Brianna Myers for Race, Gender and The Media
I am convinced that this class should be mandatory for every student enrolled in college. The kinds of conversation and topics that we cover are things that need to be talked about and should be talked about in an environment like this... but then, if it was required it wouldn't be the same environment.
This class was so beneficial and thought provoking because of the type of people who signed up for this class. I personally believe that at least 80 percent of the class signed up because they were truly interested in this subject matter regardless if they originally had a conservative way of thinking or not. What made this work, was their willingness to be open to hearing different perspectives. That's all it came down to.
Don't get me wrong, there were some heated debates that I don't think really resulted in an actual answer. For example, our discussion about the dress code for girls in school. I know a lot of the males sitting in that classroom were honestly confused and just couldn't see what the big deal is. I also know that coming to a definite "I'm right and you're wrong" is not the goal of this class. I believe that the point is that now they are aware. They might not be on the same page now, but later on if the same topic comes up, they're aware of how the other side feels. That is when people are able to say realize that although they don't understand that particular struggle, it's important to be willing to listen and truly hear what the other side is saying.
I enjoyed this class so much and I'm very appreciative of Professor Everbach and the atmosphere she created in that room. The other 20 percent of the class that were not interested in the class and are probably the ones who talked about the class being about victims are irrelevant, but we can't give up hope on them. They must be educated so that their kids are educated. We cannot go back to square one.
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Childhood Ruined
Brianna Myers for Race, Gender and the Media
The title of this blog is actually not that accurate. I have realized that although I was a huge fan of Disney Channel series and the DCOM specials (if you don't know the meaning of that acronym, you're too young to be reading my blog), I wasn't exactly a huge fan of the stereotypical fairy tale princess movies when I was younger. The only movie I can think of that I watched repeatedly was The Little Mermaid. Bare with me while I cry an ocean while I rip apart my childhood.
The Little Mermaid, the beautiful love story of a young mermaid who finds eternal love by defying her father. In this process, she gives up her fin (the thing that makes her who she is) for legs (to be an ordinary human) and her voice. She then must rely on just her looks and luscious locks to bag a royal husband in a world she's not very familiar with, hence using a fork as a brush. But then this article talks about the other perspective. In comparison the the other princesses before her time, Ariel took the initiative to get the thing that she wanted, although it was stupid and she still relied on her toned beach bod to get her man.
These films that were made in the past are always going to be around. Unless parents control every aspect of their child's life, they're going to be exposed at some point. It all boils down to parents teaching their kids and explaining that this is a very fictional character and achieving marriage is not the only goal in life (although it might provide some nice financial stability in the world of Disney). It's baffling how many adults will not take the time to sit with their kids and have conversations about what is going on in the movie and relating it to the world around them. There is a certain amount of innocence a child should be allowed to have but at some point, we have to address it because it's only going to harm them in the future. Their childhood and innocence and purity will not be ruined, in fact, this is a way of protecting it.
The title of this blog is actually not that accurate. I have realized that although I was a huge fan of Disney Channel series and the DCOM specials (if you don't know the meaning of that acronym, you're too young to be reading my blog), I wasn't exactly a huge fan of the stereotypical fairy tale princess movies when I was younger. The only movie I can think of that I watched repeatedly was The Little Mermaid. Bare with me while I cry an ocean while I rip apart my childhood.
The Little Mermaid, the beautiful love story of a young mermaid who finds eternal love by defying her father. In this process, she gives up her fin (the thing that makes her who she is) for legs (to be an ordinary human) and her voice. She then must rely on just her looks and luscious locks to bag a royal husband in a world she's not very familiar with, hence using a fork as a brush. But then this article talks about the other perspective. In comparison the the other princesses before her time, Ariel took the initiative to get the thing that she wanted, although it was stupid and she still relied on her toned beach bod to get her man.
