clip 1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lysWbzQyiWw
Hope you enjoy!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
"Educated" Ladies
I thought you guys might find these clips amusing, if not interesting. I was a bit embarassed but did find them slighlty amusing. I also found it interesting how they petitioners were men asking women. Any thoughts?
Midterm Media Project: Girl Power Lyrics Gone Bad
Music, without a doubt, has become a universal instrument that connects people’s feelings and problems through lyrics. The artists’ streams of words over various beats are extremely influential on the listeners. Very often, music reproduces common societal ills, such as gender, racial, and class stereotypes. Although songs perpetuate many stereotypes, their topics and lyrics still successfully lure the target audience’s attention. And while music has the power to connect people from all around the world experiencing similar problems, artists have failed to provide any solution to these social problems. For example, most female artists’ songs pivot on the relationships between males and females. Without producing any groundbreaking message, many female artists only ponder about their partners’ mistreatments in their relationship and their inability to free themselves from the relationship because love has impeded their rationality. Unlike most female artists, Christina Aguilera provides mainstream society with a song that is more than just about a male to female relationship, but she challenges the double standards society upholds so firmly. However, although Aguilera’s lyricism in her song “Can’t Hold Us Down” provides a source of women empowerment, the visual aspect of her song falls guilty of ineffectively using enlightened sexism and thus continues to disseminate the racial and class stereotypes society is founded upon.
In 2002, Pop Star Christina Aguilera released her second album titled Stripped; her single “Can’t Hold Us Down” featuring Lil’ Kim, exposes the terrible values society has accepted. In a male dominate society, females often receive the brunt of the stick. Females are not respected or taken seriously and often are held to unreasonable standards. Society has set standards of how women should behave and their obligation in society, which is the housewife caricature. The most significant fact society has set, accepted, and continue to perpetuate is that men control women. Therefore, the disrespectful ways in which men treat women can be deemed acceptable and justified. This theme is not unfamiliar to the music industry as we hear numerous songs about relationships. However, Aguilera and Lil’ Kim challenge these standards society set for women. The lyrics, “If you look back in history it’s a common double standard of society/ The guy gets all the glory the more he can score/ While the girl can do the same and yet you call her a whore/ I don’t understand why it’s okay/ The guy can get away with it and the girl gets named” bring this double standard to people’s attention.
If one is to listen to just the lyrics of “Can’t Hold Us Down,” it is undoubtedly that Aguilera and Lil’ Kim deliver a powerful message that qualify as a female national anthem. Unlike mot artists, Aguilera and Lil’ Kim not only bring up a social issue and double standards in male to female relationships, they also offer solutions to change these standards society has set for women. The song’s explicit message is clearly stated in the chorus: “This is for my girls all around the world/ Who have come across a man that don’t respect your work/ Thinking all women should be seen, not heard/ So what do we do girls/ Shout louder/…Never can, never will/ Can’t hold us down.” It is clear that this song is a source of empowerment for women encouraging them to voice themselves and to not let men get away for disrespecting or mistreating them in a relationship. As for solutions for this problem, Aguilera and Lil’ Kim provides two: one is for females to speak up and two is for them to play the same games males do. Lim’ Kim states in her verse, “To all my girls with a man who be tryin mack/ Do it right back to him and let that be that/ You need to let him know that his game is wack.” Although these solutions might not be the best, Aguilera and Lil’ Kim should be given credit for at least attempting to address the issues they put in their song.
While the lyrics of the song provide a sense of women empowerment, the music video does not embody the same powerful message; instead the music video fails short at effectively using Susan Douglas’ ideology of enlighten sexism. Enlighten sexism is the notion that women have fully achieved equality, therefore it is now acceptable for people to joke about sexism and women are encouraged to use their appearances and sexuality as means to obtaining power. Douglas writes, “Now that women allegedly have the same sexual freedom as men, they actually prefer to be sex objects because it’s liberating” (12). Christina Aguilera’s music video is based on this premise that embracing female sexuality is now liberating. Aguilera is dressed promiscuously with a belly tube top, a sleeveless sweater, short’s with a deep slit on both sides of her thighs, a cap with “Lady” written on it, and heels. In the music video, the confrontation begins when an African American male grabs her posterior. Aguilera’s reaction implies that although she is dressed provocatively, it is not a representation of how she wants to be treated. While most female will agree with Aguilera, it is ironic that she needed to wear a cap with “Lady” written on it to indicate her role — and even then, she was not treated as one due to the way she was dressed. Therefore, embracing female sexuality does necessarily lead to liberation, at least not in the society we currently live under where female sexuality is usually objectified.
