Fat Bottomed Girls Make The Rockin World Go Round

Lovely and Amazing Film Review

2009-12-06T11:57:00.000-08:00

Lovely and Amazing, an indie film by Nicole Holofcner, is a story about 4 women, varying in ages, and there struggles to "better" themselves and become members of the world around them. It just so happens that these 4 women are all related. The mother, Jane, and her three daughters, Michelle, Elizabeth, and Annie, all have varying levels of body image issues that are dealt with in very different ways over the course of the film.

Annie, the youngest and only adopted daughter in the family, is African American, whereas the rest of her family is Caucasian. The difference in their races isn't really dealt with in this film, but it can be assumed that the issue will come up later on in her life. The problem faced in the film is that Annie is overweight for a young girl and she sometimes binge eats cookies. In the movie she said that she didn't think the cookies were unhealthy, so she ate them. She gets in trouble for eating like that but it doesn't deter her hunger. At the end of the movie, there is a scene where she buys a large amount of food at a McDonald's, but claims that she isn't going to eat it all. She also convinces her Big Sister to use a relaxer to straighten her hair, so she could look more like her white family.

Elizabeth, the daughter who seems the most normal, deals with her body image the most because she is an actress trying to break into the business and that business is very harsh and critical. On top of that, she struggles with being the most responsible sister, as her mother asks her to take care of Annie, if anything were to happen to her. Elizabeth's lack of self-esteem culminates when she starts an affair with an actor, with whom she couldn't be cast as a love interest. She then asks this man to tell her all the things that are wrong with her body and he doesn't hold back (after an initial hesitation). It is obvious to the viewer that his critique of her body only further decreased her self-esteem level.

Michelle, the eldest daughter, is married and has a daughter. She doesn't have a job and sits home and watches cartoons all day, which infuriates her husband who works all day. At first, to make money, she creates these tiny chairs, which she hopes she can sell, but that doesn't pan out. She then gets a job at a one-hour photo place and to boost her self-esteem, she starts an affair with a 17 year old boy. I don't think the affair went further than flirting and kissing, but ultimately they get caught by his mom and she gets arrested for statutory rape. Needless to say, her marriage ended subsequently.

Finally there is the mother Jane, who I think unintentionally fostered all of these problems in her children. She is a single and wealthy woman, who never found true love and that is what she is after. Jane thinks that by having liposuction, she will become more desirable and find love. She even develops a crush on her surgeon, which doesn't work out, because he is happily married.

Overall, I think this was a good movie with a good message that is hidden in all the ways that women limit themselves and worry constantly about how they appear to others. Body image issues plague women starting from a very early age and don't ever really stop. These women were dealing with so many body image issues that they started to lose sight of who they were as people and as a family. Even though the ending was abrupt and unexpected, I hope that these women found that love and acceptance starts from within and there's no better place to find that love than with a family.

Mona Lisa Smile Film Review

2009-12-04T10:38:00.000-08:00

Mona Lisa Smile is a film based in the 1950's at Wellsley College, a institution for higher learning for women in that time period. The only difference between the women today (mostly) and the women, in this movie, is that they were in it solely for their MRS degrees. More often than not, the young ladies who attended Wellsley College in this movie would end up married and on their way to having children before they even got close to graduation. Women in this time period were only good for one thing and that was to become someone's wife and someone else's mother. No one was concerned with the academic development of these women. It is my personal belief that these women were enrolled in college just because they had the money from their parents backing them and so they could hold good dinner conversation with their husband's bosses and bosses' wives. The film follows the story of five different women and how their paths at this college changed each other's lives. Katherine Watson (played by movie vet Julia Roberts) was a very liberal and "subversive" instructor from California who couldn't understand why a woman would want to limit herself to just being known as someone's wife. While most of the girls found her interesting, there was one girl who opposed her every step of the way. Betty Warren, portrayed by Kirsten Dunst, was one of the women that believed that she was completely justified in her choices to become engaged and later marry someone, putting her betrothed above her education, by skipping classes and fighting Katherine Watson's teachings. After seeing how Wellsley was teaching these girl's to act, Professor Watson used her lectures to show the girls that there were other methods out there and they did indeed have choices outside of becoming someone's (in)significant other.

