RGM post 8

The other day I gave a presentation for another class, and in the powerpoint we had a picture of the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine. I didn't really look at the cover or read any of the headlines at all, but a friend asked me if I had seen one of the articles that was on the cover. I hadn't because I was so focused on giving the presentation. But the cover read "The #1 thing men are good for besides you know".  My friend was laughing at it until she said, "Imagine if that was on a men's magazine and it read 'the #1 thing women are good for besides you know'. People would absolutely freak out if that was on a men's magazine.

People would say that men were once again objectifying women and viewing them as a sexual object rather than human beings. The magazine would suffer because of the outcry it would cause, and the writer would likely be out of a job.

My point here is, it's funny when it's on a women's magazine cover, but it's awful if men were to say the exact same thing about us. We talk about there being double standards all the time and how things need to be different. But how is this double standard okay?

This makes me pretty angry actually. We talk all the time about how men view us and how awful they are. But in reality, we are no different than they are, and because we are women objectifying men it's perfectly okay and funny.

I'm not trying to argue that men should be allowed to objectify women, but with covers like the one I'm referring to, how can we say anything at all. When we are doing these stupid things, we have no right to get upset if and when they do the same things. Yet, I guarantee the same women that were laughing at this cover would be the first ones to get upset and make a big deal out of it if it were on a men's magazine.

We talk a lot about how things should change in this class, but from my point of view, it's not at all one sided. Sure, there are problems, but I have to argue that all of these problems do not come from  a bunch of "white males who are in charge of everything". I guarantee a man didn't make that Cosmopolitan cover.

I guess I am playing devil’s advocate here, and I’m sure a lot of people see nothing wrong with the cover. I didn’t until I really started to think about how much of a double standard was there. I think we women should be held accountable for what we say about men just as much as we try to hold men accountable for the things they say about us.


I just think that people need to be more objective about the things that they get offended about. Yes, I think it would be offensive to see a title like this on a men's magazine. But it should offend me just as much to see it on a women's magazine if I want anything to change at all.

RGM post 7

I absolutely love Disney. I love the stories and songs and the magic of it. But I realize that the portrayal of women anger many people. They are shown as damsels in distress many times. However, in recent years they have gotten much better in my opinion. Mulan tells the story of a woman going to war for her father. Brave's Merida has no interest in being married and wants to make her own way. In Frozen, the true love is love between sisters and the main male character isn't the hero.

While I love all of these movies, I love the older ones as well! I actually like the romantic idea of women being swept off of their feet. Maybe not in the same way as the movies show, but I am perfectly fine with the men being shown as the strong ones. Men are built stronger than we are, but that's not to say that women aren't strong too. I feel like Disney does a pretty good job of showing that women are more than just weak creatures waiting to be rescued because they are incompetent and have no minds of their own.

I think Disney has also done better recently portraying different races. Pocahontis, Mulan, Tiana, Jasmine and Merida are just a few examples, but most of the stories are set in different parts of the world. And the characters I just named are just princesses. There are other stories that Disney has told with different races and cultures.

I know and accept that there is still room for improvement, but my opinion is that they have done a pretty good job so far. The older movies have less diversity, but you have to think of the time when the movies were made.

I also kind of feel like people tend to look at the bad and focus on that, but pay little or no attention to the good things. Not just with Disney, but with life in general. I fell like sometimes people try to find the bad in things instead of looking for the good. Instead of seeing all of the good things Disney has done, people want to get upset about the characters they chose to write movies for. Honestly, I tend to feel like people are too sensitive.

Now that’s not to say that I am excusing things, because that’s the furthest thing from my mind. I want to see things change just as much as the next person. But the thing I’ve seen is people getting all mad and expressing these opinions but never acting on it. They want the change but they won’t do anything to help that change to come about.

In order for anything to change, people have to listen to each other and cooperate instead of getting themselves all worked up and nothing ever comes of it. The end of this blog has nothing to do with Disney really, but this is what I think is actually important.

RGM post 6

In class last week we talked a little bit about the Always "Like a Girl" commercial. I have loved this commercial every time I've watched it. It shows the difference between young girls' and teen girls' views of what "like a girl" means. When the older girls were asked to do things like a girl, they did the actions weakly and clearly not in their full strength. But when the younger girls were asked to do things like a girl, they did them to the best of their ability.

One thing that struck me was the little boy in the mix. When he was asked if he had insulted his sister, he was taken aback because he hadn't thought about it that way. He knew it was insulting to girls, but he didn't think about it being insulting to his own sister.

My favorite part about the ad is when the girls are given a second chance to do things like a girl. Their attitudes have changed and they want to do things better. I think that society has really played on the fact that girls are not as strong as men maybe. They've taken something true, that we are girls, and made it a bad thing. They've made it seem like being a girl means that we are weak and can't do things well. And that's simply not the case.

Being a girl is not something that hinders me in any way, but it's so easy to believe things like that when you're younger. Yes, I do things like a girl. That's because, surprise, I am a girl. I'm not weak or incompetent. I know my limitations, and my strengths. I just wish that young girls weren't so bombarded all the time with ads and shows that focus on their looks or personalities.

This goes back to the week that we watched the documentary about women and ads, and how they're all around us and how much they must affect younger girls.

Another thing that I can’t help but think about when it comes to these topics is the movie Mona Lisa Smile. The movie focuses on the fact that in that time period, girls focused on getting married and running their households. Yes, they went to college. But most women didn’t do anything with the degree they worked so hard for. And I am not at all against women who run their homes and stay home with the children. That is a noble job itself. But in the movie, it was what was expected of them so that’s what they did.

