Amy Goodman

Amy Goodman is one of the many women in media who are fighting for what media & journalism should be. A Harvard graduate with a degree in Anthology, Goodman started off the beginning of her career as a producer of the evening news show at WBAI, Pacifica Radio’s station in New York City. She is the founder of Democracy Now, which started in 1996 and is the only national radio/TV news show free of all corporate underwriting. Goodman focuses on Peace and Human- Rights movement around the world that corporate funded media would never cover. She is able to present a range of independent voices not often heard on the airwaves.

Democracy Now is necessary in the media today because, it allows people to see the real issues that are happening in the United States and nationally. It shows ordinary people from around the world who are directly affected by U.S. foreign policy & proletariat leaders etc. This is something that is rarely heard in the U.S.corporate-sponsored media today. Amy Goodman started Democracy Now after traveling to East Timor to report on the US-backed Indonesian occupation of East Timor. There, she was accompanied by Allan Nairn, where they witnessed the cruelty of the Indonesian soldier’s towards the East Timorese. Goodman and Nairn were beaten themselves by Indonesian government officials for reporting the cruel truth of which they saw. She has fought long and hard in the media to bring these key issues to light.

Democracy Now is airing on over 800 stations, pioneering the largest community media collaboration. Amy Goodman doesn’t only rely on the media to get people aware of these issues. She has worked on and collaborated with other activists on documentaries such as Massacre: The Story of East Timor, and From Annihilation to a New Nation and Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria’s Oil Dictatorship. Amy Goodman is also a distinguished author for her book The Exception to the Rulers, Standing up To Madness and her latest book Breaking the Sound Barrier. Goodman has received tremendous awards for her work as a journalist including the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and the George Polk Award. Not to mention Goodman is the first journalist to receive the Right Livelihood Award which is often referred to as the "Alternative Nobel Prize".

The Daily Beast

Launching on October 6, 2008, news site The Daily Beast was thrust towards news junkies everywhere; much to the chagrin of popular online-news favorite, the Huffington Post. It was a joint venture between famed magazine editor Tina Brown and billionaire Barry Diller of InterActiveCorp. Together they created a news site which is now acclimated for mixing original reporting with celebrity gossip, photography; high brow sophistication and snarky opinionated blogging. The website has a clean red/black and white design that is aided by surprisingly uncluttered online advertising.

Co-creator Tina Brown is already a superstar in her own right. Brown started her career in the news room as a journalist and columnist,. Born a British citizen, she did not became a United States citizen untill 2005. Brown graduated St Anne's College, Oxford in 1974. It would be amiss to go without mentioning her spunky spirit that resonated even in her early years of education, as she was kicked out of no more than three boarding schools for dissidence.

In 1973 she won the Pakenham Award for the best young journalist. The Sunday Times called her the Most Promising Female Journalist, and in March 1974, the British edition of Cosmopolitan magazine described her as a "stunning twenty-year-old playwright." Brown was mainly writing at the time for wrote Punch magazine; reporting from New York. In 1978 the magazine gave her the Young Journalist of the Year Award. That same year she quit to join Harold Evans at The Sunday Telegraph in London.

She became the editor-in-chief of Tatler magazine at the age of 25 and In 1992, Brown started working as editor for the New Yorker but receive much criticism during her time there. She was accused of obliterating the old model the New Yorker by Brown using more photography and shorter articles. Over all Brown’s controversial ways increased circulation by 30 percent, adding 250,000 new readers. Brown continued to quickly rise up the literary ladder (as far as American media industry goes) as the editor of the magazines Vanity Fair from 1984 to 1992 and of The New Yorker from 1992 to 1998.

In 1999 Brown launched Talk magazine, but due to a dwindling demand for print publications it had to close it down in 2001. The collapse of Talk in 2001 could of smeared her reputation as an editor with the Midas touch but she quickly regained steam upon hosting Topic A with Tina Brown., a news show on CNBC. Brown also wrote for The Washington Post and The New York Sun on occasion. In 2007, she was named to the Magazine Editors Hall of Fame. She has also been honored with four George Polk Awards, five Overseas Press Club awards, and ten National Magazine Awards. She and her husband, Harold Evans, who was the editor at The London Times and editorial director at U.S. News & World Report, have two children.

