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Jour 4250 Blog 10

Gender fluidity has been a topic of conversation again this week because over the weekend, Gabrielle Union posted a picture on her Instagram where her son is wearing a crop top and fake nails. Her husband, Dwayne Wade, came to his son’s defense after many people made hateful comments over the way his son was dressed.

More and more the lines of gender are blurring, especially in the fashion world. We have men like Billy Porter, Harry Styles and Jaden Smith who play with fashion and continue to wear “feminine” pieces as part of their wardrobes.

Wade said his only goal as a parent is that his kids “feel that [he] sees them, loves them, and supports them” (Matthews, pa. 4). He went on to say it is son’s story to tell, and that he is only there to facilitate his kids lives and support them in whatever they choose to do (Mattews, pa. 6). I think this is a very good stance to take as a parent, and it is one we see people taking more and more. Megan Fox often is criticized for letting her son dress in dresses and skirts, but kids AND adults should feel comfortable expressing themselves in however they see fit.

After all, clothes are just fabric at the end of the day, and why it is socially acceptable for women to wear pants (though it was not always) so why can’t men wear dresses? Non-binary fashion designer Dan/Danielle Owens-Reid says that large fashion brands should be more inclusive, and that many teens want to do something different than what mainstream fashion offers (Hornik, pa. 6-7). Fashion is always evolving, and many things that are seen as feminine now, perhaps started out as men’s fashion, like high heels. Owens-Reid says at the end of the day, no one wants to be limited in their choices, so why not let men rock gowns and women rock pant suits?

References:

Matthew, David. “Dwayne Wade defends son’s appearance after family photo.” New York Daily News, https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-dwyane-wade-son-zion-appearance-family-photo-20191201-5oc7llufwja4xas4iy2oow4g44-story.html. Accessed 3 Dec. 2019.

Hornik, Susan. “Gender-fluid clothing is finally having its fashion moment.” Los Angeles Times, https://www.latimes.com/fashion/la-ig-gender-neutral-fashion-20190502-story.html. Accessed 3 Dec. 2019.

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Jour 4250 Blog 9

Continuing with the Disney trend, Frozen 2 came out a couple weeks ago and there is a lot of good conversation around the main male character, Kristoff, portraying his sensitive side, and being an equal partner to his love interest, Anna, instead of just being the prince charming who comes in to save the day.

Firstly, the dynamic of Disney princess movies is sort of inverted in this film as Anna goes off to have the adventure, while Kristoff is left to sing about his love for her (Huff, pa. 10). This is a very refreshing story line, especially in an animated kid’s movie, because it shows “Disney leading man with a sensitive side” (Huff, pa. 10). Although very heart warming and cute and a little humorous, it is never portrayed as making fun of Kristoff. Besides the song where we see Kristoff express his feelings, there are also two lines in the film that are very refreshing to hear.

Without spoiling too much, there is one part where Kristoff rescues Anna from a giant, but instead of just telling her to step out of the way and handling it himself, he says “I’m here for you need?” (Huff, pa. 10) Jonathan Groff, who voices Kristoff, expresses this is an extremely important line that we need to hear more men saying to women, especially now (Huff, pa. 10). Kristen Bell, who voices Anna, also expressed how profound she found the line saying she stood up the first time she heard it, as most of the time we do not see men being supportive like this in these types of movies.

Toward the very end of the movie, Anna apologizes to Kristoff for things getting a bit crazy, and Kristoff tells her his love “is not fragile” (Huff, pa. 10). Showing that “enduring, supportive partner,” as Groff describes him, is a rather refreshing thing to see for both men and women (Huff, pa. 10).

Reference:

Huff, Lauren. “Jonathan Groff on his big Frozen 2 song and why he was worried it’d get cut.” Entertainment Weekly, https://ew.com/movies/2019/11/24/jonathan-groff-frozen-2-song/. Accessed 3 Dec. 2019.

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Jour 4250 Blog 8

After our discussion over Disney films in class, I started thinking about one of my least favorite tropes in film. Every time a woman is in a high position career wise, she is portrayed as bitchy, and a villain that the protagonists must over come. I especially started to realize how awful this trope is when I started watching the show The Bold Type. In this show, the three main characters’ work at a fashion magazine where the editor in chief is a woman, and I was shocked when not only she was kind to her employees, but cared about them personally and fostered their creativity and a collaborative environment, instead of fostering fear and competition.

When contrasted by perhaps the most common example of the “bitchy boss,” Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada, Jacqueline Carlyle was an almost shocking change to me, as I expected her to be like every other female boss in media I have ever seen – terrible and demanding.

