The "Superstar" and Female Beauty

     The film that we watched in this week’s lecture, “Superstar” is about a renowned musician, Karen Carpenter and her struggle against Anorexia. Based on the true story, the film reveals the grim reality of female beauty. As Karen rises to stardom, she becomes fearful of her weight and develops a distorted view of her own body.  After a critic describes her as ‘chubby’, she disciplines herself by refusing to eat and strives for physical perfection. Despite her efforts to beat the illness, she fails and eventually faces a tragic death at a young age. Through the harrowing depiction of Karen’s struggle against anorexia, the film reminds us that anorexia is not a mental disease but is an illness that is brought on by the society and shows how lethal the consequences of society’s rigorous demand for physical perfection are.

     What is unusual yet interesting about this film is its use of Barbie dolls instead of real- life actors. The dolls may seem odd and bizarre at first. Nevertheless, they most effectively communicate the idea that the societal expectation on women to have the ideal body shape is as unrealistic and unreachable as the Barbie doll itself. (More strikingly, even the stick like Barbie dolls’ face and arms whittle away by anorexia.). In many regards, the film, “Superstar” and Naomi Wolf’s “The Beauty Myth” convey similar messages; women are forced to follow the standards of beauty that are impossible to meet up to.  And unfortunately, as shown in the film, naïve adherence to such standards can drive some to a tragic end.

"Really, doc, I'm fine. I just don’t want to eat anything that will corrode my arteries and give me a heart attack."

A 15 year old boy named Michael sat in a hospital bed playing video games and munching on pita bread. Even though he was young boy he had the characteristics of an old wise man. His skin was gray, his hair was falling out of his head, and his muscles were nowhere to be found. Michael did not want to eat anything that would corrode his arteries and give him a heart attack. He had said, "Really, doc, I'm fine. I just don’t want to eat anything that will corrode my arteries and give me a heart attack." Many doctors that worked on Michael believed that he was suffering from the disease, anorexia nervosa, which was caused from the self-imposed starvation to the point that it harms one's physical and mental health.

            Anorexia has been associated with teenage girls; however, nowadays more and more boys are experiencing anorexic tendencies, due to sports or other reasons. An example is how many boys in wrestling have to greatly watch what they consume so as they meet the very strict weight policies and qualify for their fight or race. This creates an obsessive relationship with food that later leads to psychological problems. Anorexia can also be caused by other triggers such as losing a family member; such was the case for Michael. Six months before he was admitted to the hospital his grandfather, who was overweight, had died in front of Michael while they were playing checkers. After that Michael had studiously avoided all foods containing fat. His diet was composed of entirely water, slices of fat-free turkey and pita bread. After convincing Michael to begin drinking high caloric milkshakes he was discharged from the hospital. However, he soon went back to his old ways and actually ended up passing away due to cardiac arrest. However, an autopsy revealed clean and open arteries with no cholesterol blockage. It turned out that his heart was shrunken and wasted due to the fact that he was malnourished and his heart was not able to function anymore.

            This was a very unfortunate way to pass away. However, I believe that anorexia is much more of a psychological disorder where food is simply the enemy due to a trigger such as viewing a perfect girl in a magazine, or like Michael witnessing the death of a loved one. I believe that anorexia is definitely not a disorder that just takes a couple weeks in the hospital being force-fed; I believe it takes months and even years to grow out of the distorted mindset they are in.

            

Kardashian Swimsuit Ad Altered

Kardashian Swimsuit Ad Altered

  While aware that advertisements are always photoshopped and altered to some extent, a recent advertisement spurred more controversy than usual. Khloe, Kourtney, and Kim Kardashian just recently launched their new Kardashian Kollection Swimwear line, and as expected, the photo advertisement was anything but "natural."

  On November 30 this past year, Kourtney released news that she was expecting her second child with boyfriend Scott Disick, meaning Kourtney was at least three months pregnant at the time that the Kardahsian Kollection photo was taken. However, the photo lacks any evidence of that.   

  Although baby bumps appear at different stages of pregnancy for different women, theses images were clearly photoshopped. Paparazzi photos taken within that same month exemplify a remarkably different Kourtney.  Advertisements perceive females as flawless entities, and therefore, produce this unachievable goal for women. But photoshopping images of pregnant females to not appear pregnant is going too far. Pregnant women should have curves; they should have a belly. How else can they carry a fetus in them? This takes the idea of skinny to a completely different level. Skinny is no longer possibly obtainable, but physically impossible to achieve. Although it may be argued that a pregnant Kourtney in their Kardashian Kollection Swimwear advertisement is not the image they were going for, photoshopping images under these circumstances still produces negative body perceptions for females.

The Bechdel Test and The Hunger Games

In my writing 140 class, we learned about the Bechdel test, which is a self-reflexive test that a simple question. Is there are least one scene in the movie where to named female characters talked to each other about something other than a man? What an easy thing to pass, everyone thinks. However, there are hundreds of movies that fail this test. Many of these films are extremely popular and financially successful. While I think the test itself is rather limiting, it is an interesting way to view a film from a feminist perspective. Even though passing the test only means that you passed the test, it is an indicator that has people worried about how women are portrayed in the film industry. However, the test is rather limiting in that it does not take into account how female characters are depicted. Even if two named women speak to each other about some major plot point, are they doing so in a way that furthers female equality? In many cases, passing the test does not indicate whether or not female characters in a film can hold their own against men.

