I am reading this book, and as a result, I totally respect this woman.
More thoughts to come later.
--- chRistie
7 years ago
Cultural Acceptance
In light of recently reading this fantastic book--which caused me to tear up in number of different classrooms--I am posting a link to an article from The Guardian about the need to eradicate female genital mutilation. Not exactly a topic that many want to discuss openly, as issues involving genitalia seem to border on inappropriate, but the prevalence of such an atrocity undoubtedly merits consideration, if not immediate action.
Although I am not a proponent of forcing my own western/North American upbringing upon individuals in other cultures, I do believe that when something contradicts the rights of human beings, it does not matter how culturally acceptable that something is. It is, for example, culturally acceptable for parents to purchase toys and technology en mass for their children. Does this also make it culturally just to do so, simply because this is a facet of our culture? I do not think so.
Needless to say, I am thankful for organizations like this that serve to genuinely care for women, regardless of the 'culturally acceptable' practices and ideas in which they are involved. Granted, EngenderHealth focuses more specifically on reproductive health care, but their purpose is one that I wish to highlight.
Problems abound in our world. I'd like to solve some of them. Knowledge is step one.
--- chRistie
Although I am not a proponent of forcing my own western/North American upbringing upon individuals in other cultures, I do believe that when something contradicts the rights of human beings, it does not matter how culturally acceptable that something is. It is, for example, culturally acceptable for parents to purchase toys and technology en mass for their children. Does this also make it culturally just to do so, simply because this is a facet of our culture? I do not think so.
Needless to say, I am thankful for organizations like this that serve to genuinely care for women, regardless of the 'culturally acceptable' practices and ideas in which they are involved. Granted, EngenderHealth focuses more specifically on reproductive health care, but their purpose is one that I wish to highlight.
Problems abound in our world. I'd like to solve some of them. Knowledge is step one.
--- chRistie
A New Sport for Women?
This is officially one of the most preposterous ideas I have ever encountered in my life: the Lingerie Football League. If there isn't already enough controversy floating about in regards to women and their general lack of attire in professional sports situations, the geniuses behind the LFL have taken things to an entirely new level.
I fully support people of all genders playing professional sports, or non-professional sports for that matter. Although I am more of an academic than an athlete, I believe that if you have athletic talent, you are more than entitled to use that to your advantage. However, I have a distinct problem with women playing football in their underpants, inevitably making some twisted twenty-something frat boy's fantasies come to life.
If a man or a woman wants to play any sport, he or she should. He or she should not, however, knowingly and intentionally subject themselves to being stared at because of their appearance rather than their skill. Now I realize that unfortunately, human beings are shallow creatures and we are inevitably drawn to the human form. But the fact that the talent of the LFL's athletes is painfully overshadowed by their ability to fill out a D-cup fills me with feminist rage.
Go ahead and play sports! Go ahead and be comfortable with your body! But by no means go ahead and put your goods on display when you would likely be an even better footballer if your chest/behind were not constantly needing readjustment. Oh, and as much as I wish this were the case, I highly doubt that any of these women have been kidnapped and forced to play football in their skivvies.
Anyway, rant complete. I do not think that women should play football in their underwear, as men get to wear real clothing when they play. They do, however, wear really tight pants...
--- chRistie
NB: Greg Beato of Double X has a lot to say about the LFL as well. He, in fact, likely said it better than I did. :)
I fully support people of all genders playing professional sports, or non-professional sports for that matter. Although I am more of an academic than an athlete, I believe that if you have athletic talent, you are more than entitled to use that to your advantage. However, I have a distinct problem with women playing football in their underpants, inevitably making some twisted twenty-something frat boy's fantasies come to life.
If a man or a woman wants to play any sport, he or she should. He or she should not, however, knowingly and intentionally subject themselves to being stared at because of their appearance rather than their skill. Now I realize that unfortunately, human beings are shallow creatures and we are inevitably drawn to the human form. But the fact that the talent of the LFL's athletes is painfully overshadowed by their ability to fill out a D-cup fills me with feminist rage.
Go ahead and play sports! Go ahead and be comfortable with your body! But by no means go ahead and put your goods on display when you would likely be an even better footballer if your chest/behind were not constantly needing readjustment. Oh, and as much as I wish this were the case, I highly doubt that any of these women have been kidnapped and forced to play football in their skivvies.
Anyway, rant complete. I do not think that women should play football in their underwear, as men get to wear real clothing when they play. They do, however, wear really tight pants...
--- chRistie
NB: Greg Beato of Double X has a lot to say about the LFL as well. He, in fact, likely said it better than I did. :)
ANTM and Me
As much as I hate to admit it, I watch television on a fairly regular basis. Combine general mental/physical exhaustion with cable included in the rent of my apartment, and TV-watching becomes somewhat inevitable. However, most of my time spent watching TV--unless it is something on TLC, which I love--involves a big ol' rant about something.
America's Next Top Model--now concluding it's thirteenth season--is one of those shows that just begs me to hate on it. First of all, I struggle with the concept of 'modeling' as a whole, as I tend to dislike things that focus on a person's appearance rather than their ability to engage in intelligent conversation or to genuinely assist those in our world who are in need. For the time being, however, let's set my issues aside. Let's ignore my extreme distaste for vanity and shallowness, and just talk about a little ANTM.
Once upon a time, the big-whigs of ANTM decided--in the great creativity and 'outside the box' thinking--that one of the photo shoots should portray women as murder victims. Fantastic. As if it wasn't already enough that the women of this show are forced to fit certain size and appearance requirements, and are completely objectified as objects of beauty, now let's photograph them as if they were dead! Yes. Great idea.
I struggle so much with this concept, as any thoughtful individual should. Although I understand the premise of being 'creative', and creating realistic art, I do not think it necessary to include realistic images of such a graphic nature. Plus the idea of making women pretend they're dead smacks me of misogyny.
This goes entirely beyond objectification into straight-up horror. Images, as horrifying as they may be, can be found via Sociological Images here.
Personally, I think it would have been much more effective and much less offensive to bring up the issue and images of murder in a conversation amongst the top models, although I guess that's asking a little too much of people in a beauty competition.
--- Christie
PS: The promotional images for this show merit an entirely new discussion that I'm sure I'll revisit later.
America's Next Top Model--now concluding it's thirteenth season--is one of those shows that just begs me to hate on it. First of all, I struggle with the concept of 'modeling' as a whole, as I tend to dislike things that focus on a person's appearance rather than their ability to engage in intelligent conversation or to genuinely assist those in our world who are in need. For the time being, however, let's set my issues aside. Let's ignore my extreme distaste for vanity and shallowness, and just talk about a little ANTM.
Once upon a time, the big-whigs of ANTM decided--in the great creativity and 'outside the box' thinking--that one of the photo shoots should portray women as murder victims. Fantastic. As if it wasn't already enough that the women of this show are forced to fit certain size and appearance requirements, and are completely objectified as objects of beauty, now let's photograph them as if they were dead! Yes. Great idea.
I struggle so much with this concept, as any thoughtful individual should. Although I understand the premise of being 'creative', and creating realistic art, I do not think it necessary to include realistic images of such a graphic nature. Plus the idea of making women pretend they're dead smacks me of misogyny.
This goes entirely beyond objectification into straight-up horror. Images, as horrifying as they may be, can be found via Sociological Images here.
Personally, I think it would have been much more effective and much less offensive to bring up the issue and images of murder in a conversation amongst the top models, although I guess that's asking a little too much of people in a beauty competition.
--- Christie
PS: The promotional images for this show merit an entirely new discussion that I'm sure I'll revisit later.
A New Direction
Although the schedule of my life is quite full, and I sometimes feel as though I have zero spare time, I have decided to make an attempt to blog more than I have been as of late. With the onset of my 'new life' that no longer involves homework and/or preparing lessons and/or marking assignments, I have been a) reading more, and b) committing more of my time to being informed about the world. Specifically, I'm starting to spend most of my reading/information time learning about societal issues (i.e. race, class, gender, et cetera) because these are the things that I am most interested in and feel are most important to stay in touch with. As such, here is the plan: I'm going to borrow links, and then share my potentially-controversial thoughts on them. Deal? Deal.
Consider this my general disclaimer: I am becoming more opinionated and less tolerant of narrow-mindedness with age. Those two factors combined may prove to get me in trouble in some ways, so I apologize in advance if anyone happens to be offended by something that I write.
And let it begin...
Consider this my general disclaimer: I am becoming more opinionated and less tolerant of narrow-mindedness with age. Those two factors combined may prove to get me in trouble in some ways, so I apologize in advance if anyone happens to be offended by something that I write.
And let it begin...
