Sexual Harassment: The New Norm?!?

The CBS news website released an article about 2 years ago dealing with the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace. I found what was written had left me flabbergasted. In this article the author Penelope Trunk states and elaborates on 4 points as to why women should NOT report sexual harassment. This articles first point states that the laws governing sexual harassment in the US don't work. It suggest that if you are to report sexual harassment and take it to court chances are you'll lose the case and your job. If this just so happens to be the case why shouldn't fight to create better laws? We live in a society that once didn't allow women to vote, if that can change why not these laws? The point that terrifies me the most is the last one, it implies that harassment is the norm and should be leveraged.The idea that women should just be complacent is quite obvious and enforced in this point, as though we don't live in a democracy. This just proves that further more steps need to be taken before both men and women are equal.

As you would probably be able to guess this article has received backlash, recently on the website Tumblr.com.

The comments are harsh and definitely opinionated, I apologize for the course language. This goes to show just how many people have felt anger towards this article. I would be interested in hearing whether you agreed this article or not. Do you feel it's message is justified? If not what are your opinions on this article?

Aversion to Darker Skin in the Fashion Industry

Is Ajak Deng too black for Balmain?

IMG Model Ajak Deng  

Ajak Deng a gorgeous Sudanese model who’s been turning heads in the fashion industry for her graceful poise and strikingly beautiful features recently caused controversy after she claimed that a high-street brand, Balmain rejected her for being “too black”. The gutsy model then took to her twitter to express her disgust with the heavy-weight fashion brand. Deng further implied that racist mentalities like that of Balmain’s remain rampant within the fashion industry, stating “a lot of black models would rather kiss ass than be honest”. Balmain’s refusal to comment on Deng’s outrage just adds insult to injury. What I am curious is as to why the fashion world is being so tight-lipped about an issue that has clouded the industry for so long.

Deng's Tweets against Balmain came as a shock to twitter users

Although to be fair it would be impossible to deny that Balmain did indeed have a diverse line up for their runway. Opening up with highly successful black model Jourdan Dunn ; however, other than sharing skin color one can see that Dunn and Deng are not similar in aesthetics to say in the least. Not to say Jourdan Dunn who has worked very hard to become so established within the industry has not had her own battles with racism. In fact Dunn has spoken out on numerous occasions expressing her blunt disgust with the hidden discrimination towards ethnic models within the fashion industry: “I find it weird when agents say “you’re the only black model booked for the show, isn't that great?!” Why is that great? I don’t know why people applaud designers for having only one ethnic model. It’s not like only one type of woman loves fashion”. On the contrary to be realistic it’s undeniable that many of the ethnic models used in Balmain’s campaign were much fairer than the stunning dark skinned beauty. The question designers are now faced with is no longer whether to include black beauty but what type of black beauty onto their runways and shows.  In a society in which the dominant discourse is that the fairer your skin the more beautiful you are, where do we place Deng? Do you think there is an aversion to being black in fashion or cosmetic industries? When was the last time you’ve seen people resemble Deng on your screen? How do you think ethnic models from the past would have reacted had they had social media at their disposal?

Jourdan Dunn

Progress is being made slowly but surely with Puerto Rican model Joan Smalls and British Model Jourdan Dunn dominating runways. The praise for Lupita Nyongo’s timeless beauty echoing all over Hollywood and the world,  simply shows that we are as a society finally acknowledging that beauty comes in all different shades. I think it’s time for Balmain to step up and get with the program because in an increasingly multicultural society there is simply no room for racism!

Women and Beauty: Covergirl response

Before you start reading, I'd like you to watch the link below, it's only 40 seconds. Do it!

This is a Covergirl 2010 Makeup Collection Ad featuring Drew Barrymore. The collection includes the new lashblashlength (mascara), the new smokyshadowblast (eyeliner) and the new shineblast (lip gloss). The explicit message in this ad is that if you buy the collection, you will be beautiful. The implied message is if you don't buy the collection, you have "[given] up on glam" therefore you are not beautiful. This ad is teaching young girls to buy their products if they want to look "pretty" and not give up on "beauty". 