As for the beast, the name of the site stems from Brown's favorite novel, Evelyn Waugh's Scoop. The Beast is positioned somewhere in the middle of the Drudge Report and the Huffington Post, both in terms of content and political placement. Politically, it seeks a non-partisan tone, in contrast to the snarky right winged attitude of Drudge and the unabashed liberalism of Huffington Post. I feel it has more original content than Drudge - But like Drudge it also acts as an aggregator, linking to stories of the day as chosen by its small team of editors under its motto "Read this, skip that." It is the perfect way to give you a synopsis of the story, and then the link to go get more if you feel so inclined; which is ideal for ADD online reader, such as me =)

Media Watch

http://www.mediawatch.com/welcome.html

"Challenging racism, sexism, and violence in the media through education and action."

This is a pretty cool site for news and information. As far as news goes, it's mostly links to other alternative news sources that parallel to their cause. Basically they organize information relevant to their mission. "Our goal is to challenge abusive stereotypes and other biased images commonly found in media. Media Watch, which began in 1984, distributes educational videos, media literacy information and newsletters to help create more informed consumers of the mass media. We do not believe in any form of censorship, especially the silencing of marginalized groups. Corporate owned media will use any image or story to manipulate buying power and opinions, regardless of the harm engendered by their images. We believe people's safety should come before profit." While Media Watch isn't exclusively by or for women, they recognize women's role in media and the objectification of women.

Media Watch was founded by Ann Simonton who was a fashion model. From her experience in the industry, she created the site, gives lectures, and as appeared on Oprah, CNN, and has written articles on the greedy world of advertising. Once a victim and a contributer to the norms, she now is a prime advocate against media bias.

To navigate around the site there is a remote control on the left hand side. This is a really cool feature. It is a really cool idea. If one clicks on 'gallery' there is a collection of spoof ads as well as offensive images from magazines. Particularly the Vogue, 'Make Love Not War.' Seriously offensive.

On the remote, there is a 'Take Action' button, providing ways to make a difference, rather than just getting mad. Among the 'Take Action' page, there is a call to boycott magazines like Vogue and to boycott shows like America's Next Top Model. There is a link to to join the National Feminist Anti-Pornograhpy Movement (who knew!). Ultimately, to stop the the production of such images, advertisements must prove to fail in selling products. The change starts with us, the consumers.

Victoria's Secret; trying to break their own mold?

Victoria's secret is multi billion dollar industry that creates lingerie, clothing, perfumes and cosmetics. This American based corporation is famous for scantily clad fashion shows and perpetuating the idea hat they know what "sexy" is and they will sell it to you, one overpriced bra-and-panty set at a time.

I will admit i think their line under garments is quite comfortable, and the materials and color are made to look eloquent. But cheap they are not. An average Victoria's secret bra cost anywhere upwards $45.00- $65.00 dollars a pop. A high price to pay for clothing mostly you and your mate will see. We know that price doesn't mater to consumers, as least not to VS shoppers. Victoria's secret boasts 3.22 billion revenues as of 2006, despite a recession. This is according to its parent company "Limited Brands" annual report (http://ww3.ics.adp.com,2009).

Since its California debut by entrepreneur Roy Raymond in 1977. Raymond, a Stanford grad, opened the first Victoria's Secret store after feeling embarrassed and awkward trying to purchase lingerie for his wife in public. It took just $80,000 to start the store and by the years end the baby company grossed over $500,000.

It wasn't until 1999 when the the company gained notoriety in the early 1990s after it began to use in supermodels its advertising and fashion shows. "Victoria's Secret Angels" are the brand's most visible models and spokeswomen. They've included such catwalk stars such as Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks, Stephanie Seymour and Gisele Bundchen. These highly sexualized images such as the one above have been mailed to the homes of teens, made as pop ups on their screen and shown on commercials during their television programs. Victoria's secret inadvertently promotes a sexy image to girls that are in the eyes of many, too young to be "too sexy".

But this blog post isn't just about how Victoria's influence the masses, but how they plan on changing their appeal and influence. CEO Sharon Turney states in an CNN video from February 28,2008 that she realize just far off the track they have gotten.

