Marriage and Parenting from the 60's to Present Day

Feminist Perspective Experience

Last week in one of my classes, my class was discussing our recent blog posts to a situation that our professor proposed to us. The question was along the lines of "imagining a company of 1,000 employees of diverse backgrounds. In the main hallway of the company there is a statue of what appears to be a factory worker. Should the statue be a man or a woman if more woman work in the company than men?" I was furious when I came across this post from another student:

"I think that the sculture of a male in the workplace is depicting what male symbolism is for just about every culture, strength and leadership. The same would go for a woman's sculture. When I see a statue of a woman I don't automatically think of STRENGTH and POWER. I think of nuturing qualities and more importantly a different kind of strength. If every man or woman that is offended by this post would sit down and think about it, they would agree with me. The statue is not trying to depict that every worker has a penis, but the company prides itself on strength, leadership, and power. Generally speaking, a statue of a woman would not give me that impression. I'm not a male supremacist."

To me, this post was not thought through. This is so typical for people to associate power and strength with males. Also, the student said he thinks of woman as having nuturing qualities. Personally, I think this student needs a wake up call to reality. Things have changed!!! There are now more woman in power in this world than there ever has been. And its going to keep increasing. There are also more single mothers taking care of their children on their own. I get why back in the 1960's someone would think this way, but this post honestly this pissed me off. I think I felt so strongly about it because in my life, I have grown up with many strong woman around me. My mother raised me on her own, my grandmother runs her own business, and I have a great great grandmother, who is over 100 years old, and still drives herself around. I believe this student could have gotten their point across in a much more acceptable manner. Ugh!

"Ball State Ass Slapper"/Social Media

Everyone seems to have different opinions regarding the recent "Ball State Ass Slapping" incident. I, with many other people, believe this issue has been blown out of proportion. I believe the reason why this incident got blew up in the media/social media because the way it was addressed. The email that was sent out to all Ball State students was poorly written and worded completely wrong in my eyes. I think if the email would have said two women have been assaulted, it would get the point acrosst. If you think about it, if the assault was more taken more seriously the email would not have went into detail about what actually happened. I believe that to be a violation of privacy to the victims.

It seems to me like the people who feel like this issue is not serious think this to be a joke. I hear people say "It was probably some kid still drunk from the night before.." etc. And if it had been verified that it was, it would be more comical. But the big idea is, these ladies felt threatened enough to contact the police. Obviously to the victims, this was not a joke from some guy still drunk from the night before.

Overall, I don't personally have a major standpoint I am trying to make that the incident was right or wrong in the way it was handled. The only thing that I want is the safety and security of the victims. I do not believe they should be attacked for feeling threatened. If it was me in the sitatuon, and I honestly felt like the guy could have came back and went further with the assault, I probably would have contacted police too.

Social Media

After today's lecture, I realized what an impact social media has on us. I think almost every Ball State student is involved in some sort whether it is participating in blogging, Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, etc. I feel like this "social media" is really getting bigger each year, especially in classrooms. Three out of my four classes entail keeping a blog throughout the semester. Last semester, I only had one blog. I really like this idea because it gets your ideas out there and you can also see your classmate's responses to the same issues. Also, I like the idea of blogging because it doesn't feel like you can be attacked for your thoughts about a sensitive issue.

I found this interesting that I feel comfortable typing out my thoughts to a computer. In one of my other classes, Comm 351, we recently talked about "flaming." An example of this idea is where you feel more comfortable being negative or mean over the internet rather than face to face. I thought this was so interesting because when I blog I might be saying something that someone doesn't like or disagrees with, in other words a gateway to a conflict. Not saying that when I blog I'm particularly negative or trying to be mean, but there is always the chance of someone disagreeing or challenging your beliefs, similar to a conflict that occur over the internet, instant messenger, etc.

To sum things up, I believe that social media is becoming a huge factor in today's society. I do not know if I think it is affecting us negatively or positively. I think there are pros and cons to social media and they affect each person a little bit differently.

Throughout this semester, we have discussed how gender roles are portrayed through different forms of media. Today, our society considers a woman's gender to be "normal" if she has long, hair, is skinny, wears make up and high heels, etc. Many television shows focus on the "normal" type of people; also known as a preferred reading. This ideology of gender displayed through the media brought me to the Showtime television series "United States of Tara." The show is mainly based around Tara, who has multiple personality disorder (which is not normal, but has nothing to do with gender). Tara has a son, Marshall, who is openly homosexual. After watching many episodes, I believe this show is a subverted oppositional reading to gender hegemony.

Season two of the show just started a few weeks ago and things definitely started changing with Marshall. The family just moved into a new town and Marshall is now going to a new high school. The high school is small and every stereotypical group is clearly defined the first day of school. At lunch, every group is seperated by who they sit with. As Marshall is trying to find a seat, a stereotypical gay boy and his homosexual friends say to Marshall, "Aren't you supposed to be sitting with us?" To sum things up, this group of kids he sits with and hangs out with the first week are proud and loud about their sexuality, which is not like Marshall. They are constantly talking down to Marshall for not being more flamboyant and open with his sexuality to other students. In previews to this new season, Marshall starts talking to a girl because he is sick of the stereotypical homosexual and how they display themselves at this new high school.

Gender in the Media/United States of Tara

In response to Kristen's post of "Why is Angelina turning Shiloh into a boy?" I wanted to discuss the gender ideology of young girls. After studying pop culture this semester, I understand why the media is overreacting of the way Angelina's daughter was dressed. In Life&Style's article it stated, "When Brad Pitt was spotted in Paris on Feb. 23rd, it looked like he and Angelina Jolie had adopted a new child--an adorable blond boy. Instead, it was the couple's 3-year-old daughter, Shiloh, sporting boys' clothes and a new haircut so shockingly short it immediately ignited a firestorm of controvery (Life&Style, 2010)."

http://http://www.lifeandstylemag.com/2010/03/large-1011-cover.html

To me, this ridiculous comment was made because Shiloh did not display long locks of hair and have a floral, pink dress on. The ideology of little girls in today's society is obviously portrayed as having long hair, pink clothing, etc. I think it is sad the ways the media attack children for the way they look, regardless of who their parents are.

After seeing this article, I googled "Angelina Jolie's children." I was shocked when I saw all of the articles talking about various things about Angelina's children. They varied from "Angelina's Children All Hate Eachother" to "Angelina Jolie's Adopted Children Made Into Fashion Accessories in Online Game (links below)." After seeing these articles, it made me realize that celebrity children are media targets. Not only are they targeted in the gender hegemony, but also in the celebrity ideology where anyone can know everything about them.

http://http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/7074778/Angelina-Jolies-adopted-children-made-into-fashion-accessories-in-online-game.html

http://http://www.hecklerspray.com/brad-pitt-angelina-jolies-kids-all-hate-each-other/200813387.php