When I was five or six years old, I fantasized about what I would look like when I was all grown up. I imagined that I would have the traits of "the perfect girl"—flowing hair, ample breasts, and a mesmerizing singing voice. By eight, I was flipping my hair out of the pool to look as sexy as Ariel does in The Little Mermaid when she first bursts out of the ocean as a human. I even ascended the sauna steps in a dress slip to resemble my trans-species heroine when she emerges from the sea for the last time—her shimmering gown clings to her slim, beautiful body as she runs into the arms of her handsome Prince Eric. Unlike Ariel, however, I did not shimmer, and I certainly did not look beautiful; my slip hung limply from my chubby prepubescent frame and I moped about my lack of sex appeal. I was eight years old.
Images like those from The Little Mermaid have strongly impacted my perceptions of femininity ever since I was a child. In fact, I attribute many of my preteen and adolescent behaviors to these media-based perceptions; thus, I am deeply interested in exploring how television shows, films, magazines, advertisements, and Internet images affect self-image as well as shape children's notions of acceptable gendered behavior. I believe that viewing certain media images can have negative consequences for both males and females—thanks to hypersexualized cartoon characters and fitness-obsessed celebrities, women grow up yearning to be thin and pretty while young men encounter stifling pressure to become wealthy, muscular, and emotionally "tough."
I am also fascinated by the effects that social constructions of gender and gendered behavioral clues may have on children. For instance, there are generally two types of aisles in every major toy store: one is stocked with various pink fuzzy items, plastic kitchen sets, and female dolls whose bodies are atomically impossible; the other is jam-packed with black and red race cars, squirt guns, and extremely muscular action figures. When parents buy gender-specific toys for their young ones, they are inadvertantly encouraging their children to adopt specific roles—sweet, sexy and pretty or strong, loud, and aggressive. Furthermore, parents are often quick to discourage behaviors deemed socially inappropriate, such as young boys slipping into their mothers' heels and skirts. I am deeply interested in discussing these and other related topics this semester.
In addition to blogging about media portrayals of gender and the development of sex-specific behavior, I am interested in discussiong social justice issues related to gender and race. Unfortunately, gender inequality still thrives across the globe—women are routinely paid less than men of equal standing in several countries, Afghani women are forced to endure clitoridectomies, and countless female babies in China have become the victims of infanticide. Due to centuries of international patriarchy, people of both sexes continue to act on the fallacious belief that men are more valuable than women.
I am looking forward to spending the semester writing about gender discrepancies in media portrayals and social roles as well as thinking critically about social issues stemming from gender inequality. Again, because my life has been deeply affected by my perceptions of what a woman "should" look and act like, I am fascinated by social constructions of gender. Career-wise, I hope to identify and change harmful social expectations and media portrayals of men and women both in the United States and abroad. Perhaps this blog will be my first step in doing so.
2) Profile and Evaluation of a Blog on my Link List
Gender stereotyping often occurs in conjunction with vicious racial profiling. Countless females throughout history have endured hardships because of their sex, but women of color often experience insurmountably difficult and painful situations. For example, American President Thomas Jefferson forced Sally Hemmings, his African American slave, to act as his life-long concubine. Because both ethnicity and gender define one's position in the social hierarchy of power, I must analyze sexism in conjunction with racism over the course of the semester.
Blackfeminism.org, "one woman's opinion on race, gender, and politics," is a source that can help me achieve this goal. Tiffany B. Brown, a web developer and designer from Atlanta, Georgia, created and maintains this blog. Although Ms. Brown is not directly connected to the fields of gender or racial studies, she has contributed to those fields with her expert knowledge and understanding of the World Wide Web—the Internet has had a huge influence on the formation of gender roles, prejudices, and social expectations due to its ability to widely distribute images instantaneously. Also, as an African American from the heart of the Southern United States, Ms. Brown has directly experienced racial tension and gender-specific racism; therefore, she has a unique perspective on racial and gender issues that may influence my blogging.
Ms. Brown publishes a post to blackfeminism.org approximately once every three days, and her blog—ranked in popularity at 28, 629 by Technorati—has 318 links from 113 other blogs. The content within this fairly popular site speaks to my feminist interests because Ms. Brown discusses gender-related issues, such as a woman's preparation for marriage, through racially conscious eyes. Specifically, one of her posts focuses on the lack of black models shown in bridal magazines:
Those of us who have the means are quite keen on seeing people who look like us in the media we consume. ... I completely agree with the notion that advertisers and magazine publishers could and should feature models of color (Brown).