However, this seems to be changing in recent years, as more and more protagonists are women (or girls). Take The Hunger Games as an example. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) has conversations with her sister, mother, guide Effie Trinket, and with just about every other character in the movie. And this isn't just because the studio wanted to pass the Bechdel test. In fact, the Bechdel test probably wasn't on their radar. Rather, because the protagonist is female, we can assume she will interact with the most characters. Meanwhile, there is only one scene I can recall where two men speak to each other about something other than Katniss (a woman), so the film barely passes the male version of the Bechdel test (if there is one). I think as Hollywood realizes films with female protagonists earn a comparable amount at the box office, that more films will pass the infamous Bechdel test.

"In 2009, the most recent year for which U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures are available, nearly 4 in 10 working wives outearned their husbands--an increase of more than 50% from 20 years before....Think about what this portends. The primary role men have played since they departed the cave in pursuit of bison and woolly mammoths and marched forth in flannel suits to earn paychecks in the Mad Men era will be passed to women. The impact will be felt everywhere, from the classroom to the boardroom to the bedroom, in how men adn women work, play, shop, vote, save and share and court and even love each other." --TIME magazine "Women, Money and Power" March 26, 2012

Even so, the glass ceiling remains a big problem, for full time women still make less than men. The article asks, Is this a zero sum game? Does the rise of power in women necessarily mean that men are going to be worse off? The idea of a zero sum game is probably one reason why class and race marginalization continues to live on, despite all the efforts to bring awareness to the problem. The article talks about how men have been bred to be the "breadwinners" from the time they are able to walk and talk, and most of their heroes are such men. As female power rises, men will have to explore a terrain that they never have before, broadening the definition of masculinity to include a wide number of new roles. On the opposite side, women also have to explore new feelings associated with making the bulk of the money in a household, such as feelings of "It's my money, I earned it." Being able to be the breadwinner is something that women have been fighting to have, but it also comes with the responsibility of supporting a family. What's good about this increase in equality is that who is in charge of each person's responsibility will be based on a person's aptitude, not outdated gender roles.

Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is blowing up right now as the film opened this weekend to the third biggest opening of all time. The movie, based off of the popular books, centers around the female protagonist Katniss Everdeen in a futuristic, dilapidated America where every year kids are picked to be on a reality show where they must fight to death. While the movie was an amazing adaptation of the book and has been receiving wonderful reviews, one topic recently sparked up that has been causing a lot of controversy. Jennifer Lawrence, the actress who played Katniss, has been criticized for not having a suitable body.

While Katniss is supposed to be malnourished and underweight, she is still supposed to be incredibly strong as she is a hunter. Jennifer Lawrence trained for weeks to be able to mimic Katniss' physical strength, causing her to build more muscle. Lawrence also has a natural, normal body that is curvy, which is why people are criticizing her. Fellow female actors and models have spoken out in her defense saying that her body is still super skinny, but she looks more like a normal American girl. It is impossible for me to look at her and think she needs to lose weight, because she is in shape and very healthy. This just demonstrates how psychotic and unrealistic the film industry is in its view towards women. Liam Hemsworth played Katniss' best friend and he also is supposed to be skinny and malnourished, but no one is complaining about his body. It's a no brainer now to see why girls who want to make it in Hollywood starve themselves because apparently even being on the skinny side of normal and having boobs and hips means you are fat.

Beauty is the Enemy

http://crimethinc.com/texts/atoz/onedimensional.php

After seeing this poster and reading the essay with similar themes posted above, I wanted to respond to this example of an anarchist perspective on beauty. The poster and essay focus on themes that we discussed in class, such as beauty, feminine physical ideals and the way our understanding of those concepts affects how we see and present ourselves to the world. Professor Halberstram mentioned in class that the most blatant example of the asymmetrical formation of masculinity and femininity is that men attempt to build bodies while women attempt to reduce them...the quote at the opening of the essay "a woman can never be too rich or too thin" reflects that idea in  femininity.

But where do our conditioned desires to reach a certain ideal figure come from? Our aesthetic and desire for beauty. The poster and essay comment on the concept of beauty and ideals as we maintain them currently and reflect on the fact that we hold ideals that are literally unattainable. This is the crux of the issue that can be extrapolated to all the various self esteem and confidence issues among others that people deal with everyday. We are taught to compare and rank and compete with others in the arena of beauty, for a competition that can never be won.

Cultural Anorexia

Susan Bordo presents a very unorthodox approach to explaining anorexia in her book. Bordo clearly points out the fact that anorexia cannot simply be defined by the rules and restrictions of psychological and medical means but that it also has to do a lot with culture. Bordo removes the body aspect out of the physical context and embeds it in a cultural one to prove her point. She says that the human body is seen as being in conjunction with historical processes that resulted in biological events and that society has inevitably had direct physical influences on the human body.

Bordo also expresses her thoughts on the patriarchal structure of our society and is concerned that men are seen to dominate women because women are always seen as the weaker sex. She said that the female body is more vulnerable than male bodies to extremes in both forms of cultural manipulation of the body. So according to Brodo, which I find very interesting, is that anorexia is seen as a rejection of the traditional domestic roles that women are expected to pay in a patriarchal society. It is essentially a rebellion towards a male dominated society.

