, Penny Marshall, and Sally Field are examples
· Even by the late 1990’s among major studio executives only a few women held top jobs
· An independent film maker Julie Dash has argues that the a woman’s best chanced of controlling the movie process aside from acting, is to stay outside of the Hollywood system.
· Twilight's $70.5 million amounts to the best opening weekend for a female director ever. Not only did she break Mimi Leder's (Deep Impact) record of $41.1 million, but Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke destroyed it -- bringing her all the way up to the 29th best opening weekend in history (according to Box Office Mojo)


Article

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23626505-details/slumdog%20s%20female%20director%20should%20be%20able%20to%20share%20oscar/article.do

· Slumdog’s female director ‘should be able to share Oscar’
· Slumdog Millionaire is at the centre of a dispute over gender equality.
· While director Danny Boyle is nominated for an Oscar, co-director Loveleen Tandan is not. Now American campaigners are urging Boyle to “make history” if he wins by sharing the honor with her.
· Tandan was initially appointed casting director, but was named co-director by Boyle after her contribution to the shoot became “indispensable”.
· Jan Lisa Huttner of Women in the Audience Supporting Women Artists Now has launched an online campaign to urge Boyle to insist Tandan share his name on the Academy Awards ballot paper. She said: “Women find it harder to be able to make films and have their films seen. That's why this is such an important issue.” No woman has ever won an Academy award for best director and only three have ever been nominated. Academy rules state only one individual can be named on the ballot paper.

Female Directors at the Box Office
· 01 $182 million What Women Want (2000) Nancy Meyers
· 02 $144 million Doctor Dolittle (1998) Betty Thomas
· 03 $143 million Mamma Mia! (2008) Phyllida Lloyd
· 04 $140 million Deep Impact (1998) Mimi Leder
· 05 $140 million Look Who's Talking (1989) Amy Heckerling
· 06 $126 million Sleepless in Seattle (1993) Nora Ephron
· 07 $124 million Something's Gotta Give (2003) Nancy Meyers
· 08 $121 million Wayne's World (1992) Penelope Spheeris
· 09 $119 million Twilight (2008) Catherine Hardwicke
· 10 $115 million You've Got Mail (1998) Nora Ephron



Clips from Youtube


· 2nd Annual Focus on Female Directors
This program heralds the work of industry heavyweights, cinema pioneers, actresses-turned-directors, festival darlings, and the brightest stars emerging from film school.
January 18, 2007 at 7:30pm in the Egyptian Theatre. Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood California
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4HbBjM6gws

· 3rd Annual Focus on Female Directors
Same description as above. It took place January 10, 2008 at 7:30pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ4wlfNfvLg&NR=1

Feminist Profile

I was having some problems coming up with a new original idea. Everyone has been posting some really great things, and all I've been able to come up with were similar TV shows that are exploiting women. So I decided to make things more positive and do a mini profile on an active feminist singer who has influenced many women (including myself). The punk music scene is almost completely male dominated, even to this day. Kathleen Hanna and her band Bikini Kill helped set the stage for more women to be involved in the Punk movement in the 1990s. In many of Kathleen Hanna's songs she brings up feminist issues such as violence against women, exploitation, and also addressed the issues within the punk scene and violence against women at these shows. (Punk music has the tendency to be violent on its own. With the lack of women in this movement, women unfortunately sometimes get abused and beat up at concerts. Thankfully, this does not happen as much today, but it still happens!) At Bikini Kill concert, Hanna would urge all women to come forward to the stage to sing and dance. Women like Kathleen Hanna have helped many women musicians find the courage to start their own bands and speak their minds.

*Below are some sample lyrics and a clip of a documentary with Bikini Kill in which they describe the beginning and ideas behind their band.

Double Dare Ya

...Don't you talk out of line

Don't go speaking out of your turn

Gotta listen to what the Man says

Time to make his stomach burnBurn, burn, burn, burn

Double dare ya, double dare ya,

double dare ya Girl fuckin friend yeah

Double dare ya, double dare ya,

double dare ya Girl

You're a big girl now

You've got no reason not to fight

You've got to know what they are

Fore you can stand up for your rights

Rights, rights?

