Modern Day Slavery?

There are 27 million slaves in this world today. How is it possible that in the 21th century there are millions of people enslaved?

They are forced to work without any pay, are threatened with violence making escape much harder. They can be found in factories, the sex industry, farm fields, construction sites and even private homes.

Many slaves are lured in by traffickers who promise them a job or education. These people who follow them are rarely seen again by their families.

Although slavery is illegal everywhere, it happens everywhere.

How is it that everyone hears about organizations and campaigns to "save the endangered Siberian tiger" or "help preserve the rainforest" but there are people living who dont even know that there are millions of slaves still today? Why isn't this a key issue today? Why doesn't any senator or congressman bring this issue up?

Human life is so precious and dear, why isnt it valued just as much?

 

Playing the Race Card?

Racism is unacceptable and despicable. If anyone in Congress criticizes a black Senator or representative, then they are automatically labeled a "racist".

Barack Obama is the first black President. If anyone like Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity criticizes him what are they called? A racist.

Maybe its because of his leadership and policies that they are criticizing him instead of because he's black?

With all respect for our president, I would like to bring up an important question, so to what extent can I criticize Obama before I will be labeled a racist?

This is an easy way to escape responsibility, if you don't want people criticizing your policies then you just pull out the race card and say "don't criticize me or else you are a racist". This is why so many conservatives who don't agree with Obama's policies get bashed so many times and are labeled as "racists" when it's definitely not the case.

10 Years in Prison and 2000 Lashes

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/10/03/saudi-men-to-get-10-year-sentence-2000-lashes-for-dancing-on-vehicle/?intcmp=latestnews

This man in Saudi Arabia gets sentenced to 10 years in prison and 2000 lashes for dancing naked on the streets. Wow! He most likely will die first from the 2000 lashes before he can even go to prison!

The freedom that exists in USA is definately more compared to other nations, no agruments there but one can ask the question as to when this freedom becomes "too much" and everything becomes legal eventually?

America has more freedom but what are the effects on morals and ideals that America held close just deades ago? Are they dissapearing all too soon? Are social norms evaporating?

Gender Stereotypes in Disney Movies

As the child, I loved watching Disney movies.

The Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Snow White, Cinderella, etc. These are the classics and every young girl idolizes the young princesses.

Much older now and better at analyzing, I now see the gender stereotypes that are reflected in the female characters.

All the main female characters (princesses) are beautiful, they have an amazing body and beautiful flowing hair. They have gorgeous facial features including big round eyes, and  small waists with curves. Disney sends the message that if your slightly overweight, stocky and have short hair, then you are not beautiful, because according to their "standards"  you need to be tall, nice curves, skinny, with beautiful facial features and long flowing hair. The typical gender stereotype about women and beauty.

Also the female characters are loving, kind, nurturing and good housekeepers. Again, this is conforming to the traditional gender view of women and gender. Disney is reflecting the stereotype that women are supposed to be good housekeepers. Snow White is shown cleaning and cooking for the seven male dwarfs. Cinderella is shown being a servant to her family, cooking and cleaning for them.

Also all the princes are rich, famous, good-looking and charming. This is what every girl wants her prince to be like. And in the end, all the female characters end up with their prince charming, as usual under male dominance, and they live happily ever after. The END

Although Disney movies have good morals, gender stereotypes definitely are reflected in the female characters and exist in the movies.

One major knowledge issue is: what are we showing to our children and how is this influencing their way of thinking when they are older? Once older, would they catergorize people by thier looks and social class instead of by their personality and heart?

Now this is just a glance at the overall topic, a chance to get the "big picture",  I did not go in-depth on gender stereotypes in Disney, there is SOOOO much more information and analysis that could be done on each Disney movie.

The Lost Art of Courtship

When young children hear teens dating, they think sex and parties.

 

Unfortunately, the generation that is growing up today is exposed to too many movies and TV programs that show sexual activity. To spice up movies and gain attention, Hollywood puts many sex scenes in their movies.

