Eventful Friday

Today was a day well spent. Class was great, the weather was perfect, and the day ended with a showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!

Class today was very engaging. In the morning, we discussed gender stereotypes by writing out words that describe how a male should act compared to name’s he is called if he doesn’t portray the typical male image. We did the same for the way a lady-like woman should act. Many of the girls chose the same words and phrases, which surprised me because we’re girls from all around the nation, and when I went around looking at what groups wrote down, everyone had nearly all the same words written down. This shows how commonly words such as “faggot,” “easy,” “pansy,” and the B-word are used. As a matter of fact, many girls even begin referring to each other as “sluts” and other degrading terms. This is inappropriate, but in our society, almost unavoidable. Degrading sexist terms are found everywhere.

At lunch, nearly my whole class ate lunch in the V-Dub cafeteria. This was a first, and it was an honor being included in their plans. Almost all 22 of us were squeezed in at one table, hoping to be able to talk about life outside of the classroom. It was really unifying.

After lunch, we watched a video in class that was about Women in the Media, and how the media has shaped women’s roles in society. Women are photoshopped to the point where they look like completely different people and in some cases, they are! Four different peoples’ body parts are even used to create one image of a woman used for advertisements. In the media and advertisements, the models are seen to be white if not light-skinned, have large eyes, a thin neck, and virtually no pores or imperfections on their faces. Also, advertisements were made to make it seem like women were cars or bottles of beer. This turns women into objects, and a lot more likely to become victims of violence. Because of what I watched in the video “Killing Us Softly” by Jeanne Killbourne, I became more aware of how women are used to advertise nearly everything and how it can negatively affect their roles in society.

After a lesson-filled day, the ILC group met up with Ms. Williams at Providence Place Mall and shopped around. It felt great being able to relax in the city. We ate dinner at the mall and watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2. It was a great way to end my first week here at Brown.

Artificial Attractions

The topics discussed in class today were so very intriguing. I was honestly blown away at how much I yearned to keep the class session going. The highlights were: 1. How advertisements destroy self-esteem in women and promote violence. 2. Social norms and how they affect our everyday lives.

Today I participated a lot more than usual because I was so passionate about these subjects. I could actually relate to them and that gave me a better understanding of how they affect our communities.

Videos were shown of two women speakers who talked about the topics. I wasn’t able to catch the first speaker’s name, but she tied biology and social norms together. I had many of the same ideas that she discussed and was very excited to speak my mind when discussion time came around. There were some very interesting statistics I learned today such as people who have surgical operations performed on them just so that they could fit in with the social norms. I found it a bit nerve-wracking because I am a big believer in evolution. What if those “mutations” were actually advancements in the human population that we are compromising just because we want to blend in with other “normal people”? I expressed my idea and was pleased to find that others found my perspective interesting and as something that should be considered.

Another fascinating topic was advertisements and how they affect women and men in society. A woman named Jeanne Kilbourne was shown in a video where she expressed her ideas of how advertisements lower self-esteem in both women and men. Usually it is far worse for women because we often see images of “perfect women” in television commercials, magazines, billboards, etc. and it plants a seed of doubt within our minds that soon sprouts into low confidence. A large majority of women tend to want that almost unattainable “beauty,” and I find it funny because those images that are fed to us have been previously doctored and are, therefore, unrealistic depictions.

As the end of class neared, I wished that the conversation would never die down because it was so compelling to see other girls’ opinions on subjects that I am very interested in.

After class us Brown II cohorts met up with Ms. Williams at Providence Place. She took us to watch Harry Potter 7 which was amazingly interesting. It re-sparked my interest in the series and I will be re-reading all 7 books again. Mariko and I discussed the differences between what was written in the book and what was being depicted in the movie. The books always seem to be better.

