teen magazines and how they truly portray what the media wants young girls to look like and act like!!.

Throughout a teenage girl’s life, many influences will come and go, while some will stay and make imprints in a girl’s life. While shopping for Sarah, age 13, I knew how devoted a magazine reader she was, she loves to reads teen magazines all the time, her favorites include Seventeen, Teen Vogue, and J-14 magazine. Every month Sarah purchases the newest copy, so I thought it would be a nice gesture to buy her copy before she does. While looking at the magazines I was shock at reading all the covers , what messages is the media sending to Sarah and other young teenage girls? Why must a magazine be surrounded in the idea that the purpose of a woman is to obtain a man and to look beautiful. Why do these teen magazines allow young women to learn this cultural belief, that to obtain a man she must be skinny, which would inevitably mean she is attractive. Teen magazines are a problem and discretely having a negative impact on what it means to be a female.
What is scary about these teen magazine are that teenagers look up to these models and how skinny and how pretty they are, and then try to emulate them. In reality to obtain the perfect body and to look like these models are quite near impossible and even unhealthy in some cases. Many teenage girls believe that men only want a beautiful girl, and if they are not up to the medias portrayal of beauty, they are worth nothing. Higginbotham writes in her article “ Ugliness is next to nothingness,” (94). Basically stated what many young girls believe; if she is ugly she is nothing. For a teenage to feel important she must obtain the beauty that is so hard to actualize. These teen magazines have such a powerful role in today’s culture. Teen magazine are sending the wrong image with words and phrases like “ways to look beautiful””amazing makeover’s””pretty””flat abs””how to get the man of your dreams” etc. These magazines control what teenage girls’ beliefs of femininity and what that means. What’s most shocking is that this belief is starting to manifest in woman at such a young age, and when bad habits start at such a young age, they’re even harder to break further on in life. Since these influences of media are starting at such a young age young woman are more concern about their weight, how they look and how to actually get a man than school and friends, etc.
Anastasia Higginbotham states “in each of the magazines, cover lines offer the girls “model hair: how to get it,” “Boy-magnet beauty,” “your looks: what they say about you,” and “Mega makeovers: go from so-so to super-sexy.” Their image of the ideal girl is evidenced be the cover models: white, usually blonde, and invariably skinny”(94). This quote only reinforces the ideology that woman are only concerned about their appearances and the way they look since they actually believe that it will help them get the man of their dreams. Does being a female mean that she must have this “ mega makeover” or achieve this cultural beauty because she thinks that it will get her a man? The answer is no, a woman should not be worried about what a man wants or how a man wants her to look like, its what she wants not the other way around. Teenage girls must start to understand and realize that the media and what the media believes and portrays is the wrong image of what a female should be or strive to be. Teen girls are who the media are targeting because they know that they are the main consumer. Since today’s teenage girls are concerned about how they look and how to obtain this “dream guy”, the media knows it, and uses it to sell their product. But I believe that teen magazines must make a step to go against the norm and go against this ongoing ideology that woman are obsessed about how they look, and obsessed on getting her man. The only way for change is to start aiming at the young woman of America and to let them know that what it means to be a woman is to be independent and self-loving, rather than dependent and man loving. Young girls like Sarah are being negatively impacted by these magazines ad have the wrong mentality of what is reality and what it means to be a female in today’s society.

“beyonce-april-2009-vogue-magazine.jpg”. online images. Upscaleswagger.com. April, 2009 <http://www.upscaleswagger.com/tag/vogue/>

Higginbotham, Anastasia “ Teen mags: How to get a guy, drop 20 pounds, and lose your self-esteem”. Becoming a woman in our society, A Multicultural Anthology. MA: McGraw-Hill, 2008 93-96. Print.

“j14.jpg”. online images. Vp-distribution.us. 2005 <http://www.vp-distribution.us/teens-c-50.html?osCsid=pzatdhkgknx>

“Leighton Meester Gorgeous For Seventeen”. Online images. Gossipteen.com, march, 2009 <http://gossipteen.com/2009/02/04/leighton-meester-gorgeous-for-seventeen-march-2009/>

 “miley-cover-of-teen-vogue.jpg”. online images. Twilightbookaddicts.wordpress.com. 2009 <http://twilightbookaddicts.wordpress.com/2009/04/page/4/>

“seventeen magazine.jpg”. online images. Piercemattie.com.  September,2004 <http://www.piercemattie.com/beauty_editors/beauty_Editors.html>

