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Sociology #3

A recent event that has stuck out to me recently in the news is the outrage in Ireland over the 17 year old who was forced to hold up her underwear in court during a trial against the man who sexually assaulted her. I am choosing to discuss this article because the #MeToo movement as well as women’s right is a topic that I am passionate about and continue to further my research on. I will be analyzing possible bias from a news article obtained from BBC World News: titled “Irish outcry over teenager's underwear used in rape trial.”

This BBC article mainly focuses on the reaction society had to this trial and in my opinion how digital feminism is taking the world by storm. This 17 year old girl came forward and took a 27 year old man to court whom had sexually assaulted her. Though there were witnesses,  in court they used the young girl’s underwear as grounds to claim that because she was wearing a thong, ultimately implying that her underwear choice was a form of  consent to sexual intercourse with this man. This eluded to a riot around the world and millions of individuals sharing the hashtag of #ThisIsNotConsent, socialist feminist group Rosa were protesting outside the courthouse next day placing underwear on the steps and chanting: “whatever we wear, wherever we go, yes means yes and no means no!”

 This is a primary example of how digital feminism is becoming more common, take #MeToo for example. Just 24 hours after Alyssa Milano called out Harvey Weinstein for sexual misconduct millions of survivors bravely came forward and bravely shared their stories.

This article resonates with me because as mentioned before, this topic hits close to home with me and I carry a large amount of passion for it. I mean, any opportunity I’ve had to research movements such as #MeToo or anything to do with women’s right’s I chase after. So I guess, this could be an example of my personal bias. I gravitated towards this article because it reflects with my personal beliefs towards this issue and discusses feminism / socialist feminist groups. It places emphasis on the reaction of society, which was anger and disgust. I was at a loss for words waking up one morning and reading this on the news. You would think in a world today where we are progressing as a democratic society thing’s such as ‘victim blaming’ would not be as prevalent especially in the hands of the justice system. The justice system failed this young girl and this is an event that will not be forgotten and will spark more movements and I hope that one day victims of sexual assault will be able to trust our justice system to believe them, and provide support in the healing process. 

Although what has happened is extremely unfortunate, this will only push us to fight for what’s fair and moral. I am proud to be a part of generation that realizes what is vial in our system and will not back down. 

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Sociology Blog #2

It’s a school night, I’m sitting in my room and the chorus of Carole King’s, Where You Lead fills my bedroom because guess what? I’m watching Gilmore Girls for the 500th time, this literally is not an exaggeration. Did I know about this song before watching Gilmore Girls? No. Do I now know every word because it plays at the beginning of every episode? Yes. Is it in one of my Spotify playlists? Yes. I can give credit to Lorelai and Rory Gilmore for having such a large place in my heart and making me wish I was a teen in the 2000s, listening to The Bangles, using a flip phone as well as living in a small town called Stars Hollow. But, for once I don’t thinkI stand totally alone in this dream world because I know for a fact I’m not the only 18 year old in 2018 who’s obsessing over old school shows our moms watched as we grew up.

Gilmore Girls is a popular comedy-drama that aired from 2000-2007 that still resonates with many individuals today. A tv series filled with family issues, teenage romance, education, friendship, ambition and the differences in social class. However, the show does not air on tv anymore and can be streamed through Netflix. Because the show is so easily accessible the audience for Gilmore Girls tends to be females, ages ranging teens to adults. (My mom and I still watch it everytime I come home on the weekend) So, why does this show resonate with this specific audience? To put it simply, it’s relatable. As a member of this audience and learning about Gitlin’s models I gained a new perspective on the show I love so much.

When we look at Format and Formula, every episode of Gilmore Girls carries a similar theme of “Lorelai and Rory against the world.” When the show did air on tv, it was typically once a week like most tv series’ but now that it is on Netflix audiences watch the story unfold at their own pace. Lorelai, a single working mother who got pregnant at 16 leaving her high class parents and wealthy world behind raises her daughter Rory in a small town called Stars Hollow. The show starts off as Rory being 16, the same age Lorelai was when she got pregnant. Each episode has it’s cliches but either focuses on an issue of family, romance or relatable high school struggles. I mean, at the time I got into Gilmore Girls was in my second year of highschool. So, at the time I was  turning 16 and was able to have an emotional connection with Rory. (And I’m sure many young teens do as well)

The setting and character type of Gilmore Girls is based on a lot of cliches. (You know...classic small town, young mom and daughter bubbly perfect relationship, love interests) The settings and cast make it easy for an audience to emotionally invested. Because it’s based in a small town the audience grows familiar with the characters and it isn’t hard to keep up with. (it’s almost like you live there.) Because the show starts off somewhat lighthearted, audiences fall in love with Rory & Lorelai’s picture perfect world but being a part of their movie nights and morning’s at Luke’s Diner comes to a halt when the reality of being a single working mother crashes in.