"We've so much gotten off our heritage ... too sexy, and we use the word sexy a lot and really have forgotten the ultra feminine. ... I feel so strongly about us getting back to our heritage and really thinking in terms of ultra feminine and not just the word sexy and becoming much more relevant to our customer..."

This was almost 2 years ago. I have yet to see Sexy giant Victoria's secret make any strong head way but I will keep looking for them to break their own mold.

When it comes to constructing an alternative form of advertising, I think the concept is fairly simple: stay away from the male gaze of superficiality and stereotypical views of women and focus on something other than the physical appearance.
But when I view advertising as a creator and not as a consumer, it's clear that the male gaze is an effective marketing method of advertising. Tap into the insecurities of women about their looks and you will sell products. I believe that it is going to be difficult to create an effective alternative to the current system of advertising.
However, if I were creating a system of alternative system of advertising, I would focus on aspects of the human self in a more positive and self assuring light.

Character, morality, and personality are far more significant aspects of the self than personal appearance. And as an advertiser, I would focus on the personality of the person and not the physical appearance.

A Step in the Right Direction

As we have seen through our readings, class discussions, and our daily lives, the media and advertising often use images of women in an exploitative manner, and very frequently it is to sell products. While advertising has changed a lot over the years, it is still conducted in a sexist manner. I think it is a huge undertaking to try and change advertising as a medium, or to reform it drastically. Advertising is advertising and at the end of the day, it is there to sell products, in almost any way possible. I do give credit to the industry for undergoing changes, as times have changed, and for taking into account societal changes. For example, we no longer see the kind of blatantly sexist advertisements that appeared in Susan Bordo’s “Hunger as Ideology” article. This is an example of how the advertising industry has changed and evolved over the years.

Instead of aiming to reform the advertising industry, I propose ways of educating young women about the distortion of body image that appears in magazines, ads, fashion spreads, and on the fashion runways. By teaching young women to identify that the women who appear in these pictures, though beautiful, have been airbrushed and altered, they will be able to face these images without a sense of self-loathing. They, hopefully, will be able to appreciate the images for what they are, instead of striving to look like them, or feeling like they should look like them. The Dove Real Beauty Campaign is an example of this effort, and one we’ve already talked about in class. Another example is the link below, an article in the current (November 2009) issue of Glamour magazine. It is a four-page article, including a spread of nude women (pictured), about plus-size models. Some might argue that even though Glamour has this article, it still books skinny models for its fashion spreads (which is true,) I think it is a step in the right direction. I have noticed efforts like this in a lot (but not all) mainstream magazines. This is a medium I pay very close attention to so I have noticed the change.

Link to the full article on Glamour.com: http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/2009/10/these-bodies-are-beautiful-at-every-size

Destroy the Image

Living in the economy dominated world it is hard to disregard all the needs and desires created for people by media, which often leads us to overlook the real values of life: such as family, love, nature and so on. Having read the bunch of articles about how woman are manipulated by media; especially advertising, and observing most woman behavior these days, it becomes obvious and alarming how powerful the media impact can be.

Shortly: the understanding of success for majority of woman nowadays often means to be skinny and beautiful as advertised in many different campaigns. This view is limited, since these ideas are occupying nearly every single thought, most of the time and most of the money to achieve and seek these goals, for instance; obsession with food, dieting, exercising, extensive shopping and etc. According to the author of the article “Conclusion: Body Messages and Body Meaning”– ‘the overwhelming theme of our times.. is self transformation’ and the possibility and promise of it is sold to us... However, instead of trying to buy the better version of ourselves, before running after unrealistic goals there should be more opportunities for other things to develop. The solution could be - completely stopping indoctrination and banning the public advertising, what, for example, was done in Sao Paolo, the largest city in South America, in 2007. That would leave more room for everybody to readjust to the reality, to become more grounded and centered, also sensitive to what truly matters in the real life, to reconnect to each other and create independent world view on our own, "since repeated exposure to media stereotyping can create illusions that representations are truth" (Singorielli and Morgan, 1990). Of course, it is hard to imagine that to happen here in America. The advertising industry would not be happy about it, because it is a big money making business, which rules not just US, but has an impact on the entire world.. For this reason, instead of forcing the majority to believe certain truths and developing stereotypes, the advertising should be done much more thoughtful and responsible, trying to encourage creativity, respect and positive outlook to the world. As the writer of the article “Culture” points out : “The definition of perfection, however, changes with the needs of employers, politicians, and, in the postwar economy that depended on spiraling consumption, advertisers.”, that is why people have to be more aware of these issues and at least have a chance to choose their own values and goals, based not only on the advertising but on more objective world vision and understanding.