The overall theme of this movie had to do with change. But the change was different for each of the main characters. In Joan Brandwyn's case (Julia Stiles), she was a more progressive student, who wanted the best of both worlds. She wanted the education (going to law school) and she wanted the husband and children. In the end, she realized that although she wanted both, she wasn't willing to sacrifice her future family by being selfish. While I don't exactly understand her choice, I admire her for being so selfless. In Giselle Levy's situation (Maggie Gyllenhaal), she was the promiscuous student that everyone talked about and who had a ongoing affair with one of her professors. She was confident in her sexuality and even used taboo birth control pills openly. I think that by the end of her experience with Katherine Watson, she realized that she was better than random sexual relationships with men that didn't care about her. For Connie Baker (Ginnifer Goodwin), she struggled with body and confidence issues and her situation wasn't helped by some of her friends and her relationship with men. By the end of the movie, she transformed into a much more confident woman who didn't need the approval of her friends or any man to make her happy, although she got the guy at the end. Betty Warren is a very difficult case. She was influenced by her mother from a young age to act a certain way, to look a certain way, and she took that to a very extreme level. She was constanly angry and trying to smash the happiness of others because deep down she wasn't happy with herself. I think the kicker was that when her husband cheated on her, publicly, her mother told her to suck it up and deal with it like a married woman, basically ignoring his indiscretions. Ultimately she chose her happiness over keeping up appearances and that all had to do with one woman. Katherine Watson, from the very start, came in with a mind to change the mind's of those women right away without taking into account their feelings at all. She wanted to change their minds about becoming housewives. She wanted them to see that there was a way to get both, or if they wanted just to have an education, it was okay to do that too. At the end, she realized that not only couldn't she change those women, if they were set in their ways, but she couldn't change her own mind about her beliefs, and so she departed from Wellsley.

I love the movie Mona Lisa Smile. It is just such an uplifting movie and gives a good message and lesson about the choices that women are forced to make even to this day. It was interesting to watch from an academic perspective and really analyze the women and their issues, and how it affected their body images.

First Off, Let Me Just Say That There Is No Way In Hell I Would Let A Man Throw Bologna At My Butt!!! Film Review 3 - DreamWorlds 3

2009-11-29T19:16:00.001-08:00

Secondly, I would just like to say WOW! I'm am completely amazed at the information that was presented to me while watching "DreamWorlds 3." Most of the information, I admit to being previously aware of, but the stats and other extreme images and situations were definitely surprising, to say the least. Now that I have gotten that out of my system, I can respond to the documentary. And I'll try to keep my language PG-13 at best. I honestly don't know where to begin with this response. There were so many aspects of that film that were just so horrendous to even imagine let alone be bombarded with over a very short period of time. I think instead of starting with the things that the film got correct, I'll start with the things that I didn't necessarily agree with because that is a much shorter list.
The first thing that I didn't agree with was the way the film portrayed a particular Robin Thicke video which featured his wife, Paula Patton. While it does present the female as a sexual being still, the filmmakers overlook the fact that she is indeed his wife, who he can look at that way. For people who know they are married, it would seem that instead of an R&B star covered by all types of women, there is a man, who is completely committed to his wife and upholding a monogamous relationship. He finds his wife sexy and their is nothing wrong with that; in fact, monogamy, which is not often seen in popular culture, should be portrayed more and not negated due to a little female sexuality.
Overall, the part that I disagreed with the most was the section about female performers being trapped by masculine control. I admit, there are some female performers out there who fall prey to this control unknowingly and unwillingly, but there are plenty of women who do it on purpose to prove that they are in control of their sexuality and they have the power. Christina Aguilera is a prime example. When she first became a pop icon, she was portrayed by the music industry as an innocent little girl with no real control and she wanted to break free of that mold. On her second album, there were much more sexual themes, but she was the one who made the decision to portray herself in that manner, to let people know that there was more to her than a naive little girl, which in itself is a masculine fantasy. Other performers include Madonna and Janet Jackson. These women are perfect examples of performers who can reinvent themselves and emphasize different facets of their personalities with each new interpretation of themselves. People think that just because a woman decides to be sexual once, means that she will always be sexual and that is simply not the case, in my opinion. Lastly, a female that I really admire for their bravery in performance art is Lady Gaga. Her style is truly her own and she doesn't give a crap what anyone says or thinks. Her songs have a powerful message and always portray her as the one in control and that is alright with me.
Women are constantly portrayed in the media, especially in the music industry, as fragments of an entire person. The female body is shown in sections, often with the face being the least part seen. The breasts and derriere are the most commonly acknowledged parts of a female and are in some ways revered and in others degraded. Inherently, there is nothing wrong with showing a woman shaking her hips or butt, because who hasn't danced in their rooms or just around, with no cares for what anyone else is thinking. What creates the problem is when artists, particularly male artists, degrade a woman to being nothing more than a glorified prostitute showing off her butt and even her "lady parts." The group of people that are the most guilty of this are the rappers and the rock stars who believe that they have the ability to just dispose of women so easily, that they can be portrayed as naturally sexual creatures, often times with homosexual tendencies, who enjoy being treated like objects. Basically men are the possessors and women are meant to be possessed. I think that is a terrible quality to advertise to today's youth, both males and females. And when people take the images portrayed on television and force them into reality, it becomes a whole other cautionary tale. There is no reason for women to have to walk down the street living in fear of being assaulted by men, but how else can this culture evolve. Seeing the video and photo from those two public incidents in which women were attacked and treated like their "video ho" counterparts was disgusting and made me sick to even think of that happening to anyone I know. I hope that people will take into account all of these things and make sound decisions about how they act in the real world and separate that from the pornographic images seen in music videos.

