Last Blog Post 11: Teens Talk Back

Lost Count: A Love Story

This is a spoken word piece written by two young adults "teens" raising awareness on the critical issues that are mis/not represented throughout all dominant institutions. The issue of black youth and their frequent encounter with death. In main stream media the stories that are portrayed never cover stories on black youth and their individual experiences. We never see or hear about young black youth and their contact with daily murderous encounters and the fear of being a target of police violence. The only portrayal of black youth is only of "criminal activity" and negative representations that perpetuate racial stereotypes to maintain this violent western culture. These young men "teens"stand up against the murderous systems that play a part in these young black deaths and they expose the system by giving a voice and identity by naming the victims that were murdered due to these forms of violence. Violence be it black on black violence or police violence against black youth. They call for remembrance, the reality of black suffrage among young adults, and representation of these young individuals in a positive light so that we do not leave their stories untold.

Ambiguous: Classification & Identity


These two beautiful human beings (teens in reference to western context) speak in opposition to racial identity. They want to make it clear that these questions that they are asked on a daily basis are only used as a means to satisfy the questioner, a need for this person to connect dots to their phenotypical characteristics. Therefore whatever is lingering beyond that they can therefore understand where they come from what their heritage is, this can also determine how that person or institution will treat them based on racial identification which leads to oppressive practices through classification. They talk about the need to look beyond that because they are not alien life forms they are human beings. Human beings with substance made with brilliance, creativity, and depth below the surface of their "race,gender, class" that you so desperately need to place them into what YOU HAVE LEARNED from the western culture. These connections that have you so desperately judging by skin color and what goes with what has you blinded to the true person that they are.

EVENT MONDAY NIGHT.

SPOKEN WORD EVENT HOSTED BY FEM U ROOM 307 IN SU @ 7pm COME READ SOME POETRY AND EAT FOOD.

"Glee" Episodes: Post 10- Reflection

REFLECTION:Write about your personal connections to this text.  What does it make you think about?  How does it relate to you? Be sure to draw directly from the text so that the author’s themes and issues are clear.

These Glee episodes covered so much of the material that we have had the opportunity to learn over the spring semester. Homophobia, masculinity, femininity, bullying, stereotypes, gender roles, and identity issues can be seen in all three of these Glee episodes. I can relate to "Kurt" "Never Been Kissed" when he was getting bullied on by a Jock who secretly had a crush on him and I could definitely relate all of the emotional issues that he had faced. It does put fear and worry into your mind, yes I was once a high school student I had to deal with bullying as a "teenager" I would get followed home everyday and called names from these girls that lived right down the street from me. They would threaten me and call me ugly constantly, I never reacted in those instances but yes it did cause some emotional strife. Rachel in the first episode I watched "Pilot", when she was being cyber bullied online, when the cheerleading squad had wrote nasty messages on her video of her singing "Please get sterilized" and If I were your parents I would sell you back". I got all of that and in certain instances I still have to deal with some forms of bullying at the age of 24. These instances reminded me of you "stereotypical mean girls" that everyone encounters in high school, it seemed as if instead of getting to know you, and who you are as a person, but they would rather feed off of the disliking you without even knowing you. 

I could relate to the "teenage roles" "high school stereotypes" that were brought up throughout all three episodes. For example, acne factories, jocks, cheerleaders, nerds, choir students, popular, and the unpopular stereotypes. Its so funny to think that this is all a societal construct that dominant ideologies shaped and configured the teenager and I actually fell victim to these roles. I did like the fact that they represented a range of people instead of just your typical heterosexual fit, "ideal" beauties, perfect able-bodied actors and actresses. For example, in "FURT" they represented older aged women, Noah helping Artie move around school in his wheel chair. It shows that all people all shapes, colors, and sizes should be represented and goes against the dominant representation we normally see on mainstream TV. 

