blog 10

a soundtrack that represents a healthy body image...

1. "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera - obviously.
2. "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" by Mika. this song is fun and lighthearted and it's all about feeling beautiful in your own skin!
3. "Sexy Ladies" by Justin Timberlake. Nothin' like JT calling you sexy to make you feel it.
4. "Ego" by Beyonce
5. "Bad Body Double" by Imogen Heap. It's about the person she sees in the mirror, who has cellulite and messy hair, etc. It's kind of a funny take on the physical imperfections that we all have that we don't like. To me it says: it's okay to laugh at yourself, and it's okay to have insecurities too. but you're still wonderful!
6. "So Damn Lucky" by Dave Matthews Band

blog 9

This ad is sexist because the positioning of the woman's face in relation to the sandwich makes her look like a blow-up doll, objectifying her as if her only purpose is sexual. It also compares the sandwich to a penis ("seven incher"). This is harmful because of the gender messages it sends about both men and women: a man is just a penis (literally a hunk of meat) and a woman is just there for sexing.

This ad, and all the other Kelly Ripa for Electrolux ads, is sexist because of its portrayal of woman as do-it-all housewife. Cult of domesticity, anyone?

This is obviously sexist because of the message it sends: women are bad at driving, and need it to be simplified.

Vodka ads are usually salacious, and usually sexist. Here the woman is lowered, literally at the man's feet. She is scantily clad while he is fully dressed. He clutches his phallic symbol (the vodka) as she removes her sunglasses - her only shield - to see it.

This ad is sexist because, again, the woman is naked and the man is fully dressed. She is there only for sex, as she grabs his crotch while he's all "YEAAHHH! I GOT MY WHISKEY AND MY CIGAR! I'M A MAN!!!"

I think that popular culture has affected the way most of us view men and women, whether we'd like to admit it or not. It'd be impossible to grow up in America with any media exposure and not get ideas about gender from that. We learn the sexual double standard of men and women (he's a stud, she's a slut) pretty early. We learn that a single older man is a swingin' bachelor and a single older woman is an old maid (or, I guess, a cougar - as if to say that a woman who wants to date younger man is some kind of jungle predator).

Popular culture has also affected the way we view race and class. We learn that Asians are smart, Hispanics don't speak English well so they're probably lazy or drug dealers, that black people are either gangsters or really really funny.

I do tend to point out things I find sexist in advertising, TV and movies. I think it's important to understand how subliminal those messages can be - we can't just internalize everything without questioning it.

When I first hear feminist, I'm actually happy. Feminism has helped me in a lot of personal ways in the past year or so. I no longer carry the negative connotations of feminism with me. I see feminism as freeing and equalizing. These positive associations have come from feminist role models in my own life, as well as learning about feminism in my women's studies classes.

paper 2

Annika Larson

Paper 2

Body Image vs. Reality

Precious and The Bluest Eye

Precious and Pecola are ugly adolescent black girls whose lives are the platforms of two important stories about race, beauty, and social class. Underneath rich storytelling and character development lurks a subtext of body image and beauty standards in Lee Daniels' Precious and Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye.

Both stories discuss the standard of beauty as it relates to black girls. The Bluest Eye emphatically demonstrates the black girls' internalization of whiteness as the standard of beauty. Pecola almost obsessively drinks white milk out of a cup that has the blonde, blue-eyed Shirley Temple on it when she is staying with Claudia and Freida. Claudia also has a white baby doll. This is evidence that black children and white children alike subscribed to the same ideals of beauty. In their lives, this translates into real occurrences and consequences. The girls feel admiration, envy, and hatred for a light-skinned classmate named Maureen; the general consensus is that she is the cutest because of her skin. Finally, the internalization of whiteness as beauty manifests itself most strongly in Pecola's wish for blue eyes and eventual obsession with her new blue eyes once she believes she has gotten them.