So close

I saw this ad, and at first I said to myself, "hooray and huzzah, I finally found an ad that breaks the mold of mainstream!" Then I looked at it again, and read what it said and I realized that it was so close, but just not close enough. At first glance you see a man holding and caring for his child. Awesome, here is a man who isn't being served by someone, or watching his wife take care of the family, or being a completely useless fool when it comes to anything not related to sports and barbecuing. Then you take a second glance and really look at the way the model is positioned and you see that he is naked. Again, awesome, because I can honestly say I have never before seen a naked man holding a baby in any kind of media, however, I think like half of the baby product ads I have seen, or anything with new mothers, the mother is naked, just like this picture. So again, its breaking the mainstream view were it places a man not only in a societal female position, but in a commonly physical position as well. Then I looked a third time and read what it said. "It's never too early to raise the next generation cyclist." And my excitement went out the widow. Just when I thought the ad was depicting a man who legitimately was caring for his child because its a good thing, I realized that the only motive this man in the picture has is to recognize his failed dreams as an athlete through his son. So, in underlying essence, the ad still maintains its mainstream stereotypes, in this case being that all men care about is sports. And it made me mad, because I feel like I always see that, ads appearing to be breaking molds, but in actuality, they aren't. I feel like we as a society just haven't reached that point, but I think we're close, which is good.

Culture Jamming

It seems next to impossible to go a day without being bombarded with overly sexualized images of women. The images that I find to be the most ridiculously offensive of them all are the advertisements for American Apparel.

American Apparel, a popular clothing line known for its amateur pornographic-like advertisements, heavily utilizes the perfect provocateur; an "exemplary female prototype" who embodies youth, good looks, a slender body, and sexual seductiveness (Cortese, 54). The company also is an example of Cortese's statement that, "Advertising images simultaneously tried to co-opt and commodify the very notion of 'women's liberation'" (Cortese, 56) because American Apparel encourages their female consumers to send in photographs of themselves wearing AA clothing, usually while in overtly sexual positions. American Apparel has been highly criticized for its advertisements, so much so that this anti-advertisement featuring Dov Charney, the company owner, was created. The anti-ad takes an image from an actual American Apparel advertisement and features a statement from Dov Charney himself, highlighting his clearly misogynistic opinions regarding domestic violence and rape. I find the anti-advertisement to be very effective because it mimics the American Apparel style yet exposes it for what it truly is: a company whose founder reinforces the existence of rape culture through advertisements and his speech. The anti-advertisement demonstrates the mindset behind the objectification of women in media images that is so consistently denied to even exist.

Too stereotype, too "woman" in ads

In advertisements, things always seems to be so "ideal", no matter men nor women they are always perfect in the advertisements. Well, although we must admit that these models can make the advertisements look better, however is create so much issues as well.

What the most we see is women as a sex object shown in front of the public; in these advertisements, women are always sexy, and their body must be in the "perfect scale".
There is always doubt about this, is these sexy women really related to the main theme of their advertisements?
As so much of such"sexy" ads come into our mind, sometimes we will confuse about the world of reality and the one of imaginary; since the people might have the wrong mind which all the women should as perfect as them, and women will force to become the "ideal" in front of these people. The most common case is to on diet and look skinny, but later on, these women might even go to doctor to "fix" and "idealize" their looking and body.

Just as the sample of this advertisement, actually the purpose is very positive, but does it really something about Maggie Q and Sophie Monk, even they are a vegetarian as well?What is the real message of this advertisement? Are they really going to encourage us to become a vegetarian?Is to try Maggie Q and Sophie or try the vegetables?I am really so confuse........indeed this ad did not sent the message of what they want but something else to me, in addition, i don not think it is necessary to use a nude woman for such a positive advertisement.