Blog 10 - Body Image Playlist

2009-11-29T17:45:00.000-08:00

Music is one of my main passions, so making this playlist relatively short was darn near impossible. I picked what I think is an eclectic mix of songs from different genres, minus country, but that is just because I couldn't find one that I liked. Body image in music, to me, is a mix of positive and confident messages. All of these songs at one point in my life have been a big part of my development as a woman. I went through all of the phases that a typical teenage girl goes through, but these songs definitely helped me deal with a lot of conflicting emotions. My taste in music has definitely changed over the years, because even though they were degrading, I listened to all of those rap songs that talked about women's butts and other assets. Rump Shaker by Wreckx N Effects is a great song, but very degrading! Anywho, I tend not to listen to those anymore, because they have just grown to such a disgusting level of degradation. T 'n' A has become the forefront of all of the major media markets that pure and innocent talent is very hard to come by these days. The "video hoes/vixens" are letting themselves be used for strictly their bodies and completely set women back a few decades in the way of the feminist movement.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my playlist!!

Pop Culture and Gender

2009-11-15T21:27:00.000-08:00

I am a huge fan of reality television. From action-filled to love shows, I am interested in pretty much all of them. Since I watch all of these shows I am often bombarded with advertisements and portrayals of men and women in both positive and negative lights. As I'm writing this blog, I'm watching VH1's "Tough Love" which features women with different personal flaws, looking for love with the help of a brutally honest matchmaker. Each of the women possesses the worst qualities that a lot of women have when it comes to the opposite sex, but it doesn't at all portray any of these women in a positive manner. What disturbs me the most about this show (even though I can't stop watching it) is that they don't have a tough love for men. They have a show called "Tool Academy" but most people view those qualities as funny or entertaining, while the negative aspects of women are not entertaining and make the entire gender look bad. I don't allow any of these shows to influence how I view life, because I know that it is mostly fake. It also hasn't affected my understanding of race and class, because everyone seems to be on the same level when they enter these situations. More often then not, I don't discuss the sexist nature of these shows at all, because they don't really affect my life personally. But I definitely do realize the sexist nature of the shows. Some of the commercials that come with these shows are GGW-esque and definitely are one-sided advertised towards males. When I think of the word "feminist" I used to think of negative connotations of women who hated men completely. After taking this class, I definitely think of feminists as really strong women who just don't take any crap when it comes to inequality. I honestly believe that I am feminist in some aspects of my life and I strive to be strong enough to stand up for what I believe in when it is important to me. I really enjoyed the readings this week by the way. They are exactly the type of readings that I enjoy, because they are straightforward and don't hold back on the truth just because it might hurt someone's delicate sensibilities.

