At the close of the first half of the semester, I'd like to give you the opportunity to respond to an idea or a text that you've been thinking about, but maybe we haven't had time in class to cover. You can choose anything from any text, print or visual, or any topic we've touched on in class, just make sure that your idea is focused (don't try to talk about everything; zero in on something particular). You are welcome to draw from multiple texts, or you can focus on just one -- just make sure that you are illustrating your points with specific analysis from the readings or specific examples from the film or shows we've watched. I'd encourage you to start by thinking back over class discussions where you were thinking about saying something but didn't, or things you've noticed outside of class that connect to what we've been talking about. Remember to have a focused point to make or a focused question to raise, and then explore that narrow idea with strong critical thinking.
I'm interested in the ideas that have made you think so far, so I encourage you to find something that has sparked your interest. This response is due by class time on Monday; all hard copies of responses must be turned in by this date to receive a grade before midterm.
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We spoke about beauty in class quite a bit. The varying degrees of beauty and pressures to be beautiful are horrendous. I definitely fall into this description of seeing the world in this way and wanting to feel “beautiful” in accordance with crazy standards. I love to believe that virtuous people are beautiful because of their virtues, and that horrible people are ugly because of their characteristics. The Dove campaign asked if women thought that they were beautiful; the results were depressing. I hate to say that I may fall into the depressing results on most days, who feels 100% on top of everything on a daily basis. I think that our conception of beauty or sexiness should not be focused on the Victoria’s Secret models. In class, confidence was mentioned as a huge contributing factor to beauty. I think that instead of basing beauty on standards that no one can live up to, it should be connected to our daily environments. In a nature versus nurture stance, history has shown us that healthy is often the beautiful choice. Nurture has shown us that most people pick spouses that are similar to their parents. Life could be much easier, if we look for beauty in ourselves, in accordance to health and qualities that we admire in others. To take this one step farther, use constructive comparison and plans to improve yourself. Why isn’t this taught to young girls? Why, instead, is the focus placed on appearance instead of what is within a person to create beauty? How can we claim to improve images of women, when we only focus on physical images? The same pressures seem to be on men. The new Armani “Diamonds” cologne commercial is filled with images of Josh Hartnett being pursued and admired by lots of women. This is the image of men that we want to sell. Is this what we want men to look like and encompass? Does this make an attractive, handsome or beautiful man? Personally, I think that the word beautiful can apply to both sexes. Both beautiful men and beautiful women are not solely physically attractive, they possess qualities that I admire most in the people that I love, such as a self-sacrificing heart, a sense of responsibility for others, an ability for compassion and the hope for everyone’s success.
Our discussion in class about Barbie brought up many concerns that people had about her influence on young children. People were concerned that Barbie was teaching kids that they have to be skinny and dress pretty in order so be successful or liked by others. I feel that Barbie does have effects on little girls and boys but the doll is not all to blame after all it is just a doll. Many people criticized that the doll is too skinny, and that it is teaching kids that they have to look like that. I look at it as that they had to make the doll a certain body shape if they would have chose a bigger body type then they would have also be criticized for that because they were promoting an unhealthy body type or something along those lines. Also in class it was brought up that other colors Barbie except for white are seen as the “other” Barbie. Some people seemed to get a little heated when that subject was brought up. I feel that of course it is considered the “other” and the reason that I say this is because the white blond hair Barbie was the original Barbie. When some one does something and becomes famous for that and then they change it weather it is a big change or a small change but it keeps the same shape it will be considered the “other” because it is the other. I feel that no matter shape or color Barbie is she would receive negative attention from people because people are always looking for someone or something to blame for the way things are.
There have been many appealing topics of discussion in class that have sparked thoughts of interest for me. Women’s inferiority to men in every show or movie we have seen so far is disturbing. What is specifically surprising about this topic is the fact that we as a society do not realize it still exists. We say women are equal to men and similar to men in terms of opportunities, but is that really true? When a man stays at home with his children, he is helping whereas a woman is doing what she is supposed to. Also, when a woman enters the work place, she has done extremely well for herself and for a man success in the work place is expected. This obviously is not equality between the sexes. There have been several instances of this subordination to women in the movies and shows thus far this semester.
The show Mad Men offers a primary example of subordination in the 60s. This show offers a reference point for how women were treated in the 60s and how we should have improved in that regard by today. The advertisers, or “mad men,” in the show hire secretaries to fill a specific role – they are to look and act a certain way to please the men. Also in Mad Men, the women that do not fit into this pretty little mold are not only in a lower position, they are closed off in a room by themselves. They are not even allowed to be visible to the men. Even in later episodes of Mad Men when they hire the secretary to help with their advertisements, they are not saying she is equal to them. She is simply the girl they turn to when they have to sell something to women. They offer her the ability to help without the title or respect. Mad Men is, though, a movie based on the history of that time. There is less surprise about the way women were treated back then.
Current movies demonstrate the same concept of subordination as Mad Men. In What Women Want, Mel Gibson’s character, Nick, is appalled when his boss brings in someone else to do “his job.” The fact that she is a woman bothers him more than the fact that his expected job was taken away. Also, Nick’s boss admits the only reason he hires Helen Hunt’s character, Darci, is because she can connect to female buyers – not because of her overall talent – and because of her talent of selling products geared toward women. Another form of subordination in this movie is how all the women need saving in some way – the file carrier, Nick’s daughter, and even Darci (the only “strong” character in the movie). Of course, these women need saving from a man.
In the show Ugly Betty, America Ferrera’s character, Betty, is subsidiary to the boss’ son. What is interesting about that show is that the only woman that seems to hold power, Vanessa Williams, is actually deceiving and manipulative. All the other women are lower than the men. They are secretaries, assistants, and “closet girls” like Betty’s friend played by Ashley Jensen. A movie that is supposed to be advancing in terms of not requiring women to be pretty in the work place is not really getting better in the women-being-equal-to-men category.
Mad Men is set 40 years ago, and these stereotypes of women are historical images of the way women were treated in the 60s. On the other hand, What Women Want and Ugly Betty are shows about the world today. One would expect these two shows to have a more equal distribution between women and men in power. It is obvious to me after looking at these shows through a feminist lens that we subconsciously feed this idea that men are in some way better than women. We’ve made some progress towards advancing this idea, but we still deal with it even today.
One of the most interesting topics discussed to date was about Barbie. I never took a deeper look into the whole Barbie ordeal. We talked about how Barbie was considered successful at every occupation and how she is beautiful at the same time. Critics were saying that this makes little girls think that women have to be beautiful to be successful. Personally, I liked Barbie as a child. Barbie did not influence me to think this at all. I always saw Barbie as a girly toy.