Post 9: Tricia Rose, Author of The Hip Hop Wars and Video Hip Hop Wars (excerpt)

• QUOTES:  Choose three quotes from the text and explain what they mean and their relevance to the text.

Quote 1:

“There traditions create possibility, and open up exchange, but thats not all thats going on in that era, its also a profoundly destructive period for black america...But its also about expressing an awful lot of pain, an awful lot of anger, and an awful lot just on the borderline of what Cornell West would call Nihilism, right, this borderline of I might not quite not make it but its really awfully close” (Ted.Brown.Rose).

Patricia Rose describes how Hip-Hop is a gateway for possibilities for resistance against anti-blackness and radical categorizations of bodies. A system of resistance that seeks to create consciousness from the every day living circumstances of the inferior beings that is brought upon them by these current political structures and white supremacist modern day slave institutions. She says that through these creative acts of resistance the oppressed beings can find a sense of hope even if it is a very minute amount, we can still hang on to the possibility of true freedom because true freedom has never existed, rather than believe what white history has told us, you know the whole idea that slavery and racism is a thing of the past. Hip-Hop is a gateway to raise the reality of things that are still occurring.

Quote 2: 

“There's a long history of a particular pleasure in consuming the ideas of black-ghetto-excess dysfunction. It used to not be ghettoized in setting because black people weren't always urban people, but the same images can be found in American history for centuries. So this idea that a certain kind of sexual deviance or violent behavior defines black culture has had a huge market in commercial mainstream culture for at least 200 years. Also, sexist images, which hip-hop has a lot of, seem to do very well across the cultural spectrum. So sexuality and sexual domination sell. Racial stereotypes sell. The market is more consolidated, which makes it easier for those images to perpetuate themselves” (Rose).

These degrading “ideas” that are created, in this case “ideas of black-ghetto-excess dysfunction” are instilled and naturalized by the white rule. They are psychologically embedded and engrained in the subconscious via the media, history books, and mainstream hip-hop heard on the radio so on and so forth. Inevitably, these degrading practices are beset upon the black being without their “conscious” consent, if you are being fed what the white master wants to feed you, you will be brainwashed to believe that this is what black culture and black life is supposed to be like. You have no fugitive thoughts of, “could there be something outside of what I have been raised my whole life to believe, its more than a hard pill to swallow”. Remember that those who hold the majority of wealth feed those who have nothing what they want us to believe to keep us oppressed and to keep us inferior. We start to think that this is what it is, this is are culture when this is actually false. Therefore we buy what we believe is our everyday life sustaining and maintaining our own oppression while the white dominant remains free to do his job without guilt.

Quote 3: 

“Definitely. The critics are a little bit more wrong than the defenders. But overall, both arguments have enormous flaws. The defenders are the most wrong about gender and sexism, and the haters are most wrong about issues of violence and culture. I'm very upset about both sides in this war, and I think the only way out is for the rest of us on the sidelines to get involved with an educated, sophisticated position. You have to be subtle, not extreme, in thinking about what's right and what's wrong when it comes to hip-hop” (Rose).

The defenders in this case (Jay-Z, 50 Cent) are less wrong because they know that they are dumbing down their music to gain profit of of their people, I think Rose is saying it doesn't make it right by any means. In all honesty I believe these main-stream rap artists must live in denial or utter despair in silence knowing what is happening to their people and not being able to express it due to their white-washed greed. I also believe that “the haters” (Mos Def, Common etc..) are in denial about our culture and how the white dominant controls what sells and what doesn't through coercion and gratuitous violence upon the black community via the type of music that perpetuates black stereotypes. 

Tough Guise/BoyCode/Masculinity: Kimmel Post:8

REFLECTION: Write about your personal connections to this text.  What does it make you think about?  How does it relate to you? Be sure to draw directly from the text so that the author’s themes and issues are clear.

