A Living, Talking Object!

Today's media shows women as objects in which contain little value.The media degrades women and sends negative messages on how women should be treated. Women are shown as sexual objects. People look to the media to show them how they should act and dress and what is considered sexy. This is affecting women in how they view themselves in the mirror and is affecting the younger generation of girls on how society expects them to look and act which cause women to have a discomforting self image.

The media is affecting young women aged 15 to 30 which are a prime target for these industries and purchase eighty percent of all consumer products are purchased by women in this age group. Many women and young girls are exercising more then is expected, starving themselves, or getting plastic surgery to achieve to look like the models portrayed in the media. I personally have noticed that the younger generations are more occupied with trying to look and act as the media portrays girls their age to do then with enjoying their time as kids. Women and teenage girls are so busy with trying to be as this ideal image that they are loosing focus in school and their preparation for their future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCOAzsk8sMQ&feature=player_embedded#!

I feel that this link touches upon the different issues women and young girls face when they watch television and when they read magazines.

Girls are becoming weight conscious as young as 8 years old

80% of 9 year olds are on diets

Eating disorders have grown 400% since 1970

Is this justifiable?

How do you feel that children raised in today's society have a certain image in which they are expected to look like?

How can we put a stop to this for our children and their future?

What Skin is In ?

First video: Black Or White Something To Think about
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqSFqnUFOns
Second video: Skin Colour- The Way Kids See It
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcAuO0PNnrs&feature=related

In the first video a 17 year old girl named Kari Davis decided to recreate a short social experiment to record if there had been any changes since the experiment was conducted 50 years ago. Kari gathered nearly 2 dozen African- American children from New York City and asked them a series of questions to see which doll they would choose the white one or the black one. The questions, Kari asked the children were:
“Can you show me the doll you like best?”
“Can you show me the doll that’s the nice doll?”
“Can you show me the doll that looks bad”?
“Can you give me the doll that looks like you”?
After conducting this experiment 15 out of 20 children preferred the white doll, which had similar results when the experiment was held 50 years ago.
In the second video, successful news reporter Anderson Cooper interviews kids trying to understand their perspective on skin colour. When asked a question by Mr. Cooper each child points to the drawing that has the most suitable skin colour to answer the question. There are 5 shades of skin colour from the lightest shade of white and the darkest shade of black. This video demonstrated race is a factor even at a young age.
These video’s display how young children associate skin colour with terms like “good” and “bad”. Many individuals are familiar with the expression light is good, darkness is evil, white is pure and black is dirty which appears to be the method used in the media. In the media, white people are portrayed as intelligent, powerful, kind, loveable, and attractive. While African-American’s are portrayed negatively, they’re often perceived as uneducated, stupid, bad, and unattractive. These common stereotypes tend to distort the mentality of children and how they view skin colour.
While watching these videos, I wasn’t surprised by how the children responded to questions such as “What’s the bad colour?” At a young age children are taught their colours, separating what doesn’t belong, and recognizing the differences between certain objects, this could have an effect on how children view other people. I also feel the media doesn’t have enough positive images of different ethnicities and children are limited to only what they see in the media. In my opinion, media (the news, newspapers, etc.) have a tendency to exaggerate information which can be misleading to people, especially children.
Questions:
1) What is your perspective on these videos?
2) Why do you think an experiment conducted 50 years ago could still have the same results today?
3) Do you think media has a greater impact on how children view other races and skin colours or do you think other factors like family and culture have a greater impact?
4) Are there any ways that this type of thinking and behavior can be changed?

