The Media Message

The BIG topic for discussion in the majority of my classes this week has been the controversy surrounding Rush Limbaugh and Sandra Fluke. Just to give background information about what happened, Sandra Fluke is a Georgetown University law student who appeared before a Democratic hearing earlier this month asking that the President make a ruling that employer’s insurance include coverage for birth control. Rush Limbaugh responded with accusations that if Fluke wants people to pay for her birth control, she there expects to be “paid for sex”, thus making her “a prostitute”.

It saddens me that in this day and age of post-Suffrage and Roe v. Wade, that women’s reproductive rights are still such a hot-button, controversial-and often seen as negative-issue. I wonder why that is? Meaning is the media that tells us that sexual freedom and the right to choice is wrong, or do the media merely reflect the opinions of the nation as a whole? Does Rush Limbaugh think his opinions should be ours, or does he only represent what he thinks many Americans already feel?

I often feel as if we as a society are moving backwards through time. In the post-World War II era of the 1950’s, the government launched a widespread media campaign to redefine what it meant to be a American, beseeching women leave their jobs in factories and return to the life of a homemaker and a wife and mother. This was done through popular programming like “I Love Lucy” and commercials for washing machines, irons, and domestic products. The catchphrase, “You’ve come a long way, baby” was a popular way of reassuring women they were finally where they were supposed to be. With this Limbaugh-Fluke situation, I see the mass media continuing its attempt to keep women in their place. But if it didn’t work the first time, what makes them think it will silence us now?

Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/14/rush-limbaugh-fired-poll-majority-fluke_n_1344301.html

Bethenny Frankel Flashes a Live Audience

By:Jennifer Nakavuma

I found this article/video on Bethenny Frankel, a women that has her own personal reality TV show on Bravo Television, where they shadow her marriage, her new experiences with her new born baby, and her career. After watching this video clip and reading the article of  her on  the Anderson show, the first thought that came to me was Ms. Representation. While attempting to have a push up competition with Anderson, Bethenny's dress went up, and unfortunately you see her under garments. After that occurrence, of course the audience laughed, and Anderson attempted to make the situation into a funny situation. The article on the other hand, I feel they described her incident as planned. For example, "Of her bright undies, which matched her equally fun-colored Brian Atwood pumps, she said, "Pink? You saw the pink?" The description of her under garments matching her pumps, and quoting what she said as if she planned the situation, all showed signs of describing Bethenny in a sexual manner. It all came down to her appearance, as described on Ms. Representation.  I found this article quit interesting because on her personal television show they portray her as the "perfect women," but once she steps foot on a talk show its more about her physical appearance. Below I have attached the original article. 

Bethenny Frankel Flashes a Live Audience

Friday March 16, 2012 04:00 PM EDT

• Facebook
• Tweet

Never one to shy away from eyebrow-raising antics, Bethenny Frankel has done it again.

The Bethenny Ever After star and upcoming talk show host, 41, flashed the live audience during a taping of the Anderson show.

In the episode, Frankel jumps down on the floor for a push-up contest with host Anderson Cooper, but in the process her dress lifts over her buttocks – and reveals bright pink panties.

With Cooper hunched over in chuckles, Frankel – whose embarrassment quickly faded – looks to the audience and says, "How'd it look?"

Of her bright undies, which matched her equally fun-colored Brian Atwood pumps, she said, "Pink? You saw the pink?" 

"SlutWalk"

 Did you know that

• Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted
• There is an average of 207,754 victims (age 12 or older) of sexual assault each year 
• 60% of sexual assaults are not reported to the police
• 15 of 16 rapists will never spend a day in jail 

And to top that off, a good percentage of the rapist are never punished for their crimes or considered rapist by our society. Women are finally speaking up for themselves and bringing awareness to our misconception of what rape is considered to be.

The SlutWalk started in Cananda a year ago, and has spread the movement across the world. It focuses on protesting against women who are blamed for being raped, or making any excuses for the rapist. Every year women of all ages, shapes and races join together to spread the word that rape is never the women's fault, no matter how she was dressed, how many drinks she said, or how much she flirted.

This also brings up other questions about double standards in our society concerning men and womens sexuality.