It is really a tragedy for us, or for the society about such a thing happened. Even I do not believe every individual is equal to each other in the word, but still, it is sad when people now think it is normal, accepted such a concept, and keep to spread out this idea. I think it is really time for women to stand out, fight for their dignity.

Alternative Avenues: Positive Representations of Women in Advertisements

The exploitation of the hypersexualized female image to sell a product is all too common in today's advertising industry. This advertisement, announcing the latest season of successful FX television drama “Nip/Tuck,” is a perfect example of it. Though "Nip/Tuck" is a drama series that has been critically praised for its writing and acting, a non-viewer of the show would have never learned this by looking at the advertisement displayed above. It is jarring to realize just how embedded the concept of "sex sells" has become in marketers' minds. Even a well-respected, well-rated show believes that it must use a sexualized image of a woman in underwear and heels to sell itself. Furthermore, for a show that does anything but glorify the plastic surgery business (in fact, the show often solely displays its darkest sides), its promotional advertisement promotes the dangerous idea of women as objects. The woman standing before the two men, allowing herself to be inspected, is displayed as a moldless piece of clay that must be pinched, cut and tweaked in order to be seen as acceptable.

But what can be said in response to this pervasive exploitation of women in the Western ad industry? There have been several pop songs emphasizing inner beauty, such as Uncanny Alliance's 1995 hit, "I'm Beautiful Dammit" and Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful":





For girls not interested in pop music, riot grrrl bands like Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, and Sleater Kinney have all made several albums focusing on the rejection of impossible patriarchal beauty standards. Furthermore, magazines like Bust and Bitch do not employ make-up editorials in their issues and never accept advertisements that seem exploitative or derogatory towards women:



Recently, a woman in the Little Italy section of New York City fought back against misogyny in advertisements when she scribbled a response onto a street ad for the Tucker Max film "I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell," which promoted rape in its rhetoric:



If more women can begin to see the other alternative options around them and begin partaking in those options while rejecting the mainstream exploitative images that are fed to them by mainstream advertising, then perhaps a cultural shift can truly be made. Of course, this is easier said than done. Many young women who have grown up seeing these ads on an incessant basis have already internalized aspects of the dehumanizing images put in front of them. It will take more than alternative approaches to advertising to get rid of the exploitation of women for capitalist gain: there must be a healing process. It is only through pedagogy and analysis that a new generation of women can be freed from the entrapments that these marketing machines have laid out for them.

Not Pretty Enough

While I was pondering this post assignment I was reminded of a song that I love. The song is by Kasey Chambers and is titled "Not Pretty Enough". I think I have always related to this song because it goes through the list one girl has of all the things that are wrong or flawed in her. We have all been made to feel that we are not pretty enough by the advertising and perfect representations of women in the media. I don't know what the solution is. Advertisers want/need to sell and advertise their products but there needs to be a better way to do this that doesn't perpetuate this idea of unflawed beauty. The Dove campaign is the closest thing that I can think of that is at all progressive to this end. Yes, their campaign is flawed and obviously their main goal is still to sell their product. However I feel like this is a step in the right direction. The "love the skin your in" ad depicts women of different shapes and sizes and tries to sell the idea that all of these are beautiful and for women to embrace and love their bodies. This of course is easier said than done. And it can't be left out that even the biggest of the models is not that big. I think that aknowledging the use of airbrushing and the extensive make-up that goes into making models and actresses look the way they do is an important step for women to realizing this beauty thing is totally bogus. The dove campaign to that end that we watched in class last week at least acknowledges this and puts it out there for everyone to see. I remember really admiring Sarah Jessica Parker for speaking out when the media applauded her quick return to top form and weight loss after giving birth. She was quick to point out that unlike many other women who give birth, she has the means to provide child care and personal training sessions. Similar to this end I was talking with G-na the other day and she related a story about Jessica Alba, who won Hottie of the year at an award ceremony, and in her acceptance speech thanked her airbrushers and make-up, hair etc. team for helping to hide her flaws because without them she would not have been accepting the award. I think that if more high profile celebrities allowed for themselves to be shown without airbrushing and looking less perfect, maybe young women would feel less inadequate.