In fact, I think that Barbie puts out the message that little girls could be anything they want to because Barbie was a nurse, doctor, princess, lawyer, singer, etc. I think that Barbie is a positive image when it comes to that idea. I think Barbie is like the epitome of independence! Barbie had her own car, house, and a successful career! Ken did not come into the picture until later so basically she did not need a man to accomplish all that. I did not read one critic talk about how Barbie was independent in her own right. They always talk about the negative aspects of things and not the positive.
Another issue about Barbie is the race and ethnicity issue. I found that very interesting and never thought about this until we talked about it in class. All the ethnicities of Barbie looked exactly alike. The only thing they changed was the color of the plastic. If the only thing that is different is the type of clothes, then even a white Barbie could be a different race/ethnicity! I am glad that by being in this class it makes me realize things I have never before.
One of the topics that I wished to discuss in more detail was chapter eleven from Douglas’ Where the Girls Are. I remember when I was around the age of ten, my best friend and I loved to work out with the Jane Fonda videos that belonged to her mother. Little did I know that we were participating in the fitness rage of the 80’s. We did not get buns of steel or toned thighs, but we mimicked the girls on the video who certainly had them. After reading this chapter, I felt a little silly and even more upset about the standards placed on women in order form them to prove themselves worthy of acceptance.
The idea that in order to be perceived as successful and independent, a woman had to work herself beyond normal limits for something as trivial as dimple-free buns is absurd. Firstly, the body is such a hard thing to change. Take my family for example, obesity is in my genes and no matter how hard I diet and exercise (which I do more than I should) I can never lose the fat around my lower belly. It is not right that I should feel inferior to other girls who do not have weight issues because I work hard just to stay at the same weight. The thigh region is a difficult one to alter and a woman should not be regarded as lazy if she cannot create them into the ideal image. This idea of buns of steel also does not take into account the type of job a woman has or childbirth. After a woman has a baby, her main focus should be the happiness associated with raising a child, not the overwhelming feeling of guilt for having a socially undesirable body.
Also, successfulness should not depend on physical appearance. It should come from accomplishments in academia, arts, and any other form of worthy praise. Having a toned body is nice, maybe that is the subconscious talking, but it should not be the criteria on which we judge each other. I know that I have psychological issues with my appearance, mainly from my parents, but I am aware of it and can work past it to accomplish what is really important in the grand scheme of things. So many girls I know have wonderful personalities, but they are convinced that they cannot be happy if they do not wear makeup or shave their legs. What worries me the most is what is next to come. Within the next decade, what will be the impossible standard that women, or any other demographic, must accomplish in order to be accepted? Hopefully it will be something of importance and depth, but I am almost positive it will consist of an aspect of physical appearance.
One article that I wish that we had been able to discuss more was Henke, Umble, and Smith's "Constructions of the Female Self: Feminist Readings of the Disney Heroine." While I agree with the first 2 pages of the article, that basically Cinderella and Snow White are slightly ridiculous representatives of women, I dislike what the rest of the article had to say. At first they set up The Little Mermaid as a great female hero for little girls only to bring her down using such weak examples. After talking about what a strong girl Ariel is, on page 27, the authors says, "Nevertheless, it is Eric who finally kills the sea witch and it is Triton whose powers enables Ariel to return to the human world by transforming her permanently in to a human. Thus, while Ariel chooses to leave her own people for a life with Eric, it is still not her power but her father's power which enables her dream to come into fruition." There are several key facts in this sections that are twisted to prove their point. The article makes it seem like Triton is able to transform Ariel just because he is a man. They conviently left out that is the king of the ocean, which is why Ursala was trying to attack Ariel. Ursala could have (and did) transform Ariel just as well as Triton did, so it's not stated well enough that whoever wears the crown as the power. Ariel could have changed herself if she had killed her father herself, but that might be a bit much for a Disney movie. That's just something that bothered me. They also go on to talk about how great Belle is only to point out that she takes his place in the Beast's dungeon, implying that is was almost in servitude because she is the daughter and he is the father. But no! They failed to mentioned that he was old and SICK and was supposed to be on his way to an invention contest that was very important. I guess my point is that I understand what they were trying to say (I guess) but it seems like such a stretch. Ariel and Belle were very good strong women, but the authors tried to finds things that made them weak women anyway.
The role of women is...What sentence could be more horrifying, more condemning. To be ascribed a role merely on the basis of sex, how degrading can society become? The question of how to combat this role ascription has been the paramount issue in many of the articles we have read so far in class (Whats Wrong with Cinderella? and The Social Construction of Gender just to highlight a few). The women/girls in these articles are constantly confined to roles which they have no choice or opinion in choosing. The apparent need to fill the princess role, the mother role, the subservient role must be for women a horrifying predicament. What happens if you aren’t as small as Cinderella, or have perfectly unblemished skin like Pocahontas, or the intelligence of Belle? You would feel undesirable like an outcast. In this separation from the “perfect” you would begin to see yourself as, the other, the unmentionable. You wouldn’t be a princess, you would be something else. The problem here is what is the other, what is not small, smart, or perfect, what in the Disney fairytales is the antithesis of the princess. The swiftest response would be reply that the other is merely the girls that aren’t beautiful, smart, subservient or kind. Do these girls exist? I would have to say that they do not, (an argument could be supplied for the case of Cinderella, but as the step-sisters are the only similar aged women in any of the films in regards to the main heroin this argument would have to be dismissed purely on point that it is unrepresentative of the whole lexicon of princess movies). If there are no “lesser” girls in the films, then what entity embodies these “lesser” denominations, I believe that one must look past the princess and at the prince and in doing so a whole new realm of stereotypes can be found.
In order to assess the princess-prince or princess-partner dichotomy it is fruitful I believe to start at the beginning, Snow White. In the film Snow White, Snow White is described as the most beautiful girl in all the land. She is nice, kind, and sweet then there are the dwarfs. Ugly and deformed they work all day and are ascribed horrible characteristics, Sneezy, Dopy, Grumpy, etc... If young girls are supposed to look to Snow White as a role model what about young boys. How must they feel when every attribute a man has in the film is no way favorable. One could argue however that the role model for young boys is the prince who must rescue snow white, waking her with a kiss. Boys are supposed to desire this fate, the fate that demands that we face almost certain death in order to marry a girl they hardly know who does nothing more than sleep all day in a crystal bubble? The prince barely speaks if at all, he is merely driven by action he is not intelligent or smart merely a workhorse like the dwarfs whose entire life revolves around providing and possibly dying for someone he hardly knows. It is horrible that the princess is only given life by a kiss by the prince, but is it not equally appalling that the prince exists solely to provide the kiss for the princess.
Let us now turn to Cinderella. Cinderella whose one wish, her heart’s desire, is to attend the ball and fall in love. In the first scene where the two lovers meet they sing a duet, and then Cinderella breaks away leaving the prince by himself. She is in control of the scene not the prince, he does not control the action the action is controlled by Cinderella. The argument has been made in class that Cinderella’s only way to achieve freedom and happiness is to wed the prince. Does the prince not have these same burdens? Is the ball not set up to find him a wife, a wife he does not necessarily want or need? This is the prince’s plot, his only role is to be married, he isn’t measured by his actions, intelligence or his gentility, but is judged merely on his ability to produce heirs and secure the family line and the political stability of the kingdom.
