Semester Project

Artemisia Gentileschi: Susanna and the Elders, 1610       

The social issue I will discuss for my final project is the male gaze. Over decades the gaze has affected the lives of women, and it continues to affect women on a daily basis. Centuries ago men  used women as mere subjects in their art, and in today's society women are half naked across the world right in your living room. While, women are being exploited the media continues to gain capitalism. We live in a male dominate society where men continue to be the dominate counterpart, and women remain subordinate. The media or shall I say the television is the new role model in the world we live in today. A woman has to be twice as good to accomplish the same goals of men, but some women make it harder for other women by feeding the male gaze constantly.

                                                         Donna Karan: Stockings Ad

                                                                                                                        

                                       
                                                    

                                                         Lorna Simpson: You're Fine, 1988

My project will cover the male gaze in all areas. I want to show the audience how the male gaze plays a role in our lives on a daily basis. My slideshow will display the male gaze in areas like art, cinema, pop culture, media and video games. I will prove my point clearly on how the gaze has been around for decades, and how generations of women continue to be affected by it. The male gaze plays dominate role in society, and alters young girls perceptions on what the ideal woman is suppose to be or look like. I want a key take away to be for young women to know they are beautiful without showing their bodies, and they don't have to live up to the media standards.



http://myschoolslideshows.tripod.com

Final Project: South Korea's Plastic Surgery Madness

For my semester project I decided to focus on the issue with women in South Korea and plastic surgery. Women in Korea all want to look the same (v-shaped jawline, big eyes, sharp nose, white skin). They crave the male gaze because they want attention.

I made a video, which was basically putting things together to explain the issue with plastic surgery in Korea. I wanted to do my project based on this topic because in the future I wish to be a counselor and I think it will give me ideas on why people have low self-esteem and a negative perspective on themselves.

The main audience that I am making this for are the people who believe that they are unworthy and believe that plastic surgery is the answer. Therefore, I am making this project because I want to send a message that everyone is beautiful in their own way. I also want to make a change in media, especially in South Korea because they tend to choose looks over talent in most cases. I think that they should take them in for their talent, not the way they look.

Here is my video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lm9Cs4D7aw

Bibliography:

"Gangnam Style TOP Plastic Surgery, Best Before and After - South KOREA SEOUL."YouTube. YouTube, 24 Oct. 2012. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.

Sloan, Jacob. "Plastic Surgery To Create A Permanent Smile Debuts In South Korea."Disinformation. N.p., 02 Sept. 2013. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.

"Along the Lines of Beauty." YouTube. YouTube, 13 June 2011. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.

"Cosmetic Procedures Gone Wrong." YouTube. YouTube, 06 Oct. 2010. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.

Semester Project:: Mis-Representation

http://film.missrepresentation.org/

The medium I chose to present my project is a workshop for a rite of passage program for disadvantaged females ages 7-12 transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. The objective here is to introduce art as an idea for a campaign against the negative influence of the media on youth behavior. The audience is you.

Young people are bombarded with media images at every turn; therefore, it is important to teach them to consider how women and girls are visually represented.  According to John Berger, “the way we see things is determined by what we know”. The real meaning of many images we see has been obscured by academics, changed by photographic reproduction and distorted by monetary value. 

“Socially constructed images are so embedded in Western culture that they appear quite "natural," To understand how most women are socialized we must first understand how they see themselves, are seen by others, and at what point the process begins.  "Images of women and men can effectively incite both sexes to adopt certain self-images, attitudes, and behavior. Male-constructed images of women, and men, are so embedded in Western culture that they appear quite "natural." Once it is recognized that images of women and men effectively are constructed to incite both sexes to adopt certain self-images, then it becomes necessary to ask not only how they are constructed but also why."

