Post Number Six

On October 13, 2010

During this class we watched the video, Sexy Inc; Our children under influence. Rob had asked us to watch the video and decided whether we felt it was feminist and if it was what feminist wave it would fall under. I felt the video was most definitely feminist and I believed it would fall under the second wave of feminism as it was focused on the degrading sexual representation of women. I believe this video was spot on. Our society has made sex appeal one of the most important factors in a woman’s life. I truly believe that if society would focus on internal beauty rather than external beauty we would see that women would have more self-confidence and respect for themselves. Our media has targeted young girls and it is appalling that there is very few corporations that try to change this reality. One of the largest corporations that have worked very hard is Dove. They have made a huge effort in promoting self-esteem to young females. A classmate recently showed me a website that I was very impressed with. It is called operationbeautiful.com its main idea is to post post-it notes in different places with inspiring messages or compliments that make you feel beautiful. I LOVE THIS IDEA! That note could be the sign you need to accept yourself and feel beautiful. It may not be a life changing thing but if for just one day that note made your negative perspective of yourself go away it did its job. I intend on adopting this idea and starting it here in Red Deer. I hope it catches on and spreads like wild fire! I volunteer at a junior high school in Sylvan Lake and I know this could make some girls feel better about themselves. It might also teach some to accept others for who they are rather than teasing them or treating them like an outcast.

On October 15, 2010

During this class we discussed the subcategories of psychological gender typing. I will briefly describe each one:

·         Psycho-Analytic

o   Freud believed that gender emerges as a feature as our psycho-sexual development.

·         Social- Cognitive

o   Albert Bandura believed that development occurs through an interaction between cognition or thinking and social experiences.

·         Cognitive-Developmental

o   Laurence Kohlberg believed the child gradually comes to see gender as more and more permanent

·         Gender Schema Theory

o   States that the child learns schemas about gender, but over time blends with self concept.

Rob told us that the book mentioned that if a child’s gender self concept is consistent within their culture they are more apt to have higher self esteem. Although there are exceptions I believe that statement to be very true. Rob then asked us to get into small groups and answer the following questions:

1.    Please think of a person of figure who does not fit their typical gender expectation?

2.    In what ways do they not?

3.    How do people react to them?

Our group chose to talk about Elton John. We believed that he didn’t fit into his typical gender expectation because he was a famous singer who openly came out as a homosexual. It was surprising how he had lost very few fans and still remained popular within society. I say surprising because of the time that it had happened, 1975, you would expect people to distance themselves from homosexual people.