Truth and Lies

Some people say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Most certainly that is true in most cases but in the case of mainstream society beauty is in the eye of media creators. The images we see on a daily basis warp our self perceptions because the images aren't reality. They are sculpted and created in a way so that an ideal is created that can never be achieved. Using tools like photoshop and image editor, advertisements play on our fears and doubts by creating images that are essentially perfect. No one is perfect and it becomes so ingrained in our minds that we develop a neuroses to become this something that can never be.

One way to combat the PLASTIC images we see is counter-advertising or subvertising. A few major companies and people have jumped on the subvertising band wagon. Some include Dove and pop singer Christina Aguilera. Aguilera's song "Beautiful" shows a direct reference to media in one scene where the girl is sitting in front of a slew of fashion magazines. Another scene is the girl looking at her reflection in the mirror and sucking in her stomach so that she can see her ribs. The video proceeds to show how these people step above what they see and become themselves.




Dove on the other hand has created a wonderful campaign on real beauty. Dove states "we want to help free ourselves and the next generation from beauty stereotypes. It's this message that's at the heart of our campaign for Real Beauty and Self-Esteem Fund, and its why we continue to create thought provoking ads, confidence-building programs and messages that embrace all definitions of beauty." On doves website there are a number of clicks that lead to quiz's titled "are you media smart", "image manipulation", and "body facts and fiction" http://www.dove.ca/en/#/cfrb/girlsonly/. I think dove is doing a great job on creating awareness surrounding the misconceptions of media images. Hopefully they practice what they preach and continue to put forth images that make us think about what we see and how we feel about ourselves.

We need to see the other side of the coin. Without being exposed to the truth about what we see, we continue to remain inactive in our own lives because covertly media controls some portion of it. Let us all be more aware of what we see and how we see it.

Famous Women Speak Out!

Our media moguls have done a fantastic job at completely mauling the self-esteem and confidence of women. They have taken our true identities away and replaced them with "model" images of who we are seen to be, and who we should be. Well, unfortunately Mr. Media, we cannot all be this thing that you want us to be. Nor do we all want to be this thing that you want us to be. Sure, some girls and women do, because they have been brainwashed, just like everyone in Orwell's 1984. But this isn't 1984 (at least not yet)... so what about some anti-advertising messages?!

Fortunately enough, there have been some voices, who are heard and listened to, who have taken a stand against the way the media portrays girls and women, and influences them (us) to be. These voices are people who already have a torch in their hands... people who have become successful and are able to speak up. It is one if I do something to take a stand against this stereotypical woman that the media portrays, but it is a whole other effect if a famous person does something.

Take a look at the magazine industry. In Wolf's essay "Culture", she talks all about how the magazine industry has effected women, and caused a major blow to women's self-esteem. Women read magazines that are constantly reinforcing that they do not have the best clothes, the sleekest hair, the nicest bodies, or even the good skills in bed. They try and "teach" women how to be a stylish little vixen, while the women who are reading feel completely inadequate and incapable of achieving this image. Jamie Lee Curtis is one woman who spoke against this. She decided to do a photoshoot with More Magazine without any makeup or airbrushing... completely skimmed down to a sports bra and spandex shorts. The article in the magazine starts out with, "Jamie Lee Curtis wants you to know the difference between celebrity illusion and all-too-real life." THANK YOU JAMIE LEE! Finally, a woman not afraid to show other women that we are OKAY, that even though she is famous and constantly glammed up, she is just like us, flaws and all! Who knew?! She felt she was perpetuating this fraudulent image of herself, and wanted to clear things up - wanted to empower other 40 years old women just like her.

So who else has done something to speak out against the perils that girls and women face in today's world?

TLC wrote a smash hit in the 90's called "Unpretty". It was written in 1999 and became the group's fourth #1 hit on the Billboard 100. "Unpretty" became an anthem for girls all around the country, and even world, who were all struggling with false concepts of beauty and dealing with loss of self-esteem. The song was derived from a poem that T-Boz had written, and they turned it into a nationwide phenomenon of empowerment and regained self-esteem. Unfortunately, crazes don't last long, and we might be right back where we started... but I give them so much credit for the message they sent out. The music video is great, and I even remember loving this as a younger version of myself.

