Stephan Colbert... Sexiest woman alive... in my heart

The #69 Sexiest Honorary Woman Alive

Speaking of men breaking into female dominated fields, the Maxim Hot 100 list, supposedly the 100 hottest women in entertainment, Stephan Colbert and his write in campaign graced the chart the year. You can read about it here.

A Diva is A Female Version Of A Hustler... and she's probably paid less, too.

Miranda Priestly would not be amused.

Rachel Maddow is one of my favorite people on the newsworld, and seeing her drop some knowledge and "punch a sexist in the face with her brain" makes me happy. It also makes me angry to know she likely makes less than the sexist she's punching in the face with her brain. For example, editors work in the news, which can be categorized with entertainment and television.  Female editors make 17% less than male editors. It's pretty safe to assume that if the few fields where women make more than men are in the postal service and special education, that Rachel Maddow and other women in newscasting still make less than the men who vastly outnumber them within media conglomerates and news casting. As we saw in Miss Representation, there are fewer than 2 women on each board of directors for the main conglomerates like Disney and ABC's parent company Viacom. We have 22 ESPN networks for every 1 Lifetime Channel, and how insulting is it that Lifetime is the definition of television for women across the board?

My two favorite teachers in high school were different in more ways than one being male and one being female. What I learned from my female english teacher has lasted longer in my memory, but according the the interactive New York Times post, female high school teachers make 10% less than male ones. Normally, we see women dominating the education field for elementary school, but men are fast tracked by other men higher in the system, who think it's "nice" to have a male teacher in a female dominated field, according to Christine L. Williams' The Glass Elevator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the "female" professions, men promote other men from within. Male privilege is extended deep within our employment institutions.

To be fair, Sue probably makes more than Will, but Sue doesn't try to rap, or haunt my soul with Journey covers.

Performing surgery or examining symptoms, doctors spend massive amounts of money on school, and in turn make a great deal of money, as the stereotype goes. However, women make 40% less than men in the medical field. Not because women aren't as qualified as surgeons and doctors. Based on the readings and class discussions, men are fast tracked time and time again over women, by other men in power. Female dominated professions include nursing, librarian, and school teachers.

Making 40% more to save your life!

Fashion designers make 22% less as women designing women's clothing than men do, at designing women's clothing. A male nurse tends to make more than a female nurse, in a female dominated industry. The underlying preferential treatment for men over women in our workforce is appalling; even in the industries our societies herds women into, they are still paid less than the men who enter these fields. As a postal worker, I would speculate based on our readings and discussions that women in that field only make 4% more than men because women, especially young women, tend to have a higher rate of employment in lower paying jobs, while men move on to different, higher paying positions. It's disturbing to see the amount of covert discrimination that still dwells within our institutions.

Credits:
Rachel Maddow is my hero
The Devil Wears Prada: Miranda Priestly, based on Anna Wintour
Glee Will and Sue (did you know there's a fandom for them having a romantic relationship? me neither)
Scrubs EAGLE
Wage Gape
The Richer Sex: A follow up article to the NY times

Is there a cover?

            Going to a gay bar is like going to another country, compared with going to a straight bar. In checking out heteronormative systems, I’ve decided to look at the clubs of Portland to see what kinds of differences exist, and how they relate to heteronormative culture. In my 20's, all my friends are supposed to like to drink, so there's no shortage of bar experiences tinged with heteronormativity to sift through. 

Heterocommon?

            Walking into the club with straight Josh is different than walking into the bar with an openly queer friend. When Josh and I go to the club (read: almost never) he automatically gets money off of HIS cover charge. I don’t get a cover charge either way. The bouncer assured me it’s because they like to fill the club with “girls” and “men” will come pay to try to score with the ladies. Josh gets money off because he brought me there… even though they didn’t see who drove (him) or got directions (me) or who accidentally swiped the debit card twice and paid for double parking, again. He brought me there because HE brought me there. Heterosexuality at it’s classiest. My male friend Chris, who  clarified he does not date women, asked if he still had to pay a cover. He did.

You can talk about this one.

