Race & Gender Assignment (Assignment 2)

Sunday February 22
DVR Recording of MTV's The Real World Brooklyn 2:00pm
My roommate had just watched a recent episode for the first time of the show whereas I had not watched with her but she immediately came into my room to wonder if one of the characters Chet was gay for the way he dresses.
Gender stereotype

Oscars 9:00 pm ABC - Sean Penn's acceptance speech
He spoke about getting equality for all genders and all races specifically gay marriage
Gender stereotypes


Monday February 23
Movie at Home: Diary of a Mad Black Woman 1:00 pm
First off just the title in itself! When Madea and Helen seek revenge on Helen's ex-husbands new lover.
Racial stereotypes

Personal Conversation with friend at Homeland grocery store 6:30 pm
I was being somewhat short with him and he jokingly asked if we need to visit the female product aisle.
Gender stereotype

Tuesday February 24
Conversation between friends of mine which I did not participate in, on the way to the Riverwind Casino, Norman 10:30 pm
Blake, asked CieAnn, who happens to be a Native American if she could score him big bucks wondering if she had connections to the casino in any way due to her race.
Racial stereotype

Classroom Experience with Professor Chavez T/R 1:30-2:45 JMC 4803-001 Hist. of Journalism in Nielsen Hall
We were having a discussion about women trying to gain the right to vote during the Suffrage movement in the late 1800's to early 1900's.
Gender Stereotypes

Wednesday February 25
TV Commercial for Nutri-System 3:30 pm
The commercial talks about being a woman and wanting to fit into a swimsuit because its that season and since its been cold we have put on weight or maybe you just had a baby, it was not tailored to men at all!
Gender Stereotypes

DVR Recording of MTV's The City 6:00 pm
One character is a model and another character involved in the fashion industry who is not a model was worried if she had an eating disorder due to her thin frame upsetting the character.
Gender Stereotype


Thursday February 26
Magazine - Rolling Stone (March 5) 4:30 pm
Calvin Klein Jeans Ad
Inappropriate images, one male is on the floor wearing jeans and an opened shirt while two other males and a female are on a couch, all shirtless, while one male is sitting down making out with the female while the lays on top of the other male and holds his head.
Gender stereotypes

Classroom Discussion T/R 10:30-12:20
JMC 3003-003 MM Journalism (T/R 10:30-12:20)
The conversation was about newsroom and how they should be culturally diverse. If they are not then they can tend to be bias and not have a true filter for all genders, races, stereotypes etc. The recent uproar about the NY Post cartoon referencing President Obama to a chimpanzee.
Racial stereotypes
Friday February 27

I would like to say that I am suprised with the amount of stereotyping in media today but I am not. I will admit that the more you look for it or maybe the more you notice it, I am a little suprised. But it is out there and although, me especially being a female, would like to think that we have made it so far in not being so objectified and only used to sell products due to our physical appearance, we have not really broken away from this. I am only suprised because maybe these stereotypes are a little bit more excepted because our society is so much more relaxed. People can get away with a lot more in print, tv, radio etc because not as many people speak out or get offended. If I get offended by an advertisement from say Calvin Klein it would be hard for me to really wage a war against them seeing as I have little power. I would have to create noise by gathering people who feel the same and moving forward with my cause when in reality to me that takes too much time unless I truly felt passionate about the subject. I feel that is the view of many American's that they just let things slide because they feel either too busy to attack, to small to attack, or feel its not worth it because if you fight that there will just be another battle tomorrow to fight.

As for the racial and gender sterotyping in my personal or social experiences I was not too offended possibly because none were directly directed at myself. However during the discussion in Professor Chavez's class I was more shocked at how ignorant people especially men could have been at that time to ignore/deny a woman's right to her children after a divorce, the right to own land, the right to speak in public, and the right to vote all because they felt a woman was incompitant. I just don't understand where this view of women being so much less than a man started? It only infuriates me more when I find out or learn of people who still believe this today, it only makes me want to push further in my education and career goals to prove those wrong. This stereotype is something I believe that is live and well today, with men still ruling majority of the business and corporate world along with men still being paid more than woman in many instances for doing the same type of work. Its 2009, people it is not longer common to think that women's brains are inferior to those of male.

I believe that the continues use of images that objectify certain groups or races only continues the stereotype or the feeling portrayed. If a child grows up viewing images of woman in fashion magazines who constantly objectified by their male counterparts it is hard to say that, that child will not grow up and either objectify women himself or feel she herself must be objectified in order to be worthy or accepted. If the media continue to use images that are stereotypical it is only doing a disservice to the world by keeping that stereotype alive. We should all be working hard to end stereotypes and quit using images that keep them alive. Everyone is human therefore everyone should have a fair shot at anything they attempt in life and to not be offered that opportunity due to a stereotypical label, is unfair and a very old-world image of thinking.