In today's generation, it seems as if men expect women to wear make-up when going out on a date or even going to work. Although the dominant discourse here is that women wear-up up to impress other men but I suppose it isn't only men who expect women to wear make-up. I also believe that society in general [women and men] put too much pressure on how women should look[ either look pale, tanned or "light-skinned" as some prefer, tall or short but skinny, no acne, no breakouts, no blackheads, perfect nose, big colorful eyes, perfect eyebrows, health hair, clear and glowing skin, nails, no bruises especially scars and the list can go on forever from physical traits to mental traits]. When women look at other women, they automatically expect other women to look presentable [wear expensive make-up and clothes]. We give "make-up" way too much attention, many girls feel the need to wear make-up to go to the groceries and even to go swimming! really?! swimming. The picture next to it is a model wearing make-up at the beach with perfect hair. I strongly believe that make-up lowers women's self-esteem and many ads promote these products without realizing the consequences between what they are saying like for example in the video above she starts comparing glam and beautiful, if you want to look pretty, you HAVE to wear these make-up products. 

In order to construct this ad, there was a group of people who had to organize it all to put this all together. The planning that was put into this commercial was extremely detailed;  first there must be a commercial director involved leading the cast and trying to bring creative thoughts and ideas. In order to even get to the commercial part, he had to hold auditions to cast actors as well as hire a crew. Secondly, there is a script involved even if the commercial does not have a dialogue - acts as a reference for those working on the project and ensures that everyone is reaching for the same creative goal. In the ad the shooting script detailed out the shots, camera moves, dialogue, captions and any voice-over features that might be featured in the commercial. Wardroab is very crucial here to match the actors skin tone, the dresses colour, and the make-ups colour to all match.  After selecting a location, the director and tv crew begins to shoot the commercial and it might even take days after days. 

In the beginning she is wearing a fancy yellow blouse with a mini black skirt and black heels with black bracelet and her hair is up. They cleared her face to show that their product is good quality when in reality, I can trash it and not even worry about it. The words are bolded and its all bright colours to catch your attention. When as her voice gets louder she starts to question people about giving up on glam. Then she changes to a red dress like her other one wasn't enough. As she questions "DO YOU GIVE UP ON GLAM", she throws her coat on the ground and acts all extra and sharply says "no" like you should of just said no and still wore your coat. Then as if nothing happened, she begins to advertise their products and show her fake eyelashes with mascara on top and her perfectly done eyebrows and perfect colour eyes. Then as if changing twice in 15 second as not enough, she wore ANOTHER purplish dress to suite their "purple smokey eye product" then changes back to the red dress to advertise the red lip stick. I'm beginning to think she has wardrobe problems because when I'm wearing different products, I don't have to change 4 times to 3 different clothes so it matches what I'm wearing. 

The belief that this director had met with the dominant discourse of who should wear make-up. Have you noticed that in this commercial, there was no men advertising make-up. Why? well because its not the dominant discourse, "men shouldn't wear make-up" but this is not the case because even in movies, men wear SOME sort of make-up - using fake blood on their face or fake bruise marks around their eyes. 

The way I interpret this advertisement is, its shoving the idea "beauty" and "make-up" down my throat. You cannot use beauty and compare it to a product. These products do not define what beauty is, a better question is, how does the director and Barrymore define beauty? how does society define beauty? I strongly believe that women do not have to wear make-up to look or feel beautiful, even if you are wearing expensive make-up or expensive clothes, you will not feel beautiful until you realize that you ARE beautiful regardless of any other products. 

Obviously, in this ad it is used to sell a product and its make-up products that specifically young girls would wear because they want to feel "beautiful" because Drew Barrymore feels "beautiful" wearing these toxic chemicals on her face that can more breakouts in the long-run. 

Some logic fallacies to think about is Equivocation and Faulty Analogy like HOW are you comparing beauty and make-up. There might be improper appeal to authority involved as well. 

Some questions to think about: 

1. Do you think this ad is attacking self-esteem? 
2. If it was another model advertising this ad, would you interpret the ad differently? 
3. Why might people feel the need to wear make-up everywhere they go? even the pool.
4. If you've noticed, 98% (assumption) of the time, its women advertising make-up, why might men feel compelled to say a few good things about make up? 

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Round Table Topic for Friday May 16th

Hi everyone,

In preparation for our Round Table Discussion on Friday, please read the article and watch the video at this link.

Looking forward to it!

Ms. Draper

Will The NFL Change?

How Will The NFL Respond Under Pressure?

Washington Redskins helmet logo

With discussion of racism within sports, NFL franchise Washington Redskins have come under the spectrum of media with their overt display of bigotry. We have seen recently with the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling come under fire for derogatory comments made and it should be noted that Commissioner of  the NBA Adam Silver did punish Sterling for his remarks.