Having political debates and psychological commentary really missed the mark or are they purposely missing the mark? I think that is one of the most important questions we should ask? Or in all honestly are they even conscious of gender construction and how masculinity and femininity as a social construction playing a major role in these very violent murderous events that are occurring? I mean shootings of black bodies are occurring every single day in black communities and these get no publicity its like a certain fetish this country has with guns, violence, gender, femininity, and masculinity the whole idea of white boys is just a piece of this "the mark" we are missing the whole issue in general! Violence, masculinity, whiteness, control and power over bodies is all you see its normative or accepted even if you want to believe it or not and that is just sickening to me. Anyways I went off on a tangent.... Kimmel makes a very good point in regards to this whole concept of masculinity... gender construction for males and females starts at a young age....

MALES (MASCULINITY): strong, tough, fighters, unemotional, protectors, boys don't cry, muscular, athletic, NOT GAY.  These are just some of the typing that goes into the raising of a male in our culture as a masculine being, this occurs through gender typing that can be formed through the media, education, parenting, environmental factors. It is amazing to me that most people get brainwashed into believing that it is the easy access to guns, the psychological mental health issues, and media itself that causes these violent spastic school shootings. It is the very construction of male as masculine conceptualizations and these can be extremely damaging to not only the males themselves but to everyone in their environments as we have seen in the increasing shootings around the country. Kimmel is definitely getting somewhere with this. When a male does not conform to these typical masculine roles he is therefore considered anything but MASCULINE, so he could be called gay, sissy, weak, scared, or sensitive and this builds up and causes psychological effects and builds up within them . I mean at some point these males get sick and tired of this whole idea of not fitting in or being bullied and picked on they BLOW! and instead of focusing on the main issue our society like to blame a numerous amount of issues instead of the MAIN IMPORTANT ONES. Gender construction and typing.... This topic is very personal to me because I have nephews and I want them to be raised without these expectations of their "boy hood" and I also am worried that it may be out of my hands that they will still be expected to act and hold up to these standards causing psychological damage upon themselves unknowingly. However, I will do my best.

PATRIARCHY HURTS EVERYONE

I'm a barbie girl in a barbie world.

WHY CANT AMERICA DO THESE THINGS HA. WISHFUL THINKING I SUPPOSE

This is a Scottish anti-rape PSA that is a direct response to blaming a rape victim for dressing like a slut.

"The New and Improved Princess" Post 7.

• CONNECTIONS:  Use the reading to make connections to two other readings we have done in class.  Discuss the texts in relation to one another.

Ahhh... The Wonderful World of Disney and the Movies, lets talk about the movie  "Brave" I do have  to say that I truly enjoyed this movie for many reasons...

Well first let me start of with the connection between Orenstein's "Cinderella Ate My Daughter" and "Brave", Merrida's mother's preparation & training for her Princess duties can be seen in everyday practices intentionally or intentionally in our day to day practices and messages being thrown into young females faces. Through media through movies through our parents and their expectations of is, this whole expected role play seen in "Brave" through the mothers expectations on merrida and her becoming a princess and Females in the real world today are fed who they should be in society These specific piece I pulled from the text automatically tie in with Orenstein's piece on the whole visualization and conceptualization of "The Princess" and the roles she must fulfill. 

What I did like about Brave was the emphasis on resistance towards these roles that we are expected to fufil as young females in society. Merida refused to play these roles that her mother expected of her. She refused to get lost in those expectations of what the world wants to make out of her and she listened to her own voice and fought through the conflict. The ultimate result was the voice that laid within her was listened to she refused to play by the rules of what was expected of her and her relationship was mended through making her mother conscious of what is important in life and what the true meaning of love and life should be!!!!!! AWESOME FORM OF CREATIVE RESISTANCE!!!

Victims of a Massive Con Job: Post 7.

• REFLECTION: Write about your personal connections to this text.  What does it make you think about?  How does it relate to you? Be sure to draw directly from the text so that the author’s themes and issues are clear.

