Baby Got Back - Old School Players
Beautiful - Christina Aguilara
The Voice Within -Christina Aguilera
Listen - Beyonce
The Beauty in Ugly - Jason Mraz
The songs I chose represent just a small fraction of what I think music should be to represent a healthy body image. I chose "Baby Got Back" because although it is dirty, it promotes a women with a larger bottom which is exactly what I have. Usually in music videos you see women who have no curves but then here is a rapper who talks about how he likes curves, especially butts. It's like the anthem for curvy women everywhere.
I used to play the song "Beautiful" on repeat because of its meaning. It really hits on a bunch of different insecurities that people have, and yet tells you that you are beautiful despite all flaws. It came out about the time that I was going through high school, which is a very difficult period and very awkward.
"The Voice Within" empowers women to listen to themselves. It talks about a young girl crying because she doesn't think herself worthy, but the song encourages the girl to stop crying and believe in herself. I think we have all had those moments where life seems impossibly hard, but this song reassures that there is hope in the future, and life does get better.
Dreamgirls takes place in a very male-dominated time and progresses through the 60s and 70s where women begin to gain a voice. At first, Beyonce's character is completely subservient to her husband, but he treats other people terribly. He is her manager, so essentially he controls her. This song is a very pivotal part in the movie because she decides to take control of her own life and tells her husband to listen to her. Most women need to be encouraged to speak up more and let themselves be heard in their relationships.
"The Beauty in Ugly" was written for the show Ugly Betty. The premise of the show is about a not very pretty girl who tries to break into the fashion world. The song Jason Mraz wrote is encouraging women to stand tall even though other people call them ugly and to see the beauty in ugly. Although women have been told they are beautiful, there is probably a time in everyone's life when they have been told they are ugly. This just empowers them to fight back.
My musical tastes have definitely changed over the years, evolving into a more healthy soundtrack. I refuse to listen to rappers who degrade women and show them in a negative light in their music videos. I see how men go around and sing these songs and it's so sad. This music shouldn't even be made. I only want to expose my children to music that will teach them to respect the opposite sex, regardless of their gender.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Sexist Advertising
This ad from American Apparel is extremely sexist in that it show a teenage girl who has been sexualized. She is probably not even of age to have sex, yet her body language invites men to come sleep with her. This is incredibly dangerous for young women to see because it encourages girls to have sex at an early age without thinking about the repercussions.
This advertisement is all about the power of the male sexuality. It shows a weak female surrounded by three men and so the woman is there for their pleasure. It objectifies and de-humanizes her. 
Gang rape is ok, or at least that's what Dolce and Gabbana says. This woman looks to be forced against her will to be held down and the men are ready to rape her. It indicates that violence against women is ok, especially by a group of men.
This Arby's ad is trying to be clever but comes of objectifying women's breasts as pieces of meat. There is no head or body attached so it seems to say that you can separate a woman's breasts from her body.
Gossip Girl is a highly popular show and yet here teen sex is glorified again. In this ad, you can't see the guy's face so the girl just looks like a sex object. This pressures girls into thinking they need to have sex and they should look just like her when they do. This is a set up for an unhealthy sex life.
Pop culture has had an influence on me and the way I view men and women, and it really wasn't until I was in a real relationship that I realized most of the stereotypes are fabricated and used for ratings. Pop culture also influences how you view race and class, but once again, when you get out into real life, you see how negative those stereotypes are. I was appalled at Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" because it enforced racial stereotypes in that the mother was a housekeeper for a wealthy white family. In this day and age, there shouldn't be media produced like this.
I often talk about sexist material on TV with my friends because several of them have taken Women's Studies classes and once you take one, you will never look at media the same. We had a big Superbowl party and my friends and I were shocked at how sexist the ads have become. It definitely took away from the spirit of the game when I had to look at women in soft core porn.
