Blog 8

In the recent movie that we watched in my Race, Gender, and the Media class we discussed how men and masculinity is portrayed in the media and how the way the media does this affects the audience opinions and views of how a “real” man should act.

            It was only yesterday, when I witnessed a woman being yanked around by her boyfriend. I believe he was trying to protect her from the oncoming cars in the parking lot, but the way he violently grabbed her, picked her up, and placed her behind him was out of line. Men have been taught through the media that they must be strong or tough, and that being sweet and non-aggressive won’t get you anywhere except to be labeled as a pussy by their peers.

            I believe that men try to keep this “act” up, jut to impress their other male friends, but when they’re with a woman all of their guard comes down (sometimes). I recently read an article about male African American athletes that were portrayed in the media as abusers towards their spouses. Not only were these athletes male and considered aggressive in nature, they were also African American (a double stereotype). It was terrible to discover that the athletes’ coaches and friends dismissed their actions towards their wives because they worked in an aggressive environment.

            Throughout the article, the author criticized the media for constantly portraying African American athletes to only be domestic abusers. She also made a point to discuss how there was a lack of white sports athletes portrayed as domestic abusers as well.

            I know that we live in a society where abuse is overlooked and not taken seriously, but yesterday when I saw this aggressive act towards a woman, it took everything out of me NOT to get out of the car and say something to him.

            I believe that men need to be portrayed in a better light than as aggressive or tough, because I believe it is the media who have really pounded these ideas into most aggressive abusers heads. They have made movies where violence and aggression were a main part of the action, passing over there parts where they should have said that these actions are not something would happen in real life.

            It is not okay that we are allowing these things to happen on television, movies, or ads and I believe it is yet another thing that should be changed for the better. 

Blog 7

In the recent movie that we watched in my Race, Gender and the Media class we discussed how gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders are portrayed in the media. For many decades, the media have slowly started to incorporate GLBT’s more. In the movie, one of the main points they brought up was that Americans are slowly becoming blind to the way the media has incorporated gays into television series, movies, and advertising.

Because media have portrayed gays in a certain light, many Americans have used these depictions to stereotype gays. One example is in Sex and the City. Stanford Blatch and Anthony Marantino are two gay men on the show. The series depicts these two characters as flamboyant, stylish, and out with their sexuality. I would like to argue that most gay men in America are neither flamboyant or out with their sexuality.

For years, Americans have been against gays and lesbians because of their sexuality, but one must remember that this wasn’t their choice. I believe it is because American’s don’t understand that being gay isn’t by choice, is one of the main reasons why many Americans discriminate against them. Straight Americans cannot truly understand what it is like to be gay in the society, and because the media portrays gays in a poor light, it is understandable that many straights are against gays and lesbians.

But I do believe the media are trying to put a better light on lesbians and gays. One example is in show Grey’s Anatomy. Callie Torres and Arizona Robbins are two lesbians on the show. Throughout the series, the audience is introduced to their fling and watch it slowly turn into an ongoing romance where Torres invites Robbins’ to move in with her. Just in this example, we can see that the media are trying to introduce to the audiences that gays and lesbians can live together, and everything is not going to turn into chaos.

It is because the media have put this spin and shed some light onto the subject of gays and lesbians, that Americans will slowly learn to accept these people’s decision and respect them for it. It is said that people learn most of what they know from watching television, if the media continue to portray GLBT’s in a very good light, then thing’s will turn around for them.

In my opinion, I believe that no matter what your sexuality may be, that we all must be treated equally and depicted with respect through the media. Just because your sexuality may not be what the majority thinks is right, doesn't mean it is truly wrong.  

Blog 6

In my recent Race, Gender, and the Media class, we discussed how race and gender are portrayed in music videos. On my own, I decided to research a few music videos of my own to discuss. The first music video I found was a popular song played on the radio entitled Sex Room by Ludacris. In the music video women are portrayed as sex objects. Of course this is not a surprise for a song called Sex Room, but I must bring something to your attention. Women are allowing this to happen to them, not only are these women defiling their good name to be in a dirty video, but there's also another point I must make here: The women are African American. I must call to attention that African American girls that I know have always had a problem with how they are depicted in society, yet here they are in a rap video discussing how these men want to use these women.

But Sex Room is not the first and only video to depict African American women like this, there's also another video by Nelly entitled "Tip Drill." African American women in this video are partially nude and dancing in front of men singing about how they want a "tip drill." Many would argue that these women decided to be in the videos themselves, but I only wonder do they have respect for themselves outside of doing dirty music videos?

Our world is full of music that objectifies women, whether it be sexually or violently. I only have a problem with this, because our youth is listening to this and they are the future, as we were the future years ago. When they learn to objectify women from rappers and other people they look up to, they will objectify women throughout their lives and this will be an ongoing problem throughout time.