       
        "I have never seen a study proving that playing princess specifically damages girls' self-esteem or dampens other aspirations. And trust me, I've looked. There is, however, ample evidence that the more mainstream media girls consume, the more importance they place on being pretty and sexy" (Orenstein 18). 

            It is more than apparent that there is a massive con job going on here, yet masked through this brilliant idea: that idea summed up,"we are only giving the children what they want versus we are by no means coercing them with vast amounts of advertisements," (sarcasm of course).  Through these mainstream forms of media this secret education is sold through Disney Princess movies and the business flourished through mass production of these gendered products being sold, as well as the concepts and coercion being sold and projected towards and upon young females about what "ideal beauty" is and mass production/consumption of these Princess products. Capitalism and patriarchal social organizations could be blamed for young girls issues with body image, self-esteem, eating disorders, and suicide. 

             Although you cannot blame the companies for conspiring and brainwashing due to there conning ways munipulating parents and children there has to be a line drawn somewhere. As Orenstein mentions in the chapter there is a fine like between what we want as young kids and what we are secretly coerced to want. Not only are we fed to be and act and follow the roles of "Disney Princesses" but we are also coerced and subjected as well as victims of this massive con job. The stereotypical roles of princesses I mean come on now this is not a difficult thing to understand as adults and I bet without even listing them you have already thought about how you thought you had to be or act as a young girl in the blink of an eye! Like you know the graceful, soft-spoken, submissive, clean, pure, sweet, weightless, perfect body shape, loving, dainty, beautiful facial features, quiet, girly voice, virginil and husband ready? Yeah not surprising, I bet you could not dis-agree with these roles that you thought as a child were your definite future. Even if you felt different or you felt as if this did not fit who you were as a person you still felt that you had to do this because it was what you were supposed to do. Right? Even our parents are and were brainwashed into believing that as a girl, as their daughter you want princess barbies, or covers for your new bed, and don't forget you must have all of the princess movies. Daddy always calls you his little princess and plans out a that future princess wedding for you before you even come out the womb hoping you'll find the perfect prince and have the perfect family. Not to mention that as a princess you must fufill those princess roles, right? Like those I had listed earlier, but by no means could you step out of line. 

            Also do not forget the new and improved princess aka supergirl you must also be successful and strive for the riches while also being the perfect princess and by perfect I mean, fulfilling all of those princess roles, you know having that ideal beauty which consists of unattainable expectations, the perfect body, skin tone, weight, not a scar or blemish on that smooth skin of yours... BY NO MEANS  CAN WE EVER BE HUMAN BEINGS PEOPLE!!! DONT YOU GET THIS?! ha. The systems and frameworks that place these expectations, oppression, and manipulation upon us and the pressures we face as females on a day to day are far to insidious. They continue and have been used against us for a very long time and they continue to get stronger this will stop is from ever achieving are well deserved  prosperity and fulfillment in life and as living breathing human beings. As of right now we are the walking dead.... we have no say when it comes to large/massive change... but through our voices and resistance I hope that one day we can dismantle the machine!

FINAL PROJECT IDEA:

I was thinking about doing somethings creative for my final project. Possibly shedding light on the medias representations both false and true on teenage lesbian females. I would like to explain the correlation's with everything we have learned in teens in the media.  I would also like to include some things that would include creative resistance that go against the dominant ideology. The creative resistance via art, poetry, writing, protest, film etc.. that the lgbtq community as a "sub-group" has brought about to create change in the world to represent them in a more truthful positive representation that would go against the grain.

Teach kids how to think, not what to think!

MIDTERM PROJECT

I am working in a group with Chela and Jackie for the midterm project. We will be recording a short skit using a flip camera. The skit is about the perceptions of teenage girls and how their parents perceive them and the certain expectations they have of their teenagers. Parents at times get mixed messages via the media their lack of access to new ideas and ways of living can cause some conflict between adults and teenagers. We will also at the end of the screening give a short speech about how our short skit correlates with our readings so far this semester. We also hope to have time to have a couple minutes for discussion as well.