Media: Killing Us Softly

Today in class we focused on media literacy. First we watched a Ted Talk with Alice Dreger discussing anatomical norms, and how gender isn’t necessarily as clear as male and female. Although she believed it was good to be aware of these differences, she was worried that discovering so many differences might destroy the concepts of unity that were created by our Founding Fathers and other leaders. The concept that “all men are created equal” seems to be less valid with more differences present.
We also watched a movie called Killing Us Softly 4, which portrayed and discussed the subliminal messages portrayed by the media through advertising, and the effects that it has on our society. Some, although still shocking, were more known, such as the dangerously skinny women that were considered to be “ideal women”, and how this leads to self-hatred, depression, and eating disorders among women of all ages. One new thing that we did learn about this, however, was how greatly digitally altered those models even were, and how some of those women were even “pieced together” from four different women. We also learned that about only 5% of the population naturally has such a long-and-lean body type, and that even those are never that skinny.
Some subliminal messaging that I was not so aware of was the objectifying of women, like women literally being turned into beer cans and bottles. This is not only a sad way to sell a product, but also makes women appear as though they are not true people, but an object that you may enjoy just like a man would enjoy a bottle of beer. Women are also often showed in weak, vulnerable, and insecure positions, giving off the impression that “perfect women” should be weak, submissive, and seen but not heard. It was also extremely shocking how much violence and abusive relationships were promoted subliminally, as was violence in general.
After watching these videos, the girls reacted with much shock, enthusiasm, and anger with regards to the video. We discussed how even though it isn’t possible to change the advertising industry and society’s skewed view of beauty and women; it is possible to spread awareness of the subliminal messaging. And most importantly, we must be aware of it and not let ourselves to be affected by it.

Nosebleeds

My nose is bleeding as I write this, so my apologies if this is not my best work. I have been struggling with random nosebleeds lately for some reason, probably the heat. I really like the weather here. The first few days it was far too hot for me, but now it is cooling down and it is incredible.

Today in class we spoke a lot about sex and gender roles in society. We also discussed how marketing has victimized women and held up an unattainable beauty standard. It turns out that gender is not as black and white as people would like to think. There are many in-betweens that people don't like to acknowledge. The media often objectifies women and uses their sexuality as often as possible to sell any product. Also, the use of overly thin models has causes many psychological problems in young girls because they then people that is what it means to be beautiful. It is sad that our society has come to this.

However, I do not have a problem with displaying beautiful women in advertisements. That is smart marketing. People are attracted to beauty. Unattractive things do not catch a persons eye. The problem is that the media is altering our perception of beauty to make it something that isn't healthy or achievable. Personally, I do not think that advertisements have really had a lasting effect on my ideals of beautiful women.

I am so thankful for the incredible friends I've made here. I am completely whole-heartedly going to miss them very much when I leave. There are some girls here that I know have made an impression with me that will last for a lifetime, and I certainly will not forget any of them. I've only known them for about a week and already they have become my best friends. I adore them. This is a truly life-changing experience for me. I am completely recreating how I view myself and how I view other people, and I like that. I am very thankful for this opportunity.

Day 11: Day At The Mall

This morning I woke up from a deep sleep. I quickly got up to take a shower and rushed to get dressed because I fell asleep before I finished my journal entry for the class.

In the class, we learned about media literacy and watched Killing Us Softly 4. It was fascinating to see how women are portrayed in the media. It is interesting to see how men are treated, too. There is such a double standard and when we went to the mall with our chaperone, we were looking at all of the ads seeing how the women were portrayed.

After class we went to the mall, Providence Place to go shopping and see the final Harry Potter installment. Once we got home, we ran around. I got my nailed painted by D'ara, another girl on my floor. I blogged while I waited for them to dry.

I am excited to sleep in tomorrow. I plan to work on my Action Plan and Woman Monologue. Then I want to go crazy and splurge at the mall again. But I doubt that it would all happen.

Not As Simple As "Male or Female"

I am so glad that it is going to be the weekend! I love class and I am learning so much, but I am exhausted and I am seriously about to pass out and sleep.

In the morning, we discussed the reading from last night in groups of about four people. My group had a great time talking about the reading, which basically consisted of studies that compared the different leadership styles of male and female leaders.

Obviously, there is no single way to be a leader, but the studies tried to average their findings to reach a relatively accurate conclusion. Female leaders are supposedly more effective because of their greater empathy, listening skills, and urgency. These are only the main points; there were other qualities and other arguments in our reading as well.

Once we felt we had covered that topic, my group had our own little discussion about the root causes of male chauvinism. We then covered this subject briefly with our entire class.

We also watched a fascinating film about gender and sex. We learned about intersex people, who can call into question many societal norms and ideas about anatomy/biology.

Caroline, Kaylyn, and I enjoy lunch at the VW

I really enjoyed the movie in the morning, but I have to say that the movie we saw in the afternoon took the cake. Known as “Killing Us Softly 4,” the film was a video recording of a woman’s presentation about the subliminal messages found in advertising. Our whole class was horrified to hear about the way ads can insidiously work their way into young girls’ minds and cause them to hate their bodies.

