We Are All Beautiful

The image I decided to pick was a collage of multiple women who are famous in popular cultural starting with Marilyn Monroe and ending with the model Heidi. This image exactly what Sedgwick in the expert she took from Catherine MacKinnon “Each element of the female gender stereotype is revealed as, in fact, sexual,” and what defines women is what turns men on. So how did the image of women who are curvy be so desirable to men turn into a woman where you can see every bone in the body? Being curvy meant being a woman and women strived to have bodies like Marilyn, but now if a girl looks like that she is seen as overweight and not appealing.  Well why many things have changed, it really is the fact the media has influenced the way we see woman.

The fact is not very many women are stick thin. However, because those women are usually select to start in the media little girls everywhere believe this is what you have to look like to be pretty. Not only are the girls who are watching these women on television feeling pressure to look like them, but the women who are skinny are receiving pressure to continue to lose weight.

Look at Kelly Clarkson, who was the first American Idol winner (when the show was actually good), she gained wait and the record company told her she needed to lose it. Her response was “If you’re going to pressure me to do something, I’m going to do the opposite. So if you tell me to get skinny, I’m probably going to get fat just to piss you off.” Too bad more people, both men and women, are not like this, a lot would change.

Sedgwick also writes “a woman’s masochistic sexual fantasy really only an internalization and endorsement, if not a cause, of her more general powerlessness and sense of worthlessness?” What I can gather from this sentence is if we are not being sexual and turn men on then we feel worthless. I mean how can we not feel worthless, when we see the way men do double takes of women who look like they are Victoria secret models. Women will buy loads of make-up, memberships to the gym, and go on every diet just to get a man to look at her.

So I took my image and Google searched it and what I found was an article about the evolution of hotness which was trying to explain away how this happened. There were also blog responses to this article and picture. They all are trying to say all these women are beautiful, which I completely agree, but to what extent are we pushing are bodies to fit an image in our head that was created by men in the world of media?

I wish there was a way to make all women see they are beautiful, thankfully there are some companies trying to address this. I want to end this on a positive note so I am adding this link to the Dove Beauty Campaign, because everyone is beautiful and no one needs to change who they are.

Living in a virtual world... I am living in a virtual world!

You are all cyborgs not the kind you think, but whenever you look at a computer screen or a cell phone you are being a cyborg. This is how Amber Case starts her TED talk and it is a pretty thought provoking idea. However, one that is completely and utterly true. I instantly thought of the movie Surrogates which came out in 2009. Even though it was not that popular I believe it the perfect example of what I understand to be a cyborg. If you are not familiar with the film watch the clip below:

As you can see this film touches on what Case says about how being a cyborg is the extension of the mental self and because of this we are able to travel faster and communicated differently. These people lie down and get to become a robot and live their life without fear of consequences or being harm.  This film also ties into what Haraway says in her article in Everyday Theory when she writes “The cyborg is resolutely committed to partiality, irony, intimacy, and perversity. It is oppositional, utopian and completely with innocence.” The idea of being able to live your life without getting hurt and do whatever you want is a very utopian idea. However, even though this idea seems completely innocent it is not, as the film shows. Things can go wrong in the cyber world just like in the real world. As Case states these are our second self and we need to maintain it because we are connecting a new way. 

Cyberspace allows us to express ourselves in a new way which has never been done before. We can create a completely new identity and be whoever we want to be. For some people this is a chance to be who they really are and find a place where they fit in for once in their lives. They get to experience these new identities by creating blogs, or pinning on Pinterest, or joining chat rooms where they can talk about a common interest. 

This is was Haraway is talking about when she says cyber writing, of course she had a feminist twist on it, but both men and women can use these forms of cyber writing to express who they feel they truly are.

 There is a flip side to this, people become entranced and lose what is real and what is not. Even in the film Bruce Willis character did not remember what it was like to feel pain because he had been so used to being unharmed. There are always going to be those who are against the change but as Case said technology adapts because people are using it and it helps people live their lives more fully because it connects us faster to one another. This is another fact that is completely and utterly true. 

