Week Thirteen: November 18-24
We have reached our final two weeks of class! I know we haven’t finished with Douglas, but as I mentioned last week, I think it would be more beneficial for us to leave it and move on to our final projects—our own personal blogs—at this point. If you still want to finish the Douglas book, please feel free to do it! I’m just not requiring it because many students need a catch-up week.
If you need to catch up on course blog posts, please do so this week. Let me know if you have questions about this.
Also, let's begin posting links to blogs in the coming weeks. We all need to begin looking at these blogs and posting our comments. Your engagement with the blogs of your classmates is part of the final project as well, so let’s begin doing that this week and next!
All this to say, in the next two weeks, focus on the following three items: 1. catching up on blog posts, if needed; 2. creating your own “final project” blog and posting the address as a new post to our course blog; and 3. commenting on the blogs of your classmates.
I've heard from many of you, and each final project sounds unique and extraordinary. I hope this ends up being fun for you, as well. I'm excited!
Makeup for week 12: 1/4
ReplyDeleteOn page 156 Douglas states, "Feminists were cast as unfeminine, unappealing women who were denouncing the importance of the male gaze, yet who also secretly coveted that gaze for themselves by protesting in public. These poor girls it was suggested, sought to get through political flamboyance what they were unable to get through physical attractiveness." This resonated with me, because this still continues.
In the media women who stand up for other women, are often chastised as wanting attention or having ulterior motives. Look at what happened to then Georgetown University Law student Sandra Fluke a few years ago. She was as noted by the Washington Post in 2012, "the Georgetown law student [who was] derided as a “slut” and “prostitute” by Rush Limbaugh for her support of women’s access to birth control" she was ridiculed as wanting attention, of being devious, and more. Yet, on other platforms she was hailed for what she had done - and congratulated on her work during the case. Women continue to be torn and pulled in various directions by the media and society at large. But truth be told, the reason there is backlash is because these women are questioning the status quo and power structures - this is something that many people fear. Without those willing to take that on, there would be no change.
Here's the Washington Post article:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-buzz/post/rush-limbaugh-calls-georgetown-student-sandra-fluke-a-slut-for-advocating-contraception/2012/03/02/gIQAvjfSmR_blog.html
Makeup for Week 12: 2/4
ReplyDeleteAs seen on page 165, "'Rage would not be too strong a word to describe the emotion felt by large numbers of feminists about the media's coverage of the women's movement,' noted the first chroniclers of the movement [...] And though the rage was exactly the correct response, it should not have been the only response." I agree with this, I think the media's response could have been combated if there was a systemic approach and organized response to it. Granted this is easier said than done, and there were a lot of deep and varied divisions within the feminists groups, but in banding together more I think things may have turned out differently. But then again, I may be wrong. Maybe the media's stance on feminism would have still outweighed a more unified voice. We won't know.
But I also agree with Douglas, the more the media talked about it the more women became aware of it. I think in part the media's attack on feminism made me more aware of the movement - it made me explore what it was and what was really going on. So, again I find Douglas's words, even about the past, to still be relevant. And that we still need feminism.
Makeup for week 12: 3/4
ReplyDeleteI found Douglas's discussion of 'Maude' the TV series starring Bea Arthur to be really good. She noted that while Maude spoke her mind, "ridiculed sexism and male privilege," she also "reinforced the stereotype of the feminist" (203). Now I know this is beyond what we covered for last week, but I am going to include it. Because there is something there.
As Douglas goes on to state, "But 'Maude', liberal politics and all, suggested that if we did [as she did] - if we really did - we'd be as feared and laughed at as Maude." (203). This really resonated with me. I see characters of women who are in charge, they are sometimes feared, but they get stuff done - are we afraid of looking to them(and maybe emulating them) because we too may be chastised, ridiculed, or laughed at? To be honest, I have enjoyed almost all of the late Bea Arthur's work; her characters like Maude and Dorothy (Golden Girls) took charge of their lives. And that is something we should have the choice to do. But, that's not to say I want to be them, but rather that I take from these characters aspects I would want for myself in order to grow as a person (but also be me). Or rather that I keep some of their actions stored away, using them later as inspiration. Not sure if that makes sense, but yeah it relates to Douglas's discussion of music - we want to take it on as a way to access ourselves. But again, I wonder if I hold myself back because of fear of others' reactions, or because I simply don't want to? We take in so much from TV, films, books, music, magazines, and more, yet I am always trying to grow, trying to improve. In what part is that me wanting it for myself or the media telling me the way I am isn't good enough? Some thoughts...
