Extra Credit-The Vagina Monologues

Attending “The Vagina Monologues” was incredibly eye opening in so many different ways. This event focused on preventing violence against women by raising awareness about the situation.

“The Vagina Monologues” was relevant to Body Image vs. Reality because it focused on women loving their bodies, even the part that is taboo to talk about, the vagina. Each monologue focused on different issues. Some of them were extremely descriptive, while others told stories of real women’s lives.

This event enriched my knowledge of the frequent abuse of women and the insecurities abuse creates. The statistics that were quoted between monologues were shocking and made me realize that this is an issue that doesn’t receive much attention, but is certainly a problem. It’s different to read about it on paper than to actually hear in graphic detail what has happened to some women. They become actual people instead of just a number. It also enhanced my understanding of what women are fighting for and against.

The word “vagina” was said so many times, I actually became indifferent to it, and it was amazing to see how many people showed up to the event. I expected the crowd to be full of women, but rather it was a mixture of both genders. This tells me that violence against women is a large enough problem to have a following. I applaud the actresses in “The Vagina Monologues” greatly for getting up on stage and sharing what were sometimes uncomfortable sentiments. Although the monologues were not about the actors, they gave voices to women without one. They represented the women all over the world who suffer silently.

This really opened my eyes to the different types of abuse and how subtle some forms can be. For instance, the first monologue, “Hair,” was a tale of how a woman shaved her pubic hair to please her husband. This was a very painful process for the women, but it was something that the husband demanded. Even something that seems so trivial can be classified as abuse because of the psychological harm it inflicts.

I applaud the efforts of “The Vagina Monologues” to dare to put on a shock-value production, but sometimes it is the only way to raise attention for a cause

Don't Like It? Just Alter It!

Cosmetic surgery, according to author Debra L. Gimlin, was initially utilized by men who were injured during wars or industrial accidents. Today, the plastic surgery industry markets mainly towards women who are unhappy with their looks.

Plastic surgery is the absolute most extreme measure a person can take to alter their looks. With all the new technology and advances in medicine, people can become virtually unrecognizable after undergoing surgery. I personally do not agree with it in general, especially procedures such as liposuction. Sucking fat out of one's body is taking the easy way out instead of diet and exercise. Even if you can't lose those last few pounds, maybe it's just how your body is shaped. Everyone is going to have a little extra fat they would like to get rid of, but only because society told us that we shouldn't be carrying any fat.

This type of surgery is most definitely taken too lightly. Within the term "plastic surgery" is the term surgery, meaning there is the risk of death. Death is too permanent to take lightly and all for the sake of improving your looks. For purely aesthetic reasons, plastic surgery is ridiculous. I have had plastic surgery myself, but for medical reasons.

I was born with a malocclusion, which means that my jaws did not line up and my lower jaw was a little more prominent. I was incredibly self-conscious about it, but at 18 I had both of my jaws broken and pieced back together with 4 plates and several screws. Before the surgery, I was excited. Since I hated my jaw, I figured this would be the perfect solution. It took several months of convincing the insurance company that this was not cosmetic, but medical surgery. The recovery afterwards was horrible. Yes, I now have a correct bite, but I lost most of the feeling in my chin. I had to wear rubber bands right after surgery to let the bone heal and spent about half a year recovering. Part of that was my freshman year of college. I lost a lot of weight because I couldn't open my mouth very wide to eat and when I did eat, I ate very little because it took so much time. After going through this much pain, looking back I really don't feel that my jaw was that prominent. Being unhappy with your looks has a better chance of being fixed through therapy than through surgery.

Getting plastic surgery is a product of our vain and shallow culture. Aging and body differences are a part of life, but we are reluctant to accept that we do not have complete control over our bodies. Most recently, Lisa Rhinna commented on fellow celebrity Heidi Montag and the amount of plastic surgery she has had. Rhinna said she refuses to keep magazines with Montag around the house for fear that her young daughters would see them and feel bad about themselves. However, Rhinna herself looks like a doll because she has had so much plastic surgery.

Ashley Simpson is another celebrity who had plastic surgery done, but refused to disclose it until several months later. In photos, she obviously had her nose and chin worked on, but tried to hide the fact that she had been unhappy with her looks. Disney Channel star, Ashley Tisdale, also had rhinoplasty but denied until several months later. At the time when these two women had their surgeries done, they had spoken about being happy with your body, yet they chose to alter theirs. Of course they had to hide their surgeries because celebrities are supposed to be naturally gorgeous although we all know they have been worked on.

Little Toys for Girls and Boys

Gender and toys is an incredibly important subject because toys are children's primary way of learning, and at that age they are so impressionable that whatever you introduce to them is the way they think they are going to behave.

When I looked at Target for girls, first off you notice is the color. Everything is pink like it is the representative color of girls. Every toy is stereotypical to the gender roll that women are supposed to play. The first section is full of doll, which is pretty normal for young girls to play with. The one that I thought was surprising was a section devoted to pretend items in the kitchen, such as a stove and a refrigerator. This reinforces the idea that women are supposed to be in the home.

In the boys section of toys, the colors are all masculine such as green and blue. In the same age section for boys, all of the toys were educational. To me this says boys' education are more important.

Toys absolutely influence the way children play because the segregate them by gender. By marketing them this way they encourage gender roles to be reinforced. They point them toward a direction that they want to as a marketing company which plays into the "beauty myth."

A woman I know gave her daughter a play kitchen for Christmas while she gave her son a carpenter set. Superficially, this is what we expect little girls and boys to be playing with, but looking deeper, the daughter also has a toy vacuum and loves to play with the real one. Most of the toys she has are geared toward making her a housewife, which may be what she wants, but it also doesn't give her the chance to decide for herself. The boy on the other hand gets to go hunting with his dad and has several pretend guns. He is already being introduced to violence and the stereotypes of being a boy.

Growing up, I only had a sister so there was no lack of estrogen around our house. My favorite toys were Polly Pocket and dolls because I looked to my mother as a role model and wanted to be a mom. We had the play kitchen too, but mainly it was Barbie's. As I got older I became really interested in electronics and loved technology. That was really when the gender barrier broke. My mother has actually saved all my Barbie's which I plan to let my children play with, but I will also mix in other toys.