I am Pinning!!! Or is it winning? Or am I really missing?

We all copyrighting is illegal and wrongful, I mean we see it every time we watch a movie, the FBI warning pops up and we read it in a mocking voice or at least I do in my head. However, people still illegally download or try to find loop holes to post videos of what they want where they want. I know for a fact I have not read terms of use for anything I use; I usually scroll done to the bottom mark that I understand and move on. I mean I feel as though you can use common sense when it comes to using technology so why bother reading all the fine print!

I was looking at some of the terms of use and I came to Pinterest because I love Pinterest!

Pinterest it is a great new social medium a lot of people are using. What was interesting about their terms of use is the fact they have these huge paragraphs with a lot of wording, but on the side they have these box called “More simply put.” In these boxes Pinterest gives the quick and dirty version of what the lengthy paragraphs say. This is just another way to allow people to barely read the terms and get the main point, but would they be missing anything?

I also, know that nothing in life is free and I wonder what I am giving up by using these social mediums. I know that MySpace took pictures in my account and put them online. I could not do anything about it because it is the Internet and once it is on there it is hard to get down.  So I know I give up rights and I am not sure why I do not think about it more. I guess it is because I want to be on the social mediums and do not really care about what it means I am giving up.

This relates to what Burgess says about “new networks of cultural production” because we are giving up our rights to be a part of an online cultural. If you do not have a Facebook or a Twitter or a Pinterest people look at you like you are an outsider. I remember someone I worked with did not have a Facebook because he believed it was a waste of time. When he announced this to my other co-workers they were shocked because this was how they planned on communicating. Even though they ended up using Facebook to communicate the one member was left out of all the inside jokes and funny posting because we had a new network and had creating a culture online. To this day I wonder if he had joined or if we had included him in another way somehow if he would have been closer to us.

Everything we do in a social medium has an effect on our cultural. However, like Burgess also said “the content and value of Web 2.0 is still not well understood.” I think we are finally realizing what the Web 2.0 means for the future and some are questioning its intent, but there needs to be more.  

Easy Bake Oven... Uh Oh

In McGraw’s article, why feminine technologies matter (make a link), she talks about certain artifacts being “feminine because they are either used by or predominantly associated with female people.” Well the artifact I chose to fit into this description is the Easy Bake Oven. In 1963 the first Easy Bake Oven was created by Kenner Products (which is now a part of Hasbro). This oven allows little girls to practice their measurement skills, mixing skills, and more obviously their baking skills. This is reinforcing the Victorian view of women stay home and bake.  

I admit I had an easy bake oven when I was younger and did not know what this reinforcing to me. The funny thing is they now make easy bake oven where you can cook food. Why I find this funny is because if I look back on it, the easy bake oven made me love baking, but I am a horrible cook! Maybe if they had that option when I was 10 I would have fallen in love with cooking or actually new how to cook.

If you compare this 1990 video (the one on the top) to this 2011 video (the one on the bottom) they are very similar points. The points made are that it is easy, fast, and fun! However, if you have ever made real bake goods it may be fun, but that is about it. This is the message they are trying to sell to girls. You will also notice that both commercials have little girls in them, completely leaving out boys who may like to use the product, but cannot because they fear they will be made of fun because it is labeled as a girl toy.

 

This can also be seen in this Google Adword (which is an advertisement on Google search engine). As you can read the ad is targeted towards girls with “Baking Games for Girls.” 

However, there may be some hope this article was released saying Hasbro will now be making a boy version of the easy bake oven. Click here to read more http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/hasbro-easy-bake-oven-girls-boys-article-1.1222592

The inspiration came from a 13-year-old girl who was sad that her 4-year-old brother felt he could not use the oven because it was made for girls. Although, this brings up another issue on how the gender binary is set-up so that by age 3 children know what gender they are and how it is wrong to use things that look like they are made for girls or made for boys. At least it is a step in the right directions.