You DO have rights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLYSWlVKbIE

Blogging Schedule

Just to refresh your memory ... if you happened to miss your turn at blogging or discussion, talk with me about signing up for a new date. Also a reminder that blog posts are due Thurs. and comments by the following Tues.

This is your 4th Hour of Rigor, and I am expecting active participation EVERY week -- that is, comments on another student's post -- if you're not the one posting the main blog for the day. So get commenting! ;-)

Blogging:
Feb 19 Erika, Stephanie
Feb 26 Sylvie, Chrissy
March 5 Amanda Foulds, Mary
March 12 Molly, Gina
March 26 Erika, Stephanie
April 2 Molly, Amanda F.
April 9 Shannaya, Gina
April 16 Shannaya, Sylvie
April 23 Tara, Chrissy
April 30 Amanda Hunter
May 7 Amanda H.

Discussion Leading:
Feb 19 Mary
Feb 26 Stephanie
March 12 Molly
March 26 Shannaya
April 2 Erika
April 9 Tara
April 16 Amanda Foulds
April 23 Chrissy
May 7 Sylvie
May 15 Gina

Ideas for topics/approaches

Hi all,

Based on your evaluation comments last week, some of you would like more guidance on the blogging. I'll be giving you some personalized observations and feedback, but also wanted to offer some ideas for those of you who may be stumped on topics and approaches.

Some tactics you might take:

1. Respond to the film/TV screening from the previous week, or the readings for the upcoming week. What did you find relevant, interesting, important? What would you like to talk about more in class?

2. Connect course material to what's happening in the community or on campus. The feminist group SHADOW, for instance, will hold a "Take Back the Night" event on April 8, and the Vagina Monologues was performed on campus and will be performed in the community. How do such events make feminism relevant, interesting for a new audience? What can we do to raise awareness about violence?

3. What's happening in media news this week, and how does it concern gender/feminism? (You can go to Yahoo Entertainment news for starting points)

4. What media did you consume this week, and how did it affect your thinking about feminism/gender? Offer some examples and analysis.

5. What about the men? As our class tends to focus more on women, what do you think the media is conveying about masculinity? Post your ideas and observations here.

6. Write about your own research paper in progress. What are you learning? What questions is this raising for you?

What happened to love letters and love songs?

Many women in the media are portrayed as less than human in many aspects. In movies and television we see them dressed promiscuously and used as sex objects. They are “arm candy” for men or trophies that men show off to build their self-esteem. It is almost as if women are the property of the male race. When we watch music videos on MTV or online (YouTube.com, etc), we are witnessed to the little clothing that wardrobe requires the women backup dancers/ singers to wear. I’m sure flashing off a woman’s body in such a way does sell albums, but at the same time it teaches an explicit message. It says that if a man talks, acts, and treats women the way they do in a particular music video, then they too can get women like those seen in those videos. The lyrics of certain songs strongly suggest promiscuity as well as the wrong messages about women. I did some research on songs that might potentially be degrading to women, unfortunately, I found quite a few. I came across a song by T Pain called “I’m in Love with a Stripper.” A section of the song goes as follows: “There’s a hoe in the room, there’s hoes in the car. There’s hoes on stage, there’s hoes by the bar. Hoes by near and hoes by far.” He is basically calling women by a derogatory name. At the end of the song he says “Hoe bring your ass.” This made me think that at this point in the song he is saying that women are sex objects and nothing more. 3OH!3 is a Hip Hop group who sings a song called “Don’t Trust Me.” I heard this song while I was at work. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Towards the end of the song they sing “Shush girl shut your lips, do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips. This repeats two more times. This message is telling women to stop trying to have intellectual conversation so that they can please men. This is the YouTube clip of the “Don’t Trust Me” video. The section of the song that I quoted is around the 2 minute mark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFpT2QSDWM0

