I chose Nicki Minaj’s music video “ Anaconda” to portrayed racial stereotypes of black women’s bodies that are shown very commonly in hip-hop music industry in today’s media. In this music video Nicki is shown as a hyper sexualized black woman. Continue reading
Month: October 2014
“Am I Fat”?
Am I fat?
I ask that question to myself everyday and no one has the right to tell me that I am fat. I was born as a very skinny child and doctors were afraid I might die, but my mom took great care of me and I survived and now I am a healthy person or you can call a “FAT” one. Continue reading
More Than A Number
I saw this video by Special K and I absolutely loved it. It caught my eye because it questions what we use to measure our self worth. In the video, various women go into a denim store looking for jeans. The video opens to a voiceover of women explaining their disdain for shopping for jeans. As it continues the women notice that none of the jeans have a size on it, which then allows the associates to ask to measure the women. In the measurements, the associates don’t mention size 6 or size 12, but radiant, strong, charismatic, stunning or fabulous. The idea is to show that we are not defined by our weight but by our own personalities and personal idea of worth. I especially enjoyed this commercial because it strayed away from the idea that you’ll feel better or be a better person if you lose weight with a product. The commercial emphasizes that you can be great in any body. It was an interesting take on weight and advertising and to me, it gave me the feeling of acceptance and non-judgment which is what all people should feel about themselves regardless of weight. One woman even states “Not seeing the number is so freeing” and I completely agree with this statement. This is not to say that everyone should wear the same size, but that everyone deserves the same level of quality and comfort regardless of a person’s size or weight. It shouldn’t be a difficult process for certain people because they are bigger than others.
He or She isn’t for everyone
Pronouns. Pronouns are things that we learned about in grade school and for most people, something they haven’t thought about since (unless we get into learning other languages but that brings up something else entirely). Pronouns are almost always read off the body, which is funny because they actually have nothing to do with bodies. Pronouns are related to gender, so within the gender binary, it makes sense that he/him/his or she/her/hers are the only pronouns people know, and are almost always the pronouns that people read off of others’ bodies. I’m gonna let you in on a little thing called “there are more than two genders” (it’s shocking, I know. I’ll let you think about that for a minute).
#NoMakeup #NoFilter #EndlessSelfies
“Are you sick….
because you look like you are…
or do you just not have on any make-up?”
Princess Joules
A few days ago, I have rediscovered one of my favorite YouTube bloggers, Princess Joules (Julie Vu). Princess Joules has been documenting her transition from male-to-female for about 3 years. About 5 months ago, she went under sex reassignment surgery and made a complete transition. What I love about her videos is that she is honest about her experiences. In the video below, she tells us about her feelings as she is an hour away from surgery.In class, we’ve read about how a transgender person must have a psychological assessment done before they are approved for sex reassignment surgery. I personally felt that it was upsetting that they had to prove that surgery was necessary; society should not be able to police our bodies, especially when we know ourselves best. However, Princess Joules tells us the truth about her feelings – something that most of us would not expect…
After seeing this video, a few questions came to mind:
- Before Princess Joules came out as transgender, she came out as a gay male. I want to know if surgery changed her perception of her own sexuality. Because she believes that, internally, she is a female and belongs in a female body, and she is now a legal female, is her sexuality labelled as straight?
- How do most transgender people define their sexuality after their transition into their true selves?
- If we completely got rid of gender roles, gender, and sexuality (LGBT), how would we define our self?
Being sexy doesn’t mean it’s sexist.
I think we can all agree that some Halloween costumes make us cringe. But how come we only focus on the sexy costumes instead of the racist or down right offensive (Ebola prevention suit I’m looking at you) one’s
Life in the Petri Dish: Sickness and Acadamia
There is a double standard when it comes to health and school. On one hand, a sick person is encouraged to stay home and get better. It is in the best interest of not only you, as the sick person, but also your peers, as the classroom is a haven for uncovered coughs and sneezes without the extra help. You can afford to miss one day! On the other, you really can’t.
“You’re not fat!”
Contains triggering material.
Unruly Bodies 