How Do We Define “Liberty” and “Freedom” In Our Own Culture?

I recently watched a film called, The Stoning of Soraya M., which is an American film produced in 2008. The film takes place in a small village in Iran and portrays a journalist (Freidoune) who is approached by a woman (Zahra) who wants to talk to him about the circumstances surrounding her niece, Soraya’s death. Freidoune agrees to tape record Zahra’s story, which is a tale of a married woman, Soraya, who was charged with adultery. Despite being innocent, she is convicted of the crime and is sentenced to death by stoning.

            I believe that the film misrepresents Iranian society and particularly Iranian women because it reinforces the misconception that women in the Middle East need to be liberated and saved by Westerners from the restrictions and violence inflicted on them by the men in their communities. In the concluding scene, as Freidoune drives away with the tape recorder in his hands, Zahra screams that God is great and how the whole world will know of the injustice that took place in this village. This scene suggests that Iranian women must seek help from complete strangers, in other words, foreigners who live outside of such a corrupt and secretive country, because people in their own community fail to provide them with the necessary assistance and protection. This depiction of Iranian society perpetuates Islamophobic representations of the Middle East as a “backwards culture” that promotes the suppression of women as opposed to “the West,” which is characterized as a “progressive society” that encourages the liberation of women.

            The idea that women in the Middle East need saving was also used by First Lady, Laura Bush, in her radio address to the nation on November 17, 2001. Bush stated that “the fight against terrorism is also a fight for the rights and dignity of women… [and] [that] Afghan women were rejoicing in their liberation by the Americans” (Abu-Lughod). This statement not only reinforces notions of Western superiority, but it also, implies that Afghan women have no ability or agency to speak for themselves. What is also important is Bush’s use of the term, “rights,” which homogenizes women in the Middle East (reducing all cultural difference to similarity) and places feminism and liberation on the side of the West. Her speech made me ask myself, do women in the Middle East really need saving? And if so, how can we protect these women without confusing rights that are universal with localized social and cultural customs as Bush did in her radio address?

According to the anthropologist, Lila Abu-Lughod, Bush’s speech blurred “the very separate causes in Afghanistan of women’s continuing poverty and their more recent exclusion under the Taliban from employment, schooling, and the joys of wearing nail polish” (Abu-Lughod). I believe that it is important to distinguish between the right to be educated from the right to dress as one wants, including nail polish or not, because “every [individual] [should] [have] the right to education” (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26), whereas the rights to certain ways of dress are determined by the social and cultural norms within each community. What is notable, however, is the ways in which “women of color” are misrepresented by White feminists.

Journalist, Mariana Ortega, describes how many White feminists have “an ignorance of the thought and experience of women of color that is accompanied by both alleged love for and alleged knowledge about them” (Ortega). She refers to this ignorance as a “loving, knowing ignorance.” What she means by this is that White feminists often assume that they understand what “women of color” are experiencing and what they are thinking when, in fact, they are making assumptions based on what they see in the media or read in literature. For instance, students in my classes (and myself included) often use topics focusing on Aboriginal people and their histories, current predicaments living on reservations, and being discriminated against and marginalized by the rest of Canadian society.  However, as a biracial, partly White female, I wonder to myself, how well do I really understand these social and political issues because I have not experienced them, myself. All that I can do is to try to understand by educating myself through the use of various academic literatures and be careful not to homogenize and misrepresent the communities I am discussing.

Therefore, I believe that we need to be careful when making claims about saving women who are “oppressed” because it represents the fallacy that these women are invisible and that they have no voice, when, in fact, they can make equally meaningful contributions to their own societies, in ways that are not necessarily validated by Western perspectives.

 

Abu-Lughod, Lila. “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and its Others.” American Anthropologist 104.3 (2002): 783-790.

 Ortega, Mariana. “Being Lovingly Knowingly Ignorant: White Feminism and Women of Color.” Hypatia 21.3 (2006): 56-74

The Stoning of Soraya M. Dir Cyrus Nowrasteh. Perf Mozhan Marno, Shohreh Aghdashloo, James Caviezel, Parviz Syyad, Vida Ghahremani, Navid Negahban. Roadside Attractions, 2008. DVD

 

 

 

 

Who’s Fault Is It?