Stumbling into the nearest gay bar with Aaron is a totally different experience. 

            No one charges us to go into the gay bar, not even because we could pass as a hetero couple. I like to think it’s because this bar is just infinitely cooler. In the queer community, no one could charge the “opposite” sex or only half of the “standard” relationship, because there is no “opposite” or “standard”. The queer community has enough options that it’s either charge everyone, or charge no one. We like the “charge no one” part of it, and commence the evening. It’s interesting to go somewhere where heterosexual norms don’t apply, and it becomes more and more obvious where the differences are. There's no assumption anyone is there looking for any one type of person. Liberation!

It's a slippery slope to unfortunate photographic evidence.

            Going to the ladies room in a straight bar is a fool’s game. Inevitably, there’s a drunk woman throwing up, with five of her closest drunk friends, and they’re all in front of the sinks, stalls, and mirrors plotting which bar to go to next. Every time I go into a straight bar women’s room, I make a new friend and get invited to the next crawl. This isn’t because I’m that cool, it’s because I am trapped in the bathroom waiting so long that I’m forced to assimilate. By the time I get out of the bathroom, my friends have typically migrated from wherever I am confident I have left them. I can't imagine how much more of a pain in the ass this could be if I didn't have able-bodied privilege. 

            Going to the ladies room in a gay bar is everything going to the men’s room of a straight bar is. It’s quick, easy, and there’s not always an out the door line. If anything, the men’s room in the gay bar is more crowded, probably because there are more men on location than for any other reason. I think gender-neutral bathrooms would benefit us all in both bars, and I could continue to use my system of going to whichever one doesn’t have a line. There isn't a fear of assault in the gender neutral bathroom of a gay bar the way there seems to be in every heteronormative structure in the area. 

There are lots of bodies, and they all want to spend as little time in a sticky bathroom as possible. 

       Walking back to my car, alone, forces me to check out my own heteronormative assumptions. On the street where all the gay bars are concentrated, I'm not worried about who I walk next to. The next street over in China Town, I quicken my pace. I know statistically nothing will happen to me. But I still jog to my jeep. The bouncer at the bar next to my vehicle starts to hit on me as I'm trying to find my keys, and asks what bar I've just come from. When I tell him a gay bar, he turns bright red and wishes me a safe drive. Heteronormativity is everywhere, whether we realize it, or not.

Credits:

Heteronormative

GayBar
Tara Reid

Gender Neutral

Wanna go out and hold a beer with me sometime?

We've talked a lot in class about what's acceptable for men, and what's acceptable for women. As I contemplated what to compare in advertising in this blog post, and my current stress load, all roads lead back to drinking. 

I was going to post a picture of myself, but then I couldn't ever show my face in class again. Close enough.

Drinking is, of course, one of the greatest, most forbidden acts when under 21, and a regular feature in most tv shows and movies. Being teased for ordering "girly" drinks is something I know I've seen on both Scrubs and How I Met Your Mother.

"Oh poor me! I get to order yummy pink drinks with chunks of real fruit that guys secretly like but can't order because they'll be made fun of!"

I decided to narrow down my search to beer drinking, the manliest of cheap drinking. As I googled images, I wasn't terribly surprised there was a difference between photos of men and women, but I was surprised that even the stock photos reflected that difference. I thought I'd be greeted by german barmaids and hooters tank-tops, but the stock photos were set up in the same basic way. With one major difference.

Business men don't use solo cups #swag

In almost every photo, the man is seen just drinking his beer. The woman, however...

When my female friends and I drink together, we just like to hold each other's beers for extra excitement!

And again:

I definitely typed "drinking" not "holding coyly"

I thought maybe I'd expand to see what women look like drinking whiskey, the manliest hard alcohol ever, next to scotch.

"I'm savoring the flavor!" said no one, ever. 

I got this when I looked up scotch. Evidently, women don't like to be photographed drinking scotch. 

There it is. Far more accurate.

Every picture of a woman drinking seems to focus more on her face and how she's looking. The pictures of men aren't supposed to be sexy. And none of them are looking directly into the camera. Most of the women's photos are.