These films that were made in the past are always going to be around. Unless parents control every aspect of their child's life, they're going to be exposed at some point. It all boils down to parents teaching their kids and explaining that this is a very fictional character and achieving marriage is not the only goal in life (although it might provide some nice financial stability in the world of Disney). It's baffling how many adults will not take the time to sit with their kids and have conversations about what is going on in the movie and relating it to the world around them. There is a certain amount of innocence a child should be allowed to have but at some point, we have to address it because it's only going to harm them in the future. Their childhood and innocence and purity will not be ruined, in fact, this is a way of protecting it.
Sunday, May 1, 2016
It doesn't come from Love
Brianna Myers for Race, Gender and the Media
At church today, we had a guest pastor and for some reason right now her name is slipping from me. When she first started speaking, I was like "woah I really like this woman, she's so strong and powerful." But then she continued...
In my time here in college, I have very much struggled with my religion and feminsism and my political views and race issues. It's really hard to talk about one without the other, so then I try to start bringing it back to basics and just view everything from the point of morals and even that is hard. It's hard to have discussions with my mom, a very strong raised traditional Christian, about certain topics. How mainstream media have completely confused everybody about what a woman "should be" and what children "should" learn about certain topics.
Back to this morning at church, the woman came out guns blazing from the start about how she wasn't going to put up with anybody's crap. I was with her until she took it to the extreme. She was talking about how a 50+ year old man came out recently saying that he wanted to identify as a 6-year-old man. How we as Christians have been scared into saying how we truly feel and we cannot educate the public about why this is wrong. She kept saying that if we say it from a place of love, we should be very vocal about out beliefs.
Let me tell you what is wrong with this:
1. This is a very extreme case. A grandpa deciding that he wanted to identify as a child. In every day life we are just talking about people who are uncomfortable in their own skin. If we want to be truly honest and take this back to Christianity, God knew this was going to happen. He knew the human he was creating.
2. A LOT of Christians do not come from a place of love. No, they think they're doing the world some kind of favor by shaming those who feel they need to make some changes in their life to feel fulfilled. More times than not, it comes from a place of hatred and fear and that's where the real problem is.
All these things send my mind into a frenzy. I just want to make a whole chart to just kind of figure out what I think is right and wrong but I have to remind myself that this is not a black and white world. Although I believe in the Bible, there is not a end-all tell-all script about how to make it through this life.
At church today, we had a guest pastor and for some reason right now her name is slipping from me. When she first started speaking, I was like "woah I really like this woman, she's so strong and powerful." But then she continued...
In my time here in college, I have very much struggled with my religion and feminsism and my political views and race issues. It's really hard to talk about one without the other, so then I try to start bringing it back to basics and just view everything from the point of morals and even that is hard. It's hard to have discussions with my mom, a very strong raised traditional Christian, about certain topics. How mainstream media have completely confused everybody about what a woman "should be" and what children "should" learn about certain topics.
Back to this morning at church, the woman came out guns blazing from the start about how she wasn't going to put up with anybody's crap. I was with her until she took it to the extreme. She was talking about how a 50+ year old man came out recently saying that he wanted to identify as a 6-year-old man. How we as Christians have been scared into saying how we truly feel and we cannot educate the public about why this is wrong. She kept saying that if we say it from a place of love, we should be very vocal about out beliefs.
Let me tell you what is wrong with this:
1. This is a very extreme case. A grandpa deciding that he wanted to identify as a child. In every day life we are just talking about people who are uncomfortable in their own skin. If we want to be truly honest and take this back to Christianity, God knew this was going to happen. He knew the human he was creating.
2. A LOT of Christians do not come from a place of love. No, they think they're doing the world some kind of favor by shaming those who feel they need to make some changes in their life to feel fulfilled. More times than not, it comes from a place of hatred and fear and that's where the real problem is.
All these things send my mind into a frenzy. I just want to make a whole chart to just kind of figure out what I think is right and wrong but I have to remind myself that this is not a black and white world. Although I believe in the Bible, there is not a end-all tell-all script about how to make it through this life.
