Communicating Diversity

In this semester’s Communicating Diversity class, I have left with the skills to recognize and embrace our differences.  I have learned the importance of understanding our differences and by doing so; I feel that I have become a more dynamic person.  Recognizing the obstacles minorities have endured have taught me that the strength inside is more important than the differences on the outside.  My classmates through their shared stories in class and their blog posts have taught me a lot about diversity as well.  We all are living a similar, post-secondary student lifestyle right now, dealing with part time jobs and continuous papers, but have come from a variety of backgrounds.  I found that this class, more so than others, has allowed us to unite and share our own stories.  I feel what encouraged our sharing habits was the work of Brenda Allen.  Beginning her chapters with stories of her own experiences to relate to her topics of diversity really helped with my own relating to the course content.  Exercises in class that helped us identify who we are helped in my recognition of diversity and minority status as a woman.  However, I feel that Communicating Diversity made me appreciate who I was even more so, and understand that my identity as a woman is only singular to whom I am and what it is that I have to offer.  This was a class I enjoyed attending and liked the individual approach we were given through the use of our blogs to share how we interpreted the weekly lessons.  I particularly enjoyed that controversial topics, such as religion, were spoken about in a judgement free environment where we were all welcome to share our opinions based on our own experiences. 

I thank Dr. Pierce and classmates for what you have taught me while communicating diversity.

Digging Deeper

We spoke this week in class of the things we have learned this semester.  I shared that I learned to not take things at face value and to look further than what meets the eye.  This is something that I find is vital in many aspects in life such as work, home, between friends and family, and while making important decisions.  As taught in class, I have learned to be overly aware of minorities and my behaviour and demeanour towards them.  I have recognized that the media contains many underlying messages and shares subliminal information damaging to the ethnic, racial, gender, sexual, religious, etc identities for many.  Not only have I learned to be more aware of others stereotypes and forms of suppression, I have learned of my own.  As a white female, I am part of the female minority.  I do recognize my own White privilege, but fear the future in terms of my career as a woman.  I wonder if I would lose a job opportunity to a man, not be taken as seriously because of my gender, or face a limited income.  I consider all of these thoughts but do my best to be aware of my minority status, but do everything in my power to work against it and not accept it at face value.  I would like to embrace being a woman, and use other powerful women as examples for my possibilities and not use my identity to tolerate mediocrity or limitation. 

Follow the link to view Forbes List of The Most Powerful Women of 2011.

http://www.forbes.com/wealth/power-women

I also looked to a famous pop-star icon, Beyoncé Knowles, a black woman who continues to top the music charts, and has established an acting career as well.  Beyoncé lives with rapper husband Jay Z, both African American, together beat the odds and became one of the highest earning couples of 2011.

Works Cited

Beyoncé Knowles. (2012). Biography.com. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/beyonc%C3%A9-knowles-39230 on March 29, 2012

Jay-Z. (2012). Biography.com. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/jay-z-507696 on March 29, 2012

Sibley-O’Brien, A. (2010). Privilege and Interracial Adoption. White privilege. Retrieved from http://whitepriv.blogspot.ca/ on March 29, 2012

Social Media

This week we were asked to present a topic based around Social Media.  We chose to consider blogging, Facebook, social media campaigns and technology as a form of persuasion. I thought about myself in terms of all of these concepts and examined how often I utilize Social Media.  I found that I use Social Media to update me on up and coming events or topics, and use traditional media to confirm what I have heard, and gage accuracy.  Funny to think although I have learned about the biases in traditional media, I continue to consider the information as accurate and a confirmation of what is the truth.  A study I found from 2008, showed that 85% of respondents to a survey used social networking sites and shared that two years after it had dramatically increased – just imagine the amount for 2012 with the inclusion of Twitter.   This article looks at the contrasting use of social networking sites (SNS) as a Freshman to later use during a career.  As mentioned during our presentation, students typically use SNS for ways to confirm their identity, feel as though they belong, and assume that the more they put in to – the more they get out, redefine the concept of friendship etc.  In contrast to university graduates who need SNS as a way to market themselves to potentially make or break job opportunities.  Current laws share that possible employers are allowed to ask for Facebook passwords in order to confirm if they would like to hire or not.  Attached is an article sharing an instance where someone resigned their candidacy upon being asked for the password as an invasion of privacy.  As I will be graduating within the near future, I have taken down my Facebook account.  I do not wish to have this situation occur and would like to be evaluated based on my qualifications, experience, and impression. 

