Archive for October, 2017

Diversity Among Children’s Shows

Friday, October 6th, 2017

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Growing up, I have constantly glued to shows on “Nickelodeon” and “Disney Channel;” these shows taught and promoted lessons on good character, kindness, and family. While those are all important lessons for children to learn, there are a few things that these shows did not discuss. These shows were incredibly heteronormative; they only had straight people and opposite-sex relationships. There was the occasional person of colour, but the main characters were always white, and the people of colour were often just backgrounded characters or antagonists. For example, one of my favourite shows was Hannah Montana. In this show the main character was white, her best friends were white, all of her boyfriends were white, nearly everyone she interacted with was white; the only people of colour who were regularly featured were the two “mean girls” of the show.

With the new Disney era, one popular children’s show is KC Undercover, this show features  Zendaya, a young black actress who openly speaks out on human rights and cultural appropriation, as the main character of the show. In the show, her family is a well of black family, which also breaks stereotypes. Not only does this show increase diversity among “Disney Channel,” but it also gives young black girls a role model who looks like them.

Another children’s show that has been breaking the mould is The Loud House, a cartoon about a young boy. Recently this show debuted a frequent character’s parents. Clyde was going over to his friend Lincoln’s house to spend the night and was walked up to the door by his parents, a gay married couple. The couple is greeted by Lincoln saying, “Hi Mr Mcbright, Hi Mr Mcbright.” (I will attach a link to this clip above) This is promoting inclusion in a way that has never been done by a children’s show before. It is not only normalizing homosexual relationships, but it also is showing that some children have two dads or two moms.

Yes, these channels are getting much better with promoting equality and diversity among younger audiences, but there still are steps that need to be taken, and that is including people of colour and LGBT+ people more often. However, many people feel this day is coming because of shows like KC Undercover and The Loud House.

 

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Girl Toys VS Boy Toys

Friday, October 6th, 2017

This is an example of the difference between boys and girls toys. In today’s society, there are many toys and games that are meant for girls while the others are meant for boys. Boys toys signify the different types of stereotypes for men in our society, for example in the picture above the man is dressed in an army outfit which is supposed to be for men rather than women but women are also in the military. The boy toy also shows that men are stereotyped to like to play with guns and violent things, but there are also many girls who like to hunt and many women join the military. The girl toy shows a pretty skinny blonde who is all dressed up with her makeup and hair done. The dress she is wearing is pink, which is shown as a girls colour, by dressing her in pink dress shows that she is for girls to play with and not boys. Although many girls will think she looks pretty she is showing young girls that in order to be beautiful and to fit in one has to dress up and do their hair and makeup, which is not the case. Women should not fall into this stereotype instead they should focus on what makes them happy rather than how to fit in and impress others. The fact that at such a young age girls are shown what is socially beautiful, which means that with growing up they will go along with the idea that white, skinny, dressed up, hair was done, and makeup done is considered beautiful instead we should be influencing them that everyone is equally beautiful.

The problem with gender toys is that young children grow up being told who to be, how to behave, and what they should be interested in. Young boys are not supposed to play barbies, chef, or house because those are mainly girl toys, but what is wrong with boys playing those games? Likewise, young girls are not supposed to play GI Joes or violent games because girls are not supposed to be violent instead they are stereotyped to being polite well-mannered girls. While it is not acceptable for a young girl to act violently it is acceptable and expected of young boys to act violently. The gender toys are influencing the younger generations to act a certain way, they are shown and taught at such a young age who they are supposed to be. The problem with this is that everyone should be able to choose how they act, what they are interested in, and who they are as a person but instead, they are being taught that they should fit in with everyone and to stick with the norm.

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Song Review: “Animals” by Maroon 5

Friday, October 6th, 2017

Blog Post Song

So up until I saw the music video, I really loved the song “Animals,” probably because I didn’t fully catch or comprehend the lyrics until right then. I would sing along as best I could and do the howling part whenever it came on because I LOVE Adam Levine and his music. So what’s the problem? Well, when I saw the music video, I paid a lot more attention to the lyrics and finally got the full picture. So first, I’ll explain the video but I highly recommend watching it if you haven’t already just to get the whole idea. It basically starts with Adam Levine singing in an alleyway before he begins stalking a girl (played by his real-life wife). He’s shown as an animal, yes, and also a butcher as he is pictured in a meat locker with scratches and blood on him, screaming and punching the dead meat, while also being shown in other scenes at the front counter with a hair net, apron, and benign smile. He kind of looks like a serial killer from my perspective, definitely a violent man trying to hide some inner “beast.” Eventually, he gets the girl and they have some really gross, blood-covered sex. The music video portrays an unhinged, dangerous, sociopathic man (and he must be sociopathic because rapists aren’t normal, everyday human beings, right?) who stalks a woman (which according to this class is a form of sexual harassment) with whom he eventually has what appears to be consensual sex. So why did I label him a rapist? The lyrics definitely contribute to this idea so I’ll add a couple of the important lines. “Maybe you think that you can hide” could imply a non-consensual encounter, but this could also add to the stalking idea. “It’s like we can’t stop, we’re enemies, but we get along when I’m inside you” is the real kicker I think. He describes this woman as his enemy, and in the same sense, that he is her enemy, but that once he is “inside her,” he thinks that they get along perfectly fine. This bothers me because it sounds a lot like the defence that it isn’t raping if the victim “enjoys” it. Another line, “Yeah you can start over you can run free…but you can’t stay away from me” makes me again think that this song is about conquering a woman, domineering over her, controlling her, which is exactly what the act of rape or sexual assault is about. Finally, the whole message is about a woman being compared to an animal, or less then human, when it comes to sex as if her rights don’t matter when it comes to satisfying this man. As you might be able to tell, I am thoroughly disgusted.