The Steubenville Rape Case has been tried and the two young men were found guilty of rape, creating a media whirlwind of hate and blame. People all over the world mourn the loss of the promising careers of the two star football players. Social media has been overflowing with comments about how the young victim was “asking for it” just because she was making the decision that many teens decide to make as they experiment and mature. Instead of taking this as a warning and striving towards making society safer for all potential rape victims, the internet has personified an angry mob and punished the young girl for having the courage to speak out. According to the statistics collected by RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) 54 % of rape victims never report their attack and only 3 % of rapists see the inside of a jail cell. This further perpetuates the fear in the victims. By not taking a stand against this issue, and shaming the victims, the rapists have been told, this is ok, she was asking for it. You only acted on the instinct of the moment because she provoked you. Fox news has even gone as far as to releasing the name of the minor, stripping her of the last shred of privacy she was promised by the law. After abc20/20 released a story on the Steubenville Rape Case there was a massive wave of replies on social media. There were overwhelming numbers of people of all ages that not only mourn for the convicted rapists, but they also shame the young girl. There were comments as outrageous as “I wouldn’t have intervened, if she wants to be a drink slut that on her, why would someone help her.”

This is a link that has put together only a small fraction of all the hate that has been going on about this case.

https://www.tumblr.com/publicshaming/46206050374/abcs-2020-covered-steubenville-on-friday-night

Continuing down the page, the anger in the comments remain unchanged but it is discovered that they are actually screen shots of comments made about another rape case in Torrington, CT, where a thirteen year old girl was sexually assaulted by two eighteen year old football players. An interesting comment read “ If you choose to sit there and get bullied stand the fuck up, it’s no ones fault but yours. It’s 2013 no one has sympathy.” It is very sad to see that this comment does bear truth. When a young person does decide to stand up and speak out about her attack she is pushed aside and humiliated, no one does have sympathy.

Finally, hidden within all the vile comments was someone who identified her as a survivor

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/03/23/my-open-letter-to-the-steubenville-survivor/

Personally I found this video extremely emotional. Finally there is someone that apologizes to the girl for her loss of innocence. Someone who understands that just because she might have made naive choices, it does not mean what happened to her was justified. The new stories have labeled her as the “rape victim” as if she had no other life other than this one. In this letter she is finally identified as a human being with goals and a life before this incident.

This whole case has left me with a few questions:

With all the advancements in antibullying, why are rape victim still the ones who are blamed?

What can we do so that the other 46% of rape victims feel safe enough to report their attack?

References

Abad-Santos, Alexander . “The Steubenville Victim’s Name Aired on All Three Cable News Networks – Yahoo! News.” Yahoo! News – Latest News & Headlines. N.p., 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 5 Apr. 2013. <http://news.yahoo.com/steubenville-victims-name-aired-three-cable-news-networks-203111828.html&gt;.

Lombardi, Matt, Lisa Soloway, and Sean Dooley. “Steubenville Rape Case: Script Goes Awry for Accused Teen – ABC News.” ABCNews.com – Breaking News, Latest News & Top Video News – ABC News. N.p., 13 Mar. 2013. Web. 5 Apr. 2013. <http://abcnews.go.com/2020/steubenville-rape-case-script-awry-accused-teen/story?id=18712245&page=2#.UV7c3Kn3Ay4&gt;.

“Statistics | RAINN | Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.” RAINN | Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network | RAINN: The nation’s largest anti-sexual assault organization.One of “America’s 100 Best Charities” —Worth magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Apr. 2013. <http://www.rainn.org/statistics&gt;.

The Flaws in Our Society

I came across an interesting article last week titled, “How Our Brains See Men as People and Women as Body Parts: Both Genders Process Images of Men, Women Differently”. In this study, viewers looked at pictures of both genders and differences were found in how the two genders were perceived by the viewers.  The study showed that viewers could only see men if shown the whole body, but they could tell a female apart by breaking the female body into separate parts. This study also links cognitive processes to the objectification theory. One of the researchers stated that “women were perceived in the same ways that objects are viewed.”  Moreover, not only did men perceive women this way, women, unknowingly, observed themselves this way as well. Seen in Jean Kilbourne’s film “Killing Us Softly”, women are often being seen in the media where their body parts are emphasized. How can this way of thinking be altered? With so many sources that degrade women, such as pornography, movies and TV shows, there is no doubt that people have engraved this particular way of thinking towards women in our society.