Media + Public Health Act

       Offourchests.org and MyNEDA.org have a petition to Congress, asking that advertisers that use airbrushing or photoshopping to alter human form, to put "Truth in Advertising" labels. Just as people need to know in car commercials that the drivers portrayed are professionals, not everyday people, people need to know that the individuals portrayed in print media are modified. With the rising number of women and girls suffering from eating related disorders, due to negative media images, our nation needs to take action. According to the petition, 53% of 13 year old girls are unhappy with their body, and by the 17 years old, 78% will be. Of course, negative media influences are not exclusive to girls. More and more young boys are affected by the image of 6-8 pack muscular men in media advertisements.
       I see the negative effects of photoshop and photo altering programs even through outlets such as Facebook. I have friends who have girlfriends who are models, and are obsessed with how BEAUTIFUL these girls are. But in reality, although these model pictures are very impressive, to the analytical eyes it is apparent that it is a form of art, not a depiction of reality. In addition, as summer a.ka. swim season is nearing, I hear more and more of my friends worrying about cutting calories and watching their weight in order to look similar to the models wearing bathing suits. Looking in dorm rooms, the pictures of Megan Fox in some of my guy friends rooms also shows the powers of photo altering programs. In these types of posters, the model or actress is shown with flawless skin, having no pores at all, and having that perfect glistening tan. These media images are so called "ideal" human forms- yet how ideal can they be if they are unattainable?

Bordo, Fiji, and Television

Susan Bordo argues that eating disorders emerge as a result of our culture’s excessive emphasis on an idealized image of female beauty. In our society, women are perpetually objectified and are held to a standard of beauty. Yet this standard is entirely unrealistic and utterly unobtainable. We internalize both the cultural definition of feminine beauty and a desire to display it. However, for many women and girls, the recognition and disappointment of failing to epitomize this standard results in eating disorders, an increasingly rampant issue in our society. According to Bordo, society produces eating disorders.

Bordo very briefly mentioned a study on the impact of Western media on young women in Fiji. I had read the study a few years ago and found it fascinating. I am glad that Bordo touched on the study; however, I wanted to mention it in a bit more depth.

Becker, et al. (2002) sought to document the influence of Western media exposure on body image and eating disorders. The results were startling. In 1995 approximately 41.3% of households owned a television. In 1998, that figure was up to 70.8%. This exponential increase was reflected in the eating behaviors of the young women. In 1995, 0% of participants had self-induced vomiting behaviors; however, 11.3% of participants in 1998 did. One measure the researchers utilized was a 26-item survey called the EAT-26. Scores above 20 indicate extremely problematic eating behaviors and attitudes, including full fledged eating disorders. In 1995, 12.7% of participants had scores over 20; however, in 1995, 29.2% had scores over 20, nearly triple of the 1995 participants. Thinness and dieting was extremely discouraged in Fijian values, yet our media sparked a desire to become the thin ideal. This study was incredibly sad to me. It’s terrible that not only is our media poisoning the people in our society, but we are also trickling out into the rest of the world and infecting them with our distorted conception of beauty.  

On a side note, I wonder if ridiculous shows like “Toddlers and Tiaras” will have any effect on the younger generation. Will it prompt body dissatisfaction at a younger age? Honestly, for that to even be allowed on the air is absolutely disgusting to me. There is something terribly wrong with our society that sexually objectifying toddlers is not only okay and accepted, but also celebrated as entertainment.   

Becker, A. E., et al. (2002) Eating behaviours and attitudes following prolonged exposure to television among ethnic Fijian adolescent girls. British Journal of Psychiatry, 180, 509-514

Bulimia

From a Q&A section in one website, I read a person’s comment on bulimia. She has been suffering from bulimia for four years now, and it even gave her sociophobia which has been going on for three years now. This made her to insist staying at home and be taken care by her family. She wanted a change in her life, so she decided to be independent from her family, but she still has the same issue. For four years, she usually ate 10,000 kcal per day and always ended up throwing up everything, so she does not think herself is fat as she is underweighted, yet she hates seeing herself in front of the mirror. In addition, she always thinks she looks a lot fatter when she meets other girls even though she in fact is leaner. This makes her to avoid socializing with other people, and her relationship with boyfriends has always been bad. She knows she has bulimia, but she does not know how to get over with it. She tried to do everything she can, but she eventually ends up going back to eating way too much and throwing up whenever she gets stress.

Then I read answers to her comments. However, I did not think any of the answers was actually helpful to what the person was going through because most people commented on how she should control her diet. Some people just answered that she should try to do jump rope 700 everyday and eat one bowl of rice for a meal. Well, now everyone knows that bulimia is more concerned with mental problem. If the person’s sense of value in her life changes, and people around her helps her to do that, she would be able to make some change as she wish to. Because the contemporary society wants lean girls, women tend to put the value into maintaining their body, but it should not be the center of their life.

