Weekly Reflection

This week I talked about several different ways that represent gender roles. First one is music. I have always noticed in music videos that men tend to dress very causally, usually a t-shirt, jeans and a pair of sneakers. That’s not the case with many women that are in videos. They’re either back up dancers for rappers or they’re the main artist themselves. Either way the point is that women are usually dressed much more provocatively. Women do not usually dress in casual clothes in videos. Usually they’re dressed in very revealing outfits that show a lot of skin, that most of them would not wear everyday when meeting a friend for lunch or going to get some shopping done. Guys seem much more relaxed and laid back while women have to be all “dolled up” with dramatic make up and clothing that leaves very little to the imagination. Sex sells, but this seems only to be the case for women. I showed an example of this when I posted Shakira’s new video. Shakira along with her back up dancers are wearing very revealing outfits for the most part while Lil’Wayne wears very comfortable everyday clothes. Another discovery that I made was that of how nature relates to this. For instance, I think that women have much longer rituals when it comes to getting ready – there’s the hair, the makeup, the wardrobe and not to mention all the shaving that has to go in. However, most men do not have to do so much to get ready. Some girls even like the rugged look and that doesn’t require much effort. And if they do “groom” themselves, I don’t think it’s as extensive as that of a woman. Why is it that women have to put in all the effort into attracting men while men wait around for women to flock them? Women have to do a lot to make themselves seem attractive and desirable. However, nature shows us something completely different. Instead, women are the one that get to lay back and take their pick at the most appealing male. The male counterpart is usually the prettier one with something to offer – like a song or a elaborate mane. The males have to attract the females. I’m not necessarily saying that women should let themselves go while men are supposed to go above and beyond to attract women but I’m just saying there should be some kind of balance. Lastly, I talked about the extremes. Sometimes it seems like there’s only two sides of the spectrum. On one side you have the extreme feminists that believe that women were disadvantaged for so long and now women should work while men stay at work or whatever it is that they think will make up for all the struggles that women have faced. On the other hand you have the other side which completely disregards women and doesn’t think that they belong in the “man’s world.” Throughout this entire project I just tried to strive at one thing – why is it that when it comes to gender issues it’s either this or that? There’s never a compromise or a balance. I think that’s definitely something that our society should work on.

December 6

Yesterday I met up with some friends to study for tests and finals. We talked about schoolwork a lot and I told one of my friends that my microbiology teacher constantly talks about Nobel Prize winners and how I think it’s ridiculous that they’re all male. Furthermore, in my Polish Culture class a group made a presentation about famous polish scientists that influenced science as we know it, and what do you know? They’re all male. What about Marie Curie? She left a giant footprint in chemistry, however, no one mentioned her. My friend that goes to a different school chimed in and said that her genetics teacher is a female and she only talks about other female geneticists and never about the male ones. I thought that this was quite interesting. I think it’s ridiculous that we can’t find a balance. It seems like males always choose other males when it comes to examples and females always choose other females because they feel like they have to catch up and prove something. I don’t understand why a class cannot find a balance. I think this is interesting because that’s what I chose to write my paper about, well a variation of it. I think it’s ridiculous that women cannot find the balance between work and family and instead are forced to chose one path, because if they choose both it will mean that they are sacrificing performance on both and it’s as if they are doing a poor job in both aspects. Another thing that I found that bothered me was something that I heard in church today. My priest kept talking about how women are not allowed to be priests and how many feminists now think that it’s unfair that they can’t be something that a man can. He then said something along the lines that it’s okay if women can’t do everything because not all men can do the same things as women – for example have children. Men are incapable of this job and so it’s perfectly acceptable for them not to be priests because that’s a job that only men can do. I understand his way of thinking but at the same time I found it to be a little bit ridiculous. if we apply the same logic to other things we might as well say “oh it’s okay for women not to be doctors or CEOs because they have other jobs that are specific for them that most men can’t do like stay at home, cook and clean.” I feel that logic can be spread out to accommodate that and next thing you know you once again have the jobs that are specific for women and once again high positions will be only a “man’s” job. If we apply this logic we’ll go backwards in time and undo all the progress that has been made thus far for women. However, at the same time I don’t think that an extreme feminist approach should be taken that states that women are owed more than men because of all the hardships and I don’t think that we should degrade men. I just think middle ground should be reached. Maybe I’m just being irrational and unrealistic but I’m just saying that it would be nice to see equality.

