TAKEN

Take a moment to look at this picture.

Think about it...

Let it sink in....

Because this is a picture of just one of the many young victims exposed to human trafficking. And yes-it does occur in the U.S. Let's use the movie Taken as example. The daughter goes on a trip to Paris with a friend whom seems to be completely oblivious to common sense. They are not even there for a full hour and they are kidnapped and held hostage and used as sex slaves. The dad then comes over to Paris, does some bada** stunts and ends up finding the daughter; drugged up and abused. Her friend; not so lucky. Sorry to ruin it if you haven't seen it yet, but she dies. This movie is full of nonstop suspense and drama that causes you to stay on your toes and constantly have the nagging feeling and urges as if you were there. Great movie. One of my favorites. It used to be my favorite because of all the awesome action and suspense it had. But now, I look at it as reality.

More and more everyday we are hearing about an innocent child being kidnapped. But in a recent story, a little girl was sold by her mother to a drug dealer. YES: SOLD BY HER MOTHER. Not only that, the little girl was molested, abused, and left for dead! This is the type of world we live in. Boy, do I feel safe...

SEX SELLS

To the right is a picture of five beautiful models, followed by their manager and stylist. These girls are goregous! You may have seen them before. Where, might you ask? On music videos. Why? because they are video girls who are featured in the hottest and latest hip-hop videos out. This is what most black women are seen as; sex symbols. But why must such beautiful women be exploited in a bad way? Where are the males barely clothed at? It is a known fact that women are used for what they can offer sexually to someone and not how they themeselves can offer as human beings.

Because of the posisitoning of her leg, the girl on the bottom right may be called "going" or easy. Have people ever thought of who directed her to put her leg that way? Who are we to say she wasn't uncomfortable doing it, yet they may have offered her more money. Why? because as the old saying goes-"SEx Sells." But how long until sex goes bankrupt..?

"Cock Rock"

Lez Zepplin (Led Zepplin), Cheap Chick (Cheap Trick), AC/DShe (AC/DC), and the Romonas (The Romones), are just a few the All-Girl cover bands. It's not everyday you hear of a all-girl rock band that actually plays instruments instead of just doing th vocal part. These bands have had alot of influence on the lesbian community and women in general. One person from article 46 in the book states, "I would have resisted the impulse to hold my girlfriend's hand until we were safely inside the corner hall, and then relaxed into the safety of a, for the moment, lesbian space." Talk about land of the free..

These bands are put together for a purpose. "Historically, women in rock are rarely seen as instrumentalists, and that is what we are trying to do," says Lisa Brigantino of Lez Zeppelin. Thank goodness for women who are willing to take a risk; even when it's a risk that should really not be considered that at all.

"A Woman's Place is in the Kitchen"

"A woman's place is in the kitchen." This is aa common statement made by many men in earlier years and even now. Problem is, times have changed guys. Woman dominance in the work force is taking over.
Woman have, and still are, been considered weak and not strong enough both mentally and physically to do the work that men can. I have learned this from personal experience. I played on a all boys basketball. As soon as I stepped on the court, all eyes were on me. "Shouldn't she be on the sideline cheering," Some said. I was pressured to do well or fail and honestly: IM INCAPABLE OF FAILING. So with the negativity as motivation, I played my a** off. I even made a boy cry! Cheer that.
Going back to the text, in one of the paragraphs, it mentions that there were three respondents that were currently employed in traditionally 'male' manual occupations at the point of interview; and a further four had moved up from male-domianted manual occupations to low-level management. All of those women were from intermediate or manual backgrounds. Talk about women making a come up...

Exotic Erotic

Exotic Erotic

I googles "erotic" and this is the first image that popped up.
The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the word erotic is exotic, followed by a mental picture of an advertisement for a sex store and strip club called Erotica. Then of course the Snoop Dogg song called Sexual Seduction. Random right? But once we talked about it in our group discussion, I began to analyze it and know that it does not always have to mean something sexual. According to Article 29, the word erotic comes from the Greek word eros which means, the personification of love in all its aspects-born of Chaos, and personifying creative power and harmony. The author uses erotic in an uplifting for women way, not the negative all-about-sex connotation that it tends to have. It definitley opened up my eyes to the meaning of it...

Picture this: a place where obesity is at it's peak, a place where you can buy the most unhealthy food for less than what you can pay for something healthy, AND the word fat is used more than a simple "thank you." This, my friend, is American society...and a part of the fashion industry.

Being a fashion major, i feel almost obligated to defend the model world and their outrageously high standards, but sometimes it's better to just sit back and watch how the fashion world works.

According to multiple sources, models are not even looked at as professionals. They are seen as just "hangers" for the designers garments. Talk about being seen as worthless...

Worst of all is how models are treated: inside an outside of their jobs. They are constantly set up for failures and/or let downs so hard that even their self-esteem should be lower than low. Yet for some reason or another, they continue with their profession, ignoring the negative connotations it has.

I'll leave you with a few questions: Exactly what is fat in American standards? Who came up with these standards? And the people who came up with theses standards, are they fat?

Thanks Eve...

"Eve just had to eat from the forbidden fruit." This is a quote that me along with a few friends of mine use when dealing with the hardships of being a female. The "that time of the month," the being seen as weak and not worthy of an opinion, the constant worry of being pretty AND skinny, and worst of all; the boys and all the hurt they can (and usually do) cause. But what's even worse than that? Having to deal with these listed examples PLUS being a minority. Now that is some work. Take it from someone who deals with all of these on a daily basis. To sum up my ethnicity, I am 75% African American and 25% Caucasian with some Indian thrown in there somewhere. But where I am from, even if you have just a little black in you, you're black. Period.

My explanation for giving a brief background on my culture is because I can relate to the poem When I Was Growing Up by Nellie Wong. I embraced my differences while others always did not. I went to an all white private school but was never treated differently. It was as though no one, including myself, realized I was different. That is until high school. But that's a whole nother story within itsself.

To conclude, these articles were all relatable to someone who has dealt with these same problems. Every girl goes through a stage where they wish to be someone else of another race, or another class. The hardships of being a female, minority or not, is difficult. Black females are often portrayed as the bitter bitch, blonde white females as dumb, and Asian women as smart and will do anything. When will the madness of women stereotypes and stereotypes in general stop? I still say it all links back to Eve...