Here is an example:

Taking a look at “Spring Breakers”, a movie released last week, it touches on rape culture and how these girls were “asking for it”. The film is filled with nudity, and the four main characters always seem to wear provocative clothing. While there is uproar with how this movie will influence young girls to drink and dress provocatively, it also brings to viewers’ attention of how real everything portrayed in the movie is. Many viewers have gotten up to leave before the movie even ended, maybe because the movie was “garbage”, but possibly because what they were watching was too excessive and nauseating – realizing rape culture does, in fact, exist in our society. Is it a coincidence that this movie was released not long after the Steubenville trial or a month before Sexual Assault Awareness month? The director, Harmony Korine, has not only brought out rape culture, but masked it as party culture. The scenes that are hardest to stomach are not the scenes of violence, but the familiar parties and how much fun people are having. Korine further emphasizes that this culture is wrong – that people need to stop and realize what exactly is wrong with our current society.

So who is at fault? Women that put themselves “out there” or the rapists that rape? A term known as victim blaming occurs when the victim of sexual harassment or assault is said to be partially responsible for the assault. Here is when the concept of being raped twice is confirmed – once during the act and once during the trial. How do people have the nerve to blame the victim for what they wear or if they were intoxicated as the reason for being raped? Having the courage to even say that they were sexually assaulted is already a huge step. “We must give girls the tools they need to defend themselves against all kinds of sexual predators” (Peterson 144). Stated in “The Not-Rape Epidemic”, many young women do not speak up for themselves, scared of what society may bring on to them. Recently, the SlutWalk Protests have been developed, where participants protest against a woman’s appearance as an excuse to rape. There are posters with phrases such as, “My Clothes are Not my Consent” and “Society teaches ‘Don’t Get Raped’ rather than ‘Don’t Rape’”. This protest is much needed in informing society that women are humans too – do not perceive them as objects.

References

“How Our Brains See Men as People and Women as Body Parts: Both Genders Process Images of Men, Women Differently.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 25 July 2012. Web. 04 Apr. 2013.

Peterson, Latoya. The Not-Rape Epidemic. Canada: Pearson1, 2008. Print.

Identifying the Real Victim

    Rape culture is used to describe a culture in which rape and sexual abuse is viewed as a common criminal act that is not only normalized within society but is sometimes condoned.  On March 17, the normalization of rape was taken to another level when two rapists were given the title of victim.

    Steubenville High School football players, Trent Mays, a sixteen year old caucasian male and Ma’lik Richmond, a seventeen year old African American male, were tried and convicted for raping an unconscious, intoxicated sixteen year old female at a party.  Throughout the trial, the media’s attention and sympathy was geared towards the perpetrators rather than the victim.  News correspondents commented not only on Mays and Richmond’s academic achievements but focused on their promising futures in football.  The victim’s level of intoxication was repeatedly raised, subliminally justifying the actions of the two boys.  Very little attention or sympathy was given to the female victim.  Thus, the media’s response has led me to question why society has placed a shocking amount of fault on the victim.
    
    I believe the subliminal expectations society has regarding the role of men, has a significant effect on the public’s response to the Steubenville case and ultimately contributed to the sympathy felt toward Mays and Richmond.

       Masculinity theory explains that “criminal activity is associated with characteristics of masculinity, such as being aggressive, pushy, hard-headed and violent. These behaviours are part of being a man in our society” (Gendered Worlds, 279).  Therefore, the actions of Mays and Richmond were not looked upon with anger, rather with empathy based on a belief that men are genetically made up to be violent.  Furthermore, Gendered Worlds explains that “men’s work is valued more highly than women’s work” (84).  Thus, when the boys were sentenced to a minimum of one year in a juvenile detention facility, overwhelming sympathy was expressed as Mays and Richmond were loosing their opportunity to be professional athletes.  Ultimately, Mays‘ and Richmond’s gender roles and expectations were used to excuse their behaviour.  While society should have looked down upon Mays’ and Richmond’s actions, people could not help but feel sorry that they had just thrown their lives away.  

    Not only was Mays’ and Richmond’s gender used to excuse their behaviour, the expectation that women must always be aware of their surroundings was also challenged.  Gendered Worlds explains that rape “is the female fear and every women has it to a degree” (275) and if women know that “men’s bodies have the biological equipment to rape” (273), it is therefore their responsibility to protect themselves from this violent act.  Because of this belief, the media has stressed the fact that the victim had willingly consumed alcohol which ultimately led to her unconscious state.  Thus, the idea of “she asked for it” has repeatedly been hinted at within the media world, as the victim was unable to protect her body from a man’s natural urges.  The blame is once again being placed onto the victim, making Mays’ and Richmond’s actions appear like a biological cause.

