TED talk: "Looks Aren't Everything. Believe Me, I'm a Model"

Here are two cool posts from Maya (who's not able to access the blog):

A really interesting TED talk by model Cameron Russell.

An article by Jonathan Rauch, "Denial: My 25 Years Without a Soul"

Gender Roles Reversed in Advertising

Link!


This kinda is like the movie we watched in class, Miss Representation. But a lot shorter.
And after 2:30 minutes, it shows pictures of gender role reversal in advertising.

Jackson Katz

I'm not sure if this particular video has been brought up in our conversations, but I just watched it recently and really found it inspirational. It's a TED talk by Jackson Katz, who we saw in Miss Representation and in the videos about Tough Guise. He talks about the importance of recognizing that gender issues are not just women issues and should not be ignored by men. Although some parts have already been said in the movies and videos we have watched, I really like his take on this global issue of sexism.

Sheryl Sandberg: Tearin' Up the Facebook Workforce (In an Awesome Way)

Sheryl Sandberg has some serious heart and soul. Upon watching her TED talk, I remembered reading an article about her in TIME magazine, which I've brought in to class today, and thinking what a 

kicka@$ woman she was/is. I am empowered by her strength and courage to make a difference in a "man's working world,"and to embrace the power of the individual, the woman, and herself. Rock on, Sheryl, rock on. 

http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/07/confidence-woman/

Why the CEO of Abercrombie "hates fat chicks"

http://elitedaily.com/news/world/abercrombie-fitch-ceo-explains-why-he-hates-fat-chicks/

A fairly revolting article about why Abercrombie and Fitch only carries relatively small sizes and does not want larger people wearing its brand.

Women in a Man's World

This article stood out to me because the speaker Sheryl K. Sandberg in the Ted talk video is mentioned in the article. I think it is important to realize not only how society may limit women, but how women may limit themselves: "In many cases, she says, the problem of the glass ceiling is matched by what she calls the “sticky floor” — that is, women who remain in lower-tier jobs because they don’t proactively try to climb the corporate ladder."

Bachman

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/great-dane-blachman-judges-women-nude-bodies-article-1.1333539

This is a link to an article about a new Danish TV show.  During the show, a woman silently strips in front of 2 men, who critique her body.  I was disgusted to read about the sexist premise of this show, which only furthers the role of women as objects of beauty.

Being a Human Being in the Academic World

This may not be directly related to our discussion, but when we were talking about the article on the disadvantages of elite education, I thought of this article. It is written by a Professor at Harvey Mudd, and it discusses how "Your accomplishments are NOT what make you a worthy human being." Like we said in class, I think that it is really important to remember the real reason why teachers teach and why students learn. Although it is so easy to get lost in the moment (especially during this time of seemingly endless finals), once we understand that a letter grade does not make us who we are, all of the stress becomes a whole lot easier with which to deal.

An interesting perspective on the Dove Real Beauty Sketches

 The women's fixation on moles or wrinkles, for instance, that account for a disproportionate amount of their self-denigration; the age and race of the participants, generally young and white; and a seemingly minor detail -- the sketch artist is male. Fridkis writes, "He got to be the one to gently suggest to the women, 'Maybe you're more beautiful than you thought.' He got to present their "true" beauty to them. That felt like it might be open to some discussion in an earnest gender studies class at a liberal arts college somewhere."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sheila-moeschen/who-could-benefit-from-th_b_3111463.html

Anti-Rape Campaign Scotland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h95-IL3C-Z8&feature=youtu.be

This is an awesome commercial that Maya and I enjoyed. It is part of a campaign to stop rape in Scotland. It addresses the ideas that women "ask" to be raped and shows how ridiculous women-blaming is if you take a step back and think about it.

Gender Neutral Housing

http://tsl.pomona.edu/articles/2013/4/12/news/3891-cmc-students-question-lack-of-gender-neutral-housing-option

This is an article concerning the implementation of gender neutral housing at CMC.

Gender and Appearance

I saw this picture on Facebook, and it reminded me of FHS. This is just one of many ways people can fall in between the two boxes of the stereotypical man and woman.

Barbie vs Average Woman

http://shine.yahoo.com/photos/barbie-vs-real-women-artist-slideshow/


Hi!
I thought this pertained to the movie we watched yesterday in class. It just shows a media hyper-sexualized figure of a woman (Barbie) compared to the figure of the average woman.

Gay Parents Restaurant Test

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zhl9MLno424&feature=player_embedded

This is a really interesting video on our society's standards and limits. It just goes to show that you can't stereotype people on their views just because their state is considered a conservative state. What is even more intriguing is that when this test was done in New York, even less people supported the couple.