It is time now to look at the piece-de-resistance of the prince stereotype, Beauty and the Beast. Belle is beautiful, smart, kind, caring, and vivacious just to list a few descriptors. What adjectives can attach to the male characters the Beast, Gaston, and Belle’s father respectively? Ugly, Egotistic, cruel, dim-witted are just a few, but certainly none of the men can reasonably considered good role models for a young boy, or anyone for that matter. The male characters in Beauty and the Beast while more diverse than the female characters still provide gross stereotypes that I believe are as degrading if not more so than the female stereotypes. If I had to choose between growing up idealizing Belle or Gaston it wouldn’t be that hard of a choice. It’s like asking if you should idealize Madame Curie or George Bush.
The problem I find however in illuminating one side the argument, which in this case is the feminist argument we tend to neglect the other side. By only showing the oppression of women, do we not in turn downplay the stereotypes ascribed to men? Take for instance the growing freedom of the Disney princess as shown in the films Mulan and Pocahontas, (this increasing level of “freedom” was discussed in the article Constructions of Female Self). Did the men in those films also become more intelligent, more independent, and less reliant on body imaging? I would have to say no, they get progressively worse. By making women more independent Disney has increasingly portrayed the men as utterly dependent, instead of expressing equality. John Smith would have died if not for Pocahontas intervening, and every man in China would have been massacred if not for Mulan’s heroism. The men in these stories lack the intelligence, conviction, and genuine grit of their female counterparts. They are not equals. They have become surpassed by the woman entirely. It is not my intention to bring men “back to the top”, but merely I am attempting to point out that instead of striving for equality feminist critics of fairy tales have brought about not role equalization but hierchal reversal which merely generates new stereotypes.
The role of women is a terrible statement. No one should have a role, no one should be ascribed a type or cast. However I believe that in attempting to change certain elements of the feminist “role” we have forgotten that other people also are ascribed roles, sometimes even more appalling. I believe however that one of the ways to remedy this problem is not so much in highlighting difference, but in diversifying choices. If we are given choices, lots of choices we could as an audience choose characters which are more analogous with ourselves, but how do we do this without again promoting stereotypes. This is a very difficult situation, because the roles we all play are highlighted purely through our difference in accordance with others roles. I believe that only by utterly equalizing all roles can their ever be true equality, and only in true equality can role ascription be abandoned.
I enjoyed watching Mad Men and Ugly Betty. I liked how they related to our class discussions and feminism as a whole. I felt they could be easily compared and contrasted and thought it was very interesting that they were chosen for us to watch in conjunction with one another.
I was disappointed that we did not spend more class time comparing and contrasting the two shows. I felt the role of women in both was highly modified by the male characters. In Mad Men, only attractive females were hired to work in the office environment. The women who were less attractive worked behind closed doors. Although both shows took place decades apart from each other, the role of women as sex symbols for the male office workers was very evident in both shows. Betty’s boss, Daniel Meade thrives on the sexual attraction of his female co-workers. His father only hires Betty to keep him occupied on his work, not on women. In Mad Men, the secretary explains to Peggy Olsen that she must be attractive to her male boss. I felt these comparisons were very interesting. Although the show takes place in the present, the views about women in the workplace from the past shown in Mad Men do not differ from Ugly Betty.
In Mad Men, many people make comments about Peggy Olsen’s clothing. This is also evident in Ugly Betty, although it is to an extreme. Since Peggy does not come from the city, she dresses and acts differently then the other secretaries. Betty also shares this characteristic as she comes from Brooklyn and is not into the fashionable, sexy ways of city life. Clothing obviously has sexual appeal in both shows, as it is the main focus in Ugly Betty and an important trait for secretaries of the 1960s in Mad Men.
I’ve always known that the media had a strong presence in everyone’s life, but since the beginning of this course I’ve begun to understand what an impact it can have on people. I now find myself watching TV, listening to songs, and reading advertisements through a feminist lens. I’ve found the most feminine allusions on TV. I enjoyed watching “Ugly Betty” and “Mad Men.” Before this class, I had never seen either show but it was interesting to compare and contrast women’s roles in each. Also, just tonight, while watching “Desperate Housewives,” Susan mentions that part of being a feminist entitles women to be treated equally- which means boys can hit girls. Most boys are taught not to hit girls even if the bully is female; however, Susan wanted her son to stand up to any bully- regardless of sex. Another show caught my attention with regards to the media’s definition of beauty (which is unattainable for the majority of women)… I’m slightly embarrassed to admit this, but earlier this week I was watching a rerun of “Full House.” In this episode, DJ crash dieted before a pool party in order to look like the models on magazine covers. Danny asks DJ why she likes her friends. Of course, she said because they are fun and like hanging out together, etc. As the corny music begins to play, Danny points out that their looks play no role in her friend selection. So why did DJ think she had to lose weight for her friends? I think this is a good example of what Nikki brought up in class a while back. That the standards we use to judge ourselves are harsher than the standards we use on others.
I find it interesting that women (and men) let the media have such an influence on their self-esteem. I know I’m no fashionista, but I try to keep up with some fashion trends; however, I understand not all trends flatter my body style- but that doesn’t make me feel any less beautiful! Also important, I won’t wear something I don’t like just because everyone else is wearing it. I played with Barbies all the time… and none of them had my body style; but I never thought I had to look just like Barbie in order to be pretty. Honestly, as a child, I never even noticed how disproportional she is. As much as we pressure them to grow intellectually at a young age, kids are just kids. I know the media is everywhere, but parents should moderate their children’s exposure. If a child sees something inappropriate or too stereotypical, parents should take that opportunity to talk to their kids about the media. Positive reinforcement at a young age could possibly eliminate insecurities later in life. I know some of these thoughts are random, but they have all crossed my mind at some point during this semester and I never found a way to fit them in.
I forgot one more example I wanted to mention. I watched "Sex and the City: The Movie" today. Carrie reads Cinderella to Charlotte's daughter and then proceeds to tell her that it was just a fairytale and that fairytales don't come true. By the end of the movie, Carrie’s dream DID come true- she had her husband, friends, nice apartment, etc. I loved fairytales when I was little, but I never thought I was to wait for a Prince Charming. The only thing I took from these stories was that dreams COULD come true- not that they always did, but that they could. I know fairytales may be a little unrealistic, but why discourage little girls from dreaming? Or take away the optimism that comes with being a child?
