The Politics of Housework

Housework is a widely disputed topic amongst men and women. Some people feel that men should do no housework and women should do all of it and stay home with the kids. That is a very misogynistic view that really was overruled during the 50s. Personally I feel that men should do housework, because most likely it is your house as well. There is no such thing as a feminine chore, however the only chore that I could see men doing instead of women would be to cut the grass but I know plenty of women who cut the grass for themselves. Everything that needs to be done has to be done. When I was growing up, I had chores daily. I pretty much did everything you could think of around the house. It was my responsibility. If I didn't do it, I got a whipping. My mom and dad really instilled in me from an early age that I had to clean the house before I could go anywhere. Any man that doesn't clean around the house has had poor home-training.

fguy

dhtg

Facebook Hate Group

Face book has let a group of young individuals with Face book profiles start a derogatory group page. While the page reveals a group of individuals who are pro-rape. They see fun and humor in publishing jokes on the page about raping women. The page name is “Roses are red, Violets are blue, I’ve got a knife, get in the van. This is a very life threatening page being publicized on the internet for women to see. This is against face book policy listed on the internet site. Face book’s statement of rights and responsibilities states “You will not post content that: is hateful, threatening, and pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence. When Face book was initially contacted about the issue the page was arousing they blew it off. There first comment on the issue was that the individuals that posted the group were playing and that it was like telling a joke in a local pub. They also stated that actions like this will not get you thrown off Face book. If you were to try this as a joke in a local pub and tell the person you’re talking to that you’re going to rape his daughter, wife, or mother he would probably seriously injure you. While this issue has even gone on a national level, the United Kingdom has already had 4,000 citizens sign a petition to take them down. The United States has also joined in on signing a petition to ban the pages with 176,000 citizens John Hancock. Face book doesn’t realize that a rapist can be anyone around you but you will never know because rapist only rape because they can. I think the government should get involved in the issue to settle it.

Joshua Thomas

Media

It's hard to believe most things that are on television today or any form of media at that. People are portrayed as the ideal image of beauty and situations are played up to unrealistic levels.

After watching the Dove Beauty video clips in class, the many different ways to alter the way a person looks is shocking. They change "imperfections" from removing blemishes to widening a male's shoulders or whittling a woman's waist. Why? All to make their products fool people into thinking that it'll make them just as beautiful. I'm still waiting for the day Victoria Secret has a 5'4" model at a healthy weight - I think that would be even more attractive and sexy to women and men.

Reality shows that are suppose to be real are far from it. There are not many shows that has a goal of displaying morals or anything similar to how real life plays out. I know shows like Teen Mom and The Secret Life are suppose to show the consequences of getting pregnant at a young age, but it is still played up and glamorized.

As far as people of color - my observation is that there are not many shows including them. Most shows are about white, middle to upper class people. I personally do not have cable now that I'm in college and paying for my own bills, and it's liberating to not have to be pulled in and hook on the shows that waste our time.


Haley Daniel

WS 200-007: Representation in the Media

Our society as a whole is definitely based fixed from ideas of the media. The way we dress, things we do, and what we look like are all influenced by the media. There is a fixed way that a family should be like, as well as how people are supposed to look.
In television, actors are the key in forming a perfect picture. As we've all noticed they are virtually perfect. families all have the same setup: a working father with pretty mother who stays at home to watch the children. This stereotype has been going on for many years now, as far back as the late 60's when the Brady Bunch aired.On people of color, as in blacks, I feel are most often seen as the stereotypical "black people". But this stereotype has been going on for a long time. However this is not in all cases. I have seen many commercials with people of color who do not show the fixed stereotype such as All-State and many McDonald's commercials.
Also, there is the model industry, which i feel is the most dangerous to younger teens. tall, skinny women are the set norm for models, which is often photo-shopped. This is very wrong because it presents a false image of a regular person.

Media Representation

The media is deceitful.

The media tries to present to society this dream of the way society really is in the world today when it could not be more of the opposite. All women do not look like they just stepped out of a Victoria's Secret catalog and all men do not look like they just stepped out of a GQ shoot. The media further promotes this in their reality shows. You never really see a regular looking person on reality T.V unless it's in shows like those MTV True Life episodes or 16 and pregnant. This is the only time you are going to see a regular American doing reality T.V. Never in the ads or on the commercials that promote products will you see a person with a couple of acne marks or a little baby fat on their waist or face.

The media only makes their deceit even worse when they promote some of these reality shows. I mean like seriously, how is it in one town you see so many beautiful and rich people that just so happen to hang out together? Then there's the fact that they all don't even much like each other but just tolerate one another! I never use to put much thought into it until I saw this show Laguna Beach which first premiered on MTV. At first I wondered, out of all the cities here in the U.S how did this particular area get chosen for a reality T.V show. It hit me when I saw the first episode. They were all beautiful and came from very well off families. This isn't reality for me, this is reality for rich people. It only got worse on other networks over the years. Why? Because we kept watching it. We soak it all up. Do we not realize that the media is promoting this as the accepted norm of society and anything other than that is unacceptable. I think we do and we just chose to ignore it. It's entertainment and we shouldn't take it personally right? Wrong.

The only good part about all of this is that slowly people are starting to get tired of it all. It's the only thing you see on T.V now a days and it's really become over done. When is the media ever going to the reveal the “real” side of reality besides in those sad commercials where someone's life is taken so suddenly and they ask you to call the number at the bottom of the screen to stop it from ever happening again. When it changes let me know, in the mean time I'm still flipping through channels looking for something “real” to watch instead of ESPN.

Misrepesentation

         I believe there are three different groups of people that are misrepresented in the media. Those people are families, people of color, and women. While families are represented in an unrealistic way, people of color and women are represented by a standard or idea that everyone is expected to live up to. As people in our society try to live up to these standards they forget about their morals and end up unhappy with life.
      
        Families that are seen on television go about their lives in an unrealistic way because they try to make up this picture perfect family. Although these families still come across problems, they take care of these problems in a way that an average family would not. For example, the television show "Kardashians". When Kourtney and her mother disagree on something they curse at each other. Not saying that mothers are not aloud to curse at their children when they become adults, but for a daughter to curse at her mother is out of hand.
    
       The way that people of color are misrepresented in the media challenges other African Americans to be just like the people they say on television. African Americans are judged by other African Americans according to skin color. Even in music you hear of rappers talk about a light skin woman and vice versa. If you were to ask a few African Americans who they would prefer to date, light skinned people will definitely be the majority. The opinion of having a light skinned woman because she is better looking, was advertised by the media. I am pretty sure if rappers like Lil Wayne started rapping about chocolate women instead of red bones, those would be the ones that African Americans would be after.
    
      Women in general are misrepresented by the media in way a scary way. Women are expected to wear make-up, heels, and have a body that contains a big butt, decent sized boobs and a flat stomach. As the twelve year olds in our society that haven't hit puberty yet look in the mirror, they think they are suppose to look like actresses such as Megan Fox. They do not realize the true definition of beauty comes from the inside. Boys that see these women on television are made to believe that they have to find the girl that looks closest to the the woman seen on television. This causes girls to think that they are not good enough at a young age and are not able to identify their self-worth. Misrepresentation causes a lot of problems in our society and it just gets worse. Kids thinking that they are not good enough, ruin something great that they could be in the future.