Women in Film

This past weekend I had the honor and privilege of attending the National Film Festival for Talented Youth in Seattle where one of my films was screening. It was an excellent experience and my best friend who co wrote and co directed the film with me was able to fly out from Florida and experience the festival with me and since she isn't as film major that was a new treat for her. While there I still couldn't help noticing that the demographic majority of filmmakers there was white men...although I was very proud of all the girls including the international ones I saw and got to hang out with. Most notably was one girl a freshman in college just like myself who is from Afghanistan studying in Pennsylvania. She made a poignant documentary about her process to get her drivers license when it is still very rare and socially unacceptable according to some people that women drive. She was able to share her story with the help of her sister who filmed parts of the film when she was actually behind the wheel. It was just very exciting and inspiring to see her pushing to reform social Norms with media because that's what I hope to do too,

The Avengers

I was on a website for memes when I saw the following picture: 

The image had the caption "if male superheroes were actually female," and then the poses of the male heroes were changed to more suggestive ones. In the actual poster for the movie "The Avengers," Scarlet Johansson is the only only hero who shows off her rear, while the five male heroes are not objectified in such a way. I laughed at the juxtaposition of the actual poster and the satirical one, because I had been thinking about how there is only one female hero in the movie and how she will be depicted in the movie. If this poster is any indication, it will not be a feminist one. Johansson's character seems to be the perfect woman, hourglass-shaped and amazing at hand-to-hand combat, but the male characters are also objectified in a way. First, all five male heroes are just as attractive as Johansson, and they are also similarly idealized and muscular. However, the movie centers on more male heroes, so the chances of objectification are higher.

However, I wondered what would be so wrong if there were more female heroes. Of course, the characters are SUPERHEROES, so they are also expected to be superhuman, but that does not stop the majority of the population from judging themselves in comparison to the depictions on screen.

Princess Prep Class

This week I found a interesting article that I found. This is the link:

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-04-15/world/princess.prep.classes_1_princess-diana-kate-middleton-etiquette?_s=PM:WORLD

This article was written last year. The article was written similarly at the time when Kate Middleton became engaged to Prince William. This article mainly talks about “Princess Prep” classes in London. Many girls are inspired by Kate Middleton’s fairytale and are yearning to become the next Cinderella. Shockingly, girls of eight years old want to enroll in such classes. In these classes, girls are taught how to walk like a princess, drink tea, ride horses, etc. The article mainly focuses on Jerramy Fine who is  a young girl that has enrolled in the class.

When I read this article, I was very shocked and amused by the fact that actual classes took place for girls to become the next Cinderella. Although I knew that there were a lot of girls wanting the life of Kate Middleton, I did not realize that girls wanted it this much. This incident just demonstrates the increasing number of girls wanting to achieve the life of a princess and wait for their princes. It shows that girls are becoming less independent and do not expect to succeed with their own knowledge and actions. This article just shows how society is turning girls to yearn for the fairytales instead of helping them realize that the lives of princesses are not the reality. Hence, it just demonstrates how young girls are becoming in some way weaker and weaker in society. 

Let them be who they want to be- Cinderella Ate My Daughter

         In Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Orenstein discusses the influences and impacts of princess culture on girls.  She says that girls’ brains are at their “most malleable and open to long term influence on roles that go with their sex” when they first fall for princesses. As a result, she worries that girls will be discouraged from being competent, strong, creative or smart but to simply wait for the prince. Indeed, Orenstein makes some valid and compelling points. However, I believe that girls are fully capable of rejecting the cultural and media impositions if they deemed them to be harmful. If they were to realize how pinks and princess toys could “poison” their minds, they would react sensibly and make wise decisions accordingly. After all, girls are “not” passive beings who mindlessly absorb the influences and stereotypes that could potentially harm them. Saying so would be underestimating women.

         Though the influences of pink toys and princess dresses on girls are detrimental, isolating them from a child or raising a child gender- neutral may not be the most desirable pursuit.  In the book, Orenstein shares the story of her daughter and how she tried to raise her unbiased and free from gender codes. Despite the effort, however, her daughter chooses Disney Princesses over Thomas the Tank Engine.  I think “training” young girls to turn away from princess toys and pink dresses could end up being oppressive regarding how ubiquitous Disney princess toys, stories, and pink are, not to mention the “National Princess Week”. Perhaps letting them be who they want to be while teaching them that gender can be a limiting factor and believing that they are fully capable of rejecting the stereotypes may better help them find their “true happily ever after”  or the ending Orenstein so eagerly desires.