One thing I may do is while applying for jobs create a Facebook account that highlights myself in a way that would be of interest to an employer.  Learned in a Communication Ethics course, I saw how to design a site in which validates my professional interests, and is not overshadowed by my personal life.  Some examples we learned are to put job and education experience, have ‘Likes’ which represent an interest in your field – in my case Communication and communication disorders.  I could also display photos of myself while at school, or volunteering, in opposition to myself at the latest Drake concert sponsored by Coors Lite.  All of which, is something that differs greatly than my concept of Facebook during my first year in University four years ago.

Religion or Fashion?

As we spoke in class about our viewpoints on religion and spirituality, I was reinforced of the seriousness religion holds in some people’s lives.  I have not been raised to follow religious practices, but brought up to act as person with good character, to tell the truth, and follow the golden rule of do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  I, at times, have negative feelings towards religion due to some of the experiences I have had with close companions who follow strict religious beliefs.  I also have noticed that some people seem to use their religion as a fashion statement, and not a reflection of their views.  An example of this is the Kabbalah religion many celebrities started to follow and symbolized their faith by wearing a red string bracelet which became an article of fashion.  I feel like trivializing the importance of religion by popularizing it as a fashion statement, when it can be a powerful and liberating part of someone’s life, is disrespectful even as a non-religious individual.  I think aspects, such as these, are reasons why I have a difficulty with religion, as well as those who seem to excuse their behaviour with the fact that they are religious.

Lindsay Lohan, Ashton Kutcher and Madonna seen above wearing the famous red string bracelet representing the Kabbalah faith.

Having Class vs. Social Class

After blogging my first post about the study on social class, I found defining social class as something that is seen externally by many but I wanted to find more information.  I was pleased to come across a video posted on the Oprah website.  This video had multiple women share their knowledge of social class, and I learned that many of them disagreed with basing social class on appearance similar to me.  One woman shared that she is no longer in the upper class, although many would consider her with disregard to her current unemployment status.  They continued to share thoughts on defining social class on your looks, education, and wealth.  One lady shared her thoughts of social class being different than having class and being a gracious person, something I find vitally important.  Watch the video and see if you agree or disagree with these women.

Social Class and Unethical Behaviour

I was interested to read current news articles referring to social class.  I came across a study online that examined social class in relation to unethical behaviour.  The article stated that it will “reveal something the well off may not want to hear” and inquires at the top of the page “come on, before you read the article, which one...”(Which social class is more likely to behave unethically, 2012).  Results indicated that individuals among those in the upper class are more likely to conduct unethical behaviour.  I thought that this was interesting to see.  I also thought that though this was a university study conducted by psychological scholars, there are racist and stereotypical inferences made.  I found it odd that they thought it was necessary to state that we were going to find something we did not want to hear making me think that they assume something I would want to hear is that low class citizens are the ones behaving unethically.  I thought it was interesting as well to see what it was they defined as high or low class citizens.  They conduct multiple studies but one of the ways to categorizing high class citizens was solely by the car they were driving.  I find this was a very limited perspective to judging people on a topic that is relatable to their identity and how to world views them.

Work Cited

Which social class is more likely to behave unethically. (2012) In Kansas city infozine. Retrieved on March 2, 2012 from http://www.infozine.com/news/infozine/50934.html

 

What's Love Got To Do With It?

