Essay/Final Blog Entry

MEDIA 10: FINAL EXAM

• The Media and the part it plays in Social Construction 
• 5 blog post

Thesis: I learned about how women are seen in the media and movements against inequality between male and females.

    In my first blog is named "Beer ads Sexualizes Women" for this blog I researched beer ads and how they portray women as sex object to sell beer. I found a lot of pictures with women with little to no clothing. Like this one on the right. The media I found on the topic was upsetting. It brought me to think of how these portals of women affect not only the people see women but more importantly the way women see themselves.

    My second blog is named "Hollywood is setting a Standard for Women", for this blog I researched how women are portrayed in movies. I learned about the Bechdel test which measures female presence in movies. The video on the left explained the three questions that need to be answered for the Bechdel test. The video also explained how many movies fail to pass the Bechdel test and gave a list. I was surprised to find out that there is little to no female representation on films. It was also upsetting to find that if there were female representation in films, it is a negative one.  



    My third blog is named "#FreetheNipple", for this blog I researched a feminist movement called "Free the Nipple". The movement was started by Linda Escro. In my blog I enabled a video where Escro was asked questions about the movement she started. When Escro was ask why did she start the movement, she informed the interviewer on the fact that it is illegal for women to be topless in 35 states and that in five of those states it is also illegal for women to breastfeed in public. She stated that this is the kind of double standard that she is fighting against. She is fighting for equal rights for men and women, not necessarily the right to be topless in public.


    My Fourth blog is named "Scout Willis Going Topless", for this blog I did more research on the "Free the Nipple Movement" and the people who support the movement. In the blog I go into detail with the people who support the movement, specifically people in the public eye. In the blog I enable a video about Scout Willis. The video talks about how Scout Willis shows her support for the Free the Nipple movement by fighting against Instagram's "no female nipple" policy. I also find a list of people who openly show their support for the movement by going to the fundraiser or posting info about the movement on social media like the Miley Cyrus' post on twitter. The post can be seen on the left. This shows that inequality among men and women is a real issue and many people are aware and willing to try and change it through informing people.


    My fifth blog is named "Anti Photoshop Movement", For this blog I did research on the "anti Photoshop Movement". The Movement is made up of people who believe that photoshoped images in the media like advertising can affect the self image of young men and women. After reading an article talking about the movement I decided to make a survey to see how people around my job feel about the topic.  I was surprised to find that the the answers I got from both male and females were the same. They both equally agreed that the altered images in the media does have an affect on self image and that it is a negative affect.

    Before I started my blog I was naive to the idea of inequality among men and women. Each blog post I did taught me more and more about women issues and the negative or little representation that women have in the media. 

Anti Photoshop Movement

There is this movement that has people rethinking images in things from covers of magazines to advertising. the movement is called the anti photoshop movement. It has been a topic about the affects that these altered images  have on children and people who look at these images. studies have showed that these images have con tributed to self esteem issues that may have or can lead to eating disorders like bolimea and aneraxia.

a couple, Seth and Eva Matlins, have started a compaing to regulate the retouching of models in magazine advertisments. this couple also happen to be the founders of a magaazine and fashion lable named Off Our Chests. they believe that the "self-esteem act" will protect children and teenages alike from unrealistic ideals when it comes to body image. The article found here goes into more detail about the movement.

I really wanted to know what other people thought about the idea of advertising actually having affects on  a person's perception of themselves so I decided to make a survey. In the survey I asked men and women at the Grove five questions.

The following questions where asked:

1. Do you think Men and Women are portrayed accurately in Ads. (in mag. or commercials.)?

2. Do you think this affects people?

3. In a positive or in a negative way?

4. Do you think that photoshopped ads should state that they have been photoshopped?

5. Do you think that doing so will make a difference?

Men   and   women

No                          100%

Yes                        100%

Neg.                        95%

Yes                       100%

Yes                       100%

 

The results were surprisingly similar. Both genders agreed with their response to the questions asked.

One young lady that took  the survey mentioned that making ads state that their images have been Photoshopped can have a positive impact on readers. She said "people will realize the difference between fantasy and reality. " 

 

Scout Willis Going topless for Instagram

 

 

 

This blog will continue to my last blog about free the nipple movement. I will talk about a few celebrities that take part in the movement.

 

 

The video above goes into more detail about how Scout  protests against instagram. She is against the ban of female nipples on instagram. This started when a picture she posted of her wearing a sweater with a picture of nipples on the sweater was taken down. "Man nipple and sexy girls are alright but not the female nipple "




Stars support the free the nipple campaign fundraiser at the SkyBar and Mondrian  in Los Angeles are shown in these two article here and here.



Karruche Tran

                                    Actress Ashley Wright










Miley Cyrus - Taking a step further to support "Free The Nipple" film, Miley Cyrus bared her chest in New York and post it on Twitter.

Scout Willis - Now making headlines when walk through the streets of New York in all her topless glory in protest against Instagram's anti-nudity rules.

