Class and Virtue

I also found this article extremely interesting. It taught me something that I had not noticed previously to reading this. In many movies and TV shows, people who are transformed in their lives from "bad" to "good" move up in class status. They all dress a similar way, have a higher education, speak in a specific manner, and behave in a certain manner. As a society, we generally associate the rich with being "good". In many court cases across the country, the more wealthy you are and the better lawyer you can afford, the easier it is to be found innocent. The wealthy have privileges that the rest of us do not have. Since most people so badly want to be a part of this elite group, we put them on a pedestal and see them in a holier light. So in a way, they can do no wrong. This essay was short and to the point. I agree with everything Michael Parenti (author) wrote and do not have much else to say about this subject.

TV Shows Supporting Sexism

I really liked this essay because it talks about a huge role of gender stereotypes that most people overlook. Most popular TV shows have a huge, random audience. That means people of all ages, race, religion and gender watch them. These TV shows make a huge impact on our society by constantly giving subtle messages as to gender roles and racial roles. African Americans and Latinos are rarely seen in these shows, showing their insignificance and how they are lower than Caucasians. African Americans are only shown as on welfare or prostitutes in a very negative light. This does not just effect children, but everybody. Its another piece of our society that is reinforcing negative and false attitudes. These TV shows air for years at a time. People watch them weekly. So this sexism and racism that are subtly built in have a long time to create a change in someone.

The women in most TV shows are portrayed as dumb to be funny. Men are not dumb to be funny, they are witty. Many young girls I grew up with honestly believed they had to pretend to be stupid for people to like them or find them funny. Many TV shows reinforce this self-limiting belief. Many women in these shows give off the illusion of strength, but in most episodes, they are talked down to by men or overpowered by them. Many women are shown as scared to speak their full minds or give their opinion, but the women who do are bitches. So you are labeled as a push over or a bitch. It seems that no matter what women do, either choice is made into an extreme and labeled with a negative characteristic.

Batman

This essay basically summed up another authors beliefs. It was full of assumptions and projected Batman in a homosexual light to serve his own means. I didn't read this entire essay because it was way too long and I have other things to do. However, I did read the first section and was slightly annoyed. I believe Wertham is homophobic. He claims that because two men live together, sit on a couch next to each other and have a butler named Alfred, that they are living the gay mans dream. Seriously? If the two fictional characters were women, they would be labeled as best friends. We are socialized to believe men should be rough, emotionless, strong and independent. When men are portrayed bonding with each other or being close with another man, they are assumed to be homosexual. Men and women both share emotions on an equal level. Yet, because of our societies gender roles, we are taught to show and express them in entirely different ways. Batman and Robin can share a very close relationship without being homosexual.

Batman and Robin are bonded through their secret identities. This may subconciously remind people of many homosexual couples who keep their sexuality hidden from public. Just like batman and Robin keep their super hero identity hidden from public and only shared between themselves. But this still does not make them a gay couple.

Batman and Robin also fight villains. The author made a point of noting how the women are evil and the men bond together in their disgust of women and their gay connections with each other. That is so sexist. There are many evil men villains as well. Women can be villains too. It shows they are just as capable of power as men. If we are using this same logic, Batman should be asexual since he fights both sexes in disgust. Even if Batman was homosexual, I would be down with it. But if he was, the creators of Batman would probably make it a bit more evident and actually give clear reasoning and examples of this claim.

Marriage Inequality

Reading this last essay brought upon feelings of extreme anger. I think it is absolute bullshit that Robert Knight states that gay couples are, "trying to hijack the moral capital of marriage and apply it to their own relationships." Marriage is a legal or religious ceremony that formalizes the decision of two people to live as a married couple. The dictionary's first definition specifies a man and a woman. It goes on in further definitions to make a point about gay marriage and the definition changes. I believe the definition of a gay marriage should be applied for all marriage.

I think religion fuels the unchanging legal requirements of marriage. If our governments does not have the right to have a say in what we choose to wear, listen to, eat, learn, work...etc, why would it suddenly have the right to say who we can marry? There is supposed to be an acute distinction between church and state.

