|
|||||||
|
Reaction
#1 1. The exhibit at the Women's Center was very informative and interesting. The exhibits taught me a lot about the way women are perceived, manipulated, and portrayed in today's society. Of the many displays, the one about the video games was particularly disturbing. The "Panty Raider" game was disgusting. It's amazing that these games are on the market. The shampoos, fragrances, and shoe exhibits were very informative. The fact that most shampoos are made of the same, basic ingredients surprised me. I guess when I read that one product is for fine, limp hair and another is for thick, full-bodied hair, I think that there must be a difference between them. The x-rays of women's feet in high heel shoes were odd. It looks as though there are at least 50 mails holding the shoe together in the upright, unnatural position. Having had experience with the fetal imaging, I was curious when I read the Fetal imaging exhibit. I tend to disagree with the author of that display, at least in my case. Ultrasound as able to tell me that I had had a miscarriage. I felt that I was not bypassed by the doctor. She was very informative and forthright and did not concentrate on the image. I CAN see where many doctors may forgo the Mom and concentrate directly on the monitor. The baby AND the mother's health are very important during pregnancy. I also have high blood pressure and am glad that there is so much technical monitoring that they can do these days. When we try again, I'll be closely watch, as will the baby. The Big and Baggy display was of special interest to my husband. As long as I have known him, he has taken his wallet out of his pocket when we go on trips in the car or watch a movie. Now I know why! The underwear revolution has come! Those new boxer type style for women look comfortable. I might try a pair! The displays really taught me a lot and it was fun reading them all. 2. The Gender of Technology exhibit displays a series of technological items from lip balm to Viagra, offering viewers a critical perspective on familiar objects and raising questions about the mutual shaping of gender and technology. The exhibit is sponsored by Professor Martha McCaughey of the Womens Studies Department. This exhibit really brought to my attention the relations between the shaping of gender and technology. Everything from the fashion industry to on-line technology has affected the way a man or woman interprets their gender. Gender is best understood as our sociocultural interpretation of the significance of sex. Our surrounding cultures, religion etc., is what determines our gender roles. Some of the issues presented were rather intriguing. New technological advances such as fetal imaging has allowed many discoveries in fetal development. It has not only allowed us to determine the sex of a child prior to birth but it has allowed us to discover complications early in the development of the fetus. The Internet, was born of authoritarian military control and has broken free and is now a catalyst for social change. The Internet has allowed women to voice their thoughts and portray empowering images of women and has allowed many questions to be answered that women are afraid to ask. On the other hand the Internet has offered many degrading images of women in terms of pornography and virtual sex chat rooms. We as women need to take advantage of opportunities that the Internet has to offer, we need to use it as a way of catalyzing our fight for equality. In terms of fashion, women have virtually been forced to live in discomfort. Nothing is more appealing than a woman in fitted clothes, with a push up bra, and high heels. Right!!! the ideal sexy image that has been forced upon us is that women should not wear baggy clothes, they should show off their curvaceous figures. Not only has this created low self confidence in some women, but it has forced women to carry purses. The purse has become a women's accessory as a result of these tight clothes, where is a women to put her wallet... it certainly isn't going to fit in her back pocket. Over the years purses and wallets have become gendered accessories because of this. Also, where is a woman to carry her lipstick or makeup that society has encouraged them to wear? A bra which is created for support has continually changed the shape of the female chest. In the past the fad was pointy and perky, now it's lift and squeeze them together for that oh so desired cleavage . Society has turned the bra and breasts into highly sexual entities! now for high heels, they offer nothing but pain and discomfort. The high heel, typically worn to make a women's leg more appealing has led to the displacement of the natural posture. In addition to high heels, women have chosen to walk with their chest and rear sticking out to create society's desirable curves. This has not only made it difficult for women to move but it has led to knee, hip, back, and feet problems. As for underwear now a days, they are not worn for the traditional reason, but to shape not only one's body, but also their mind. Both male and females will feel more sexy if they are wearing what society has determined is sexy underwear. Think of the discomfort some of that