    After following the events of the Steubenville trial, I cannot help but realize that although our society is progressing in some areas, it appears that we are digressing in others.  The concept of white privilege was never considered throughout the conviction of Mays and Richmond.  White privilege is the everyday advantages that white people benefit from.  In the trial, Mays was sentenced with two years in a juvenile correction facility while Richmond was only given one year.  Typically, “Black Americans receive almost 60% long prison sentences than white Americans who committed the same crime” (NewsOne).  Mays’s and Richmond’s case is an abnormality with regards to the equality of sentencing of white and black individuals.  Thus, I am proud to say that white privilege did not play a role within this case.  However, while I feel that the Steubenville trial illustrates that we are slowly moving away from a white privileged society, I cannot help but wonder if we are moving back into a patriarchal one.  The Steubenville trial is the perfect example of a belief system where the actions of individuals are justified by their gender.  Ultimately, Mays and Richmond were deemed victims simply based on an understanding that this is how boys act.  As my blog comes to a close, I am deeply saddened by society’s response to this case.  A response that is ultimately condoning rape and perpetuating rape culture within our society.

In your opinion, what do you think is the reasoning behind the victimization of Mays and Richmond?

If Mays and Richmond did not have significant academic and sport achievements, do you believe society would have had a different opinion regarding their role as victim?

CNN broadcaster Poppy Harlow repeatedly expressed her sadness for Mays and Richmond after witnessing their sentencing.  If a male broadcaster had been present in the court room in place of Harlow, do you feel that the news report would have been more or less empathetic? How would a change in broadcaster change the tone and subject matter of the news report?

Comments made on social networking sites regarding the Steubenville trial.

Aulette, J. R., & Wittner, R. R. (2012). Gendered Worlds. New York: Oxford University Press.

Gane-McCalla, Casey. “Blacks Receive 60% Longer Sentences For Same Crimes” NewsOne. Feb 8, 2012. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. <http://newsone.com/1859475/black-people-receive-60-longer-sentences-for-same-crimes/&gt;

Finding Ourselves Within

I have recollection of the first time I truly considered the frequently dismissed importance of gender identification and expression. I heard about a case in the 1960’s where in a boy was brought up as a girl with no knowledge of his anatomical sex at birth. There had been an accident during his circumcision that left him with severely damaged genitalia. With the advice from a psychologist that was researching in nature vs. nurture of gender, his parents decided to transform him into a girl. It was noted early on “the girl had many tomboy traits, such as abundant physical energy, a high level of activity, stubbornness, and being often the dominant one in a girl’s group.” (BBC) By the time Brenda was 13, she was suicidal and felt completely out of place.

Being taught a social construct of gender from the time you are born of what your identity and role should be can be extremely stressful if you feel unfit to be placed in your perceived ‘category’ of gender. Within gender studies I have had an opportunity to become educated on the perceived norms of gender and the gender diversity that exists beyond them. Before taking this course I was unaware of the negative affects of gender roles, as I did not know many forms of transgender that exist outside these norms. Gender is a very complex concept and it is difficult to define. Prior to engaging in this course I would have found it easy to define gender. I considered people to be either male or female; sex and gender being the same thing. I believe my peers would have felt the same way. This ignorance raises a major concern to me.

In western culture we are made unaware of the gender spectrum. There are two strict types of human beings and those are male and females. The sex you are born with is the gender people assume you identify with. If we are comfortable with our designated categorization we are taught not to question the boundaries of gender because we never saw a reason to. I can only imagine the stress this would bring onto an individual who feels forced to live as a gender they do not identify with. In an extremely conformist society the differences between sex and gender are taboo topics. Learning about transgender is not a mandatory part of our educational system. It is often overlooked and ignored by teachers and parents making children unaware of the different classifications of gender that exist. Children are all assumed to be cisgender and comfortable with this classification. This leaves children that fall outside of stereotypical gender norms to feel guilty and ashamed for their differences. How should we ensure that children are aware of different gender identities? How do we make them comfortable with unfamiliar gender identities within others or even within themselves?

Although the story I discussed earlier was a very severe gender identify problem, it outlines the emotional tolls of gender confusion. The boy in the story later in life committed suicide, unable to adjust to the gender role given to him. There is a desperate need for awareness of the gender spectrum and how complicated it can be. We need to be educated on the gender spectrum and taught to accept different gender identities no matter how different they may appear. There needs to be communal understanding of the complex relationship between one’s biological sex and their sense of self within.