Blog 8 - Check My Title

2009-10-26T07:57:00.000-07:00

The most interesting read to me in Body Outlaws was "The Butt: Its Politics, Its Profanity, Its Power" by Erin Aubry. I come from a family (well at least on my mom's side) that are all petite with wide bottoms. It is something that I have had to deal with my entire life, or at least since puberty hit. Unlike the author of the piece, I am plagued with wide hips more so than a large derriere but overall the lower half of my body is much more prominent than anything else. What my butt says, goes. It took me a while to start to appreciate my body in its entirety. When I was younger (middle school age) I was the one in the group with the largest posterior, which is still true today, and people often commented on it. It's like I walked around with a sign on me, saying wide load on my back, and that made it okay for people to say whatever they wanted. As I have matured and become more comfortable with all my body has to offer, I understand that my butt is just a relatively large part of a whole package and any person who wants to be in my life has to accept me, butt and all.
Now, after reading the end of The Beauty Myth, I do not feel one ounce of closure. I know there is not a lot the author can do to change the problems that we have today with body image and female confidence, but I feel like she just beat around the bush when it came to the ideas and didn't face them head on. Wolf gives the option of eating what we want and wearing what we want to combat the negative influences that dominate our lives, but if it were the solution was that simple and passive, than why hasn't it already happened. I am a firm believer in confronting the issues head on and I think Jessica Valenti is definitely the kind of reader I want to stand behind. In class, I know a lot of people felt assaulted by the use of profanity in her text, but I think it just gives people that extra shock that makes people take notice of what is going on around them. A person can use professionally and highly educated language everyday and never really get down to the root of the problem. I think that Valenti just made the feminism issue that much more relatable to a lot more women all across the world.

Food Nation . . . Blog #7

2009-10-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

An eating disorder is "condition which affects an individuals eating habits, either as a result of their own doing (self-inflicted), or as a bodily reaction to the consumption of food." (Wikipedia) People, especially women, have always struggled with the notion of beauty. As beauty has changed over time, so has the intense battle to fit the new concepts of beauty. In the media, especially in the fashion industry, going all the way back to to the "heroin-chic" period when it was considered beautiful to be so skinny that you could see a model's ribs and spine. I'm sorry but nothing about seeing bones on a person's body is okay to me. And the diet industry has not helped either. There is an abundance of dieting commercials with celebrities in them that make it seem okay to diet. And while eating healthy is not a bad thing, the assault of visual images about losing weight can cause a complex on impressionable young minds. Preoccupation with appearance has become society's addiction and a ritual that is more and more common among young women. Because we live in a consumer based world, we are always trying to fit into the products that are made for us. There are many designers that only make clothing for size 0 people and even though that is not realistic, people will strive to fit those extra skinny jeans, and starve themselves to do it. What we need in society is designers willing to spend the extra money on fabric and make clothes for normal women, so that young people aren't trying to fit into an impossible standard. What we need is women willing to stand up and say that I'm not a size 0 and I am proud of it. Society can be reintegrated when we can find those people willing to do fight back against those standards that can't be attained by the majority of society. Eating disorders are a plague on society but they can hopefully combated with the right influences and the view that we are perfect the way God made us.