Extra Credit

Do certain schools in the Big 12 do race based admission?

The University of Nebraska in November of 2008 voted to ban the consideration of race in admissions decisions by public colleges and universities.

The University of Colorado also voted in November of 2008 on what is known as the "affirmative action ban." However by a vote of 51% to 49% the ban wich was a propsed constitutional ban on considering race or gender in state hiring, contracting and college admissions did not pass.
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/nov/08/nation/na-colo8

Some other schools that do not adhere to race-based admission but may not have any particular ban in place are Oklahoma State University, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and the University of Texas. These schools do take race into account but it is not the deciding factor. Race may be factored in among high school GPA, extra-curricular activities and specific skills.

The University of Michigan Law School Supreme Court case kept popping up in my research about the affirmative ban and big 12 schools.
"The U.S. Supreme Court justices decided on two separate but parallel cases -- they voted 5-4 to uphold the University of Michigan's law school affirmative action
policy, which favors minorities. But in a 6-3 vote, the justices struck down the affirmative
action policy for undergraduate admissions, which awards 20 points for blacks,
Hispanics and Native Americans on an admissions rating scale," according to a article
from NPR.
http://www.npr.org/news/specials/michigan/

After watching the Tim Wise video in class, what do you think about the idea of privilege?Please support your answers.

I think privilege, after watching the Tim Wise video, is something extremely important and something that is considered taboo and therefore is not talked about as much as it should. I, being a Caucasian female never really thought about privilege that much which in itself is a privilege that I don't have think about the daily struggles that minorities face. I think the video was extremely informative in a very easy to understand and digest sort of way. He was not pushy, extremist, demanding, or fabricating anything. He was honest about the facts with a twist of humor and sarcasm.


How does the media utilize privilege in media representation?Give examples.

The media uses privilege to the majority because they want to gain the most consumers and the easiest way to do that is to cater mainly to the majority. They also do what is comfortable. Although the major Women's Civil Rights Movement, African-American Civil Rights Movement, Native-American Civil Rights Movement, and the Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights Movements are in the past, embarrassingly change from the majorities safety zone is not widely accepted. The media like most feel that the more they suppress a race or culture or the minority the more it disappears. If the media plays on stereotypes the stereotypes will not die because they only continue to fall down the ladder and continue to get passed down from generation to generation. Although I will admit to loving Grey's Anatomy it keeps some typical stereotypes alive through its characters. Christina, who happens to be an Asian who also plays a supporting role is the typical Asian however she is female: top of her class, non-emotional, hard-working, independent, driven girl. Meredith, the character the show is based around, is a Caucasian female who is typical white girl: emotional, has father issues, in-love with the attractive leading male star, smart but usually makes wrong decisions, whereas Christina never does. Alex, a supporting role, is a white male, he is the rebel: dark, emotional, reserved, and comes from a abusive and poor home life. George, a white male playing a supporting role, is the typical nerdy best friend boy, who: is in love with Meredith or the main character, not the most attractive, goofy, non-aware, comes from a big loving family with strong older macho brothers, and constantly battling the rebel.

For the next several days, please keep a list (try) of the privileges you see in your daily experiences. They can be your privileges or what you believe to be someone else's privilege. You should have a minimum of eight and they will be listed in your blog.

1. Being a girl, I find that on most occasions a boy opens the door for me upon entering a building.
2. When a white male or female turns on the tv or goes to see a movie, they are usually surrounded by their white counterparts
3. I am able, for the most part, to express my thoughts and feelings towards the government without being seen as uneducated
4. I can and do go most anywhere in public without fear of being hurt or in danger
5. I have more options in the grocery store beauty aisle when it comes to Caucasian make-up and hair products
6. I'm on a strict budget to save money while one of my best friends is blessed to not have those worries while she explains to me the troubles of trying to plan a trip when her family is so picky about the thread count of sheets in certain hotels.
7. Since I went to a private high school it is assumed that I am super smart and come from a super wealthy family
8. I am able to go for a jog on campus at 10:00 pm and don't have too many worries about my safety


Do you think society still believes in the one drop rule?