“seventeen-magazine.png”. online images. Momsneedtoknow.com. may, 2007 <http://www.momsneedtoknow.com/2009/03/25/seventeen-magazine-6-free-issues/

“Vanessa Hudgens J-14 magazine”. Online images. Whosdatedwho.com. March, 2008 <http://www.whosdatedwho.com/topic/7967/vanessa-anne-hudgens-j-14-magazine-1-march-2008.htm>

“61obPEWuSAL._SL500_AA300_.jpg”. online images. Fashion-answers.com. 2009 <http://www.fashion-answers.com/what-fashion-magazines-are-best-for-teens

Blog post #4: Subverting the message of "california Gurls" by katy perry

This student-created production is covered under the Fair Use codes US copyright law. Specifically, Section 107 of the current Copyright Act and Section 504(c)(2) cover the educational-basis of this video production. The production is intended to be a transformative remake, aiding in both student and public media literacy. The use of copyrighted material is in the service of constructing a differing understanding than the original work, which according to Section 110 (1) (2), is to be treated as a new cultural production. This student-production is in no way limited to the protections provided by the Fair Use codes stated above due to the many other sections of the current US Copyright Act, which also include the principles of Fair Use.

Please refer to Fair Use principles when re-posting, quoting, and/or excerpting the video-production posted here.

"Sex Room" The (Real) Mix

This student-created production is covered under the Fair Use codes US copyright law. Specifically, Section 107 of the current Copyright Act and Section 504(c)(2) cover the educational-basis of this video production. The production is intended to be a transformative remake, aiding in both student and public media literacy. The use of copyrighted material is in the service of constructing a differing understanding than the original work, which according to Section 110 (1) (2), is to be treated as a new cultural production. This student-production is in no way limited to the protections provided by the Fair Use codes stated above due to the many other sections of the current US Copyright Act, which also include the principles of Fair Use.




Please refer to Fair Use principles when re-posting, quoting, and/or excerpting the video-production posted here.

blog Post #2: exploring Femininity through the character Sam in the Tv show "Icarly"

“Imake Sam Girlier,” an episode from the TV series ICarly, demonstrates many ideas dealing with the big question of what it takes to be a woman in today’s society. The episode explores and presents qualities of women that are tied to being feminine such as being gentle, caring, nice, nurturing, and also how to dress. Sam is not like most female characters on TV, she demonstrates more what it means to be a man than a woman through her aggressive, and cutthroat nature. As we analyze Sam in this particular episode we view more and more what society believes woman to be through her masculinity.

            Throughout the episode, the show presents what it means to be feminine in various ways. The main premise of the episode is to make Sam “girlier.” When Sam asks Carly what she has to do to become more feminine Carly’s first comments were “ no spitting and no fighting”.  Fighting is tied to violence and violence is tied to being masculine. This is one view of today’s society’s that woman are meant to be gentle andnot aggressive.

            The show presents the audience with an ideology that most, or maybe all, Americans share; women are looking for the beauty that is implanted in their heads through the media. In the article, “The Beauty Myth,” Naomi Wolf demonstrates this ideology when she states, “The quality called ‘beauty’ objectively and universally exists.  Women must want to embody it and men must want posses women who embody it”(121). Sam demonstrates the importance of this quote through asking Carly to change her image. Once the makeover is complete, Sam is finally no longer manly but now a young “beautiful” lady, although, this may be through appearance alone.

            Patriarchy is another term that many TV series intertwine throughout their episodes. According to Johnson, “Patriarchy's defining elements are its male-dominated, male-identified, and male-centered character, but this is just the beginning” (94). However, in the show Icarly I believe Sam is a character who is opposing patriarchy, since she, throughout all the episodes, is always superior to the males that are introduced and has more power over the main male characters in the show. The show itself is not supporting Patriarchy because the two characters the show is mainly focused and centered on are two female characters, Sam and Carly.

            Another stereotype that has been engraved into society is that a woman’s goal in life is to achieve a man attention and for the guy of their dream to want them. Sam has supported this idea because one reason why she actually wanted to obtain this new beauty was for the attention of a boy named Craig. She believes, like most girls do, that all good-looking guys are looking for a hot girl. After the transformation, Sam finally received the attention of her dream boy. She believed it was because she was acting more “ladylike”. Later on in the show, Sam actually falls back to her masculine ways and fights another girl, without her knowing Craig was watching the whole time. Craig confesses thereafter that he actually likes her better the way she was before the transformation. The ideology that men are only looking for girly girls has been proven wrong but rather, they want women to be themselves in order to obtain the guy they want.