Nip/Tuck

2009-10-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

Cosmetic surgery has been around for centuries and is have never been more popular than now to have just a little procedure done to make oneself feel good. This form of surgery started out as corrective surgery for war veterans, who had been disfigured by scars and other injuries, so that they could better reintegrate themselves into society. However, as the technology developed, so did the interest in the aesthetic form of surgery, especially among women. Most women wanted to just fix little things to make themselves look better overall but even that little desire to want to be perfect, even after hard work to fix it manually, has morphed into something ugly, for some people. One of my favorite shows to watch is Nip/Tuck. I love the drama and I love all of the story lines, no matter how ridiculous they have gotten over the years. But most importantly, I love watching the parts of the surgery that are shown on television. To be perfectly honest, when I became interested in the medical field, I wanted to be a plastic surgeon. There are reasons why I'm not going to medical school, but that is neither here nor there. I think it is a person's right to want to have plastic surgery. Who am I to stop someone from doing something that makes them feel better about themselves? I think there are certain instances that are certainly more legitimate than other reasons, but that is a doctor's job to tell their patients that they are going overboard. I really enjoyed the talk by the cosmetic medicine doctor (can't think of her name right now). The type of medicine she practiced would be something I would be interested in. In conclusion, I think that God made each and every one in His likeness and we should be happy about that, but He also gave us free will, so if someone is going to change themselves for what they think is better, I am not a judge and neither is the rest of society.

Paper #1: Questions 2 and 5

2009-10-02T22:01:00.000-07:00

Ryan Rucker
Professor Yaisa Mann
WS 3413.001
October 2, 2009
Paper #1 – Question 2

“You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful, it’s true.” James Blunt seemed to have a good idea of what beauty is, but he doesn’t really ever tell us what is beautiful. The beauty debate has been going on for centuries. How can one word, six letters, cause such a stir among so many cultures? Beauty, to be beautiful, is a difficult thing to achieve and an even harder thing to maintain. The beauty standard is constantly changing, from hairstyles to clothing to physical appearance. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think that the people who define the standard should be allowed to have such a power over the rest of society. Just from an American perspective, I find it disgusting sometimes how beauty is pushed in everyone’s faces constantly through the multitude of advertisements seen on a daily basis. As we have discussed the definition of beauty in class and seen many images and videos about beauty, I have often wondered what it is like for other cultures. What is the beauty standard in the Eastern World or in South America, for example? How does it compare and/or differ to Western society? Is the beauty definition the same all over the world? I think that beauty means a lot of different things to different people and that even people living a world away from Norman, Oklahoma, have some difficulty defining what true beauty is and/or living up to it.
According to Naomi Wolf in the Beauty Myth, the common ideal that is thought of when people are asked about beauty is “someone tall, thin, white, and blond, [having] a face without pores, asymmetry, or flaws . . . “ (1). I think that this mindset is a disease that has been forced upon women for many years and it is sad that women feel that they have to live up to that standard and make whatever changes to themselves to become the standard. However, the caliber of beauty is constantly changing and people become obsessed with transforming their bodies to fit the mold. I think that this ideal is the same across many cultures just with different parts of the body.
Iran, for example, is the nose job capital of the world. While rhinoplasties are somewhat common in America, I don’t think that we could ever compete with that title. In class, we had a speaker from Iran, talk about her experience with her own rhinoplasty and how she decided to do it. There is pressure from peers and society both in Iran and from American society. The speaker said that when she first came to America, she thought that all of Americans had perfect noses and she wanted one. I think that since Iran is an Islamic country the advertisements for changing your appearance are definitely different from America, but I think that idea of the beauty standard is very similar. Also, since the women in the country are forced to cover themselves from head to toe, except for their faces, having a perfect face is a very important trait to possess. I don’t foresee Iranian women or men becoming obsessed with the other types of surgeries, but who knows what could develop in the coming years?
During my research, I came across this blog called “100 Ideals of Beauty” and it had a lot of interesting information about different beauty cultures across the world. One post that caught my eye was “The guitar-shaped body”. This section was about the beauty standard and influence in Brazil. The author of this blog discusses how, unlike the Middle Eastern beauty standard, the focus in Brazil is on “salon-waxed, well-proportioned beach bums in bikinis” (Ideals). Since there is not a heavily patriarchal and religious influence in Brazil, covering the body is the exact opposite of what is considered beautiful in this region of the world. There is such a heavy influence on the “bottom half” of the body because of the “’um corpo de violão’, literally the ‘guitar-shaped body’” (Ideals). This is the main point of attraction and often is shown by women getting breast reduction surgeries in order to make their lower halves look bigger than they actually are. Having those curves and body shape is something that while very common in the Western world, is not the beauty standard at all.
In the eastern part of the world, the emphasis on the ideal beauty moves back to the face but the focus is on a different feature. In Korea, the “ssang-ku-pul is the line above the eyelid, which most every Caucasian has but is rare among Northeast Asians” (Yoo). Julia Yoo, author of the essay “Beauty: The Korean Way” discovered that beauty in Korea means having “big eyes, a pale complexion, a sharp and pointed nose, a taller height, and a small chin and mouth.” Basically the ideal is to look as Caucasian as possible. Being born with the “double eye-lid crease” is said to make the eyes seem rounder and is much better than the natural eyes that the majority of Asians are born with. According to some of Yoo’s research, “South Korea has the highest ration of cosmetic surgeons to citizens worldwide.” The reason that this is so prevalent in this country is that the citizens are bombarded with advertisements on TV, billboards and in magazines of white people with these big eyes. They see models and pop icons and want to be just like them. Although starting out as a trend, cosmetic surgery in Korea is becoming a standard among both men and women.
The quest for beauty is a curse that plagues many cultures from one end of the world to the other. If it’s not the face, it’s the breasts; if not breasts, it’s the butt. Everywhere in world someone wants to look like someone else and become that much better. I was not really surprised at the beauty standard in Brazil, but the information I learned about in the Middle East and in Asia was new to me completely. But like Naomi Wolf says, “If women no longer think this way it is . . . proof of their ability to create lasting change and even a bit more freedom” (8). Women, and even men, just need to reach that point and realize that they don’t need someone else to define their own beauty. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that is where it should stay.