For example, the song Hold Us Down by Christina Aguilera Ft. Lil Kim
was playing on the Radio and at one point Lill Kim states:

"Here's something I just can't understand
If the guy have three girls then he's the man
He can even give her some head, or sex her off
But if a girl do the same, she's a whore"

So what exactly is the definition of a whore, and how do we determine when a woman was raped and when she was "asking for it"?

http://www.rainn.org/statistics

Baby Blues Comic

In case the text is too difficult to read;  (these quotes are from a mother of a young son, young daughter, and a baby detailing her day)
Human Resource Management : "Who wants to dust?"
Manufacturing : "Good. Now Glue that here."
Inventory: "Paper towels, tomatoes, toothpaste..."
Research and Development: "Let's look up the chief export of Paraguay together."
Sales: "I think you look lovely in it!"
Accounting: "Here's your lunch money.  Don't lose it."
The final cartoon box has the mom sitting on the couch with a thought bubble above her,: "Mom: The Ultimate Small Business."

Sometimes jokes and comics reach to the heart of real issues.  This particular comic titled Baby Blues was  in a Sunday edition of The Washington Post.  I found this comic to have strong ties with the plight of the stay at home mom found in The Feminine Mystique.  Being a full-time mother seems to be an under appreciated and way underpaid position, similar to a small business owner.  The amount of time and effort that goes in to this life style is almost expected and not respected.


Even mothers that have the opportunity to work, have to come home to a second full time job.  They still face many of these struggles that are often overlooked.

Liberia: IFJ Calls On Govt to Protect Threatened Female Journalists: http://allafrica.com/stories/201203161470.html

I came across this article on Google.  Just to sum it up, a female journalist, Mae Azango, wrote an article about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Liberia.  She was threatened by the society that practices FGM.  She was writing this article for International Women's Day but instead of getting recognition for bringing an important issue to the news, her life was brought into danger.  Journalists can face a lot of problems based on what they publish.  I think it is horrible that stuff like this still happens and that people like Mae Azango aren't safe to write about anything they feel is important.  She is now in hiding and IFJ is trying to protect her life.

She's A ‘Visionary’ To The Modern Woman. – The Acidity Of Man.

This month has not only brought with it the reawakening of Spring and the glorious rays of the sunshine, with students on a daily basis diving whole heartedly into the Mckeldin Mall’s fountain; March also brings with it a subconscious reminder to reflect upon the successes of women during Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day. We are reminded of the relentless battle women have been forced to endure in an active attempt to liberate herself from her suffocating, misogynistic order; to liberate and define her feminine voice, identity and existence. However, despite all the barriers women have managed to successfully break down and destroy, we are constantly reminded of how far she is yet to come; still  bound to man’s ‘artificial’ and ‘unattainable’ perception of beauty, living in a closed of society governed by the ‘glass ceiling’ complex and her subservient, domestic role carved out to her by man. This ‘blinkered’ understanding of beauty in which women are diminished to the image of the idealised and sexualised body; a possession, one man can accumulate, silence and also destroy. It is this manifested notion that has given birth to man’s barbaric, immoral victimisation of woman through the carefree, sadistic act of ‘acid attacks’; a weapon, restraint and fear imposed onto women on an international level. In the envious and chaotic act of physically, mentally and emotionally scarring a woman’s confidence, beauty and above sense of femininity, man essentially aims to regain his domineering sense of masculinity and self-elevated grandeur.  In the naïve, male fear of castration, one cannot help but think of the saying: ‘If I can’t have it then no one can’; the vulnerability of women is brutally objectified, her punishment in her ‘betrayal’ to man finds itself imprinted onto her existence forever.