When I first thought of feminist, I thought of the radicals who marched through streets and bra burning. These perceptions come from the media, who only air what they want to. In this case it's because the media portrays feminism as a bad thing because it has produced change, so therefore it gets a negative connotation.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
The Bluest Eye and Precious
The Bluest Eye and the film Precious explore the definition of beauty through the eyes of black women who long to be white. Pecola and Precious endure difficult lives that lead them to believe that beauty is achieved through skin color first before all other elements.
Precious lived a life of abuse which includes physical abuse from her mother and being raped by her father. When she experiences this abuse, she tends to go to her “happy place,” which is usually a world in which she is famous and has a lighter skinned boyfriend. When she looks in the mirror, Precious sees a blonde-haired white girl staring back at her, which indicated that she thinks if she were white, she would not be in her situation.
Her longing for lighter skin says that the culture Precious lives in is a very poor one where being white represents wealth and happiness. However, author Rebecca Walker in Body Outlaws is a white women who hates her body, but for a different reason. According to Walker, “The depth of my obsession with skin revolves around color, and what I perceive to be my lack thereof (Walker, 1998).”
Historically, white skin represented power, wealth and beauty because of the slavery system. In the film, Precious’ life seems to prove that this theory still holds true. Walker, ironically, is a white woman who considers it a burden to be white, because her mother is tan, which is considered by her peers to be beautiful.
For Precious, she thinks her life would be better if she had light skin because she would be considered beautiful and then the possibilities for her life would be endless. Her mother calls her ugly and says no one loves her, but Precious thinks this would change if she were while. Lisa Jervis, author of “My Jewish Nose” in Body Outlaws, states “…when we scratch the surface of what “prettier” means, we find that we might as well be saying “whiter” or “more gentile” (Jervis, 2003).”
By the end of the film Precious has gathered her life together a bit, and so her body image has improved. It is by no means perfect, but it can be inferred that she doesn’t considered her skin to be as big of a hindrance as it was before. Her teacher, Ms. Rain was the first person probably to tell Precious she was loved and that was a big turning point. It started the journey of Precious learning to love herself. Towards the end of the film, Precious stops dreaming about being famous, but comes to face the reality of having HIV and taking her children out of the dangerous situation she is in. She finally develops confidence, even if it is only on a small level.
Pecola’s story takes place before the Civil Rights movement, so her skin color is even more of an issue for her than it was for Precious. It is very evident that Pecola wants to be white because she idolized Shirley Temple and drinks white milk out of a white cup with Temple’s picture on it. For Christmas, Pecola’s classmate Claudia always received white baby dolls, which is evidence that her mainly-black town sees white skin as the ultimate beauty. Claudia is baffled by white girls and wants to “discover what eluded me: the secret of the magic they weaved on others. What made people look at them and say ‘Awwwww,’ but not for me? (Morrison, 1970).”
Pecola endures the same type of abuse that Precious did, so being white to her represented to her privilege and love. Her classmates tease her and call her black and make fun of her situation with her father. Morrison says that Pecola is made fun of for the two most embarrassing things a person has. Pecola privately idolizes a white classmate, Maureen Peal, because she possesses beauty and wealth, which Pecola associates with her skin color. The Beauty Myth comes into play for Pecola because, according to Naomi Wolf, “Competition between women has been made part of the myth so that women will be divided from one another….Women’s identity must be premised upon our ‘beauty’ so that we will remain vulnerable to outside approval, carrying the vital sensitive organ of self-esteem exposed to the air (Wolf, 2002).”
Pecola’s self-image evolves through the book, but not in a healthy way. After she becomes pregnant by her father and loses the baby, Pecola goes insane. She is obsessed with white beauty, specifically blue eyes and asks a local man to give her blue eyes. This astonishes him, because of all the things she could want in the world, all she wants is blue eyes to be considered beautiful. Even when Pecola does think she has blue eyes, they are not blue enough for her. There is nothing that can satisfy her need to feel beautiful and needed. In the conversation she has with herself, she begs the other person not to leave her and promises the person she will posses the bluest eyes.