Based on this week’s in class presentation on Love, I started to think about the three topics analyzed.  The girls in class considered same sex relationships, polygamy, and interracial/cultural couples.  I came across a webpage sharing the upset of gay couples in terms of Kim Kardashian’s 72 day marriage to Kris Humphries.  I personally find Kim a poor role model to young girls and feel as though her marriage was a publicity stunt in order to gain more attention.  Homosexuals are arguing that what is ruining the constitution of marriage are not same sex couples, it is, for lack of better term, idiots like Kim and Kris who are trivializing the sanctity the union of marriage represents for those who believe in it.  I agree with this and feel that I would much prefer seeing an in love gay couple take a chance at marriage than a heterosexual couple engaged in a marriage for juvenile reasons.  This article outlines the same sex argument, but responds by saying that those against gay marriage would feel that it is both same sex marriage and quick divorce cheapening the institution.  They justify that a gay marriage could end just as quickly.  I understand the articles perspective, but I feel that in this instance, same sex couples have a valid point.  Although same sex marriage shares the same possibility of ending quickly – a public multi-million dollar reality television show wedding, only to end 72 days later is the problem with marriage, not an in love same sex couple trying to make it work. 

What do you think?

Social Roles

I wrote previously about how I was raised as a feminine female and Lady Gaga’s influence on the transgendered.  I searched further online and found an interesting site, that although out-dated I still found relevant on the social roles of men and women today.  I came across sentences that read, “It is not enough for a man to be male; he also has to appear masculine. A woman, in addition to being female, must also be feminine” (Haeberle, 1983).  I found this really helped encapsulated everything I wanted to share in this blog, please follow the above link to further your understanding as well.

Image retrieved from Fashion Loves Film blog.

Works Cited

Haeberle, E.J. (1983). The social roles of men and women. In The sex atlas.Retrieved February 10, 2012, from http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/ATLAS_EN/html/the_social_roles_of_men_and_wo.html

Accepting Transgender

In today’s society, a great level of awareness has been put towards masculine and feminine roles as well as the grey area in between.  Often times there is a little more complexity to the concept of a man being strong and aggressive showing masculine traits and a women being delicate, in need of rescue and representing feminine features relating to Susan Faludi's concept.  Growing up I was raised as a girl to dress in the signature girl colour pink and to be independent although behave ‘appropriately’ feminine.  A current icon, that I have much respect, for has provided a lot of attention on the roles of gender at times when it is not so black-and-white.

The link attached shares the story of a young transgendered teen whose life was saved by her idol, Gaga.

http://digitaljournal.com/article/318766

Works Cited

John, A. (2012). Lady gaga inspires transgendered teen to live as female. In Digital Journal. Retrieved February 9, 2012, from http://digitaljournal.com/article/318766

Masculine Males & Feminine Females

Considering this week’s topic of masculine and feminine roles I examined myself and those closest to me.  My first step was to compare myself to my boyfriend.  Instantly, I thought it was funny to see that I used my boyfriend’s sex as a man in order to examine his gender and masculine characteristics while comparing it to my own feminine characteristics.  I found this demonstrates that although I have been educated in the meaning of sex and gender, I continue to pair men with masculine and women with feminine, though there can be masculine woman and feminine men.   While making descriptions I define him as strong, straightforward, aggressive, funny, mischievous, and driven.  In turn, I feel that I am understanding, caring, shy, accepting, funny, and nurturing.  I then decided to consider my parents relationship and feel that my dad fit the similar description of my boyfriend, and my mother the same as myself.  Furthermore, I examined some of my favourite movies.  Twilight features two lead males and one female who scene to scene is the damsel in distress, weak and in need of their rescue.  I then looked at Disney movies which have great influence on North American youth.  Often there was a weak, white female in need of rescuing from a strong male in order to live happily ever after; both Shrek and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs are examples of this.

