Stereotypes 1

6:38 PM by , under

FVS 1013, 02-25-09
OU Union Meacham Hall 6:00 W
Classroom experience Professor Boyd
Film Screening: Singing in the Rain
Gender stereotype

AFAM 4233, 02-25-09
Bizzell Library 102
Classroom experience Professor Butler-King
Film screening: Boyz In The Hood
The whole movie
Racial stereotype

02-23-09, 10:00PM
Personal conversation with Zak B.
University Greens
Conversation about the characteristics of minority women
Racial & Gender stereotype

02-24-09, 5:05PM
Magazine Ad
Men’s Fitness Magazine, March 2009
Men’s fitness magazine with a picture of a very fit, well-known actor next to the words “Great Sex: How to Make Her Want More”.
Gender Stereotype

02-24-09, 5:13PM
Magazine Cover
Sports Illustrated
Picture of a woman with a bikini resembling a globe painted on her body with the caption, “Brooklyn Decker shows you the world”.
Gender stereotype


02-26-09 VH1 Network, 10:17PM
Television
I Love Money Commercial
Both men and woman half dressed doing inappropriate things in order to win a completion
Racial and gender stereotypes


02-26-09, 11:45PM
Personal conversation with Shar C.
Via Phone
Conversation about how some people justify not being racist because they have friend(s) of different ethnicities

02-27-09 10:00AM
Bumper Sticker
Obama Biden campaign sticker had been changed to Osama Bin Ladin
Racial stereotype

Reflection:
Honestly, I was not surprised with the amount of stereotyping that exists. I was more so surprised with the location of where I could find the location of the material. There were a lot of things that I saw in Seventeen magazine that really shocked me. The idea of seeing a 15 or 16 year old girl in her underwear riding a bicycle suggesting that girls should do their suggested workouts on the following page to get legs like the model was appalling. During my freshman year of college, I took a Philosophy class and we had an assignment similar to this one. There were a few ads we looked at that really disturb me as well. One the ads featured three middle school aged kids at a science fair. Each one was representing first, second and, third place. All three consequently, were of three different ethnicity groups: first place going to the Caucasian female, second place to the Asian female and third place to the African-American girl. Another ad was of an African-American male barbecuing in his backyard with no shoes on and an apron that read “Kiss the Chef” with a monkey logo on it. I am sure that you can see the “hidden” meaning behind both of these ads. As a minority, dealing with stereotypes in personal and/or social experiences is something that I have learned to deal with. However with that said, it is not something you get use to. It’s annoying to constantly be viewed as the “loud, ghetto, and obnoxious” woman just because that is what the media portrays of the women who look like me. Or my favorite saying when you don’t fit the stereotype of a black person, “they aren’t black enough”. Unfortunately, the media plays an important role in everyday life. What is on the television, magazines, billboards, internet, radio, et cetera is what we, the American people, pay attention to the most. Although it is not always accurate, it is a teaching mechanism. It will be up to a new generation of people who are willing to not only change the type of television shows, and other forms of mass media, and educate there viewers on all aspects of culture. Not just the defaming characters that help create these stereotypes we place on other people. We need to place images on the big screen that not only instill positivity, but educate people and make them more aware of what a person can be rather then how they are limited by the color of their skin.




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Good Girls Rarely Make History... (2)

7:58 PM by , under





I was walking to my car and I passed a bumper sticker that read, “Good Girls Rarely Make History”, and I have to admit that I laughed but on my ride home I started think about the question more in depth. Sad to say but our media has instilled the idea of being a good girl just plain boring and will not get you far in life. The bad girl image has molded so many entertainers careers especially in the music industry. For example, no one knew who Rihanna was before her Good Girl Gone Bad album. If they did indeed follow her as an artist they would be able to see that it wasn’t until this album when she became a sex symbol and had this exotic new look that everyone wanted her to be the new poster girl for their campaign. Even cartoons have a new twist to them. Just the other day I was flipping through the TV channels and came across a cartoon that had a scandalous clothed female character who was trying to teach the “regular girl” how to dress and get a date for the prom. Oh and my favorite is the Bratz doll. Now I don’t know if you feel the same and keep in mind this is just my personal opinion, but this particular doll looks like Barbie decided to go have plastic surgery and get lip injections, boob implants and hip implants. Talk about brain washing children at an early age? All this to say that the bumper sticker has more truth to it that I would like to give it credit for but nonetheless there are some good girls out there. We just have to make it our job to instill these images rather than the ones that are taking over now.










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Is It College Yet? (2)

9:06 PM by , under

Due to the Ice Storm that took over Oklahoma and graced its presence over OU’s campus, I have found myself under a mountain load of make up work. Now, I am a full time student and a full time employee and more so than ever I have been asking myself is it really all worth it? I mean pulling the all nighters, always feeling like there is not enough hours in the day, never getting any sleep and some how always managing to pray that Starbucks will never go out of business makes me wonder if there was an alternative route I missed out on. You watch TV shows and see the “glamorous” side of college. The parties that never get raided, the idolized Greek life, and the transition that the ugly duckling makes and miraculous turns into a swan who some how passes all her classes and graduates a semester early all while dating the quarterback who goes straight to the NFL. Did I mention this is the girl who graduates on May 5th and starts work for a major corporation on the 6th? This is not the reality we all face. In fact, I really do not know anyone who has came close to making this their reality. Granted I know that getting my degree will benefit me in more ways than I can imagine, I wonder if all those Friday nights of me watching TGIF really helped or just distorted my idea of what growing up would be like? Whether you realize it or not, we all have this idea of what our lives should be like and the media has had an impact on that in some way, shape, or form. Matter of fact, the next time you’re in class I want you to see how many people have the new iPhone, Blackberry Curve or any new phone we all know the commercial for by heart?

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? GOOD.

Now even though I didn‘t get the Boy Meets World, or Sister, Sister edition of college life, I have to admit that these truly can be the best years of my life.





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