Charlotte York Opinions

Works Cited

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11814300

Are Women Their Own Worst Enemies?

People are consistently and heavily influenced by the media in their everyday lives. Advertisements, magazines, movies, and TV shows are used by various companies to market various commodities. Additionally, mass media works to, not only, sell consumer products (such as cosmetics, fashion, and vacation spots), but it also sells a perception of “normalcy…tell[ing] us who we are, and who we should be” (Kilbourne, 2010). In other words, individual women are often persuaded into buying designer bags or jewelry because it appears as though everyone around them owns one. Therefore, consumers buy to satisfy an anticipated happiness and satisfaction that result from purchasing that item. Because people seek “the hottest trends,” they begin to mimic each other’s fashion. Therefore, I believe that people are unconsciously persuaded to conform to a set of standards that serves to depict and classify what it means to dress and look “normal.”

To understand this idea, I decided to observe the fashion of the women in my classes. I soon recognized that there appeared to be a pattern. In one of my classes, I counted six girls who carried with them identical looking Lanchamp bags that only differed in colour. Similarly, many of the women wore on them some form of jewelry (such as Tiffanies or Swarovski). Moreover, most of the women seemed to wear skinny jeans and wore similar UGG boots. The similarities between their fashion was so obvious and noticeable that I was absolutely stunned. Then I began to wonder to myself, “am I dressed, as well, in a way that subconsciously makes me an active participant in promoting the social norm?” I too, have a lanchamp bag and wear skinny jeans and UGG boots, so it must mean that this is true. Because ads have such a powerful hold on people, that it persuades them to buy and dress like each other, indeed like clones, they discourage people from attempting to challenge them. In this way, I believe that fashion manipulates people into thinking that what looks good to others is the style of fashion that mimics the person sitting next to you in class. Indeed, this is how multinational corporations maintain control over its consumers, through which women develop and internalize ideas that teach them ways of becoming more attractive.

Catherine Itzin, in her article, Margaret Thatcher Is My Sister. Counseling on Divisions Between Women, explains how the internalization of the expectations that media has of how a woman should look, dress, and act serves to oppress them by creating tension and competition between women rather than uniting them in the attempt to overthrow systems of patriarchy. Every woman has experienced a time in which she compared herself to a tabloid picture of Meghan Fox or Jessica Alba and felt insecure and perhaps even jealous, because it was impossible for her to measure up to that standard of beauty. It is also true that every woman has passed judgment on these actresses out of their insecurities. Comments like, “she’s fat,” “she’s a slut,” or “she’s fake,” serve to constrict women within a social system, in which they fight each other, rather than the system itself, allowing men to reduce them to emotional and irrational puppets; easily susceptible to being controlled and manipulated. Therefore, I believe that it is important to acknowledge and understand the ways in which media influences our ways of appearance and to stop blaming the problem of institution on individual women. The notion that something as simple as fashion can serve to create such magnificent barriers between women implies that it is absolutely vital that we understand and challenge the female stereotypes attributed to “normal” ways of dress.

Itzin, Catherine. “Margaret Thatcher Is My Sister: Counselling on Divisions Between Women”. Women’s Studies Int. Forum 8.1 (1985): 73-83

Killing Us Softly 4. Advertising’s Image of Women. Dir Jean Kilbourne. Perf Jean Kilbourne. 2010.
http://vimeo.com/20024751#