TLC - Unpretty
Uploaded by keyzz. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

It is through these stars (not the kind in the sky) that girls and women everywhere have been able to feel that it is not just them. That the people who are actually featured in the limelight and the glam world feel the same was as ordinary people. And that is comforting and important for girls and women affected by the media to know. By speaking out against the concept of "beauty" and what is "right" for a woman to appear as, it gives others more confidence and assurance that they are OKAY and beautiful in their own way!

Men Giving a Helping Hand

I think because of the nature and women and men, women, more and more throughout history where victimized of being house slaves. I especially think because of our negative media sources, which helps push this negative view point of the male (the male gaze). I am not saying women shouldn't give birth to children and do best they naturally do, but I am saying that men can help out in many things that women do. For example, in house choirs or cooking and cleaning, if ads where produced showing men helping out in the house, I am sure men will pick up on this and start helping out in the house. I believe if there where more ads which promoted men and women doing things together and switching roles, this will help us get rid of the evil image of women that now currently bombard the Internet and television.

I believe and hope one day that ads like this one, or even worse ones will never be shown in the media one day. These images are like poison to men; it is like someone giving a man poisonous ice-cream, the man eats it, and it taste so good, but deep inside it is killing him. Images like this are very harmful to our eyes. This image in particular gives the impression that men and women aren't equal, but the man is the master and the women is the horse or slave. There is nothing wrong with a wife trying to please her husband, same way there is nothing wrong with a man trying to please his wife.

I found this ad online for real estate. In this picture you see a man and a woman, side by side, the woman is dressed modestly, so is the man. They are both holding a child in their hands, the woman is not holding them both. I believe if more ads like this one where released to the public it will start something new, a new trend for self respect and equality. We are so used to seeing a man dominating a women on television, and other ads, and we are currently so use to it, some of us will not have it any other way. My hope is that some of us, who are aware of this man dominated media frenzy will try their best to put an end to this.

don't just watch- see.

A few weeks ago in my Film Theory class, my professor said "guys- when you watch a film, I actually want you to see it, okay?" That comment really opened my eyes to examining art. Whether it's movies, TV or ads, I now feel that I'm not just watching- I'm seeing.

I've always known that women are objectified in the media- but it wasn't until this class I realized how bad. I recently got cable in my apartment (huge deal)- and watching commercial after commercial becomes exhausting- not only are they the same commercials they are all dirty and completely exploiting women.

In the "Beauty and the Beast of Advertising" it mentions how teens are so vulnerable to the pressures of advertising. It's about looking, and acting a certain way; being an object instead of a person. "Women are shown exclusively as housewives or sex objects."

When I saw the film "The Merchants of Cool" it was brought to my attention how much media shapes culture, and how much culture shapes media. People are actually paid to find out what is hip- what is "in". To m

e, that's hilarious. Everyone wants to be an individual, so what do they do? Package that- and sell it.

I think one of the biggest problems in the advertising industry is that they are NOT listening to the whole story. They're starting to caught on, but slowly. Sex sells, we know this, but, women are starting to get to a point where they see the damage that's bei

ng done, whether it's an eating disorder, or feeling of constant inadequacy- eyes are being opened.

So what do we do? When I complain about a situation my mother always says "Leila- if you could just take

the energy you are wasti

ng by being upset about this, and transfer it to being productive you would get so much work done". Transferring energy from selling sex to selling reality. As much as we might not want to admit this, media has more control over our lives than we realize. For example (not pertaining to w

omen i

n media) "goin' green" whose not "goin' green" now-a-days? Advertising has transferred the energy from plastic to clothe- everyone's doing it, celebrities are endorsing organic and natural products. Every store you go to, you have the option of buying a clothe bag for your items. And whose profiting, besides the earth, of course; the advertising industry.

Some celebrities have already started what I'm about to propose- but like I said "instead of selling sex, sell reality". For example a few years ago, Jamie Lee Curtis posed in a magazine without airbrushing, Cindy Crawford recently disclosed that she TOO has cellulite (ahhhhhh can you believe it!?) Dove has started a really great campaign to show "real beauty"- and their s

ales are profiting from it. If advertising companies could take all the energy from using and abusing to REALLY seeing what is being done and what

COULD be done- I think everyone would see it is profitable.

http://www.starmagazine.com/news/15975