The Bluest Eye and the film Precious are perfectly named because the titles embody traits that the main characters do not posses. The Bluest Eye describes exactly what Pecola wanted most in the world, which was to have blue eyes. Although there were other characters in the book, blue eyes represent beauty that seems unattainable to black women because it belongs to white women. Pecola idolized Shirley Temple and loved to drink white milk out of a cup. Shirley Temple had blonde hair and blue eyes, so to her, and the black women in the book, this was what the picture of beauty is. If Pecola could just change her eyes, then she could change her life.
Precious at the beginning of the film does not live up to her name at all which makes the title ironic, but at the same time it represents the aspirations her mother had for her. In the emotional scene where Precious and her mother meet in the social worker’s office, Precious’ mother tells the story of how Precious’ father raped Precious. The emotion with which she tells the story relates that she really did consider her daughter Precious. However, she did not grow up in an environment that made it easy for her to live up to her name. Despite all the terrible things that happened to her, Precious discovered that she was indeed precious, but she had to be validated from within.
Precious’ story ended where it did because she found some resolution in her life and within herself. Her mother told her she was ugly and nobody loved her, but it was when Precious was loved by Ms. Rain that she really began to love herself and care about her children. Her children were what gave her hope because she wanted to be a better mother than her own mother was.
Her story ended on a on a hopeful note when Precious chose to take control of her own life. It was appropriate to end the movie when it did, because there was the promise of a new life without showing how her life progresses. I envision that Precious goes on to live a fulfilling life, with a damaged, but improving self-esteem and body image. After the many years of abuse inflicted upon her, Precious’ body image may never fully heal, but I think with the help of professionals, she goes on feeling comfortable in her own skin.
Pecola’s story ends on an incredibly sad note, where she loses her baby and essentially goes crazy and is shunned by the town. It doesn’t end with Pecola narrating, but rather with Frieda and Claudia narrating. The whole novel focuses on the aspect of beauty and ends with Claudia comparing herself to Pecola, and stating that anything was beautiful next to Pecola. Because of the horrors that had been done to Pecola, everyone in the town felt superior to her, whether in beauty, cleanliness, or wealth. The ending of Pecola’s story sharply contrasts with Precious’ story.
Pecola’s self-esteem and body image are ruined forever, because even though she thinks she received blue eyes, she has a conversation with herself where she doesn’t think her eyes are blue enough. Even though, in her mind, she was given blue eyes, they were not enough. She wanted to have the bluest eyes of anyone. Cholly raping her took away her childhood and innocence, and with it went her sanity. I don’t think Pecola will ever see herself as beautiful enough, and because of her behavior, no one else will see her as beautiful either.
Black women for the majority are represented negatively in pop-culture. One that is prominent for small children is the American Girl doll Addy. Each American girl doll represents a time period in history and most of the other dolls are white and their stories reveal privileged lives. Addy’s story, however, takes place during the Civil War and she and her family are runaway slaves. At this formative age when children learn to differentiate between races, this surely encourages racism and negative body images for black girls.
Music videos for rappers are no better. 50 Cent’s video “Candy Shop” portrays women solely as sex objects and his video is just an example of the vast amount of music videos that exploit black women. The lyrics are degrading, so women think they must lower their standards to get a man.
Advertisements often sell beauty products that are meant for white women, but to diversify them, they throw in black women. However, through Photoshop and model selection, they alter the images to make the models appear to have “whiter” features. This is true in make-up ads for Revlon that show Halle Berry. She is barely recognizable they have altered her face so much. In a L’Oreal ad, there has been controversy over whether or not her skin was lightened. This implies that it is not ok to be a darker skin color.
Niecy Nash is the host of “Clean House” on the Style Network and is currently on “Dancing with the Stars.” After her first performance, she announced that she was dedicating her performance to thick women everywhere. Nash is in good shape herself, but obviously will never have a stick-thin body like some of her other contestants. This teaches black women to be proud of their shapes.
