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Gender Bias

This video is a perfect demonstration of how we generally raise our children unknowingly telling them how to act and how to be in our society. The certain things we may say to our children might be judgmental based on their gender and we may not realize it at the time. This video is a perfect example of certain things we may say to our children. After viewing this video, I did start to realize that there are some things that I have said that clearly signifies the gender bias. Oftentimes we would teach our children what we have been taught growing up. We grew up being told that girls should act a certain way, dress in a certain way and be a certain way while boys should act a certain way, dress in a certain way and be a certain way. When really, there is no specific reason as to why they should act a certain way but by what society imposes on us. There is no reason a boy should not cry if his feelings got hurt or not express his feelings as he wants - other than society would think that he is weak because he is not as masculine as should be. There is no reason why a girl can not excel at sports, get down and dirty and be fiercely independent other than society saying that it is not appropriate for a girl to do so. The reason for the gender differences was because in the past times, women were deemed inferior to men but nowadays women has the same rights as men - even though in some circumstances, that may not be the case. By imposing the same values that we have been taught, we are repeating the same cycle for the younger generations ahead of us. It is up to us to break the cycle and to educate the younger generation that it is okay to do what feels to be right.

I particularly liked this video because this showcases the common statements that are being made for each gender among the younger generation today. This is quite an awakening for those that does not realize what they are doing. As well as pointing out certain things so we would be more aware of what we are saying and how to amend that/change that. 

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The week’s best editorial cartoons

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My family has been teaching me for years that women are meant to cook and clean everything while the men sit on couches and contribute nothing. And they wonder why I want to move out of that dysfunction.

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Women, are we objects or human beings?

With this advertisement, the woman is clearly portrayed as an object next to the watch that is being advertised as truly light. The model is clearly naked, using her hands to cover up the parts that should not be shown. It is advertisements like these that makes the public view women as objects other than equals. This ad for instance, is using women as an example of an object being compared to the watch. The model is just making a curvy pose with her body by arching her back with her limbs covering certain parts, and we can clearly see that she is thinner than most women. Perhaps because of the way she is laid out in the ad. The idea of objectifying women is imposing a clearly different concept of educating our women in our society that they do not really matter, that their thoughts does not count and their sole purpose in life is not to be a leader but to be viewed as an object for the men to enjoy and use.

The fact is that sex does sell in our society — this ad is only one out of so many that is being displayed out there. The media uses women as sex objects in order to sell their product — whether the public thinks that if they purchase the product shown that the same scenario would happen to them or that it would make them even more appealing to the opposite sex. 

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If Women’s Roles in Ads Were Played By Men

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Women: Less Superior?

Over the years women has been subjected to inequality of some sort whether it's in their own homes, in the work place, or even in society. The media is a huge key in that, they emphasizes that in advertisements unknowingly to the people that are exposed to the ads. Take this ad for instance, this emphasizes the woman lying on the ground next to a shoe that obviously belongs to a male.  As well as the emphasis on the need to keep women in their "proper" place, in this case — on the ground where the shoe stands. This also demonstrates the women's place in society, or in the household. This would be a prime example of gender inequality - that the male race is indeed better and more superior than the female race. Women are viewed as subordinates to men.

Advertisements like these are showcasing the younger female generation that our purpose in life would be to serve the men and to take care of family/household needs. As well as 'telling' the girls that their dreams to be independent and successful are not realistic and this is the reality. This is also showcasing the younger male generation to expect the women to be there to serve them for whatever need they might have and that the women has less rights/equality as men do. They are also educating the boys that the women's purpose in life is to listen and 'obey' the men's wishes.

Over the years with feminism being more prominent and women being more aware that they deserve to be treated equally — the advertisements by the media has changed although the purpose behind them is pretty much the same.

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This is how I personally define feminism.

Inspired by a person recently telling me to not identify as a feminist because “it might give people the wrong impression”.

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All In One Beauty

This is a perfect example of how unrealistic models look in advertisements. In this one, a model is displayed in an advertisement showing only half of herself that has makeup and the other without. You can clearly tell the difference between both sides. As I mentioned in one of my other papers for this class, our perception of beauty and power has changed over the years due to how the media uses women in its ads that are so thin, perfect looking and seems to have it all. It makes the public feel like they need to look like that and if they can’t — it creates self issues such as low self esteem, confidence and such.

I particularly liked this image because it clearly shows how much of an alteration has been done to the woman portrayed after the photo has been taken. It showcases the fact that nearly all of the ads we see are indeed photoshopped in order to make them 'better' and more attractive to the viewers as well as showing the unrealistic expectations that we have of ourselves based on what we are being shown daily. This ad in particular even has the 'information' of what one would need in order to immortalize their beauty. This is the definition of what photoshop does for you on the computer without the actual work being done on the model. The model is a normal person like us but it's the media that adjusts their image through photoshop to make them look like an entirely different person.

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The Impact of Media on our Society

This short video starts off with a little girl that is beautiful just the way she is. As you go through the movie, you can see all the various advertisements that she is being subjected to that highlights the need to look a certain way — to lose weight by dieting & eating certain types of foods. As well as being subjected to look a certain way by using make up through various beauty ads. Even altering one’s body through plastic surgery so they would be able to look a certain way as advertised to be considered beautiful and “normal”. The media seems to think it is appropriate to emphasize certain things through advertisements for the sole purpose to sell their products. What they may not realize is that by advertising certain things, they are damaging people’s self esteem just because they are unable to look like the models portrayed (unknowingly that the models being portrayed has been altered even more). Especially for the younger generation - they are being subjected to this and taught that no matter how they may look without make up and such - they will not be as beautiful as they might be if they adjusted the way they look by using make up, having work done on themselves or being at a certain thinness.

This video encourages parents of young daughters to talk to them about what is considered beautiful — the realistic aspects of what defines beauty other than how the media demonstrates beauty as. 

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A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty, but an obsession about female obedience. Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women’s history; a quietly mad population is a tractable one.

Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth (via themisseducated)

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Thinness: a Sad Reality

This picture demonstrates the sad reality of how much of an impact advertisements by the media has on our self-image. Throughout our lives we have been exposed to what the media considers as thin, beautiful and such and its thanks to those that we as human beings are being even more self conscious with how we look. With the rate the media uses the advertisements to shove their opinions of how a certain gender should look like, we as the general public are being more critical with our bodies and feel like we have to take certain measures to make our bodies look a certain way. This is where eating disorders comes in — whether it is anorexia or bulimia, people are damaging themselves all to look a certain way. What we do not realize, that we are not mandated to look this way. It is society that imposes those expectations on us, making us think that if we do not at least look similar to those that are being portrayed among us daily through advertisements, then we are not 'normal' or as beautiful. Realistically, we are all beautiful in our own way. Who wants to be one of them that looks the same way and having nothing that sets them apart from others? Personally, people are beautiful in their own way, flaws and all. Beauty is not all that is shown on the outside but on the inside as well - so the more confident we are with ourselves with the way we look, our personality, goals, dreams and such - that is what makes us even more beautiful and oh so different from the others. 

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If Barbie were a real woman, she’d have some problems.