Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Cinderella Ate My Daughter- Orenstein- Connection

Everywhere you look nowadays, moms and society are dollifying daughters.  From the disproportioned "perfect" Barbie dolls, paired with their Kens, to the oversexualized Bratz dolls, having crazy adventures in crop tops and mini skirts, girls grow up with ideas of role models with tiny waistlines, perfect breasts, stick-skinny legs, and perfect long hair.  Disney princesses are another example, as discussed in the excerpt, which are talked about as being alone and often times scared or hurt until a man with muscles and a perfect jawbone and sleek hair takes the princess into his arms and gives her that one kiss, the kiss every girl dreams about.  The kiss that breaks the princess of the curse, and signs eternal love for the pair.  As the child gets older, it turns into money, money, and more money.  From trips to Disney, including the authentic $100 princess costume, the park fee, the nearly impossible to get in to princess castle dinner, all the way to the Disney bedspread with the princess tv and the princess dolls and the stuffed animals and the themed outfits, it never ends.  Even getting into teenage and adult, Disney princesses are marketed on sweatshirts, t-shirts, pajamas, and even slutty versions of the costumes.  And surrounding all of this marketing is the need for girls to have simply three things: money, beauty, and a guy. 

What this all amounts to, is ultimataely the oversexuality of little girls, in an effort to obtain those three things.  Shows such as Toddlers and Tiaras (video #1) or Dance Moms (video #2) display the mothers blatant drive to sexualize and beautify their daughters for money, beauty, and eventually, to attract a guy.




Both of these videos show the blatant sexualization of little girls, in an attempt to make them "princess-like".  Though outrageous, things like this are happening.  In my opinion, as in Orenstein's, girls need less provocative influences.  How about a Barbie construction worker?  Or a Barbie with a 34 A bra size?  Or how about even a Barbie and Kendra?  Is there anything so outrageous about that?

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Reflection on Michael Kimmel- What Are Little Boys Made Of?

I thought this was a very insightful piece that made me consider feminism in a new light.  In studying feminism, I have found that rarely do we stop and think about the the effect that the feminist movement has on men, and how they might feel.  This article reminded me of an article that I read in 11th grade, and you can find the link here.  Guys have been wrapped up in the feminist movement since it began, as part of the movement involves men taking more "feminine" roles, such as child care and nursing.  I think that having such a lengthy and powerful movement which is affected by so much passion is definitely having an effect on how boys are brought up and how men go about life. 
In class I would like to bring up the idea of raising children to be more or less feminine, as Renkl tried.  Also, I would love to know more about how the feminist movement is affecting the mindset of men, especially because we are now fighting for equal rights in a few of the last places that men are still on top, so to speak.  What are men feeling about women fighting for the last bits of total equality?  How do they feel about taking on more "feminine" roles in society?

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Argument of Barbara Smith's Racism and Women's Studies

This author, Barbara Smith, argues as one of her main points in her article Racism and Women's Studies that "white women"  are racist, but do not realize it.  I honestly do not believe this is true at all.  To me, this article just sounds like Ms. Smith is trying to hunt down every reason other white women dislike black women, and turn it into a reason why white women need to be more educated.  Quite frankly, I  zfound this article to be rather irritating to read.  While I do not disagree that black and white women have things to learn about each other, I do disagree that we are all still racist and do not know how to socialize with women of a different color.  I think it would not be difficult to get women of all colors and "races" together to rally for total feminist rights.  I think that "black" women and "white" women could find things to teach each other about their roles in feminism, and how their cultures come into play.  However, overall I found Ms. Smith's argument to be largely invalid.

What I would like to bring up to the class is an issue that we talked about in my Biological Anthropology class.  Race does not exist.  It is a man-made, false concept which was created to assign new meaning to social order and class.  I think if we focused on that, instead of bringing "races" together, we could get a lot more done.  Why should someone be picked on because they have darker or lighter skin?  It makes no sense.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

bwagh

it's going to be a wednesday morning sort of week.  I had a midterm yesterday and i have one at 8am tomorrow and i just want to scream and cry right now because i'm so stressed >.<  i just can't force myself to stay up and understand this right now.  so i'm going to go cry and you shall all see my post around 10 am tomorrow.  goodnight all <3

Sunday, October 2, 2011

People Like Us Discussion

So on Thursday we watched "People Like Us" which was a very interesting view into the lives of different people and how they handle wealth and social status.  I think one of the stories that touched me the most was the one about the woman who walks a ridiculous distance to work everyday and still gets called terrible names because she can't afford to drive.  I think that part really shows to me how our country focuses on someone's wealth rather than their determination, which is really terrible because there are so many people who work very hard justi to maintain a lower middle class status, but then there are people who barely do anything and still manage to be able to throw away millions on things they don't need. 

One part that disgusted me was the part about the woman whose grandmother told her "not to let the poor people touch her" as though poor was a disease. 

As far as the quote goes, I really don't agree with it at all.  The woman I talked about in my first paragraph I viewed as acting very rationally.  It is not her fault so much as it is the economy's, and she is trying as hard as possible to work her way to a better future.  I think there are cases in which people who are poor spend the little money they have on frivolous things, because there was someone who worked with my brother (who is autistic and needs extra help)  who could barely take care of herself and her child, and yet she was spending much more than necessary on video games and christmas presents.  So there are times, but I do not think that there's a reason to generalize and stereotype.