Friday, April 22, 2016
Teamwork makes the Dream Work?
Brianna Myers
Throughout my career in college,I have been blessed to only have encountered a few group projects. They have just recently started picking up in the past couple of semesters. Group projects sound like a dream come true in high school: This means less work for the individual. “Let’s split the work up, send it to one person the night before it’s due and they’ll put it in a PowerPoint.” In college it’s not so simple.
The projects here can’t have one person just putting it all together. There’s usually too much work and then that one person can end up ripping you to shreds on the group evaluation because they feel they carried the heaviest load. Now, you have to find time for everyone to meet up so that it’s all equal. With internships, jobs, other classes and maybe a social life… that’s HARD.
I definitely understand the benefits of working on a group project. In public relations, there is a greater possibility of working with others than not. This is not going to be an occupation where the job description can come close to “sit in corner cubicle all day and only come out for lunch.” Working in teams allows an individual to find out the best role they play and how to execute that role without being too pushy and too silent. In “7 Tips for Surviving a Group Project,” the first tip is about how to pick your group. Sometimes you cannot be that fortunate and certain people are thrust into your life and work space regardless if you want them there or not. My advice for that is GET OVER IT. Your paycheck or grade depends on it. When my money is on the line, I can set stuff aside.
Although Buzzfeed accurately describes the exact emotions of how we feel doing a group project, you just have to look at the long term benefits.
Throughout my career in college,I have been blessed to only have encountered a few group projects. They have just recently started picking up in the past couple of semesters. Group projects sound like a dream come true in high school: This means less work for the individual. “Let’s split the work up, send it to one person the night before it’s due and they’ll put it in a PowerPoint.” In college it’s not so simple.
The projects here can’t have one person just putting it all together. There’s usually too much work and then that one person can end up ripping you to shreds on the group evaluation because they feel they carried the heaviest load. Now, you have to find time for everyone to meet up so that it’s all equal. With internships, jobs, other classes and maybe a social life… that’s HARD.
I definitely understand the benefits of working on a group project. In public relations, there is a greater possibility of working with others than not. This is not going to be an occupation where the job description can come close to “sit in corner cubicle all day and only come out for lunch.” Working in teams allows an individual to find out the best role they play and how to execute that role without being too pushy and too silent. In “7 Tips for Surviving a Group Project,” the first tip is about how to pick your group. Sometimes you cannot be that fortunate and certain people are thrust into your life and work space regardless if you want them there or not. My advice for that is GET OVER IT. Your paycheck or grade depends on it. When my money is on the line, I can set stuff aside.
Although Buzzfeed accurately describes the exact emotions of how we feel doing a group project, you just have to look at the long term benefits.
Thursday, April 14, 2016
#MoveEquity
Brianna Myers for Race, Gender and the Media
This week I participated in a tweet chat called #MoveEquity. It was a discussion about how can we encourage the youth of today to walk and bike outside without subjecting them to street harassers. Children are expected to have 60 minutes of physical activity a day. Walking to and from school would be a great opportunity to achieve this requirement, but some children (especially young women) do not feel safe in doing so. In the tweet chat we talked about who is usually the target and what we can do to help.
The discussion on Twitter provided very good information concerning this matter. We talked about programs that are designed to help, walking in numbers, getting local government involved and even hosting forums for the actual kids to talk about what would make them feel safe. Towards the end of the discussion we got to what really needed to be handled: talking to our young boys and teaching them that it's WRONG.
Obviously yes, we should have measures to take care of when it does happen. We should be educated on how to be a proactive bystander and know when to intervene if we see street harassment occur. Lets face it though, most street harassers are of the male gender. Why are we not pounding it through our boys' heads that this is not something they should be doing. Although I'm sure they've seen it in 50% of the movies and TVs that they watch.