Susan Bordo's "Unbearable Weight" and Reality TV Shows

     Susan Bordo argues that women internalize the cultural ideal of the female body and constantly seek physical perfection. She believes that the social expectation of women to be in perfectly slender bodies are impossible to live up to that the only way of achieving it is by gaining full control over ones feeling of hunger, and hence the body.  In particular, anorexia is one of the dire consequences of society’s rigorous imposition of physical perfection to women. According to Bordo, what pushes one to starve themselves to the point of near death is the overwhelming feeling of triumph and independence over bodies. Hence Bordo’s “Unbearable Weight” reminds us how fragile and vulnerable our bodies are to societal ideals.

      Despite Bordo’s criticisms, the societal obsession with body shapes seem to persist in the contemporary society. For example, there are numerous reality TV shows that are based on cosmetic surgeries. These shows depict how the participant’s lives change from sheer misery to utter happiness after cosmetic surgery. However, the fact that they use surgeries or artificial transformations to achieve the beauty and physical shape the society desires implies how unrealistic and unattainable the ideals are. Yet, the media portrays the act of correcting one’s look to meet the cultural norms as an obligation for all women. Here, women are the victims who are forced to maintain perfect looks and thinness that is far from reality. In these regards, Bordo’s assertion that female body is “a confinement from which the soul or mind struggles to escape” seems doubtlessly true.

The Smurfette Principle

A while ago I saw video on tumblr that talked about the smurfette principle. I tried to find it on my tumblr but had no luck but I did google it and found this article. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheSmurfettePrinciple

You can read that article or I can just explain to you what this principle is. The smurfette principle is the “tendency for works of fiction to have exactly one female amongst an ensemble of male characters in spite of the fact that roughly half of the human race is female. Unless the show is purposefully aimed at a female viewing audience the main characters will aim to be disproportionally male.” And why is called the smurfette? Because of the only female smurf  in all of smurfville. There are SO many examples of this that I have trouble looking at any movie and cartoon ever the same.

Take for example Winnie the Pooh. My favorite character is Eeyore, Tigger  is my brothers favorite and then we have owl, rabbit, Pooh,  little Roo and all these different male characters. The only female character in that cartoon is Kanga and she’s not even in that many episodes. Or in the muppets the only female character we have is miss Piggy (which I personally don’t even like). I told my mom this and she gave me The Transformers as an example. We also saw Star Wars in the movie theaters today which Princess Leia is the only female character in the whole entire kingdom. Also inception, one of my favorite movies, only has one female character (Ellen Page) in the dream team.

I guess movie makers do this to give viewers the illusion of being diverse. I personally had never noticed this because of the only female characters that were in each movie or cartoon. 

ANOREXIC BOYS??

Anorexia is described as an eating disorder characterized by excessive weight loss, irrational fears of gaining weight, and a distorted body perception. Anorexic people limit the amount of food they intake which leads to metabolic hormone disorders. Through media and social perception it is believed that teenage girls are the most susceptible to this disease, however American society does not realize, due to increasing societal changes, young men are also becoming susceptible to it.

An article published in 2008 stated how men felt exceedingly pressured to look good due to the perception of male beauty in the media. It stated how a doctor believed the ideal body image had changed to an unhealthy shape. The doctor also stated, ""It’s completely unhealthy, and to achieve that sort of shape you’ve got to be either working out for hours in a gym, making yourself sick, or taking certain kinds of illegal drugs."

Source: redOrbit (http://s.tt/15XAO)

Thus society has put an enormous amount of pressure on both girls and boys to conform to the new ideal "beauty," which in some cases may even cause one to take to drastic measures such as becoming anorexic or forming another unhealthy disorder. 

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1553276/young_men_increasingly_affected_by_eating_disorders/ 

Limbaugh's Fluke

washington post blog

Recently, Rush Limbaugh criticized law student Sandra Fluke who testified before Congress. While the Affordable Care now guarentees coverage of women's contraceptives, Georgetown University Law, to which Fluke attends school, does not cover birth control under its school health insurance. However, in response to Fluke's testimony, Rush Limbaugh harshly demeaned Fluke by calling her a "slut" and "prostitute," insulting Fluke over 50 times in three days. While Rush Limbaugh did apologize, he did so only because he began losing adversiers (estimated to be over 40) and in a laughable, joking manner.
Limbaugh had no right to criticize Fluke; this was Limbaugh's biggest fluke. It is one thing to criticize the material of Fluke's case, but he clearly attacked Fluke personally, as well as all women who have ever used birth control in their lifetime. Limbaugh only explores the isse at hand from the surface. Birth control is not solely so that women can openly have intercourse with multiple partners on multiple occassions. Birth control is also used for medical purposes, as well as gives women control over their own bodies. The creation of birth control was originally followed by a shift in traditional gender stereotypes that benefited females. For the first time, women had control whether or not they wanted to risk the chances of getting pregnant. Men like Limbaugh should not have the right to say otherwise.

Men wearing pink

In my entrepreneurship class, we have successful entrepreneurs come and talk to the class about their journey, the mistakes they made: their life story. Yesterday, we held a panel of three successful entrepreneurs, each in the natural foods business. There were two men and a woman. One of the guys caught my attention as he was wearing a pink shirt. Normally, this wouldn't be something that would catch my eye, but I noticed how muscular he was, even though he was wearing a suit.

