Graduate Student Presentations

All the presentations were very interesting! I was particularly interested in the presentation that showed how the middle class was being portrayed in television shows. I also found the presentation about women in music. For the most part, I enjoyed the presentations and the interesting topics students chose.

New Perspective

This class has made me look at magazines and advertisements more critically. I recently recieved a catalog for Bebe and I couldn't believe how much sexual contact was being shown. Bebe usually has women who are dressed provacatively and sitting in sexually suggestive manners. The most recent catalog I recieved showed a women with two naked men on either side of her. The photo shows her in power of their gaze. The photo reminds me of some of dolce and gabanas advertisements. Women are portrayed as secxual objects over and over againg whether in magazines or advertisements. Do they beleive their clothing won't sell if women were portrayed in a less sexually provacative manner?

Dove evolution

I thought the Dove evolution video was very enlightning. I think parents and schools should show this to their students especially their young girls. It is important that young girls understand that advertisements do not show real women. I strongly believe if more girls saw and understood this they would accept their bodies and their self-image more. Young girls today are bombarded with images of extremely thin women, who almost look anorexic. They see that the ideal image is of a women with full breasts and long legs. The more they understand to love their bodies as they are the more they will feel better about themselves. I strongly agree with the message that Doves Real Beauty campaign is sending. It is unfortunate that others find it a laughing matter. (Slob Evolution)

I have finally found a study to shadow!!

After searching forever, I have found a study to shadow its method. I am doing a case study over media's negative portrayal of muslims. I found a study that the Mayor of London conducted. Ken Livingstone commissioned a study of media coverage of Islam in the UK media. The study was performed by looking at the British press over the course of a week. There were 352 articles found of which 91% referred to Muslims or Islam in a negative light. The results were very staggering. I have a much better outlook on how I will conduct my own study based of the method used to conduct the latter study. I am finding it intersting, that the more I ask people what they believe about the media's portrayal of Muslims, the more I am realizing people really have no idea who Muslims are as a people. This is extremely devastating since they are not being informed through the news media. Hopefully, through my own little study I will have a better understanding of just how big the problem is, and maybe how it can be solved.