            Another stereotype that today’s society has engraved to our children, is that a woman should be a caretaker and should attend to her man’s every need. Pozner supports this ideology when she states “women exist for no other reason than to cater to their husbands’ every desire”(96-97). Even though it might not seem that Sam throwing away Craig’s food without him asking, supports this stereotype, it does. The show “transformed” Sam into a lady but before her transformation she would have never thrown away any guys food but now that she is more “ladylike” she innately threw away his food. More ladylike incorporates that a female must be the caretaker and must be willing to nurturing her man innately.

            Many people believe that be a man or a woman one has to have certain traits that distinguish them from the other. Allan Johnson states, “It’s about defining women and men as opposites, about the ‘naturalness’ of male aggression, competition, and dominance and of female caring, cooperation, and subordination,”(94). The following quote only supports the dominant ideology that a man has to act like a man and lady has to act like a lady. If men were to act in a feminine manner we would label him as a homo, wuss, or queer, which are demeaning labels. On the other hand, a woman can act like a man and only be labeled as a tomboy, but people’ first reaction is not to label the female a lesbian. In Sam’s case, she is not a lesbian but acts like a man, she has the aggressiveness and competitive nature like a man “should” have. Is Sam truly what it means to be a woman in the eyes of society or is she what society wants their young women to stray away from since she is far from being the prime example of a lady?

            Sam has proven that what it means to be a female in society’s eyes is not what it truly means to be a female. Icarly presents femininity in a new light rather from the dominant ideology that the media has shown throughout the years. Not all women have to conform to the ideology that women must be gentle and nurturing, and inferior to men, but rather women should be themselves and not conform solely because of all the pressure that media has put on their shoulders. Overall, Icarly is subverting society’s view on what it means to be a female and that maybe society’s view on females and males are not an accurate description on who that person is on the inside or out.

Works cited

Pozner, Jennifer L. “The Unreal World.” Women: Images & Realities, A Multicultural Anthology. Eds. Amy Kesselman, Lily D. McNair, and Nancy Schniedewind. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2006. 96-99. Print.

“Imake Sam Girlier.” Icarly. Viacom International Inc. 2010

Johnson, Allan G. “Patriarchy, The System An It, Not a He, a Them, or an Us.” Reconstructing Gender: A Multicultural Anthology. Ed. Estelle Disch. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2008. 91-99. Print.

Wolf, Naomi. “The Beauty Myth.” Women: Images & Realities, A Multicultural Anthology. Eds. Amy Kesselman, Lily D. McNair, and Nancy Schniedewind. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2006. 120- 125. Print.

Blog Post #2: exploring Femininity through the character Sam in the Tv show "Icarly"

“Imake Sam Girlier,” an episode from the TV series ICarly, demonstrates many ideas dealing with the big question of what it takes to be a woman in today’s society. The episode explores and presents qualities of women that are tied to being feminine such as being gentle, caring, nice, nurturing, and also how to dress. Sam is not like most female characters on TV, she demonstrates more what it means to be a man than a woman through her aggressive, and cutthroat nature. As we analyze Sam in this particular episode we view more and more what society believes woman to be through her masculinity.

Throughout the episode, the show presents what it means to be feminine in various ways. The main premise of the episode is to make Sam “girlier.” When Sam asks Carly what she has to do to become more feminine Carly’s first comments were “ no spitting and no fighting”.  Fighting is tied to violence and violence is tied to being masculine. This is one view of today’s society’s that woman are meant to be gentle andnot aggressive.

The show presents the audience with an ideology that most, or maybe all, Americans share; women are looking for the beauty that is implanted in their heads through the media. In the article, “The Beauty Myth,” Naomi Wolf demonstrates this ideology when she states, “The quality called ‘beauty’ objectively and universally exists.  Women must want to embody it and men must want posses women who embody it”(121). Sam demonstrates the importance of this quote through asking Carly to change her image. Once the makeover is complete, Sam is finally no longer manly but now a young “beautiful” lady, although, this may be through appearance alone.

Patriarchy is another term that many TV series intertwine throughout their episodes. According to Johnson, “Patriarchy's defining elements are its male-dominated, male-identified, and male-centered character, but this is just the beginning” (94). However, in the show Icarly I believe Sam is a character who is opposing patriarchy, since she, throughout all the episodes, is always superior to the males that are introduced and has more power over the main male characters in the show. The show itself is not supporting Patriarchy because the two characters the show is mainly focused and centered on are two female characters, Sam and Carly.