As the class ended, I went to talk to him. As our conversation progressed, I felt that he was displaying hegemonic masculinity, in a very pressured way. This exprience made me think more about men who wear pink shirts. I realized that men in the media, namely in movies or television shows, display hegemonic masculinity more than normal hegemonic men. Excessively muscular men, wearing pink shirts, show hegemoic masculinity, but the sense of being overly muscular to display that they still are a "man's man," in a sense to continue having control over women. However, though many men wear pink shirts to show their sensitive side, which is still displayed as hegemonic masculinity because it's for "getting" girls.

Boys in New Hampshire

This weekend I went to visit my friend Jen at her college in New Hampshire. It is a small school, nothing like USC, so I was really excited to go. I loved everything about it, except what really stood out to me was how different the social interactions between boys and girls were. About half of her good friends had boyfriends at the school. They would hang around with us and wait on these girls hand and foot. At USC, none of my friends have boyfriends at school. The freshman boys that I have met here are not ready for any kind of relationship at all. At Jen's school the boys have a completely different attitude. Instead of wanting to go crazy and try to get with as many girls as possible, it is much more appealing for them to pick one girl and focus on her.

At first this really confused me, but after a while I got used to it. It really enforced the idea that gender is a construct of society. A hegemonic form of masculinity at USC is a guy who "gets with" a ton of girls, since the Greek system creates an environment where the boys are housed separate from the girls and big parties make it hard to get to know people on a more personal level. At this school there is a much smaller social scene and everyone quickly knows everyone. Since there are less people it is a much more intimate place where relationships are more likely to occur. Therefore, its considered masculine to have a girlfriend because it means that you are "getting with" someone but not making it awkward by "getting with" everyone at the small school.

-Elle

Black Masculinity

This week in discussion we talked about Black masculinity from Neal's article the New Black Man. In this article, Neal talks about the "Strong Black Man," a term that correlates to a rigid form of black masculinity, and does not allow for any sort of flexibility. This directly relates to the women and children in their lives. Neal gives examples of the depiction of black masculinity in his passage. He discusses N. Williams, who had sex with over 30 women, and ended up giving them HIV. The media turned this story into a racial slur toward black masculinity. Rather than discussing the disease, the media was concerned with this perversion, and violent behavior, which drove to helpless women sleeping with him.

Black masculinity is present is rap music, hip hop, and even politics. However, the depiction of masculinity through these channels is rigid, correlated to the "Strong Black Man." As mentioned in discussion, black men are not given the same economic resources as white men, which inhibits their masculinity in a way, and forces them to turn to violence, physical strength, and anger, in order to recoup their lost masculinity.

The Traffic in Women--Gayle Rubin

What are these relationships by which a female becomes an oppressed woman?

sex/gender system: biological sexuality are products of human activity, and are itself neutral. What is not neutral are the social relationships that come out of it. How human sex, gender and procreation has manifested is different for every society

Rubin's critique of Marx: It does not take into account the "historical and moral element," including social life, of gender inequalities. Marx cannot explain chastity belts or foot binding

Kinship system:
-gift giving: creates social links. marriage is viewed as a gift.
-incest taboo: in order to not commit incest, people reach out and create kinship relationships with others through gift-giving
-kinship is organization and organization gives power
-If women are the gifts, then they cannot benefit from the transaction. Men are the beneficiaries of the traffic of women. This creates male-female inequalities
-oppression of women in this exchange is founded on social systems, not biology

A very straight Gay & Men of Reason

There are many reasons why men become gay. It is not merely because they want to engage themselves in sexual activities with other men for sexual pleasures. In fact, most of the gays do not become gay from the first place. However, becoming gay is a gradual process. By interacting with others of same sex, men not only can feel true affection, but also discover more about themselves. However, since statuses of gays are quite low, and often become the topic of mockery in many places, they do not openly express their true feelings. The sexual identity and gender identity is quite different for heterosexual and homosexual men.

"The gendered eroticism of these men, the masculine social presence most of them maintain, their focus on privatized couple relatoinships and their lack of solidarity with feminism point in the same direction. There is no open challenge to the gender order here" (Connell 161)

"Men of Reason" are the 4th group that Connell explains as the dominant men. It mainly discusses elite schools, the places boys get educated to be experts at their respective fields and increase their logics and rationale. In the workforce, a hierarchically organized workplaces, when a man does his interview for the first time, he is actually expecting to eventually overcome the person who is interviewing him. Reasons and technology are more important than one would imagine in Masculinity; they serve as one of the main sources of power.

"Rationality is in certain ways a disturbing element in gender relations. Its social forms (such as market rationality and legal equality) corrode gender hierarchy and support feminist resistance. Its institutionalization in the knowledge-based workplace corrodes authority and sets up tensions within hegemonic masculinity. Technical reason can be mobilized for a project of change, even though it does not address the ultimate goals of change." (Connell 181)

The Media and Masculinity

In recent class readings, we have dug deep into understanding the fundamental formation of masculinity. As we have read, masculinity is represented by a variety of traits and qualities that differ from culture to culture. One form of masculinity may be represented by qualities such as strength and size. Whereas, other forms of masculinity are measured by wealth and socioeconomic status. Although the representation of masculinity is typically established within a certain culture, the formation of masculinity is not. It is still widely debated how certain trait have come to define masculinity. As we look for answers, it appears there is one main source that contributes to masculinity's identity: the media.