Violence against women: going beyond the obvious

This past Sunday, the Albright Thespian Society performed the Vagina Monolgues as a stand against the violence committed against women around the world. Coincidentally, we had just finished discussing the differen types of violence in my women's writers course. We are all aware of the physical abuse against women. This ranges from domestic violence in America to genital mutilation of women in Africa. However, there is more than physical violence circulationg the world. Many women of other cultures experience institutional violence. This denotes the government's approval of using violence against women as a form of punishment. More specific examples are commonly seen in India where women who commit adultery are stoned. The institutional violence encouraging the physical violence is a vicious cycle that needs to be stopped, but as long as the same system of power is in place, it will never cease.
Another type of violence we've discussed and we commonly see in our very capitalistic society is symbolic violence. This refers to the images of the sacrificial mother and the beautiful model we are all supposed to look like. The images that the media gives us of the mother who drops everything and gives it up for her child is detrimental to psychological health in that it forces women not only to give up their identity but to lose themselves almost completely as human beings. For the rest of us who can't quite lose ourselves to the image if the sacrificial mother, we don;t have it any easier. The media constantly bombards us with images of what we're supposed to look like, wear, what to buy, etc. We're not allowed to get old, and we also can't gain weight.
Another type of violence is economic violence. This specifically refers to women in third world countries who work long, hard hours performing arduous labor, and getting none to little pay. The average lifetime of a woman who undergoes this type of violence is approximately 40 years of age where the average lifespan of a woman in America is around 80 years.
The many types of violence are far more than what we have commonly been exposed to. Physical violence is the easiest to see, yet not the only type that we have to be worried about.

Teenage Role Models?

When I was younger, I watched shows like Boy Meets World, Full House, and Home Improvement. In my opinion, they were wholesome, family sitcoms - a type of show that rarely exists anymore. I wanted to be like the girls on Full House - in fact, I got to pick my own middle name, and I picked Stephanie .... because of my love for that show! They were good role models, for the most part, and gave young-teenage girls someone good to look up to. As we got older, singers like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera started to arrive on scene, and we began looking up to them. Although somewhat controversial at the time, the way they acted and dressed back then was a lot more mild than the "role models" teenage girls have to look up to now.
What do young girls have to look up to these days? The wholesome sitcoms are hard to come by. Sure, you can catch repeats of older shows on ABC Family and Nick at Nite, but the shows that are directed toward the "tween" age group, and the actresses and singers admired by this age group, are often questionable. Girls still look up to Britney Spears, and although she is making a comeback, look at her actions over the past two years. Is this what young teenage girls should be looking up to?
Then there are the ever famous Disney Channel stars, such as Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana), Demi Lavato, and numerous others, such as the stars of the High School Musical movies. The "tween" girls want to BE these girls. And yet, how often do we hear stuff on the news about another "wardrobe malfucntion", or picture controvery, or affairs with older men. The stories about them are endless. And while some of them are undoubtedly false, a lot of other things are true. Everything these stars do is looked up to, admired, and copied by these young girls. They see Miley Cyrus or someone in a semi-revealing outfit on stage, which reminds them of what they've seen Britney Spears do, and MAN! That must be cool! And then you have your 12 year old daughter/niece/sister wanting to wear super tight clothes and dye their hair.
I guess what I'm trying to say, and perhaps rant about, is that really good role models seem to be hard to come by for young girls these days. And the ones that really are good role models do not receive nearly as much attenion as the ones that are not. I don't have a whole lot to back me up on this - it's more my personal thoughts. I am selfishly glad that I don't have a little sister, becuase I'd be freaking out as she grows up about the girls out there for her to "look up to". I'm not really sure that there's a solution - the media is always going to give the attention to whoever's making headlines, which usually results from some sort of drama - which probalby aren't the best role models. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that all the role models for these tween girls are bad, or even that people like Miley Cyrus is doing an awful job as a role model. I just think that there are so many negative role models, or stories out there, that it's scary to think what little girls might be looking up to. Hopefull society can instill in our children that you don't have to act like the girls you see on tv/hear on the radio...