This made me think about the discussion we had in class about the new driving service that's for women that only allows women passengers and women drivers, including people who identify as a woman. Have we completely given up on education the male generation about how to treat a woman? Not just because she's a woman but because she's a freaking human being! Why oh why is this okay? I understand that these programs are necessary because it's starting to look like a lost cause for a portion of the male generation out there and if these programs save lives, well then let's keep them coming.
This week I participated in a tweet chat called #MoveEquity. It was a discussion about how can we encourage the youth of today to walk and bike outside without subjecting them to street harassers. Children are expected to have 60 minutes of physical activity a day. Walking to and from school would be a great opportunity to achieve this requirement, but some children (especially young women) do not feel safe in doing so. In the tweet chat we talked about who is usually the target and what we can do to help.
The discussion on Twitter provided very good information concerning this matter. We talked about programs that are designed to help, walking in numbers, getting local government involved and even hosting forums for the actual kids to talk about what would make them feel safe. Towards the end of the discussion we got to what really needed to be handled: talking to our young boys and teaching them that it's WRONG.
Obviously yes, we should have measures to take care of when it does happen. We should be educated on how to be a proactive bystander and know when to intervene if we see street harassment occur. Lets face it though, most street harassers are of the male gender. Why are we not pounding it through our boys' heads that this is not something they should be doing. Although I'm sure they've seen it in 50% of the movies and TVs that they watch.
This made me think about the discussion we had in class about the new driving service that's for women that only allows women passengers and women drivers, including people who identify as a woman. Have we completely given up on education the male generation about how to treat a woman? Not just because she's a woman but because she's a freaking human being! Why oh why is this okay? I understand that these programs are necessary because it's starting to look like a lost cause for a portion of the male generation out there and if these programs save lives, well then let's keep them coming.
Friday, April 1, 2016
Women in Gaming
Brianna Myers for Race, Gender and the Media
When it comes to video games, I like to stick the basics. It's crazy because although I tend to gravitate a little to everything that is popular, video games have just never been my thing. I love Mario Kart and I used to be obsessed with this game called Crash Bandicoot that my brother never let me play when we were younger but that is the extent of my knowledge. Whenever I see a video game compared to another one, they don't look at all similar so watching the video in class this week about the common themes spread across various games really took me by surprise.
The one theme that really struck a nerve with me was that they are consistently using the death of a women to somehow give the male main lead some sort of emotional death. Why does the mom or lover have to die? Why can't it be his father or his best childhood friend. A woman's life is not even seen as valuable. The "value" it has to offer is some sort of background for this character's vengeance. Although we did talk in class about how there aren't many studies that show that it is hard to put a direct line of video game play leads to certain behaviors in everyday life, I find it hard to believe that somewhere back in the subconscious NOTHING is being affected.
When trying to do research about this I searched "video game playing women hate" which I thought would give me the results that I needed but instead a bunch of articles popped up about why women hate men playing video games *insert eye roll here*. The fact is, even with women being consumers of the gaming world, they are still not as accepted and the themes in popular games seem to keep enforcing this. I speak only as a heterosexual woman but why in the world would I want to look at the ONE woman in the game die or prance around in flimsy clothing? It does not make sense; but it's like if a close-minded man doesn't want a woman in the workplace what is she supposed to do at home all day?
When it comes to video games, I like to stick the basics. It's crazy because although I tend to gravitate a little to everything that is popular, video games have just never been my thing. I love Mario Kart and I used to be obsessed with this game called Crash Bandicoot that my brother never let me play when we were younger but that is the extent of my knowledge. Whenever I see a video game compared to another one, they don't look at all similar so watching the video in class this week about the common themes spread across various games really took me by surprise.
The one theme that really struck a nerve with me was that they are consistently using the death of a women to somehow give the male main lead some sort of emotional death. Why does the mom or lover have to die? Why can't it be his father or his best childhood friend. A woman's life is not even seen as valuable. The "value" it has to offer is some sort of background for this character's vengeance. Although we did talk in class about how there aren't many studies that show that it is hard to put a direct line of video game play leads to certain behaviors in everyday life, I find it hard to believe that somewhere back in the subconscious NOTHING is being affected.
