Is the fact that PeTA must "rely on getting free "advertising" through media coverage" an excuse for their constant exploitation of women? Do their good intentions eliminate the harmful messages they are sending Americans?
Monday, June 6, 2011
Sexual Objectification in Advertising
For my final paper, I wrote about the objectification of women over the course of America's history. When looking through modern advertisements I was blown away by how often women are exploited in ads. Here are some shocking examples of advertisements all from one organization alone, PeTA, the largest animal rights organization in the world. It obviously will go to great (and shamelessly sexist) lengths to send it's message. Here are some examples where women are sexually exploited or objectified (turned into sexual objects) in order to promote PeTA's message.
On PeTA's official website they explain Why PeTA uses nudity in their campaigns.
Is the fact that PeTA must "rely on getting free "advertising" through media coverage" an excuse for their constant exploitation of women? Do their good intentions eliminate the harmful messages they are sending Americans?
Is the fact that PeTA must "rely on getting free "advertising" through media coverage" an excuse for their constant exploitation of women? Do their good intentions eliminate the harmful messages they are sending Americans?
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Looking Back: Second Semester Blogging
I am absolutely shocked that this school year is literally days from being over and that I have been blogging for such a length of time. In less than 10 months I have recieved about 2,500 views from six continents (including Russia, Thailand, Argentina, Slovenia, South Korea and Australia).
Over the year, and semester, my posts have really covered a large range of topics. Some posts, such as Token Tiana and Donald Trump on Citizen Kane were directly inspired by class discussions while others were events/ideas I was personally passionate about or that were prevalent in the news.
I now see possible blog topics nearly everywhere. I have about 20 drafts sitting in a folder in my Blogger account. Most of these were never completed because I have a tendency to start writing a new post without completing the previous one in fear I'd forget what I was going to write about. But the posts I actually manage to publish follow a formula I've been using all year long.
In my last Meta-post I commented on the fact that each of my blogs have three main parts 1. an image 2. a link to an article or website and 3. the actual blog, usually containing a question I have regarding the topic of the post. This past semester I experimented with inserting YouTube clips and using personal experiences in my posts. I feel like I've grown a lot as a blogger over the course of this year and it has been an extremely rewarding experience!
*** It was extremely difficult for me to choose a post to be graded for this quarter but have chosen "There's always been a little green behind the Red, White and Blue..." as my post to be graded. (Please excuse the weird formating/discoloration that I've been having trouble with)
Over the year, and semester, my posts have really covered a large range of topics. Some posts, such as Token Tiana and Donald Trump on Citizen Kane were directly inspired by class discussions while others were events/ideas I was personally passionate about or that were prevalent in the news.
I now see possible blog topics nearly everywhere. I have about 20 drafts sitting in a folder in my Blogger account. Most of these were never completed because I have a tendency to start writing a new post without completing the previous one in fear I'd forget what I was going to write about. But the posts I actually manage to publish follow a formula I've been using all year long.
In my last Meta-post I commented on the fact that each of my blogs have three main parts 1. an image 2. a link to an article or website and 3. the actual blog, usually containing a question I have regarding the topic of the post. This past semester I experimented with inserting YouTube clips and using personal experiences in my posts. I feel like I've grown a lot as a blogger over the course of this year and it has been an extremely rewarding experience!
*** It was extremely difficult for me to choose a post to be graded for this quarter but have chosen "There's always been a little green behind the Red, White and Blue..." as my post to be graded. (Please excuse the weird formating/discoloration that I've been having trouble with)
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Quadroon and Octaroon
Race has been a huge theme throughout American Studies. Even though strides seem to have been made toward equalizing races, race is still used as an identifier for many official and federal documents. For example, we are asked to identify our race when taking the ACT and when applying to colleges. However, it is becoming more and more difficult to find people of solely one race. (Hence the 'Melting Pot' of the USA). One article, titled "Black? White? Asian? More Young Americans Choose All of the Above" can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/us/30mixed.html- this article speaks directly to how racial identification is becoming more difficult as our nation matures and more Americans are trans-racial. Mixed races have additionally been recognized since the 2000 census, in which one could report being multiple races. The author of this article, Susan Saulny reports, "Optimists say the blending of the races is a step toward transcending race." If this is true, there are high hopes for racial equality in America.
However, the different multiracial identities may be a new way to distinguish yourself as well. This article and class led me to wonder whether race will ever cease to matter. Some people choose to proudly identify themselves as black, Indian, Asian, Asian-Hispanic, Asian-black, Quadroon, mulatto or even just plain white. Others would like simply to be identified by their traits and achievements. Is it possible to be considered simply "American?"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)