Drag queens and Beauty queens

Throughout the course we have discussed the role of women in society not paying very close attention to the influence society has on males. Appearance has been and it is still an important factor for women. Women are constantly thrown into the fashion world and critiqued for their appearance. Everywhere you walk, and every direction you turn, cosmetic industries and clothing lines fill the pages of magazines, television and billboard ads to name a few. Women are pulled towards vanity, cosmetic surgeries, and everything else to look and be the "it" image of a woman in society because phsycial appearances all of a sudden define the person. After our class discussion on Miss America and the controversy associated with this beauty pageant dating back to the late 1960s when feminists protested its patriarchal ideals, I thought about men who deviate from the stereotypical role they are supposed to portray in society. What gave me this idea was watching a football player getting his eyebrows waxed. Movie stars and people in the media-men and women are always plastered in makeup to look good in front of the cameras, and that concept is understanding. However, when men go beyond makeup and manicures to dressing in drags, that is a whole other issue and a complete deviation from the stereotypes society placed on men. Men are supposed to be strong, uncommunicative, independent, financially secured, and dominant in their household and in the public realm. However, men dressed in drags deviates from this norm. A drag queen is defined as a man who dresses in women's clothing and makeup and performes in pageant shows and other functions. Women in beauty pageants are seen as putting on a show for male gazers and as objects of male control, but how are drag queens depicted in pageants that model the beauty pageants women are part of such as Miss America and Miss Universe? Miss Gay America is one drag queen beauty pageant that was formed around the 1970s by Jerry Peek and later Norman Jones, and it is currently under L&T Entertainment (Larry Tyger and Terry Eason) missgayamerica.com Do drag queens encounter the same issues that women in beauty pageants face such as being seen as objects? Has society drawn men to dress in drags in order to show their feminine side, which throughout history has constantly been put on the backburner as unnatural and wrong? Drag queens and other "drag artists" or performers are in the spotlight and judged by viewers the same way women are in beauty pageants. In beauty pageants, a winner is chosen as the "ideal" woman that personifies what is "beauty." In drag pageants, men as well compete against other men in drags to determine the best looking drag queen. Therefore, are drag queens and other performers chosen because of their appearance or as a deviation from the traditional depiction of men or both, meaning Are drag queens chosen because they are sort of depicting the true role of men?

More Questions to Think About:

What is your take on drag queens and beauty queens and the shows they perform?

Do you think Miss Gay America and other drag queen pageants are a mockery of women in beauty pageants such as Miss America and Miss Universe?

Do you think drag queens in pageants are portrayed as more feminine than women in beauty pageants?

What message do you personally think the Miss Gay America and other drag queen pageants are implying?

Below are some youtube videos that I thought were really interesting
What do you think of these videos?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgPa5hu8Mv4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfBqfUPdyFQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XLwOaMUdWo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NN4sYrRSDk

Barbie Got Inked?

*This isn't one of the mandatory posts or anything but I heard about this at lunch today and I thought you guys might be interested in this latest Barbie news, if you haven't already heard...

Barbie might be going through a bit of a mid-life crisis... the latest Barbie doll out is called Totally Stylin' Tattoo Barbie. You can tattoo her, her clothes, and yourself with these sticker tattoos she comes with. I even heard she has what some like to call a "tramp stamp" - a tattoo on her lower back right above her butt that says "Forever Ken" (I'm not sure about that, I haven't seen pictures, may just be a rumor.)

But it seems as though many parents are not okay with the message this new doll sends to their kids. The link is just one of many articles about how parents are reacting to "Barbie's new image."

http://wbztv.com/consumer/barbie.tattoo.mattel.2.950549.html

I'm not really sure what I think yet - are these upset parents overreacting or is a tattooed barbie just cause for concern??

Women and Playboy

We have already briefly touched on women in reality TV shows and women on television in general. After seeing Amanda’s post, the one show that came to my mind was The Girls Next Door. I’ve never really seen this show before, but I have seen clips on it on The Soup. So, I decided to do a little research and find episodes on You Tube. What I found was that this show definitely does not portray women as positive role models for younger girls. This show is about Hugh Hefner and his three “girlfriends”. The show exposes their lives and the lives of playmates and the playboy mansion.