I know we have discussed beauty and images of beauty quite often during class and in our responses, but I thought I would try to analyze the idea of beauty and what goes along with it. In Gorham’s Considerations of Media Effects, “Devine concluded that stereotypes are so well learned that they become automatically triggered in individuals whenever a person from that particular group is encountered.” I cannot think of a more common concept to apply to a stereotype: beauty. As we have discussed in class, our stereotypes of beauty include “being white, skinny, and tall.” Douglas also comments that beauty is defined by a person who is “cellulite and wrinkle free” rather than by characteristics found within a person. With these thoughts from various authors and discussions from class swirling in my mind, I found myself in an awful predicament.
What is beauty? Who is beauty? Barbie is a great example of beauty and what it means to be beautiful. Stereotypically, she is the ideal picture of beauty. So, if Barbie is beautiful, that means that everyone -toy or person- who does not resemble Barbie is not beautiful. Another example comes from Ugly Betty. Betty is compared to the other women in the company and does not get the job because she lacks beauty. The other women in the company are considered beautiful, therefore Betty is not. When we look at a person, the first thing we notice is that person’s schema. We then identify with that schema, in this case the schema would be beauty, and then we start to notice features that correlate with that particular schema.
Subconsciously we all identify with the stereotype or schema of beauty on some level. For me, this was evident when reading Douglas’ chapter on narcissism. As she talked about how beauty is so much more than skin deep, I continued to identify with just the beauty aspect. I found myself thinking I needed to be thinner and more toned in order to be considered a more beautiful woman. I realized my thought processes were going against the ideas I believed in, and this provided me the opportunity to learn. My personal experience has taught me that stereotypes are “well learned” and go so far back that we cannot identify the origin in our lives. Barbie, Betty, and my own experience, have shown that it is easy to identify with the first impression of outward beauty; it is much more difficult, however, to associate with true beauty, which is most often found within.
One of the main topics that we talked about in class was beauty. This topic is always very controversial because there is no one definition of beauty, even though the dictionary does have a definition of the word. Throughout the class we read articles, watched shows, and compared images that all centered around the idea of beauty and image.
A time that comes to mind is when we compared the pictures of the Victoria Secret models and the Dove women. Most men look at the Victoria Secret models and want their women to look like that in lingerie, or find a woman that looks like that. Most women look at the Dove women and feel glad to know that they can have curves and still feel beautiful. What shocked me was to find out that the women in the Dove commercial were airbrushed and altered. So basically their slogan “Campaign for Real Beauty,” is all just false advertisement. On their website it says the Dove mission is, “to make more women feel beautiful every day by widening stereotypical views of beauty.” If the stereotypical view of beauty is skinny women with no flaws, then how are they widening the views by going along with the rest of the media and airbrushing and altering real women? To me this is ridiculous and sad to see. Honestly after seeing this it has changed my whole perception on the company and makes me not want to buy their product.
This idea of beauty is very disturbing to me because young girls see these ads and models and want to grow up to be and look like them. If the media displays women in this way, then this must be the way to look. Women are getting skinnier and skinner in the media. A few days ago I was watching a show that talked about the women in the hit show 90210 and how skinny they are compared to the old cast. Why do they have to be skinnier? Is this supposed to boost the ratings because the women are pencil thin? Honestly to me, I would rather see a woman with curves and some meat on her bones instead of looking like she skips every meal. This reminds me of the show “Ugly Betty” that we watched in class. All the women that work in the office who are seen are skinny and beautiful. The women who do not fit this mold are hidden in offices or closets. The man, who takes over, Daniel, only hires women who he is sexually attracted to. All the clothes that they have downstairs come only in a size zero. Betty is seen as ugly and unattractive because of the way she looks, and that is the only reason his father hired her was so that Daniel would not sleep with her. So instead of judging a person on their ability, which Betty clearly had, they go by looks. Unfortunately this is how the real world is. I have heard many stories when it comes to women in the workforce. In some cases, when it comes down to a job, the woman who looks better will get the job. This is not a good message to be sending out to young women. It shouldn’t be about who looks better but who is more qualified.
I believe that every woman is beautiful in her own way. There shouldn’t be a specific type of look that all women should adhere to. Every woman should take care of herself by eating right, exercising, and keeping up with their hygiene for themselves. Not to please anyone else but to keep themselves healthy and strong.
I want to talk about the discussion we had over beauty. We talked about what it means to be beautiful and what the media portrays as beautiful. We also discussed why only two percent of women fell they are beautiful, leaving another 98% felling ugly. A point was made that if the question was flipped around and the participants were asked, do you find yourself attractive that the results may have come out a little different. Personally I do not feel this is so. One of the main factors we talked about in which women are beautiful was confidence. Confidence in themselves. In order to have confidence in yourself, you must like yourself. If you like yourself than I feel you find yourself to be attractive. You don’t fall into the norm and don’t allow others to impact you in the way you look. According to the Google definition of confidence, confidence is described as “assurance: freedom from doubt; belief in yourself and your abilities.” It also says that “confidence is generally described as a state of being certain.” My point I’m trying to make is that if you are confident in yourself enough to find yourself beautiful, wouldn’t you like the way you look and find yourself attractive? From just my experiences, people that find themselves beautiful are less likely to focus on the bad and more so on the good. Focusing on the good boost self confidence. Self confidence makes people feel more attractive because they are happy with themselves. So I do not believe that women who find themselves beautiful don’t find themselves attractive. I think the more confidence in yourself the better you feel about yourself. The better you feel about yourself the more likely you are to love your body. If you love your body then you should feel attractive. If you have the confidence to realize you are a beautiful person then I would think you would realize your attractiveness and not your flaws.
I was surprisingly drawn to the conversation of the Barbie doll. I was definitely one of the few girls in this world that hated the Barbie dolls and not for any particular reason. I called my mother to make sure I wasn’t dreaming that I hated them and she confirmed that anytime she would buy me one I would cut the hair off and throw them away. My whole life was about sports, the outdoors, and mud fighting with my two brothers. I was also never a small child, I always and still you have a bit of meat on my body. Since this last discussion in class I think to myself if I would have played with the Barbie’s if they would have been a little “not” so skinny. Maybe that wouldn’t have changed anything, but I really doubt that had anything to do with. I just preferred to be an outdoors, active child.
I don’t believe that the Barbie Corporation was set out to do any harm to children; I just think they were trying to make money off of the largest age in population. Barbie was actually very smart to target young girls because there are so many of them in society, present and past. Looking at Barbie now, I would think kids would want to be like her. She is good at everything, she has a bunch of friends, cars, houses, clothes, and anything a young dreamer girl would want. Therefore, I really don’t see the problem with the Barbie dolls or any children’s toy in that matter. These days I think it’s TV and video games that we need to watch out for the little children, not a doll. I am really excited we talked about Barbie and gave everyone a chance to put in their different thoughts about her.