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Ryan Rucker
Professor Yaisa Mann
WS 3413.001
October 2, 2009
Paper #1 – Question 5

It is often said that the eyes are the windows to the soul. While that is true, our eyes are definitely not used to look at someone’s soul. No, the eyes are used to judge physical appearance and critique beauty in both men and women. We are all guilty of examining someone else’s looks and thinking the worst about them. But how does this gaze manifest itself in the media. Since the majority of America are not filming the television shows and the movies, how do they know what people are looking for in an ad or a movie? And if we separate men and women, how would a director try to appeal to men versus appealing to women? This is how the “female gaze” and the “male gaze” come into play. I think Naomi Wolf says it best when she says that, “Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only the relations of men to women, but the relation of women to themselves” (58). The male gaze is mainly about the female body and the body parts that are considered attractive. The female gaze is based on the influence of the male gaze and is often a harsh critic of other females. The media definitely plays this up in many different forms.
The male gaze, since it is so prevalent in our culture, is much easier to describe overall. This viewpoint can be seen all over the media from television, to film, to magazines, to music videos. This gaze focuses on “breasts, asses, and other jiggly bits even when the film [or other media source] isn’t necessarily supposed to be a T&A fest” (tvtropes). The most popular example would be the magazine, Playboy, the male magazine that has been around for decades. Hugh Hefner has made millions with his playmates and their provocative photos. According to some statistics, “one American man in ten reads Playboy, Penthouse, or Hustler each month” (Wolf, 79). This magazine is solely meant for men and features a centerfold in each issue who is basically spread out like a buffet display, for the benefit of a man. Pornography in print and film is a major industry all over Western civilization, especially in America, and there is definitely some of it portrayed on the small screen.
On television, there was Baywatch, the epitome of the male gaze for the entire run of the show. Even though I watched that show, it did not go unnoticed how slowly the female lifeguards run, or how tight their swimsuits were, or how abnormally large their boobs seemed to be. The acting on that show was pretty horrendous, but the reason it lasted as long as it did was because of the cast. There were some attractive males on the show and they too were exposed (e.g. walking around shirtless) but that is just one example compared to the three that I came up with for the women on the show. These two were very obvious examples, but the male gaze is all around us, in a way I have never noticed before.
While writing this paper, the song “Come On Over” by Christina Aguilera came on a playlist I was listening to, and thinking back to my childhood, I decided to watch the music video for it. Within the first few seconds of the song, I saw all sorts of examples of the male gaze. Directed by Paul Hunter, the video features the artist and her female “friends” all wearing tight pants and midriff revealing tops. The men in the video, are showing off their arms, but that is about it. The girls are constantly rubbing their bodies and shaking their hips and butts at the camera. At one point the females are lying on the ground and the males fall on top of them to insinuate the act of oral sex. Lastly the most prevalent thing featured all of the females behind a screen that only showed their shadow, somewhat like the Red District in Amsterdam. I couldn’t believe all of the things that I noticed now that I was looking at the video from a scholarly perspective. The male gaze is such a big influence on our society. It causes young boys to objectify women at an early age, and causes young girls to try and start changing themselves at an early age. The question becomes however, what exactly is the female gaze and does it even really matter?
