Okay, so I let it slip to my mom that I am currently “blogging.” My mom is just thrilled because not only am I blogging, but I am blogging about issues in the media. My mom and I are polar opposites. She absolutely has to keep up with all of the latest fashion trends and what the stars are doing. I, on the other hand, absolutely have to keep up with all of my studies and how many miles I should be doing. However, I think our polar opposite characteristics are what make us best friends. Needless to say, my mom was extremely excited when she found an article she thought I could write about.
The link is: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jan/22/i-hate-fashion-tanya-gold
As I read this, my mind went straight to the Yep article. This article depicts violence on women in the heteronormative borders more than anything I have ever read. Essentially what the article is saying in a nutshell is that fashion is an institution that oppresses women. It brings on eating issues, psychological problems, and overall lack of self confidence. Who would have thought that nice heels and a fancy pair of jeans could be something that makes a woman feel like absolute crap about herself?
When I began reading this, I was like what is this woman talking about. Being fashionable is something every woman wants. How is that a problem? I then began to think. Why is it that we care so much about being fashionable? In the scheme of life, does fashion really matter? Who are we trying to impress?
We as women dress to impress. We dress to impress the boys. We dress to impress our girlfriends, or at least look better than them. We dress to impress the other kids in the classroom, and we even dress to impress our mothers. Everything we do to make ourselves look good requires impressing someone else, no matter what the cost.
Making an impression with fashion can be so important to women that it can kill. The article mentioned a girl who got killed because she slipped in her heels in the snow and fell in the pathway of a passing train. Why on Earth was she wearing heels on a snowy night? She wanted to impress someone, that’s why.
We live in a culture that wants us to walk, talk, act, eat, and dress a certain way. This box known as heteronormativity is making women look in the mirror and not be happy with the way that they are. Women, including me, will wear anything, no matter what the conditions are, just to get a second glance. I think the next time I go out and it is snowing, I am going to take off my red high heels, and I am going to look in the mirror and tell myself I look smokin’ hot in my snow boots.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
"Hey Media, Use Some Protection"
As we were watching Jean Kilbourne’s Killing Us Softly, I thought it was very interesting to hear what she had to say about sex in the media. She said that advertisements use sex to sell products. We have become a nation that has grown accustomed to viewing men and women in very intimate situations, and we don’t even think about the consequences. We see these images every day, but how much do they really affect us? Do we ever pay attention to the emotions and problems that arise with these “casual encounters?”
I know that in my grandparents’ days they were not exposed to very many sexual ads. My poor grandparents can’t believe what they see in the media today. Today, every magazine ad, television show, and song we hear has something about sex in it. The media never mentions the harmful effects that unsafe sex with multiple partners can have on a woman.
In the January/ February issue of Women’s Health, an entire article was done on the rising amount of STD’s in women. It said that the rates of Chlamydia (which causes infertility) and gonorrhea have shot through the roof. Three times more women than men have Chlamydia. 25 million women also have HPV, which causes cervical cancer. Females also make up a fourth of the AIDS population, which is a deadly disease that causes the immune system to be severely suppressed (Women’s Health Magazine). I was shocked by these horrifying statistics.
These sexually transmitted diseases are killing women daily. It is terrible that the media makes unsafe sex such a casual ordeal. When women and young girls see sex in the media, they think it is an okay thing to do without thinking about protection or abstinence. Our society will put the lives of millions of women at risk just to sell a pair of jeans. How far will the media go before they realize how much damage they are doing to young women and even men? Yep! They’re “killing us softly,” alright!
I know that in my grandparents’ days they were not exposed to very many sexual ads. My poor grandparents can’t believe what they see in the media today. Today, every magazine ad, television show, and song we hear has something about sex in it. The media never mentions the harmful effects that unsafe sex with multiple partners can have on a woman.
In the January/ February issue of Women’s Health, an entire article was done on the rising amount of STD’s in women. It said that the rates of Chlamydia (which causes infertility) and gonorrhea have shot through the roof. Three times more women than men have Chlamydia. 25 million women also have HPV, which causes cervical cancer. Females also make up a fourth of the AIDS population, which is a deadly disease that causes the immune system to be severely suppressed (Women’s Health Magazine). I was shocked by these horrifying statistics.
