Hey everyone! My name is Grace and I am currently a junior here at OU. I grew up in Dublin, Ohio with two sisters and one brother and my step mom actually just had a baby girl on December 22nd. After I graduated from Dublin Jerome High School I spent my first year of college at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. I love Charleston as a city but going to school there just wasn't the college experience I wanted. I love being at OU and my major here is Restaurant, Hotel and Tourism and I hope to eventually have a career in event planning. I am doing an internship at Disney World this spring and summer and would love to continue working there after I graduate next year.
Last quarter I took a Women and Gender Studies class that I can already tell will help me in this class. We looked a lot at the media and it's societal impacts on gender and what we deem to be appropriate for men and women to look like, say and do. Megan mentioned that we will be watching Jean Kilbourne's video "Killing Us Softly" which I also watched last quarter. The video focuses on the way women are portrayed in advertisements but I have found myself being much more aware of women's roles in all forms of media. The way that women are so clearly sexualized in just about every role, even when it's completely unrealistic, is pretty shocking. What's even more shocking, and also alarming, is the fact that I have gone so long without really noticing it, despite how obvious it is. From suggestive camera angles to revealing costumes, I truly feel that the television and movie industries are taking it too far. Even programs that are supposed to be more PG are riddled with sexual innuendos and unnecessarily suggestive elements and I'm sure that if you paid a little bit better attention you would be just as appalled as I am.
Grace,
ReplyDeleteI've noticed the same thing! I've taken a few classes here at OU that focus on Women's sexuality and how it's perceived in society, and it's really opened my eyes. The thing that really stands out to me as being the most appalling is how I myself get caught up in the hustle and bustle of being perceived as a "Woman". I'm not as obsessed as some girls, but I do notice that I try to keep up appearances for the wrong reasons, mostly those that deal with my looks. I've gotten a lot better at catching myself compared to when I was younger, but that still makes me question how it's affecting young girls today, because in my opinion, the advertisements with "sexy" women are continuing to get more forward and provocative each year. I really love what companies, like Dove, are doing to combat this obsession with appearances and negative views of sexuality. It gives me a sense of hope in a world where sexuality is key.
I agree with you both. I have seen the Jean Kilbourne video as well, and we have become a nation that is obsessed with the “beauty ideal.” If you aren’t the way the dominant culture wants you to be, then you are considered the “other.” Magazines, movies, television shows, and even cartoons, always refer to the wanted/ beautiful woman as being thin, blonde, heterosexual, tall, and white. It is so sad that we live in a culture that doesn’t accept all shapes, sizes, and skin colors. Jean Kilbourne talked about how when women of different skin colors are in the media, they are often portrayed as animals, thus making them less human. She also said that women are usually purposefully posed in sexual positions. I had not recognized these things until I watched the film, and now I, like Grace, seem to notice these images all of the time.
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ReplyDeleteHi Grace,
ReplyDeleteI agree with this completely! I’m mostly upset and disgusted about the sex that’s been fused into PG programs. Watching tv over break with my babysitting kids became a real problem and challenge when I started noticing suggestive language being used in KID SHOWS! For example, two adults on a nickelodeon show started using very obvious sexual innuendos! I so worried my “kids” would catch on, and this was on NICKELODEON!! That’s supposed to be for KIDS!! And people wonder why even younger kids are experimenting sexually!! Well, there you have it people, Nickelodeon! I just don’t understand why producers would even consider putting such content in a television show that is geared towards kids and has mostly ALL kid audiences anyways? Nickelodeon is not like Shrek where parents will sit down and watch it for an hour or two; which is another kid’s movie with lots of hidden and dirty jokes buried in it, but may be more ok since there IS an audience to see it at least. Whatever happened to censorship on tv?! If it can be so obvious in kid shows, I’m sure this kind of sexual content is even more apparent in more adult shows!