Portraying women this way when they are in positions of power when men in these positions are allowed to be “bossy,” or in fact, encouraged to, reinforces the stereotype that “female authority is unbecoming” (Filipovic, pa. 3). What’s worse, is this trope could possibly scare away girls and young woman from leadership roles, because no one wants to be the villain (Zhu, pa. 3). While men get to be praised as being “macho” for being direct, women get labeled as “icey” or “bitchy” (Zhu, pa. 7).

This is one of the many reason The Bold Type is a refreshing show, because it shows women that there is more than one way to be powerful. Even though Jacqueline is kind, she still commands respect, and challenges and pushes her employees not for her own gain, but because she sees the potential in them, and what they can do to make her magazine better.

References:

Filipovic, Jill. “The stereotype of the ‘horrible female boss’ is still a problem.” The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/14/female-boss-versus-male-gender-bias. Accessed 3 Dec. 2019.

Zhu, Annie. “What’s Up With Bitchy Female Bosses?” Urbanette, https://urbanette.com/bitchy-female-bosses/. Accessed 3 Dec. 2019.

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Jour 4250 Blog 7

This week the actress Melissa Benoist of Supergirl fame did an Instagram live where she said she had been a victim of domestic violence in a previous relationship. She described in the 14-minute video how one incident where her partner threw an iPhone at her, tearing her iris and nearly rupturing her eyeball (Lux, pa. 6). Now, this story is obviously disturbing enough on its own, but at the time she was going through these horrific events, she appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and told the story of tearing her iris, except she changed the details to her falling down the stairs with her dog. Now, in this interview, she is joking and laughing, and it seems like a cute story, despite the fact she was injured, and pretty severely, but with this new revelation, it is even more disturbing and unfortunate look into how too often victims of domestic violence feel they must protect their abusers, and laugh at and through their pain.

https://twitter.com/vintagevlogs/status/1199795508010790915?s=20

One in four women are victims of domestic violence in their lifetime, but unfortunately only 25% of physical assaults are reported to the police each year (Lux, pa. 1). Too often we hear people when discussing intimate partner violence ask “why she just doesn’t leave?”, but unfortunately, it is not always that simple. There can be a lot of fear about leaving, and rightly so, as 55% of women killed by an ex-partner are killed within the first month, and 87% are killed within the first year (Women’s Aid, pa. 2).

Abusers are often very charming and manipulative as well, and are very good at isolating and breaking down their victims over time (Women’s Aid, pa. 3). Benoist describes this as her reason, saying her ex-partner “could be charming, funny, manipulative, devious” (Lux, pa. 3). She goes on to say that leaving was not easy, and was a process that she had a lot of complicated feelings of guilt for leaving and hurting someone she “had protected for so long” (Lux, pa. 6). The unfortunate truth is there is often danger involving leaving domestic violence, and it is easier said than done.

References: 

Lux, Heidi. “’Supergirl actress Melissa Benoist opened up about her experiences with domestic violence to ‘empower others.’” Upworthy, https://www.upworthy.com/melissa-benoist-domestic-violence. Accessed 3 Dec. 2019.

Women’s Aid. “Why don’t women leave abusive relationships?” Women’s Aid, https://www.womensaid.org.uk/information-support/what-is-domestic-abuse/women-leave/. Accessed 3 Dec. 2019.

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Jour 4250 Blog 6

In the past few years, it seems like every time you look in the news there is breaking news of another tragic mass shooting. There is no question there is not only a gun problem, but a violence problem in this very polarizing time. Even worse, if you look a little deeper, we will see a huge problem of young, white men becoming radicalized, that results in them committing these violent acts.

This year alone, there have been 250 mass shootings, and according to the FBI, white men commit these shootings more than any other group (Hesse, pa. 17). Yet, when these shootings happen, the two conversations revolve around gun control, and metal health care, Hesse points out. Which, no doubt, are important topics, but she also asks, “how we get to the point where troubled young women vomit quietly in bathrooms, and troubled young men go online and order assault-style weapons” (Hesse, pa. 22).

When there is a shooting committed by any other race, the general conversation seems to try and blame the race as a whole, with Muslims, they are terrorists, if they are black, they are gangsters or thugs, but for white men, they are described as “troubled” and as acting alone. But there is a culture created on the internet where young, especially white men, feel emboldened by their pain that “they can and will make others pay for it” (Hesse, pa. 16). Whether is it because they feel “different,” or because they feel that immigrants are the cause of their problems, there is a deeper problem we need to address as a country where this group of people disproportionally take their pain out on others in the worst way – by killing them.

Earlier this year, 31 people total were killed in one weekend in two different places, first in El Paso, and then in Dayton (Hesse, pa. 5). Both of these attacks were carried out by white men who not only had troubled pasts, but one released a racially charged manifesto, and one had a hit list of old classmates (Hesse, pa. 6). Gun control is an important conversation, but so is the gender disparity of these shootings.