I have chosen to write about this poignant topic because I feel ‘acid attacks’ are not renowned within the collective mentality of society on an international level despite the fact the cruel effects are everlastingly damaging; in a split second, a woman’s livelihood is destroyed simply for gaining a sense of independence, one that threatens to usurp her male ‘superior’. Katie Piper is possibly one of the most inspirational and breath taking women to ever step foot into the United Kingdom’s public eye; or rather a woman who was forced into it in the midst of a bloodthirsty turmoil, managing to carve out a sense of salvation, finding a purpose, a voice, a regained identity to guides others. In March 2008 Piper found herself powerless to the hired ‘hands’ of her ex-boyfriend’s sadistic cruelty, victim to a merciless rape and ‘acid attack’. In the blink of an eye, her world was temporarily shattered and she involuntarily was frozen into a sterile state of bewilderment and chaos. One cannot even begin to fathom the long term psychological effects, on top her loss of sight and the 110 medical procedures during the four year span she has been forced to endure, have had on her life. However, Piper has become a visionary in her own right and won the hearts of millions globally, including moguls like Simon Cowell; inspirationally setting up and becoming the CEO of The Katie Piper Foundation in attempt guide and loan her voice to the silent, suppressed burns victims. Piper, through her extensive and significant work has broken the allusive barrier that conceals the ‘ugly’ truths and horrors of the life of a burns victim survivors; but more importantly she has helped to change the collective mentality and our understanding of what it is like for a person living with a physical and mental disfigurement within a society obsessed with a sterile concept of beauty. Single handily she has challenged and redefined this concept of what it means to be ‘beautiful’; to delve deeper, beyond the physical appearance we place on its high pedestal. Alongside her foundation and campaigns, she has appeared in numerous Bafta Award nominated documentaries on Britain’s Channel 4 such as: Katie: My Beautiful Face, 'An Alternative Christmas Message, Katie: My Beautiful Friends and she released a chart topping autobiography: Beautiful; with follow up: Things Get Better due for release later this year. Consequently, I couldn’t help but leap for joy, when I heard earlier this month, after winning Sainsbury's Women of the Year "You Can" Award at the Women of the Year Awards 2011, Piper, after extensive stem-cell research and appearing in: The Science of Seeing Again, had in fact regained her sight thanks to Dr Mohammad Jawad, a man she herself labels her ‘hero’.

Patricia Lefranc from Belgium, like Katie Piper, also was forced to undergo 86 operations after she awoke from a three month coma induced by her ‘married lover’ who consciously poured sulphuric acid over her face after she left him jilted in 2009. As Lefranc stated 'Richard Remes…finally destroyed my life…he has also ruined my life as a woman. Who wants to deal with the monster that he made me?...I'm stared at on the street. Worse, I'm used as an example of what can happen to a woman who wants to put an end to a love affair.' Her heart wrenching confession defines just what her, Katie and so many other, ‘forgotten’ women have or could potentially lose, at the hands of such a viscous and callous act; they have, in a tangential, fleeting moment lost their sense and understanding of femininity and freedom. Therefore one cannot help but applaud this year’s Annual Academy Awards’ recognition of Daniel Junge’s Saving Face (2012), an awe inspiring documentary film that follows the lives of a select number of terrorised, Pakistani women who have been victimised by the ‘acid attacks’.  It is a film that actively documents the emphatic trauma and never ending battle to recovery that these women are forced to undergo; aided once again, step by step by the truly inspiration Dr Mohammad Jawad and his nuturing medical team. The film is quick to document how hundreds of Pakistani women each year are incarcerated further by men as they are ruthlessly disfigured by the inhumane acts. The fact that Hollywood would cast it’s appreciative eye a little further afield this year, appraising the arguable Pakistani ‘underdog’ and vividly exposing the true aftermath of such a monstrosity is revolutionally; but more importantly it actively raises awareness of an 'acidic' turmoil that potentially lies deep within all of man’s insecurities, and in affect our misogynistic order.

It is through the overt and inspiring nature of Piper’s work combined with films such as Saving Face that have essentially forced their audiences to demand a need for a change, resolution and infiltrate the ignorant nature of society’s collective mentality. And, it is through such ground breaking work that has provoked questions like how this primitive and animalistic instinct can exist within today’s modern society; but more importantly, acknowledge the true vulnerability of today’s women. Furthermore, it is through the raw, public exposure of such trauma that we are forced to question the naïve, collective understanding of beauty when such a thing is aggressively stripped from man’s suppressed, ‘inferior’. As countless women fall to the volatile ‘beast’ within all men, a need for change and justice burns deep within us.

Women and Language

Language is a reflection of our cultural understandings, and words are used to pass on this information to future generations. From this standpoint, we must critically analyze how language constructs gender norms, especially in influential mass media. For example, one of the most common descriptions of “human” is described only as “man.” This terminology is famously seen in the Declaration of Independence, where “all men are created equal,” but of course, this equality only applied to white men. The Seneca Falls Convention later appropriated this sentiment in their Declaration of Sentiments, declaring the rights of equality for women as well.

