All you need is...hate? Ellen Lee 009

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            I have been familiar with the Mathew Shepard story since I was in high school and one of the surrounding public high schools was putting on a performance of the Laramie Project. This was a huge deal because it was one of the first times in an Indianapolis school that this play was being put on. This was a huge deal because word had gotten out that the Westboro Baptist Church was going to be at North Central High School protesting the putting on of this play. This had been one of the first experiences I have had with Westboro and they are just as prejudice today as people were back decades ago.

           

I attended a private high school and when they heard that students from my school were going to leave early to protest this group they told us that if anyone left than those people would be suspended and face disciplinary probation. This was the worst thing I have ever heard. Here are kids trying to stand up for something they really believe in and was a good cause. I did not realize how a school could tell their students not to stand up for something they believe in, and something as serious as this issue. There are people out there filled with so much hate and we wanted to balance that hate with support and love.

I did not go to the protest, but I heard of many people who went. Police were there making sure everything was under control but most people noticed how the police were on the “love” side. It was truly amazing to see people ban together and show acceptance and love for people they might not know or even ever meet. It was a very powerful experience.

The main point that I want to get across in my blog post is that prejudice is still very much alive in our community. I want to encourage people to stand up for what they believe in and give a voice to the people who can no longer be heard. This is not just focused at homosexuals, but can be seen everywhere. Hate will not disappear until we allow it to, and I think it is time for hate to be no more.

Powerful Women Don't Feel Powerful

Lauren Kruger-Patchin
Blog #6: Powerful Women Don't Feel Powerful
3/11/13

I came across this NPR story and tweeted it to #bsupop, but I wanted to talk about it on the blog as well. Before I explain it, feel free to take a look.

'Lean In': Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg Explains What's Holding Women Back

Sheryl Sandberg has a new book, which just became available today. Sandberg is a 43-year-old former Google executive with two Harvard degrees. "She was named Forbes Magazine's fifth most powerful woman in the world (after No. 1 German Chancellor Angela Merkel, No. 2 Hillary Clinton, No. 3 President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff and No. 4 CEO of PepsiCo Indira Nooyi)."

Sanberg wants to call on other women...

The quote that stuck out to me was "I was really embarrassed." I love what her assistant told her. Women should not feel insecure about becoming powerful. We need to embrace it.

Sanberg says, "When a man does a good job, everyone says, 'That's great.' When a woman does that same thing, she'll get feedback that says things like, 'Your results are good, but your peers just don't like you as much' or 'maybe you were a little aggressive.'" She says that when a men is successful they are more liked, but when women are successful they are less liked by men and women."

She explains how differently men and women are treated. This story has great examples of how this proves true. Everyone should take a few minutes to listen.

Women, take note! Don't be held back.



WE ARE MORE THAN THIS: (google image)

Did You Notice?

Did you notice there was no talk at all about how we were "over thinking" things until we started to talk about how MEN are being portrayed in popular culture?

It was even brought up by a man.

I think this says a lot about what we have been discussing in class:
We're not over thinking ANYTHING when we talk about Princess culture, because that makes sense, because women are obsessed with being treated like Princesses and doing so makes us female dogs, duh, that's normal.
But no, men don't suffer from thinking that they are anything they're not, they don't think they have to be/are superheroes, that there is a damsel in distress needing their help, that's not normal, we HAVE to be over thinking this.

Women "complain" but men "advise."

But, maybe I am over thinking this.

Feminism

Let me start off with a story, a story of a freshmen boy who was working on a paper for his English 104 class. The boy was writing an annotated bibliography on female doctors in the early 1900’s. It was during this time that the boy made a startling revelation about himself, he was a feminist. The revelation was so surprising that he said it out loud to a room full of peers. Several audible gasps were released, he couldn't be a feminist! He was a boy and feminist had a rap for being unreasonable and extreme! The boy was shunned, never to be heard from again.

It’s time to come clean my friends, that boy was me. Okay…so I wasn't shunned and I don’t think there were several gasps heard throughout the room. I get a little dramatic sometimes. The point of the story is that people did treat my new found feminist perspective as a bad thing. Like I had jumped into some irrational cult or something, or I was claiming something crazy. I thought my respect for women's rights would be a good thing. Nope. Feminism is  treated as a devil term and I’m not sure why.

I don’t find it unreasonable to think that men and women should be equally. We are raised in a society where equality is praised but women still make less money than men on the hour. It astounds me that women are still fighting for their right to their own bodies when we as a culture have come so far.

I don’t think men have it easy either. For every woman that is being objectified on screen, there is man who is getting exactly the same treatment. Men are one of two very simple stereotypes, the doting husband or the suave playboy bachelor. Men have to be insensitive and brave or else they are perceived as un masculine.

I think women and men both have it bad in our modern society. That’s why I consider myself a feminist. I want equality for both genders. That’s what I think modern feminism entails, a belief that we as humans are all entitled to equal treatment. The word feminism suggest a break away from our overly masculine culture, not just for the benefit of women but for the benefit of society as a whole.