Except for this guy. He's breaking gender norms!

Even the males infants photographed with beer bottles weren't facing the camera. Not surprisingly, the focus remains on a woman's appearance, and a man's actions, even when taking part in something designed to make a person lose control of inhibitions. How deep does our gendered society go?

Future solo cup user... 

Credits:

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia 

How I Met Your Mother: Screencap: Season 2, Episode 10: "Single Stamina"

Young Man

Young Woman

Young Woman #2

Woman Drinking Whiskey

Woman Drinking Whiskey for real

Man drinking beer

Boy drinking beer

Books and Toys

            My mother was always one for reading when I was a child. I used to spend hours reading to myself or my youngest brother, who much to his dismay did not possess my unholy talent for reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I had a lot of favorites, but one that sticks out is the 1985 book Jillian Jiggs. I know my mother’s intentions in giving me that book were to trick me into cleaning my room. The story of this little girl is essentially that she constantly goes from activity to activity, without cleaning up after herself. As the oldest child, I think my mother thought that my brothers would follow my shining example (inspired by the book), if only I would opt to lead as a shining example instead of as a chameleon on crack. But I digress. Jillian Jiggs tells a story of a little girl who doesn’t seem to gender conform (she dresses up as a robot, a witch, a tree, a wild monster, etc) but her mother does fill the gender role of being the parent who stays home and disciplines/cleans up after the children.  Surrounded by my Star Wars action figures, I would read Jillian Jiggs, and concoct a new assortment of adventures and messes for my brothers and I to make. The power of the written word!

These may as well be in the photo album for my childhood. They only need more batman and glitter.

          My Star Wars toys were held in a far higher regard than my Barbies, but Barbie came with far more accessories that could be turned into the interior of the rebel base (complete with pink kitchen and hot tub), or stockpiled as supplies against the Empire, so I played with both. I know Star Wars wouldn’t pass the Bechdel test, but those action figures remain my favorite, even above my batman toys. It was cool, to my brothers, that a girl could play with “boy” toys… I don’t know what magic barrier there was, but I took pride in that sense of doing something that most girls wouldn’t do. As I looked for specifically gender non-conforming books, I remembered a year or two ago seeing one called My Princess Boy, a book a mother wrote for her son, who loves to wear dresses and princess style attire. Cheryl Kilodavis tells the story of her child differences in a society that puts a huge amount of pressure on gender conformity. The majority of the ratings on Amazon for the book are positive, with only 3 of 34 giving any negative feedback, two lamenting it wasn’t a good enough children’s storyline, and one complaining that the story is a gateway to complete delinquency.

"This book is [sic] a great reading material for parents with destructive and criminally-inclined children, because it teaches that no matter what a child grows into it is stil "OK""- Teapot Tales, Amazon.com

            The idea behind My Princess Boy is acceptance of other people as individuals, as unique, in their gender non-conformity or other differences. When I looked for a gender neutral or non-gender conforming toy, I was hard pressed to find anything. Every time I thought I found something, I would realize it was a “boy toy” covered in pink, because girls can only play on pink drum sets and pink guitars. I thought I’d finally found some in the lifestyle toys… then I looked at pictures.

You know it's a boy because he's got a blue shirt. Also, he's driving. 

First I spotted a “Mighty Wheelz” car, which was placed in the 3-7 age category. Then I remembered I was looking for a “girl” toy that was made “boy” friendly. I kept looking through cars. 

She's got her "Passenger's side pink!" shirt on. Ken's got super powers, so he can still drive the car even though it's pink. Must be in the blue shirt. Way to take one for the team, Ken!

I spotted the Barbie and Ken jeep, which depicted Ken driving Barbie’s jeep, just as the little boy is depicted driving the Mighty Wheelz jeep with a little girl riding in the passenger seat. Also, decidedly a girl's toy because of the Barbie/pink association. 

Teaching children of more than one gender to get back in the kitchen!