Representing Womanhood

In recent months there has been a lot of news coverage about a Muslim father killing his 3 daughters for their adoption of the Western lifestyle.  This case not only shows religious diversity, but also gender diversity.  The father viewed his daughters as family embarrassment and misrepresenting Muslim women, including wearing make-up, and taking what was considered racy photos as dishonouring his family and the role women are supposed to take.  This  link shares the full story.

Recognizing Racism

After last week’s class and exposure to the Vogue cover featuring LeBron James and Gisele Bündchen, I reflected upon myself and questioned whether I can recognize racism.  Initially, I did not recognize this to be a racist or sexist representation.  However, after awareness on the situation and understanding that I am not a part of the oppressed race I thought differently and was interested to see if there were more racist advertisements that I originally glazed over.

Image retrieved from: totallylookslike.icanhascheezburger.com

As a fan of Gisele, I searched her name and was surprised at my findings.  I found more images that I myself consider both racist and degrading to the male gender.

Click image to be directed towards online site discussing the possible intended message(s).



Grey's Anatomy: a symbol for understanding race and ethnicity

I considered this week’s topic of understanding race and ethnicities and instantly thought to relate it to the hit television show Grey’s Anatomy.  In class we learned of Ruth Frankenberg’s theories.  She has three concepts for the social construction of Whiteness including the location of structural advantage, standpoint, and set of cultural practices. 

In relation to the show we continuously follow the everyday life of doctors.  Both in the show and reality, the location of structural advantage is noted around the white characters; specifically Meredith Grey, daughter of famous former general surgeon Ellis Grey, and husband Derek Sheppard, head of neurosurgery.  While they are surrounded by characters of other races and ethnicities, visible minority characters on the show do not have the leading role that will establish their career or obtain the star role status long with the accompanied salary.  From the oppressed group’s standpoint, we continuously see the superiority both Meredith and Derek have on the minority groups.  Meredith, because of her mother’s doctorial history, and Derek for his continuous ground-breaking successful surgeries – both are idolized on the show by patients, superiors, and co-workers.  Finally, referring to Frankenberg’s theory, I compared the set of cultural practices on the show in terms of race.  I noted on the show that a superior to both Derek and Meredith is the former chief of surgery, black male Richard Webber.  However, in reality Richard has always placed Meredith on a pedestal due to his relationship with her mother, whom he continuously cheated on his black wife with a white co-worker, and continuously allows for exceptions to be made for Meredith.  There continues to be a power struggle between Derek and other surgeons though he maintains the lead role eight seasons later.  The show also demonstrates cultural practices as this season Caucasian Meredith and Derek adopt a little black baby, representing the well-off white couple coming to the aid of an oppressed, black orphan.  

Clip retrieved from: http://www.meredith-and-derek.com/

Works Cited

Defining whiteness and white privilege. (2010). In Media Awareness Network. Retrieved January 26, 2012, from: http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/whiteness_and_privilege/whiteness_defining.cfm



Is the female body an object to be perfected?

This week I will be focusing on the media and the influence it has on a female’s body image.  In North America it has become a recurring problem how thin and frail the models and celebrities are.  Not only are they pin thin, but the message that the media is projecting to its target audience of receptive women is that to appear attractive they must resemble an unnatural, in need of a forever perfecting body.  Not only are they exposed to stars that are extremely thin, often due to extreme dieting or exercising, we see images of stars that have been computer airbrushed making their appearance next to impossible.

Above is a web site that considers the media and how it influences women in Canada. 