The female gaze is so uncommonly heard of that it is often not considered influential or an important to gaze. Some people even believe that the female gaze is “a mere cross identification with masculinity” (Jacobsson, 18). Women, to an extent, are just switching roles with men and objectifying them as much as women are objectified. This makes women feel like they have the power, since they are the one that are judging in this instance, and not being judged. This is exemplified by the movie Fatal Attraction. At the beginning of the movie, the lead female is confident, independent, and in control of her relationship with a particular man (regardless of the fact that he is married). She is able to judge with the best of them and is what women should look up to, but the gaze of the movie is quickly switched back to the masculine point of view, because she quickly becomes portrayed as the crazy, neurotic woman who has no control over anything. The movie becomes a defender of masculinity, making it seem that even though a woman was in control, she could never handle it for too long, without going crazy.
Women also have pornography magazines and films directed at them, as seen through the female gaze. There is Playgirl magazine, which features a male centerfold in all of his glory. However, there is a new development created by Candida Royalle, who is a former pornstar herself, but decided to create Femme Productions, a pornography made specifically for women. She states that her films “depict sexual activity within the broader context of women’s emotional and social lives” (Bragge). These adult films are no longer focused on the male and his satisfaction, but on the woman and how she feels about herself before, during, and after intercourse. I think this is a very creative and necessary development especially for those who choose to watch these adult movies, to see it through another perspective.
Beyond the objectification of men and their bodies, I think that the real effect of the female gaze is placed upon other women. Women, in general, are harsh critics of themselves, but even harsh critics of other women. The female gaze upon other women is often seen as jealousy or spite because they can’t be like the woman that they see. Naomi Wolf says that, “‘ideal’ imagery has become so obsessively important to women because it was meant to become so” (59). Beauty is often a problem amongst women because we are the ones who the beauty standard is place upon the most. I can’t count the number of times I’ve said to myself, “Man, I wish I had her legs, or her waist.” It is a never-ending cycle of negativity put upon us and other women.
The male gaze and the female gaze are two completely opposite ends of a spectrum. While they do share some commonalities, the effects each gaze are different. The male gaze can affect a woman’s psyche to the core, but the female gaze is just something that is often trivialized as undesirable. Though there have been steps in the right direction to release women from this plague of both the female and the male gaze, they are still cursed by the influence of constantly being watched. The words “big brother is watching you” could never be more accurate than they are right now.

*I didn't put in the works cited for the articles because the blog wouldn't let me add the links without some sort of warning of broken tags*

Barbie Klaus and G.I. Joe

2009-09-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

When I was younger, I remember playing with Barbie dolls. I remember washing their hair and brushing it and changing their clothes, but I didn't think of how gendered these toys were. I never got a black Barbie or played with toys for little boys, but that was just the way that it was. If I wanted a G.I. Joe or a similar "boy" toy, I could have gotten it but I never wanted one. "Girl" toys are marketed as fashionable and with bodies that even the skinniest model could never even pull off. "Boy" toys are always doing something active, from shooting to playing some sport. They are always buff, sometimes showing off muscles that I'm convinced don't exist on a real human. I think that toys do influence the way children behave and how they will be as adults. I don't think it is wrong for a little girl or boy to want to play with the "other" toys but this may be a sign of how they will be in the future. However, I think that this is somewhat a double-standard. If a girl plays with a G.I. Joe, she could just be a tomboy (that caterpillar that will turn into a beautiful butterfly later in life). But if a boy plays with Barbies, it is more than likely that he will turn out to be homosexual. I don't really think there is a good explanation for why this happens, but it does. I think that I played with Barbies as a child for a period of my life, but after that time, I started playing with board games and I started reading more books. Even though I had a Barbie dream house, I think Barbie Klaus lost one victim.

