Stupid Girls

This song came out right around the time when Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson were really popular (think “is this chicken or fish?” comment). I love how P!nk is advocating not being like all the women who think they need to show skin or not eat in order to be pretty. The ending shows the little girl choosing to play football, which is especially relevant after the Title IX video we watched today.

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It’s a Hard-Knock Life (for Girls)

This Video discusses the issues that many young girls face while watching television.  It states that only 32% of girls are leads on shows.  I thought it was a good summary of problems that still exist for young girls looking for role models.  Something else I found interesting about this video is that they call for more diversity in television, yet all of these girls were thin, white, and wearing skirts.  If you are going to call for change in media, why not start with yourself? And they end with the girl having a pillow fight? (EYEROLL).  Why not with them playing their favorite sport? or chess? ANYTHING THAT GIRLS ACTUALLY DO.

Why I Love Amy Poehler <3

In class, we have talked a lot about the portrayal of women and men in television, and the affects this has on our culture.  I think that as time is progressing, shows have definitely been moving in a good direction, but when I think about my favorite shows I feel like they never completely get away from stereotypes about men and women.  Modern Family is an example I have discussed in my Media and Pop Culture class often because it is popular, and it has started to get away from “normal” in the way that it has a gay family on the show, but the couple is still male and they are both white.  This is just one example, and there are plenty more.  (I love Modern Family, by the way)  One show that I feel has really broken barriers in relation to gender stereotypes is Parks and Recreation.  The lead character, Leslie Knope, is funny, relatable, has positive relationships with other females, gets along with her coworkers, is hard working, and is someone that everyone wants to be around.  Leslie does has a stereotypical personality for a woman in this show, but the show doesn’t make these qualities in her seem bad.  The show embraces Leslie’s extreme type A personality, and shows how it has lead her to be such a great worker for the people of Pawnee.  There are plenty of other ways this show defies traditional television relationships.  Take Leslie’s relationship with her best friend Ann Perkins.  I think that it is hard to find a friendship in television that is relatable and realistic.  Many female relationships on television are unequal, focused on their relationships with men, centered around jealousy, or other negative stereotypes of women.  Leslie and Ann’s relationship is balanced.  They give each other positive advice, they encourage each other when they are successful, and they comfort each other when something in their life goes wrong.    I could go on for days because I love this show.  This show was created in part by Amy Poehler, who has also written and directed episodes.  I am so glad more and more women like Amy Poehler are finally getting attention in Television because I think the more women we have creating, writing, directing these shows, the more positive role models there will be for young girls and boys in television.

Jezebel cracking down on racist tweets.

In this post on Jezebel.com, they discuss the abundance of racist tweet that were posted in the Twitter-sphere on Election night.  The employees of the website collected a large number of student’s information from their public Twitter accounts, and proceeded to contact these student’s schools.  Although, they didn’t get a hold of all of the schools, many of these Twitter accounts were closed.  

On Wednesday after the election, I was surprised by how many new stories there were about racist social networking going on during election night.  Although I am fully aware that racism still exists, I thought that we had grown as a society since the 1960’s.  I was sorely misinformed.  I wonder though, do you think that shaming these individuals will really make a difference in their opinion, or if it will make them rethink their racism?  I don’t know how effective of a method I believe this is?  How do you think these individuals should be addressed?

Independent Women!!! (Destiny’s Child)

While I was getting ready yesterday morning, I decided to listen to Pandora and dance away to some of my favorite songs, then out of nowhere Independent women comes on. Not only am I a fan of Destiny’s child, but this song was a huge hit around the world!!! It empowered lots of women and even though I was a youngster when this song came out, I still valued the messages they were singing about. Im proud to be an Independent Woman! A lot of us work hard for what we have and want! No one can take that away from us! Happy Music Monday! Enjoy!!

P.S: This song was featured on the soundtrack to the 2000 movie Charlie’s Angels with Lucy Liu, Cameron Diaz, and Drew Barrymore

why we love sesame street!

Because Abby Cadabby gives girls great career advice.  With an assist by Justice Sotomayor.

Hillary’s Next Move

This article was in the New York Times  and discusses what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will do next. There is a lot of talk about how she could run for president in 2016 and that she would have a LOT of experience to back her up. What do you think? Would it be a good idea for her to run or would there be too much drama over the fact that she is a women?