Society is also slowly learning to integrate more positive messages about black women into pop culture for children. The first black Disney princess was created for The Princess and the Frog which is a huge leap forward in diversity for Disney. Traditionally their characters have been all white, while other shows, like Sesame Street, have been integrating other races into their shows for years.
Women in general have a long way to go to create healthy body images, whether it comes from pop culture, their environment, or within the home. However, for black women, our culture makes it even more difficult to see themselves as beautiful. Beautiful is not blue eyes and blue hair; beautiful is the person, regardless of any imperfections.
Works Cited
Daniels, Lee. “Precious.” 2010. Film.
Jervis, Lisa. “My Jewish Nose.” Body Outlaws. Ed. Ophira Edut. Seal Press, 2003. Print.
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. Vintage Books, 2007. Print.
Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women . Harper Perennial, 2002. Print.
Walker, Rebecca. “Foreward.” Body Outlaws. Ed. Ophira Edut. Seal Press, 2003. Print.
Precious lived a life of abuse which includes physical abuse from her mother and being raped by her father. When she experiences this abuse, she tends to go to her “happy place,” which is usually a world in which she is famous and has a lighter skinned boyfriend. When she looks in the mirror, Precious sees a blonde-haired white girl staring back at her, which indicated that she thinks if she were white, she would not be in her situation.
Her longing for lighter skin says that the culture Precious lives in is a very poor one where being white represents wealth and happiness. However, author Rebecca Walker in Body Outlaws is a white women who hates her body, but for a different reason. According to Walker, “The depth of my obsession with skin revolves around color, and what I perceive to be my lack thereof (Walker, 1998).”
Historically, white skin represented power, wealth and beauty because of the slavery system. In the film, Precious’ life seems to prove that this theory still holds true. Walker, ironically, is a white woman who considers it a burden to be white, because her mother is tan, which is considered by her peers to be beautiful.
For Precious, she thinks her life would be better if she had light skin because she would be considered beautiful and then the possibilities for her life would be endless. Her mother calls her ugly and says no one loves her, but Precious thinks this would change if she were while. Lisa Jervis, author of “My Jewish Nose” in Body Outlaws, states “…when we scratch the surface of what “prettier” means, we find that we might as well be saying “whiter” or “more gentile” (Jervis, 2003).”
By the end of the film Precious has gathered her life together a bit, and so her body image has improved. It is by no means perfect, but it can be inferred that she doesn’t considered her skin to be as big of a hindrance as it was before. Her teacher, Ms. Rain was the first person probably to tell Precious she was loved and that was a big turning point. It started the journey of Precious learning to love herself. Towards the end of the film, Precious stops dreaming about being famous, but comes to face the reality of having HIV and taking her children out of the dangerous situation she is in. She finally develops confidence, even if it is only on a small level.
Pecola’s story takes place before the Civil Rights movement, so her skin color is even more of an issue for her than it was for Precious. It is very evident that Pecola wants to be white because she idolized Shirley Temple and drinks white milk out of a white cup with Temple’s picture on it. For Christmas, Pecola’s classmate Claudia always received white baby dolls, which is evidence that her mainly-black town sees white skin as the ultimate beauty. Claudia is baffled by white girls and wants to “discover what eluded me: the secret of the magic they weaved on others. What made people look at them and say ‘Awwwww,’ but not for me? (Morrison, 1970).”
Pecola endures the same type of abuse that Precious did, so being white to her represented to her privilege and love. Her classmates tease her and call her black and make fun of her situation with her father. Morrison says that Pecola is made fun of for the two most embarrassing things a person has. Pecola privately idolizes a white classmate, Maureen Peal, because she possesses beauty and wealth, which Pecola associates with her skin color. The Beauty Myth comes into play for Pecola because, according to Naomi Wolf, “Competition between women has been made part of the myth so that women will be divided from one another….Women’s identity must be premised upon our ‘beauty’ so that we will remain vulnerable to outside approval, carrying the vital sensitive organ of self-esteem exposed to the air (Wolf, 2002).”