When trying to do research about this I searched "video game playing women hate" which I thought would give me the results that I needed but instead a bunch of articles popped up about why women hate men playing video games *insert eye roll here*. The fact is, even with women being consumers of the gaming world, they are still not as accepted and the themes in popular games seem to keep enforcing this. I speak only as a heterosexual woman but why in the world would I want to look at the ONE woman in the game die or prance around in flimsy clothing? It does not make sense; but it's like if a close-minded man doesn't want a woman in the workplace what is she supposed to do at home all day?
Should We Risk It, A discussion of Crisis Communications
Brianna Myers
Successful public relations practitioners define a crisis as something you prepare for but hope never occurs. I believe that the way that a company handles a crisis really defines them. So then I started to think. Wouldn’t it be crazy if a company caused a slight “crisis” but then already had a sure fire way of recovering? The recovery could possibility boost sales or services and prove to be more beneficial.
I think this applies a lot more to celebrities and publicity stunts. One day, the news is that two musical artists are feuding and the next thing you know they’re at the same event together and they’re both releasing projects on the same day. This article talks about the best PR stunts in 2014. In those cases, it worked in the favor of the brand to create a discussion or buzz about them. Is it worth riding the fine between success and disaster that could potentially create a crisis and have to go into damage control (which is what shouldn’t be your focus, because an effective crisis communications plan would take care of the damage)?
So there is a difference between doing something to bring attention to your brand by taking a risk and just creating a full blown crisis. But, if a crisis does occur, here are some tips to keep in mind.
1. Get information out early
2. Get that information out yourself
3. Get it out on your terms.
It’s very important that you are communicating with the public as early and as often as you can. That is why it is called a crisis communications plan. In times of struggle, it’s not just fixing what went wrong in your business, it’s about being as transparent as you can to your audiences without jeopardizing your brand. Honesty will always be something that should take you far in your personal life and professional life. In the occasion that your business is dealing with something controversial or has potential to harm your company, people are looking for truthful answers of how it happened and how it is going to be fixed.
Creating and maintaining that trust with your publics and stakeholders is what is going to keep you afloat. Once that trust is compromised, it is impossible to get back. That is why it is vital to the success and longevity of your company to focus on being something that can be relied on.
Successful public relations practitioners define a crisis as something you prepare for but hope never occurs. I believe that the way that a company handles a crisis really defines them. So then I started to think. Wouldn’t it be crazy if a company caused a slight “crisis” but then already had a sure fire way of recovering? The recovery could possibility boost sales or services and prove to be more beneficial.
I think this applies a lot more to celebrities and publicity stunts. One day, the news is that two musical artists are feuding and the next thing you know they’re at the same event together and they’re both releasing projects on the same day. This article talks about the best PR stunts in 2014. In those cases, it worked in the favor of the brand to create a discussion or buzz about them. Is it worth riding the fine between success and disaster that could potentially create a crisis and have to go into damage control (which is what shouldn’t be your focus, because an effective crisis communications plan would take care of the damage)?
So there is a difference between doing something to bring attention to your brand by taking a risk and just creating a full blown crisis. But, if a crisis does occur, here are some tips to keep in mind.
1. Get information out early
3. Get it out on your terms.
It’s very important that you are communicating with the public as early and as often as you can. That is why it is called a crisis communications plan. In times of struggle, it’s not just fixing what went wrong in your business, it’s about being as transparent as you can to your audiences without jeopardizing your brand. Honesty will always be something that should take you far in your personal life and professional life. In the occasion that your business is dealing with something controversial or has potential to harm your company, people are looking for truthful answers of how it happened and how it is going to be fixed.
Creating and maintaining that trust with your publics and stakeholders is what is going to keep you afloat. Once that trust is compromised, it is impossible to get back. That is why it is vital to the success and longevity of your company to focus on being something that can be relied on.
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