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...

Blog Numero Dos

A majority of my reflection is coming from the article Learning from the Outsider Within; The Sociological Significance of Black feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins. Being a woman of color, the part that stuck out the most to me was in the beginning passage where the writer writes; "I describe and explore the sociological significance of three characteristic themes in such thought (1) Black women's self-definition and self-valuation; (2) the interlocking nature of oppression; and (3) the importance of Afro-American women'c culture." This summed up is self, family, and society and they are each interpreted.

Also menitoned in the passage is how black women were used to cook, clean, and perform other domestic duties for the 'white' household back in the day. Though the obvious insider, black women were often called part of the "family" by the family they were working for. Something that I never considered when studying this particular subject in past classes was the fact that 'white people' did not have the advantage over Blacks basef only on money and intellect, but racism was the determining factor.

Another part that caught my attention were the meanings of Self-Definiton and Self-Valuation. Bothe reek of importance to black feminist. According to the article, self-definition involves challenging the political knowledge-validation process that has resulted in externally-defined, stereotypical images of Afro-American womanhood. Self-valuation stresses the content of Black women's self-definitions---namely, replacing externally-derived images with authentic Black female images.

Why I came to Western

Coming to Western Kentucky University was not in my future plans. All my life, I've wanted to be in the fashion industry. College was not a priority; translation: I wanted to become famous so I wouldn't have to worry about school. But my childish fantasies were soon slapped in the face with reality which meant that I was going to college whether my parents had to drag me all the way there or not.
Bitter, I began looking at colleges. But I was not going to settle in just any college. So being the high maintence diva I can be at times, I chose to look at one of the most expensive art schools, Savannah College of Art and Design or SCAD. Not only was it $41,000 a year (and went up every year) but it was also 9 hours away from home. I was not ready for such a big step in my life, at least not yet, so once again, my fantasy was turned to reality. Western had my program, so here I am.
Miserable, emotional, and a nervous wreck, is how I could be described upon arrival to WKU on August 17, 2008. Suddenly everything i had dreamed about was not even important to me. I was terrified.
As time passed, things got easier and I fell in love with every aspect of Western. :)