In Precious, there are similar instances in which we, the audience, see the white beauty standard in relation to the black protagonist. One is Precious looking in the mirror and seeing a thin white blonde girl staring back at her. Seeing herself as something she isn't gives Precious peace of mind in her tumultuous, painful world in which she feels ugly. Like the characters of The Bluest Eye, Precious' neighbor Ruby, who could be called a younger version of Precious because of her socioeconomic situation, has a white Barbie doll. Precious also expresses a wish for lighter skin. To her, light skin is a representation of beauty. Historically, this has the ideal for many black women. Since whiteness has been the beauty standard through history in America, light skin is sought after because it means you are white or have white blood in you. On an April 2008 episode of the Tyra Banks Show, black women of different skin shades appeared on the show to talk about skin shade issues. The overwhelming response to the question “Do light-skinned black women have it easier?” was “YES.” One black woman, whose sister was lighter than she, said she felt that her sister has had the advantage in life and is seen as the pretty one.

Both stories have a cycle of ugliness and self-hatred within them. One could argue that the mothers of Pecola and Precious feel just as ugly and self-loathing for being black, so they pass this along to their children through poor treatment. Mrs. Breedlove, Pecola's mother, works for a white family and treats the young white girl better than she treats her own black children, showing Pecola and the other black girls that white girls deserve better. And Precious' mother, Mary, relentlessly abuses Precious physically and mentally. Each protagonist must handle their role in the cycle, and each one does this differently. Pecola's ultimate response to her abuse and self-loathing is a descent into mental illness, believing she has the bluest eyes in the world and carrying on conversations inside her head.

Precious, on the other hand, changes the cycle by making things better for herself. She learns to read and write, and she promises to make a better life for her children so they don't end up like her. This new spirit is embodied during two distinct parts in the film. First, she sees her neighbor Ruby in the welfare office, and perhaps in a moment of sensing part of herself in Ruby, she ties her red scarf around the young girl's neck. In this scene, Precious is changing the cycle for Ruby and trying to make her feel beautiful despite everything around her telling her that she isn't. And towards the end of the film, Precious ruminates on something she'd written months ago about when her teacher, Ms. Rain, told her class to write about their ideal selves. Precious wrote about her ideal self as light-skinned and thin, but later realizes that her inner self is beautiful, and her inner self is a black girl. She accepts herself as she is and decides to make her life better.

Each work's title has significance to the story. The Bluest Eye represents Pecola's desire for blue eyes, or for a more 'white' kind of beauty. But she doesn't just want blue eyes, she wants the bluest. In other words, she wants to be the most beautiful, the most white. It's not enough for her to be merely pretty; she demands to be the best. Perhaps it is her desperate need for perfection that drives her to madness in the end. The title Precious represents the main character's name, obviously, but it's also a contrast to how Precious herself actually feels about herself. The last thing she would call herself would be precious, even though it is the name she goes by.

Each story ends in a very different way. Pecola's story ends with her talking to herself and believing she has blue eyes. She is deluded to believe that she has attained the beauty she wants. This delusion is a coping response to the trauma she suffers when her father rapes and impregnates her. Pecola's future, sadly, will most likely be a continuation of the hardships that her family has also had. Poverty, low social class, and a continuing self-hatred passed along to her children will most likely be parts of Pecola's future. Although Precious went through the same trauma as Pecola and lets it hold her down for a large part of her life, her ending is much happier. She changes herself so that her bad circumstances can no longer hold her down. Instead of believing she has attained a different kind of beauty, she sees the true beauty in herself and embraces it. She knows that life was rough for her, but she is determined to make a better life for her children. Her future has more hope. I envision Precious getting her GED and going to work, teaching her children to read and write and respect themselves. Unfortunately her life will likely be cut short by AIDS since she is HIV-positive, but I'm sure she will live to the fullest until then with a healthier body image and self-esteem.