In The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan describes a “problem that has no name.” Evidently, women did not have the language to describe their experiences. Even today, we have to wonder about these inherent assumptions in our language. For the feminist movement, these gendered words must be reclaimed and redefined. As media and literature use derogatory terms like “bitch,” “cunt,” and “dyke” with the intentions of shaming someone, other organizations like Bitch magazine aim to reconstruct language at this fundamental level.

Overall, I think it is important to be aware of language’s influence on our cultural ideas. When consuming media, we must have more awareness about the historical roots and future implications of not only words, but images and stories as well, because they all exist in a larger framework. 

Go Terps!

There's a great profile in The Diamondback today on Terrapins women's basketball team forward Alyssa Thomas, the ACC Player of the year:

It took the glare of every curious eye in the room to get her to relent, to finally step into the spotlight she so feared growing up.

Fourteen years later, Alyssa Thomas can’t seem to leave it. The Alyssa Thomas who was so hesitant to shoot in elementary school that hardwood stardom seemed near-impossible is now Alyssa Thomas, ACC Player of the Year. The Alyssa Thomas who once put basketball second in her athletic hierarchy is now Alyssa Thomas, star of a Terrapins women’s basketball team set to begin its quest for a second national title.

All this from someone who never even wanted to play basketball in the first place.

I definitely suggest reading the whole thing, especially since we're studying women sports journalists after break.

Apology is Not Enough

            I was surprised to read the news about Rush Limbaugh a famous radio host calling a Georgetown Student a "slut and prostitute". These were the views that went live on air in regards to Sandra Fluke’s proposal to US Congress for the coverage of contraceptives through health insurance programs. The surprising thing is that these comments went live on air and with just a few words of apology he and his show both survived.

            There have been such comments about women on the media even before this one happened. The issue is that these words or comments are not only just words but are allegations over a citizen. In any case of using such words against women are not acceptable as these were not only comments but allegations. I think the best way to stop such attitude of mature media anchor is to stop listening and boycott such shows and anchors in terms of watching and promoting them. The need is to ignore and record your protest against such horrible events and comments made on mainstream media. We as people should not promote such anchors or personalities and they should be negatively charged for such words and material being live on air.

            If the people will keep promoting such ideas and abusive language on the media it will eventually become more acceptable into society. The media is now available to every age group which makes it vulnerable that children will understand such material as norm of the society. One as an individual has this responsibility to question and criticize media and its outlets on negative stereotypes attached to gender or racial inequality. Otherwise exposure to such material will be hazardous for both the current media users as well as upcoming generations.  

Lose the 'Weight Loss' Tips

When I opened the March 2012 issue of Unwind Magazine, a university student publication, I was surprised the first page was photo-match-up spread titled "Celeb Weight Loss." These days, there is so much attention about eating disorders and body image, and the university's Wellness Coalition made February Love Your Body Month. When I started reading the article, I realized it questioned the safety of many celebrity's crash diets. That's a good angle, but the headline wasn't clear enough to prevent me from jumping to conclusions when I starting my scanning with the photos.

Unwind chose a 'before' picture of Beyonce (singer-songwriter, actress, dancer, fashion designer, etc) that shows a figure many women would love to have. The last time I checked, the average women is a size 8, and in the U.S., the average is 12. On the left, Beyonce's arms are tiny, her legs look healthy, and her stomach looks fine. On the right, her legs are covered so we don't even know that they're thinner or more toned, and she's wearing a much different style dress that probably cinches her waist instead of clinging to the curves, like the pink one on the left. Basically, she looks the same to me.

I guess in discussing celebrities and their ridiculous diets, it's important to show pictures of them, but at first glance, this article looked a lot like "How to achieve the perfect celeb body," and I don't think the article goes far enough to ward students away from trying these diets.

One student said after a fad diet, she "had low energy and just ended up binge-eating," which kind of sounds like my standard. I'm sleep-deprived, and after about 7 p.m., I want to eat constantly.

If I were desperate to lose weight — disclaimer: I'm not — I'd need to hear scarier side effects than that to convince me it's a bad idea to try a "lemon juice, cayenne pepper, maple syrup and water" cleanse. Especially if I had severe body image issues, as many college-aged women do, and the diet would take my body from Jennifer Hudson-before to J.H.-after.