This subject incorporates analysis of media portrayals of females with the rarity of images of African American women in American popular culture. Being a Caucasian woman, I may not be as sensitive to issues of race as this blogger is; thus, this online resource will help me closely examine racial issues through a feminist lens.
Although blackfeminism.org is not an academic blog, Ms. Brown bases her discussion topics on credible, published information such as news articles. Her audience—which consists of women, African Americans, and people interested in racial issues—participates in the discussions by posting engaging comments on the blog posts. These readers' criticisms, questions, and ideas are valuable because they more fully illuminate the racial and gender issues presented in Ms. Brown's posts. In its entirety, this online publication will feed my knowledge of racial and gender issues in the United States and abroad and will help me find ways to discuss both gender and ethnicity in my own blog.
3) My Resources
In a pop culture class I took last semester, the professor explained that my generation—traditionally referred to by scholars as "Generation Y"—would be more aptly named "The Internet Generation." Truly, my peers and I revolve around the Internet; most of us couldn't imagine living without access to it. Whenever we want to locate information about anything at all, we can simply type a keyword into Wikipedia or Google and instantly have a world of knowledge at our fingertips. Attending college in such a technologically advanced era is incredibly exciting and convenient; students can create blogs as an alternative to writing essays, and most academic research can now be conducted online using scholarly search engines.
The online resources and blogs that I will be referencing over the course of the semester will prove invaluably informative. For instance, one of my resources—the See Jane project website—will enhance my knowledge of gender portrayals in television programs and films. This is a passionate interest of mine—I will write several posts about media constructions of gender. The See Jane project will provide information about the research being conducted to quantify gender portrayals in media, especially in children's programming. The mission statement of the site describes the project goals:
Gender equity has progressed in many ways, but male characters still dominate television, movies, and other media for young children. Since women and girls make up half of the human race, the presence of a wide variety of female characters in our children's earliest media is essential for both girls' and boys' development. See Jane seeks to engage professionals and parents in a call to dramatically increase the percentages of female characters—and to reduce gender stereotyping—in media made for children 11 and under.
The project's website aims to provide viewers with information about portrayals of women in children's media as well as to explain how the project could potentially affect policymakers' decisions regarding gender equality. This website will disclose pieces of information that I would not be able to access anywhere else because the complete findings of the many of the studies being conducted—one of which took place at the University I attend and for which I was a researcher—have not yet been published.
Another online resource I located, the website for Ms. Magazine, will continually provide me with information about the premier feminist magazine's latest articles and projects. Although the website is replicating a print source and is not Internet-specific, it provides immediate access to news about what is currently endangering or improving the lives of women. The site, geared towards a male and female feminist audience, features daily feminist news, information about how to become a part of Ms.'s "We had Abortions" petition, and contains links to three feminist blogs written by Ms. staff members. I predict that these three blogs will allow me deeper insight into the Ms. Foundation and feminism itself over the course of the semester and will help me write a better, more enticing blog. As I continue to shape my personal feminist mindset, I will constantly analyze the information posted on the website for inspiration.
Other websites I have added to my list of resources and will be referring to over the next few months are TWN's Women's Rights and Gender Issues page, Kid Source's Gender Issues in Children's Literature page, and the InfoPlease Gender Issues page.
Moving now from websites to blogs, "Hey Ladies!: Anything and Everything from a Woman's Point of View," a blog I added to my resources list, features an interesting post called "You Might Be a Feminist If…". This post explains the blogger's opinion that modern women have failed to educate their daughters about the importance of the second-wave feminist movement:
What do you think of when you hear the word feminist? Sadly, too many women today believe a feminist is a hairy, bra-less, ugly woman that can't get a man. Why have we allowed the women who fought so hard for rights we now take for granted to be ridiculed after all these years? When feminism is made a joke of, so is woman herself. I believe that failing to teach our daughters about the importance of the women's movement has contributed to young ladies tolerating labels like bitch and whore.
Although the blogger's writing style can be unprofessional, I enjoy reading her perspectives on society and feminism; her posts may inspire topics for my own blog—which, surprisingly, is already featured as a link on hers. As for the blog's audience, the writer intends to speak to females about current issues related to women's rights and social roles. And because "Hey Ladies!" is a weblog, its contents are Internet-specific and can only be accessed online.
Six other blogs on my link list will prove to be valuable sources of inspiration as I build my blog this semester: Bad Feminist, My Husband Betty, Onehandclapping, Provoked Thoughts on Feminism and Christianity, Red Neck Feminist, and Blackfeminism.org.
These websites are incredibly helpful and fascinating resources I found thanks to the information-diffusing power of the Internet. They may play a significant role in the formation of "Sugar and Spice vs. Rough and Tough" and will help me grow as a feminist thinker.