THIS IS WHAT HATE, GREED, AND VIOLENCE AGAINST HUMANITY LOOKS LIKE... WE NEED A BETTER WORLD (VIDEO IS GRAPHIC WARNING)

THIS IS WHAT HATE, GREED, AND VIOLENCE AGAINST HUMANITY LOOKS LIKE... WE NEED A BETTER WORLD (VIDEO IS GRAPHIC WARNING)

LAURYN HILL - THE PASSION IS SONG PLAYING  DURING VIDEO.

POST: 5 Ted Talk: Michael Wesch :From Knowledge to Knowledge-Able"

REFLECTION: Write about your personal connections to this text.  What does it make you think about?  How does it relate to you? Be sure to draw directly from the text so that the author’s themes and issues are clear.

“We cannot live the next 100 years, like the way we have lived the last 100 years” (Wesch TED). This 18 minute video just reminded me of the horror in which we endure on a day to day basis and the horror we will soon endure in the near future. This video reminded me of the murderous ways in which humanity destroys its very life source, home, and its means of survival for capital and positions. This video should make your heart cringe with fear for the future our children and our children’s children. Just look around when you are walking down the street the trash we leave behind, the fear of one another, the people we do not acknowledge based on races, based on classes, based on gender, or the destructive messages being thrown in our children's faces of which roles they should play, the oppressor or the oppressed. Take a deep look at the murderous violence our country forces upon other races, the female sex, children, and other countries for means of production. We so desperately need to realize everything we lack as a people because if we do not, I mean that TED video said it clear enough we will willingly disconnect our life support. Our planet is hanging on by a thin string and we need to use this new technology as a means to reunite the people, to create a global movement, and to save humanity. It is very clear that those whom wish to hold power do not care about humanity but rather their pockets and positions in the world. We need to connect, we need to speak loud, we need to stand against the dominant culture. If we do not we will seise to exist we will be destroyed. It is easy to sit in a classroom and feel as if you have made a difference and I am not saying that you have not because just being awake to attend classes like teens in the media is the first step. I want to use my voice but I want you to use your’s with mine lets do a little more. Talk to your classmates tell them you want and that you need more from them, collaborate with them, tell your teachers you wish to have a voice in classes, you wish to make a change, you wish to create a better tomorrow in every aspect of the word. A better world, better systems, better living, and better treatment for all living things. This destruction of the planet should leave you un-able to sleep at night as it does to me. I loved the ending statements of the video when he spoke of the small bird all by its lonesome trying to save its habitat and just through the vision of this one small step every other animal joined in to save their world. It seems to me that this world at this time in history and in past centuries only greed, hate, and violence is being spread all over the world. Lets join together as a people and stop it before its to late. We need to do the same as that little bird we need to utilize our beaks “the media/internet/voices” we have the ABILITY. We need to love one another, we need to spread love with everything in us, we need to let young girls know they are beautiful the way they are, let them know they do not need beauty products to be someone, we need to let boys know they do not need to be violent oppressors, we need to except all genders, all sexualities, all races, we need to make a difference and we desperately need to make a huge change. That is the only way we will survive as a species it is the only way we will save our home. LOVE YA’LL!!! 

HAD TO POST THIS

I thought this was so interesting to me it truly seems like a cry for help for understand for the truth behind why these young adults feel and do these things to their bodies. It is a cry for self identity, self expression, a release of pressure put onto an unknown force that consistently feeds them negative images of how much they do not belong! BLAME THE DOMINANT CULTURE BLAME THE MEDIA BLAME THE IDEOLOGY THAT DESTROYS YOUTH AND MINORITIES!HELP US!

Post 4: Hine The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager

• QUOTES:  Choose three quotes from the text and explain what they mean and their relevance to the text

“So this is the last you’ll hear about that sixteen-year-old would-be writer. Yet he’ll be sitting with me as I write, making a nuisance of himself. His role is to keep reminding me that while this is largely a history of roles and expectations, the teenagers I;m discussing aren't some exotic species-they’re real people. And that’s what makes them so difficult to deal with” (Hine 3).