Woman Journalist In War Zones

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/opinion/20barker.html

After Tuesdays class about woman as war journalists I looked up some articles about the topic.  I had recently seen a documentary called Restrepo about two males journalists that live on small base in the Korengal Region of Afghanistan, which is known as the deadliest region in the world. Their documentary gave a view of the war that most people never see. I think its important to see the war from the average soldiers point of view, which is what Restrepo does. In my opinion it was a story that needed a male narrator / journalists. But not all stories in war zones are best told from a male perspective. What about all the females struggling for freedom and rights in many of these war torn middle eastern countries; I would think a female perspective would be best to tell a story like that. The opinion article I found in the New York Times talks exactly about that. The article is titled “Whey We Need Women in War Zones” and is written by Kim Barker. It was published February 19, 2011.

Barker goes into some horrific details of the struggles that female journalists go through in war zones. In particular she talks about being in Pakistan in 2007 and being groped and squeezed by men in large crowds that were rioting and protesting. Barker points out that much of these sexual assaults and beatings go unreported. At the end of the article she says “More important, they also do a pretty good job of covering what it’s like to live in a war, not just die in one. Without female correspondents in war zones, the experiences of women there may be only a rumor” (Barker). I think Barker brings up a good point that theses experiences are best told by females. She goes on to say “Female journalists often tell those stories in the most compelling ways, because abused women are sometimes more comfortable talking to them” (Barker). Overall, I enjoyed the article and thought that Barker addressed many important issues; many that I had personally never heard of.

University of Maryland Sports

Being from the Annapolis area, I have grown up with teams like the Redskins, Orioles, Wizards, Capitals, and Terps. Unfortunately, almost every team (except the Capitals lately) that I root for has been terrible. My friends and I always rant about how good it must feel to be from an area where teams usually win, like Boston. When I look into my Maryland sports teams (football, basketball, lacrosse for me), I notice a long history of mediocrity with small spots of National Championships. However, when I look at many of the women's teams like soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, and basketball, I notice that this trend is far from the same.

It made me think about how the general public views a college's sports teams. The opinions are based typically on how good or bad the football and basketball teams are. The women's soccer, lacrosse, or field hockey teams could dominate teams, go undefeated, and win National Championships, and they will only get a hidden story in the Washington Post or perhaps a front page of the Diamondback. Is this because we see the men's teams as the norm? We call the men's basketball team the "Terrapins" and the women's team the "Lady Terrapins", does this reinforce the idea that the women's teams are subordinate?

This also brings up the idea of Title IX and how sports scholarships are alotted. In my opinion, if these big schools had the ability to, they would use every scholarship on young men because the women's teams do not make them as much money. It's a sad truth that may not change. I'm glad to see more and more female athletes dominating sports and getting recognititon; it is the only way things will ever change.

Birth Control, Abortion and Viagra?

So lately there has been a lot of attention in politics about the availability of birth control and abortions for women. Many of the arguments about making birth control and abortions illegal is that the fetus in the mother is a person too. But this got me to thinking biologically. Technically, until the baby is born it is a parasite, feeding and living off of the host which would be the mother. There are several arguments towards having legal abortions and birth control available to women. When faced with little to no choice and women can't have a baby, they are more willing to go the illegal route and get illegal abortions. This increase risk to women can cause severe health problems from the improper procedures that are done. Now there is some motions in congress to limit men's access to Viagra. Right now there are already several states that have anti-abortion laws, including Arizona (I state Arizona because of their recent history of passing several laws that have had a lot of media attention). However, does this really make things equal for men and women in regards to choice in sexual reproduction. These laws that were proposed are in protest of the anti-abortion laws but really shouldn't these laws be considered just as seriously as the anti-abortion laws? Women face some of the harshest criticisms when it comes to their responsibility with sexual reproduction so now would be the appropriate time to address the responsibilities of men when it comes to sexual reproduction.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/third-female-lawmaker-introduces-bill-limit-men-viagra-204340160.html

I can see clearly now, rather more clearly...