The sexualization of girls and women, is everywhere in our media and oftentimes these images are electronically altered to increase attractiveness. This exploitation of female sexuality in advertising has negative consequences for women.  
                                                  

Images of thin models seen, for example, in TV and magazine advertisements, and good-looking muscular men appear daily in magazines, films and television.  Thanks to beauty pageants such as “Miss World” and “Miss Universe”, as well as locally organized beauty pageants, teenage girls now define beauty by the shape and size of their bodies with the impression that being skinnier is sexier.  More young men are also turning to drugs such as steroids to help build muscle strength.  This unrealistic importance given to body image has been blamed for the poor self-esteem and unhappiness among ordinary people, particularly the youth.  While doctors do not agree on the extent of this problem, eating disorders such as anorexia have been affecting more young people (Cooper 1997).      
                                                  
“In our consumption-oriented, mediated society, much of what comes to pass as important is based often on the stories produced and disseminated by media institutions. Much of what audiences know and care about is based on the images, symbols, and narratives in radio, television, film, music, and other media. How individuals construct their social identities, how they come to understand what it means to be male, female, black, white, Asian, Latino, Native American—even rural or urban—is shaped by commodified texts produced by media for audiences that are increasingly segmented by the social constructions of race and gender. Today’s media, in short, is central to what ultimately comes to represent our social realities.” http://www.jofreeman.com/womensociety/socconstruct.htm

For the past century, scholars have described adolescence as a period in girl’s development when many begin to devalue their thoughts, feelings and perceptions and consequently, risk becoming repressed. (Girls, media, and the negotiation of sexuality) 

According to the essay on Girls, Media and the Negotiation of Sexuality Study of Race: Class and Gender in Adolescent peer groups, adolescence for girls in the United States has been characterized as "a troubled crossing," ^ a period marked by severe psychological and emotional stresses. Recent research indicates that the passage out of childhood for many girls means that they experience a loss of self-esteem and self-determination as cultural norms of femininity and sexuality are imposed upon them. Much attention has been paid over the last decade or more to the role of the mass media in this cultural socialization of girls:* clearly, the media are crucial symbolic vehicles for the construction of meaning in girls' everyday lives.

The existing data paint a disturbing portrait of adolescent girls as well as of the mass media: on the whole, girls appear to be vulnerable targets of detrimental media images of femininity. In general, the literature indicates that media representations of femininity are restrictive, unrealistic, focused on physical beauty of a type that is virtually unattainable as well as questionable in terms of its characteristics, and filled with internal contradictions. At the same time, the audience analysis that has been undertaken with adolescent girls reveals that they struggle with these media representations but are ultimately ill-equipped to critically analyze or effectively resist them.” (Girls, media, and the negotiation of sexuality.With the Census Bureau counting nearly 25 million Latin women in the United States, marketers and media companies have started getting excited about the potential to reach them.

Conclusion:

Every teen's life is filled with pressure, some of it good, some of it bad. Our goal is to help teens stand up to negative pressures, or influences. Because the more aware you aware of the influences around you, the better prepared you will be to face them. To do so we propose to change how girls and women are represented through education and advocacy. One way is to teach girls to analyze media culture and its message by employing girls in their own advocacy. You are never too young to start speaking out about the way your treated by the world.
 

Take Action, become a part of the campaign to stop negative influence of media on the behavior of our youth.

Resources:
http://www.missrepresentation.org/resources/
http://therepresentationproject.org/pledge
http://www.blackgirlsrockinc.com/

 

Bibliography

Cooper, Alison (1997) Media Power. New York: Franklin Watts

Durham, Meenakshi Gigi Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, v76 n2 p193-216 Sum 1999

Girls, Media, and the Negotiation of Sexuality: A Study of Race, Class, and Gender In Adolescent Peer Groups J& MC Quarterly Vol. 76, No.2 Summer 1999  193-216   1999

Other sources
http://www.americanpopularculture.com/archive/film/young_latinas.htm
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/eve-women/1evewomen.html

http://womhist.alexanderstreet.com/teacher/picturing.html

http://www.jofreeman.com/womensociety/socconstruct.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/business/media/media-companies-set-their-sights-on-latin-women.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print

http://www.americanpopularculture.com/archive/film/young_latinas.htm

John Berger, Ways of Seeing  http://v5.books.elsevier.com/bookscat/samples/9780240516523/9780240516523.PDF
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUJ8MhXTwtI
Miss Representation http://film.missrepresentation.org/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Semester Project: Hair is Art