Furthermore, Aguilera is not the only person that fails to effectively use enlighten sexism, but Lil’ Kim’s intention to empower women through her verse is depicted as a “warrior in a thong” in the music video. The image of a “warrior in a thong” is Douglas criticism on the superwomen depiction, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Zena, as women having the capability to save the day, but also needing to look sexually appealing. That is how Lil’ Kim’s role is executed in this video. She suddenly pops out of the crowd that is surrounding Aguilera, and tears off the “cape” that is covering her thus revealing her outfit, which is even more scandalous than Aguilera’s: patterned bra with matching underwear and a sheer laced cardigan. In the “You Go Girl” chapter, Douglas mentions, “Enlightened sexism suggest that black women deserve to be objectified and should be rendered powerless because all they really care about are sex and money anyway.” Lil’ Kim’s wardrobe is by no means empowering instead it reaffirms Douglas’ statement. This statement is further exacerbated by Aguilera’s following lyrics “You must talk so big to make up for the small lil’ things.” The implication of this line is not fully comprehendible through hearing; instead it’s looking at the music video when Aguilera is stroking the water hose, do listeners see the sexual innuendo behind the lyric. Once again, the music video has failed to effectively use enlightened sexism.
Lastly, in combination of Aguilera and Lil’ Kim failure to effectively used their sex appeal, the music video implicitly shines light on and perpetuates racial and class stereotypes. The music video takes place in an environment that is depicted as the “hood” with graffiti everywhere, people in the community rocking 80’s fashion, and it is not a random selection that everyone in the music video is of color. As Patricia Hill Collins argues in her article “Why Black Sexual Politics” that society relies on the discourse of Black sexuality to preserve societal hierarchies and to reinforce racial practices, the setting this video do just so. Combining the explicit message illustrated through the lyrics together with the music video, one can only come to the conclusion that the song “Can’t Hold Us Down” implies that it is more common for people of color to experience the problem stated in the song. The music video plays on the stereotype that men of color are more likely to disrespect and mistreat women of color. Although the song seems to target all females, women of color identify themselves with this song more. Aguilera and Lil’ Kim can join Josephine Baker, Destiny’s Child, and Jennifer Lopez into the category of Black femininity.
As Douglas indicate in her chapter titled “Sex ‘R’ Us,” she would view Christina Aguilera’s music video as a hybrid of empowerment and objectification. Aguilera’s song is lyrically empowering, but visually it just showcases examples of objectified women in the media. While we might give Aguilera and Lil’ Kim recognition for challenging the social male to female relationship as well as provide possible solutions to addressing problems, it is hard to leave with a sense of empowerment after watching the video. The disconnect between the lyrics and the music video, strongly defeat the purpose of the song. What could have been a female nation anthem has rendered as no different than any other form of media that use female sex appeal to make profit. Overall, music has created a means where artists can re-expose social problems without providing practical solutions as people relate their lives to the lyrics and as music industries continue to thrive on reproducing gender, racial, and class stereotypes.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
The Hollywood Bubble
Caroline Potolicchio
Women’s Studies
3/24/11
The Hollywood Bubble
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKgJYVFqdnQ&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKgJYVFqdnQ&feature=relmfu
After watching the above You Tube clips of the “Young Turks” talk show, I came to the realization that Hollywood and it’s media have a very negative impact on young women and their self image. Because of their negative self image, they often follow through with plastic surgery. Douglass argues in her book “Enlightened Sexism” about how one of the main problems among feminist issues today is that Hollywood and the media are making women think that image is the most important thing to concentrate on in their life. The idea of enlightened sexism is that women are just as equal as men now a days, so they should focus all their power on their appearance and products. This focus will help them gain the power and attention they want. I focused on Heidi Montag, a former Playboy bunny and reality T.V star, and then I shifted my focus to a 21-year old woman who wanted to look like Jessica Alba. I then talked to a friend of mine who recently underwent a breast reduction surgery and found that sometimes a surgery is necessary for one’s health and conscience. However, in reality, most surgeries that are performed are to enhance ones appearance so that they can be younger and sexier.