This quote sat with me for a while and made my brain go into overload with all of the memories of my what society has constructed as what would be my “teenage years”. This is a commonality between all “teenagers in this country”. Who they are or could be is barricaded by the conceptions and ideas of what society has constructed and consistently promotes via media outlets. If you throw me in the woods as a child and I grow up the rest of my life with wolves sure enough I will take on that role. All of the ups and downs the emotions the lack of maturity and dependence on my parents. My expectance to get a job gain some responsibility but not be considered valid or taken serious is a confusing and uncomfortable place to be. My high school experience and  rebelliousness that was expected of me and the roles I was expected to play I sure did play. I always knew however deep down someplace that I was someone that I wanted a voice but I clearly had difficulty doing that because in my head I was not capable of these things yet maybe one day I would be but that day had not yet come. I will never forget the day siting in the advisors office with my father who had not a clue about the systems of education and the levels of classes there were to take what I had the ability cognitively to achieve. This lady asked me what I planned on doing after high school and I said college but I was unsure at that time she assumed that because I was not sure that I should not be put in higher college prep courses. So because I was unsure she made that decision for me and of course knowing now why I let her take the reigns on my high school future I in some ways greatly effected my future that very day because I did not know myself or my capabilities like I do now and its all because of this paradoxical social invention.

“Defining a person strictly in terms of age feels natural to contemporary Americans. Our society’s commitment to equality seems to demand objective classifications...The trouble with creating a distinct group defined by age is that we conjure up phenomena that don't really exist” ( Hine 16).

The problem with this idea that the teenage years is a “natural” phenomena is what scares me the most and leads me to believe not only is this the fall of the teenager but humanity itself. The classifications of groups be it age groups, race groups, gendered groups, leaves “the machine” to define and give certain groups labels and stereotyping. This need for equality and diversity is just a mechanism for other powerful workings ot take place. What I mean by that is these “needs to define people” the need to “categorize people” leaves us blind to the truths of what is really occurring. I guess to distract us from the insidious workings at play in the country. As earlier in the article she describes how the “teenage archetype” never existed and these people had the term “youth” and lived as what we now would term “adulthood”. These societal conceptualizations of groups, races, genders shape how these people live, who these people are, and end up creating a bigger problem for humanity in the end. All for marketing and social reforming purposes. The blame well its the patriarchal capitalistic ideological system that this country is encompassed in and continues to maintain these ways of doing only benefit the 1% of the nation. The relevance of this quote to the whole text is that if we keep assuming that this “teenage” concept is natural only more negative, violent, and devastating things will arise from this. It creates a violent division between adults and their children. It creates a contradictory and psychological issues for the growing youth. A loss of valid identity in the world which also causes a sense of loss and not belonging and as human being we want to feel like we belong to something or someone. All of these negative conceptions of “the teenage group” only allows more damage to be done to them be it physical, mental, or emotional.

“No part of the teenage mystique is more alluring and perplexing then sexuality. Being a teenager is, in some respects, an unnatural act. An imposition of culture on biology. It means continuity of being a child but your body telling you otherwise. Young people nearing the peak of their physical and sexual powers are told to delay using them, and focus these energies on acquiring skills and moral values” ( Hine 22). 