Reference: 

Hesse, Monica. “We need to talk about why mass shooters are almost always men.” The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/we-need-to-talk-about-why-mass-shooters-are-almost-always-men/2019/08/05/dec0c624-b700-11e9-a091-6a96e67d9cce_story.html. Accessed 2 Dec. 2019. 

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Jour 4250 Blog 5

Cultural appropriation is a word we often hear, but many do not understand. Even some of my most liberal friends do not understand why it is wrong. But while the Kardashian’s parade around with cornrows and box braids in their hair as fashion, black women and girls are being called unprofessional or are sent home from school for being out of dress code (Griffith, pa. 3).

There is nothing wrong with thinking an element of another’s culture is beautiful and appreciating it, but too often we see white people using pieces of culture as fashion and not understanding or respecting the history and meaning behind it.

One of the biggest examples of this is the use of Native American headdresses as fashion pieces. In one of Victoria’s Secret fashion shows, the company sent model Karlie Kloss down the runway in a Native American inspired bikini and a giant feather headdress (Avins, pa. 14). The problem with this is the bonnet she wore has a spiritual significance to Native American tribes, that a person must earn the right to wear through acts of bravery (Avins, pa. 15). In another example, Valentino had a collection heavily influenced by African culture, but they included no black or African models on the runway (Avins, pa. 23). The designers were not African, and the models were not either, so it is safe to assume that they may have not understood the importance of things like patterns, fabric or designs to African culture.

As a white woman, I recognize I have privilege that other communities do not have, and I think this quote by Nicki Minaj sums up the problem of adopting culture as ones own without studying the significance:

“If you want to enjoy our culture and our lifestyle, bond with us, dance with us, have fun with us… then you should also want to know what affects us, what is bothering us, what we feel is unfair to us” (Avins, pa. 28).

References:

Avins, Jenni. “The Dos and Don’t of Cultural Appropriation.” The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/10/the-dos-and-donts-of-cultural-appropriation/411292/. Accessed 28 Oct. 2019.

Griffith, Janelle. “When hair breaks rules: Some black children are getting in trouble for natural hairstyles.” NBC News, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/when-hair-breaks-rules-some-black-children-are-getting-trouble-n973346. Accessed 28 Oct. 2019.

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Jour 4250 Blog 4

More and more we see discussions about how feminism needs to be more intersectional, and one of the ways we can do this is by talking about the horrible violence against trans men and women in particular. Black transgender women are most often the victims of these particular crimes, and are often murdered (Human Rights, pa. 1). Just this year, 21 transgender or gender non-conforming people have been murdered, sadly most of them were black women, or black non-conforming people (Human Rights, pa. 4).

The way we portray trans women in media is a, in my opinion, big part of the stigma against them. Often, men are cast to play transgender women in films, the two biggest examples being Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club (2013), and Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl (2015). This is problematic because it plays into the belief that trans women are not “real” women, and only men who want to dress up and “play” as a woman.

We have started to make a little progress, Laverne Cox, a black trans woman of Orange is the New Black fame, is one example of a trans woman being cast in a trans role. Also, Hunter Schafer is a trans model and has recently played Zendaya’s love interest in the HBO show Euphoria. Both these shows put Cox and Schafer in roles where they are able to have strong character arcs that do not only revolve around their gender identity, but also allow them to showcase important rights that should be afforded to transgender women. Cox, for example, has a compelling story line in Orange is the New Black that shows how often transgender women have to fight for their safety to be put in women’s prisons, and when they are attacked, often they are placed in solitary, rather than their attackers.

Even with this progress, Scarlett Johansson was just recently cast in a role as a trans man as well, showing that we still need to do better about representing the trans community in media, and help to stop the violence against them.  

Reference:

Human Rights Campaign. “Violence Against the Transgender Community in 2019.” Human Rights Campaign, https://www.hrc.org/resources/violence-against-the-transgender-community-in-2019. Accessed 28 Oct. 2019.

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Jour 4250 Blog 3

***Trigger warning: r*pe, sexual assault

Earlier this year a show came out on Netflix called Unbelievable. Having a love for crime shows, I was intrigued. However, I was a bit nervous as well, because the story was based on a real case of detectives hunting down a serial rapist, and a police department that failed a survivor named Marie.

The reason I was nervous is because too often rape on television is mishandled, either making it sexy or overly violent. The show Game of Thrones is often criticized in particular for this, adapting a scene from the book that was consensual into a seemingly non-consensual one, with many saying that it was an unnecessary added violence against a woman, and out of character for the perpetrator (Hibberd, pa. 3). Many saw this scene as rape, but the writers said they believed it was consensual, even though throughout the whole scene we repeatedly hear Cersei say no and “it’s not right,” (Hughes, 5).  Another on-screen depiction of rape of the character Sansa Stark was also widely condemned, with many arguing that it undercut all the agency she had been growing, and it was questioned if rape is the only horror they could think for their female characters (Hughes, pa. 3).