As McGraw said technology is socially constructed which I tend to agree with. I mean it had to take a 13-year-old girl to get a massive company to see how they were discriminating against sex after developing their product more than 45 years ago. Now all we need is for the commercials to include boys and maybe we will see more changes in other products in years to come. 

Facebook is trying to tell me who I am... say what?

Social Media is now the most used way to communicate with everyone you know. While many different sites are becoming ever more popular, none of them compare to Facebook. Facebook is used by billions of people every day. Not only do people use it for personal use, but for business too. However, a statement in Gandy’s article explains, “social networking has an ideological character: its networking advances capitalist individualization, accumulation and legitimization.” This just means the business which social mediums, such as Facebook, to advance themselves in the consumer world.

 Now that Facebook insights allows for business to type in keywords to find on everyone’s profiles to show up on the sides of their news feeds, business are once again able to regain the customers they lost because of social media. What I mean is more and more people stop listening to or viewing commercials on the television or on the radio or in the newspaper. If you want to attract new customers you have to do it online. I have a perfect example of this. I have on my profile that I am catholic and I use to be single so the ads which would pop up on the side of my news feed were about Christian Mingle, a dating website for Christians. Now that I am in a relationship the ads have switch to engagement rings (I have only been in a relationship for 6 months). This is how business collect new customer, they get to type in keywords about their businesses and if they match with keywords on your profile you probably will see an ad about it sooner or later. This is another example; I am supposed to graduate in a few weeks and Facebook ads pop up stating “You’re almost an alum!” 

These ads just tell someone that the digital me should be getting married and is going to be a college graduate soon. The most recent way for advertising is how they now have the ad show up in your news feed. You are going along reading about how horrible or great someone’s life is and then suddenly you see this: 

How rude right? Then it is says your friends like this so we think you will too (this is a big assumption if I have ever seen one).This is just another way of getting us consumers to buy something by telling us who we are or who we should be. Sometimes I laugh at the ads listed for me, especially if they talk about babies or marriage, because I feel as though the Internet is trying to speed up my life and I am only 22 years old.  

I agree with Adorno & Horkheimer article about the culture industry. In the very first paragraph they state “Culture today is infection everything with sameness. Film, radio, and magazines for a system. Each branch of culture is unanimous within itself and all are unanimous together.” I believe this sum up the entire article. Our culture is technology and is consumes us every day. Take for example YouTube sensations, everyone everywhere sees these ridiculous video that have been made, but we are all sharing the experience. Currently one video (which I believe is one of the dumbest things our society has come up with) is the Harlem Shake. Click here if you are not sure what I am talking about Harlem Shake

I really do not know the point of the video itself, but what I do know is everyone has seen it which puts us all in the same category of “wasting our time” in my opinion. My point is technology brings us together to experience the same things everyone else does. However, this does not always have to be a waste of time. 

An example of technology infecting us with sameness is bringing us together to do something that will benefit our society. Watch the video on crisis mapping (click here: Crisis Mapping Ted Talks) and think about the fact so many people can contribute to a great cause. Although Adorno & Horkheimer put their views of “culture infecting everything with sameness” is more of a negative light, I believe it can be both positive and negative as you can see with crisis mapping. However, I believe everything can be taken as a positive or a negative in life; it is a matter of how you use that power.

I would have to say when given the choice between Adorno & Horkheimer & Marcuse versus Negri &Hardt & diamond & Dyer-Witheford I would say I agree with Adorno & Horkheimer & Marcuse more because I have personally witness their topics.