It is so prohibited so disappointing to your parents when you engage in sexual activity at an age where it is considered disgusting but at the same time normal occurrences during teenage growth. Normal in a sense where it is ok to feel like you want to use certain parts of your body to gain pleasure but also looked upon this age group to suppress biological and psychological desires for sexual pleasure. We have to be moral and abide by these unwritten “rules” our parents had to abide by so on an so forth. Another thing teens must face is the everlasting exposure to SEX ADS, SEX THIS, SEX THAT for teens...but the lack of sex education and access to sexual healthy living. So you arose the youth by throwing sex in their faces but you prohibit them from engaging in sex? Which, do not forget is a natural biological occurrence to please the body from stress, tension, etc... but yet lack the resources to protect our youth from diseases, pregnancies, and psychological damage? The article and this quotes relevance is just that this country creates sex and teens to be a “taboo” but throws sexual stimuli into these sexually developing teens faces and expect them to understand whats going on within them but also having to suppress and sneak biological and psychological yearnings that is just a mental stress of a whole other level and yet we do not see it as a mechanism to blind us from the truths of our country.

Post 3: Arguement Raby

ARGUMENT:  Describe the author’s argument in a short statement that begins, “This author (name) argues that….”  Follow it with a paragraph explaining that argument in your own words. The argument is not a summary of ideas but a short explanation of the author’s most significant contribution or idea.  What is his/her main point here?

The author Rebecca C. Raby argues that the discourses of adolescence that are currently practiced in the united states specifically discourses on the topic of teenagers that have been established, maintained, perpetuated, and practiced via the media, education, and politically in our country are causing negative refections of this group. These specific discourses  being currently being practiced the author states have been contradictory, misrepresentative, neglectful, and the distortions of biological truths versus social constructing practices have been used to create a specific type of teenage archetype. There fore, leaving no room for self creation or self exploration for these persons. This leaves students lacking agency and sense of self causing rebellious behavior and a yearning for a place in the world. 

Post 2: Unpacking the Myths that Bind Us: Reflection

“Without giving students an outlet for despair, I was indeed creating “factories of cynicism” in my classroom and it wasn't pretty” (134-135). Linda Christensen's article is everything I thought it would be and more for may reasons. As she describes her students frustrations and cognitive misers with the truths behind our societies cultural industry brainwashing, manipulating, and creating our very own realities. The media? magazines? cartoons? advertisements? all of these things that we have been paying attention to and not realizing the underlying motives? Who in their right minds would use cartoons as a gateway to controlling and teaching the people of the world how to understand and do things in everyday life on such a massive scale? As soon as we are birthed these images and ways of doing things are being programmed in our minds. I could understand some of these students reactions of dismissal,anger,anxiety, and agony. Its everywhere all around us and it is very overwhelming and forceful against us whom are conscious of such deception. I was a victim to these form of deception and manipulation I watched all of these movies and I loved ariel and I hated Ursula for taking Ariels voice because she so desperately wanted to be human to find her true love that she had to sacrifice something valuable to her for a man. Just makes me think about all of the times I had put up with disrespect or acceptance of being devalued. How else was I supposed to handle certain life situations when I was only taught to be submissive, weak, and accepting of wrong doings that hurt me. Growing up on these cartoons, toys, and magazines it never really clicked as to why there were not dolls of different races white was just the “norm” I suppose I came to accept that and now that I look back at my upbringing I am disgusted. I feel angered at the lack of change I feel happy but sad because I can teach others to be conscious of these societal industries that brainwash people to have a specific ideological viewpoint without even knowing it but in despair because it is so damaging to humanity and such a huge battle that needs to be fought. I am no longer a victim to these dominant cultural practices but I was at one point brainwashed and a robot to these media images of what I should look like, how I should act, how I should dress, and who I should pursue and love. 

My concerns are that although I take steps to fight this battle I may not live to see the change I so desperately want.

FEMINIST UNITED PRESENTS RIC CHAPTER 2013:

FEMINISTS UNITED TAKES A STAND

ONE BILLION RISING

ONE IN THREE WOMEN ON THE PLANET WILL BE RAPED OR BEATEN IN HER LIFETIME.