These sexually transmitted diseases are killing women daily. It is terrible that the media makes unsafe sex such a casual ordeal. When women and young girls see sex in the media, they think it is an okay thing to do without thinking about protection or abstinence. Our society will put the lives of millions of women at risk just to sell a pair of jeans. How far will the media go before they realize how much damage they are doing to young women and even men? Yep! They’re “killing us softly,” alright!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
"You're Gonna Love Me for Me"
As I was reading The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity, a statement that Susan Bordo made really made me think. On page 171 of the text, she said that our culture has created an expectation for women to control their hunger and strive to be so small that they take up less space. When she referred to female hunger she meant more than just a hunger for food. She said our culture wants women to control their appetite for power and a chance to make it on their own. As I read this, I thought of a country song that I just heard called “Love Me for Me” by Bomshel.
“I lose my keys and I'm constantly late
I'm comfortable a couple pounds overweight
I'm gunna eat when I’m out on a date
Cause that’s just who I am
I’m gunna live my life out loud
Sing the truth let it lay right out there
For the whole wide world to see
Then you’re going to love me
Then you’re going to love me for me”
The reason I thought of this song is that I thought it was so ironic that the singer thought that it was necessary to say, “Hey I eat when I go on dates. I am okay with being two pounds overweight, so, by gosh, you better love me for me.” The singer is saying, she is not a typical female. She doesn’t need to be stick thin to get the man because she is going to be herself no matter what.
Since I am a competitive runner, I see thin girls all of the time. The girls who are the thinnest seem to always be the best and most competitive. When you go to the races and see the attention all of these girls get, it makes it hard to not want to receive that notoriety as well. Our society is the same way, the thinner a girl is, the more she is accepted. Every young girl wants to be accepted by the society that surrounds her, just as much as every young runner wants to be the fastest on the track.
I think that it is so sad that our society has put such a strong emphasis on being thin that being “a couple pounds overweight” is taking a chance that someone might not “love me for me.” We live in a culture that constantly puts pressure on girls to attain these unrealistic body shapes in order to be loved and valued. I agree with Bordo. In the culture we live in, the more we as females control our hunger, the less space we will take up, and the more we will be loved.
“I lose my keys and I'm constantly late
I'm comfortable a couple pounds overweight
I'm gunna eat when I’m out on a date
Cause that’s just who I am
I’m gunna live my life out loud
Sing the truth let it lay right out there
For the whole wide world to see
Then you’re going to love me
Then you’re going to love me for me”
The reason I thought of this song is that I thought it was so ironic that the singer thought that it was necessary to say, “Hey I eat when I go on dates. I am okay with being two pounds overweight, so, by gosh, you better love me for me.” The singer is saying, she is not a typical female. She doesn’t need to be stick thin to get the man because she is going to be herself no matter what.
Since I am a competitive runner, I see thin girls all of the time. The girls who are the thinnest seem to always be the best and most competitive. When you go to the races and see the attention all of these girls get, it makes it hard to not want to receive that notoriety as well. Our society is the same way, the thinner a girl is, the more she is accepted. Every young girl wants to be accepted by the society that surrounds her, just as much as every young runner wants to be the fastest on the track.
I think that it is so sad that our society has put such a strong emphasis on being thin that being “a couple pounds overweight” is taking a chance that someone might not “love me for me.” We live in a culture that constantly puts pressure on girls to attain these unrealistic body shapes in order to be loved and valued. I agree with Bordo. In the culture we live in, the more we as females control our hunger, the less space we will take up, and the more we will be loved.
A Little About the Running Goldi Locks
Howdy y’all! I am Darby Mullen, and I am from an itty bitty town in southern West Virginia. I went to Marshall University my freshman year, and then transferred to Ohio University last year to run cross country and track for the university. It was a really tough decision for me to transfer because I loved Marshall. I prayed extremely hard, and I just felt like God had some big plans for me here. I now help teach my team’s Bible study, and God has just given me some wonderful opportunities to connect with a lot of people on a spiritual level. I am extremely blessed.
I am also an only child, and I am very close to my family. I like to refer to myself as the box child/ leash kid because my parents have always been very protective over me. I love running, traveling, fishing, trying new foods, and wearing cowboy boots. I am an exercise physiology major, and I am hoping to get into medical school next year. I love anything related to health, so I think the medical field will be perfect for me. I am really excited to see what the future holds.
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