Perpetuating the Stereotype

Celebrities like Heidi Montage only work to perpetuate the notion of women as sex objects.

By the time she turned 21 in September 2007, MTV reality star Heidi Montag had already had a nose job, collagen lip injections, and implants that turned her A-cups into cantaloupe-round 32-Cs. In the years since, she's mulled over what to have done next, saving photos of stars like Angelina Jolie and consulting her surgeon more than 20 times. In this week's People, she describes her behavior as "absolutely obsessed." Which led her to the operating room once again, on Nov. 20, for a total of 10 procedures in one sitting.

The problem it creates is that young girls see this as normal (at Least in Hollywood.)
We've grown up on pop culture that screams that everything is a candidate for improvement. We've watched bodies transformed on Extreme Makeover; faces taken apart and pieced back together on I Want a Famous Face. We dissect Demi Moore's Photoshopped body on the cover of W magazine and wonder how the 47-year-old mother, even before the airbrushing, could possibly look so good. Meanwhile, statistics from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery show that cosmetic-surgery procedures performed on those 18 and younger have nearly doubled over the past decade, while nearly 14 percent of Botox injections are given to those in the 19-to-34 age group, like Heidi. "I think it's a very interesting time for girls, in that what we all grew up believing—that you have to play the hand you're dealt—is no longer true," screenwriter and director Nora Ephron recently told NEWSWEEK. "In some sense, you really can go out and buy yourself a better face and a different body."

Women as Sex Objects

Global understand of the problems with pornography sets a clear agenda for agents of change working for a free gender society. Analysts found profound levels in which pornography works to attacks the social fabric of society, even outside the realms of sexuality. The indication is that the mere presence of pornographic materials in the workplace allows males to force females out of the industry. A further analysis of different types of pornography and negative depictions of women may surprise some individuals who believe that only extremely violent and sexual depictions of women, such as Hustler type magazines, cause an increase of violence against women. In fact their study indicates that exposure to media depicting women in degrading and subordinate situations, even if not explicitly sexual or violent in nature, will lead to increased violent behavior of men against women in society.

...the following ads share one thing in common- it views women as base, without any meaning other than a sexual one. Consider just on ad, and the focus on the dehumanization related to the imagery and context of the ad. Would anyone want her or his daughter or son represented as the women in these ads? If you can answer no to this question, consider joining the fight against sexism in popular culture.

World's 100 Most Powerful Women

As many of you may know, Forbes loves to do lists of the world's billionaires, leading companies in America, most influential people, most powerful people, etc. But one that is striking is a Forbes list done on  the World's 100 Most Powerful Women. The list is composed of not necessarily the most famous or most wealthy women in the world, but instead they are the ones that are most influential. These women that make up this Forbes list include Presidents, Chancellors, Chief Executives of major companies, etc. These women run countries, companies, and organizations and our world would be very different without them. The women who hold's the number one spot is the German Chancellor Angela Merkel who is the leader of the worlds fourth-largest economy, and has held this number one spot for four years! Imagine that. 


In the past, women hardly got any recognition, and were hardly involved in huge corporations and running countries. But today women are strikingly becoming quite powerful, and they are finally getting the recognition they deserve.




http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/11/power-women-09_The-100-Most-Powerful-Women_Rank.html

Women bringing home the bacon

In today's article on Psychology Today, Samantha Smithstein looks at the changing dynamics of male and female roles within American households. She analyzes how females are starting to make more than some of their male counterparts. She also writes about how women are climbing up the socio-economic ladder in today's society. It's interesting to see her analysis of these recent changes! Go women!

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/what-the-wild-things-are/201008/bring-home-the-bacon-and-fry-it

Local San Diego Workshops for Female Empowerment

Dr. Jen

Dr. Jen offers local workshops where students will learn to:

-Make healthier decisions
-Create balanced relationships
-Be comfortable with their bodies
-Speak their truth

Some good lectures to attend:

Why Good Girls Don't...and Do. Girls and young women receive many conflicting messages: Be a good girl. Boys will only like you if you put out. Show off your body to get attention and worth. Don't be a slut. It can be difficult for young women to negotiate what they do and don't want, and to be able to voice that in a healthy way. This interactive lecture delves into the power that young women have and how they can make choices that honor their bodies, health, feelings, and future.

Love My Body – How Do I Do That? We hear the message “Love Your Body,” but what does that really mean and how can we do that? This interactive lecture explores media depictions of bodies and the consumer culture around that, as well as gender socialization, components of body-image, what we can do to support each other, and skills to build a strong foundation for self-love physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. The focus here is on women’s bodies, but the messages and skills are relevant to all.

Female Sexual Empowerment for the 21st Century. Is a young woman in Girls Gone Wild sexually liberated? Or is she following gendered scripts of what it means to be valuable as a woman? Young women are socialized with many conflicting messages about what it means to be a woman, in a relationship, sexually active, and empowered. This interactive lecture digs at the many layers of awareness and worth women have, and how to tap into that in loving and empowering ways.