Our class discussion on the Disney Princesses has sparked my interests the most. Before reading Peggy Orenstein’s article “What’s Wrong with Cinderella?” I never realized the “princess brand” was so controversial. When I was growing up, I always saw these fairy tales as just stories in a book and/or movie. These characters never effected how I made decisions or felt about myself. After being enrolled in this class and looking at them from a different perspective I do not believe my opinion of them has changed that much.
In Orenstein’s article, she recalls cringing when her daughter wants to dress up like the princesses in her preschool class. And then going on to say that these toys are “…undermining girls’ well being warning parents that a preoccupation with body and beauty is perilous to their daughters’ mental and physical health”. When did characters gain this much power over children and their futures? When did they stop becoming just mere instruments to help spark imagination in young children’s lives?
For example, in Beauty and the Beast, Belle the “princess” is intelligent and self-reliant. She refuses the marriage proposal of the most handsome man in town, Gaston, saves her father and falls in love with the beast. To me this story just shows how a girl is trying to live her life and hits a few speed bumps in the road. Also, these characters are animated drawings, not real people. How can drawings affect how you see yourself? Yes, these drawings represent people, but are just images that someone imagined and created.
The princesses in these stories are like any other characters in any other movie that are used to tell a story and that is all. I do not believe that the have the power to make a girl self-reliant in the future or cause her to think less of herself because she doesn’t live in a castle.
Of the readings that have been assign up to this point the article that was the most thought provoking was Peggy Orenstein’s “What’s Wrong with Cinderella?” It was very interesting to see this perspective of a childhood icon. As many little girls growing up in the late 80’s and early 90’s, the 1950’s movie Cinderella was one of my favorites. I, like Orenstein’s little girl, loved dressing up as a princess to replicate the princesses that I saw in the Disney movies that I adored at the time. My mother was not a homemaker; she was an accountant, and one of the strongest willed individuals that I know of (owning some of her own feminist ideas). Nevertheless, she had absolutely no problem buying me any of the princess merchandise I desired at the time. Recently she has admitted enjoying the time spent dressing up her only daughter as a little princess in all pink whenever possible.
The statement in the article made that was referencing Mooney suggests that little girls who hold the most feminine ideals that are perpetuated by the “Princess Craze” will grow up to be women that hold these ideal. The conclusion was that these women, “are more likely to be depressed than others and less likely to use contraception.” That was a quite an ambiguous claim since there was no scientific study that was referenced.
The motivation to write this article seemed to originate from the author wanting to raise her daughter with all the benefits of her feminist background while allowing the daughter to play “Princess”. It seems as if the author is imposing her personal disdain for all things princess related on her daughter. That action may be equally unhealthy as teaching your daughter ‘all you can hope for in life is to find a Prince Charming and be wearing the right outfit when you do’. It is true that until the age of 8 or 9 I dressed up like a princess whenever possible. It is also true that it did not hinder me from becoming and electrical engineering major and pursuing my own career without building it around marrying “Prince Charming.”
Over the course of this semester so far I have started to realize how pervasive merchandising for Disney and Barbie have become in the lives of every little girl. I especially had never realized how the Disney princesses and Barbies had combined in some instances. Perhaps I should have been able to realize this before reading articles and discussing it in class, but I have never actually thought about it. Besides the articles we have read and discussed in class, seeing the toys and entertainment chosen by my nieces has really driven the point home.
The extent to which Disney and Barbie have been able to expand into such large entities outside of their original movies or dolls is impressive. As Peggy Orenstein explains in her article What’s Wrong With Cinderella?, in the past decade Disney has been able to take its princesses far passed the boundaries of their movies. For example, “…in 2001, Mattel bought out its own “world of girl” line of princess Barbie dolls, DVDs, toys, clothing, home décor and myriad other products”. As mentioned in this quote, Disney has created Barbie dolls based on their princess characters which is only the beginning of how far Barbie seems to have come. On the other hand, Barbie has started to appear in mediums besides their plastic doll form. For example, when I was speaking to my brother recently, he was telling me about the Barbie dolls, the “horrifying” Barbie cartoons done with computer animation, the pink plastic Barbie cell phone, Barbie princess costumes, and some many other appearances that Barbie has made in their home since their birth of their daughters.
While I don’t exactly have a problem with Disney and Barbie having a place in the lives of little girls, I don’t think it is really fair that Disney and Mattel have been able to monopolize the market on little girl’s playtime. There must be some other toys that would be enjoyed by little girls that have been overpowered by these big companies, and that doesn’t make me feel to happy for the success of Disney and Barbie. I am torn between this issue of monopolized play, and the fond memories I have of playing with Barbies and watching Disney princesses that overwhelm my childhood memories.
The discussion of beauty in class brought forth several opinions. I can not help but feel that most of the opinions were sugar-coated for the class to enjoy. No matter how much we would like for physical beauty not to matter, it is engraved in our society. So much so, that many people base their lives around it. I do not believe that everyone is physically pleasing to look at in my eyes, but it is only after a life of beauty standards being beat into my head. In my experience, I have known anyone to be in a casual, natural setting seeing a person that was less attractive and saying, “Wow! I bet they have great personality. I want to go get their number!” If you take the views from our class it will mislead one to believe that it happens often on a daily basis. It does not. It has already been proven that appearances matter. In a study at West Point, with only the pictures of the new cadets, the sociologist could predict how highly ranked they will be based solely on the cadets appearance. The more physically attractive the person was the higher ranked they became. Also, another studied had people talk to a girl and showed a picture of the girl to the people she was on the phone with at the time. They had an “ugly” picture and a picture of a “pretty” girl. It was the same girl on the phone, but people made a completely different take on her personality based on her looks. So, as much as I hate to admit it, looks do matter. If we continue to ignore this in a setting like a classroom and pretend it does not exist, then it will continue to be the same. People will still be judged according to a set of rules set by the media and society. I believe that everyone needs to stop being so politically correct in the classroom, unless they are going to be the same in their daily lives. As a person who came into their own late in life, I know that being unattractive is not fun. People do not take to you as easily if you are not physically attractive. This is from living on both sides of the “ugly” and “pretty” coin.
Besides exploring images of women in modern society, I believe this class is challenging each of us to reflect upon the meaning of gender in our own personal lives. More specifically, over the course of the semester, I have contemplated my development of femininity and individualism from my childhood to young adult present. As a young girl, I was the embodiment of a tomboy loving to camp, bike, and play with the boys. I didn’t care what I looked like and hated Lisa Frank, Barbie, jewelry, frilly clothes, and anything extremely girly. Almost a decade later, I put on make-up, watch Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model, love to shop, and somehow morphed into a more feminine person. Though I still retain traces of my tomboy past, how and why have I transformed to a more formulaic female?