Mickey Mouse Monopoly

When you look back on you childhood, do you remember all the Disney movies that you watched? Disney had something for everyone despite age and gender. There were Aladdin’s magical adventures for the boys and Ariel’s romantic tales for the girls. Disney is truly perceived as the epitome of innocence. It has created a universe filled with magic, romance and infinite possibilities if you just follow your heart. Hiding behind the innocence is Disney’s true power and influence on the minds of children and adults alike. Disney is a conglomerate that owns radio networks, television station, cable systems, internet sites, music studios, media production companies, magazines, theatres, theme parks and even sports teams. When one single corporation controls that much of the media’s output, it is important to look critically at what is being delivered. Just take a look at the lyrics of the songs that are sung and memorized by children. In Pocahontas they sing “Savages, savages barely even human,” or in Aladdin they sing “Where they cut off your ear If they don’t like your face It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.” The lyrics have cause a discussion and criticism from the Arab-Americans. Initially when they raised their voices about this issue, Disney replied with silence. Only when the media caught wind of the story did Disney agree to meet with the people and after a six-month deliberation only parts of the lyrics were changed. Many children memorize all the worlds to the songs before they even know what the lyrics mean and the racist ideas are planted into their minds from a young age. If we take a step back and look at the images of women and men that are portrayed in the Disney films you can see the highly sexualized female images with girls in short skirts, big breasts and tiny waists. For a young child, it shapes their perception on what they are supposed to look like, despite the fact that perhaps none of the real women around them fit that image. Even the female animal objects in the moves are highly sexualized and seductive. It does not only sexualize the women, but the male roles as well. Looking at men like Hercules, or the men in Mulan, the “worthy” men are extremely built while those who are not in as good of shape play a less important and usually comical role in the story. Disney does not only sexualize girls looks, but their actions as well. In Aladdin, Jasmine seduces Jafar so that Aladdin can sneak around. This teaches girl from a young age to use their bodies to get what they want. Many times, women are weak and do not have the ability to save their own lives. In Beauty and The Beast, some can argue that Belle plays a strong female character who is educated and is brave as she trades her love for her fathers, yet in the end she marries the beast. If you take a closer look at the relationship between the beast and Belle, you may be shocked to see how much it displays all the characteristics of an abusive relationship. The beast keeps her locked up against here will and constantly yells at her. Yet she still tries to overlook his behavior and beings out the prince in him. This sends young girls a very dangerous message. It is telling girls that even if you are in a relationship with such an unbalance in power, it is alright. If you look past all the abusive behavior, eventually you will draw out the prince. Another dangerous scene in the beauty and the beast is when the candlestick is seducing the duster. He plays the aggressor and she plays “hard to get” saying no as he his making advances on her. He continues to persue her until she finally says yes. The idea that when women say “no” they are actually playing hard to get and really mean yes is a very dangerous one. This is one that is seen very prevalently in society and leads to men thinking that they can do whatever they want with women. There is no doubt that Disney is a dominant storyteller all over the world. It draws on the feeling of nostalgia and reminds us of family, love and time spent together. Yet when one source has this much influence over the media, who’s job is it to analyze the contents if children are unable to? Are Disney movies actually appropriate for children? 

For more information about Disney and all the issues that arise with their films please watch this video.

http://www.veoh.com/watch/v15800022cezMt3D6?h1=Mickey+Mouse+Monopoly+

Speaking Out For The Silent

For years, women have been considered inferior in Middle Eastern cultures, allowing women to be brutalized and even killed in traditional practices. I’m writing this blog to highlight the fact that laws need to be created to prevent women from being treated in an unjust manner. The presumption of feminine inferiority does not cause women to be brutalized; instead it is used to ‘justify’ such conduct. These uncivilized practices include badals, child marriages and the stoning of women under tribal and sharia law. A badal is a traditional practice of trading daughters who do not have dowries from one family to another, which is basically a sentence of hard labour. In one instance of badal, an eighteen-year old woman in Afghanistan disobeyed her mother-in-law, who then doused her in gasoline and lit her on fire; it took her six hours to die. A badal is just one of a dozen practices that is accepted under tribal law. Women and girls can be bought, traded or given away and the family that takes the female is allowed to do whatever they wish, including beat, starve or rape her. Child marriages are still quite common in both Iran and Afghanistan.

In some cases, if someone is killed in a dispute, then the killer’s family gives a female child to the victim’s family as a means of making amends. Furthermore, women are often raped simply for the purpose of dishonouring an enemy tribe. Stoning to death is yet another uncivilized and barbaric practice. Under sharia law, a hole is dug in the ground and a woman is buried up to her breast with her hands restrained; rules specify the size of the stones that can be thrown so that the execution is agonizing and lengthy. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has decided that treating adultery as a criminal offence, for which the penalty is execution by stoning, does not comply with human rights standards. Amnesty International stated in an appeal against the stoning sentences, “The sentence of execution by stoning for adultery breaches Iran’s commitment under article 6(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that death sentences be imposed ‘only for the most serious crimes.’”  The Iranian legal system needs to be modified, to protect women from inhumane treatment but also to allow for the growth of women’s rights and therefore the development of Middle Eastern countries.

Inequalities between men and women cause a social stigma that allows men to see themselves as superior to women. Due to the outdated legal systems of these countries, many of these inequalities are present in the Middle East. In Afghanistan, the birth of a girl is a cause for pity. Fawzia Koofi, author and Afghanistan presidential candidate speaks of her childhood, “As a newborn I was left outside to die and my face was so badly burned by the sun that the scars remained till adolescence.”  Under Iranian sharia law, men are presumed innocent until proven guilty whereas women are presumed guilty until proven innocent. This goes against the basic legal right to a just trial. In addition, female children of Afghanistan can be tried as adults at age nine but male children cannot be tried as adults until age thirteen. As soon as a girl develops breasts, she is considered mature and therefore an adult, even if she is only ten years of age.