One clip that I found shows one Hefner’s girlfriends revealing that as earlier as age five, she has wanted to be a playmate in the magazine and look like these women. This just shows how media can affect girls at such a young age and put these images of the “perfect” woman in girl’s heads. Personally, I think this is incredibly sad. When I was five years old, I definitely had no idea what Playboy magazine was. But it just shows that depending on how you are brought up and what your soundings are can affect your idea of how you are supposed to look and act. The clip than goes on to show some of the “new girls” that are going to be appearing in one of the upcoming magazines.

How do you think magazines like Playboy affect younger girls and boys? With having this reality show, do you think this encourages younger girls to want to participate in Playboy, or even just want to look like these women?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_W16WX8Xas

TV and Plastic Surgery

Nip Tuck is a TV show that many love. The show’s plotline revolves around plastic surgery. I think that since plastic surgery is so popular these days, everyone can relate; therefore, they tune in. The two main characters are plastic surgeons, Christian Troy (Julian McMahon) and Sean McNamara (John Hensley), who are obsessed with body image and sex. My roommate used to watch the show, so I have seen my share of episodes. The two men are in their late 30’s early 40’s; meanwhile Sean had an affair with his 16 or 17 year old step daughter. Most of the women who are on the show are portrayed as sex symbols. One of the episodes that really struck me was when Christian sleeps with a woman and afterwards proceeds to circle all of her “problem areas” with a marker. Of course the woman was very upset and left. I know I would’ve been so embarrassed and my self-esteem would be non-existent. Another episode that I thought was degrading to women was when Christian is about to have sex with a woman but before they start he tells her to put a paper bag over her face. He says “If you want to have sex with me, you have to put the bag over your head so I can’t see your face.” I thought the woman would tell him off and leave, have some sort of self respect, but she did what he said and degraded herself. When the act is over, she removes the bag and is crying. In my opinion, the woman was pretty but I guess because she wasn’t a size 0, she wasn’t worthy of his full attention. This show is not discreet about showing what their idea of “beauty” is. Even women who are stick thin are not perfect to these men until they have had some sort of plastic surgery. It’s sad to think that there are people in real life who are just like the characters on this show. One can only hope to never bump into them on the street.

Question: Do you think this show adds to the plastic surgery epidemic in America?
What messages do you think this show conveys to a young audience?

Here is the clip of Nip Tuck that I discussed above with the woman and the paper bag.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSsovYel2M8

Women in Reality TV

Well, I basically going to do the post Mary already did without the Facebook twist, but I've decided to focus this blog more on reality TV and the women we watch on these shows. We've already touched on this topic a little bit, but I think exploring it more would be quite interesting.

There are about a million reality TV shows out there, all of them supposedly showing the characters in their daily lives (competition or simply a day to day rundown of their lives) - unscripted. Therefore, everything that's being said and done is supposed to be real. The way these women dress are the way they really dress; the things they say are supposed to be things they actually do; and the things they do are things that we are led to believe they would actually do. If this is the case, then we've certainly got some issues with the women in society, and the way we respect and view ourselves. This isn't to say, of course, that there are some good role models on reality shows, but take a look at these clips, and you'll see what I mean about how many of these women are not good role models for women of ANY age to be watching.

This is a clip from the show "The Soup" about the girls featured on the Real World over several seaons. The Real World is notorious for the outrageous behavior of it's cast members, and the females on the show are no exception. Young girls and teenagers that watch this show are really get the wrong message about what it's like to be a girl with any values in their late teens/early 20s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KCKFw7Wkgs

This video is a a bunch of clips of several different reality TV shows, from A Shot At Love to ANTM - all showing a bunch of "cat fights" between the female characters. Personally, these videos embarass me and make me feel like they are downgrading women as a whole. Not only are they disrespecting the women they are fighting with, but they are disrespecting themselves in the processs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3giwTDF-Do&feature=related

The latest season of America's Next Top Model premiers tonight, and I'm sure there will be women putting other women down. For a show that's supposed to be about being beautiful, the behavior of the women on it is often quite ugly. I know people get caught up in the moment sometimes, but these women need to think about how they are representing themselves for the world to see. If this is how they act, young girls who watch them and look up to them will think that it's okay to act this way too.