One of our first assignments was to fill out a media survey asking questions about our past and present interactions with the media. As I was filling out this survey, it was obvious that my childhood answers were more gender unspecific than my present. Since then I have seen a correlation between the elements we discuss and my personal development of gender. Resisting the gendering forces of adults, my peers, and the media, I was extremely apathetic towards Barbie and Disney Princesses which were cornerstones of most girls’ childhoods. Identifying with Ann du’Cille, my media idols were fictional white male characters, such as Tommy Pickles and Indiana Jones, since my brother controlled the remote at my house. I also read the whole Nancy Drew series between third and fifth grade looking up to Nancy and her tomboy friend George (mostly disregarding Betsy, the girly one) who solved adult mysteries. Both my male and female role models didn’t play with Barbies or wait for a prince to rescue them, but were adventurous, successful, and genuine.
Everything changed around fifth grade when “sexual” forces of the world began to seep into girl and boy interactions. No longer wanting to hang out with me, the boys were drawn to the pretty girls instead of a nerdy tomboy with no fashion sense. I soon caught on and realized that my oddly assorted Wal-Mart outfits, unkempt hair and face, and undeveloped body were causing me to become an outcast from the queen bee girls and the boys I used to play with. In junior high, I believe young females face the most pressure of how they should act, dress, and spend their time. We look towards each other, the hormonally driven boys, and teen media to formulate a teenage standard that most girls feel they fall short of. In junior high, my self esteem was at an all-time low because of my body image; womanly curves were nonexistent on my late blooming body. I even sucked in my stomach for two years to create the illusion that my boobs protruded more than my belly did. Stemming from the pressures of these years, some of my friends began forming destructive practices of anorexia, bulimia, and cutting because they felt they didn’t meet the standard that Susan Bordo writes about.
Luckily my body image issue fixed itself by high school as I developed curves. I remember being shocked when one of the most popular girls in school said that I was pretty and when one of the cool boys pursued me. Because of my increased self esteem, shopping went from a torturous experience to fun and empowering. I started watching girly television shows like Ugly Betty and chick flick movies like What Women Want that reinforce the importance of a stylish image and female sensuality. Though a part of me wanted to resist the feminine side, the transformation was driven from wanting to be desirable by men (one of Victoria Secret’s marketing points), to look beautiful and polished, and to keep up with other women. Reflecting upon myself, I am confident and happy with the young women that I am today, but sometimes miss the tomboy rebellion I used to posses. I have learned that my morphing sense of femininity has not occurred by accident but is influenced by strong social and media forces.
Wesly G
Throughout this class, I have often found myself asking, “Why do women feel so much pressure to conform to the images the media plagues us with?” I do not think that this question (like most other questions about the reasons we do the things we do) has only one answer. In Where the Girls Are, Susan Douglas, discussing the schizophrenia women feel, states, “I want to look beautiful; I think that wanting to look beautiful is the most dumb-ass goal you could have. The magazine stokes my desire; the magazine triggers my bile” (9). I feel exactly the same way, and many of my classmates mentioned that they feel the same way, too. Why? I understand that the media wields a mighty fist, but there has to be more to it than that. I think one part of the reason goes back to woman’s history of being subordinate to man.
One part to the answer is simple: the media is powerful; the media presents women with a small set of images and ideals of what a woman should be. Women see no other versions; therefore, they think that the media images of women are the “norm” and that we should all look and act like that. However, the same can be said for men. Along with changing a woman’s idea of what she should look like, the media changes a man’s notion of what he should want in a woman. Suddenly, toned buns and thighs and flawless skin are all he sees in magazines and on television, and to him, that is the personification of beauty.
Why is this important? Why does what a man wants affect women in any way? This is where I think the deeper meaning comes in. Women begin to perceive men’s tastes in women, and conform. Let us not forget, many of us have been socialized by Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and still find some self-worth in having a man we can call our own. Even throughout history (history goes back way before the 20th century I must continually remind myself) women have lived for men. Women were subordinate and “did what they were told.” Women had a second-class status and pleasing men was part of the woman’s role. In today’s society, we are being told both by the media and (indirectly) by men that these images in magazines and television shows embody what women should be. In succumbing to the image the media has laid out for us, we are, once again, doing what we are told. I think (judging from my experience with the women in my life) that women place much more pressure on themselves than men – pressure to succeed in every tiny little detail of their lives. Has the media been so successful at making us idolize the images it gives us because women have this tendency to do what we are told and to place large amounts of pressure on ourselves? I think, in general, yes (once again, I am drawing from my own experiences. I know this does not ring true with everybody.)
In conclusion, I believe there are other forces at work here. The reason the media has had so much influence on us may be partly because of our nature as women and our long history of subordination. I do not mean to diminish the major role the media has played in our schizophrenia. I just think that we should consider all possible reasons to why we are the way we are.
I’ve been thinking a lot about our discussions on beauty and what the word as a whole means. In the Dove and Victoria Secret articles we read, beauty is some sort of product they try to sell to women so that they can feel beautiful. In these articles beauty is not a human characteristic but a material thing to make us, the consumer, feel more like a woman and therefore be beautiful. I don’t completely agree that beauty though is something that is just skin deep. I know that when I buy new clothes or makeup is because they make me feel beautiful on the outside and comfortable with myself. My overall opinion about beauty is that we should be comfortable within our own skin and to not hold ourselves to ridiculous goals set by the media, which will influence us in some way. The dove campaign approaches women in a different way than VS. Dove reaches women in a more down to earth, natural and neutral way as opposed to VS secret which is about big, sparkling and, show stopping. Who’s to say which one is the “right” way to express beauty? I know personally I have my days when I want to be sexy and everything big but other days where I prefer to just be laid back but regardless I still feel beautiful with or without makeup on. Beauty is something that we shouldn’t compare or base on someone else, because we are all so unique it is almost impossible to hold a certain body type, ethinicity, or facial feature as the norm, which would only happen in a perfect world. Beauty standards are perceived according to the cultural norms that people are accustomed to and this has a great influence on how the attractiveness of a person is perceived. In America, the media influences what we perceive as beautiful by continuously flashing images of tall, blonde, white women. In the Honduran culture, though beauty is not just about these things, I woman is held to different standards; she can’t be skinny because there is always some kind of manual labor to do so she needs to be strong, we are all for the most part olive complexion, short and a little stubby, those are what most women in Honduras look like and they are considered beautiful not only because of their physical beauty but by the amount of labor they can help out with in the home. These are completely different cultural standards of beauty, which is ok, beauty is a personal decision of how we chose to interpret other people and things.
We have had some quite interesting discussions in class throughout the first half of the semester, but the one that sticks out in my mind in particular is the one about the Disney princesses. I feel like we have talked about this topic quite a bit, but it seems like our class had some passionate opinions about it. Disney princesses are characters that are most girls take to heart and cherish for a lifetime, so it’s no wonder why we had so much to discuss!