For example, the point they make in One-Dimensional Man about increasing satisfaction is something I am currently going through. What I mean is, my aunt and uncle are giving me money to buy an iPad for a graduation gift. Why an iPad? I have a computer, an e-reader and an iPod, so why must have this newest technology? I would love to have this amazing explanation, but in all reality I do not. The iPad is easier for me to carry and to take to classes and soon-to-be meetings in the work world than my heavy laptop and my e-reader and iPod will not do the amazing application that the iPad can. Although, I want this new technology which will increase my satisfaction; I know I will not be upgrading it for a long time (unless it breaks). I can say this with certainty because my iPod is 6 years old and still looks and works as if it came out of the box yesterday. I like to take good care of my technology, but I cannot say that if a piece of technology comes out and I believe it offers me a new benefit to add in my life that will not purchase it.

For some reason my generation and what society is turning into really relies on increase satisfaction with the technological tools we have at are fingers tips. Those who work in the technology industry are lucky because if they give us a new cool feature (or market it that way) we are always going to want it to increase our satisfaction. 

Logos there everywhere

Brands and logos whichever you prefer to think about them; they are everywhere like Naomi Klein states in No Logo. When think about writing this assignment you have to think about brands and logos. I mean I am writing this assignment first through Microsoft Word and on my Compaq laptop which is made by HP. Three brands and I have barely started writing my blog.

When I created my list of brands I really became aware of my surroundings, forcing myself to look around and actually see what was all around me. When I woke the first thing I looked at was my phone (it serves as my alarm clock) and it is a Sprint phone built by Samsung. Then I look at Facebook to help me wake and I also check my Outlook email and Google email. Then I thought what if I did not have a cell phone; well to start I would not have an alarm clock that plays a gentle tone for me to wake up to. I also, would not have a way to communicate quickly with anyone who is important to me. If I did not have a smart phone I would not have the ability to check my Facebook every 5 seconds and I would not be able to check my emails. Come to think of it, I would probably not stress myself out at the being of the day; however, we crave instant gratification and instant knowledge. We need to know what is happening right now. This was a lot to think about just when I woke up and I had not even started my list.

Then I started to get ready for the day. I took a shower and I had brand name shampoo and conditioner, face wash, body wash, and razor. Everything I used to take a shower has well-known brands. I started to feel consumed by all the brands. Then I started thinking about all the work that went into making those products, because the documentary we watch in class about Mardi Gras really opened me to think about how I got the product I use.  With all these thoughts in my mind I started to think about the United States and what these brands and logos make us think and then I was struck by a song.

Think of the song by Queen called I Want it All; this song starts off “I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now.” 75 percent of the song has those lyrics in it. To listen to the whole song click here: I want it all                                                                                  

 Those two phrases I want it all and I want it now are really what are society is about. We are never satisfied with anything have because we want everything. And why do we want everything? Because brands advertise us to think if we do not have it we are not cool or the next big thing is already here. Take for example the Samsung Galaxy S III commercial (click here to watch: Samsung vs Apple) it shows people waiting for yet another iPhone, but then they show the cool new features of the Galaxy and people now want that phone instead. We are constantly shown the next best thing.

Then I continued my day and went to class continuing to write down my list of brands. Then I caught myself doing something I am not very proud of. I realized if I see someone who has a North Face jacket or Dr. Beats Headphones or a Mac I automatically assume they have money. However, once I caught myself thinking this stereotype I quickly remember they may not bought the items themselves, but then I thought now I am stereotyping their families. My point is not only do people stereotype people for the way they act or their ethnic background, but now brands are being used to divide people and put them into categories of stereotypes. This made me wonder is there any hope for the stereotypes to ever stop or rather is there a way to have positive stereotypes?  What we were asked to do for this blog has been very eye opening for me.  

My Assessment of Popular Cultural

Pinterest Board on Pop Cultural

This board really shows how I believe popular cultural shows race, racism, and the gender binary. Click the link above to see more!

Young Americans Don't Fight Back

8 Reasons Young Americans Don't Fight Back

For the most part I really agree with AlterNet article by Bruce E. Levine about 8 Reasons Young Americans Don’t Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance. A lot of the points made in this article were very though provoking and some of the points I have thought myself. The sections which really stood out to me were television and the parts about schooling.

