Justin Bieber/Mariah Carrey "All I Want For Christmas"

http://gawker.com/5864023/mariah-carey-and-justin-bieber-play-lovers-in-life+ruining-new-music-video?tag=television&autoplay

This music video was played during the broadcast of the Rockfeller center tree lighting.

We see Justin Bieber and Mariah Carrey singing in a mall.

First this video clearly promotes consumerism. Even though they sing "There's just one thing I need,

I don't care about the presents," the scene takes place in a mall and we see Bieber filling a shopping cart with presents.

It is also very sexist: Mariah Carey is dressed in a very short, sexy Santa outfit and her posture, gesture, and face expression (see her eyes and mouth) are very sexualized and degrading. Throughout the music video she is "dancing" against a wall (we often see that in music video and I find it disturbing, it reminds me of rape imagery when I see a woman stuck against a wall like that). Even though she is "dancing" she is still very passive, while Bieber is active (walking around the malls with his buddies). So it reinforces the ideology of the passive, sexualized, inferior woman.

We find that a lot in music video but what disturbs me the most is that it was broadcast during what is supposed to be a traditional, familial show, and that they manage to turn Christmas in a sexist celebration.

What do you guys think, do you find it more disturbing when it is targeted at families with young children or when it uses "traditional" symbols? I think it's even more powerful because everything that surrounds it is supposed to be warm, and magic, and happy, and kids are just gonna learn through a traditional celebration that it's the way women are.

So as I was reading the articles for today's class about transgenders, I remembered a video I saw awhile ago that sort of depicts this "deceptive transsexual" stereotype in the media. It's not from America, but when I read about that deceptive transsexual I thought of this video and I thought I'd share.



You can skip to 4:27 to see the most 'deceptive' scene.

-Lauren

Amber Rose fans?

I was browsing through a gossip site when I found Amber Rose's new commercial for Smirnoff vodka. I thought the ad was interesting because there seems to be more emphasis on Amber and the other women in the clip, rather than the actual product (go figure!).


Here's the clip with a short commentary from Pete Gustin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7ZlrPOTg1k



Who's the target audience for this ad?

Lynx Deodorant Ad Banned

http://www.buzzfeed.com/burnred/degrading-deodrant-ads-banned-in-the-uk-281t

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/26/banned-deodorant-ads-uk-lucy-pinder-lynx_n_1113958.html#s498847

http://www.chrisrawlinson.com/2011/11/lynx-deodorant-lucy-pinter-banned-ads/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2064946/Degrading-Lynx-adverts-featuring-Lucy-Pinder-banned-watchdog.html

I was just browsing Buzzfeed.com and The first article I posted caught my attention. Lynx (which is what Axe deodorant is called in the UK) produced these ads to promote their deodorant. The ads are now banned in the UK because the ASA received complaints that the ads were offensive. I was happy to see that these offensive ads were banned because a few people spoke up, and I hope that this will encourage people in the US and other parts of the world to do the same. I found it disturbing that Unilever (the manufacturer of the deodorant) said this according to the Daily Mail article "Unilever said consumers had ‘come to expect, and were comfortable with, the narrative, tone and content seen in their ads’." . Basically the company thinks it is acceptable to produce ads that objectify and offend women, because that's what consumers expect and are comfortable with. What do you guys think of the ads? Do you think they are more offensive than others? And how do you feel about them being banned?

haircut ad

The ad is about styling your hair to look like you got a haircut but the model's face and cleavage overpower the ad. The text says Haircut but the image says sexy.

Crazy Target Lady- Montage (2010 Commercial)

Crazy Target Lady- Montage (2010 Commercial)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wer7b29mreA&feature=related

Has anyone seen these Target Christmas commericals with the women in red ?

Writer/Activist Mona Eltahawy Arrested, Beaten, Sexually Assaulted By Police In Cairo

Writer/Activist Mona Eltahawy Arrested, Beaten, Sexually Assaulted By Police In Cairo

http://www.hiphopassociation.org/#/news/?aid=542

Nova Schin

Did she drink and get pregnant? Or does she drink while pregnant?

Where are the Women?

I found this short article on NYMag.com about gender ineqaulity in Hollywood movies since 2009. 