The topic of the Disney princesses is not unique to this particular type of women’s class. Both of my older sisters have taken classes very similar to this at two different universities and loved them, they actually recommended that if I had the opportunity I should take a women’s studies course here at LSU. I remember my sister Kim telling me about their own Disney princess discussion, but they actually took it in a different direction and discussed the acute violence depicted in the Disney movies. For example, how harshly the Beast treats Belle and his intense temper, Malificent’s curse that Aurora should prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die, and probably the worst of all is when Snow White’s evil stepmother instructs the woodman to kill Snow White in the woods, cut out her heart and place it in a box to bring back to the witch. My sisters and I, like many generations of young girls, grew up watching these movies and acting them out, yet it took a women’s class to point out how inappropriate some parts are for the eyes of young children. In truth, as we’ve discussed, most of these fairytales were not intended to be lighthearted and romantic children’s stories, but were aimed more with the point of teaching a lesson. Yet in 1937, Walt Disney decided to make the story of Snow White into an animated children’s movie, later followed “Sleeping Beauty” and the success of both paved the way for Disney to animate more fairytales and fables, each new movie more successful than the last.
Although we have found many faults with the Disney princesses throughout our discussions (as have other women’s classes), I still personally believe that for the most part they have a positive impact on young girls. It is true that the earliest princesses, like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, seem to depend on a man to determine their destiny and their happiness; however, as the years progress in Disney films, so do its’ heroines. My favorite character has always been Belle, and I find her to be a modern woman in many ways. Although she is thought to be “odd” for reading, she continues to be herself. I think this shows young girls that it’s okay to be different. Belle does not need a man, as she clearly states when she refuses to marry Gaston and leaves the Beast, but in the end, it is her choice to return to the Beat. This shows that women have a choice in their destiny; it is not a man’s decision, but our own. Every heroine after Belle is more intent on defining her own path in life and being her own woman.
In conclusion, although some parts of early Disney princess movies are sexist and deplorable towards women, I think that they should be regarded by in the times in which they were produced. As the times have changed, so have the princesses and their attitudes towards the world. No longer do the female characters sit and wait for their prince to come save them from housework and their evil stepmother, now they take action and defend themselves. Someday I hope to be a mother, and even with all I know now about how Disney movies can influence girls, I still plan to show them to my daughters. I cherish those films, yet I still consider myself a modern woman. If one watches the movies from the first (being Snow White) to the last (which is Mulan), you can see the progress women have made through time. It is a woman’s prerogative to be whom she wants in life, whether that’s a house mother like Snow White, an explorer like Jane (from Tarzan), or a soldier whom defends our country like Mulan. I hope that my children, like most, will be oblivious to the negative messages that seem to be hidden in some of these movies that we’ve discussed and they will take the good to heart. With guidance, I hope all young girls today can grow into beautiful women who make their own decisions and destinies…even if that is to be a princess.
One topic that I would have liked to discuss further would have been the health related affects resulting in the media’s unrealistic images. The media in our society today has portrayed an image of the “perfect woman.” This vision is one of a woman that is very thin or waif-like, sometimes appearing to the general public as being unhealthy. Majority of the models and people in the limelight are very thin. Our culture places a great emphasis on women being thin through magazines and commercials. Many people take their weight problems out of context. This obsession with their weight takes control of their lives and can lead to anorexia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa is a dangerous eating disorder that without treatment can harm its victims both physically and mentally as they search for thinness.
Many people suffer from this disease by trying to starve themselves. The people who develop serious eating disorders usually develop them as a defense to psychological trauma or emotional problems. Some types of trauma include mental abuse, physical abuse, rape and incest. Anorexia is very serious and needs medical and psychological attention. It can even lead to death if the victim is not careful. In Susan Bordo’s article, “Never Just Pictures,” she states,” Psychologists commonly believe that girls with eating disorders suffer from “body image disturbance syndrome”; they are unable to see themselves as anything but fat, no matter how thin they become.” Young girls are so afraid of ruining their body image; therefore, they can develop a life-long habit of dieting and a belief system that equates thinness with success and happiness.
An interesting topic to bring up is anorexia and race. Does it affect more white women than black women? “Ruth Striegel-Moore, a psychology professor at Wesleyan University, and her team recently surveyed 2,046 young black and white women with an average age of 21, and found that black women were less likely to get certain eating disorders—especially anorexia. "We found no case of a black young woman with anorexia nervosa in this study," says Striegel-Moore. "We’re not looking at risk factors for anorexia nervosa in this study, but what may be going on is that black women are…under less pressure to be super thin. In fact, there’s quite a bit of research that shows that black women prefer to be moderately thin—they don’t want to be skinny-thin—whereas white women…you can never be thin enough, so to speak, as a body ideal.”(http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?article_id=218392017) Why is this? According to Moore, “as a culture, black culture may have protective factors, so that even if a black woman may have the genetic vulnerability to anorexia nervosa, it may not get expressed because she grows up in a context that may be protective." (http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?article_id=218392017)
When was this pressure instilled in us to achieve the perfect image? The style of being thin was first introduced in the 1960’s by a British model named Twiggy Ramirez. Millions of women across the nation began dieting. Soon, young adolescent girls began following in their mother’s footsteps. A famous singer named Karen Carpenter died as a result of anorexia in the 1980’s. She died at the age of thirty-three after suffering with this disease for eight years. She was the first star to pass away from complications of anorexia. Sadly, she began obsessive dieting after a review in the newspaper called her “chubby.” This is a prime example of how the media focuses on the perfect image and the amount of influence it has on individuals. Ms. Bordo refers to how the British model, Kate Moss, reintroduced the waif-like image in the 1990’s. She also refers to how Alicia Silverstone, the nineteen year old star of Clueless, appeared at the Academy Awards with a little more weight than she had when she filmed the movie. Unfortunately, she was ripped up by the tabloids as being a “fat girl.” Ms. Bordo feels that the obsession with weight has gained momentum and is spreading like mass hysteria. She likens fat to the devil and says we are attempting to make our bodies something other than flesh.
Although the exact cause of anorexia is unknown, it appears to involve a combination of psychological, emotional and environmental factors. In Nancy Etcoff and Susie Orbach article, “New Global Study Uncovers Desire for Broader Definition of Beauty,” they state, “The traditional definition of beauty is based on physical appearance, and is powerfully communicated through mass media.” It is because of this perception of beauty from the media that so many women strive for the perfect image. One way they strive to attain the perfect image is to have a perfect body. Anorexia can be triggered by a person making remarks about your being overweight, such as Karen Carpenter. A prime example of the media influencing the norm image of beauty is when Susan Bordo states, “On television, infomercials hawking miracle diet pills and videos promising to turn our body parts into steel have become as commonplace as aspirin ads.”
Some athletic coaches may contribute to the anorexia mindset by stressing working out and talking about different diets. Also dancers, especially ballet, have produced a greater amount of anorexics. Susan Bordo refers to how the tiny Olympic gymnasts are many idols for preadolescent girls across the country. She also shares her concern for what is happening on the inside of their bodies. Some anorexics exercise so often that they develop muscle tissue and reduce fat.