I would like to believe that society as a whole does not still believe in the "one drop rule." However I do feel that their are some people who may still believe in this idea. As for myself I honestly had to google the term which makes me feel that it is most likely more a generational term than widely known. Since I had to google it, it makes me feel like perhaps a lot of my generation and generations below me do not use this term regularly or even now of its meaning and existance but maybe i'm just naive. I also think that America now, more than ever is so diverse making it truly terrible to judge someone based on their ancestry. I'm sure, like myself, most people can't even name all the races or cultures that make them who they are.


Reflection: At the end of the video Tim Wise talked about responsibility of knowledge and Beverly Tatum (1992) suggests that as adults we have a responsibility to identify new information and change our behavior based on this new found awareness. Please discuss from your perspective.

I could not agree more. I think that as a human being I have a responsibility to treat other human beings the way I would want to be treated. A human is a human, we are all 99.9% alike, that small percentage that is different is mostly displaced in our outer appearance. Just because someone has a different skin color or different features than I do, does not give me the right to treat them any differently. This responsiblity is placed on the adults, I believe because we have the maturity to handle it. Kids can be rude but they also may not understand what they are saying, they learn everything from the powerful adults in their lives like older siblings, educators, parents, and other family members. If a child grows up in a household where all the adults do not respect one another or any other adults especially ones of a different race that may be the only interaction that child has with people of a different race. The more responsible adults are the more stereotypes and racism will die. It is 2009 and our technology and wealth of information has grown tremendously from the beginning of time and will only begin to grow. Everything must evolve and grow in order to sustain life, with this adults should constantly be open to consuming all types of information in order to grow in life. Whether the information is bad or good, it all has something to teach us. As an adult I have a responsiblity to take in as much information I can in order to change my actions and help others change their actions to make this world a better place.

Privilege

Personally, the Tim Wise video was phenomenal. I thought everything he touched on is super important and is something that NEEDS to be heard around the world but especially in America. I also really respected the manner in which he delivered his speech, he was funny, had information and statistics to back up his points, which we all know everyone loves statistics. He was honest, not taking really any credit for the information he provided, and as a white male he knew that what he was talking about is a touchy subject but that to get the point across and make the majority listen he was the man for the job.

He talks about Privilege which I believe is very prevalent into today's society. To be honest, like most other white American's out there, I had never thought of myself as my skin color being a privilege. I am just like that typical liberal he spoke of, the one that wants to help the minority and but doesn't really see that the under-privileged minorities have made little progress from the 1850's in becoming 100% equals to the white majority.

My group discussed the question about race and does your race help you understand the meaning of privilege and I really believe that it does. I believe that the majority is naive and choosing to stay ignorant because to them if they keep this feeling of numbness, everything is easier. The minorities on the other hand are more realistic because they have to be! They live in the now and process the things that happen to them because they can't live ignorantly like the majority. I thought it was completely interesting when Wise stated that 2/3rds of white Americans overwhelmingly supported the war before it began but as for the black minorities in the country they overwhelmingly stood against the war because they like the peoples the war is being fought against, understood. They saw no ends to the means that George Bush was fighting for.

It was hard to pick one specific thing that I really liked from that video because I really think everything he said is true and alive but also extremely important. Classes like this and speeches like Tom Wises need to be part of high school curriculum or at least a core requirement for all incoming college freshman.

Freedictionary.com defines race as, "a group of people of common ancestry with distinguishing physical features, such as skin colour or build" (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/race). I agree with this definition to a point. I feel that this definition also overlaps with the definition of ethnicity. Freedictionary.com defines ethnicity as ones "ethnic character, background, or affiliation" (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ethnicity).

I hate defining what someone is or who he or she is in appearance because I feel like I'm putting him or her in a box. In my true beliefs I have no right to judge someone. Each person, in my eyes, are created the way they are for specific purposes and to show their individuality because as they say all humans are 99.9% the same.

But at the same time I also like to embrace my differences because I like being a unique individual. I don't necessarily embrace my race over my ethnicity or vice versa but I do embrace my culture above all. It is not the color of you skin, your facial structure, or certain physical traits that make you who you are as a person. Living in America, this is something I truly understand. I will admit that I have grown up in a very conservative and close-minded environment but I like to pride myself on being someone who is accepting of all peoples. This is the main reason I'm majoring in Journalism. I want to be able to tell peoples stories that are the minority since I'm part of the majority being a Caucasian female. However, even though it is 2009 I still see that race in the media is not largely diverse. Even though it has been said a million times, it is truly a step in the right direction for the USA to have elected President Obama as the new president. This is not only a step in the right direction for the US but also a step for the world. He truly is a sign of hope for everyone across the globe. I'm just happy to be a part of this time and my generation and look forward to what the future holds because if it keeps on moving forward like it has, it is definitely going to be a monumental time in history.