Additionally, we learned that ads create an atmosphere where it is okay for men (and women) to treat women’s bodies as objects. Perhaps most terrifying, we were shown images that seem to advocate for dating violence. We had a very energetic discussion in class after the movie. This movie was so good at making people think!

After class, we ILC girls took a taxi and met up with Ms. Williams at the mall for our meeting. We then wandered around the mall and did a little shopping. I went to dinner with Josie, Cynthia, Ava, and Rebecca. Then, the five of us and Adrianne dragged Ms. Williams to the Harry Potter movie!

We meet with Ms. Williams at the mall

Josie and Ava enjoy dinner

Caroline gives Kaylyn a henna tattoo

After the movie we took taxis back to our dorm. I immediately went back to my room and blogged. :)

Gender Studies and Magic Wands

Today's objective was gender and sex and women in the media and technology. When Kisa announced that we would be studying and discussing this, I was very excited. I find gender studies to be very interesting and I wanted to learn more.

Before we started the topic, we got in groups and discussed the readings from Wednesday and Thursday night. My group consisted of Selena, Cynthia Z., and D'ara. Based on the readings, each group got two blank fliers. On one of the fliers, we titled it "Act Like a Man", and then the 2nd paper was titled "Be Ladylike." We listed qualities of each and then drew a box around those qualities. Outside the box, we listed the names that men or women would be called if they did not express these qualities. We then went around the room and checked the different groups fliers. I thought it was interesting how they were all similar. As a class, we concluded that society judges others subconsciously, which is horrible because we can say we want to stop judging so much but we do it all the time. 

After the discussion, we watched a film. The video was filmed at Northwestern University [in Chicago] and the speaker was Alice Dreger. She provided lots of information about humans and genital studies, along with interesting facts:

• A man was born with male genitals but was internally female. Doctors figured this out when he was nineteen that he as menstruating internally, which caused many medical problems for him.
• In Berlin, a female runner was falsely called out for "being a male"
• Humans share 90 percent of DNA with chipmunks 
• According to Alice, the "Founding Fathers were racist and sexist, but at the same time, they were great. They rejected supernatural ideas and were interested in naturalism. They were setting up the [future] Civil Rights movement."
• There are those who have a penis but a uterus and ovaries inside of their body, or a partly formed penis/vagina, or a vagina with testicles in their body 

After lunch, we watched another film called "Killing Us Softly (Version 4)" - it was utterly fascinating and my favorite film of the day. The film is about ads that a woman named Jeanne Kilbourne that completely degraded women:

• The average American sees about 3,000 ads a day, such as ads on airplanes, buses, bus stops, in the market, on vending machines, etc. America is all about subconscious marketing 
• Ads sell more than products - they sell a vision of sex and love
• Women never have any scars, blemishes, or even pores in advertisements 
• 20-30 rounds of retouching are done by photo retouchers with a client. There was a clip where a woman sits in a makeup chair, gets her makeup and hair done, takes her photo shots, gets retouched, and then the camera zooms out of a billboard ad. 
• Breasts are used as a way to market anything. Some girls even get breast implants as graduation presents. 
• One version of how breasts are used to advertise something that has nothing to do with breasts: "Too flat, too big, too far apart....etc....but at least these hair products can get your hair the way you want it with these products!" 
• Horrible fashion statement: "The more you subtract, the more you add."
• Fewer than 5 percent of women look like the retouched women in magazines 
• Women are bombarded by diet product ads. 90 percent of dieters gain that weight back in 5 years if they continue to use diet pills and/or marketed diet plans 
• Women are typically bent over in a strange position in model shots, whereas men usually stand/sit in a dominant position 
• When men are objectified, they are stronger and powerful, whereas women are objectified as fragile and vulnerable 
• Men are exposed to masculinity equaling violence and to be insensitive 
• Ads eroticize violence. When you link sex with violence, it is the most dangerous ad. Some ads seem to depict murder as well. 1/3 of female murders at at the hands of their male partners.

I thought the movie was great. I learned so much about advertising and marketing; I'll definitely think about this the next time an ad comes up.

We had a fun activity a couple of hours after class; the Brownies got to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Movie 7, Part 2! The film was suspenseful and amazing. I enjoyed it a lot. It was a great film and a great way to wrap up the series.