Journal Check in #2

9/18/12 After watching Mickey Mouse Monopoly it really opened me up even further to ideas about how corrupt Disney is. Even as a kid in middle school I realized there were subliminal messages in Disney movies and certain sexual images if you paused the screen at the right time. I never realized that there were many gender stereotypes and lots of racism involved thought. A girl in class mentioned how Snow White was made in the 1930s but there was still Pocahontas which was made in the 90s that portrayed a false history and a love story where the girl needed a guy. It was interesting to hear that the movie Brave reverses the role of male and female so that guys can realize what’s been going on this time. Disney is an entertainment company but they should have some moral obligation to instill good values in kids because most of them grow up watching a TV. I listened to a great audio clip by Terence Mckenna about how television is a drug, he says that after twenty minutes in front of a television your breathing,stare reflex, and heart rate all change. Television is a billboard and anyone who has money can put their message into this “trip” which will change the way we view the world, it’s shaping our value system without us being aware of it. Disney is using this form of entertainment that is part of a huge marketing scheme, after every movie there’s always tons of toys, games, and even happy meals at McDonalds that kids want to get. Kids may see other kids playing with these toys or talking about the latest Disney movie and they too want to be “normal” and get the toys for themselves, it’s kind of sad to think about because kids are making decisions based on their peers and not necessarily what they like themselves. I really enjoyed the discussion about “Dude your a Fag” today. I was surprised to hear that even girls call other girls fag or faggot when they do something idiotic or stupid. To them it doesn’t have anything to do with someone being a homo like in “Dude your a Fag”. It makes people sound stupid when they say these things, similarly to when someone is called a retard for being dumb. If you want to call someone out for doing something stupid/dumb then say those words don’t use other words that have different meanings just because you hear it from a peer. In my opinion Pascoe didn’t have enough data to make an accurate analysis, she only went to one school for 18 months. She should have visited an all girl school an all boy school and a private school and compared what she say because one school may have different views on the topic. It’s not necessarily the kids faults, society in general including big corporations have changed our language and morals. An example of this is when a guy is called a pussy or a pansy when they do something unmanly. This makes it seem like our society wants the guy to have power and dominate and anything that effects that is seen as a threat. In the book I think that Jessie was liked and Ricky was an outcast because if men see a feminine male they see him as a threat to their own image and attach some of their ego to their gender. This is absurd and makes me think of these men as being insecure. 9/26/12 Yesterday's lecture about the beauty myth really disturbed me. I didn’t realize that women spend thousands of dollars a year to keep up their appearance in order to look good for other people. I noticed that between your tweens and your teens the amount of money for beauty goes up ten times then from 20s till 30s its around double and doesn’t go up very much between 30s and 50+. I think this is the case because many women are looking to find a male and start a family so they have to spend lots of money early on to look good, but in reality it’s much later before you start to look badly. It’s really shocking to know that the main reason women want to have a perfect body is to match up to an image portrayed by media, surgery, and cosmetic industries who make billions of dollars. In the book “The Beauty Myth” she claims that beauty is real and universal and women should embody it while men should desire these women. This ideal body has created eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and body dysmorphic disorder. Susan Bordo examined some eating disorders to draw attention to anorexia and bulimia as major problems women in the US have with their bodies. Males also are pressured to look fit and lean but it isn’t as great as women are. I don’t think males don’t care about their appearance as much as women because society expects women to be the ones needing a man not the other way around. Overall I do like this topic because it plays an important role in sociology and especially to do with the inequality of women in society. 9/27/12 I really enjoyed this class about gender and health because it’s directly related to my life. My dad had a fall recently and bruised his face but refused to go see a doctor until his scheduled appointment a month later I don’t understand what’s the big deal with seeing a doctor if you know your sick. I think it’s more than men being lazy, they actually care about being strong and won’t admit if they are weak or sick in anyway. I do agree that in society girls are constantly being portrayed as weak and requiring a man to be whole, not the other way around. A good example of this is when people are told they “throw like a girl”. I’ve never thought of condom campaigns as being sexist against women until I read this article. Some commercials like KY yours and mine seem to make it look as though both partners have an equal amount of pleasure and certain Trojan ribbed condoms seem to make it more pleasurable for the girl. A girl brought up a good point about Trojan condoms showing that they are mainly for a mans desire and the fact that usually show the man as strong. There’s countless things that happen in our society that’s considered the norm yet are very sexist, kind of sad how most of us are oblivious to it.