Blonde vs. Brunette

In today’s society, media has portrayed women as the central point, they are considered to be perfect in every way, from head to toe. There is a lot of competition between women out there. Women are preferred to be just perfect in every kind of way; there nails need to be done, there eye brows need to be in perfect shape, they need to look pretty, and etc. Media considers women to look pretty, hot, and sexy, and then they start making assumptions on how “slutty” one looks from the other one, and how pretty and elegant the other one looks. In today’s time Blondes are pointed out in the media the most; the way they dress and the way they act. They are mostly known as “dumb blondes”. This is just ridiculous on how blondes are portrayed, just because if one blonde acts in a certain way, does not mean all blondes are like that. Not all blondes can be considered dumb! Brunettes are known as the “smart ladies”, there is no possible way that all brunettes can be smart and have same qualities. This is just stereotyping how media looks at women with blonde hair as dumb women, and how they look at women with darker hair smart. There could be brunettes out there who could be dumb, but they are never pointed out like the way blondes are pointed. For example; the two words “dumb blonde” this has been broadcasted out everywhere. If you go on internet and type in blondes, the first thing that would pop out would be “blondes are stupid” or “blondes are dumb”. They are normal women just like brunettes, and they should not be considered dumb, or pointed out in the media. This gel for women, it says at the bottom “dumb blonde”, this is an example of how blondes are broad casted as dumb everywhere. You would never find any product anywhere which would say “dumb brunettes” then why are the blondes used for such stuff? Why are they brought down/ or pointed out?

1) In your own opinion, do you think blondes are treated equally? (Like the way brunettes are treated). Explain.
2) What is your opinion about the way media portrays blondes as “dumb” and brunettes as “smart”?

Modern “media” Family!

The representation of homosexuals and heterosexuals in the media is adjusting daily and more people are beginning to understand! Anyone living in modern society today wants to be normal, and the media is adapting to peoples choices of being homosexual. Homosexuals are on the rise and more people are “coming out” daily, they are starting to live lives as the people in the normal society, like starting their own families and breaking this tradition that men and woman shall be together only.

Back in the day between the 70’s-90’s, it was a lot more risky for a homosexual to come out and tell their family that they are gay, people in society were blindsided to the idea and didn’t want to take part in it. The media didn’t exactly help either, Disney taught young girls it was only allowed princesses (females) and princes (males) should get married and live happily ever after, making it a lot harder on a child who is confused with their sexuality to grow up around children their age, considering their mind is programmed that way. Media brainwashed little boys into playing with hot wheels, big trucks, and house hold tools such as hammers and screw drives, making them think they had to do all these masculine things. If a boy wanted a doll for Christmas, he was automatically a homosexual in the eyes of the people around him because it wasn’t a toy a boy was supposed to have. Now, in 2011 Toronto has Pride parades allowing all types of homosexuals to come out and express themselves without feeling uncomfortable or harassed, they have campaigns, and new TV shows that makes homosexuals feel it’s alright to be themselves and people don’t have to discriminate against them.

One of the TV shows that is a great show that makes everyone feel normal, and happy in society is “Modern Family”, it is a comedy series that involves three types of family types. The families are all connected, two of which are heterosexual families and one is homosexual. The family that is homosexual consists of two men, Mitchell and Cameron, and their adopted daughter Lily. Mitchell is a pretty low keyed guy, who is very uptight and not ashamed of his sexuality at all, he usually gives speeches to those who are “homophobic”, and is embarrassed of Cameron’s flamboyance. Cameron is a very bubbly, outgoing guy that loves to watch sports. The media portrayed this homosexual family in a good manner in my opinion; they minimized he stereotypes for homosexuals. Although one of the males is very flamboyant the other tends to be more masculine, and they also have a daughter to raise that has two fathers instead of the typical mother, father roles.

Questions:

I. What are some other homosexual friendly shows do you know of?

II. Do you think Toronto can help out homosexuals more? If so what are some ways?

III. What are some ways you think the media can help out with stereotypes of homosexuals?

IV. Do you think the show Modern Family portrays homosexuals in a negative or positive way?

Stereotypes of Men and Women

The way Men and Women are portrayed in media nowadays is complete and utterly repulsive. The way a Man is portrayed is no were near the actual man being. In media the man is a sports person who loves football and beer. Yes it true that guys like sports, but it doesn’t mean that every guy does. Why is football called a man sport? Or rugby? I have a friend who is a girl and she plays rugby, does that make her a guy? No. Beer is the known drink for a man. In every TV show the man is always drinking Beer. For example in Family guy, they always go to Drunken and Clam to drink, and the only thing they drink is Beer.