Recent studies have shown that the media plays a huge role in the development of a culture's idea of masculinity. In countless movies and television shows, there is the reoccurring concept of a strong, athletic male who portrays his dominance and thus is perceived as masculine. An article from the Media Awareness Network (MAN) explains this in further detail (http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/men_and_masculinity/masculinity_defining.cfm). The report observes three main factors typically exhibited by the media:
-the majority of males characters in media are heterosexual
- male characters are more often associated with the public sphere of work, rather than the private sphere of the home, and issues and problems related to work are more significant than personal issues
- non-white male characters are more likely to experience personal problems and are more likely to use physical aggression or violence to solve those problems

It was concluded that "these dominant trends in the media's portrayal of men reinforce and support social attitudes that link masculinity to power, dominance and control." It is intriguing to see how much of an effect the media has on our definition of masculinity and it will be interesting to see how the media will continue to shape it.

It's Not For Women

Dr. Pepper has recently produced a commercial for their new line of soda called Dr. Pepper 10. It is a 10 calorie drink that includes sugars, so that it is not like the regular Dr. Pepper, which apparently men do not want to drink becuase they think that diet drinks are for women. Regardless of the fact that diet drinks are a healthier option to an already unhealthy drink doesn't matter, because diet drinks remind men of women. They feel girly when they drink them so they don't buy them. The soda industry has been suffering since more people are trying to switch to healthier options such as flavored water or teas, and in a last ditch effort to get people to start buying soda again, Dr. Pepper decided to target men. In their latest commercial they feature a burly man in the jungle being chased by bad guys who are shotting lasers at him and trying to kill him. It is almost a completee action movie and is rugged and full of adventure. In the commercial the main man speaks to the camera addressing women in the audience. He asks, "Hey ladies. Enjoying the film? Of course not. Because this is our movie and this is our soda". Our meaning men. He continues to go on by saying that women are not allowed to drink this drink because it is manly and women cannot handle it. Sounds pretty dumb to me. He continues to say "You can keep the romantic comedies and lady drinks. We're good". As if men are not interested in the diet drinks because they are weak and subordinate to something that a real manly man would drink. This is the part where I almost threw up. There is even a facebook page for this soft drink where only men are allowed to join. I mean come on, a facebook group. What is next, are they going to police the grocery store and not let women purchase the soda? I understand that Dr. Pepper is trying to appeal to a male category of consumer, but do they really have to do that by cutting down women and again trying to assert there dominace over us in all categories. If I want to drink Dr. Pepper 10, you better believe that I am going to drink it.

GUYLAND

After reading Kimmel's Guyland, I could relate to what he had said. Kimmel had stated how guys who lived in guyland were 16-26 mostly white-middle class males who were confused and could not commit to relationships work or their lived. They want to grow up quicker, but, do not desire to take on the responsibilities of grown-ups. He also claimed how they are more likely to be sports obsessed, watch violent activities, binge drink and hook up. He also states how they are not boys or men they are just guys.

I can somewhat relate to his statements since I am from a middle class mostly white area and many of my friends in high school were white. When we were juniors and seniors in high school I remember being very obsessed with football and basketball. The summer of my junior year I gained 20 pounds by constantly going to the gym and being obsessed with gaining muscle. My friends and I would hang out some weekends playing basketball or going to parties. At the parties usually the only thing people cared about were alcohol and hooking up, no one was looking for a relationship. That is why we would usually go to parties out of town since we would not see the people at school the next day. I do not believe all young men can fit Kimmel's theory of guyland, however, I believe he covers a great deal of what guys think about at that age and that phase in their lives. 

Ballroom Dancing

     Currently I am enrolled in the course, International Ballroom Dance here at USC. I enjoy the class, however, one thing that I find particularly striking, is the strong presence of traditional gender roles. For example, for our midterm, everyone should've known the three dances: the foxtrot, the waltz and the swing. However, all the pressure of executing the steps was left to the guys. The girls are expected to follow in ballroom dance. The boys are the "leaders." Obviously both individuals cannot lead in the dance, because then the couple would not be able to move anywhere. It would be dysfunctional. However, why can't there be dance routines where the girl can be the leader? Why must there be the distinctive labels of "leader" and "follower"? I know that for me, it is difficult for me to merely follow, especially when I know the steps better than my partner. I think that many believers in the tradition of the "boys leading" would support it by saying its just the way things have always been. However, I think that the tradition of boys leading the girls, continues an antiquated stereotype about power relations between boys and girls.

In addition, Emily Martin's discussion in her work "The Egg and the Sperm,"on the gender language in biology comes to mind. Our instructor's words for the girl consist of "follow... relax...rely" which are all passive words. For the boys, it is "execute....lead...be strong." What kind of message does this send for girls? Especially girls who have been raised in the 21st century, with society telling them the importance of being independent, and that they are LEADERS. We can lead the guys in dance just as well as they can lead us. It should be an equal playing field.

"Pumping Iron"

Last lecture which showed a short clip from Pumping Iron was very interesting to me along with the professor’s last three arguments regarding masculinities. For some reason, I have always related masculinity to women, or I always looked masculinity from female’s point of view. In other words, I have never considered masculinity from male’s point of view. I seriously thought men working out to have six pecks or to be muscular were only to make women think they are attractive or manly. Hence, I was pretty surprised to know that professor’s all three arguments excluded women: 1. Masculinity, unlike femininity, itself is authorizing or seeks to be 2. Masculinity actually thrives in the absence of women 3. Dominant masculinity is secured by the homo-social relations.