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.cfm

Women are continuously bombarded with advertisements promising ways to drop those last few pounds, and luckily for the advertisers they find success.  Unfortunately for women however; the media are often the only ones finding long term results.  One may wonder why they find continuous success when sites like these are posted promoting awareness on the game they are playing.  Unfortunately, the advertisements and lifestyle promoted are brought to the female eye at a young age and can be very convincing.  Young girls are usually first introduced to Barbie and friends (Beauty and body image in the media, 2010).  All of which when portioned to human size would not survive due to the unrealistic body structure that would not support their organs causing chronic diarrhea and death from malnutrition.  According to the International Journal of Eating Disorders, upon conducting research with 75 boys and 107 girls ages 8-11, the MMIS (Multidimensional Media Influence Scale) showed a direct correlation between MMIS and Eating Disorder Inventory Body Dissatisfaction with both males and females.  Girls however; showed a 30% influence of body dissatisfaction originating from MMIS at only the youthful ages of 8-11 (Cusumano and Thompson, 2001).   So, luckily for the weight loss industry, the more they promote an unattainable goal, insecure girls and women continue to purchase the products that endlessly make promises that cannot be met in hopes of one day resembling that of a computer airbrushed model.  On North American television shows ¾ actresses are found to be under weight, and the ones that are over average weight are often the punch line of a joke.  According to The Canadian Women’s Health Network, 50-70% of normal weight girls feel they are overweight and 90% are displeased with their body in some way.  As long as media continues to tell the everyday woman that her body needs adjusting in reference to thinness, dieting, and beauty to be finally happy and have the life of the movie stars, this will continue (Beauty and body image in the media, 2010).

I feel like an informative site like this is exactly what women need.  It is right to provide awareness on topics that affect the Canadian society.  This concept relates to the idea of Capitalism where a small number of people in comparison to the female population, are able to determine what those below them will have to succumb to.  A site like this demonstrates that the public is not passive and are willing to stand up for what is right to cause change.  



A theory to be considered is that of Habermas.  Habermas says that no single life can be conducted without work, interaction, and power.  To relate Habermas theory I will compare and contrast the media and the influence it has on women.  For work, we see that the media continuously bombards women with online advertisements, TV infomercials promoting diet pills to knock off those last 10 pounds, and magazine cover pages giving the juicy details to ‘how they do it!’, referring to celebrities and models.  Those in the media know how to work.  They have the experience and expertise to know how to catch the eye of an influential reader and skilfully persuade them to buy the product to reach a goal they will neither be able to reach nor maintain.  They have the means of the camera crew, makeup artists, produces, directors, computer whizzes, and much more to put their campaign in place; that being to continue perfecting the female body.  Media is then able to interact with the reader once they have engaged them enough to buy in to what they are selling, in turn making beauty and diet practices a multibillion dollar industry.  The media industry continues to be upbeat and make women feel as though, this time if not any other, they will in fact reach that weight they haven’t been since high school.  Habermas finally looks at who has the power.  This final point and the one I find the most important to this topic.  The media in this instance holds the majority of the power.  They not only are able to manipulate minds to set their vulnerable audience up for continuous failure, they not only create eating disorder after eating disorder, and they take the money and crush dreams.  Dreams in which, that are not even necessary.  Dreams they have created to make money.  They definitely have put much thought into the industry and the unattainability of their pitch keeps purchasers continue.  However; they do hold this power so long as females do continue to feed into their tactics and purchase the products.  If women turn their heads to the negative media they are exposed to and no longer will feed into their sale tactics, there will be a power shift.

Below is a link to star Jamie Lee Curtis speaking out about posing free of airbrushing and editing to support real beauty and defining what glam is to her.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20185529,00.html


Images below to give an idea of what the exposed pressure media delivers to women daily.

Image was retrieved from blogger Jonathon McKee’s site, http://blog.thesource4ym.com/

Image was retrieved from blogger Alexandra Orlando’s site,
http://www.alexandraorlando.ca/

Works Cited

Beauty and body image in the media. (2010). In Media Awareness Network. Retrieved from: http://www.media- awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.cfm

Cusumano, D. L. and Thompson, J. K. (2001). Media influence and body image in 8–11-year-old boys and girls: A preliminary report on the multidimensional media influence scale. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 29, 37–44. doi: 10.1002/1098-108X(200101)29:1<37::AID-EAT6>3.0.CO;2-G