Heterosexism.

Heterosexism is a form of discrimination that favors heterosexuals over lesbian women, gay men and bisexuals. Upon meeting a person one doesn’t stop to think if that person is homosexual or not, it is in human nature to think every person is straight, as majority of the population is. I think companies choose heterosexual couples (woman and men) over homosexual (woman and a woman, man and a man) couples because majority of people in North American are heterosexual and they are easier to find. Another reason to why companies use heterosexuals over homosexuals is because many homosexual couples are still “in the closet” about their relationship as they fear the discrimination they would face. In my opinion, the last reason to why heterosexuals are the chosen target is because not many people are comfortable with the scene of same sex couples/people being intimate. Therefore, they use heterosexual to advertise, sell products and to promote something or someone.
I found two examples of heterosexual advertisements. The first one is a magazine ad of a Calvin Klein perfume. It shows a women’s perfume “Eternity Moment” is a magnet for men. The model is Scarlett Johansson with a male model. The company chose a man and a woman to advertise their product. The second advertisement I chose was a commercial for the men body spray, Axe. The axe commercial advertises the new product “Axe Dark Temptation”. It shows that they are heterosexual. The women are going for the guy because he smells good. These two advertisements have several things in common, but the one that stands out the most is the fact that, they are heterosexual commercials. The reason heterosexual couples were chosen was because, majority of the people are uncomfortable with people seeing the same sex couples being intimate, as mentioned above.
Upon meeting someone I assume that person is straight. I think most people assume someone is straight is because to this day people think that is the “norm.” Although it’s the 21st century, some people have still not accepted that fact that everyone is different; sexuality, race, language etc.

Cited:
"New AXE Dark Temptation Commercial" United States. 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEpfTicDVUE

Elizabeth A. Suter.(2008)Heterosexism and the media. International Encyclopedia Of Communication. Retrieved March 7, 2010. http://www.communicationencyclopedia.com/public/tocnode?id=g9781405131995_chunk_g978140513199513_ss17-1

Money Aint a Thing.

Consumerism is a modern movement for the protection of the consumer against useless, inferior, or dangerous products, misleading advertising and unfair pricing.

When people are considered as “materialistic”, that means they want every physical items they desire, such as high end clothes and jewellery or even expensive cars. I think it is not possible to detach yourself from materialistically driven society because every where you go you see materialistic items. Everybody wants something in there life that will be useless and expensive or might be an item the person uses once and never touch it again. I, myself, consistently have this ongoing debate going on in my head of whether or not I want the next Apple Ipod or the next Gucci bag. It’s impossible for an individual to run away from material items due the mass media. I, personally, want brand name clothing, expensive jewellery and many other things you see out there. There are many songs out there that talk about being rich and buying many things. The song I chose is “Rich Girl” by Gwen Stefani. I think this song is the best example of materialism because she sings about the fact if she was rich she would buy all the things in the world. An example from the song is the verse “See, I'd have all the money in the world, if I was a wealthy girl” this verse comes across as money is a materialistic item. The second verse follows up to the first verse, “Think what that money could bring, I'd buy everything” this verse indicates that fact the having money can buy you everything, true, but Gwen is talking about materialistic items like cars, houses, trips etc. which are not all that important in life.

Cited:

Stefani,G(2004)Rich Girl. On Love.Angel.Music.Baby [CD]. California: Encore Studio.

Masculinity in the Media.

Metrosexual means a man that is in touch with his feminine side. They have a sense of style and they are also into fashion. There basically like a heterosexual. Masculinity to me means that you are not a female and it means you are very strong. You have muscles that are huge and are in control of oneself. The article “Metro-Sexual Man and Proud of it” says there are many people in the world are now heterosexual as known metro sexual. They wear pink coloured clothing, take care of their faces and get manicures and pedicures done.
Men care about their body shape just like women’s do. The perfect shape for men is a trapezoid because the shoulders and chest are broad. Your upper torso is bigger than your lower torso. The waist and hips are medium. You should be well proportioned. For the women the hour glass is great. Your hip line and your bust line should be the same width. Many teens have been trying to look like this. They’ve try to make themselves look perfect. Women and men both want to have a perfect body shape. Many people might say men are just normally strong and have a trapezoid body shape. But that is not true because men are not born to be strong or to be really athletic, it takes much dedication and practice. On the other hand, women can be strong but they stay in a shape just right for them. To make your body shaped like a trapezoid or an hour glass you need to watch your health. You need to be eating at the right times and be eating healthy not junk food.
The media tells men to look good by using skin care products, hair products, shave themselves everyday and work out in the gym. Men should behave like gentlemen and act kind and caring. My expectations are similar to the media. I want men to be kind and caring, look good and behave like gentlemen’s. Women’s expect men to be active, aggressive and to be muscular. Women also want them to be decent and straightforward in relationships. Men want other men to be muscular, powerful and not act sensitive. But in my opinion, a man should do what he feels it right and not care about the societies expectations.