My niece was watching the Disney channel for a while. My brother and his wife didn't really think much of it. They figured it was the Disney channel, it would be appropriate for children. Well every show featured sarcastic, mean, boy-crazy girls, so of course my niece began to absorb a lot of those traits. It was really interesting to see how quickly and easily media could affect a young person's behavior.
ReplyDeleteYes it is, and sometimes not always for the best. But I think it can be a good thing too, depending on the topic/genre/etc. I grew up watching Jane Austen dramas and the like, I would like to think (or rather wish) that it influenced me. It certainly made me even more interested in reading, and in being okay with being different (look at 'Persuasion' Anne is very different from her family, and really from the of the other characters, but in a way that makes her more unique).
DeleteMedia is very powerful indeed. I keep noticing things in the ads (in part because of the Domesticity Class last semester as well), and how they try to manipulate so much via guilt, reward, etc. It feels relentless sometimes. I can only imagine how it is now for the younger generations who spend a lot more time in front of screens than previous generations. What does it mean when they have even more access to the media than those who came them? As noted in the Time's article, "Everything You wanted to know About Kids and Technology But Were Too Distracted to Ask" (2015) by Martha Pickerill:
"A 2014 study in the journal Clinical Pediatrics found that about half of U.S. kids ages 6 to 18 exceed the two-hour limit on recreational screen time, including 16% who spend more than four hours per day in front of a screen. The revolution is happening fast, too. According to an in-depth report on kids’ media use by Common Sense Media, the percentage of kids under age 8 with access to a smartphone or tablet at home went from 52% in 2011 to 75% in 2013—including 38% of children under 2."
And if you aren't well educated parents, you don't know it's a bad thing to place your kid in front of the TV. My kid loves watching animal documentaries, and it's so tempting when she drags me out of bed at 6am to lock her in the TV room with me, turn on some Netflix thing and fall back asleep on the couch. If it's something marketed as educational, you probably don't even relaize it's a bad thing.
DeleteI agree with you Justin on Disney and Sarcasm! We limited the tv for both kids! I wouldn't even let my kids watch Sponge Bob due to sarcasm - so one day I get this call from the art teacher at my kids school asking if they can watch Sponge Bob in class because my daughter has told the teacher she can't! lol!
DeleteI used to get upset with my husband because he would get on to Trista (our 6 y/o) for watching certain shows I used to tell him to ease up they are just cartoons then he started telling me what they were about i was like WHAT! so I keep my mouth shut now he keeps a closer eye on that stuff than I do. Thank goodness!
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ReplyDeleteOverall, I have really enjoyed reading Douglas. I like that she takes both a personal approach and a more sweeping understanding - laying out her relation to the time and a general overview. I feel though she should have talked a bit more about women in comedy in sections we talked about, I know women like Betty White, Lucille Ball (who was only mentioned briefly), and others were doing more than just what we saw on screen. I think that was a really important move, and look at women like Carol Burnett, they made some really big strides. But then again, I know it is impossible to cover it all. Just would have been interesting to see and read. Although her discussion of Maude, which I mentioned last time, was great.
ReplyDeleteI just accidentally posted on week twelve, so I'm copying it here: On the women and guns topic, I just saw at target today a nerf gun in pastel colors. It's part of their Rebelle line for young girls. I think it's interesting how what is offered to young girls is changing. I wonder if there's a young boys kitchen set out there? How long will it take until boys can have a doll house? I remember having my GI Joes play house as husband and wife in the GI Joe base.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was an interesting article. It reminds me of a conversation about gender we have in my AP class.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20151123-gina-barreca-sexism-in-victorias-secret-try-l.l.-bean.ece
Here's the video of the abridged version of the above mentioned conversation I made for students that are absent.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlw0iyCHnv4
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