Women, Gender, and Facebook?

We have talked a lot about how the media portrays women, but how do women portray themselves in the media? Many social networking sites have become popular lately and one that sticks out is Facebook. On this site you can not only post information about where you live, what you do for a living, and who you are in a relationship with, but also pictures of yourself, writing notes to each other, and even “poke” people. We spend so much time focusing on how the media portrays women and what kind of face they are giving to the “average” woman, but how our women themselves portraying women? Many times I have seen (and been guilty of) posting pictures that may not depict women in the best light. There are photo’s of scantily clad women, women extremely drunk, and women doing things that just are not respectful to themselves. It is not just the photo’s we are allowing to portray us poorly. Everyone can see what you write on another’s “wall” and sometimes they might seem disrespectful to someone that might not be in on the joke. If I were to call a friend a “bitch” on Facebook, that could give permission for other people to call her that, even if it were a joke between us. While I think it is important to look at how the media portrays women, we should also be looking at how we are portraying ourselves.

Here is a blog related to women and Facebook, called Women on Facebook Think Provocative is Empowering

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/09/women-on-facebo.html

Another article on CNN about how women portray themselves on Facebook called

Young Women Drink, Party, Post

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/12/10/face.book/index.html

Here is a video that pokes fun at the dangers of Facebook and brings to reality that your friend aren't the only ones looking at what you say and do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK_E0iiMC18&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK_E0iiMC18&feature=related

And finally, a link to the Facebook group "30 Reasons Girls Should Call It A Night"

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?sid=e5076817ff979a71f47bdd2b695bc0bb&gid=2207899608

What effects does today's media portrayal of women have on girls?

One thing we touched on in the first few class discussions was how women are portrayed in advertisements. The stereotypes are that women need to have tiny, thin bodies and perfect pale skin in order to be considered "beautiful." What do these images do to the women looking at them? Specifically, what damage could this do to young girls looking at them?

Dove, as we mentioned, has their "campaign for real beauty." Part of this campaign is the Dove Self-Esteem Fund, which targets girls ages 8 to 14 in the US and Puerto Rico. The message here is that seeing these thin, even sick-looking models, distorts young girls' images of what beauty is and how they should look. It takes a huge toll on a healthy teenage girl's self-esteem to look at a model in a magazine and feel that she has to be skinny to be pretty. To quote the Dove website:

"Whether it's models that wear a size 2 or movie stars with exceptional curves, beauty pressures are everywhere. And when young girls find it hard to keep up, low self-esteem can take over and lead to introversion, a withdrawal from normal life, and a waste of potential.

For example, a recent survey in the United Kingdom indicated that 6 out of 10 girls thought they'd 'be happier if they were thinner.'"

Dove created this campaign and the fund in order to raise awareness on this issue and boost confidence in young women by introducing a new and different definition for the word beauty. The program offers activities like mentoring programs, sports, or community service work to educate these girls. I think it is important to foster self-esteem in teenagers because research shows that poor self-esteem can be the cause of teenage smoking, unhealthy dieting and eating disorders, and depression. All these things could happen because of what the media says is beautiful?? I personally think it's a great idea that Dove came up with here. It is important to counter the images and messages we receive from media about beauty. The standards that are being set are impossible to attain. It was mentioned in a previous blog that a size 6 model on the show "Top Model" was considered a plus size. I think that really says something about what the fashion industry and the media want us to think about beauty.