If it weren't for this class, I would have just looked past this article. But because I'm taking this class, my eyes are open even wider to notice things I wouldn't have before. The tags on this article are FAIL, WTF, LOL, and OMG. The ads portray sexism in vintage ads, which shows how far we've come, not only as women, but as a society. I won't say too much, but rather let you be the judges.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/babymantis/sexism-in-30-vintage-ads-1opu

Stereotypes come to light

I was hanging out with my roommate as she was doing laundry the other day and her boyfriend had left some things that she was washing for him. We got on the subject of women being stereotypically responsible for doing laundry when she asked if I had seen the article about the tags a company had started putting in their men’s pants. I hadn’t so I went and looked it up. What I found kind of blew my mind.

See below:

A British company, Madhouse, posted these instructions under the washing instruction “GIVE IT TO YOUR WOMEN IT’S HER JOB” on the tag of their pants.

Not only this is highly offensive, it’s just encouraging men young and old to continue to enforce these ideals with their girlfriends and wives. Luckily the reason this made the news was because the Digital Media Editor of the Daily Telegraph, Emma Barnett, found it on her boyfriend’s pants and posted a picture on Twitter saying “Still so shocked at this label in my boyfriend’s new trousers. #womenriseup”

The exposure caused the issue to blow up on Twitter. Users were demanding a reaction from the store where the pants were purchased. In response Madhouse claimed they didn’t know that the “instructions” were there… sure.

While the media may be a rough place for women at times we can’t discredit the good exposure that it has provided in some regards. Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook give women an outlet to share injustices and help each other spread the word so things, even small ones like this tag, can be refuted and brought to light. If men are constantly told through business companies, media outlets and advertising that these stereotypes need to be upheld then how are they going to change their outlook on it? It’s a perpetuating cycle unless women, like Emma Barnett, take a stand and share the word with others. With the accessibility and availability of social media these instances can be shared all over the world with all kinds of women instantly who are able to respond to one another and raise awareness that these stereotypes still exist and certain men are encouraging them with messages like the one on these pants.

Articles on this subject were not hard to find online; however, I expected more coverage than what it received. Many of sites it was shown on were blogs or the little side blogs of big news networks. For example, on MSNBC this article was tucked into the “Styleite” column. I didn’t see it appear on one major network’s main page. It’s not a breaking story or anything, but it is noteworthy and it hardly got that. I think this portrays a sense of who’s in charge of picking stories, like we’ve discussed in class many times. Women need to have more decision making power behind the scenes if stories about women and about injustices against women will see the light more often.

The article, “Do pregnant black women receive worse medical treatment than whites?,” written in The Grio by Onome Akpogheneta addresses the question of why black women have the highest rates of maternal and infant mortality in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control wants to understand the causes for these “pregnancy-related outcomes.” Does racism play any role in this? There have been no studies thus far that show a correlation between racism and maternal and infant mortality. However, some research shows some pregnant black women receive poor treatment in hospitals and “unequal access to health services.” A representative from the International Center for Traditional Childbirth stated, “Many [women] are in the public health care system. They don't have access to or support to take birthing classes or maintain breastfeeding. They often give birth alone with no support besides hospital staff. And, some expressed fear during their time in the hospital based on their treatment.”

            After reading this story, I can understand why people are questioning if racism has anything to do with this phenomenon. The article points out that black women are “marginalized, stereotyped, and stigmatized.” Black women—and black people in general—are stereotyped as being angry and poor, which may lead some people to think they are not the proper candidates for raising children. As a result, not receiving equal maternity health services as other women who are white or other races may be the consequence. The Oregon study that is discussed in the article showed that “two-thirds of pregnant black women did not attend birth education classes prior to giving birth.” Is it fair to automatically say this is because of racism? Or are these black women not attending birth education classes by choice? Are these classes being offered in the communities that they live in? These are all questions that came to mind as I was reading this article.  In a similar article written by Michelle Chen on Colorlines.com, she states, “From a human rights standpoint, that statistic places the United States behind many other industrialized countries despite the enormous amount the country spends on health care. The high rate of maternal deaths among Black women—along with the shockingly high Black infant mortality rates—are a haunting testament to stark inequalities in health insurance coverage and access to prenatal care and family planning services.”

            Although, the article states there is no concrete evidence that shows racism is responsible for the high maternal and infant mortality rate in black women, there is evidence that good health services for women in black communities are limited. I’m curious to see how this story develops.