Anorexia nervosa is usually easy to recognize because the individual loses a substantial amount of weight in a short period of time. Majority of people with this disease tend to isolate themselves from food and society. The body goes into a shut down mode and begins breaking down muscle tissue for nourishment and energy. The disease can affect a person’s skin, hair, blood pressure and pulse. Sometimes their can be so much weight loss, it can damage the brain. The longer anorexics put off eating, the better they feel about themselves. Unfortunately, the bathroom scale becomes their best friend.
Anorexia nervosa is a hard sickness to treat because most of its victims often deny that they are sick. They are proud that they are thin and it is usually impossible to reason with them. They have no sense of reality. They view themselves completely opposite of how society sees them. Anorexia victims need consoling, love and support. All cases should be monitored by a physician and severe cases need extensive therapy and antidepressants. According to Gina Shaw, in Anorexia: The Body Neglected, “Anorexia nervosa takes an enormous toll on the body. But that's not all. It has the highest death rate of any mental illness. Between 5% and 20% of people who develop the disease eventually die from it. The longer you have it, the more likely you will die from it. Even for those who survive, the disorder can damage almost every body system.” (http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/anorexia-body-neglected) The family is very important and family therapy has proven to be very effective. The ongoing struggle toward healing is very hard mentally, physically and emotionally. In treatment, the physician begins to challenge the anorexics image of themselves as fat and encourages them to eat. Some have to be hospitalized when a patient’s life is threatened by malnutrition.
Sadly, in today’s society, there is way too much emphasis on weight and physical appearance. Anorexics never feel good about themselves, even if they are extremely thin, because they constantly compare themselves to the norm image that the media portrays as true beauty. Anorexia is a self image problem where the victims develop addictive behavior. This eating disorder can harm its victims both physically and mentally by causing pain, hurt and eventual death. If society and the media would encourage people to accept the way they look, this would solve many problems. For example, the Dove Corporation has started a campaign to bring national focus on the misconception of the perfect image. However, is it justifiable to blame a victim’s anorexia on the media?
Rekesha
At the beginning of class I was not very sure on my position of beauty, feminism, or female images in media. It had never been an issue of debate in society to question the definitions. After a few weeks in class I discovered many feelings on various topics I did not know I had. The topic that gave me the most distress was the female heroines and their self identities in fairy tale films.
Many parents do not take much time out when selecting movies for their children to watch. Most of them just pick the latest popular Disney film and press play. Particularly for young female viewers this is very hazardous if not debriefed with the film themes and how they relate to real life. Many girls look at the social roles displaced on female characters and internalize them on themselves. For example, Belle was ostracized for her ability to read and not conform to the less appropriate action of the fellow townspeople. Cinderella was taught to be ashamed of where she came from by dressing up in a fake gown and lying to the Prince. Pocahontas had to choose between her family heritage and her heart. Ariel was punished for having a spirit of curiosity and wanted to explore life. All of these women were shown negative reinforcement when illustrating their wants and needs to their superiors. Each film showed females that they always have some higher authority to answer to and their life depends on someone else’s path for them. When they stood up for what they believed in and showed virtuosity they were struck down with no regard. When I think of the female movement across the world, it brings strong, knowledgeable, courageous themes to my mind. Change was always made by exemplifying self sacrifice and humbleness for what is right. In these Disney films a spirit of condemnation is put into effect when the ladies show these elements of character. Not until the end is happiness pursued and attained at the cost of something greater such as family, friends, or position in community. In the real world this does not have to be the case for our future generations of women. They have a voice from infancy and are allowed choices for themselves as soon as they want them. It amazes me how real society continues to go further and express conformity for women’s rights but the very places that girls get their first glimpse of female roles does not conform. These movies do not show what it truly means to be a female in the world and I wish they would start before they brain wash females into thinking everywhere they go is a part of some fairy tale dream. They should start showing some real life images of women’s rights movement and the struggles that took place for equality. When they continue to make these sexist films they take what little voice we have accomplished throughout so many hard years away from us.
I really enjoyed the discussion in class on Barbie and beauty. I would often use the word beauty but I think I never really thought about what I was saying. In class when we challenged the norm of beauty it really got me thinking of what I am trying to say when I say the word beauty. I wanted to know what people in my lifestyle think about beauty in hopes of finding an easy way to define the word when I use it. That night when I went home I asked my boyfriend to define beauty. I also asked him what he thinks beauty is. I don’t know what expensive thing he has bought and I haven’t found out about yet, for him to give the answer, “When you smile.” I asked him if by that he meant when everyone smiles or me particularly. Of course, he said me. I’ll spare you the sappy love stuff.
When I asked for his definition of beauty he could not give me a serious definition. This only confused me more. Why couldn’t I define beauty? It really threw me off. This is the best I could come up with. I guess that beauty is whatever the person wants it to be. I truly believe that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don’t think it is being skinny or having nice hair. Although, these traits could be beautiful to some people, they don’t have to be all the time. I think that it is a feeling you get when you look at something and it makes you feel that it stands out. I thought about shopping. Two best friends can go into a store and one may like something when the other doesn’t. It gives a feeling to one of them and the other feels nothing special about it. It’s the feeling I get when I see some one who looks a certain way or when I put on my new dress. It is all about how the thing or person makes you feel. It is so hard to explain.
We also talked about Barbie’s beauty. This made me remember a certain memory in my life. It was my senior prom and my little cousin (I don’t know her age but she was younger than 10) come over to take pictures with me. The rest of my family that was there was telling me how I looked beautiful all dressed up. When my cousin saw me, she said “Oh Nannie, you look like Barbie.” At the time I was like what are you talking about?
After our discussion in class I realized, only three years late, that she was telling me I was beautiful. We discussed that to a child Barbie is the thing to be, because she is so many things. She is a vet, a lawyer, she has long hair to style and every type of clothing you will every need. That is who they look up to. In my cousin’s eyes, I was that special person for that one moment. After thinking about our discussion in class, I thought that she was telling me that I was what she wanted to be.
Some of us in class said we wanted to be Barbie because she represented so many things. Although I spent most of my childhood waiting for them to come out with “Tomboy Barbie”, I still wanted to be like her. Now I see that she is not someone I want to be, but it was a good place to start finding out who I do want to be.
I really enjoyed talking about the good and bad side of Barbie. It really made me think. But, I think it is all in how you were raised. There are some girls out there who think they are Barbie, and others who just found it her as a toy and think nothing of her after their childhood years.
If this is really confusing and I seem to have trouble expressing my points, I am sorry. This is difficult to explain because feelings and emotions are a hard thing to convey. Please take away that I have learned something that hit me on an emotional level. And although I can’t explain it clearly, I really learned something about Barbie and beauty and what they mean to young children. I really enjoyed taking this class discussion and truly learned a lot from it.
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