ONE BILLION WOMEN VIOLATED IS AN ATROCITY

ONE BILLION WOMEN DANCING IS A REVOLUTION

HOW WILL YOU SPEND YOUR PLANS!? JOIN RICS FEMINISTS UNITED, WOMENS CENTER, AND WOMEN STUDIES PROGRAM FOR THE ANNUAL PRODUCTION OF THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES!!!
By participating in One Billion Rising, you’re showing the world that violence against women and girls is the central issue of our time and will no longer be tolerated. Your involvement will help send the message that this movement is an unstoppable global force. Together, we will shake the world on 15th and 16th February 2013, demanding an end to violence against women and girls around the world!

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." - A Einstein

What has the media poisoned you to believe you cannot survive without? Make-up? Weight gain? Hair products? The newest fashions? Fear of being mugged? THE MEDIA FEEDS OF OF YOUR FEARS! NOTICE THE MANIFESTATION OF ADVERTISEMENTS BE AWARE!

Just thought this was relevant for class.... these are the images we see on a day to day basis... I think this is such a strong representation of what the media projects towards "females" in society. It is solely based on external image should focus only on their weight, beauty, and achieving external perfection. 

The Black Female Experience (authentic and says who?)

Re-Thinking Black Feminist Article

Black feminists in Britain and the USA have long argued that there exists a black feminist standpoint based on theoretical understanding of black women's everyday experiences. This article draws connections between black feminist standpoint theory and the widening availability of black women's writings within literature and popular culture to investigate the issue of what experiences get taken up and come to define the black female experience. Through doing so, questions are raised about the 'triumph of experience' and the underlying assumptions of authenticity and authority that are so central to academic accounts and popular narratives of the blackfemale experience. In the analysis, tension and discontinuity emerge between academic definitions of experience and the way that blackwomen define experience within their everyday social worlds. The essay draws on and uses empirical research within specific localized communities to critically explore these issues.

Post 1: Media & Ideology

 The author Croteau’s argument suggests that Eurocentric ideologies of the western world have influenced our countries ways of existing and becoming who we are as social creatures. Croteau also argues that the media is a gateway for these ideologies to be maintained, functioning, and in power over societies civilization. Our country specifically the United States of America and transnationally have been affected by ideological practices. These ideologies control, create, and mold us into a certain type of human being. These ideologies control the way in which we should live and how we should do things be it family, educationally, or successful wise. These specific ideologies the author points out that in which how we are living and doing are based on a hegemonic practice. Also, through complex processes they socially construct civilization in a ways that are defined as classist, sexist, racist, gender roles, and oppressively. 

“When we examine the ideology of the media we are not so much interested in specific activities...the broader system of meaning of which these depictions are a part. For ideological analysis, the key is in the fit between the images and words in a specific media text and ways of thinking about, even defining, social and cultural issues” (160). What this means is the media is a gateway for our countries system of power to maintain its control and its complex ways to maintain the status quo. So through the media you will see the perpetuation of sexist, classist, racist, political, and oppressive reflections of our country and the worlds people. “We prefer to think of media texts as sites where cultural contests over meanings are waged rather than as providers of some univocal articulation of ideology” (161). We as people of our nation basically get comfortable with the ways in which we live and do things on a day to day basis. We never question what is fact and what is manipulated, controlled, and created for the benefit for those in power elite position.  For example, to discuss the main point we as people do not always question why is it that there is only majority of men in political positions and lack of women. We do not always question why females get paid less then men. We do not always question why certain roles apply to genders and why labels such as race or sexual orientation place us in more popular or oppressive positions. So whose ideas are these and since this ideology used in our country clearly oppress many of its civilians why are we taking it as fact rather than understanding its complex ways to maintain the status quo through media outlets and other institutional practices as well.

YouTube Link for Post 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gkIiV6konY

Allow me to introduce myself

Her names Angela. She's a lesbian. A poet. Sings her heart out. Lover and a fighter for what is right. 24.Sagittarius.
RI living. RIC Student. 3rd Year. Gender and Women Studies Major and Psychology Major. My goals in life. TO CHANGE THE WORLD. It is those who believe they can change the world whom ultimately do so. I am a feminist I am ready to save people! Hello CLASS