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PETA : All Women Are Animals.

Friday, October 6th, 2017

Advertisements are often created to send a subliminal message to viewers, where the ad is believed to show a statement, while actually showing an entirely different statement. While subliminal advertising can be harmless, it can cause more harm than intended. The nonprofit organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, better known as PETA, has been known to make controversial advertisements to encourage people to stop unethical treatment of animals. PETA has very strong beliefs against many different ways that humans harm animals, one of which is the meat packaging industry. PETA encourages people to go vegetarian with their diets, which would eventually help end the killing of animals for food. While PETA’s mission and value is not intended to hurt humans, their advertisements are somewhat controversial in sharing the company’s beliefs.

PETA

This advertisement created by PETA is meant to encourage people to change their diets to vegetarianism by equating an animal’s body with a human’s body. They wanted to show how animals would be cut up to consume on a human body, as a way to change a person’s viewpoint on the meat packaging industry. PETA chose Pamela Anderson, a well-known celebrity and public figure to be the model for this advertisement. In the ad, Anderson is wearing a scantily clad bikini and posing in a sexual manner, as to grab the attention of the viewer. Anderson’s body is sectioned off and labelled with paint, similar to how a cow’s body would be divided up for different cuts of meat. At the top of the ad, the tagline of the ad states “All animals have the same parts”. Underneath the tagline, the words “Have a heart; go vegetarian” appear next to Anderson’s body.

The problem with this advertisement is that PETA is equating a woman’s body with an animal’s body, therefore making the ad sexist. They refer to Anderson as an animal, and nothing more than that. PETA used Anderson’s body in a sexual way and referred to her as an animal, stripping her of her identity as an intellectual human. PETA could have used any woman’s body for this advertisement because they only want a body to be used like an animal. While PETA did seek her out to represent the organization, they didn’t utilize her as an advocate for vegetarianism. They only used her body to display her like a livestock animal. Advertisements like this create sexist stereotypes for women because it encourages people to view women as “animals”, not human beings.

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Popular Music Today !

Friday, October 6th, 2017

For this post, I am going to pick a couple of today’s popular music hits, and go through the lyrics. Some people have no idea what some of these songs actually mean. The songs that are being played, teenagers and younger are singing them not knowing the real meanings behind the songs. These songs can be demeaning to women, making sexual comments, and other meanings that many adults do not even know. So I am going to pick some songs.

One song that has been playing a lot on the radio would be Cake By The Ocean by DNCE. I actually went to Myrtle Beach with a couple of girls last week. They insisted that we get cupcakes and take pictures of them “eating cake by the ocean”. They, however, did not know what that meant. The term “eating cake by the ocean” means to have sex by the ocean. Another part of these lyrics are “You should be rolling with me, you should be rolling with me”. This is saying that the women he is singing about should be “rolling” in bed with him. Another term for having sex with him. The last part of the song is “Red velvet, vanilla, chocolate in my life, Confetti, I’m ready; I need it every night
Red velvet, vanilla, chocolate in my life”. This part of the song shows different cake types. Another way to sing about that they could have sex with any “color” of women, every night.

Another song that has been playing is Me Too by Meghan Trainor. I am a big fan of Trainor’s work since her song All About that Bass. All of Trainor’s songs are about positive outlooks. She has been an inspiration to many girls, to be who they want to be and to be confident in who they are. Her new song Me Too is another one of those songs, however, it talks more about Trainor’s fame. It goes through her normal day, like looking in the mirror. She talks about how when looking in the mirror that every day she is still beautiful, no matter what anyone says. Trainor is known as having a wider shape, so when her video got enhanced (a smaller waste), Trainor flipped out. It was soon fixed and got blown up by media. Me Too is still helping girls understand who they are and that they are perfect.

Some of the songs today are positive and highlighting that women are independent and do not need to be someone else. However, some songs are not like that. I personally think that everyone needs to listen to the lyrics and to also look at the lyrics to better understand what we, and our children are singing about. Limiting what they listen to at least till they are old enough to understand what these lyrics mean.

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