lace can cause... is it really worth it?? Being an athlete another artifact that caught my attention was the display of women in sports. Over the years women have come a long way in sports, just take the WNBA for example. Whoever thought there would be professional sport opportunities for women. But today's cultural beliefs still display men as superior in the athletic field. Magazines such as Sports Illustrated typically portray men and men only. If women were to make the cover it is usually the swim suit edition. For women sports gives them a sense of empowerment, but still an athletic woman is sometimes not seen as a woman. Society needs to boot the image of athletic women and let them feel good abut themselves They need to realize that there is nothing unfeminine about a female athlete, they are still women, boobs and all!! the exhibit also offered issues such as the effect of Viagra, advertising, and video games on the shaping of today's gender roles. In addition to the effects that gender roles have on these products. It's unbelievable to take into all the issues revolving around gender and technology. This exhibit was very beneficial, it really made me think why I do the things I am doing, and who am I really doing them for!! 3. On Wednesday, March 14, I went to the exhibit in the women's center. It deals with technology and media and how it affects gender division. Throughout the room they had advertisements and technologies with explanations beside them that explained how it affected women. I first looked at the pictures of video games that were displayed. It showed a game called Duke Nukem, Land of Babes. On the front of the game it had 3 animated busty babes with guns in their hands. You can tell the makers of the game just used those women to sell the game. They don't really think that women would really dress like that if they were law enforcers. They also displayed a Barbie computer game. Barbie is already a problem for women because most women do not a have a figure like that. This game portrayed women in the traditional role as a homemaker and a shopper. They also displayed a game called panty raider. There is no hidden meaning there. The purpose of the game is to see girls in their underwear by enticing them with credit cards and stuff like that that is associated with traditional women. I next looked at a Barbie doll that was holding a baby and pushing a baby carriage. This is telling little girls that they should just grow up to be mommies and take care of the children. It doesn't show them they can choose to not have kids and they can concentrate on a career if they want to. The next thing that caught my eye was the sports exhibit. It showed how women are getting sort changer in the sports world. It showed how for men's basketball there are cameras on all sides of the court, but for the women, they only have cameras on two sides of the court. It also showed the different amounts of scholarships and money given to men's sports compared to women's sports. this paralleled the presentation given by the group from our class. In all, men get more. They also had an exhibit for Sports Illustrated. It showed that last year there were only two covers that went to women. It even explained that one of them was for Anna Kournikova and it was not really because she was an athlete, it was because she is very beautiful and they knew it would be a hit. It also showed the swimsuit issue, which is just for men to look at beautiful girls in bathing suits. This has a negative effect on women by portraying them as sex objects. I also looked at the high heel display. It got me to thinking that someone did not design these so women could be comfortable. They made them so women could look more like they wanted them to look. They were made to make women more attractive to men. I feel that with all of these examples we can see that technology and the media are still affecting women's status in this culture. They are portraying them as sex objects or as homemakers. Until this stereotypes are changed, women will have problems. 4. I observed the Gender of Technology exhibit in the Women's Center for this report. As you enter the room, you are greeted with the idea, behind doing this exhibit. The undergraduate program Women and Technology wanted to ask questions about the mutual shaping of gender and technology. They wanted to observe products that were developed for and associated with women and some with men. In one display case, deodorants, shampoos, watches, medications, and fragrances are housed. They discovered ironically, as if men are the only ones who experience pain all medications labeled for adults feature a man on the cover (besides Midol and similar products). Pain medication developed for children shows either a child or a child and his mother, as if saying women are the only ones who care for their children when they are sick. The deodorants came in different sized and shaped bottles. Men's bottles were usually larger and had more content then women's suggesting that men need to use deodorant more. A man and woman's watch was in the case; both were the same price although the woman's watch of the same brand was considerably smaller than that for the