A 21- year- old Chinese woman is thinking about undergoing plastic surgery to win back her boyfriend. The boyfriend would make her wear a blonde wig every time they were together and he also requested for her to do her make up just like Alba. One day she decided she was fed up with the wig so she told him she wasn’t going to wear it anymore. He told her that if she was not going to wear it, they were done and he wouldn’t be with her anymore. This is prominent evidence that the media is influencing both men and women throughout the world. Douglass argues that the media isn’t the real world and that we have misguided perceptions. Another issue with this situation is that the girl is trying to gain power through changing her image for a man. She wants to “win” him back. She is revolving a decision around a man, and this decision could be detrimental to her life. I think that Douglas is dead on when she talks about how image is the main source of power for women in our generation. Girls in high school and the universities have power if they are good looking, and studies show that if you are good looking you are more compatible. In 1977 Mark Snyder found that when a man was shown a picture of a prospective woman he may talk to on the phone, and if that woman was attractive in the picture, the man would have a more friendly conversation with the woman and vice versa. He also found that if the women were perceived as attractive, they were rated more friendly and attractive, and generally more pleasant than the unattractive women. This study also proves Douglas’s point on how a good outer image has a positive correlation with power. The Chinese woman wanted to gain power through her image, and the way she sought this power was to win over the attention of her ex boyfriend.
Heidi Montag hid herself for two months after her second time visiting the doctor for plastic surgery. After spending ten hours in the operating room, she had nips, tucks, reductions, and augmentations done to her brows, forehead, nose, chin, neck, ears, breasts, and liposuction on waist and the hips. She claimed “child hood teasing brought her under the knife”. It is obvious that her plastic surgeon is protecting the reputation when he says ten surgeries within one operation are safer than doing separate surgeries. Other plastic surgeons argue that it is not safe at all for ten surgeries to be performed at once. The interviewer on Good Morning America asks Heidi what message she is sending regarding image to her fans that are young girls. She answers that she doesn’t think she is sending a bad message because “Beauty is within.” Douglas would argue that Heidi is telling young woman across the nation that in order to be happy inside you have to have be attractive on the outside. When Heidi was interviewed, she stated that a Double D bra size is not big enough or good enough. This message is exactly what Douglas argues against in her book “Enlightened Sexism.” This message is also evidence that Hollywood stars are having a damaging impact on boys and girls. All the stars are caught in a bubble that they truly believe is the real world, and they are dragging kids into this bubble and corrupting them.
After conversing with one of my friends about a surgery she underwent this past summer, I found out a lot about why she went through with it, and most of what she was saying connects back to the issue of media on our generation today. My friend Anna decided to get a breast reduction for various reasons. First and foremost, she was having a lot of back issues and was told that the surgery would be very beneficial for the future. Some of these benefits were being able to continue to work out, limiting the back issues she will have later in life, and not having to worry about her breasts getting uncontrollable after having kids. Just like Heidi Montag, Anna was teased throughout middle and high school. Kids would call her names referring to her breasts. She felt very insecure about her breasts and was limited on what she could wear and in addition being too afraid to wear a bikini at the pool or beach. If a guy were ever hitting on her, her friends would tease her and tell her the only reason the man was interested was for her breasts. The media and Hollywood has corrupted our generation on what we look for in a relationship. Media sends us the message that the only thing that women are good for are their bodies. Women are constantly being objectified as Douglas would argue, and in this example, my friend Anna has been completely objectified. What ever did happen to inner beauty? Part of the problem that is present among our society is that our generation thinks that there is this one ideal perfect body, and if you don’t match it you are either ridiculed or self-conscious. Anna decided to follow through with the surgery because she wanted to go to college without having the reputation for her breasts. She wanted to make a name for herself and define herself with her personality, character, and intellect, rather than her image. Today she is much happier and has been more secure. She is more comfortable in her clothes and her bathing suit. After talking to her, I can’t help but be happy because she is a happier person, however there are flaws within our system that aren’t being addressed. Anna and I both know that she shouldn’t have to resort to the surgery. People should be accepting of who she is. There shouldn’t be this ideal that Hollywood and the media have created.