Then, how did I interpret this? This whole clip reminded me hegemonic masculinity and its example identified in sports from Connell’s reading. Connell says: “in certain schools the masculinity exalted through competitive sports is hegemonic; this means that sporting prowess is a test of masculinity even for boys who detest the locker room” (37). Hegemonic masculinity among men (ignoring class or race issue) is the matter of competitiveness and superiority. This all relates to Pumping Iron in which women do not appear that much since their opinions in showing off men’s masculinity or manliness are not that important as it is “self-authorizing.”

Fox News, J.Crew, and Gender Identity

           Last year a J.Crew ad sparked a great deal of controversy. Conservatives seethed in fury and lashed out with words of hate. Did the ad show nudity? No. Did it show drug use? No. Did it show some form of abuse? Not at all. What did it show? J.Crew president Jenna Lyons laughing and playing with her young son whose toenails were painted bright pink. Under the photo was a quote from Jenna: “Lucky for me, I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink. Toenail painting is way more fun in neon.”

           To the conservatives at Fox News, this ad was an assault on family values and gender roles. Fox News’ psychiatrist Keith Ablow argued that this advertisement promoted ‘transgenderism’ and encouraged parents to force their children to explore cross-gender behaviors and preferences. He claimed that encouraging a small boy to paint his toenails, much less in pink, would lead to a lifetime of negative psychological consequences and severe gender identity confusion. Furthermore, he claimed that the ad is cultural propaganda intended to persuade people to ignore traditional gender roles and instead become a gender-neutral society.

Here are two quotes that I found to be exceptional idiotic:

“Well, how about the fact that encouraging the choosing of gender identity, rather than suggesting our children become comfortable with the ones that they got at birth, can throw our species into real psychological turmoil—not to mention crowding operating rooms with procedures to grotesquely amputate body parts?”

“And while that may seem like no big deal, it will be a very big deal if it turns out that neither gender is very comfortable anymore nurturing children above all else, and neither gender is motivated to rank creating a family above having great sex forever and neither gender is motivated to protect the nation by marching into combat against other men and risking their lives.”

        I read this article when it came out and I was naturally overcome with anger at the narrow-minded and hateful ideas spewed by Fox News. The idea that by allowing children to express themselves in ways that do not conform to antiquated and sexist traditional gender roles will somehow result in negative psychological distress is absolutely asinine. To restrict children into ‘appropriate’ gender roles seems to be significantly more harmful than allowing them to like whatever they happen to like. The “doctor” even declares that Jenna should start saving money so she can pay for her son’s inevitable gender confusion, as well as other people in his life that are negatively impacted by her decisions. I cannot believe that anyone is ignorant enough to believe this. I disagree with the very notion that we even have these tiny gender categories filled with rules regarding one’s personality, likes/dislikes, activities, physical appearances, and social roles. To me, it is absolutely pathetic that anyone could possibly believe this, much less spew it with hate as Fox News did.

         I wonder what Dr. Ablow would think of this—My best friend when I was little was a boy. He used to play dress up with me, dance around in my tutus, bake cookies in my Easy Bake Oven, and play with makeup. He was in no way confused about his gender, nor is he now. In fact, his masculinity is on par with traditional male ideals—he is extremely muscular, an incredible football player, ambitious, and is dating a beautiful girl. Looks like his “transgenderism” behavior in childhood had no negative impact on his adult life (as dictated by traditional gender roles and conservatives). Go figure. 

The ad:

 The article: 

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/04/11/j-crew-plants-seeds-gender-identity/

How R.W. Connell's theories apply in "Pumping Iron"

        The film, “Pumping Iron” perhaps best exemplifies how the notion of hegemonic masculinity applies to the real world. “Pumping Iron” delves into the world of bodybuilding and portrays how bodybuilders live, train and compete against each another. While one might believe body- building is the epitome of masculinity, Connell argues that it embodies sexual contradictions.  As depicted in the film, bodybuilders are admired and revered mostly by men. Moreover, Connell notes that bodybuilders often need to “sell sexual favors” to gay men to support themselves, which is known as a ‘hustle’. Because the practice of wearing very few clothes and posing in front of men is highly vulnerable to suspicions, bodybuilders simultaneously pursue masculinity and by all means, repudiate homosexuality.

         For example, in the scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger prepares to poses in front of male prisoners, a woman takes of his shirt who is then rewarded with a kiss. This scene explicitly reveals the outright dislike of homophobia between straight men.  Though Arnold justifies the kiss by casually saying, “the women probably didn’t get it for years”, from Connell’s perspective, it is better understood as a man’s subconscious desire to prove his heterosexuality in the fear of being perceived as a homosexual. Arnold, in this particular situation, utilize woman as means of seeking approval from the crowd that he is a heterosexual. Hence, men’s tendency to articulate homophobia to earn membership to dominant masculinities and avoid being victims of subordination is well presented in “Pumping Iron”.