Tough Guise

2009-09-20T23:56:00.000-07:00

MY BEST TOUGH GUY: RONALD RUCKER (with my cousin on Christmas Eve)

As far back as I can remember, I don't think I have ever seen my father cry. My brother, sure, he is driven by his emotions, but my dad, I don't think I've seen one tear. Through deaths and crises, he has been the strong one in my family. But he has been through a lot as well. He lost his father and most recently his eldest sister. So I wonder who he cries to when he feels weak or if he ever feels weak. Do I think my dad puts up a front around us? Absolutely not. That's just the way he was raised by my grandfather, to not show emotion. But why is that so wrong for men? Women are always portrayed to be emotional creatures, but why not men? In part, I think it is a good thing for men to hold back in their feelings because they are most often the strong ones in a family. If both the man and the woman are dealing with PMS and their feelings all of the time, nothing will be accomplished. But when it comes to a point where they are holding in anger, guilt, or depression, then that is dangerous to themselves and to others. Because sooner or later, all of that suppressed emotion will explode and more often than not, not in a positive way. This leads to the misconception that gender issues are solely women's issues. Since men are supposed to be the strong, silent members of society, they are not meant to have their issues broadcast to others. They are just supposed to deal with it. So when women want a man to open up about their feelings, it is just a big misunderstanding of what is "appropriate" for a man to share. Men in the media are always portrayed as ripped, with 6-12 packs of abs, and just all around flawless. That is for lack of a better term, bullcrap!! Seeing men with perfect skin, perfect physiques have a detrimental effect on boys and men. If a man doesn't believe that he is one of the standards, he will do whatever it takes to make up for it, including abusing steroids, which ultimately hurt the man, rather than help him. Chris Godsey, in Beauty Outlaws admits that his standards are "constantly shifting" about his own body image and he is constantly comparing himself to his friends, very similar to a woman. I think the media inspires the change in society. The media is a big mass of people who think they know what the standard is or should be. And I think that no matter how anyone tries, we are all susceptible to it, from the smallest infomercial about making your hair have more volume, to the biggest drug corporations, with their ads that you could lose weight in a snap and become perfect. We are all prey to it, but it is absolutely necessary for us to rise above the pressure, and seek our own thoughts on what is beautiful on the outside as well as on the inside, in both men and women.

Blog #2

2009-08-29T21:11:00.000-07:00

Body image, in my opinion, is a mental perception of a physical manifestation. Images are processed through our eyes and mind, so the way the people perceive their bodies whether positively or negatively. It is important to study this topic because there are so many girls out there who are bombarded by images of the perfect figure, when in reality, it is almost impossible to be what is considered perfect. The first wave of feminism had to do with the suffragist movement and the fight for women to have certain rights, including the right to own property and the right to file for divorce. The second wave of feminism dealt with the struggle for women to be respected for the minds instead of their bodies. The third wave of feminism deals with body image and the need to be able to express ourselves as individuals, no matter what that entails. A body outlaw is a person who accepts their body for what it is and is not ashamed for what they were born with. People such as Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce, Queen Latifah, Tyra Banks, Mia Tyler, and Kate Dillon to name a few. All of these women accept their bodies and embrace ever single curve without being embarrassed.

Blog #1

2009-08-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

Hello!! My name is Ryan and I'm from Houston, Tx. I'm a MDS/Pre-Pharmacy major with a minor in AFAM. I took this class because I have always wanted to take a womens' studies class and this one sounded very interesting. I am embarking on my 3rd year as a Resident Advisor and it will be much easier for me to relate to my girls and their issues if I can study the problems that face them when they get to college, body image being a big concern. I expect to get a new/better understanding of the issues that women of all ages face when it comes to their bodies and the pressures that they face to live up to a certain standard. The questions I hope to have answered in this class are why does there have to be a beauty standard?, who determines what the standard is e.g., what makes them experts in beauty?, how does beauty differ across the world?, how has beauty and body image evolved over centuries?, and is there any way for all women and men to just be happy with the way they are?