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/11/usc-study-confirms-gender-inequality-in-film.html

The study states that more than half the major "speaking" roles in movies belonged to men, yet women buy more than half of the number of movies tickets sold in the U.S. This reminded me of the Bechdel Test for Women clip that we watched in class a few weeks ago. I think the best question for this article would be why does it seem so difficult for actresses to land the lead role in movies? 

Facebook Status!

I saw my friend Mai's status on facebook and thought of our class. Asked her if she'd mind if I shared her kind of thought provoking / mundane facebook status with the class.

Greeting Etiquette is gender-encoded. Women are thought to do more touchy feely greetings than men, who are not supposed to hug too long...interesting ... I find that in 2011 finding the proper greeting is even more complicated where the lines between gender and formality are being blurred.

Should we adapt a one size fits all greeting?

Apps for occupiers make organizing, communicating and sharing easier

Apps for occupiers make organizing, communicating and sharing easier

http://www.hiphopassociation.org/#/news/?aid=541

What role does do you think new media play in the world of women in the media ?

Why Don't You Just, Like, Not Be Gay?

Why Don't You Just, Like, Not Be Gay?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW9z5TDP1YE&NR=1

Male Rapper Wears Lipstick &Tights But Isn't Gay?

Male Rapper Wears Lipstick &Tights But Isn't Gay?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmaCffuT8CM&feature=player_embedded#!

Do you think artist it is easer for other people to bend the rules of gender?

example

Prince

Boy George

Eddie Izzard

Wayne "Jane" County

David Bowie

Grace Jones

Bill Kaulitz Makeover

Yesterdays discussion on gender and sexuality made me remember all the things swirling around about the lead singer from the band Tokio Hotel. As anyone can see he is very androgynous, so the assumption everyone made about him was that he was gay or bi. In the past 6 years he has not officially dated anyone and his private life is kept pretty hidden, but he has said personally that he is straight. However more recently he's undergone a make over and "fits" the "traditional" description of masculinity. Perhaps he did it because he just wanted to change it up, or maybe he was tried of having to listen to the media talk about it. So I'm just curious what other people's take on something like this is. Does our media environment really have that much control over us that it can force us to fit its own "definitions"? even today, when something like gender and sexuality aren't so black and white?

Stop Complaining, Real Women Can Handle Sexual Harassment!

A friend forwarded me this op-ed in the times. Basically, the writer argues that the umbrella term for what an be considered sexual harassment is too vague and implies that women are too fragile to live in a realistic world--where unwanted sexual attention and comments is just part of life.

"And, in fact, the majority of women in the workplace are not tender creatures and are largely adept at dealing with all varieties of uncomfortable or hostile situations. Show me a smart, competent young professional woman who is utterly derailed by a verbal unwanted sexual advance or an inappropriate comment about her appearance, and I will show you a rare spotted owl.
...... Obviously there is a line, which if the allegations against Mr. Cain are true, he has crossed, but there are many behaviors loosely included under the creative, capacious rubric of sexual harassment that do not cross that line."

What do you think: are the codes of sexual harassment to vague and rooted in an ideology that women are too dainty to handle something like an unwanted flirtation or comment? Or does sexual harassment work much more subversively?


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/opinion/sunday/sex-harassment-what-on-earth-is-that.html

I found this Ad on Adweek.com a while ago and just havent got around to posting it. The article that goes along with it talks about how in the 1960s Pepsi decided to target the demographic they hoped would buy their product instead of the product itself (Pepsi Generation), which at the time was revolutionary. This year Pepsi also released a Ad campaign for its new skinny can which aims to target "beautiful, confident women".
What is the message the second Ad is giving to its target audience (beautiful confident women)?

link to full article
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/perspective-generation-appreciation-135561

Someone I know posted this on Facebook. It got me thinking about standards of beauty, not just in women's magazines, but in men's magazines as well. At first I thought this was saying the woman's breast size was related to her intelligence (I was really offended), then I saw the guy in the background shamelessly ogling at her (still offended). This photo has an interesting social commentary to me. Curious about other peoples reactions.

Fat Joe thinks the Gay Mafia Controls Hip-Hop and thinks gays should rep their set.