Often these scenes are shot through the male gaze, and sometimes it is even shown the woman even giving in and enjoying it. Unbelievable, however, was a breath of fresh air.

This show, in my opinion, does not do this. They focus less on the actual act of the rape, but instead on the survivors and the treatment of them in the aftermath. We only see Marie’s rape, and we do not see the whole act but only bits and pieces through flash backs as it is shown how many times survivors must tell and re-tell their story.

References:

Hibberd, James. “George R.R. Martin reacts to ‘Thrones’ adding rape scene.” Entertainment Weekly,https://ew.com/article/2014/04/21/george-r-r-martin-thrones-rape/. Accessed 28 Oct. 2019.

Hughes, Sarah. “Game of Thrones walks fine line on rape: how much more can audiences take?” The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/may/20/game-of-thrones-rape-sansa-stark. Accessed 28 Oct. 2019.

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Jour 4250 Blog 2

A big focus of feminism today is acquiring equal pay for equal work. We often hear that women make seventy-seven cents on every dollar a man makes. However, this number is specifically for white women.

We have seen a fight for equal pay especially publicized in film and TV, where women actors fight to paid the same as their male co-stars, but this problem is happening across all industries, and what is worse, is when you look at the pay gap between men and black women, or even white women to black women, the figures actually get more appalling.

Black women earn sixty-one cents for every dollar their white male colleagues make, Native American women earn fifty-eight cents, and Latina women earn fifty-three cents (Connley, pa. 6).

Interestingly, Asian women earn the highest wage of all these groups of women, but they still have to fight for representation in our media. Just recently, the co-writer for the Warner Bros. hit Crazy Rich Asians (2018), Adele Lim, quit the sequel because they were not going to pay her the same as her white, male co-writer, Peter Chiarelli. For a film that has an all Asian cast, directed by an Asian, based off a novel also written by an Asian, it is quite strange that they would still choose to pay the Asian co-writer less, when her unique experience as an Asian woman is probably part of why the movie was a success.

Even so, many Hollywood actresses continue to use their platforms to speak about this unfairness. Most notably, Emmy Rossum who plays Fiona Gallagher on the U.S version of Shameless not only asked for equal pay before the eighth season, but actually demanded back-pay for all the seasons she earned less than her costar William H. Macy (Garcia, pa. 3).

Other big names who are very vocal about this are Gabrielle Union, and Viola Davis, who often speaks of how hard she has had to fight to get where she is in her career.

References:

Connley. Courtney. “Reminder: Today isn’t Equal Pay Day for all women.” CNBC, https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/10/today-isnt-equal-pay-day-for-black-latina-or-native-american-women.html. Accessed 28 Oct. 2019.

Garcia, Patricia. “Emmy Rossum Will Get Equal Pay on Shameless.” Vogue, https://www.vogue.com/article/emmy-rossum-equal-pay-shameless. Accessed 28 Oct. 2019.

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JOUR 4250 Blog 1

A big problem that the journalism industry faces today, and media in general, is the perpetuating of stereotypes regarding people of color, which leads to unfair bias and perception of these groups. In Dixon’s studies, he found that African American’s are six times more likely to be shown as criminals in media than whites are (19). People associate black people with crimes way more than whites are associated with crimes, when in reality that is not always true. In class, we watched the interview with Antoine Dodson and his sister who was a victim of attempted sexual assault. In the interview, they frame it as almost comical by letting Dodson speak about what happened, and let him reveal sensitive information about the investigation. In this case, a black woman was the victim of a crime, but they let the crime be looked at like a joke instead of something serious. Even worse, there are cases where a black man or woman is a victim of a crime and their mug shot is used in the article. 

Like in this example, an unarmed black man was shot by a police officer, and he was actually indicted for murder. Even still, the white police officer is pictured in his uniform with the American flag, white the unarmed black man is shown through a past mug shot. The officer is the criminal in this case, but if this was presented without the headline, you would not know or think that. You would assume that the black man was the criminal. This is a major example of journalism perpetuating a stereotype. 

Too many times black people and their communities are painted as rampant with crime, and even when they are victims, journalists fail this community by either treating it as a joke, or almost saying “but look, they are a criminal too.”

Reference: Dixon, Travis L. “Black Criminality 2.0: The Persistence of Stereotypes in the 21st Century.” Race/Gender/Class/Media, edited by Rebecca Ann Lind, Routledge, 2019, pp. 19-22.