Friday, February 24, 2012

THERES NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!!!

"THERES NO CRYING IN BASEBALL" Tom Hanks exclaimed these words that have been recited at least a hundred times.

We seem to think that hitting like a girl, running like a girl, we just playing sports like a girl period isnt a very good thing. Why is that? From what Ive seen in womens sports, we "girls" work just as hard as the guys do! But I guess you need to look deeper into what Americans look at when it comes to their sports. 

Baseball is America's past time! Our sports are monuments in our culture. We look at our sports as something that is America. We see them as a pillar of our culture.

We find our sports bring people together and allows us to get drunk and act like complete idiots as well as bring our family together and pass down season tickets from generation to generation. I know that my sons grandparents have season tickets to the Hawkeyes basketball and football games. That is a big deal in their family. You watch the football games every time its on and you go to the games as often as possible. Tradition comes with our sports.

So why are we teaching our children that if you hit like a girl that its a bad thing? Well for men..well boys growing up they are taught to have sportsmanship you need to be able to play like a man. They have to be able to be the fastest, the best and if your not then you dont make the cut.

When my half brother would have his baseball games as a young kid, my dad would be on the side lines yelling at him to "hit the ball" "dont miss, because the other team will score". I never heard him utter anything that was innapropriate although I did hear him talking to some of the other dad's about the kids that neither parent showed up for. How they didnt know how to play and that they hit like girls. I think that was one of the reasons why I chose band and not sports, not to mention I dont have enough coordination to play sports.

However when I heard that I couldnt help but thinking whats so bad about hitting like a girl? My sister who was in every sport she could get into was an awsome athlete. I know that it is going to take a lot of change to get people to look at things a little different but I know that when my son starts playing sports if that is what he chooses, Ill be proud to tell him he hits like a girl....because women athletes are just as bad ass as men are and he will be able to understand that.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

I love him....I love him not...Now I love that guy!!!

Klosterman states that no woman is ever going to make him happy, however he also states that he will regret saying that when he is interviewed and is happily married. He blames this on the media and the "idea" of perfect love. He goes on to say that his girlfriend chose to spare his feelings when she spent time  with another man she told him she was going to a concert. He is in a weird way as always right!

We as a culture want to have the picture perfect relationships. We fall in and out of love faster than we can wrap our heads around the reason why we are attracted to that person or even know who they are to begin with. We watch these shows like the bachelor and bachelorette and expecting to find the person that they are going to be with for the rest of their lives. Celebrities don't help how we conceive relationships either. They make up and break up letting people think that you can do the same and its ok.

Movies like the Vow let people think that true love is going to outlast everything, but in actuality there is a  slim chance if you lose your memory and are wanting your fiance that you were previously engaged to, want to stay with you. They are eventually going to get frustrated and from there they may leave you.

Also the average person isnt going to be GORGEOUS! I love my boyfriend but he and I both know that we are celebrity sexy. We look past each others flaws and love each other anyway. We have our issues, but we arent perfect.

The media's portrayal of romance is what we want it to be not what it actually is.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Beauty...its in the eye of the advertiser

Evil Queen: Mirror, Mirror on the wall whos the fairest of them all?
Mirror: Well you would be if you looked like snow white but since you dont, well you get the idea...

The perception of beauty in todays society is pretty harsh. Every where we turn around we see what we should look like. Namely women. I know that I cant sit in front of the television without being told that I need to wage war on my body in some way. Wether it's wrinkles, my cellulite, making my lips look kissable...you name it we as women we are told we need to alter it.

Because we get such harsh judgements on our bodies we then in turn become very harsh on ourselves and those who dont look like the air brushed models that have taken over 90% of our daily lives. We look at ourselves as inadequate because we cant fit into those skinny jeans. We get mad because we have those child barring hips. And the ads that we see say that those things that make us unique are what make us ugly.

Women in advertisements are shown depending on what your looking at can be portrayed as sexy or juvinile. We are made to seem like fragile creatures or that we are wanting to be sexed beyond our wildest dreams. Men however are shown as powerful figures even as children they are given poses that show off how masculine they are.

These trends are causing our young girls to have low self esteem and young boys to think that they can have anything that they want because they are men. Girls are being made to think that they have to make themselves super skinny or extremely sexual so that men will want them and to be socially accepted.

Sad but true...

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Porn...

So last week in class we discussed porn...yes porn You would think that this would be a touchy subject but we actually had some really good discussions on the subject.

Porn itself is a billion dollar a year business but sadly is being put out of business by how easily it is to get to it online. In the videos that we watched, the people of the porn industry were telling us that with the ease of technology people are getting their porn free. Basically being able to get on and type hot girls in a google search bar, and within a matter of seconds you get porn.

With the fast paced life style that we have now the porn industry has to evolve just like any other thriving business.

When we looked at the video made in the later years porn was looked at as something that would fall into the hands of children, make them gay because they see pornographic images in a drug store. The movie made me smile at how narrow minded people can be.

The ease of getting porn now also makes it easier for porn to be made. Anyone with a video camera and computer can make their own porn. So who would want it for free?

We publicly show our sexuality and give it out to the world. We aren't selling an image like Pamela Anderson. We are selling ourselves online.