 

This raises an important knowledge issue, to what extent do the scenes on TV that young children watch influence their attitude and behavior in their future?

 

A study of 1792 adolescents ages 12-17 showed that watching sex on TV influences teens to have sex. Youths who watched more sexual content where more likely to initiate intercourse and progress to more advanced sexual activities in the year following the beginning of the study. Youths in the 90th percentile of TV sex viewing had a predicted probability of intercourse initiation that was approximately double that of youths in the 10th percentile. Basically, kids with higher exposure to sex on TV were almost twice as likely than kids with lower exposure to initiate sexual intercourse. - Study Conducted by RAND and published in the September issue of Pediatrics.

 

*Kids and teens (8 to 18 years) spend nearly 4 hours a day in front of a TV screen and almost 2 additional hours on the computer (outside of schoolwork) and playing video games.

 

Where have all the ideals and morals gone to regarding dating? Are the numerous Hollywood movies and TV shows that have sexual intercourse influencing teenagers to have sex? The statistics most definitely show that young teenagers are more likely to engage in sexual intercourse if they watch TV shows and movies that have sex scenes.

 

*For high school students reporting in 2009 that they had ever had sexual intercourse, percentages were highest among Black males (72 percent) and females (58 percent), followed by Hispanic males (53 percent) and females (45 percent), and White females (45 percent) and males (40 percent). -Advocates for Youth

 

Parents should understand and monitor their children's activity, guiding them and providing a strong moral foundation in their youth. Sadly young teens are enchanted with the idea to be "cool" and "popular" once they enter high school, they change once they enter school, trying drugs and then sex.

 

Where is parent leadership? Parents have the responsibility to install morals and ideals in their children from a young age, they need to monitor their behavior and guide them through their path through high school and life.

Whats going on with men?

When we hear about gender violence, domestic assault, sexual assault, relationship abuse, child abuse, what do we think of? We automatically think "women's issues". Gender issues are synonymous with women's issues. Same as when we hear race, we automatically think African American, or when we hear sexual orientation, we automatically think of gays and lesbians. In any case, the dominant group does not get paid attention. When we hear of gender issues, we automatically think women's issues that some "good" men help out with. First and foremost, I would say these are men's issues! This is how the dominance system maintains and reproduces, the dominant group is rarely challenged. These are characteristics of power and privilege. What is ironic is that men are erased from discussions where the subject is primarily them!

Let's look at an example, this is by Julie Penelope, a linguistics professor and an avid feminist.

John beat Mary.

Mary was beaten by John.

Mary was beaten.

Mary is a battered women.

As we can see in the first two sentences, the focus of the sentence changed from John to Mary and finally in the last sentence, John is completely erased from the picture. Victim blaming is pervasive! We ask questions such as: why was she going there? what was she thinking? what was she wearing at that party? Instead of asking questions about Mary, let's ask questions about John, such as why would he beat Mary? As one can see, our whole language system is set to blame the women and take the focus away from the perpetrator.

Why do so many men sexually abuse little boys and girls? Why is it such a common problem? Why do so many men rape and take advantage of women? What is going on with men!!! A bigger question to ask is what is the role of institutions that are helping produce abusive men? The music industry, the sports culture, the porn industry, etc. I would argue that this is a deep social issue, we need to take a look at society and the various institutions that are helping foster abusive men, we need to start there instead of looking at the women first. We need to focus on the perpetrator and uncover the motive and we need to foremost take a good look at how society is set up and its role in creating abusive men.

Why do so many women get bashed when they talk about these issues? because it's a statement to them to "don't rock the boat", basically just sit down and shut up. This is institutionalized, from the earliest of ages women have been abused, raped, assaulted, and sometimes have been treated as less than human, always with less rights than males. I think we need to teach men about leadership qualities, we need more men with the gut and courage to speak up and stand with women instead of speaking against them. This isn't a "battle of the sexes". We need men with enough courage to challenge the author of a sexist joke. Just like if you heard a racist joke, wouldn't you go up to that person and say "hey man, that's not cool, don't say it again"? If we don't say anything, isn't our silence a sign of agreement and consent? We need men who will challenge those who verbally and physically abuse women, once this will happen, the number of domestic violence cases or sexual assault cases will plummet.

