Take the Pledge and Write a letter

Miss Representation "Take the Pledge"
 

Ashley Judd Blog

Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to complain about the advertisement which I recently saw aired during the commercials of the children’s weekend TV program.

I am referring to the advertisement which shows 6 beautiful, young children playing in the school yard when a new child walks up to them and asks if she can play with them. She immediately gets rejected because she is not wearing the right clothes--the ones being advertised. To begin with, this brand’s fashion line costs a lot more than the average, employed householders can afford. It is common knowledge that most families’ financial situations are tight and this is no time for lavishness.

The children, at the most impressionable age they will ever be, should learn the value of money and demanding to get a lovely pair of trendy trousers as a prize for getting good grades or eating right or simply as a Christmas present will not teach them this lesson.

To make matters worse, the impact that this advertisement is making on the children’s morale and self-confidence, especially on those unpopular and introverted ones, is literally crushing. Not only do they have to face challenges in the grounds of homework load at school, but they now must undergo even more peer pressure in and out of school.

I would like to request that this advertisement be removed from your commercial breaks during the children’s zone. Its place can be filled in by messages about developing healthier eating habits at a young age or simply by extending the air time of the educational shows on the children’s TV. I have already made a written complaint to the advertising company. I enclose a copy of this letter for your reference.

I look forward to hearing from you.

MEDIA LITERACY

Pay conscious attention to the way media presents women and men.

Define stereotype and identify stereotypes frequently seen in mainstream media.

Understand that when stereotypes are repeated over and over, individuals begin to accept them as normal or real.

Think about the ways stereotypes of femininity or masculinity limit girls and boys.

Learn how media shapes individual beliefs and cultural norms.

Pay conscious attention to media consumption.

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Define concepts such as representation, social construction, and objectification.

 Recognize gender stereotypes and think about their effects.

Identify positive and empowering representations of women in the media.

Women and Leadership

Expand ideas of leadership to include women.

 WOMEN AND LEADERSHIP

Learn the facts about how women are under-represented in the political and business sectors.

 Identify ways in which women leaders are treated differently in media.

Understand the ways negative treatment in the media can affect a woman’s ability to see herself as a leader and to obtain leadership positions.

 Expand ideas of leadership to include all types of women.

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Make the connection between media objectification and the low numbers of women in influential leadership positions.

Recognize media bias and understand how it undermines women’s leadership.

Define democracy and think about how disparities in women’s leadership undermine U.S. democracy.

Learn about important events from the women’s movement and practice teaching others about women’s history.

 BEHIND THE SCENES

Define diversity.

Recognize that there is a lack of diversity behind the scenes of mainstream media and advertising.

Understand how multiple perspectives can change a story.

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Define diversity and think about the ways in which more diversity behind the scenes might change how women and girls are represented in media and advertising.

Understand that what we see in the media is influenced by political and economic decisions.

Comprehend that changes in the media and advertising industry have given companies more power in determining what we see and hear.

Reflect on the dangerous effects of solely profit-driven media and advertising industries, the impact they have on our culture, and the news/information we are given access to.

Identify ways in which individuals can influence positive change in the media, news, and advertising industries.

Ist blog entry-personal space

Sociologists, anthropologists and social psychologists have been interested in how people from different cultures use space. People in the U.S. from a European background tend to stand about 18 inches from someone they are talking with. Eighteen inches is a comfortable 'personal space' when they are talking with an acquaintance in friendly informal conversation.  For people from other backgrounds or cultures, 'personal space' or the polite comfortable distance for a conversation may be much less or much greater. There are misunderstandings and potential problems between people from different cultures when individuals don't know about cultural differences in 'personal space'. Then, differences in personal space may be misinterpreted as expressions of motivation or personality. Someone from a different culture may stand close and be seen as 'coming on' or threatening ('in our face'), when they are simply at, what is for them, a comfortable distance. Similarly, someone from a culture with a large personal space may be thought of as snobbish or uninvolved when they are standing at, what is for them, a friendly, comfortable distance.

Assignment:

You will need to make some careful observations, which is often the first step in doing research. First, look at a yardstick or rule and try to fix in your mind what 18in looks like. Then, go up to a man and woman of your own cultural background and start a conversation noticing how close you stand to them ( closer or farther away than 18in ?). Does this distance vary depending on whether you talk to a person of the same or opposite sex? This will tell you your personal space. Then observe people in school or in other social contexts, standing and talking to one another. The people you observe should be standing and not sitting. You will need to observe a wide variety of people.Read the following article to learn more about personal space:

In Certain Circles, Two's a Crowd

After you have made your observations and read the article, create a blog entry commenting on the results of your observations and the reading. What did you learn? Can you draw any conclusions from your observations? Consider some of the following issues in making your comments:

 Age

Race

Gender

location/setting

Relationship between parties

Were there differences when the two people involved in the interaction shared characteristics or when the characteristics were different from each other? What did you notice about the variety of personal space needs? How far do people stand (estimate distances) with intimate relationships?  friendships?  social relationships? General public? In addition, give examples of how you have observed people marking their personal space in places like school, class, bathrooms, lunch, etc. What do people do when others invade their personal space.  Are there times that someone might intentionally invade the personal space of another? Why? How do you feel when people invade your personal space? What if someone moved your 'marker' while you were gone?  Why do you think you feel this way?How do you know what someone's personal space is?  How did you learn this?

What is sociology?

White privilege

"I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group"
White privilege: Unpacking the Invisible knapsack by Peggy McIntosh

This article is now considered a ‘classic’ by anti-racist educators. It has been used in workshops and classes throughout the United States and Canada for many years. While people of color have described for years how whites benefit from unearned privileges, this is one of the first articles written by a white person on the topics.

Here is Peggy McIntosh discussing how she came to the understandings she writes about:

Tim Wise, another sociologist, applies this concept to the 2008 election in his article, "White privilege, white entitlement and the 2008 election." Here is an excerpt:
White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
And here is Eddie Murphy addressing the same issue in a comedy sketch from SNL