I haven't done the extended comments post yet so this week I'm using Jackie's blog to do some extended comments. Even in her first mini paragraph that says "never fully making a connection to how racism is truly a prominent issue that we still deal with today" is so accurate. We learn about these rights movements in the past and think that because that was so long ago that they must have been resolved. But it's not really the case. I too liked the point Wise makes about how people of color have to be Obama to be "accepted" into our societies definition of an acceptable person. I'm convinced that Jackie and I are soul sisters because I jumped out of my chair and screamed "YES!!" when Wise talked about how abled bodied people ask other able bodied people about transportation as opposed to a non-able bodied person. Like hello why are we not asking people of color about racism? Don't you think they're probably the experts at that? Not the privileged white people. That's when I was like "I'm going to really enjoy blogging this week". Jackie's point about how in Herbert's article he talks about integrating those students in poorer schools into schools that are in better environments is really interesting to me. I think it'd be a great idea to have students experience other worlds and probably be more challenged than in their regular school. What would worry me is other students and teachers in an upper school trating the students from a poorer community differently, granted not everyone is bad but wouldn't you be worried that they would probably be bullied? But all in all I loved Jackie's blog this week she always rights really great things! :) This link is to a quick new York times article about exactly what Herbert talks about!
Oh how this article kills my childhood. Granted it's all totally true it still I will never watch a cartoon the same ever. There are plenty of Disney Princesses that are either of a different race or have goals other than finding a man. Mulan is not only Asian but cross-dresses to save her father and all of China! She defies the normal traditions of being the perfect woman, she even sings about men should want a "girl who's got a brain and always speaks her mind"... Shang is really just a bonus in the end. Belle just wants to read a damn book without Gaston trying to woo her. Tianna is a black women who is trying to open up her own business, she also gets a man as a bonus but that was not the goal of the movie. The movie Frozen is about two sisters watching out for each other, no man needed to save them!
Hyperlinks: Christensen talks about how we often give children an unrealistic expectation of how life should be through cartoons, books and movies. I really connect with the Disney Princess aspect of this because those movies were my childhood and do often give you this expectation that you should always have perfect hair, be thin and sing like and angel to get the guy.
I watched a video awhile ago that's funny but actually really true too! I warn you though it contains a good amount of vulgar language.
She also has videos on "What Children's shows taught me" and "What movies taught me about Love" which are a more comical spin on the points Christensen makes.
One of Christensen's students talks about the images girls see of women in the media and in cartoons. How all Disney Princesses are beautiful and skinny. Christensen brings up that women were rarely even shown in older cartoons and when they were she says "they look like Jessica Rabbit or Playboy centerfolds". Like hello world there are more women who don't look like that than ones that do. One of the more recent weight outrages was when Cosmopolitan magazine (a magazine that gives women unrealistic sex advice and expectations) posted a picture of one of their models who had large blobs and wasn't stick thin calling her a "plus sized model". Huffington post then wrote Cosmo a letter back about this issue Huffington Post on Cosmo's "Plus Sized" Model And look! Here's a quick video of how photo-shopped models actually are! I'm not trying to bash models but if you've ever seen pictures of them without makeup, or even celebrities, they do not look as beautiful as they do in images.
My other big thing with this article is how girls are taught that getting a man is the goal in life. Like that that should be the main goal of every girls life starting at like age 16. My goal is really to just get through college and get a job before I'd even think about getting married. Also why is it always said that a women's wedding day is the best day of her life? Like uhm no I could think of plenty of other days in your life that are going to better or just as good as your wedding day. Why do people think that's all women want? Why is it that if we want to be the CEO of a company or the President of the United States women are called power hungry or monsters? Chances are girls that a man is not going to kiss you out of a coma or stab a giant octopus women with his oat to rescue you.
Most guys are not like Noah from the Notebook, they are not going to build you a house to win you back but I mean if Ryan Gosling wants to build me a house for us to fall in love in I wouldn't complain. Here's a list of "7 Unrealistic Expectations Women have of Men" #4 talks about the Prince Charming deal Unrealistic Expectations Women Have of Men
I'm convinced that Jackie and I are soul sisters because I jumped out of my chair and screamed "YES!!" when Wise talked about how abled bodied people ask other able bodied people about transportation as opposed to a non-able bodied person. Like hello why are we not asking people of color about racism? Don't you think they're probably the experts at that? Not the privileged white people. That's when I was like "I'm going to really enjoy blogging this week".