I came across this video from Dove's campaign called "Onslaught." It inspired this post and made me want to look into Dove's campaign a little deeper... watch it and comment on it. Did it do a good job of putting it's intended message across?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epOg1nWJ4T8

I also encourage you to check out Dove's website before you comment, it might help you get a little more insight into what they're trying to accomplish.
http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/supports.asp?section=&id=93

Women and Culture

Cultural differences play a large role in how femenism is spreading. The (practically) widespread idea of women is that they should be in the home and stick to domestic tasks and raise the kids and be the perfect housewife. America took the first steps in spreading the ideals of feminism around but other countries have not had it so easy. There's a good example right over the border. Latin American women still have to fight to make their voices heard particularly the indigenous women. North Americans don't have it too easy, but the females of Latin America have never really had a voice until recently.
One of the other classes I'm taking this semester is dedicated to Latin American women writers. What I am learning between these two classes is making me realize that women all over the globe have the right to have a say and make their own decisions regarding how they live out their life. Even as we say we are so liberal, we are still afraid of breaking out of the molds that society has set for us. This is a widespread cultural thing, not just limited to North Americans. Our cultures play a very important role in how we form our identity as femenists and how we struggle to break out of the social norms. We are stuck in a consistent struggle to break out of the norms society has set for us. So how DO we go about merging our identities as femenists while breaking free from what we know? I don't believe that there is any single answer to that question. Individually we have to find an answer that we feel comfortable with when it comes to respecting our cultural and societal values while also keeping in mind that ultimately we want equality for all across all cultures.

Women in TV shows

Before reading the article, “Gender and Sexuality” by Lehman and Luhr, I never really noticed the way women were portrayed in films. They played roles of inferiority and submissiveness, which was the objective of directors behind the camera. The objective was for females to be unheard. Not only that, but lighting also played a part in making female actresses appear radiant and flawless in films. I found it very interesting in the article, “Gender and Sexuality” that women who went against the “good girl” image in films were seen as a threat because they broke down their constraints and entered a male dominated world. As I was reading, I thought about the way women in shows such as “The Next Top Model” and “How to Look Good Naked” would be portrayed. Would women on those shows be considered objects of the male gaze?


In “The Next Top Model,” women are constantly put on display, proving that they are the next “big thing” in the modeling agency. These women go through photo shoots after photo shoots and tests in between to prove they are the best candidate. In movies of the past and some movies currently, women were not seen at the forefront; they were noticed for their looks and body parts, not their intellectual abilities or views. Although “The Next Top Model” has women constantly being thrown into the cameras, which would have been considered unusual in the past, they are still in a way under the influence of the male gaze; they are objectified. Does the show "The Next Top Model" support the view of women of the past in films?

How about the show, “How to Look Good Naked?” In the past, this show probably would have caused controversy because women of all different shapes and sizes are seen on the show, trying to enhance their self-esteem in order to feel good about themselves and their beauty regardless of their size. I believe this show definitely deviates from film’s depiction of women. Women in “How to Look Good Naked” are stripped down to their underclothes and asked to find something about themselves that they like. This act kind of supports the objectification viewpoint towards women; however, women have a voice and are in control of their bodies and image. These women are seen in all different shapes and sizes and that is beautiful. Women are no longer seen looking in the distance and being submissive, but they are seen taking action and being independent.


I was surprised when the movie, “The Women” came out on DVD. This movie focused on a group of women dealing with some issues such as marital and parenting. This movie did not have any male characters in the leading roles, which is definitely a big jump from traditional movies. One of the women in this movie was naïve in the beginning, but she gained confidence to face reality, and she came out in the end strong. The depiction of women in this movie would not have been acceptable in the past; for women would have been seen as a threat to male dominance. Media has come a long way, but changes still need to be made.

Question: How do you view women in TV shows today? Are they seen as objects in the same sense that they were seen in movies of the past?

Great start!

What I liked about Mary’s inaugural post:

*She used several concrete examples, with links to images (note: you can also imbed images by clicking on the picture icon)
*She explained her personal interest in the topic
*She related her analysis on radio to the broader discussion of media

Your comments were on target. I particularly liked Chrissy’s and Sylvie’s comments for providing examples from their everyday radio listening and commenting specifically on the ads Mary referenced.

