Am I THAT Out Of Touch?

After listening to today's discussion over video games I realized just how out of touch I was. I grew up playing video games with my brother and we had the old Nintendo and I remember my favorite game being Duck Hunt with the big orange gun. After we got a little older we both stopped playing video games and I guess I haven't really caught up with the times.

I'm in shock at how real the characters look. They have created characters that look so close to being human. I can't say that the way women or men are portrayed in these games are realistic at all. I'm sure any halfway intelligent person could figure out that most people don't look like the characters that are on the screen. However, there are people who try to immitate and look like what they see in the games. Girls will try to have the unattainable perfect body and guys will hit the gym lifting weights to look like their favorite character.

I think that's why the video clip of "How to Kill a Prostitute" bothered me so much. The whole game seemed way to real and really disturbed me. Maybe I'm just green to the new technology but I don't understand how it could be fun for somebody to chase a helpless woman down in a game and kill her in such a realistic manner.

I heard someone in class mention that they enjoy Grand Theft Auto but don't take it to that extreme. I think it's fine to play the game but what were the game makers thinking when they created these features? Clearly if they are making it there is a audience for it. What scares me even more than people actually wanting to live in this virtual world of violence is the parents that buy it for their young kids. I would almost bet that a large percentage of parents that buy these games have no clue what the content is.

I think for the most part sane people understand that what they are playing is fictional so I don't know that I agree that video games lead to violence all the time. I know plenty of people who play them on a regular basis and are completely normal. I'm sure there are the few isolated cases where the person can't figure out what reality is. If video games have advanced in violence from Super Mario Brothers to Grand Theft Auto it scares me to think of what the future holds for gaming.

The Not So Distant Future

Since I am only 21 years old it is hard to vision what my future will hold but I have really tried to think about it all day. While I should have been working all day I kept finding myself drifting off and picturing my life in 20 years. I found it easier to do exactly what Dean Evans said and find your ultimate goal and break it down into smaller increments as kind of a guide post to see where you need to be.

Twenty years from now I will be 41. I have taken a great interest in what my mother does as the director of a technical school(Heritage College) in Oklahoma City. I've worked there part-time since I was a freshman in college and have fallen in love with the company. They treat their employs right and especially treat their students right. I see myself staying with the company and working up to the corporate level. I would love to be a director and run my own school by this time. I have actually had the opportunity to meet with the vice president of the company and vocalize my dream to her. We even discussed what kind of career path I needed to take to achieve my goal. I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet with her. I'm not sure I see myself having children. The career I want involves lots of travel and time at the office. I can't say I've ever seen kids in my future anyway, much to the sadness of my future mother-in-law. I will have been happily married to my fiance for 19 years and traveled the globe with him, something we can't afford to do now.

Ten years from now I will be moving my way up the ladder at work. I will be Director of Admissions at any one of the schools already opened across the country. I will stay focused on my main goal which to one day be the director of a school. I will have been married for 9 years to my wonderful fiance and still have our 3 puppies: Kona, Flash and Little Ann (I have no time for kids with 3 dogs).

One year from now I will have just graduated. I will take a small break to take my honeymoon and get married on the beach to my fiance. After getting married I will apply to graduate school and begin my masters degree. I will start working full time as an admissions representative for Heritage College and start making myself known to the corporate staff through my performance.

As far away as some of this seems it really isn't so far off. It seems like just yesterday I was a high school student thinking about college and turning 21. Now its time to grow up, I'm getting married and thinking about career choices. As long as I can stay focused there is no reason I can't achieve my goals.

Latinos In Media

Today in class we started the discussion on stereotypes of the Latino population. Every time we are asked to list the stereotypes of any minority I get a little anxious because I know they are false. I work with 3 Latina women in my office area and they are some of my best friends. It kills me that some people don't know that these stereotypes aren't true. I guess that's the beauty of saying them and clearing the air.

When I got to work today I told my boss (whose parents immigrated from Mexico) about our discussion today. She was excited that at least people were talking about this and trying to understand how we can fix the problem of Latinos being underrepresented in the media. She said that within her community the problem of immigration comes up over and over again. She said that her family has been harassed before and people sometimes just assume they are illegal. We have to be careful of who we call out as being illegal...talk about racial profiling. I really don't think it should matter if you are legal or illegal no one deserves to be harassed for crossing the border. I agree there needs to be some kind of order to the process but there should be some humanity and compassion involved in the process as well.

My boss said that she does notice that Latinos are mostly shown on the news as criminals but she doesn't know exactly what can be done to help the problem. I found a link to a non profit organization that has a really good video on some of their ideas: http://www.nhmc.org/about/
They are the National Hispanic Media Coalition and they suggest working from the top down. They work with the government to help create laws that protect and help the Latino community. They also watch hate speech on the airways and try to be an advocate for them also. It is amazing that they represent so much of the population and somehow they are forgotton in media.



It was interesting to hear the debate about language barriers and T.V interviews. I was thinking about it all day and it made sense to me that if you don't speak English you wouldn't want to do an on camera interview. I really liked one person's point of view that this was why it was important to have diversity in your newsroom. You could have someone translate and reassure the person throughout the interview. Also the excuse of the language barrier sounds like a scapegoat for not reporting Latin American issues. There are a large number of Latinos that speak English so this shouldn't really be an excuse.



