Media Moment:
Hi Everybody! I know it's winter break and everybody has been graded at this point. However, I think this story today on The New York Times is very relevant to this class. Hope people can read it for this semester and for the upcoming ones. Check it out:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/movies/female-film-directors-slowly-gain-ground.html?hpw&_r=0
This post went viral on my Facebook newsfeed a while back, and while there are some things I disagree with, I think she does a really good job of sending the message that Chassidic Jewish women LIKE their lifestyle. She provides reasons behind what they do aside from, "Because God told us to". It's an important read to better understand the lives of Chassidic women, and the reasoning behind why they do things. Good read. She's funny too.
After the discussion we had in class on gender and the emphasis
our society puts on distinguishing boys from girls, I was talking to my mom
about the topic. I grew up in Sweden and society there tries to enforce more
gender equality. My mom mentioned that now Sweden’s government has made an
effort to implement some daycare's that are gender neutral. I thought this was
an interesting concept, so after doing a little research I came across this
article:
This daycare is trying to be gender neutral in the sense of
not calling children "boys" or "girls" instead they use the term “friends”. Do you think that having gender neutral daycare's is the first step to becoming a more gender equal society?
I saw this commercial on TV a while back and I remember thinking, "Wow. That looks bad." There really isn't much explanation to do. Viewing it tells all. It's called "Battle of the Sexes" and guys answer questions about haircuts while girls answer questions about cars. The motto of the game is: "You'll never understand them, so you might as well defeat them."
Does a game like this bother anyone? Should it bother anyone? Is it a horrible concept/sexist game to begin with?
Hey guys, so I wrote my research paper on female comedians, but I figured I'd post about it on the blog too. I recently saw a 30 Rock episode that sparked my curiousity in the topic. The episode was titled "Stride of Pride" and it was about Liz Lemon trying to convince the male colleaques around her that women are funny. This has been a debate recently, that I just don't understand. We have some of the funniest female comedians ever right now! Tina Fey, Kristin Wiig, Amy Poehler, Sarah Silverman, Chelsea Handler, I could go on and on. Not to mention, women have always been funny (Lucille Ball, Phyllis Diller, come on!). Are men just threatened by funny women? Even if female comedians are given the "seal of approval" by male audiences for being funny, they are criticized or their appearance, their weight, they are too loud, they are "too feminist." The 30 Rock episode also comments on the hardships of women working within the media, with Liz Lemon writing comedy surrounded by male writers. This also reflected Tina Fey's experience in writing 30 Rock.
What do you guys think: Why do a lot of men not consider women funny? Is it just different taste and experiences? Or, is it rooted in masochism and dominated of men in comedy?
I definitely fell in the category of women who think they hate feminism, but really don't. I always said, "I'm an old school feminist, someone who fights for their equal rights, but I'm NOT fighting for more rights, or the right to burn my bra, or the right to walk around topless". It was interesting to read this article after taking this class, because I felt like I truly understood a lot more that the piece had to offer. My favorite part was when she wrote, "yes, there ARE valid reasons to think that feminism causes some problems. It does. Of course it does. So does religion -- and the lack of religion. So do emocrats and republicans. So does EVERYTHING. Every movement comes with benefits and costs. Do you guys think that the benefits of feminism have outweighed the costs?
