NO One is Perfect

For as long as I know, this world has chased after perfection. Yet the idea of “perfection,” is simply that…an idea. Since no one is perfect, we like to create in our minds what we think is perfect and then shove it down the throats of everyone else. Especially advertising companies.

There is an ideal image of beauty that has been shown in many advertisements over decades and even when we don’t think we are being affected by what we see, the reality shows us that we are.  What is even crazier is the fact the ideal image never shows consistency. One minute, ads show extremely skinny women modeling top designer clothes with long straight hair and full lips as the project “perfect” image and the next minute, they advertise an object with a women on it that has plump breasts, a very small waistline, a nice size butt and long legs. It goes on and on and so the question is, what is really the perfect image? And while women in the media are often modified by photoshop and recreated into being something they are not, they are still shown as vulnerable.

After watching, “Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising’s Image of Women,” it is clear to see the tactics advertising companies have been using over years to portray this “perfect” women. We also see the difference between how men are viewed in the media versus how women are viewed. Men are objectified as stronger and more masculine in ads while women are often objectified as vulnerable, needy and usable.

What’s wrong with this picture? ...Everything.

These are just a few ads that are examples of women being objectified in media.  

The woman is only an object of sexual fulfillment in this ad. Her face is covered by a BMW ad.

In this ad, 5 men are standing over this woman who is pinned down and they look tough and masculine. She is clearly being shown as an object being taken advantage of. 

This ad shows women being consumable and again, objects to be used and violated. 

This ad, the man is standing over a woman which shows the man as dominate and the woman as passive. 

A woman's body is objectified as a bottle of beer in this ad.

So after seeing ads like this over and over again, the media tells women they are objects and they must be "perfect" so that we can continue to be used. It's ridiculous. 

In my own experience, I have always been small but this is a genetic part about me and isn't anything I am striving to be. The media loves to portray the notion, "the skinnier, the better," but that is not always the case. While I'm not anorexic, there has been times where I've tried to gain weight and just couldn't. 

When I joined the Air Force, there was a delay for me to actually start basic training because I was too small. Although I was fit, my measurements wasn't where they needed it to be. Recruiters kept telling me to eat and drink all these weight gain shakes just to get bigger. I did everything and there was still no budge in my weight. It was frustrating. When I was finally able to start basic training, I had to sit at what they called, "the skinny table" at chow time which gave me 10 more extra minutes to eat. I also couldn't perform the exercises when I first started until the medical doctor said it was ok since my military instructor said he was afraid I was going to "break something." While I was getting the "you're too skinny" speech, others were getting the, "you're too big or not fit enough," speech. No matter how small or big the girls in my flight were, we got the impression we were still not fit enough or good enough and this is exactly what advertising agencies are saying. 

So as women, we strive to be that "perfect" woman we see in the ads. We get our make up done, nails done, butt injections, breast implants, weaves, colored contacts and the list goes on. One of my favorite episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is when Will is trapped in the basement with his girlfriend, Kathleen and realizes she isn't who he think she is. She starts taking her nails off, her contacts and her wig and Will is confused about what is actually hers. As comical as this episode is, I think it is very true. 

When we look at these ads, we see women as having all those artificial things but is portrayed as being their natural look. Just like Kathleen in the Fresh Prince episode, we can get our appearance to be different to reflect a natural look although it isn't because we think subconsciously it is what we need to be "perfect." 

As a result to all the nonsense portrayed in ads, I have one thing to say. 

Thanks to all the unrealistic ads out there for your confusing and sad contribution of women but we don't need your help. We're NOT objects and we're NOT perfect but we still are beautiful! 

The Muslim Kid, Women vs. Men and The Black Press

We opened class talking about the teenager in Irving who was arrested after bringing a handmade clock to his high school. Fourteen year-old, Ahmed Mohamed basically get punished for being creative because teachers mistook his homemade clock as a bomb. I personally think the fact he was Muslim had a lot to do with it, which is very sad. After the tragic events on September 11, 2001, American media has painted a picture depicting anyone of Arab or Middle Eastern decent as a “terrorist.” This panic and major profiling that is present today has most Americans always thinking the worst when talking about these nationalities.