Pecola’s self-image evolves through the book, but not in a healthy way. After she becomes pregnant by her father and loses the baby, Pecola goes insane. She is obsessed with white beauty, specifically blue eyes and asks a local man to give her blue eyes. This astonishes him, because of all the things she could want in the world, all she wants is blue eyes to be considered beautiful. Even when Pecola does think she has blue eyes, they are not blue enough for her. There is nothing that can satisfy her need to feel beautiful and needed. In the conversation she has with herself, she begs the other person not to leave her and promises the person she will posses the bluest eyes.
The Bluest Eye and the film Precious are perfectly named because the titles embody traits that the main characters do not posses. The Bluest Eye describes exactly what Pecola wanted most in the world, which was to have blue eyes. Although there were other characters in the book, blue eyes represent beauty that seems unattainable to black women because it belongs to white women. Pecola idolized Shirley Temple and loved to drink white milk out of a cup. Shirley Temple had blonde hair and blue eyes, so to her, and the black women in the book, this was what the picture of beauty is. If Pecola could just change her eyes, then she could change her life.
Precious at the beginning of the film does not live up to her name at all which makes the title ironic, but at the same time it represents the aspirations her mother had for her. In the emotional scene where Precious and her mother meet in the social worker’s office, Precious’ mother tells the story of how Precious’ father raped Precious. The emotion with which she tells the story relates that she really did consider her daughter Precious. However, she did not grow up in an environment that made it easy for her to live up to her name. Despite all the terrible things that happened to her, Precious discovered that she was indeed precious, but she had to be validated from within.
Precious’ story ended where it did because she found some resolution in her life and within herself. Her mother told her she was ugly and nobody loved her, but it was when Precious was loved by Ms. Rain that she really began to love herself and care about her children. Her children were what gave her hope because she wanted to be a better mother than her own mother was.
Her story ended on a on a hopeful note when Precious chose to take control of her own life. It was appropriate to end the movie when it did, because there was the promise of a new life without showing how her life progresses. I envision that Precious goes on to live a fulfilling life, with a damaged, but improving self-esteem and body image. After the many years of abuse inflicted upon her, Precious’ body image may never fully heal, but I think with the help of professionals, she goes on feeling comfortable in her own skin.
Pecola’s story ends on an incredibly sad note, where she loses her baby and essentially goes crazy and is shunned by the town. It doesn’t end with Pecola narrating, but rather with Frieda and Claudia narrating. The whole novel focuses on the aspect of beauty and ends with Claudia comparing herself to Pecola, and stating that anything was beautiful next to Pecola. Because of the horrors that had been done to Pecola, everyone in the town felt superior to her, whether in beauty, cleanliness, or wealth. The ending of Pecola’s story sharply contrasts with Precious’ story.
Pecola’s self-esteem and body image are ruined forever, because even though she thinks she received blue eyes, she has a conversation with herself where she doesn’t think her eyes are blue enough. Even though, in her mind, she was given blue eyes, they were not enough. She wanted to have the bluest eyes of anyone. Cholly raping her took away her childhood and innocence, and with it went her sanity. I don’t think Pecola will ever see herself as beautiful enough, and because of her behavior, no one else will see her as beautiful either.
Black women for the majority are represented negatively in pop-culture. One that is prominent for small children is the American Girl doll Addy. Each American girl doll represents a time period in history and most of the other dolls are white and their stories reveal privileged lives. Addy’s story, however, takes place during the Civil War and she and her family are runaway slaves. At this formative age when children learn to differentiate between races, this surely encourages racism and negative body images for black girls.