"Real Beauty Sketches" - Dove Commercial

Maya sent this video of a new commercial from Dove.

Baby Storm

Here's an article about baby Storm, the child in Toronto whose parents chose not to reveal the baby's sex at birth.  And this article discusses a child in the UK named Sasha, whose parents revealed his sex after five years.  What do you think?

Time magazine's cover declares "GAY MARRIAGE ALREADY WON"

           Photographed by Peter Hapak.


“We had a long debate in our offices about this week’s cover images of two same-sex couples,” Time managing editor Rick Stengel wrote in an editor’s note. “Some thought they were sensationalist and too in-your-face. Others felt the images were beautiful and symbolized the love that is at the heart of the idea of marriage. I agree with the latter, and I hope you do too.”

Gendered Toys?!

This is the TIME article on boys' and girls' play things I was talking about in class today. Blue and silver Easy-Bake Ovens, because yes, of course that will solve all gender issues (sarcasm inserted here)...

http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/14/10-big-ideas/slide/play-without-stereotypes/

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

"Same Love" by Mackelmore

I brought up this song in class a while ago, because it is so relevant to all that is gender and sexuality in the modern musical world. It reveals many of the stereotypes and rhetoric rampant in today's society, and I think it relates directly to what we've been talking about in class (gender stereotypes, etc.) I've posted the lyrics and the song itself ("Same Love" by Mackelmore) below. I hope you enjoy :)

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/macklemore/samelove.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlVBg7_08n0

(Also, as a side note, the music video directly above is incredibly moving and well done. I would suggest watching it, along with listening to the song!)

Jimmy Carter Fights for Equality

http://www.womenspress-slo.org/?p=11440

Jimmy Carter cuts ties with the Southern Baptist Convention after 60 years because he wants to fight for equality for women.

College Health Plans Respond as Transgender Students Gain Visibility

Maya sent in this article from the New York Times about colleges that now offer students health insurance plans with coverage for sex reassignment treatments. 

Educational Gender Gap in Afghanistan and the Impact of Razia Jan

If any of you have time, or are interested, check out the below link shown in today's Ath presentation on Razia Jan. Jan is the founder of "Ray of Hope," and the Zabuli Education Center, one of the first free private all-girls school in Afghanistan, where girls are provided education, support, communication skills, food, heat, clothing, and the like, when otherwise these opportunities (more like necessities) would not be feasible. Please take the time to read the attached story and watch the video, as the stories from some of the girls and from Razia herself are very moving. I strongly adhere to the notion that it is important to remind ourselves of the privileges we are granted, when education is something others die for. 

http://www.raziasrayofhope.org/videos.html ("What Tomorrow Brings" is the clip that was shown in the Ath this morning and I highly suggest it)

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cnn.heroes/2012.heroes/razia.jan.html (The page talking about Razia Jan, a CNN Hero from 2012, and the exploration of this issue)

Monkeys Demonstrate that Gender Pay Gap is Unacceptable

A psychologist shows two monkeys getting different rewards for the same type of work.

This is the video of the monkey experiment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KSryJXDpZo


The more modest, conservative article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/03/gender-pay-gap-unacceptable-to-monkeys_n_2212488.html

The slightly inappropriate version of the article (warning-- profanity included):
http://jezebel.com/5964037/can-these-monkeys-solve-the-gender-pay-gap

Male Nurses Have Higher Pay

"The Census report points out that men have 'typically enjoyed higher wages and faster promotions in female-dominated occupations' – known as the 'glass escalator effect' (creating the effect that they are gliding past women as if on an escalator)."

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/male-nurses-becoming-more-commonplace-higher-paid-221330791.html

Government Approved Names

An Icelandic female was called "Girl" by government authorities because her name, Blaer, was considered too masculine. She has recently acquired approval to be called Blaer, which was not on the approved female name list.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21280101

South Korea's First Female President

Park Geun-hye was recently inaugurated as South Korea's first female president. This is an interesting article that discusses women being accepted into leadership roles as well as Park Geun-hye's political detachment on women's rights. Park Geun-hye's father was a former president of South Korea. He is quite controversial for he grew Korea's economy tremendously but also abused his power. It may be interesting to speculate about her father's influence in the recent election as well as the motives for her detachment on women's rights.

http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/south-koreas-new-president-may-be-female-she-no-womens-rights-crusader

6 year-old transgender girl not allowed to use girls' bathroom

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/transgender-girl-s-parents-sue-for-her-right-to-use-the-bathroom-201415013.htmlhttp://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/transgender-girl-s-parents-sue-for-her-right-to-use-the-bathroom-201415013.html

Unisex Easy-Bake Oven

This 13-year old girl petitioned to get a unisex Easy-Bake oven, so that her younger brother could also play with it, too.
Gender stereotyping that only girls should learn how to and enjoy cooking.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2012/12/17/unisex-easy-bake-oven/1775955/

Boys Will Be Girls (sketch comedy)

Take a look at this skit from the comedy group Harvard Sailing Team.  What gender stereotypes does this skit poke fun at, and what makes it funny?