I agree with them that television is a dream come true for the authoritarian society which we live in. The fact that we spend some much time on TV, the Internet, cell phones and iPods exposes us to a lot of media. For example, while reading this article on the side of the site there are ads of apartments available in Spokane, WA. What is truly weird about this is I am currently looking at jobs in Spokane and subsequently looking at the cost of living. So not only are we being exposed to what the people who pay for the ads they also know what ads would interest us.

I also like the part where they state TV isolates people from each other and therefore are not communicating with others to form resistances. By isolating ourselves we are not only losing communication skills, but we are also lacking critical thinking skills so people end up believing everything they watch. For example, a young girl may see over and over again how great relationships with boys are in a movie or TV show and then expect to have their relationships to work out exactly the same way; except that is not reality of most relationships.

However, the topic of school which the author brings into the argument really stood out to me. This is the first reason they brought up was the fear of student- loan debt. According to the article two-thirds of college graduates will have student debt and it ranges from 25,000 to 100,000 dollars. The reason they claim the youth will not fight back is because they are too worried about keeping their jobs so they can pay their bills; so they will not fight back in fear of losing their income.

The next section about relating to school points out the fact schools only teach children how to obey rules or orders. Even though teachers teach about democracy their classroom are not democratic. I had a teacher when he talked about democracy in my history class would always reminds us this classroom is not a democracy it was a dictatorship because what he said was the final say. This limits creativity and can make it hard for students to voice their opinion when they believe they do not really matter.

Then this article brings in a political act called “No Child Left Behind”. Personally I have never understood nor agree with this political act and in my opinion I really believe it should be removed. This policy, along with “Race to the Top”, is essentially standardized-testing which create fear. Why? Because it constantly demands teachers and students focus on the results of these tests because they could be the reason students do not move up in school or teachers losing their jobs. This fear also results in the loss of curiosity, critical thinking, questioning authority and challenging illegitimate authority.  I especially agree that teachers should be evaluated by asking students, parents and a community if a teacher is inspiring students in the areas that standardize testing creates fear.

This article really caught my attention because I agreed with what was written. I just wish people who make the laws would read these articles and help create a change on how we approach raising our youth. However, this would require the law makers to be okay with the American people acting out against them and the laws they have created. I remember once in high school my teacher told us that Thomas Jefferson thought we would a revolution every x amount of years because he believed that the American government would become corrupt and violate peoples rights and there would be a need for change. I believe this article has the same thought that Thomas Jefferson did. We need people who are willing to fight the facts stated in this article so there can be a change. 

White Privilege

I have always known some people are more privileged than others, but I usually thought about it in terms of gender then the ideology of race. For example, I originally thought I was going to have a hard time getting college scholarships because I am a women and I am labeled as white. The reason I thought this is because society always told me if I was part of a minority I would have an easier time paying for college, which made sense to me because there as been a big push for minorities to go to college. However, then I realized that being white alone was the reason I would have an easier time going to college because this is what was expect of me from my race. Below is a chart from the journal The Chronicle of Higher Education in 2010 what the racial representation among college students was. 

Racial Representation Among College Students

As you can clearly see white make up 61% of students who are in college. This does not mean that other races are lazy or whatever else people would like to say there are. This just means I was born into a privilege where I get the opportunity to (more than others) to attend college.
Then if you look at financial aid given to college students it shows a similar story. According to The Distribution of Grants and Scholarships by Race written by Mark Kantrowitz and posted on finaid.org more than one million white students were scholarship recipients; as you can see below in the chart. Although, the average amount of scholarship money received is the highest for Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; which receives 4,900 dollars compared to the 2,368 dollars whites receive which is the second lowest; whites are still being given more scholarship opportunities.  
 

Distribution of Grants and Scholarships by Race

After looking at both of these charts I realized I have been born into and been given a privilege where if I go to my class I can identity with my "race" and I would not feel as though I was in the minority. I have noticed it a lot at Washington State University being able to see a lot of "white" people. I am originally from Connecticut where there are also a lot of "white" people, but I spent most of my life in New Mexico where I felt as though I was the minority in my high school. Yet, even though I felt like I was the minority back home there were still more "white" children who graduated then anyone else. This is where I have seen a lot of my "white" privileged come into play.