That being said Commissioner of the NFL Roger Goodell has in the past conducted polls on whether or not to keep the Redskins' name and more often than not the name has received positive reviews. Owner of the Washington Redskins Dan Snyder has stated that the name was chosen to honor Native Americans but the Oneida Nation has taken offense to this and many others have as well.

The common misconception with this issue is that had the team been named the Washington N-Words more outcry would follow but due to what society deems as controversial we turn a blind eye to this issue. Why is this situation not resolved and what legnths does this issue have to go to for change?

  

Starting a New Trend Avengers?

Black Widow

 Please watch this video before you start reading (3:32 to 4:31)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBbSNnGmPfw

As you saw in the video, one reporter asked both Robert Downy Jr. and Scarlett Johansson a question, but the questions were very different in perspective. Robert Downy Jr. was given a question regarding his role as Iron Man and how his character Tony Stark developed. Scarlett Johansson was asked about what diet she had done to get into shape and what specific foods she ate. Tony Stark, being sarcastic stated that people were probably intersted in the question being directed towards Scarlett than his own. Scarlett seemed to be annoyed as she stated that she didn't understand why he got an interesting an existential question while she got the "rabbit food" question. She proceeded by answering that question very shortly by stating that since she does a lot of stunt work, she ate a lot of green foods.

Scarlett Johansson plays the Black Widow who featured only in Marvel movies. Black Widow is very smart, quick, flexible and she can defend herself without anyone needing to protect her. She does not like to be taking orders from other's and tends to makes her own decision. She is just as capable and strong as the other male superheros, yet does not have any superpowers. Her character seems to break away from the trend that women need to be protected and are weak, which is normally the first thing that comes to mind when people think about women. She is someone that almost every women would want to be like. 

Although, through this movie, Scarlett Johannson seems is trying to break away the stereotype of women being weak and needing help from males, society still only seems to care about how she looks and how she got her healthy body. In the Avengers and other marvel movies, she seems to be a sidekick, helping the superhero's but not getting the equal amount of respect. She has the almost the same amount of action scenes as the male superheros, yet no one is really giving her credit for that. It seems as though she is in the movie, because the directors are trying to target the male audience. For women, having Black Widow in the film seems to be an accomplishment, since next to the four male superheros, she is the only female. What is sad is that society is quick to make comments, without knowing how much effort is put into her action scenes through the film. She is just seen as a model looking character in these movies. 

Questions to Consider:
If Black Widow were to come out with her own movie without any of the other superhero's, do you think the movie would still be a hit? Why or why not? Why are people not interested in her character development in comparison to the male superheros? Do you believe society is moving away from the stereotype that women are in need of protection in movies? Also, would you personally prefer a superhero movie with a male lead or female?

Is This Equality?

   WARNING : This video contains explicit content
- for those with small stomachs for objectification 

   
            This music video was made for Jennifer Lopez's song I Luh Ya Papi, and was released on the 13th of March 2014. The video begins with Jennifer and her two friends discussing possible music video idea with a representative of the company. As the representative pitches ideas to the three ladies, it becomes clear that the ideas are not what the three girls had in mind. The two friends of Jennifer then go on to criticize the ideas and compare them to what would be shown to a male. They then go on to talk about how men always tend to degrade women, so why can't women do the same, then the video begins.

As a young female adult watching this music video did not empower me in any sense but made me feel ashamed as a female. I believe in equality and also think that men degrading women is wrong, but the solution is not to then go and degrade men. I believe that this music conveyed the message 'Men degrade women, so we'll degrade them to make things fair'. In the words of the Great Gandhi ' an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind',  by doing this we not only objectify men, we also do exactly what we have asked them not to do.

Although many young women, like myself, don't agree to this videos message, there could always be young women who feel this is empowering. To these women I would like to point out that the second French Montana appears the whole purpose of the video seems to dissolve. In the music video he can be seen clearly degrading women, in a video thats supposed to speak out against that. With this in mind I feel as though this music videos true layout was based on sex sells.

For the young women out there did you feel empowered through this video? Did you feel degraded? How do you feel towards the theme? Also to the young men reading, how did it feel being on the other side of the issue? Did you feel uncomfortable watching all those barely clothed men? Did you feel a sense of insecurity in your own appearances? And lastly to all readers how do you feel towards this video and would you like to see women take more of a stand?