Orlando movie clip - 1750 Society

1750 Society is a gathering of poets who demonstrates contempt for women. 

Zero Dark Thirty-Two-Point-Six

Despite the success of Oscar winning(2010) director Kathryn Bigelow and all the buzz she's been getting for Zero Dark Thirty, a film which heavily features a female main character, women still have 32.6 perfect of speaking roles in award winning films. The statistics on gender inequality that this article presents are pretty shocking. 

"If this were a Fortune 500 company and they looked at these statistics, they would have diversity committee working on this immediately...How could you have a company in the 21st century and less than 10 percent of its leaders are women?"

http://www.salon.com/2013/02/23/hollywood_still_sucks_at_gender_equality_partner/

The Battle of the Sexes

Erika and Nicholas A. Christakis draw parallels to Aristophanes' Lysistrata (I know, right??!:)) in their explanations of the shifting gender roles of today's economy. 

http://ideas.time.com/2012/09/11/is-it-really-the-end-of-men/

Are Mixed-Gender High Schools the Reason for the Gender Gap?

New research from the University of California, Davis suggests that mixed-gender high schools "are at least partially to blame for the persistent gender gap in the salaries of men and women."It argues that males and females who go to set gender schools (all females or all males) they are more likely to go on to college and choose majors that are closely associated to higher paying jobs later on. They also found that females who attended schools that had a higher prevalence of females than males tended to go on to major in things that would lead to higher paying jobs; females who attended mixed-gender schools tended "to choose stereotypical majors that [would] likely lead to lower short-run earnings, lower long-run earnings and limited overall career potential." I find it interesting that this article focuses more heavily on the idea that males in schools are hurting females' performances later in life, but it only briefly mentions the idea that it could be the other way around. This follows along with what we talked about in class: how "gender" tends to stereotypically be a "female" thing to study, because it tends to focus more on them.

http://news.yahoo.com/research-suggests-mixed-gender-high-schools-perpetuate-gender-070151523.html;_ylt=AwrNUbAF8SpRNB8AS_DQtDMD

Ellen DeGeneres Addresses "Feminine" Products

I saw this video a little while ago, and it has a lot to do with what we discussed in the beginning of the semester. Ellen DeGeneres brings to everyone's attention the silly stereotypes of women versus men that companies use to attract a certain gender. I love the lightheartedness she brings to a more serious issue.

Gender Still Used to Recruit in China

Reasons for having jobs that are only open to males:

1. Positions for managers are only open to males because managers have to travel and secretaries have to travel with them. It is "inconvenient" for the secretaries, who are typically female, to do their job if their managers are males.

2. Men are better at handling pressure.

3. Employees will be required to work at night, which would be unsafe for women.

4. Men and women are different physically and mentally so it's only natural for employers to target different genders according to the job.

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2013-02/25/content_28048871.htm

Fifty Shades of Gay

http://www.ted.com/talks/io_tillett_wright_fifty_shades_of_gay.html

TED Talk Summary: Artist iO Tillett Wright has photographed 2,000 people who consider themselves somewhere on the LBGTQ spectrum and asked many of them: Can you assign a percentage to how gay or straight you are? Most people, it turns out, consider themselves to exist in the gray areas of sexuality, not 100% gay or straight. Which presents a real problem when it comes to discrimination: Where do you draw the line?

Bechdel Test for Movies

http://bechdeltest.com

This test is used to evaluate how women are portrayed in movies.
In order for a women to "pass" the Bechdel Test, it must:
1. Have at least two [named] women in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something besides a man

Gender at CMC

As you know, The Forum has recently run several articles on the "gender gap" at CMC, including this one and this response.  The Claremont Portside ran this response.  Take a look at these articles, and be sure to read the comments too, and see what you think!  (Thanks to Annie for alerting me to these pieces.)

"MAKERS: Women Who Make America" documentary

Check out the trailer for the new documentary "MAKERS: Women Who Make America," premiering on PBS on February 26.  This three hour film tells the story of the modern women's movement through firsthand accounts.  It looks intriguing!

Why Gender Equality Stalled

In the New York Times this week, historian Stephanie Coontz argues that we need to adopt family-friendly work practices and social policies in order to achieve gender equity and greater opportunities for both women and men.  She explains that structural impediments limit women's labor force participation and prevent people from realizing their egalitarian values. She sees work-family policy as a human rights issue that affects everyone.  An interesting article!