The next best thing I could find was a kitchen set, much more advanced looking that the one I played with as a child. Kitchen’s are stereotypically girls toys, though in the picture we see both a boy and girl playing with the toy. The little girl is talking on the phone, and the little boy is pretending to cook. While the toy might be showcasing it’s many activities in showing a little boy and little girl playing with different parts, I think it’s telling that the little boy is doing the “work” and the little girl is “socializing” on the phone. Even in gender neutral toys, gender roles are still alive and well. 

Credits:

Books- Amazon.com

Toy photos - ToysRUs.com

Jillian Jiggs

The Hunger Games

Looks like there's about to be a song, but it's not that kind of teen movie...

The Bechdel Test goes as follows:
It Has to Have Two Named Women:
Katniss, Prim, Rue, Effy
Who Talk to each other:
All of these characters interact with Katniss at some point in the film for over 30 seconds.
About something besides a man:
Done. Katniss's life is on the line, she's not trying to get in on some heterosexual love... but somehow, I'm sure it'll sneak up on her anyway. Katniss and Rue spend time developing a friendship and plan. Katniss and Prim discuss the reaping, as well as a tearful goodbye. Effy gives advice and silly "let them eat cake" style conversation, and Katniss gives her mother some tough love. There are conversations about men, but they don't dominate every conversation.

I wouldn't blame her for talking about this guy, though. He's lovely.

Right off the bat, The Hunger Games passes the Bechdel test. Katniss Everdeen is seen having conversations with her mother, her sister, an ally, and her handler, all based around her survival in the games, despite having a love interest involved. What I found particularly interesting about the film and it's relation to gender difference was that it does place a considerable amount of Katniss's success on her own shoulders, complete with her team. However, what ends up setting her ahead of her competitors seems to be the discovery of, or the illusion of heterosexual love. 

With this guy, and his flawless logic.

While Katniss is resourceful, and brave, and ultimately is the heroine of the story, her edge in the games really comes through after Peeta confesses his feelings during his interview. She's of course blindsided, because as a sixteen year old girl, she's never considered her feelings on love, sex, and relationships with anyone. Also, she's got 23 other kids trying to take her out. She's a little busy. When she is in the woods, toward the end of the games, she teams up with Peeta, and ultimately they both live because of her intelligence. However, without Peeta, it is unlikely Katniss would have survived on her own. His love story won her favor with sponsors, and Peeta saved her from the Career team. 

Still can't save her like hetero love can!

In many popular young adult novels adapted into film, there’s usually some kind of heterosexual love interest. Katniss doesn’t follow the same pattern as Twilight’s Bella. Bella's love interest spends their story trying to convince her why she shouldn't give in to her feelings, while at the same time nurturing dependence and a relationship. Katniss is a different formula, and is the secondary storyline to her survival. She doesn’t fall head over heels for Peeta, she doesn’t spend the film consumed by her love interest, though she is obviously torn between her best friend and her team mate. Peeta spends his time trying to convince her to fall in love. Katniss needs to be tricked into love and sex, because she is naive and pure, as women should be. In Twilight, Edward saves Bella from a speeding car, and in Hunger Games Peeta saves Katniss from starvation as well as from violent interaction with other players. Edward and Bella cannot be together until everything around their unholy union is resolved (something about a vampire war? I don't remember). Ultimately, Katniss cannot commit to Peeta as they are embroiled in a game for their lives, but by the end of the series, she is bound to choose a mate as the turmoil dies down and a new age of peace starts. 

I've lived the story on the right, why would I pay to watch it?

Credits

That's real talk.

Hunger Games
Gale
Peeta
Skills
Katniss vs. Bella
ECards

Wild Ones

Featuring Sia... No? Oh, alright then...

At first listen, Flo-Rida and Sia's "Wild Ones" is a catchy, musically well put together mix that I heard first in one of Pullman's two bars, and downloaded on the drive home (not a proud moment, in retrospect). Watching the video, the eyes are overwhelmed by scenes of sky diving in Dubai, club hopping, parties, and the typical formula for a hit song you'd hear on z100. One might think that a song with a man and woman working together to produce a hit would feature more equal footing, but that's not the world we live in. It's not a new idea that music lyrics are riddled with gender roles, masculine and feminine standards, and complete lack of inclusion for anyone who doesn't fall into a stereotype. Pimps, cowboys, heroin chic "girls" and rockstars, genre doesn't matter, all modern music categories have that "same shit, different bass line" feel to their lyrics. Society and the popular music industry both need some house cleaning if anything is going to change.