Women in the Western world have the power to speak for Middle Eastern women and stand up against the injustices being committed, specifically in Afghanistan and Iran. Women must be recognized and treated equally. Citizens of the world need to take action to change Internationally, people need to stand up against the injustices being legally committed against women, such as stoning women to death. Uncivilized practices against women, inequalities ensuring women’s subservience and limited education for women only hinder the progress of the Middle East. Throughout international communities, women contribute greatly to society. The women of Afghanistan and Iran need laws not only to protect them but also to enable them to be treated as equal citizens and given a chance to prove themselves.

Charlotte York Opinions

References

Armstrong, Sally. Bitter roots, tender shoots: the uncertain fate of Afghanistan’s women. Toronto: Viking Canada, 2008. Print.

Porter, Catherine. A Female President of Afghanistan. Imagine. Toronto Star.

 

Racism in Disney Movies

Back when we were young, everything was simple. If the word “Disney” came up, we would probably think of princes and princesses, and living “Happily ever after”. However, we did not notice all the accents and different skin-tone characters, and link them to racism. We can, however, easily point out shows such as Russell Peter’s standup comedy and say that his jokes are fairly racist. Taking this Genders course has made me stop and think about all the hidden racism in other movies. A while back, I was made aware of Disney’s hidden images, such as clouds forming the word “sex” in ‘The Lion King’. I’m not sure which genius took the time to spot out such subliminal messages, but it has provoked me into thinking that Disney is more than all the life lessons and love stories that I believed in.

First off, there’s ‘Pocahontas’. The storyline is pretty general – a man and woman fall in love when they are both enemies. What I didn’t catch was when the Europeans invaded the Native Americans, they sang a song called ‘Savages’ in which they insult Native Americans. They say that they’re “barely even human”, “not like you and me which means they must be evil”, and “dirty redskin devils”. Except the North Americans retort racial comments back, such as “the paleface is a demon” and “beneath that milky hide, there’s emptiness inside, I wonder if they even bleed”. The term savages used in this context means that the Native Americans aren’t as educated and civilized as the Europeans are. And then there’s the Redman song in ‘Peter Pan’. The Native Americans are called redskins and portrayed as the bad guys in the movie. Different skin colours are seen to be not as “human” as people with white skin. What is Disney trying to tell its viewers? It’s only supposed to be entertainment for children, but they have stealthily drilled in the point that most villains are of different cultures and race – you rarely see the bad guys having white-coloured skin. Even in ‘The Lion King’, Scar (the evil lion) and his followers (the Hyenas) have a darker skin colour than Simba and his pride (the good lions).

Aside from skin colours, we have movies like ‘The Little Mermaid’ where Sebastian is a crab that has a Jamaican accent. He sings his infamous song Under the Sea, where it states over and over again that there are no hardships [of finding a job] in the water, and you don’t need to work in the sea  – everything is better in the sea. In ‘The Lady and the Tramp’, the Siamese cats have small and slanted eyes, portraying the typical Asian stereotype. In ‘Aladdin’, the opening song Arabian Nights has the lyrics “Where they [the merchants] cut off your ear if they don’t like your face, it’s barbaric but hey it’s home”. This starts the movie off with an idea that Arabs are “barbaric” and violent people. All these are family movies, but they all have that little subtle message that can’t be seen until you’re old enough, and then you have a “Ah, so that’s what they meant” moment.

You can argue that we live in a more positive environment now, and Disney is trying to be more multi-cultural, but if we take a look at ‘Tangled’ and compare it with ‘The Princess and the Frog’, ‘Tangled’ was twice as successful than ‘The Princess and the Frog’ – perhaps because ‘Tangled’ had a white hero and heroin? A child’s view on the world is simple – they clearly won’t see these messages. But will these movies change a child’s perspective in society and have them judge people before they even meet them?

What is Disney really trying to do? Perhaps I’m just overthinking, but it’s hard to ignore all the evidence laid out in these movies. Do you think Disney should come clean, and maybe even apologize, for all the people they offended? Or should we ignore all the racist comments and pretend that it was never Disney’s intention?

Below is a video from YouTube of some clips that are thought to be racist in some Disney movies.