Another stereotype that has been engraved into society is that a woman’s goal in life is to achieve a man attention and for the guy of their dream to want them. Sam has supported this idea because one reason why she actually wanted to obtain this new beauty was for the attention of a boy named Craig. She believes, like most girls do, that all good-looking guys are looking for a hot girl. After the transformation, Sam finally received the attention of her dream boy. She believed it was because she was acting more “ladylike”. Later on in the show, Sam actually falls back to her masculine ways and fights another girl, without her knowing Craig was watching the whole time. Craig confesses thereafter that he actually likes her better the way she was before the transformation. The ideology that men are only looking for girly girls has been proven wrong but rather, they want women to be themselves in order to obtain the guy they want.

 Another stereotype that today’s society has engraved to our children, is that a woman should be a caretaker and should attend to her man’s every need. Pozner supports this ideology when she states “women exist for no other reason than to cater to their husbands’ every desire”(96-97). Even though it might not seem that Sam throwing away Craig’s food without him asking, supports this stereotype, it does. The show “transformed” Sam into a lady but before her transformation she would have never thrown away any guys food but now that she is more “ladylike” she innately threw away his food. More ladylike incorporates that a female must be the caretaker and must be willing to nurturing her man innately.

Many people believe that be a man or a woman one has to have certain traits that distinguish them from the other. Allan Johnson states, “It’s about defining women and men as opposites, about the ‘naturalness’ of male aggression, competition, and dominance and of female caring, cooperation, and subordination,”(94). The following quote only supports the dominant ideology that a man has to act like a man and lady has to act like a lady. If men were to act in a feminine manner we would label him as a homo, wuss, or queer, which are demeaning labels. On the other hand, a woman can act like a man and only be labeled as a tomboy, but people’ first reaction is not to label the female a lesbian. In Sam’s case, she is not a lesbian but acts like a man, she has the aggressiveness and competitive nature like a man “should” have. Is Sam truly what it means to be a woman in the eyes of society or is she what society wants their young women to stray away from since she is far from being the prime example of a lady?

Sam has proven that what it means to be a female in society’s eyes is not what it truly means to be a female. Icarly presents femininity in a new light rather from the dominant ideology that the media has shown throughout the years. Not all women have to conform to the ideology that women must be gentle and nurturing, and inferior to men, but rather women should be themselves and not conform solely because of all the pressure that media has put on their shoulders. Overall, Icarly is subverting society’s view on what it means to be a female and that maybe society’s view on females and males are not an accurate description on who that person is on the inside or out.

Works cited

Pozner, Jennifer L. “The Unreal World.” Women: Images & Realities, A Multicultural Anthology. Eds. Amy Kesselman, Lily D. McNair, and Nancy Schniedewind. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2006. 96-99. Print.

“Imake Sam Girlier.” Icarly. Viacom International Inc. 2010

Johnson, Allan G. “Patriarchy, The System An It, Not a He, a Them, or an Us.” Reconstructing Gender: A Multicultural Anthology. Ed. Estelle Disch. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2008. 91-99. Print.

Wolf, Naomi. “The Beauty Myth.” Women: Images & Realities, A Multicultural Anthology. Eds. Amy Kesselman, Lily D. McNair, and Nancy Schniedewind. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2006. 120- 125. Print.

Link-Hunt Assignment

True Blood is Right Wing's Worst Nightmare
July 21, 2009
http://youngfeministadventures.blogspot.com/2009/07/true-blood-is-right-wings-worst.html
Laura
Blogspot.com / Young Feminist Adventures

Strong Men and Delicate Women in the Vampire Dairies Universe
May 18, 2010
http://brandonwalsh.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/strong-men-and-delicate-women-in-the-vampire-diaries-universe/
Christina
Wordpress.com

Media and Gender Stereotyping
september 30, 2008
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/local/scisoc/sports03/papers/mmcconnell.html
Marla Mcconnell
brynmawr.edu

Gender Inequality Still at work
November 16, 2009
http://www.diversity-executive.com/article.php?article=790
Dr. Elisabeth kelan
www.diversity-executive.com


Disney Princesses and Feminism
May 17, 2009
http://hollywood-animated-films.suite101.com/article.cfm/disney_princesses_and_feminism
Cheryn Tan
Suite101.com

Link to blogging in college: the main Gender and &poop culture blog

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