Sia leads in with:
Hey, I heard you were a wild one!
If I took you home, it'd be a home run,
Show me how you'll do,
I wanna shut down the club,
With you,
Hey I heard you like the wild ones...

Seems pretty tame. Everyone is a wild one and wants to hook up after the club closes. Fair enough.

"And that, children, is How I Met Your Mother"

But Flo-Rida bursts into his verse with, "I like crazy, foolish, stupid"
Because Flo-Rida is the artist featuring Sia, the song is mainly focused on him, Sia's got a bridge to work with later on, and Flo-Rida dominates the verses. Sia makes no note of what she wants in her "wild one" but Flo-Rida leads in with what he wants, and it's nothing that would put his desired female partner on a level playing field with him or any other man. The song continues, parties bumping and excitement building as he raps:

Take me so high, jumping on clouds, surfing off the ground,
Said I gotta be the man, be the head of my fam,
Mic check 1, 2,
Send 'em down in the club with the playboy girls,
Til they all get loose, loose
Pop the bottle, we all get bent, then again tomorrow
Gotta break loose, cause that's the motto,
The club's shut down, a hundred super models,
(Then it's back to Sia's hook)

 Cheese!

Flo-Rida is pumped to be partying, but he's still following what he deems women want him to be, obviously. Head of the family, the man, and he's headed to work as the main money-maker, doing his mic check. He's in charge, and since he's the money maker and focus of attention, he can send Sia (or another sexy woman) down to the club with his legion of supermodels and playboy girls. These girls are wild ones, and desirable. The women need to drink. Women need alcohol to be talked into having sex with men. Women who are sexualized for a living are essentially cutting out the middle man of talking women into sex, all they need is alcohol to make the party start, if we follow the stereotype. This song is not about finding "the kind of girl you take home to mom" it's about finding a home-run. Taylor Swift would be S.O.L. Men who are doing as they are supposed to, presenting a masculine front, heading their household, are able command that kind of power, and women will group together in praise of such accomplishment, shutting down the club surrounding Flo-Rida.

He returns with:
Can't see me with ten binoculars,
So cool,
No doubt by the end of the night,
Got the clothes coming off,
Then I make that move,

 

Flo-Rida is the pinacle of masculinity. Who could challenge a man who is so cool he can't be see with ten binoculars? No one, that's who. Flo-Rida has no doubts that the clothes will just fall off his legion of playboy bunnies and:

What happens to that body is a private show,

Stays right here, private show,

I like 'em untamed, don't tell me about pain

Tell 'em this, bottoms up with the champagne,

That body, not that woman. Not that person. That body. Flo-Rida breaks down what's important to him in a woman. He won't tell anyone about the "private show" he's expecting to see (til the next single, anyway). He likes wild, sex crazed women, who are so overcome by his masculinity and raw sexual power, that they won't complain about the rough sex. If the women are drinking enough, Flo-Rida won't have to hear about it anyway. But no reason to be alarmed! Sia is onboard with that afor mentioned bridge, to follow her hook:

I am the wild one, break me in,

Saddle me up and let's begin,

I am a wild one, tame me now,

Runnin' with wolves, and soon I'm on the prowl

I don't think that outfit is very practical...

I think it's fairly obvious that the metaphor Sia is running with initially is that one a horse. Horses are ridden, dominated, captured from the wild and domesticated. The need to be saddled with a man to keep them in check. But she's saying it's ok, giving Flo-Rida permission as though it's what she's in to, she's empowered! The last line hints that she too is aware of the short-lived terms of their relationship, and once she's done running with wolves, she'll be back to looking for her own 'wild one' to break her in again. 