Women & Men in Media

MEDIA PERCEPTIONS OF MEN & WOMEN

   The media has a powerful hold on the public’s perception on what should be expected from a specific gender. Women are perceived either as the home keeper that can nag with the best of them or the insensitive businesswomen that has given up everything for her career. Though I do understand that these two ideas of women are portrayed in media I cannot help but wonder if men are facing a similar bias. We have recently discussed the perception of men in media in class. As stated in class previously single men are portrayed as cool, fearless, and a mans man. However, when a man is linked to a family he has lost all hope. 

   The married man is no longer a muscular mans man; he is usually described as having a "beer gut" and the memory that consists of basically nothing. The roles I have just mentioned above can be compared to two similar roles of females in media. Women can also be placed together with the figment of sex where they are viewed as only visually appealing, or they are viewed as the child bearer that has lost her sexual appeal. In my opinion, I believe that the media is falsely portraying both males and females. False perceptions are portrayed in media all the time, but I believe that no one is ever safe from the bias or negativity of the media. 

Corporate culture, women, and minorities

What I'm going to share in this blog is my opinion.  I can't state that enough.  It is based on several years of experience working among high-end corporate types, and is based on first hand observations.  I have signed confidentiality agreements, and cannot name names, or give specific examples, or reveal the positions of anyone involved.

This is the kind of information that you won't find in a textbook, or in the Miller College of Business.  This opinion is also is not reflective of corporate actions in media, because the corporations that I worked for were not media-based.  I can only assume that they function the same way, but cannot validate such statements.

As a white man, I feel the need to share why I think women and minorities are not as common in executive roles, or higher positions of power.  The issue is one of race and gender, but I want to be clear that it has little to do with sexism or racism.  There is a distinction.

Some white male executives generally subscribe to a practice that would most aptly be characterized as sadism, or degradation.  This means that executives and those they place in positions of power regularly engage in behavior that would be intolerable to about 95% of the population.  I am attaching two videos that somewhat resemble the kinds of practices I speak of.  Their style of management allows for humiliation and degradation of employees as a mechanism to get the maximum effort out of those that they work with.  While it is inhumane, disrespectful, and wrong on so many levels, it is a culture that has been cultivated for a very long time.  You don't hear much about this because obviously, they don't want you to know what really goes on.  Whether it is a share-holder's meeting, an executive board meeting, or a personal work meeting taking place behind closed doors, it is normal practice for someone to be scolded and humiliated like children.  I believe this is largely because of the power trip that accompanies these styles of management.  Why are women and minorities excluded from positions of power?  I believe it is because white executives are afraid to lay into a woman or minority and degrade them the way it is decidedly acceptable to do to their own race/gender.

Some powerful white men just LOVE to dominate other white men.  There is something about cruel and unusual punishment that seems to be less ethically corrupt, IF it is done to someone of the same gender and race.  The powers that be seem to shy away from these practices when women and/or minorities are involved because of the fear of retaliation that might accompany a lawsuit claiming that they were discriminated based on gender or race.  This is why women and minorities are trusted less.  A white man cannot sue another white man based on discrimination, which opens the door and allows for a bevy of intolerably cruel acts to take place.  It is founded upon an "Old boys club" mentality, that seeks to "get their rocks off" on the pain of others.  It has little to do with sexism or racism, as it is more about the question, "What can I get away with, without facing any repercussion?"

It also has to do with a belief that this treatment is the best way to "get things done."  If they were to hire a woman, or a minority, they would be unable to put the same pressure on them to perform, creating a sense that they are less productive, and thereby less valuable to a corporation.  It is my understanding of this mentality that led to my exit.  I had taken all the punishment that I could stand, which is why I never returned.

These videos are not clear representations of corporations, but they point to the kind of attitude that white executives live by.  Notice that there are no women or minorities present in the videos.

missrepresentation

After watching the first part of MissRepresentation, as a woman who hopes to enter a professional field I felt very discouraged. Listening to the political analysts rip apart powerful women such as Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin solely based on their outward appearances was both infuriating and discouraging. A woman in the public eye is faced with the impossible task of presenting herself in a way that doesn’t give sexist analysts material for disrespectful jokes, which in my opinion is just plain ridiculous. Ultimately, the reason I feel so discouraged is because I truly do believe it is impossible for a professional woman to present herself in a manner that doesn’t solicit an opinion of another person, especially a male.

Generally speaking, men in the professional industry follow an unwritten dress code that works every time. This dress code puts every man on an even playing field and basically eliminates the concept of style, allowing for much more important aspects of their personality to shine through. Women do not have a dress code that equalizes them. Women have to think about their hair color/style/ length, outfit (all encompassing), bra style, shoes, jewelry, nails, eyebrows, purse, makeup, skin care, along with so much more. Men have a fraction of those options. As a woman I don’t think it’s possible to ever present yourself in a way that doesn’t open up the door for scrutiny from somebody, and like I mentioned before, that is ridiculous. It saddens me to think that the way I present myself from this point forward will have such a significant impact on my career path, but unfortunately there seems to be no way around it. I can only hope that one day women will experience the same neutrality men do.