My Art:

The Tools

The History:

• Elaborate hairstyles go back to Africa
• From the Diaspora we lost the culture and religious aspect to styling of the hair
• As slaves we covered our hair for protection and lack of tools to style. Therefore, we covered unkempt hair.
• Eugenics and other studies started to categorize us by our hair and skin colors.  It was categorized as  being similar to wool.  Our skin and hair were unattractive.
• Eventually, after slavery Madame CJ Walker creates styling products and begins the use of the hot comb. African Americans begin to straighten their hair.  Many scholars believe this is the link between our obsession with a white standard of beauty. Bell Hooks states in regard to straightening the hair, "it represents an imitation of the dominant white group's appearance and often indicates internalized racism, self-hatred, and/or low self esteem." (Hooks, 2).
• In the 1960's and 70's there was a discourse on authentic and inauthentic Blacks.  If you embraced your natural hair you were "authentic." These discourses arise during the Civil Rights Movements and subsequent Black Power and Women's Movements.
• Today: Do what you want..

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=9094015547702335623#editor/target=post;postID=8954023660271713416;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=1;src=link

My Story:

I grew up with parents who believed that your hair must be done all the time.  I went to the salon every two weeks. My hair was natural at that time and I wore my hair in varying corn row styles or ponytails up until I was 15 years old.  I decided to relax my hair myself without my mother's knowledge.  I did this because I didn't want my hair styles to mess up when it rained. An easier solution would have been to cover my hair and to have gotten an umbrella.  My hair had grown from a shorter to longer length over the years that I wore it natural but also continued to do so when I began relaxing it.  I have been blessed enough to have had no significant issues with my hair due to using chemicals on it.  I cut my hair when I went to college right out of high school because my boyfriend said he thought it would be cute. It was cute but very difficult to manage.  Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that hair is art because no matter who you are or how you wear it, it can be changed.  Hair can be created, re-created, added and taken away.  It can be colored, shortened, lengthened and many other variations.  Art can be a process and styling hair and what gets created is an art project for some of us everyday.

My Natural Hair, My Homage to

Adrian Piper

<iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/28783145" width="476" height="400" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>

The ATL Hair Shows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxI8lYb-GEw

Challenging Theories:

Many Scholars believe that African American Women who wear their hair straight are adhering to a European standard of beauty.  This standard states that you must have straight hair which allows you to move more freely and easily through society.  Cheryl Thompson of McGill University, Montreal interviewed African American women to get their take on why they have or have not straightened their hair. Many contributed it to the ease of relaxed hair versus natural hair.  Others admitted that it was aesthetically more pleasing to look at straight hair versus "nappy" hair.  The issue in the African American community has become "why people compare themselves to societal standards when assessing their own behaviors." (Thompson, 838).  The truth is when I asked my co workers, friends and family many related that they had never given it that much thought.  Many of us just simply followed the paradigms of our mothers and grandmothers. If they wore their hair straight nine times out of ten so did we.  Of course, as many of us matured and made our own styling choices, the choice of how to wear our hair changed either very little or was the total opposite of how we were raised.

Choice: My Hair is My Choice

This is my hair, this is my choice
My hair will not stifle my voice
My hair pinned, my curls, my comb and brush
Nothing you or society can say HUSH!
Natural, relaxed, short, long..I've been there
Does my hair have any fear?
My hair does sometimes because I dared not show
That part of me that is not whole....
My world my hair is my crown
A queen that is, so I don't frown
When asked is this really my hair
REALLY, why do they care?
This is choice, the way I wear my hair
Freedom to choose, is what I dare!!!