The girls who wanted to actually pursue a career were looked down upon. It was a time when having a brain meant next to nothing. We have come a long way since then, and I’m really happy that I’m not expected to be married by the time I graduate. I’m glad that I have my family’s full support in wanting to have a career and chase after my dreams.

RGM Post 5

Something that has been getting some attention in the media lately is Jennifer Lawrence and her stance against unequal pay in Hollywood. She recently wrote an essay for Lena Dunham's newsletter addressing the huge gap in the pay of men and women in Hollywood.

Other actresses (Emma Watson, Elizabeth Banks, and Sienna Miller) have backed her up on Twitter and other media outlets showing their support. The thing that I like about what is going on, is that instead of sitting back and seeing the problem but doing nothing, these women are fighting for what they want to change.

While I do think that actors and actresses make a ridiculous amount of money to begin with (which makes her problem almost non-relatable), the fact that even big name stars are dealing with the same inequality that other women are dealing with is startling but almost heartening. It's just not something that I have given much thought I guess.

Another cool thing is that one of her male co-stars, Bradley Cooper, is supporting her and telling her to know what she is worth and to not back down in her negotiating when getting parts for movies.

But these people are influencers. And they can get the message out there much easier than I could. And there are so many people who love these actresses and will actually listen to them. It makes me hopeful that something might actually change.

By having the power of the media on them almost 24/7, actresses can bring issues to light in ways that I wouldn't be able to.

Here is a video on ABC news.com talking about the issue. There are also several articles talking about other actors' responses to her essay.

Some people are pretty upset at Jeremy Renner's reaction. He was asked if he would be willing to help out to try to change the way things are, and he responded that it wasn't his job, which obviously made a ton of people mad.

But really, it isn't his job. He has explained himself since then saying that he has no knowledge about the negotiating process and that he wouldn't know where to start, and not that he didn't care about unequal pay.

It's just interesting to me how much media coverage it is all getting.

RGM post 4

In class we watched the Rihanna and Eminem video for the song "Love the Way You Lie". Honestly, when the song comes on the radio, I sing along with it. I don't like the lyrics at all, but I don't ever really stop to think about what I'm singing because the song is pretty catchy. After watching the video, I think I will probably change the station when it comes on now.

 It was completely awful and really made me rethink the kind of stuff I listen to without really thinking about what the artists are singing about. 

We are fed so much garbage by the media, and if you are like me at all, we don't really think twice about the things we are listening to or watching. 

It isn't just the music industry either. No matter where you look, whether it’s advertising, movies or magazines, we are being told how we should be. 

It kind of relates to the documentary we watched a few weeks ago about women's views of themselves. We are told how we should look and act and think and feel. And we don't stop and think about how it affects us or younger girls. 

In the case of this particular music video, it affects men and women alike. It seemed to say that if you're in an abusive relationship, there's no getting out of it, and you should just accept the way things are. And it blows my mind that Rihanna would make a video like that after her awful relationship. 

And the video sparked a pretty heated discussion in class that I don’t think I’ll get into, but it made me glad to hear that the majority of the class disliked the video and everything it was telling people. I’m glad that they want to go into their respective fields after graduating and make a real difference there. 

RGM Post 3

It's been a while since I've blogged about class, but a few classes ago we were talking about how women are told from a very young age how we should look. Ads are everywhere we look, telling us we aren't skinny enough or tall enough, or that we are too tall or too skinny. The media shows this perfect body type that is impossible to achieve because even the women being photographed don't look that way. They've been airbrushed and photoshopped to the point that they almost don't look like the same person anymore. And that is the standard of beauty that we are measured by.

We also watched a video called "Killing us softly" that talked about the same sort of issues. But one thing that she brought up that stuck with me is that we are told to be sexy but innocent. We have to have that sexiness in order to please the men around us, but we also have to have the innocence of a child or we are condemned. And there is such a double standard here. Men are praised for the amount of women they sleep with, and are judged for being a virgin. But it's the exact opposite for women.

I'm not trying to say that women should go sleep around all the time too, because my beliefs hold me to a different standard altogether. But the double standard is completely ridiculous.

Another thing that’s been on my mind is the sexualization of women in advertisements. For our projects we just turned in I analyzed a magazine from 1971. None of the ads had women in anything but completely reasonable clothes and situated in normal positions. I hate the fact that people decided that sex sells and that it’s the only way to sell to men especially.

RGM Post 2

So last night in class we were discussing women's roles in media and society. The point was brought up that people may have a great view of a company until they find out that its CEO is a woman. Their thoughts about the company might immediately change and they could lose some of their support for the company. People tend to have less faith in women running a company than they do for men, and that's completely ridiculous in my mind. Yes, women have made leaps and bounds in their rights, but to still be looked upon as less capable to run a business shouldn't be the issue that it is. I could go on about this, but it wouldn't be any new insight that hasn't been said before, so I will move on.

We also saw an ad that portrayed plus size models, and said plus is equal. The biggest issue that people had with it was that the models they used were still hourglass shaped, and that's not how everyone looks. They are wanting to show how women truly look...by choosing models with a specific body type. Now, I understand why they did that, but people are still going to get upset because it's not truly how women look. The problem is, I don't have the magic solution to this issue. I don't think anyone does really.

The last thing we discussed in class was the black press in America, and the history of it. It was so interesting to me! I really enjoyed the documentary we watched about it. The crazy thing is, we don’t learn about any of this in history class. Sure, I had heard the term “black press” before, and honestly I knew about a lot of it from my History of American Media class at UNT. But I believe that this stuff should be taught in History classes in high schools. It is an incredibly important part of our history that shouldn’t just be skimmed over.