Although both The Bluest Eye and Precious take place in the past, there are a host similar problems with beauty standards in relation to black women today. Firstly, there are many problems with the portrayal of black women in advertising. This hearkens back to slavery; before emancipation, black women were portrayed as the subservient “mammy” character that we now see represented on our bottles of Aunt Jemima pancake syrup. When emancipation took place and blacks were no longer under control of whites, the portrayal of black women suddenly changed. They were shown as sexual beasts, animal-like nymphomaniacs who would steal a good white man out from under his woman's nose if she wasn't careful. These images have carried on to the present, with a few additions. The classic “mammy” character still persists in images like that of Aunt Jemima and others. In a New York Times article from 2006, she is described like this: “Other than her size, she is almost always black. She typically finds herself in an exchange that is either confrontational or embarrassing. And her best line is often little more than a sassy 'Mmmm hmmm.'” This character is seen in Tyler Perry films and commercials for all kinds of products, including Pine Sol and Twix. Even Mo'Nique, co-star of Precious, embraces this stereotype at times in her comedy and her films, such as Phat Girlz. On the other hand, over-sexualized images of black women are also prevalent.

This ad for Louis Vuitton featuring Lil Kim is a prime example. Lil Kim is nude, in a sexualized pose that emphasizes her large butt, with the Louis Vuitton logo literally printed on her body. Not only does this demonstrate the oversexualized depiction of black women in advertising, it also suggests ownership of this woman by branding her. Turning on BET to watch hip-hop music videos shows an image of over-sexualized black women that is equally terrifying.

Not all advertising featuring black women is negative; toothpaste commercials are pretty innocuous, and even Aunt Jemima has undergone a makeover (in 1989, she lost her bandanna and got a facelift, pearl earrings and a lace collar). But there are certainly still problems out there.

Another issue with black women and body image is the Barbie doll. The first black Barbie doll was not introduced until 1967 under the name “Colored Francie.” This doll used the mold of a white Francie doll, the only difference being a darker skin color. Christie, another black Barbie doll, debuted in 1968, while “Black Barbie” was released in 1980 with white features. Finally, in 2009, the “So In Style” dolls were launched, which were supposed to have more realistic African-American features. Currently, black Barbie dolls are making the news, after Walmart stores began selling them for about half the price of their white counterparts. Walmart says there was no racial implication, but others are saying it sends a message about the value of black and white women. This reminds me of a 1940s study conducted by Kenneth and Mamie Clark, in which children were asked to choose between a black and white doll and say which doll they'd rather play with. The results of the study showed that 63% of children said they'd rather play with the white doll. Recently, “Good Morning America” repeated the experiment with 19 black children. Their results were a bit happier: 88% of the children said they identified with the black doll, and most children said either both dolls or the black doll were “nice,” compared to 56% of children choosing the white doll in the original experiment.

This evidence shows that ideas about race and beauty are changing, but only ever so slightly. Stereotypes and negative images still carry on from the past, and whiteness is still seen as a standard of beauty in some ways. But Pecola and Precious may have felt differently about themselves had they lived in today's society, so as an optimist, I will take that as a sign that we are heading in the right direction.

Works Cited

J.B.. "Do light-skinned black women have life easier than dark-skinned black women?". About-Face.org. .

Peters, Jeremy W.. "An Image Popular in Films Raises Some Eyebrows in Ads". The New York Times August 1, 2006

Gomstyn, Alice. "Black Barbie Sold for Less Than White Barbie at Walmart Store ". ABC News March 9, 2010

Ahuja, Gitika. "What a Doll Tells Us About Race". ABC News March 31, 2009

"Barbie". Wikipedia. .

blog 8

Characters that portray a male stereotype:

• Joey on Friends
• all the guys in Judd Apatow movies (Pineapple Express, Superbad, Knocked Up)
• Mr. Big on Sex and the City

I think these characters are "stereotypical" males because of their views on sex and women. Joey is the most stereotypical: he eats a lot, loves sandwiches, has lots of anonymous sex, and is pretty much never in a relationship on the show.

The guys in Judd Apatow movies are obsessed with having sex and are usually inept when it comes to just about anything else. They all have varying characteristics as well.