Cited:

Zwales, J. (2005). Metro-Sexual Man and proud of it. Retrieved Saturday, February 27, 2010. http://www.articlecity.com/articles/men/article_66.shtml

Citing Websites. Determine Your Horizontal Male Body Shape. Retrieved Feb.25.2010 from http://www.style-makeover-hq.com/male-body-shape.html

Women's Movement

The women’s hockey team has been playing amazingly so far. They played against the U.S and won by 2-0 in the women’s hockey game history. The past two world championships have seen Canada lose to the U.S have been embarrassing. The women’s winning game has made the other team down due to the fact that this is the first time they have ever won playing against the U.S.


Tim Wharnsby (writer) mostly focuses on the person who made 29 saves and it focuses on supporting the women’s hockey team. The article “Canada blanks U.S to win gold in women’s hockey” mentions people thinking that hockey is the game for all those women who enjoy playing hockey as a serious game. They believe that women's hockey is pointless and boring. Men's hockey is watched more than the women’s hockey due to the fact that the men’s hockey is more exciting and aggressive. Before the women’s gold medal final, the international Olympics committee president, Jacques Rogges said, “Women's ice hockey officials say that the overall competitiveness of women's hockey had to improve or the sport would no longer be part of the Olympics”. This means that he wanted to see the women’s hockey game more confident and more aggressive in order to stay in the Olympics. The article is trying to convince people to be watching more women's hockey because of their brilliant skills. Women’s have always been at the bottom and now this was their only chance to show everyone that women's hockey teams can be just like the men's hockey game, and they have proved it by putting all they have got and finally had victory and won. They have made history for the women’s hockey team. Though technically speaking, it wasn’t only the women’s hockey team that was put down; it was all the sports that women played, and all those athletes got negative comments. Seeing that the women's hockey team was able to play in the 2010 Olympics winter Games, shows that they can play, regarding the fact of what gender they are. If you set your mind to it and ignore all the hateful people against you, your dreams becoming a world famous athlete in whichever sport will definitely happen.

Cited.


Wharnsby, T. (Thursday February 25, 2010). Canada blanks U.S to win gold in women’s hockey. CBC retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/hockey/story/2010/02/25/spo-hockey-canada-usa.html

Disrespecting Women.

Disrespecting a woman is not only ethically immoral but it is also disrespecting someone’s mom, sister, wife or daughter. These days the media is full of hate, disrespect and degrading of woman. Specifically, music is one thing everyone listens to and hears on a daily basis; that is an example of where women are talked bad about and made for the public to believe they are like sex symbols. The song that I will be discussing song today which disrespects women and degrades them on many levels is “Low” by Flo Rida. Flo Rida is a hip hop, pop artist whom is very popular among teenagers today. He has many smash hits like “Low”, “Right Round” and “Sugar.” “Low “is a strong example of a song which degrades women due to the following lyrics, "she turned around and gave that big booty a smack eyy." Those lyrics are basically saying that a woman is a sex symbol who disrespects herself, so why could any one else (a man) respect her. The singer Flo Rida wants to entice you to believe that, he thinks it’s all right to talk to a women like that and he think its all right to treat a women like that. This song is artistic, cultural and social. Artistic because it’s music. He (singer, songwriter) wants us to think it’s cultural to treat women like that and have them dirty dancing. Social because the teenagers will listen to it. I think this song is very disturbing and disrespectful to all women because “Low” tries to portray an image of women doing dirty/degrading things to themselves. Flo Rida also portrays that a women is a sex symbol whom he can use anytime. Flo Rida tries to cover up the dirty meaning of the song with the tunes, beats and background voices/music. The song “Low” by Flo Rida is a disrespectful, rude song to the female race and every one should be aware that, behind the hip hop beats the fast words of the song, the meaning of the song portrays that every female is a sex symbol whom should be treated with disrespect.

Cited

Dillard,T.(2008)Low. Mail On Sunday[CD] Atlantic Records.