December 2

I woke up this morning and I thought to myself “if I don’t straighten my hair this morning I can sleep another 15 minutes or so.” Seeing as I went to sleep at 4 a.m. and had to wake up at 8 a.m. my choice was obvious. I pressed snooze. I thought about this issue (later on when I woke up of course) and how it relates to gender issue. It’s my personal belief that there is much more pressure on women to look attractive and spend time on their appearance. While men have several pressures to go work out and have a six-pack, women have a few more pressures I believe. We highlight our hair, wear make up to conceal everything, we don’t wear shorts if we didn’t shave our legs, and we wear uncomfortable tight clothes to highlight our silhouettes. I don’t think men are as pressured to do so much to make themselves more attractive to women. I think this is very interesting considering nature. Usually in nature (as far as animals are concerned) the male has to attract the female. For example, a male peacock has a brilliant blue color and an elaborate tail in order to gain attention from the female. However, a peahen isn’t as special. She doesn’t have to be. She’s the one that has to be attracted, not so much attractive. Another example is a lion. The male lion has a luscious mane in order to attract the lioness while the lioness is much plainer looking in comparison to the male. So how it seems that with our species it’s the women that are considered the ones that are desperate for the mate and that they have to make themselves more attractive in order for men to be interested?

November 30

Thus far I’ve discussed gender roles as they appear on television, in the media and even in our daily lives. The next thing that I think that reveals the differences in gender roles in today’s society is music. In the hip-hop, r&b and pop genres clothing says a lot about gender roles. For example, the male artist usually wears a lot of clothing to show “what he has” and wears a lot of jewelry. He flaunts what he has based on what he wears, so the more clothing and the flashier the jewelry, the better he’s off. The female artist however, especially in music videos, barely wears any clothing it seems like. If she is, she’s always showing some cleavage or some leg, wears heels, etc. For women it seems like the less the better. So clearly, there is a gender difference there. Women have be to be a lot more revealing to draw attention while men – not so much. Take for instance the new Shakira ft. Lil’Wayne video for her new song – “Give it up to me.” In this video, Shakira barely wears any clothing and is quite revealing. Lil’Wayne on the other hand is fully dressed in everyday clothing. Furthermore, even the lyrics in this song reveal some gender issues. For example, at one point Lil’Wayne says, “Now give it to me” and shortly thereafter Shakira says, “You can have it all/anything you want you can make it yours.” The male role is demanding while the female role is the giving and accommodating one.

Shakira - New Music - More Music Videos

Weekly Reflection

This week I looked at gender issues over several media that are all around us in our daily lives. I looked into two TV shows – one a “reality” and one that is completely scripted and how they both interpret gender issues. In “Trading Souses” I saw how women that stay at home can be portrayed and how they can be insulted by their own kids and significant others for the work that they do. In the scripted show, “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” the female characters do not seem to have the ability to have relationships outside of work while the males do. This is clearly a gender issue. Furthermore, I looked in the media and BBC revealed just how much trouble women are having balancing work and family life because they have more chores at home and so it’s hard to find that harmony. What is surprising is that 80% of women actually would quit their jobs because they are struggling so much, but do not because they need the money. Like I said in my post, if things were more equal at home, I think they could be more equal in the workplace. Until people stop thinking that the cooking, cleaning, etc are the roles of the women then I don’t think that gender issues at work will ever go away. Lastly, I even examined shopping and how it seems that the more practical things are in the men’s section while the women do not have this selection. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that women are known to be the shoppers, while men are considered to be more practical when it comes to their shopping decisions and so more thought goes into the product that gets put out. There’s another stereotype that I found to be quite insulting.

November 29

Today I went shopping with my sister. We went to GAP and she was looking for gloves. There was a pair of men’s gloves that were misplaced in the women’s section. My sister picked up this pair of gloves and really liked them because they had an extra lining inside that was really warm and soft. The women’s gloves did not have that. My sister picked up these gloves but was mad because there were a large and since they were misplaced she couldn’t find a different size. Then I told her that none of the other gloves have that so she’s like maybe they’re from the men’s section. Turns out – they were. So then while looking at all the other gloves in the men’s section, with the extra lining for softness and warmth my sister said, “well of course, the better ones are found in the men’s section.”

November 28 (Second Post)

Today I was watching “Trading Spouses” on VH1 and frankly, I felt quite offended. The thing that really set me off is when this one teenage son was coming to pick up his “new” mom said that he’s scared to meet the new mom. When the dad asked him why he felt that way he responded by saying “I’m scared she won’t do our laundry, clean up after us and be our maid.” As if this wasn’t insulting enough the dad found nothing wrong with how this boy talked about his wife. I was appalled. What kind of child speaks this way about the woman that brought them into the world? I hope that one day I can become a doctor, however, I do not look down on those women who have the opportunity and desire to stay at home and raise their children. However, if the children think of you as their maid, I think that’s a serious problem. If I was the mother of that boy and I saw this later I would be extremely insulted.