The reoccurring pattern of outer beauty will be forever present in our society. Television, magazines, movies, and Hollywood stars are too prominent in our society for everyone not to get that message. We will never be able to eliminate the physical attraction that people have for others. There are too many supporters of the various television shows and magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Maxim. The only thing that can be accomplished is for role models in the Hollywood world to send positive messages for young women and men, or for Hollywood to start new trends. This is because it is inevitable that people will strive to be what Hollywood wants them to be. We need to pop the Hollywood bubble and face reality but until we accomplish that, our society will forever be entrapped.
Butt-Kicking Babes
In modern society, the portrayal of women ranges from representations of career driven women, to family driven women, to material focused women, to well-educated women and so on. There are multiple representations of different stereotypes or “kinds” of women. Susan Douglas touches on these different depictions in her book, Enlightened Sexism. Douglas discusses all sorts of stereotypical portrayals of women from 90210’s material focused teenagers to “warrior women in thongs”. In Douglas’ chapter titled, “warrior women in thongs”, she talks about the increasing popularity of women being portrayed as “action super hero chicks” who at the same time represented a feminine sexy side. After watching Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards, 2009, I came to the conclusion that he depicts the only two female leads as these powerful, brave women, who fall exactly into Susan Douglas’ “warrior women in thongs”.
The film is focused on a group of American soldiers who execute a plan to kill Hitler during World War II. The film has a mostly male cast, focusing on the group of male soldiers. Yet, two of the most pivotal and important characters in this movie are women. The two characters, Shoshanna Dreyfus and Bridget Von Hammersmark, represent brave, dedicated, “warrior” women.
Shoshanna Dreyfus, or Emmanuelle Mimieux, is the young Jewish girl whose family was killed by Nazis, but continues on to face her family’s murders and eventually takes revenge on them. Her plot to premier the German film in her movie theatre and burn it to the ground with all of the high ranking Nazi officials inside, including Hitler, shows the extreme amount of dedication and bravery she has. Her character gives the ultimate sacrifice, her life, in order to stand up for what she believes in and take stand against the enemy. In this way, Shoshanna depicts the strong, “brutal” minded character that Susan Douglas discusses in her “Warrior Women in Thongs” chapter. Douglas writes, “They were accomplished and powerful” (p. 77).
Like Shoshanna, Bridget Von Hammersmark is shown as a courageous, brave, female lead. She also stands up to the Nazis and puts herself in immense danger. Bridget teams up with the American soldiers and ends up helping them infiltrate a German bar, where she is nearly killed. She also attends the movie premier (enabling the American soldiers to attend - greatly helping their plans to kill Hitler) where she is confronted by Col. Hans Lada, who ends up killing her. Bridget is shown as a brave, clever character, whose heroic actions allow the American soldiers to succeed. Tarantino represents Bridget as a warrior woman threw her actions.
Yet, what truly makes these women “warrior women in thongs” is their sex appeal. Douglas writes, warrior women “were accomplished and powerful, but always, always, slim and beautiful” (p. 77). These warrior women “could make you swoon and kick your butt if you messed with them” (p.76). Both Shoshanna and Bridget are depicted as these sexy butt-kicking babes. Shoshanna is shown putting on her makeup before the movie premiere begins. She takes her blush and draws two redlines across her cheekbones that represent a battle like attitude. Yet, this warrior attitude is combined with the aspect of her clearly feminine and sexual side because this “battle paint” she is administering is in fact make up, an extremely feminine thing. Her characters sex appeal is also reaffirmed by other male characters attraction and lust for her.