100th Anniversary of Girl Scouts

Today in class, it was mentioned that it was the 100^th anniversary of Girl Scouts.  For some reason, it stood out and intrigued me to further research it.  The Girl scouts anniversary is relevant to both me and our class.  It is relevant to me because I was a daisy in kindergarten, a brownie in first grade, and I have been eating their cookies for as long as I can remember.  It is relevant to this class because Girl Scouts are constantly being discussed in the media and through other means of communication.  The discussion of Girl Scouts is linked with the portrayal of women in the media, which is the main point of our class.

The portrayal of Girl Scouts is particularly interesting to me because the media describes them in a much different light than most other females.  For instance, Girl Scouts are not seen as sexual objects, they are not seen as toys, and they are not demoralized or viewed as weak.  Instead, they are looked at positively and are judged based upon their achievements and accomplishments.  They are not judged on their appearance but on what they do for the good of their communities.  They are recognized for their hard work, commitment, and dedication.  Moreover, they are seen for their honorable character and attitude.

The Girl Scout Cookie Program is meant to be a means to help girls to develop people skills, business ethics, and money management.  Girl Scouts are noted for their fundraisers and community service.  Their smiles and cookies bring happiness into the lives of many.  Forbes had a great quote in an article about the 100^th anniversary.  It stated, “Thin Mints are successful because much like the Girl Scouts and their troupes, they are simple.  They’re the leaders of the group and you just don’t mess around with perfection”.  This is an example of how Girl Scouts are portrayed in the media.  It portrays girls in a way that girls should always be portrayed.  I felt uplifted in result to reading about the 100^th Anniversary of Girl Scouts.  I hope to start reading more stories that depict girls in such a positive light because unfortunately, these types of portrayals are rare. 

Deb Nelson

Deb Nelson, Pulitzer Prize winners and investigative reporter, shared her experiences as working in a male dominated industry. She talked about during her early career she would be in a general news media to discuss the distribution of stories for coverage. She recalled someone saying, “We need someone with balls” to call the story. Nelson questions, “Why not someone with tits or ovaries?”

Nelson also faced initial stunts in her career due to being placed on topics that were considered meant to females. She had been given the change to write about fashion during a trip to Paris but instead turned down the opportunity to cover domestic violence in Chicago. Once covering the stories she was surprised to learn how men who broke into ex-girlfriends homes and strangled them were only charged with a misdemeanor during their trial. Nelson said that the chances of a male in those types of cases getting charged as guilty was “almost negligible.”

Another interesting topic that Nelson spoke about was her relationship with her husband, a fellow investigative journalist. She said people ask her how she manages to balance her career along with her children. However, her husband has never once been asked the same question. She told the class that her solution was to have her and her husband take an equal amount of time off work to raise their children. Nelson also said margarita’s help to keep her duel roles balanced.

Top 99 Women of 2012

I recently found a website called AskMen.com, which is a men's online magazine. They currently have a "Top 99 women" of 2012. These "top women" are not judged by their accomplishments, rather, these 99 women are judged on their desirability. 

I can not properly sum up the qualifications for this so I decided to include the description in this blog post: "Scarlett? Sofia? Kim? Katy? Which sexy, confident, spectacular women captured our hearts this year? With the help of our loyal readers, we scoured the globe to find the Top 99 Most Desirable Women of 2012 -- from steamy Colombian nightclubs to the high fashion runways of Milan, from brains to busts to business sense."

This description for the "Top 99 women" is not only derogatory towards women, but also sexualizes women. I decided to see who some of these women were. The first woman featured, number 99 on the list, is Paz De La Huerta. The picture the website has selected to use shows her groping her body in an overly sexualized way. 

The next woman on the list, number 98, was Pippa Middleton. I was hopeful when I saw a picture of her simply smiling and not an overly sexual picture. However, the website talked purely about her looks and her "toned behind." 

After going through the list of 99 women, I noticed there were many accomplished women on the list. Without fail, every single woman on the Top 99 list was chosen based on her looks and have many sexual undertones.

While I understand this is a guy's online magazine, this list of "Top 99 women" is extremely derogatory and focuses strictly on a woman's looks, rather than her accomplishments. 

Website of Top 99 Women 2012 Edition: http://www.askmen.com/specials/2012_top_99/