I found this article to bring up a very important controversial issue and was well written as to evoke emotion in the reader. It made many important points of how gay couples suffer legal consequences of not being recognized at a marital status. I completely agree with everything the author wrote. I think our country and government is in need of a massive reform. As a society, we are moving farther from organized religion and more into individual spirituality. Yet religion from previous generations still seems to dictate many of the decisions and laws still in use today. Change needs to happen as we continue to evolve as a society.

Unmaked Women

I agree with the author that women are constantly marked by our society and marked more than men are. However, I do not believe that every woman is marked. We are socialized to notice good looking people and place them on a pedestal based on their physical appearance. Many women who are not trying to stand out, but are what we would label as "ugly" go unnoticed.

Women perpetuate this cycle. Men do not judge women the same way women judge each other. Men do not even use most of the vocabulary women have created to describe each other. Even if another woman is more attractive, they are slandered with negative terms. Women mark each other much more than men do. If women ceased to mark each other, our culture could change.

I believe women do have a need to stand out in the workforce. Women are judged extremely harshly in contrast to men. The workplace is an environment of inequality. Women who succeed tend to stand out. Men stand out with the quality and efficiency of their work. Women need to accomplish this as well as their physical appearance. While this is extremely unjustified, it is the reality today. We have been taught from an early age at a micro-level to have a negative attitude towards women and their abilities. Whether or not our family gives us the message directly, it is there.

Barbie

Barbie is a social icon of the 90's whose impact on our generation cannot be ignored. Barbie is a tool for socializing young girls to perceive our cultures standards of beauty in a specific light. I agree with the author that Barbie was designed during the height of the feminist movement becoming more accepted and popular. A man designing Barbie is a clear reflection of what our society desires a woman to look like; women should achieve the impossible. This standard sets women up to fail, since as the author noted, it is literally impossible to look like Barbie. She would fall flat on her face.

Young girls who grow up playing with Barbie are socialized to believe that is what a woman should look like. It is extremely detrimental to show our kids that women are that thin and flawless looking. Why not make a doll with a realistic body type as to not promote pressure on women to attempt mimicking such an unattainable body. I have heard the argument that when you're young and playing with Barbie, you do not realize the impact of this doll nor do you directly think, "this is what I should look like." I partially agree, only on the fact that Barbie is not solely responsible for the ideal body type that imprisons and de-powers women. This argument is not valid because it is claiming you have to be aware of messages to be influenced by them. Yet it is undeniable that Barbie plays a part in fueling this destructive body ideal.

Sex, Lies and Advertising

I did not like how long this essay was. It covered so much material that it was at times hard to summarize now, looking back. Many valid points were made. A lot of this I have heard before. Again, not many potential solutions were mentioned. We focus a lot of our energy on our societies problems, which keeps them going. Whether or not we are stating saying positive or negative messages surrounding the problem, our focus is still on the problem. That is where all our attention and energy is going towards. We are thinking, feeling and putting our energy out onto said problem. This only makes it bigger. Where is the focus on the solution? We always research halfway. We are culturally taught to seek out problems. Why not research fixing them?

What I found to be the most interesting part of this essay was the products that are advertised directly towards women. That technology and cars are only understood by men. This is extremely demeaning. I had never thought about it before. Advertisements encourage our gender role stereotypes and keeping our characteristics boxed in. Men are not smarter than women. They may take more of an interest in technology but that does not mean women cannot understand it. As far as cars go, when I think of all adults I know, whether they are man or woman, they all own a car. So why advertise directly towards men? Wouldn't companies want to make the most money they can? So is this advertising strategy something consciously decided or is it an actual strategy?

I think if all women magazines followed suit to what the editors of Ms. magazine did, the world of advertising could change. By not voicing our problems with how magazines are ran, we are giving away our power to those who make the most money off of women, mainly men. If most women have a problem with magazines, why do we continue to buy them? This article mainly brought up a plethora of questions for me.