Flo-Rida is game:
Show you another side of me,

A side you'd never thought you'd see,

Turn up that body, dominatrix, til you had enough,

I hear you like the wild stuff,

Poetry. I'm not sure what this other side of Flo-Rida is, that no woman would ever think she'd see... He's been pretty clear that he's a sex god, and the women flock to him for his raw masculine power. It seems as though we're still seeing the same bottle popping wild one with a healthy male sexual appetite that's dominated 75% of the song. It's nice that he seems like he's taking into consideration what his sexual partner is into, based on what he's heard about her. Wild women tend to get the wild reputations, but they don't tend to get that #4 single on iTunes with songs about maximizing their femininity and gender role position. Wild women are horses who need taming, and wild men are the wolves, taking women down, buying them drinks, and domesticating them, dominating them, then moving on to another 'wild one'. A woman's sexuality is never her own, she's always got to be tamed and coerced into having sex.

Good girls don't look for sexual thrills!

What it boils down to for me is that if the roles were reversed, this song would be regarded much like Rihanna's 'S&M' and censored, lauded, and swirled in controversy. Sia would have her sexual history plastered across the paper, and we'd wonder who this sex bomb thinks she is, polluting the airwaves and not thinking of what the children might pick up! But we knew that already, because we see it happen all the time. When women write a song about hooking up, it's a gimmick, but when men do it, it's just another one of the 5 singles they'll release about the exact same subject, and it just might be grammy worthy. 8 of the top 10 iTunes US songs have male-identified leads, while Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" sits at #2 and JLo's single sits at #7. It'd be great if this song had come through for Sia as a woman on the same level, a woman being empowered. Unfortunately, it stands out because it's catchy, as it will until the next Wild Ones pushes it to the back of the every growing line of Party Rock Anthem's, and anything with the word 'swag' in it. 

Credits:
Wild Ones
Sia
SomeECards
Flo-Rida
Kitty
Horse
Snow White

Privileges

            In thinking about privilege over the last two days, I have been able to identify numerous ways I receive privilege in U.S. Society.

1.             As an able bodied person, I never have to worry about being able to access anything. When I went to lunch a few weeks ago with a friend who uses a walker, it became clear that the restaurant was not completely accessible easily for anyone who isn’t able bodied. The seating was on a step-up style platform; there wasn’t a convenient place for her walker. I can easily maneuver through crowded supermarkets and clothing racks, not worried about getting caught on anything. There is always space for me to sit easily in a classroom, and no one condescendingly offers me assistance on a regular basis. I don’t have to wonder if someone rewarded my hard work because I am “overcoming” something, I can feel confident my hard work as an able bodied person is attributed to me. No one will accuse me of getting ahead because of a disability either, regardless of whether or not it’s true. I am considered capable as a person, ahead of someone who is considered disabled.

2            As a cisgendered woman, I can go to a clothing store and be directed to the appropriate fitting room without issue. I can browse through women’s underwear and women’s clothing without concern or embarrassment, and without anyone staring at me or whispering behind my back. I can purchase make-up, hair products, anything considered feminine, and no one will question my intentions or consider me a pervert, or as doing anything outside of ordinary. I do not have to worry about passing, or even worry about the concept of passing. I know where to go to the bathroom and it is unlikely anyone will question my presence or harass me. I can feel secure in my gender because no one is constantly questioning me, or bullying me based on my appearance. I get to look in the mirror and see a reflection that seems correct and familiar.

3.             As a white person, I can go into a store, fairly certain that if someone is being watched or followed, it’s not me. If I get pulled over by a police officer, I will not have my citizenship questioned; and if I am issued a ticket, it will not be attributed to my race. My voice is more likely to be heard than a person of color’s voice, even if we are speaking about an issue that concerns people of color, and not the voices of white people. When I say I am an American, no one will say to me, “African-American, Mexican-American, Asian American.” It will be accepted that I am an American because I am white. No one will say I got my job just because of my race and affirmative action.  Currently, I subscribe to a cosmetics sample site. In the 3-4 months I’ve been subscribing, I’ve gotten several skin care/foundation samples. All have been for fair to medium complexions, though I have never been asked what color my skin is. I can google search for snarky images, and be sure that most of the results will feature people who represent my group.



ECard