Fat Joe thinks the Gay Mafia Controls Hip-Hop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdaPDftAdMc&feature=player_embedded

Feminist Tristan Taormino at Hunter

Hi All

Feminist Tristan Taormino is having a talk on campus Monday November 14, 2011 Room 611 Hunter West.

Rob

Stay on her mind...

Though this is an ad for men's cologne,  what I see is a woman, alone while her man goes to work; she has to keep the house clean, cook dinner, look sexy, and think about him all day.  What do you think this says about women?

The tide has changed....

I found this interesting blog article http://blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/2011/11/01/tides-new-stay-at-home-dad-commercial-a-win-after-stereotyping-flop/ that talks about the new tide stay at home dad commercial as a direct reaction to the “tomboy” daughter commercial. The author’s a little skeptical and feels played, caricaturing ad execs and taking an admittedly misanthropic stance on how the reaction worked out.

She also links up with other blogs, like DADS NYC, who laud the advertisement as ground-breaking and positive.

Again, I found this commercial pretty cool. I do laundry. My dad does laundry. My mom does laundry and my sister does laundry. It was relatable. If you took the script and took out all gender specific personal pronouns- you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference- that’s pretty cool.

The Pyramid of Egregiousness

I found an article about the pyramid image that didn't work in class: http://jezebel.com/5626523/ice-queens-gold+diggers-and-fascist-feminists-unite

Maddow, Cain and Pokemon

Follow up to yesterday's discussion....

Maddow, Cain and Pokemon from sam feder on Vimeo.

Affair Ads

I'm almost positive we've discussed this insane website in class but I just saw this article on Gothamist of a new ad campaign.

http://gothamist.com/2011/11/09/terrible_website_promoting_affairs.php

Marc Jacobs vs. the ASA

I came across this ad awhile ago after seeing it in a copy of Teen Vogue over the summer. At the time, it didn't seem shocking to me, but now I realize how relevant it is to our class. The ad is for Marc Jacobs' new fragrances called Oh Lola. It features 17 year old actress Dakota Fanning holding the fragrance bottle in a suggestive position. It seems a bit phallic. Take a look:

The ad has sparked controversy, especially in the UK where the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) has decided to ban it due to their belief that the ad "sexualized children."

Here's a link to the full story:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/nov/09/marc-jacobs-dakota-fanning-ad-banned?newsfeed=true

Do you think the ad is controversial? Is the ASA taking it too far by banning the ad?

I found this on Tumblr tonight! It's a letter from 17 year old Zooey Deschanel, and was published in Vogue. It relates so much to what we talked about in class involving magazines and what they are trying to tell women. Just wanted to share!

(Hopefully this link works this time!)


-Lauren

Friendly links: Roseanne Bar Article/The Independent Woman PBS Special

Hi classmates,

I mentioned a Roseanne article from NY Magazine a couple weeks ago in class and thought I'd post it here in case you didn't read it when it came out awhile ago.

She discusses how much media has not changed since her show was on ABC. I found it interesting and more insight into however difficult it is in the media industry, it is possible to stand your ground. Very inspiring. Check it out if you have time!

Roseanne Bar Article Here

ALSO, did anyone watch AMERICA IN PRIMETIME on PBS? It's a four part series, and the one on Sunday was about women's portrayal in TV. It's entitled "The Independent Woman." I didn't get a chance to watch it yet, but my boss told me about it. It looks like it talks about everything from The Mary Tyler Moore Show to Desperate Housewives. Looks interesting.

Here it is if anyone is interested in taking a look at it:

The Independent Woman Here!


-Iliana

More on Margaret Cho-- "I'm Queer!"

Since a lot of you enjoyed the Margaret Cho reading I thought I'd post this for you:


Often people are curious about the fact that I am married to a man but call myself queer. It's because I have had sex with more than one person, and I had unmarried sex quite a few times, and roughly half the people have been men and the other half have been women, and then there were a few people in between those genders who identified in differing ways, so it's up to me to define myself, too, and so that would be queer....
 the article continues here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-cho/queer_b_984123.html?ref=mostpopular

An article from Larry Shore

Hey Folks,

Check out this article that Larry Shore forwarded me.
Do you think this show will achieve what the Hayek and Banderas have set out to do?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/28/puss-in-boots-and-hollywood-stereotypes_n_1064511.html