The slant shown in the show is the harsh reality of what many single parents go through as well as the prejudice against Lorelei for getting pregnant at such a young age. Lorelai, having to resort back to asking her parents for money to fund Rory’s schooling gives the audience an opportunity to become further attached and watch how the relationship between her parents (Rory’s grandparents) is slowly but surely (no joke it took until Rory graduated University… UNIVERSITY?) built back together regardless of the different social classes.

So how did Gilmore Girls end? (no spoilers I promise) It took 7 seasons (not enough seasons in my opinion) for our favourite Gilmore Girls end up branching out and becoming a stronger family. Not only did we witness Lorelai mend her hurtful past, audiences watched Rory grow up, graduate highschool and university. After learning about Gitlin’s five models it honestly didn’t change my opinion about this ‘membership’ I have with Gilmore Girls. If anything, I find it kind of smart in a way? Each episode makes it a point to target the whole “Rory and Lorelai against the world” while still integrating slant and solution. The show seamlessly graces over social issues (teen pregnancy, women’s rights etc..) at a level that makes it easy for the audience to relate to.  

The fact that this show still resonates with many people today is heart warming to me. Every weekend when my sisters and I come home we make it a goal to have a Gilmore Girls night. Because the audience of this show is so diverse it’s something my family and I can connect emotionally over and I’m sure many others do as well. Needless to say, Gilmore Girls will always play a huge role in my life. 

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Social Media Audit (Blog #1) SOCIOL 2LO3

    Do any of us remember a time where social media wasn’t a huge part of our lives? Even if you take away Snapchat or Instagram who hasn’t been googling any question on our mind since the beginning of time? However, the media I interact with on the daily has changed quite a bit over the past couple of years… I mean, I’m not on MSN or Myspace anymore that's for sure that would be embarrassing. But if we move past my 2011 Facebook phase, two media platforms you can catch me procrastinating on is Pinterest and Instagram.  

    Before I get into what Pinterest is, I wanted to look into the history of this website I spend half my time on. Pinterest was founded in 2010 by three individuals, Ben Silbermann (who is the CEO), Evan Sharp and Paul Sciarra. Researching the story behind Pinterest gave me another perspective to the platform all together. The CEO, Ben Silbermann and co founders struggled to get many companies to invest into Pinterest. But, as I looked more into the backstory Pinterest is owned by a private business called Cold Brew Labs, Inc. that was also founded in 2010. Cold Brew Labs is a business I have never heard of before because it is a private business and was slightly lost researching them because there’s little to no information on the company. After a little more digging I found out that Cold Brew Labs was actually founded by none other than Ben Silbermann and Paul Sciarra in 2010. Both Pinterest and Cold Brew Labs’ headquarters are located in San Francisco.  Cold Brew Labs consists of a small group of inventors and entrepreneurs (roughly 1-10 employees) that aided Pinterest with their growth and continue to advance it as a media platform. So getting into what exactly Pinterest is, just try to visualize  a black hole filled with an endless amount random posts catered to your interests… so you end up mindlessly scrolling for hours… and hours…. and whoops it’s 2am. I guess you get the jist, it’s insanely addicting in my opinion. 

    Pinterest can be downloaded as an app or you can view it on the web. After creating an account (which is free!) they ask you to check off a various amount of topics that interest you (cooking, lifestyle, room decor, crafts, clothing etc…) and you can pin these ‘ideas’ onto boards you create… hence pin-interest. (I never really realized that until now, not gonna lie) 

    Moving onto Instagram,  an insanely popular photo editing & sharing app. I was completely oblivious to the fact that Facebook, Inc. owns Instagram because Kevin Systrom and Mike Kri sold their platform to them in 2012 for $1 billion but the platform itself was founded in 2010. When Instagram was released it was only exclusive to iOS and was not available to Android users until about a year and a half after the launch.

    I was curious to see what other platforms Facebook may own and I found out hat Facebook owns a few apps including a popular chat app called WhatsApp. This relation between Facebook and Instagram does make a lot of sense to me because they do carry quite a few similarities.  Some of these similarities/relations are that you can immediately share an Instagram post to Facebook and both platforms carry many similarities such as sharing something to a story, hashtags, tagging people etc… But something I have noticed besides similar features many of the ads shown to me on Facebook do show up on Instagram as well. 

   As far as Instagram goes, I wouldn’t really say I’m obsessed with it but like Pinterest Instagram and Facebook cater to your likes and show a vast amount of pictures/videos on your ‘explore page’ and for me it just ends up in scrolling for hours as a bad habit. 

   Looking into who owns media platforms I interact with on the daily truly did open my eyes. I felt more interested researching Pinterest because it had more of a history and had a slightly tougher time starting up compared to Instagram but really enjoyed looking past just an app on my phone screen and as dramatic as it sounds, the story behind it. I highly encourage anyone to do this because I’m motivated to look past media and see who owns a lot of the things I use on the daily.