The Twilight Reading

When the twilight books first came out I was never too interested in them, when the first movie was very popular I thought I would give it a chance.  After I saw the movie I decided that the series was not for me!!  I am very glad that I changed my mind and decided to give it a chance-I loved the books!  I never really thought much about the love triangle between Bella Edward and Jacob, but after reading the piece I realized that Bella is a total player (usually boys are viewed as that), and she is the one in the realtionship really pushing to go further in a sexual way with Edward.  When I usually think about girls in realtionships I never think of them as the one being in control, or wanting to go further than the boy does; I usually think of them as being "tag-alongs" and just doing whatever the guys want.  When I think about the guys in realtionships I feel like they try to force the sexual things in the realtionship.  I like that they twist it in this saga.  I think that many girls can be more sexual then they lead on to, or feel like they can't express it becuase that is not the socail norm.

Phenomenal Women

I thought the poem Phenomenal Women was very inspiring, and very true.  I think that the way women are portrayed as an art figure is kind of a hard expectation to live up to.   The line “I walk into a room just as cool as you please, and to a man, the fellows stand or fall down on their knees.  Then they swarm around me, a hive of honey bees.  I say it’s the fire in my eyes, and the flash of my teeth, the sing in my waist, and the joy in my feet.  I’m a woman phenomenally, phenomenal women, that’s me.”  I think that first it states how much control we have over the males, but at the same time I think that it states we (as women) have to always look our best, and be okay with males swooning over us.  As a girl I am flattered when boys come up flirt, but when the flirting is unwanted then it gets very annoying.  On the other hand when I don’t try to dress up and boys pass me by I feel kind of offended.  This is the reasons that I think it is a hard expectation to live up to.

Dove Videos

Dove’s advertisements are different than most ads because most of the ads shown in magazines and on TV have beautiful, thin, mostly white females; or have the handsome, strong, muscular men.  Dove ads have women of all ethnicities, all shapes and sizes, and all ages.  They are showing that everyone is beautiful and women need to embrace their own bodies and view themselves as beautiful. I think that this is a very positive way to advertise; yes dove is probably making money off of it, but they are still trying to be honest about “true beauty”.  The ads Dove shows on TV are empowering.  My favorite one was Evolution.  Young girls look up to the media so much in how they should dress, and what the ideal beauty is.  They try to be that thin and look that good, when in reality most of the ads seen in magazines are all edited where the model can look completely changed.  Girls should see the model before and the model after the editing is done and decide then what beauty is.

I know we watched some videos in class but here are a few more about photoshopped images:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbBmX2Qnv3Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP31r70_QNM

Sexual harassment in the office

I think that many women are affected of sexual harassment at the office.  Males try to be superior to women and I think a way of doing so is by bullying them via sexual harassment.  In the movie Norther Country there is a great display of sexual harassment going on in the work place.  I'm very glad that there are new laws enforced that make it easier for women to take cases like those to trial and now the women's past can not be brought up and it can be an easier way for women to actually win their case.  I do think more can be done within the work place to make sexual harassment less of a problem.

men decide what is hot

In the readings I really had to agree with what was being said because I think that in society girls look up to the boys to see what they want and what the boys think is "sexy" because women want to dress to impress.  The male version of the perfect girl is unattainable: they want three somes, virgins, and porn stars.  I think that I agree with most of the readings, women try too hard to live up the expectations and only do things when being watched by males.  When it said that girls will hook up with girls and it is acceptable but only when done in front of men I strongly agree because I have seen this done before and it is basically every guys dream come true (only if the two females participating in the activities are attractive).  Because it's mostly guys who watch porn (and from a young age) they think that the moaning is what is "normal" and what is what normal sex is like; when in reality it's not, forcing the female to "put on a show" for men.  I strongly disagree with the expectations men set girls to live up to, females should be setting the scene for what is sexy and what is not because we have to wear the clothes and we need to feel comfortable in what we wear.