.
Rihanna - After posting her topless cover for Lui magazine, Rihanna's Instagram account was suspended and then came back again for what appears to be an error from Instragram. A no stranger to nipple controversy, Rihanna joined the countless women supporting the Twitter battle as they shout out to "Free The Nipple."





Caitlin Stasey - The former "Neighbours" star bares her breast to support the #FreeTheNipple Twitter campaign for less censorship of female nudity in public. The 24-year-old actress wrote: "Be a living example of what you believe @freethenipple" with a black and white bare-chested photo of her.

 

#FreeTheNipple

                              The video above is referred to here  can also be found here.

The video shows  Linda Escro encouraging the free the nipple movement by telling women on the streets to free themselves by taking off their tops. free the nipple is a feminists movement that focuses on the double standard there is between men and women. It highlights the fact that society needs to work on equality between men and women. Escro States how she wants to have the same rights as men. she continues saying "if it's a hot summer day and a man can take his shirt off, I want to have the right to do the same." there is also a film under the same name

In this article Escro answers a couple of questions about her movement.
 when asked

So what first grabbed your attention on the nipple issue?

Lina: It's illegal for women to be topless in 35 states in America. In 5 of those states, it's illegal for a woman to breast feed in public.

And in all of those states it is legal for a man to be topless?

Lina: Yes, men can be topless anywhere. 

 

 Lina Esco and Rumer Willis

Hollywood is setting a Standard for Women

     For my Blog this week I will be talking about how women are portrayed in movies.  I will be referring to the video above along with some other articles if found from my research.

     My initial idea for this week's Blog came from watching the third Transformers movie. I noticed that the supporting women in the movie had very little lines or was ditsy and hopeless after initially being introduces to be a strong and smart. In the movie “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,”  I also noticed the other female actors failed to be well rounded.

           After doing some research I realized that this is a reoccurring theme in a lot of Hollywood movies. There is this thing called the Bechdel test for women in movies. "The Bechdel Test is a simple way to gauge the active presence of female characters in Hollywood films and just how well rounded and complete those roles are."found with YouTube video. The test has three questions that when answered can show rather it has has passed or not. 
The three questions are:

 Are there at least two or more women in it? (they have to have names)

Do the they talk to each other?

Do they talk to each other about something other than men?

     I was shocked to find that in addition to the transformers movie there is an overwhelmingly long list of movies that did not pass the Bechtel Test. The following will be a few examples found on BuzFeed.com and filmschoolrejects.com in articles named 11 Movies In 2013 That Failed The Bechdel Test and 10 Famous Films That Surprisingly Fail The Bechdel Test :

AVATAR

   The movie Avatar fails because there are few moments where females actually speak to each other. There is one scene where Neytiri and her mother hold a real conversation only to be about the about Jake, who as we all know is a man.

THE PURGE

The Purge movie fails because  there are two or more women in the movie but they only talk about men.

21 & OVER

The movie  21 & over fails because the was only one female in the movie

   Even though there is an overwhelming number of movies that do not pass the Bechdel test, that doesn't mean that there aren't any good movies that do pass the test. The following will be a few examples found on totalfilm.com in an article named 50 Greatest Films That Pass The Bechdel Test:

Toy Story 3 (2010)

How It Passes: In their efforts to console a sobbing Barbie (Jodi Benson) over her abandonment by owner Molly, Mrs. Potato Head (Estelle Harris) and Jessie (Joan Cusack) offer her reassurance and comfort. Awww.

Best Female Character: Badass cowgirl, Jessie doesn’t take lip from no-one. A special edition toy, she’s even blessed with her very own sniffling backstory montage. To Sarah Maclachlan.

 

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

How It Passes: Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) and her assistant, Jen (Juno Temple) spar back and forth following the liberation of Gotham - and whether or not the fallout was what Selina truly wanted.

Best Female Character: The wily Catwoman herself, Selina Kyle - she can burgle with the best of ‘em, harness the thunderous Batcycle and of course, play a double agent with ease.

Beer ads Sexualizes Women

         The video above is a commercial for Heineken beer. After watching this commercial I took some time to dissect the symbols displayed within the thirty second commercial. The commercial portrays a woman as a sexualized object. She is not only robot maid that dispenses beer, she is also a form of entertainment . After she dispenses beer from her body and holds it as if modeling it, she then holds on to the beer while she multiplies and dances till the end of the commercial. This is not the only beer advertisement that portrays women as sexualized objects. There are endless pictures and posters that portray women as sexualized objects.

 Images like the one on the left,  where there are women are wearing little Clothing are commonly used as posters on billboards .

      This brings to mind questions like:

Who are these commercials directed to?
Why are they directed to these people?

Who watches has commercials? 

How and why are these commercials attracting these people? 

And most importantly,
how does this affect the way people see women?

 Images like the one on the right are commonly found in pages of a magazine. There are also cardboard ads, like the one on the bottom left, that display in skin tight clothing to attract the male consumer. theses ads can be found outside/ inside local liquor stores. 

All pictures where found using Google search