Monday, August 25, 2008

Interviews

So today I interviewed Sophie. Sophie is a very bright 11 year old about to enter 6th grade. I sat down with her for almost an hour at her house and this is basically what we did...

What is the media?

lets watch some clips of advertisements of women from magazines

how did the women in those images look?

do you read a lot of magazines?

do you watch a lot of TV?

lets draw a picture of what the way that you think the media makes women look

what did you draw and why did you draw those things?

do you think that those images effect you?

what do you do in your spare time?

do you play any sports?

What school do you go to?

can you show me a magazine that you like?

do you think that other people have problems because of what they see in the media?

do you think that the way women are portrayed in the media is a problem?

you you think its a problem for girls who try to be and look like the people they see on television or in magazines?

what kind of clothes do you like?

where do you buy most of your clothes?

do you look in magazines for tips on what to wear?

do you think at school you or other girls care alot about what they wear?

do you wear makeup?

Lets draw a picture of what you think is beautiful

why do you think certain things are beautiful and other things arn't?

how much TV do you watch everyday?

how much time do you spend on the computer?

what is your favorite movie?

do you think they way that you feel is going to change when you get older?

do you ever try to make yourself the way you see in the media?

Here are the pictures she drew for the drawing parts:

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Long Blonde Hair





I hate it when you tell me that I looked so pretty with my long blonde hair
and I hate it when you double check my ID, smile and say, you changed your hair
and I hate that I keep this ID because I feel like it proves that I can fit in, in your world of long blonde hair

the long blonde hair in that picture looked good on me, but it never fit… I tried to deny my long blonde hair by dyeing it, starting at the age of 13. I have had every color hair except orange and silver…
and I never even knew my natural hair color until the past year. And then I finally went to school and thought I could get away from the assumptions made when you have long blonde hair (even though at the time my hair was short, although still blonde). And then on one of the first days of school I talk to someone and they tell me “yea, I used to have long blonde hair too…”

my long blonde hair was a symbol, a symbol of subscribing to the patriarchal structure of beauty that had been handed down to me in the form of seventeen magazine and books on beauty by bobbi brown. It was a mindset of lack of intelligence given in the form of joke books on “dumb blondes” and reinforced whenever I did something and someone called me a dumb blonde. and most of all my long blonde hair was a symbol of a mindset and an attitude that I didn’t agree with. When people looked at me with that long blonde hair they saw a White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASP). They saw mainstream American teenager bumming around at malls and never stopping to think about the larger issues in the world… and they see straight, good girl…

and so one day I looked at my self in the mirror and realized that I was none of these things (except white…), and maybe I am a coward and I should have stood up and earned respect with my long blonde hair, but instead I got a pair of scissors and made my hair fit who I am…

and so when you tell me that I was so hot two years ago, what happened. and when you look at my ID and comment, while smirking on my hair cut. and when I remember that I keep that ID in my wallet as a passport into your world… it rips apart a very conscience decision that I made years ago…

Friday, August 15, 2008

The Ish with Katy Perry



possible written article to come..... stay tuned, but for now i just needed to get this up there...