Music videos for rappers are no better. 50 Cent’s video “Candy Shop” portrays women solely as sex objects and his video is just an example of the vast amount of music videos that exploit black women. The lyrics are degrading, so women think they must lower their standards to get a man.
Advertisements often sell beauty products that are meant for white women, but to diversify them, they throw in black women. However, through Photoshop and model selection, they alter the images to make the models appear to have “whiter” features. This is true in make-up ads for Revlon that show Halle Berry. She is barely recognizable they have altered her face so much. In a L’Oreal ad, there has been controversy over whether or not her skin was lightened. This implies that it is not ok to be a darker skin color.
Niecy Nash is the host of “Clean House” on the Style Network and is currently on “Dancing with the Stars.” After her first performance, she announced that she was dedicating her performance to thick women everywhere. Nash is in good shape herself, but obviously will never have a stick-thin body like some of her other contestants. This teaches black women to be proud of their shapes.
Society is also slowly learning to integrate more positive messages about black women into pop culture for children. The first black Disney princess was created for The Princess and the Frog which is a huge leap forward in diversity for Disney. Traditionally their characters have been all white, while other shows, like Sesame Street, have been integrating other races into their shows for years.
Women in general have a long way to go to create healthy body images, whether it comes from pop culture, their environment, or within the home. However, for black women, our culture makes it even more difficult to see themselves as beautiful. Beautiful is not blue eyes and blue hair; beautiful is the person, regardless of any imperfections.
Works Cited
Daniels, Lee. “Precious.” 2010. Film.
Jervis, Lisa. “My Jewish Nose.” Body Outlaws. Ed. Ophira Edut. Seal Press, 2003. Print.
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. Vintage Books, 2007. Print.
Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women . Harper Perennial, 2002. Print.
Walker, Rebecca. “Foreward.” Body Outlaws. Ed. Ophira Edut. Seal Press, 2003. Print.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
The Adonis Complex
Alex Karev - Grey's Anatomy
Mike Delfino - Desperate Housewives
Sawyer - Lost
Mark Sloan - Grey's Anatomy
King Henry VIII - The Tudors
All of these men I listed share the quality of being the manly man in their life situation. One prominent stereotype about men is that they feel the need to be the man in their household and are often without feelings. Alex Karev embodies this perfectly. He is the stereotypical male jerk that treats everybody terribly. When he finally does allow someone into his life, she leaves him and his heart seems to be more hardened than ever.
Mark Sloan is the playboy stereotype. He is similar to Karev, except that he can pretend to feel something to sleep with a girl. Characters like him perpetuate the stereotype that men are not capable of monogamy and that women shouldn't expect that of them either. Because Sloan is good looking, he can have any woman he wants. This would not be true of someone less attractive.
Mike Delfino fits the stereotype of being employed in a line of work that is strictly for men. He is a plumber. When he first moved into the neighborhood, all of the women would fake plumbing emergencies, just so he could come over and the women would have the chance to flirt with him. It is the classic "damsel in distress" scenario, that still plays out today. All of these women were capable of fixing their plumbing issues, or could have called a female plumber, but the show chose to go and further the stereotype that manual labor is a man's job.
Sawyer is similar to Karev in the sense that he is emotionally closed off. He is a smooth talker, but ultimately is a rugged loaner. He implies that men don't need anyone but themselves to survive and definitely don't need companionship. He acts on his instincts instead of thinking things through and this is also something men are known for. Like the old example of men never asking for directions.
King Henry VIII in "The Tudors" embodies every stereotype possible. He is cruel to women and treats them as his playthings. His decisions are the only ones that count because he is the ruler, but more importantly a man. His servants do everything to keep him happy and this includes getting him whatever he wants at his beck and call. He shows that men are dominant and their opinion is the only one that matters.
All of these characters have overlapping traits of male stereotypes and not being a male, it influences how I think about men. I have met some men in real life that do not fit the mold, but this is what I am taught to think. There are good men out there, we just focus on what is put before us and assume that is the norm.
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