Questions to think about:

Does radio get away with more stereotypes/sexism than other media? Does the lack of visual images and very targeted marketing mean it relies more on stereotype to get the point across? What do you think about morning DJ shows that feature men's and women's banter?

Women, Gender and Radio?

Throughout this class, and other women’s studies classes that I have taken, there has been a lot of discussion about how women are portrayed in the media. We have looked at movies, television shows, magazines, and more, but one of the sources of media that continuously seems to be left out is the radio. People all of America listen to the radio everyday, some even more than they watch TV. It’s in your car, in the store you shop in, at the gym, and in your home. So why don’t we pay more attention to how it is treating women?
I began thinking about this because my mother works for a radio station. First I began thinking about just the advertisements, but after speaking with her I soon realized that it was not just the advertisements that are the problem. When a radio station is broadcast, they know the exact demographic that they are portraying to. For example, a radio station from my hometown is a country radio station. The same company also owns a sports radio station. The country station is geared more toward women while the sports radio station is geared toward men. This can clearly be seen by the “Hunk of the Day” on the country radio stations website and the “Babe of the Day” on the sports radio stations website.

http://www.1290theticket.com/cc-common/babes/
http://www.wdsd.com/cc-common/otd_pages/Hunks_NEW_otd.html

Radio advertisements generally seem to be fairly tame. I rarely hear an ad that makes me think “wow that was really sexist!” Perhaps this could be because I listen to the country station geared toward women. Many of the ads that are heard are emphasized that women only need material goods to be happy, etc. I collected a few ads that I think really portray women in a bad light.

Client: AUTOMOTIVE NEW CAR :30 Radio
“MUMMY’S MIDLIFE CRISIS 1”
MUSIC UP
MASSAGE MUSIC
FEMALE:
No cosmetic will do it.
No facial, no spa treatment…
only a hot sports car is guaranteed to take up to 10 years off a woman’s age. Fifteen if it’s a convertible…eyeliner, chemical peel,
MUSIC DOWN
FEMALE:
Puh-lease…when the mommy mobile goes and the convertible revs up…
SFX:
CAR REVVING
MUSIC UP
HOT
FEMALE:
…watch and feel the years melt away. A red hot (CAR MODEL). Not available at drug stores.
LOCAL ANNCR:
But very available at (CLIENT NAME/WEBSITE).

Client: BOAT STORE :30 Radio
“SHE ONLY WANTS”
JINGLE:
MALE SINGER:
She’s climbin’ on in her string bikini
Barely covering her rack
Diamond on her belly button
Tatoo on her lower back
Hands up high
Holdin’ on by squeezin’ with her thighs
I must be dreamin’ ‘cause she’s screamin’
Take me on a wild ride!
She’s got a need for speed
Go faster! Go faster!
Loves the edge like me
I’m thinkin’ I have her
But the next weekend
She’s out with my best friend
All along I thought she fell for me
She only wants my jet ski
LOCAL ANNCR:
Jet World. . . . in Burbank!

Client: Nightclub :30 Radio
“WOMEN WANT BIG SCREENS”
MUSIC UP
KINDA JAZZY AND LIGHTLY SEXY
FEMALE LOCAL ANNCR:
(Hip, 20s)
Why do men think wide-screen TV was created just for them? Don’t we have needs? Don’t we have desires? Don’t we deserve the big one? I mean you haven’t lived until you’ve seen a soap opera in cinema ratio. Or, watch a chocolate cheesecake being made from scratch in hd. Come on guys get real and share that big screen with us gals. I’ll be with the girls at (client) (address) in (area/city/town.) They know what you guys need…and what a woman wants too.

In general I think that radio does the best out of all the other types of media with their advertisements and portrayal of women, but that does not mean that there are still things that need to change. People just need to be more aware that radio can affect our lives too, and sometimes when we least expect it.

Welcome, everyone!

It was great to meet you all on Thursday -- I will create time for more introductions this week. Please sign in as a blog co-author and we'll get that going soon. If you have any problems with the account creation or blog, let me know (also try Blogger's help function in the upper right corner.) See you soon!