Like Shoshanna, Bridget is also depicted as a sexy female role. Bridget is a popular film star in Germany and so is consequently always dressed attractively and has a mass number of male fans. Even in an advertisement for Inglorious Bastards, Bridget is shown as portraying both a commanding, soldier like appearance mixed with a more sexual attractive “female” appearance. In this specific advertisement, http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3353708544/ch0101643, Bridget is shown holding a small gun, symbolizing her braver, heroic side. But she is also shown wearing a sexy black dress that shows of her back and slim figure. She also has her makeup and hair done, while giving the camera a sexy grin looking over her shoulder- embodying her sexual “feminine” side. Her appearance exudes elegance, while she also clutches a gun, giving her a sexy, threatening depiction.
So, while both female characters embody a commanding, brave, and heroic role in the film; they also both embody Susan Douglas view of “warrior women in thongs”. Tarantino creates his female characters to have similar brutal and aggressive characteristics as male roles, but the female characters sex appeal and feminine side separate them. I think that Douglas’ depiction of warrior women in thongs is a perfect way to describe Tarantino’s representation of female roles in Inglorious Bastards. The two female roles, Shoshanna and Bridget, both illustrate the butt-kicking aggressive dominant characteristic, as well as the sexy, feminine, attractive characteristic, personifying and symbolizing Douglas’ warrior women in thongs.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
responding post
As I read the two chapters in the Curious Feminist, I was struck by the disparity between the public image that the United States company tries to portray, and their labor practices in different countries. In Asia, the wage disparity is much higher than it is in the United States. However is their much of a positive public image if the wage is still lower for women than men in the United States? I had a personal experience with this issue of men having higher wages when I was a lifeguard for three years in the summers at my local country club. I was talking with a fellow colleague who was male. He was telling me he made 8.50 an hour compared to my 7.25. the reason I was so upset is because it was my third year working at the club, and it was only his first year working. I think that this experience demonstrates the issue that still stands today in labor practices in the United States. Obviously the labor practices in Asia are much more prominent and apparent but I don't think that our public image of the workforce is where it needs to be.
I constantly here about the issue of women picking between family and career. I think that although many women are choosing careers over family, we still don't have much of a choice because we are expected to go on med leave if we are pregnant, and once the baby is born. We are expected to raise the baby and take care of it while our husbands work. You could have a very prominent job in the work force but if you ever want to have children, which most people do, it is hard to find an equilibrium.
Leading Post: Just 'Sew' It
Anuradha Shyam's account illustrates how this plight Asian women face is not only restricted to Asia only, but the cultural value of daughterly and motherly loyalty is still apparent in Asian women in America. Her personal life experiences suggest how women, especially Asian women, have internalized their gender role and their responsibilities as a member of a family. Although Shyam now holds a high position job in an accounting firm, she once aspired to be just like her mother. She grew up in an environment where Asian women's primary purpose of life is not to be independent and disconnected from their families, but closely attached in supporting their family; Asian women in America, not only have to strive for their own success, but they also have to and are held accountable for supporting their family and responsible for the traditional household activities. Shyam also examines domestic violence and encourages women to become "self-reliant and economically independent" so they can have the courage and resources to leave a violence relationship. Shyam's story touches upon the plight of many women face in their lives--the decision between family and career (or being able to balance the two). She states how many women with high position well-off careers often compromise it to enter motherhood. However, as an South Asian women in the United States, she have to combine her own aspirations with her cultural family values.
In discussion with both authors, I find it interesting the cultural differences in work habits between Asian women and American women. Enloe explained how because Asian women are wrapped up with family as the core value, it is easier to exploit them. And Shyam discuss how even though she is in America, many of her traditional values about family still hold true. On the other hand, women in America pursue careers mainly for themselves and would gladly choose their promising careers over having a family. In my Intro to Sociology class, we discussed how relative ties have gone down (most people have 0-1 person they can rely on, for example to pick up their child if they are unable to do so). As technology increase and become better, people are more and more disconnected with their families. So, I am a bit conflicted about the idea that because Asian women play a key role in their family, they are usually held back, in a sense. Like, I understand it is wrong to take advantage of Asian cultural values, in relation to family, and exploit them. In a sense, are we trying to promote distance in families rather than embrace the kinship Asians have with theirs?
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