I was really struck by Peggy McIntosh article and her list of privileges she realized she had. I know most of these apply to me and people still portray my race in the same ways in which she expressed. One of the privileges she spoke I have had witness first hand which is why it stood out to me. The one where it says "I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed." I work at Burlington Coat Factory in New Mexico one summer and I cannot tell you the amount of times I was told to keep on eye on certain customers because of their racial identity. What made the situation worse was not only were the "white" managers telling me to do this, but also the "Latino" managers as well, but they never told me to watch "white" people, but they told me to watch every other race. I would not change any part of her list, but rather I would add onto it.

For example, if you expand her list to not only include race, but sexual orientation you could add:
I can comfortably kiss my significant other in public and not be judged.
I can get married in all 50 states in the United States.
I do not have to be afraid of losing my job because of my choice in sexual partners.
I can be pretty sure I will not be bullied because of my choice of sexual partners.
I can have a child with my partner without the help of science or adoption. (When I though of this one, I shocked myself, this sounds so harsh that I did not want to force myself to think more about the privileges based on sexual orientation).

The lists could go on and on. This just proves we are born into privileges and how we choose to use those privileges to help ourselves and others will determine how this world will turn out.
 

Blog 1

Find a clip on a popular video sharing site (YouTube/Vimeo) that exemplifies the descriptions of Color-Blind ideology exposed by Bonilla-Silva & Dietrich, Winant, and Wise.  Unpack the major themes in the clip.

After researching some of the worst television commercials I found an article which had clips of the commercials and a description underneath them. I found the ever popular Lucky Charms commercial was on this list and this really shocked me. I can remember when I would see these commercials and thinking I want to ride the magical rainbow or the red balloon. So after the shock wore off I read the description below the clip. The blur said the common stereotype is that the Irish were greedy, selfish, superstitious, perverted and thieving.  Well as many people know the mascot for Lucky Charms is a leprechaun. I decided to watch the short commercial again and kept this stereotype in mind and sure enough I found the portrayal of an Irish man (Lucky the Leprechaun) playing with little children (perverted) withholding the marshmallows (selfish/greedy) and he makes them look as though they are magical (superstitious). Then when the children go to eat the marshmallows he steals them back and says they are mine and runs away (thieving/greedy). 

The clip I have inserted on this blog is not the original clip I watched. The reason for this is because I wanted to know if they still made the commercial and if they still had the same stereotypes in there and sure enough they did. Even though this ideology was formed in the 1800s, when the only reason the Irish came to America was to have the freedom to practice their own religion and to find better work, it is still being shown through the media in the late 1990s through 2000s.

I believe this relates Winant article about Race and Racism: Towards a Global Future when it talks about the five themes of racial global formation. The one I am specifically looking at is The Nation and its Peoples which talks about citizenship and immigration. As Winant explains the United States was perceived as a white man’s country. However, this is interesting with the clip I chose because Lucky the Leprechaun (before he speaks) is perceived to be white. Winant continues in this sections talking about frequent nativism was being directed against immigrants. This is true today and it was true back when the Irish first migrated to America. 

Finally General Mills the company who makes lucky charms could state they are being inclusive of every race by mentioning they have a boy who appears to be black, a boy who could either be of Asian or Latino decent and a girl who is white. However, this is the prime example of being Colorblind and Bonilla-Silva and Dietrich would argue this is Abstract Liberalism which they believe provides a discourse for white people to appear reasonable and equal because they are including all different types of backgrounds.

Still General Mills is bringing back a stereotype which supposedly was only prevalent in the 1800 and as we can see in the commercial this is not true. 

The link to the article where I found the 25 racial commercial is http://www.adsavvy.org/25-most-racist-advertisements-and-commercials/