Mr. Big is a typical 'male' because of his commitment issues and general misogyny. It takes him a long time to figure out how to treat a woman well. Other characteristics like his socioeconomic status also make him a stereotypical male.

I think these characters make points about maleness in society. Although these men are often inept at figuring out emotions and relationships, they also get favored because they are males, even if they are not as good-looking or intelligent as the women they are pursuing.

blog 7

An eating disorder is characterized by disordered eating: starving yourself, binging, purging, eating only extremely healthy foods. Accompanying the disordered behavior is a mental attitude that involves some kind of body dysmorphia.

I think that fashion and film industries are partially to blame when it comes to encouraging eating disorders among young people. Fashion models on the runway and in magazines are usually extremely thin because the clothes hang on them as they would on a hanger. They are made up to look beautiful and glamourous. Actresses also are under pressure to remain extremely thin. They have resources such as nutritionists and trainers that ordinary people don't, which is why they can get away with losing baby weight really quickly, for example.










so why do eating disorders surprise us?

PAPER!!!

Naomi Wolf's idea of “the beauty myth” permeates almost every facet of the culture in which we live. It is especially prevalent in advertisements, since they saturate every type of media, be it television, magazines, movies or the Internet. It can be very easy to overlook the perpetuation of the beauty myth in advertisements, because they are often subtle. But when looking through an educated and sensitive lens, it becomes obvious that people (I'd venture to say mostly women) are being attacked by a barrage of images and words that leave them feeling dissatisfied with themselves and their bodies.

So what is the beauty myth? Naomi Wolf says it is a societal backlash to women gaining more and more power. She cites historical examples such as the ideal of the “flapper,” a very thin woman, developing after women got the right to vote; and the ideal being Marilyn Monroe, a larger woman, when the cult of domesticity in the 1950s was strongest, and then immediately changing to Twiggy when women became more liberated in the 1960s. Wolf explains, “the more legal and material hindrances women have broken through, the more strictly and heavily and cruelly images of female beauty have come to weigh upon us.



Today's beauty myth, she says, tells a story. The story is that the idea “beauty” is universal, objective, and attainable by all women. The typical ideal portrayed by most advertisements is an image of a woman who is blonde, thin, tall, young, white, with sizable breasts. Wolf says of this mythical beauty, “women must want to embody it and men must want to possess women who embody it. … Strong men battle for beautiful women, and beautiful women are more reproductively successful. … None of this is true.” Yet it is still maintained in our society.

The relationship between popular culture and body image is a complicated one. The myth is constantly played out on television, in magazines' ads and editorial content (which is often influenced by advertisers, as they essentially keep magazines in business), and in film. Women across the country internalize the images they see in the media and compare themselves to those images. When it's not a match, insecurities arise. Thus we observe the overwhelming rates of eating disorders in our country which, when juxtaposed against the high obesity rate, creates a very intriguing picture of body image in the United States. What is going on here?

A good example of the beauty myth in pop culture is the show “Friends.” I really like this show, as do a lot of people. It's funny and clever and it has a very basic cultural root: everyone can relate to having a close-knit group of friends with whom they share everything. But the characters on the show are all just perfect-looking.




The female characters in “Friends” are thin and busty, with long pretty hair. Two of them are blonde. Monica was fat in high school, and they all tease her about it from time to time in a “Thank God you're skinny now!” kind of way. The men also fit into a mold of male beauty; they are all tall, thin, dark-haired, with distinctive facial features. Because the characters were relatively “normal” – that is, unglamorous and relatable with actual problems and insecurities – they were seen as what the typical woman should look like.



This is a bothersome ad that I found online for the clothing company Sisley. The image shows two young women, very gaunt and heavily made-up, holding straws next to a white dress. The text underneath the Sisley name is “Fashion Junkie.” The white dress is meant to represent cocaine, and the women seem to be pretty coked-up, with their sunken eyes and emaciated appearance. Sisley seems to be a repeat offender, as a Google search for their brand name brings up a host of ads featuring women being sexually objectified in some way.