Another way a man is always portrayed is being a muscular guy who always works out and is very fit. According to Statistics Canada, it says that over 40% of Canadian Men who are aged 18 or over are overweight. Just fewer than 20% of them are Obese. (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-625-x/2010002/article/11255-eng.htm) In every family TV shows the husband or the man are always the dumb one in the family. The wife is always the smart one who keeps the family organized. I personally disagree and feel offended when I see that the male is always the dumb one who does dumb things. By this occurring in media, it becomes the normal thought of a male and puts all males down.

For Women they are always the ones who cook, clean and wash dishes. This is the typical stereotype for a female. I disagree because I feel that a woman does way more than jus these basic things. In all honestly I think the woman does more then a man. She does the house chores, plus she goes to work. Saying this, it doesn’t mean that the media can just assume that only women wash dishes and cook, because men and women have equal amount of responsibility. I think that the media is getting into our heads and making us all think that this is the way it should be or the way life is. I completely disagree with media but there is not much someone can do because media is very powerful and you cannot stop it.

There is a video I found on YouTube that really stood out to me because it was a study done that asked teenagers to describe how a male or female was represented in media. The things they chose is the typical thoughts that media has put into our heads and its wrong.

Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdhl1o-7HXg

Questions:

1) Do you feel that the media has the rightto portray a man or a woman they way they do? Explain.

2) Why do you think media represents males and females in these manners? Explain.

3) Do you think we can do anything to stop media from portraying us this way? Explain.

One Penny

"The Big Bang Theory" is a popular sitcom, which explores how two geniuses interact with a pretty, but dumb-wit blonde. Sheldon Cooper, the protagonist, is a 'Caltech' graduate with two doctorate degrees in his hands. Leonard is the other genius, while the role of Penny is essayed by Kaley Cuoco, who is the blonde. There are two other friends of Sheldon and Leonard, Raj and Howard, who are also highly intellectual as well. Sheldon's "girlfriend" is Amy Farrah Fowler and Howard's fiance is Bernadette Rostenkowski. Amy and Bernadette specialize in neurology and microbiology, respectively.

This sitcom reflects the dominant discourse revolving around blondes and how they are all about "beauty-with-no-brains". Penny is constantly bombarded with insulting or reminding gestures from Sheldon, in particular, how she is a community college diploma holder and nothing more. Through the lens of Sheldon, Penny is the common citizen who struggles to manage her personal life with an "eight to five" job as a waitress in a restaurant. Through the lens of Penny, Sheldon and Leonard are two lifeless souls who are very scholarly, yet unaware of how to deal with women (i.e. - flirting, getting a girlfriend).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEIn3T6nDAo

You can see Sheldon passing scornful comments about Penny's intelligence throughout the video and how he feels superior to her because he is so smart compared to her. He thinks it is "exhausting" to teach Penny physics. To add to Penny's misery, everyone is dumbfounded to the end of the video when Penny recites a mouthful of memorized, scientific blabber.

Through the lens of Leonard, Penny is a beautiful woman whom he wants to have sex with. He always tries to get closer to her. Further, Howard used to hit on Penny; craving for her while Raj, too, slept with Penny once. Penny is characterized as this blonde seductress who satisfies Leonard's and Raj's (only once though) sexual appetite. Through Penny's eyes, Leonard is a sweet guy, Raj is interesting, and Howard is a sex fiend.

Penny reinforces the stereotype about how blondes "go crazy" when they meet a handsome (or "cute") man. An example is the recent episode #9 of season 5, The Ornithophobia Diffusion, where Leonard and Penny go out for an evening. Penny comes across a stranger in a bar and admits to Leonard that he [the stranger] is cute.

Penny is a heterosexual (obviously) female whose gender role in the sitcom is to interact with men and upon her willingness, please them. Nevertheless, she is an independent woman who does not financially depend on her parents or anyone else (at least as shown in the sitcom). She realizes that she is not as sharp as others around her.

1) What is the veracity of the portrayal of Penny's character?

2) Do you believe blondes are changing or are they the same? Can you name a few blondes who are popular not only in the fashion industry, but anywhere else?

3) I dislike how Penny is characterized in the sitcom. Do you think the makers of the sitcom should portray blondes differently, instead of targeting them or does she serve comic relief?

4) Do you think she was named as Penny intentionally by the makers representing her intellectual power (as she is basically dumb - not worth much)?

Please feel free to offer any general comments as well. No offense intended to any blonde.