I'm not sure that there is one cure all formula to fix the problem but maybe someday in the near future they can be represented fairly and more often.

Women in Media

Yesterday in class we were asked how we could change the image of women in media. My initial answer was that it was the woman's responsibility. I figured if women continue to take off their clothes and become sexual objects for men in magazines or videos it would always be a problem. The simple solution would be for women to take control of their own body and say no to these kinds of portrayals. Right?

Wrong. After listening to Dr. Tindall discuss how the power must be changed it all became much clearer to me. Of course women need to take some responsibility for their bodies but shes right, why am I trying to blame the victim? The change has to come from the top before it will truly make a difference. I don't care who is at the top of these companies producing these images men or women, it needs to stop. Young boys will grow up into men who treat and view women this way if that's all they see on MTV or BET. I'm not saying all men are responsible for this but I hope that any of you guys in class who decide to have children or already have children teach them to love and RESPECT women for who they are not as sexual objects.

In Google I typed women in media in the search bar and this is the picture that popped up...real nice. She is being dominated and objectified by not only one man but 5. These sorts of images not only make women look bad but they give little girls false hopes on having the kind of body that that woman has in the picture. I could starve myself for a month and not have those legs.



This is the other ad that struck me as odd. There is a man and a woman on the beach, the woman is wearing next to nothing and the man is fully clothed. Not only that but the positioning of the man is domineering. This whole ad rubs me the wrong way and totally makes me not want to buy the product (luckily I'm a Grey Goose kind of girl).

Overall the discussion of how women are portrayed in media has really opened up my eyes to what the images are really saying. Before taking this class I might have looked at the first ad as high fashion and the second as sexy but now I've changed my opinion of them.

Gender

After getting out of class today I met my mother for lunch and decided it would be a perfect opportunity for me to discuss gender with her and get a mothers perspective. I told her we were discussing gender roles and common stereotypes or misconceptions about genders (such as the male cheerleader). It was a great opportunity to open up dialogue on something we never would have discussed before this class.

She told me that the day after the doctors told her and my father that they were having a baby girl they wasted no time planning the decorations for my bedroom. I grew up in a pink and white ballerina room (even though I've never danced in my life nor have I been interested in ballet). My mother tried pushing dance lessons on me and other girly things but I grew up as more of a "tomboy". I have a brother that is four years older than me and I would mimic everything he did. I loved football, wearing more masculine clothes and even got into wrestling. Looking back it might have even been a rebellion against what my mother and grandmother wanted me to be.

Eventually I grew out of my "tomboy" phase and started noticing boys therefore wearing more makeup and dressing more feminine. I found it interesting in the Gender: In Pink and Blue and Vivid Color article it talks about young girls becoming young women and how it involves meeting a demand from a culture that both idealizes and exploits the sexuality of young women. Maybe I was just trying to fit the mold of what I thought guys wanted. I remember watching Clueless over and over again with my best friend and wishing I could have everything that Cher and Dionne had (looks, clothes, guys falling at my feet, etc..).

My mom told me today at lunch my grandma was afraid I wouldn't grow out of my "tomboy" phase. I asked my mother what she was afraid of and she couldn't answer. I came to the conclusion that maybe my grandmother was afraid I would become a lesbian if I didn't do what other girls did. Maybe this is extreme and not what my grandma meant at all but it would make sense. I eventually did begin identifying more with my friends that were girls than with my brother but maybe its because that's what was expected of me. My fiance and I aren't planning to have kids anytime soon but I would love and support whatever they chose to do growing up. I hope that I will be a big enough person to not be afraid of them going against the norm for their gender.

What Privilege Means To Me

I began thinking of privilege in terms of wealth and economic status before I began this course. After listening to the discussion in class and reading the articles about privilege it has blurred what the definition now means to me. Tim Wise brought out many points in the video as well that have changed my perspective.
Dictionary.com defines the word privilege in regards to economic wealth. You can see the full definition here: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/privilege I don't know that I can provide a good definition of privilege but I do believe it exists. It exists not only economically but with gender and race privileges as well. I agree with Tim Wise that there is a denial of privilege to an extent and maybe the rest is just not being educated on this issue. I don't know that I have been in denial of my privileges my whole life or I've just not seen things as they truly are because I haven't been forced to experience them for myself.
When I first read the article about white privilege I instantly thought of the Saturday Night Live skit with Eddie Murphy where he disguises himself as a white man and walks throughout the city. If you haven't seen it I've linked it here. http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/white-like-me/2427/
Obviously this is extreme but its a funny example of a kind of heavy subject matter.
I have had the privilege of being able to go into any public area and people will not feel threatened by me. I have never experienced racial profiling and to me that is a privilege. Looking through a high school history text book most of the "heroes" in it are white, maybe this is a privilege.
I'm still trying to decide for myself what all of this means. Privilege can mean so many different things to so many different people. I think I've taken the first step in trying to become more aware of some of the privileges I may have in my day to day life and acknowledging that they may exist.