Works Cited

Escher, Anne. “Disney’s Racism and Sexism”. Loyolan. March 22, 2012. Web. 24 Feb 2013. <http://m.laloyolan.com/mobile/opinion/disney-s-racism-and-sexism/article_a914c118-7303-11e1-b698-0019bb30f31a.html&gt;

Changing Women’s Views One Pound At A Time

Media plays a significant role in influencing an individual.  From YouTube videos teaching men how to get in shape to magazine covers plastered with images of size zero models, media continuously bombards society with images of what it means to be beautiful.  Merriam-Webster dictionary defines beauty as “qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the sense or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit” (2013).  To me beauty is the physical version of happiness; the sun setting over the ocean or a plate filled with macaroons.  However, beauty in the media is seen very differently.  When searching “beauty” on tumblr, images appear of travel destinations, fashion, food and individuals providing a wide arrangement of what beauty is in the eyes of tumblr bloggers.  Marilyn Monroe is found frequently.  On the other hand, Google’s, view of “beauty” is women between the ages of 16-25 who are either being groomed or who are posing for the camera.  The Kardashian sisters are everywhere.  It is Google’s display of photoshopped and skinny women that illustrates how the majority of North Americans determine what is beautiful, ultimately having a significant effect on how women see themselves within society.

Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising’s Image of Women, a documentary series created by the feminist author and filmmaker Jean Kilbourne, dissects gender representations in common advertisements.  Kilbourne states that “the average person sees three thousand advertisements a day” (2010).  In many advertisements women are slimmed down to unrealistic body sizes and unwrinkled through photoshop techniques providing viewers with an unrealistic and unattainable view of beauty.  Ultimately, though one may realize it or not, each and every one of these advertisements contain subliminal messaging that have the potential to have a serious effect on how individuals perceive themselves within society.

Ask anyone born before 1975 what they think of Marilyn Monroe.  The consensus would be that Monroe was a beautiful, attractive woman.  However, ask any one under the age of twenty-five and their answers will be contrastingly different.  The difference between Monroe and the present day “beauty” is generally their weight and lack of curves.  Monroe’s famous curvaceous body was what titled her as a major sex symbol, however, this body type is no longer desirable in today’s society.  I feel that this is the result of the increased use of advertisements that bombard us on a daily basis.  From television and magazine advertisements, to advertisements on packaged food, there is no getting away from the messages that tell us we need to be thin to be beautiful.  Ultimately, advertisements teach society that beauty is only attainable through one thing, being skinny.  As a result, more and more young women are developing unhealthy lifestyles that can led to eating disorders and depression because of society’s view of beauty.
The fashion industry is one of the largest fields where being skinny is the only option.  As a result, many popular models live generally unhealthy lifestyles in order to keep their jobs.  While a model’s best asset is her appearance, Vogue, a popular world wide fashion magazine, has begun to take a stand with regards to the unhealthy lifestyles their models live and the potential impact their magazine has on the greater society.

On September 10, 2012 Canada’s Globe and Mail released an article titled Vogue vows to use ‘healthy models’.  Vogue’s goal is to eliminate the use of underage models and those that appear to have eating disorders in order to promote a more healthy lifestyle.  While Vogue’s new goal has been in place for over a year, I personally have yet to see a significant change with regards to the models that are used within their magazines.  As an avid magazine and Vogue reader, I continue to see overly skinny women who are picture perfect.  While I understand that this is all apart of the fashion business, there is an obvious difference between an under weight model compared to a slim healthy model.  I feel that in order for a health lifestyle to be promoted and celebrated, magazines need to make significant changes not only in their use of models but also in their accompanying texts.  Having a variety of sized models is one step for North Americans to begin to develop a healthier lifestyle.  Magazines also need to provide the stories and resources that can better educate readers on the importance of living a healthy life.

How effective are documentaries such as Killing Us Softly with regards to teaching society that the images they see are not what they appear?

Is it possible for fashion magazines to regulate what they display and promote?

Do you believe that media and advertisements can be blamed for the increase in depression and eating disorders among young women?

What can be done in order to improve the meaning of beauty in the 21st century?

References:
Bielski, Zosia. “Vogue vows to use ‘healthy models’.” Globe and Mail. May, 4, 2012. Web. 7 Feb. 2013. < http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/vogue-vows-to-use-healthy-models/article4106979/&gt;

Kilbourne, Jean. 2010. Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising’s Image of Women. Media Education Foundation