Transformations in Girl Culture

       In Cinderella Ate my Daughter, Peggy Orenstein expressed her clear disappointment in how girl culture has taken a wrong turn from the time when she was a young girl to today. When I asked my mom- who has never taken a course on gender studies before- about what she was like when she was a child, she told me that she was never one of those kids who liked to play sports with the boys, and therefore, considered herself a "girly girl." But her definition of "girly girl," in relation to her childhood, is completely different from what it means to be a "girly girl" today.

       She use to play with paper dolls, but she also loved riding her bike, and watching scary movies, as well as enjoyed playing boardgames (i.e. Chinese checkers, Operation, Hi-Ho! Cherry-O, etc.), and climbing trees with her friends. But today, that's not what it means to be a "girly girl." It now involves playing dress up and house, watching Disney movies with fairy tell endings, and loving anything and everything pink. The marketing industry greatly contributes to the more polarized gender roles today. Marketers do this by stereotyping gender roles to make clear distinctions between girl and boy products, all in hopes of gaining revenue. With time, the distinctions between boy and girl products has become more and more clear. Girl culture is now girly girl culture. But with these transformations, what lies in the future for girls and the way girls view themselves?  Along with the growth of this new girl culture, the pressure for girls to look and behave certain ways has also had negative impacts on girls. Because more people are aware of the negative impacts girly girl culture has had on the development of young girls, does that mean that an end to girly girl culture is near? But because girly girl culture is a successful marketing tactic, will it continue to grow and prosper?

A young boy named Michael

Why are Gay's Bullied?? And what can be done to end their stop the Gay Bashing Epidemic

A journal article entitled, Preventing Bullying and Harassment of Sexual Minority Students in Schools, written by Holly N. Bishop and Heather Casida, states how 98% of kids have reported hearing degrading words such as faggot, gay, dyke, homo, and queer in a derogatory instance in their schools (Bishop and Casida, 2011). The simple fact that these words are being used by children in schools is simply appalling; however it also exhibits the lack of respect towards homosexuality. These words are automatically seen and used in a bad context thus making homosexual teens more afraid to come out and be associated with a minority social group. Being seen as a minority is specifically frightening to kids in school due to the fact that when a child is different in school they become vulnerable to torment and bullying from other kids. The degrading words also make kids who are not homosexual more afraid than ever to be associated with homosexuality. Thus kids are less likely to stand up for a homosexual classmate since they themselves may be seen as gay if they do. Some kids may even take part in the bullying to reaffirm their heterosexuality and not be associated with the homosexual minority. This is supported by a journal article entitled, Perceived Social Support among Bullies, Victims, and Bully-Victim, written by Melissa K. Holt and Dorothy L. Espelage, which exhibits a study in which fifth through twelfth graders reported less teacher and peer support when they were being bullied (Holt and Espelage, 2007). This simply exhibits how kids want to fit in and not be seen as a social minority in any way. The negativity that is associated with homosexuality coupled with the lack of support in schools cause many gay or lesbian kids to question themselves and feel depressed and alone. This in turn causes them to seek other avenues of quelling the emotional stress and pain they feel. The article written by Bishop and Casida has proven that homosexual teens are at a greater risk for psychosocial problems such as drug and alcohol abuse (Bishop and Casida, 2011). This makes sense because if homosexual teens are bullied due to their sexual orientation they would feel alone and seek to forget or mask their pain through self-destructive activities such as substance abuse.

I believe that education is an extremely powerful tool that should be greatly utilized when addressing the issue of gay bashing in schools. Schools should educate their staff and their students on both the myths and realities that are associated with ones sexual orientation. The journal article written by Bishop and Casida even suggests that school districts should approve a zero tolerance policy against harassment of sexual minority students (Bishop and Casida, 2011). This would act as an expectation of how kids should behave, which would in turn lead to an improvement in the school environment. This would also reduce the homophobic teasing that leads to bullying and bashing, thus creating a tolerant learning atmosphere. Schools may also provide a safe environment for homosexual teens by educating the faculty and staff about the challenges sexual minority students' face thus allowing teachers to empathize with them. Even though the Trevor Project already has tools to educate parents and teachers about helping homosexual children cope with being bullied, its brochures and pamphlets are not in every school. The Trevor Project also requires the teacher or parent to physically go online and get it themselves. When the school district itself enforces more tolerant policies towards sexual minority students it exhibits that they are taking notice and that they care about all their students. I believe another way to increase tolerance and reduce gay bashing is through the creation of clubs such as Gay-Straight Alliance which will allow students from different sexualities to listen to each other's hardships and work together to defeat intolerant ideas or attitudes.