Far From Heaven

I recently watched the film 'Far From Heaven' directed by Todd Haynes and starring Julianne Moore. It takes place in the late 1950's, which was a time of polarized gender roles and rampant racism in America. The film deals with both issues, as Kathy (Moore) falls in love with a black man (Dennis Haysbert) and her husband, Frank, (Dennis Quaid) falls in love with another man. Both characters are at the top of the social ladder at the film's opening: Kathy an envied housewife and Frank a successful businessman. However, their false personas begin to fade when Kathy catches Frank with another man. Initially, Frank seeks 'treatment' for his homosexuality, only to later succumb to his desires. Kathy, on the other hand, connects with her gardener, Raymond Deagan. Both trysts have consequences in their societies. Frank's affair is kept quiet, but Kathy is caught sneaking around town with her gardener, which makes the other housewives around town call her position of influence into question.

Ultimately, the film reminds me of R.W. Connell's theories of masculinity. Frank begins the film as part of the dominant masculinity, but soon accepts he is part of the subordinate group when he understands that he is gay. Raymond, meanwhile, has always been marginalized due to his race and class. He and Kathy can never be together, for their society deems it to be unacceptable. Even though he is the one male character in the film who actually cares for Kathy, he cannot be with her. In several instances, complicit men who are not part of the dominant order keep the balance of power in check by threatening Raymond and his daughter. I suggest this film for anyone who is interested in seeing Connell's theories put into practice (or to anyone who enjoys a good cinema). It's on Netflix streaming!

Short Hair=Masculine?

I read an article about the actress Emma Watson from the Harry Potter movies on the Today website. (http://todayentertainment.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/22/10479650-potter-star-emma-watson-says-pixie-haircut-sparked-lesbian-rumors) The actress notoriously "morphed" overnight into a mature, beautiful woman and all of the sudden was posing in Maxim Magazine and being placed on hottest women lists. Once she finished the films, she decided to chop off her long hair and got a pixie cut. Suddenly the sex symbol was being questioned if she was a lesbian. Rumors were spreading that the haircut was her "coming out" and admitting to the world her true sexuality.

I found this absolutely ridiculous that a short haircut is associated with masculinity and lesbianism. Many beautiful straight women have short hair and many beautiful homosexual women have long hair. The endless progress of trying to break gender stereotypes is completely demolished when people are ignorant and then broadcast their ignorance for all to read. My guy friends told me they didn't like Emma's haircut, because she "doesn't look like a girl anymore." This infuriated me, because how on earth can she be considered to look like a man? Why is long hair associated with femininity and why do men feel threatened when women cut their hair? What is ironic about the situation is that two of those guy friends have much longer hair than considered "normal" for men. And when I asked them about their hair they could not come up with an answer as to why it was okay for them to have a more "feminine" haircut while women cannot have one that is more "masculine." While most men and most women have shorter and longer hair respectfully, different hairstyles should not be a reflection of sexuality. In fact no physical quality should, because people should be able to present themselves however they want without feeling like they have to present their sexuality.

chopped

Sometimes I catch on to assumptions about gender roles when I'm watching TV, partly because it's fun and partly because I feel that I'm overcoming some undercurrents of prejudice in the media. Anyway, today on Chopped, the woman competitor was discouraged when she saw that all of the judges were men because she felt that her food lent itself to a more female palate, that her food was more clean and put together and felt that a woman would relate to her food more. What?! The woman who was competing was an organic food lover, and prided herself on elevating the natural element of the food, not changing the food into something it's not. Don't even get me started on how ridiculous that is.

At first I thought that she was disappointed that there were no female judges because she was a female, and she wanted to see more female representation in the cooking world. What she said though, was utterly ridiculous. What does having a "female palate" mean? Is her assumption that her "organic" style of cooking is more "feminine?" She takes gender roles to a level where females and males differ because of of their sex, on the kind of foods they like. Females like natural, organic, simple foods. Males like heavy, flavorful, zesty foods. I have never heard that. Luckily, she was eliminated in the first round. Must be because they're all male judges.

The Powerpuff Girls

This week I wanted to focus on the powerpuff girl’s episode Equal Fights.

The episode you can watch here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPgqtisi4_E and you don’t need to watch more than 2 minutes to see the character femme fetale that I’m going to write this post about.

Powerpuff Girls were one of my favorite cartoons growing up. Why? Because I was a little girl obsessed with superheroes like batman and the power rangers and they were the first girl superheroes that weren’t male and as femme fatale puts it not the “extension of their male counterparts” and not “lame”. I never liked batgirl or supergirl or wonderwomen because they all seemed to be female superheroes cartoonists just came up with so they wouldn’t anger the feminists in the world. And obviously they were always the right new to their male superheroes and never fighting crime alone.

Anyway, femme fetale is the villain in this episode of powerpuff girls and she is a feminist. So wait, a cartoon is portraying a feminist as a villain? Yes. Her clothes and mask have the female sign and also her weapon is female sign. But she brings up good points like the fact that there are no good female superheroes in our pop culture. The most interesting part is when she is robbing the bank and yells at the man who is giving her $100 bills because she says they have a man’s face on it (Benjamin Franklin) and she only steals Susan B. Anthony coins. She also yells at the man saying “men can’t do anything right” portraying an over exaggerated feminist that hates men.

Even though Powerpuff Girls is always portrayed as a cartoon were equal rights are met, they found a way to create a whole episode revolving around the fact that feminists are villains and they use their speeches only for their own good.