Once males who are in power and leadership roles start challenging abusive men, the power of rapists and abusers will diminish. This is also a sign of leadership and responsibility. Leadership issues should rest on the shoulders of adult men with power. There is an awful lot of silence! We owe it to the people we care about deeply, to the young boys and girls in this country and around the world. Caring deeply about these issues is not enough! We need to speak up!

Blurred Lines?

                                          
Robin Thicke Blurred Lines Music Video

By this time I'm sure most of you have already seen or heard the song "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke. Its played constantly on the radio and it has captured the attention of many women and feminists. It also raises an important knowledge issue-how women are portrayed in the music industry. Recently the University of Edinburgh has forbidden the song to be played on campus, and to no surprise, the song promotes non-consensual sex and an unhealthy attitude towards it. Issue number one for me are the words:


OK now he was close, tried to domesticate you
But you're an animal, baby, it's in your nature
Just let me liberate you


In this section he compares women to animals, basically degrading them.


I hate these blurred lines
I know you want it
The way you grab me
Must wanna get nasty
Go ahead, get at me

Saying "I know you want it" seem to say that the female is the one who "wanted it". One in six females in America have experienced rape or attempted rape and a vast majority by someone they knew. And by blurred lines he means that there wasn't a clear indication of what the female wanted, so it was safe to assume that she "most likely wanted it." This is instead encouraging the rape culture that exists. "I know you wanted it" encourages the idea that "no doesn't always mean no" and that women are asking for it when they are raped.


You the hottest b**** in this place
I feel so lucky
Hey, hey, hey
You wanna hug me
Hey, hey, hey
What rhymes with hug me?

When a man uses the word b****, he is degrading the women and asserting his dominance over her. Also the lyrics go from "hugging me" to "what rhymes with hug me-which is obviously f*** me". So he is basically saying lets get past the stage of hugging and go to the next one.


So hit me up when you passing through
I'll give you something big enough to tear your ass in two
.......He don't smack that ass and pull your hair like that

Now this is just disgusting, women are being portrayed as sex toys to play around with. Not only is this graphic and showing violent behavior, there is the assumption that women are put on earth to please a men's sexual drive and serve his fantasies. When asked about the derogatory meaning of the song by GQ magazine, Robin Thicke dismissed accusations of rape connotations as being "ridiculous", insisting that he has always "respected women". You're kidding, right?!?! It definitely doesn't seem like that looking at the lyrics and music video!

Issue number two is the video. In the video the men walk around the women, touching them wherever they want and the women are standing without any facial expressions. The women seem instead like sex dolls and are there for the amusement of the men. The men are also fully-clothed while the women are stripped of their clothing, they also don't say a single word, the women are not portrayed as beautiful, intelligent or creative but are celebrated as sexual objects. Also, when the women are stripped of their voices, it's symbolic because once you lose your voice, you lose your personality, style and individuality. And nowadays women are portrayed in such a manner, in a very limited way.

When women are continuously portrayed as being sexy or sexual, we create a standard for women in our society. That standard and goal is to be sexually appealing, the feminine contribution to society is reduced to being or looking sexy. That is setting an erroneous example to the young people and teenagers that are growing up and witnessing this first-hand. Also, what kind of example is this video setting for men? To be a true man who has honorable intentions and respect for women? Nope, definitely not, young teenage boys are growing up and thinking that it is "ok" to do such things to women. We must change our portrayal of women in the music industry, and hopefully standards for women will change, so instead of looking sexy, why not be beautiful, creative and intelligent, exposing the true beauty of women?