This ad is offensive because of the message it sends. In 2007, 199,262 women were arrested for drug abuse violations (from the Office of National Drug Control Policy web site). This advertisement glamorizes drug abuse and makes it look cool. These women are wearing beautiful dresses, and they fit the ideal of very thin with long hair. The demographic that this ad is targeting is young women and teenage girls who like fashion.

Additionally, the women in this ad are portrayed not as strong and independent, but as weak addicts. The word “junkie” communicates that they need their drug of choice to sustain them, be it cocaine or fashion. They are hunched over the table in a passive position, needing to get their fix. The stereotypes about women that this ad preserves are that women are weak, can't rely on only themselves (usually they need a man to help them; here, they need their drug), and silent. The women are communicating nothing but desperation. Only one of them has her eyes open, and they are sunken back into her head. These women are dolls.

Here is an example of a positive ad that I found. It's for Kohl's department store, New Balance shoes in particular.



I think this ad sends a positive message about women for several reasons. Firstly, it communicates that women do indeed play sports! These women are active instead of passive. I love the big smiles on their faces; it's really refreshing to see women in advertisements being truly happy and joyful as opposed to a typical fashion ad where women appear either grouchy or orgasmic. The woman on the left in the sports bra looks like a more normal woman that is typically portrayed in ads: her belly isn't completely flat, her arms aren't like twigs, and you can see lines on her face from smiling. Also, since she is a woman of color, it's good that her hair appears curly and more natural.

The women look like best friends who do active things together, instead of dolls that exist only to please men. I couldn't say exactly how old they look, but they seem to be older than the typical 18-22 year old models that are usually seen in fashion ads. This ad is probably targeting women who exercise, or just women in general. I think it's applicable for all ages. It's very empowering for women as well as enforcing a different kind of femininity.

There is still a long way to go when it comes to the beauty myth in advertising. We are bombarded with negative images of women, and images that reinforce the impossible ideal. But, with ads like this Kohl's one, the Dove Real Beauty Campaign, and others, change is on the horizon.

extra credit: 1 in 3

I went to the event “When It Hits Home” on February 24, 2010. I was only able to stay for the first segment, which was a screening of the film “1 in 3.” The film was made by an Oklahoma alumnus, Lagueria Davis. It is about intimate partner violence and all the different people that can be affected by it. The film focuses on two women: one, a worker at the battered women's shelter; and the other is a wife and mother whose husband beats her.

“1 in 3” is relevant to women's & gender studies because it is a gender issue. Dr. Irvine, who introduced the film, said that only 10% of intimate partner violence victims are male, making it mainly a women's issue. I think that if someone cares about women, they should care about intimate partner violence because it is such a huge problem affecting all kinds of women in our country today.

The film wasn't exactly connected to what we are learning in class, but it reminded me of a few things. Women learn to be subordinate to men in the same way we learn to hate our bodies. It is a lesson that starts before we can even talk, and it continues forever. If a woman is not pretty enough, it could be reason for her husband to hit her. If a woman is too pretty, he could accuse her of trying to flirt with other men and then hit her because of that.

The main thing I learned from “1 in 3” is that intimate partner violence is everywhere. It's not a black problem or a white problem, it doesn't affect only poor people or only rich people. It is all around us and the only reason we don't see at as much as that statistic suggests we would is because people hide it. Just like women of all backgrounds have body image issues, women of all backgrounds suffer from intimate partner violence.

The film itself was devastating. It was well done and I thought the script was great, but watching it was a very difficult experience. The violence was not glamorized, nor was the reaction to the violence. There were several different types of victims portrayed: poor women, white women, black women, rich women. The main victim was a wealthy white suburban wife, while the woman who helped her at the shelter was a young black woman from a middle-class background. I appreciated this because I feared it would be another “white saves black” movie like “The Blind Side.” My reaction was sadness and bitterness. I felt these things because I know that a problem like intimate partner violence is not something that can be solved by a law or a protest. It is a learned behavior; violence breeds violence. I wish that more people had been at the screening so they could better understand.