Resources and Works Cited:

1. African American First: Famous, Little Known and Unsung Triumphs of Blacks in America by Joan Potter.
2. A History of African American Hair by Allison Joseph.
3. A Shining Thread of Hope: The History of Black Women in America by Darlene Clark Hine.
4. Hair in African Art and Culture: Museum for African Art and Culture New York, NY February 9-May 28, 2009, reviewed by Christine Mullen Kreamer.
5. The Politics of Hair by Lori S. Robinson.
6. Bronner Bros. Hair Show Atlanta
7. Thompson, Cheryl. "Black Women, Beauty and Hair As a Matter of Being." Women's Studies 38.8(n.d): 831. EBSCO EIT (XML). Web.22 Nov.2013.
8. Samuels, Alison. 2009 "Chris Rock." Newsweek 154, no. 13:69. Readers' Guide Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost (accessed November 9, 2013).
9. http://www.zcommunications.org/straightening-our-hair-by-bell-hooks.html
10. http://adachchristopher.blogspot.com/2009/07/peter-gasser-african-tribes.html
11. http://thirstyroots.com/black-hair-history/african-american-hairstyle-history/tumblr_lgfq9p8maj1qfu6z3

Photo credit: Bing Images
Photo credit: Google Images

Fashion Is Art!!

WOMEN UNITE!!!

I AM : a Woman, an Artist, and a Domestic Violence WARRIOR

My semester project is a social media site that supports survivors and victims of domestic abuse.  My mission statement is to create a safe haven for those seeking mental relief from the stress and emotional trauma of domestic violence through the use of visual art, by enlisting encouraging support from other members, and providing visitors of the site with an accessible blog dedicated to domestic violence.  DV sufferers and survivors are encouraged to write in the blog in the form of an online interactive journal.  Visitors of this blog will also be provided with access to an added site that highlights great accomplishments of women around the world.  The blog site is intended to honor and show appreciation to every day women of all races, ages, sexual preferences, and backgrounds.
The purpose of this blog is to create a user friendly site that allows visitors to learn statistics about domestic violence through visual media and the Internet.  The majority of web sites for domestic violence are filled with relevant information to those seeking help or access to hotlines and shelters.  Through personal research, I have navigated these sites when I was once in an abusive and dangerous relationship.  I have experienced the mental anguish and terror one can experience in this type of situation.  However, through my research most of the sites on domestic violence are solemn and occasionally produce a dead end.  By providing the domestic statistics juxtaposed with positive stories and posts of women’s accomplishments, I aim to create a site that enlivens and honors the life of the women and families who choose to participate on the site.  Users of the site are encouraged to support and form allegiances with other members by providing any type of support they can give to each other.
My site will educate through the use of graphs, art, blogs, and personal stories from survivors of domestic violence.  The blog portion will be accessible for everyone to post on whether they are posting anonymously or as themselves.  There will also be featured links to other websites that encourage small businesses rub by women, advocated of domestic violence, and occasionally items for sale that are created by women in domestic violence shelters.
The site will also feature accomplishments of women on a geographical map that states any form of major accomplishments that women have attained.  Visitors to the site are encouraged to post their location, the first name of the nominee (self, mother, daughter, friend, sibling, colleague etc.) their age, the accomplishment that was made, and the option to post their picture or use an avatar.  The purpose of this section is to encourage, honor, and provide hope for those suffering from domestic violence and their families.
My goal is to use this site as a tool to promote violence prevention, raise awareness by educating the masses, differentiate between forms of violence, and provide a sanctuary that encourages people to speak up, honor, support, and embrace the livelihood of women across the globe.

Bitches be Like... - Semester Project

My semester project began with my interest in the Male gaze as well as how much disrespect women received throughout history as well as in my current generation. It is understood that every generation gives rise to something new and I feel that my generation gave rise to a very popular internet meme titled "Bitches be like...". I decided to write a research paper on that basis of clearing the negative connotation to the word 'Bitch' of its negative connotation and paving a way for a more positive view of women. I was also interested in education my own generation of what the word's original meaning meant and how women in the past have utilized it for change. By educating and informing I hope that change will come through the use of the same social media sites that produce many of the aforementioned memes and be a medium for a much more positive view on women. My research paper is hosted on the website Scribd.com which hosts many books as well as documents created by many people, and also allows my paper to be downloaded as a pdf. file.

My research paper can be viewed here