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.
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