Blog 6: Cosmetic Sugery

In today's world, cosmetic surgery is something that is not only acceptable, but very popular among females. Back in the day, cosmetic surgery was used for patients disabled by war and industrial accidents. Now days, cosmetic surgery is geared towards females that are unhappy with their bodies. Statistics show that women are overwhelmingly taking over the cosmetic industry. In my opinion, I would never get cosmetic surgery because I am a firm believer that god created all in a perfect way so we should I should never resort to cosmetic surgery. I know from a personal stand point that I would never do it, I am not saying that there aren't parts of my body that I want to look different, I'm saying that I am happy with my body and I would never go under the knife and put my life at risk so I can look different. Honestly, the whole idea that a female would put her life at risk so she can change her appearance blows me away. I don't blame it all on females though, I feel that society has a lot to do with it. Society puts so much pressure on females to be thin and beautiful that females are resorting to cosmetic surgery to feel better about themselves. In a sense, it shows that as an American society we are shallow. The situations vary, and I understand that, some people get cosmetic surgery because they need it for medical reasons, and even in some situations I think it's good that people do get cosmetic surgery to feel better about themselves, but the numbers that we are seeing are outrageous. Not all these people need these surgeries and it shouldn't be socially accepted like it is.

Blog 5: Gender and Toys

Gender and toys is a very intersting subject to me because I remember as a young girl I did not fit the stereotypes. Stereotypes for toys is that boys will play with trucks, tools, more masculine toys while girls will play with barbies, dolls, and other feminine toys. Of course, I know your thinking that is obvious and it is, but what I found intersting is toy companies also put a big emphasis on colors. There are house sets that are made in pink and blue, the pink is for the girls and the blue is for the boys. The way toys are marketed is that everything is based off of colors and gender masculinaty and feminity. I was looking at a toy advertisment in the news paper the other day and on the front page was a picture of a boy in a blue tonka truck and a girl right beside him in a pink barbie car.
A situation that really stands out to me is talking to my mother the other day about her job; she is a pre-school teacher and we often talk about her students. The other day she was telling me that she felt one of her students might have signs of being gay, and i asked her why; she started telling me that he always plays with barbies and he always wants to play house and dress up. It really startled me when she was saying that because we put such a emphasis at a young age on how children should follow the gender ideas that societs gives us. It starts at a young age that females should act feminine, and wear pink and males should be manly. I remember when I was a young girl a lot of people called me a tom boy because I would play with a baseball and tools, not barbie dolls. I never wore pink, I hated the color pink, all I wanted to do was play sports and not think about barbie dolls or the color pink. I always remember my Aunt trying to tell me to play with barbies and always getting barbies for christmas from her. Now as an adult, I am very in touch with my feminine side. I enjoy dressing up,wearing high heals, painting my nails, and wearing pink. So I don't feel that we should put such a big emphasis on toys because I played with masculine toys and I am a very feminine female.

Blog 4: Chapter 1 Pop and Circumstances

I feel like the repeated topic of this essay is talking about how pop culture degrades women. In the third wave of feminism women are trying to make strides to have equality in the world of media but from these reading I really do not feel as if females are making any strides at all. It is sad to say, but both readings offer plenty of examples of how were making strides in the wrong direction. First off, in the reading by Noami Wolf discusses pornography and how it degrades women. Wolf discusses how women have to make facial expressions and organism into a big deal because "if she wants to if she wants to look like that she has to feel like that". In other words, Wolf is saying that when a female sees this on television she feels that she has to make the same facial expressions when she is having an orgasm in order for it to feel pleasurable. Another example that Wolf talks about is women show their breasts on television like it's not a big deal, but a penis would never be shown because it is "not as naked". In other words, it's okay for a female to show her breasts because it's really not that big of a deal, but its not okay for a man to show his penis.

From the readings, i feel like beauty and body image is a function of social construction from the stand point that the mass media controls the stands of beauty. When we are talking about the mass media we are talking about television, movies, magazines, Internet, and radio and at least one form of media is available for free to every American on a daily basis. Most of the mass media is controlled by middle aged white men who set these standards of beauty which impact the lives of so many Americans. Not only does the mass media control the definition of beauty but it controls so many other standards that people have no idea about. One of the biggest surprises to me is how the reading talks about how pop culture controls people's opinion in a sense. A television show is going to be biased towards certain issues than they will show what they favor and try to get people to take their side; the mass media is so bias towards certain topics.

I think that a females beauty limits a women in a few different ways. If a females is very good looking, she has a better chance at finding a job. A females looks can carry her a long way, most people will deny that but it's true. Good looking women have better social lives, and have many more opportunities than another female. The part that gets me is that men define the definition of beauty and women have to go along with those standards.

Blog 3: The Feminst Mystique and The Beauty Myth

The problem that has "no name" is an issues that lies buried and unspoken by many women in the United States. It is the idea that women are standing around at the end of a long day of taking care of the children, doing household labor, and taking care of all the family issues and saying to themselves "is this all there is to life". Women want to break the mold of just being homemakers, women want to be successful in the work force but also be great mothers. The problem has no name because women do not know how to begin how to fathom to deal with the problem. Women cannot figure out if there making this problem into a big deal and it's not them just imagining things.

Betty Friedan, the author of The Feminine Mystique, was a magazine writer who started to realize after writing articles about this issue that she herself struggled with it too. Friedan had children herself and often found herself wondering the same thing if this was all there was. I think feminism had made huge strides in minimizing gender inequalities but there is still a long way to go. Naomi Wolf talks about in her reading how feminism has not made strides in the media. Women are looked down upon and treated just as a peace of meet in my opinion. There bodies are just sex symbols and they are degraded so much. Wolf really attacks an issue that is almost a hidden issue. People always say how females have come so far, and we have, but there still so long that we have to go and that's what Wolf makes people realize in her book. Wolf pulls out in depth details about how the media affects our image of beauty. Wolf points out the fact that middle aged white men control the media therefore controls the image of what is beautiful. Men control the image of what female beauty is, and in a man's eyes according to the media a female should be skinny, beautiful skin, and blond hair. Naomi Wolf brought up a different issues in her book. I found the reading very interesting.

Blog 2: What is body image?

Body image is in my mind a hard definition to explain because it means a few things to me. Body image is the thought of what women and men think about their bodies; but I feel like it is a thought from a negative standpoint. It's almost as if women think about their bodies and the imperfections they have. Women always think about the imperfections they have and tell themselves, " I wish I looked like Heidi Klum". I understand that when you say the phrase "body image" the definition that comes to mind is what people feel about their body but I feel the phrase "body image" runs deeper than that. I think it's very important to study this topic because it affects so many Americans.

In the third wave of feminism, image and body are at the center of feminist anaysis. In the first two waves of feminism, there were organized movements, with clearly defined goals. In the third wave of feminism, women have not united as much, but have expanded the fight for equal rights. The third wave of feminism has surrounded itself with pop culture that way it could use the media. Rather than surround itself by legal and political issues like the first two waves of feminism.

In the introduction of Body Outlaw, author Ophira Edut describes "a rebel with a cause, willing to step outside my comfort zone, to expose people to a body type that had practically disappeared from the cultural imagination." Edut is arguing that society tells us we need to dress with as much skin showing as possible but you have to be skinny to do that. An example would be comedian/actress Monique. She is a heavy set women who dresses very classy but does reveal skin at times. Monique seems to be very happy with her body though, she is a good role model for bigger women because she is very confident in herself. Here is a picture of Monique: