Pop Culture Gone Wild

Reading 75 I believe was really interesting throughout the whole section.  A part that caught my attention is “Be a Virgin…But Be Sexy” because it has so much truth to it.  “It’s the idea of virginity that’s popular, not the reality of being chaste” as it says on pg. 551 shows that they want to believe you are but not actually know you are.  You should be sexy but like it says in the reading if you are having sex then you are a whore.  Your image should show you are sexy and as if you are having sex but you shouldn’t really be having sex because it’s looked down upon? 

I also thought it was kind of funny how Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson did this whole thing on “saving themselves” then came out that they actually didn’t quite make it.  Why even say anything at all if you aren’t going to follow through or if you already didn’t.  Yes I understand things happen but just don’t claim to be doing something unless you are sticking to it.

Another part of the “Be a Virgin…But Be Sexy” I thought was interesting and a bit disturbing was getting your hymen repaired.  Yes this can help one to believe that they are starting over new and fresh but don’t you think deep down you still know that you are not completely a virgin even if you get it repaired.  You obviously had sex before and it probably isn’t something you will forget but I guess getting it repaired can help with the processes of believing you are a virgin again if that is what you would like to believe. This is just for the women who decided to have sex because the women that may have been raped or use this as a religious part of their lives is a different story.

Another section that stuck out to me was the “Be a Lesbian…Who Likes Men” because it is so true.  You see so many guys (not all) that think it is so sexy and hot for a girl to me making out with another girl or watching some girl-on-girl action. So these kinds of lesbian are alright but to some an actual lesbian is not preferable?  Pretending to be one is okay but actually being one isn’t relates to the “Like Sex…But Don’t Come” part of the reading.  They want the sex in porn movies and clips but when it comes to real sex it doesn’t turn out to what they saw on the movie, so women are obligated to make sex like the porn stars make it, “so we are expected to –once again--put on a show” (pg. 532) Where do we stop and bring it back to reality?

 

Stress

Stressed Out? Check out this website!

http://health.abcnews.go.com/sw/wl-women-and-stress-the-endless-juggle

As I read through this article on ABC new, I found it interesting that women experience symptoms 30 percent more than men but if you think about it, it does make sense.   As it talks about in this article, women juggle many different demands compared to men, and our culture women feel as if they need to respond to all these demands.  Women become so stressed it can lead to health problems such as heart disease, ulcers, high blood pressure and many more.  I also thought that the “gadgets galore” section made a good point about how having technology means we are on to our demands all the time.  Even if we are just answering a causal call we are still on that demand.  Have a cell phone or computer near us we have more of a feeling to answer or write back to an email then if they weren’t near at all. We do need downtime with no technology at our fingertips, just some time to relax but how many of us have time for that anymore?  It does gives you a few ideas on how to deal with stress such as writing down all the things that stress you out, big and small or maybe try laughing it out.  It has a few thoughts you can read to help listed at the bottom.  It also talks about changing your attitude and to take time to do those little things to help reduce stress.  You can exercise, sing, adopt a dog, get a massage any little thing that can change your mind set and help relieve the stress.  Hope this can help some of us during some of these stressful weeks of school!

Still Needing the F Word

As I read reading 8 in chapter 1 called Still Needing the F Word I thought it was interesting when they talked about how "cute" trumps being smart for women in the social environment because then it continues with the 17 year old girl that talked about how she was good at poetry and that she should be at the top of the class but things like that don't make her popular.  The next paragraph then says of course things have changed.  I do agree with that they have changed over the past 40 years but you still see those girls in high school that you had class with or maybe it was your friend or even you that put those kinds of things like poetry aside because that didn't make you popular.  There are still those girls that worry more about their reputation in being popular then things like being at the top of your class and having a great future because otherwise they might be made fun of or lose their friends that are "cool".  They focus more on being cute or doing the things that are supposed to be “cool” so they stay popular. They are still around today and will probably be around for quite some while because everyone wants to be popular in high school.

Feminism and Women's Studies

A Little on What is Going on All Over the World

http://feminism.eserver.org/

Here is a great link to check out!

As I was searching around on the internet I came across this site called Feminism and Women's Studies.  I went through a few different pages to see what it was all about and I came across an article called Red Light, Green Light: The Global Trafficking of Women.  As I read it explained the different categories of trafficking such as prostitution and mail-order brides.  As I read on it talked about putting yourself into the shoes of a Burma girl and how they are kidnapped, brought to another place and raped until they thought you had enough.  To read these I must say makes me sick to even imagine.  These girls are as young as 10 are used for sex and are promoted in flyers and brochures as part of a tourist attraction.  One of the pamphlets in Thailand talk about how you can come meet exotic young creatures and are as easy as buying a pack of cigarettes.  To realize that these actual words are put out to be promoted to attract people to visit just seems absurd to me.  Is there not anything else that could attract people to visit? I mean come on! Yes I'm sure this is can be enjoyable for the men but how can you even look at yourself after actually raping a 16-24 year old girl.  There are other excerpts in this article that give you more examples from other brochures from other places to come visit these women, just plain crazy to me.  If you read further down it talks about how one the fathers of a 12 year old girl takes her to these places because they are poor and she is young enough to forget.  How in your right mind would you be able to ever forget something like that? You are her father you should be putting a stop to all of this.

It has a lot more to read about so if you are looking for a site to find out more on feminism and women’s studies be sure to check this out!