I understand that the fear is real but when we react to stuff poorly like in this situation, it only really shows us as ignorant. What is crazy to me is that when the Oklahoma City bombings happened in 1995 by white male, Timothy McVeigh, America didn’t go into an, “all white males are out to kill us,” frenzy. As we see, terrorist attacks can be carried out by any race of people so to just single out those of Middle Eastern or Arab decent is ridiculous.

I hope Ahmed continues to keep tinkering with electronics and that those police officers and teachers offer him a big apology if they haven’t already. There was a much better way to handle that situation than having that young boy arrested.

On another note, my dad use to always tell me how men are visual creatures and women are more audio. A man can basically look at a female and get easily turned on and women are often turned on by what a man tells her. As I got older, I really understood what he was talking about and as we discussed the difference between how women are portrayed sexually versus man, this came to mind. Yes, men are more visual but in all honesty so is the rest of the world. Media portrays women often in one or two ways and that is either as housewives or as sex objects. These images of woman have been ingrained into our minds and our culture which gives rise to certain stereotypes of women being accepted.  For example, just look at the many advertising agencies that use women body parts to help sell their products. Women and men are definitely portrayed differently.

Also from class, after looking at a documentary of The Black Press, it really opened my eyes to how black people were involved in journalism and how much of an impact it made. At a time where the White Press was not recognizing black people unless it was to report a crime, the Black Press simply highlighted black people and their everyday lives. As said in the documentary, it gave a voice to people who were voiceless. Across the country, Black newspapers were being published before and during the civil war movement and it gave a sense of hope and faith to blacks. These newspapers brought forth the realities blacks were facing, the very same ones that white newspapers tried to suppress, like lynching for example.

Personally, the documentary was very touching. To see this aspect of journalism and how these black newspapers stood for so much makes me proud. Blacks have always fought for their rights and I think this kind of history should definitely be implemented in schools especially journalism schools.

I would love to just hold a copy of The North Star, Chicago Defender or the Pittsburgh Courier of that time and just read it.

How Races and Gender are Represented in Media and in the News

    At the beginning of class on September 3rd, a classmate brought up a good question. The question stemmed from the VMA awards that was on August 30th. Her question was, why is that black people are called "ghetto" when they are speaking up or address a situation as Nicki Minaj was called when she called out Miley Cyrus. 

    In my experience, the word ghetto is likened to black people. Not saying any other race doesn't get called ghetto but the term often refers to a part of a city where minority groups live in more often than not, black people. Often, the ghetto is the "hood" and it's the areas that are low income, crime is high and the struggle just to survive is difficult. Unfortunately the term went from being a noun to an adjective because it is now used to describe people. I don't have the answer to her question but I do feel that since black people are often portrayed in the media as low class and "uncivilized," when they speak up about an issue, it is frowned upon and likened to be ghetto because it is not in the way the majority feels is appropriate. 

    Race and gender is often displayed a certain way in the media based off of what we are used to seeing. Our culture tells us that men are the dominant ones and females are suppose to be more sensitive and inferior to men. In the same case, minority groups are portrayed as not having much and are not as educated while the majority (whites) are seen as educated and financially established. Just like we discussed before in news stories, blacks are shown to be the criminals or are interviewed about a serious matter but are somewhat made a joke of. For example, Antoine Dodson and Sweet Brown's interviews that quickly became a laughing joke because of what was said and how it was said. Both stories were serious matters, yet these two individuals are examples of how often blacks are portrayed in not a good light. The way the stories are covered just aren't the same as the way they would have been covered in a white neighborhood. 

    The show, Family Guy is notorious for making racial jokes. I'm not a big fan of the show but I have caught a few episodes before that I laughed at or couldn't believe Seth MacFarlane got away with. In one episode there is an Asian person driving on the freeway when she says something along the lines of, "I need to get over but there is a lot of traffic," and then says, "Oh well...good luck everybody else," as she cuts over 3 lanes safely while cars behind her crash and beep horns at her. This plays on the stereotype that Asians don't know how to drive and since they are portrayed this way, people tend to believe it. This is another example of a race being depicted a certain way in media and it being accepted. 

    Every race group including whites are depicted as something else and the same with genders. But if you are a minority or even a female, the representation in the news media of these groups are not seen as equal as to their counterparts. Therefore, the representation of them are often skewed in every way whether in the news or social media.