man. The hair care products advertised towards women focused their commercials and marketing to things they think women would care more about then men, using terms such as "beautiful" and "shiny". Fragrances are often packaged differently, men in a masculine way, often in a canteen or storage shaped container. Women's fragrances are often housed in smaller bottles with strange, feminine shapes. There are gendered conceptions of underwear as well. The purpose of a man's undergarments are thought to be for warmth and protection. Women's, on the other hand, are to mold the body and to attract attention....ironically even though they are worn under other layers of clothing. Women's clothes are often tight, not allowing room for other items such as money, identification, lipstick, etc. to be placed and stored in their pockets. Women, therefore, often carry purses or bags to hold their accessories. Purses are thought to make women appear more feminine. Men are often found in baggy clothes that allow room for wallets to be stored in their back pockets. Sitting on this wallet day in and day out may be the cause of back pain...which is why men are featured on the cover of back pain medication. I learned that the bra that we know today was developed in 1893 b Marie Tuck. It was then designed for comfort and an alternative to the unbearable corset. Today, society (especially American society) has turned the bra and women's breasts into highly sexualized things. I found something very interesting in this display. Although the bra is worn by women, it is sold and marketing by men. Out of the eight major bra corporations only one has a female CEO, and that is Victoria's Secret!! Dolls are also gendered. Female dolls are featured as mothers or sisters, very feminine with an array of clothing. Male dolls are usually portrayed as fighter or heroes. This display also featured a display on women and sports. To quote the exhibit "to be female and strong goes against traditional codes of femininity." This display featured eight Sports Illustrated covers. SI represents mostly males, as only two of the fifty-two issues in the past year featured women on the cover. SI usually portrays women more sexually. One of the female cover sportswomen was featured competing in her event. The other, Anna Kournikova, was featured in a shoulder-baring hair-blowing pose: not exactly the tennis courts. SI features a yearly swimsuit edition with women in skimpy bathing suits (if wearing anything at all!). Another display went back to the clothes aspect. A variety of shoes were placed on the mantelpiece, as well as x-rays of a woman's foot in a pair of high heels. Although they produce the typical female form with a woman's chest and rear-end sticking out (curves in the right places), this makes women more vulnerable. The feet are contorted and often become inflamed and damaged overtime. Fetal Imaging has become what is thought to be an exciting and rewarding technology. Sonograms and Ultrasounds provide pertinent and very, very useful information about the fetus inside a pregnant woman. Unfortunately this often affects the patient-doctor relationship as a doctor usually sidesteps reports from the women for their own visual tracking on the machines. Women often report that during delivery, doctors and nurses are too busy watching machines that they rarely make eye contact with the woman. Lip balms were also under scrutiny during this event. They give moisture to otherwise chapped lips. Most people, in a survey, would choose a basic brand of chapstick to use. Men and women both agree to the same brand/style most of the time. Video games, like dolls, are highly gendered as well. Women are often portrayed as weak and dependent on men, whereas men are portrayed as competent and strong. These games designed for boys and girls are often different in their approaches and goal. Boy's games most often teach them hand-eye coordination. Games for girls often don't promote any computer knowledge. I learned that pornography was the first for-profit Internet business. This business was mostly targeted toward men. In more recent days, the guerilla girls have started up websites not only for artists and minorities, but also for women. Girl websites often aren't as up-to-date or informative as sites specifically designed for men. MSN's womencentral is basically the equivalent to an online version of Good Housekeeping. Finally, cars are a standard of masculine power, superiority, and leadership...ideal characteristics of men. More recently Ford has tried to focus on women. They are depicted as stronger and willing to get dirty (women in commercials kneeling in dirt and changing tires). I learned a lot from this exhibit. Many of the things that were said were on track and correct. However, in a few situations, I don't see what the big deal is with the way things are gendered. I don't see a problem if women want to buy a shampoo because it is supposed to make their hair more shiny and thick. I know it's the way that people were brought up and the societal effects, but it could be something that is seriously important to a woman. I really did enjoy seeing this exhibit. I'm glad that I went and had the chance. |
|||||||
