Thanksgiving

I didn't realize that there were extreme gender norms going on at my family events until Thanksgiving. I noticed the men sat in the living room and talked about topics such as football and hunting while the women prepared the meal. My grandpa ended up carving the turkey which stereotypically the "head of household" does. That was the only help any male contributed to the meal, although they had no troubles eating it. After the meal the men continued to relax and talk while the women scrambled to clean up and complete the dishes. Most of the men talked about hunting on Black Friday while the females talked about shopping. I guess it was just funny to see the stereotypical gender roles within my own family.

Reebok

I was watching TV the other day and a commercial came on for Reebok.  The commercial is supposed to sell shoes but the majority of the time the camera is focused on women's butts.  I get that they are marketing that these shoes tone your bottom and your legs.  However, if you are selling the shoes shouldn't you show the shoes a little more than just glimpses?  The main focus of the commercial is their butts!  Reebok you aren't selling butts; you are selling shoes!  The commercial is way over-sexualized and makes the women look like objects.  I just don't understand why you would design a commercial to please the male gaze when you are trying to sell the product to women.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR_UpJKwghc

Youtube

    In another class, we were talking about how youtube is mainly for males.  Males are the ones that generally are watching the videos and are much more likely to post a youtube video than a female.  Women do post videos, but if you read the comments they are horrible.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcqXzX-7ULg This video is a video about a woman showing you how to iron a pair of pants.  There are comments underneath saying "This woman knows her place" or " I wouldn't mind sliding my penis into her vagina, if you know what I mean."  Another video is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26CAz1PdVmY&feature=channel  Comments say: "Lose your glasses and 50 pounds. Get straight teeth, GETTA NEW VOICE."  Another says, "LEARN TO F****** SING OR SHUT YOUR MOUTH , !
You RUINNN this song , you tone deaf little whale.."  Guys judge the attractiveness of females and either comment saying they want to do them or comment saying how ugly and stupid they are.  Women are judged a lot on youtube and people say some of the meanest things. 

Baby For Sale

     On Tuesday, a Florida woman was charged with selling her baby in order to be able to buy a car.  The ordeal started when the grandmother of the child made the deal with a buyer.  The original price was going to be $75,000, but the buyers couldn't get a loan from the bank and the price for the child dropped to $30,000.   The 22 year old mother of the 8 week old boy was only going to receive $9,000 of the profit in order to buy a new vehicle and pay court costs from a prior violation.  The mother, grandmother and the grandmother's boyfriend all were arrested and charged for selling a child and the grandmother also was charged with communications fraud.  They were caught because the grandmother offered to sell the infant to a relative and the relative reported it to the authorities.  An agent then went undercover on the case and that is who they ended up selling the child to.  The child is currently in state custody.
     This is horrible that anyone could sell their child or grandchild.  I don't know how any normal person could do something like this and be OK with it.  Not to mention there are plenty of people out there that want children and can't, so if you don't want your child then you can put it up for adoption and make someone else happy with the joy of motherhood/fatherhood.  As for the money part maybe they should get a job and earn money like most of the rest of America.  I say most because we do have those that freeload off of the government.....but Hey, who am I to judge?

"Dirty Little Secret"

Today, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher joined the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to speak out about the issue of online ex trafficking.  Women and children are traded for sex online.  Demi and Ashton called this a "dirty little secrect."  They are promoting an internet that is free of trafficking.  They set up a trust fund to support the cause that will be used to rebuild the lives of victims of this type of slavery.
-27 million victims forced into sex trafficking
-three quarters of the estimated 32 billion dollars for trafficking women and children takes place on the internet
I think that this is horrible and it comes to show that the internet can be a very dangerous place.  We talked in class about sex and people selling their virginity.  These people are essentially slaves that are being sold out against their will.  It is wrong on so many levels.  I think its great these celebrities are supporting a good cause and donating time and energy to a cause that is worthwhile. 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101104/en_afp/untraffickingmoorekutcherpeople

Horror Movies

I have been watching horror movies lately because of halloween being right around the corner.  AMC and the family channel both have marathons of scary movies along with some other channels.  My roommate and I have also rented a few lately.  We watched movies classics such as Halloween, Scream and Friday the  13th and their sequals.  I just find it amazing how dumb the girls are portrayed in these movies.  Honestly if there is a creepy looking hitch-hiker you probably shouldn't pick them up.  If there is scary people working at a gas station it usually is the first sign you should go away from there and far away.  However, these are the mistakes I am talking about: 1) DO NOT investigate a noise
                                                2) DO NOT fall and if you do get up and run
                                                3) DO NOT pick up the phone
                                                4) DO NOT look under the bed
                                                5) DO NOT look back
                                                6) DO NOT open closed doors
                                                6) CHECK THE BACKSEAT OF THE CAR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-c_z7SMXKk&feature=fvw This video is kind of funny and sums mostly what I am talking about up.

walmart

     I was at Walmart with my roommate and we were doing our normal shopping.  We got some groceries and had to get a few random things besides groceries.  We were over by the shampoo and stuff and a little boy was playing with a toy and his dad took it away and said something like, "You don't want this, it's yellow and yellow is a girl color."  He then pointed to my roommate and said, "See, she is wearing yellow; yellow isn't for boys."  He then preceded to wink at us and walk away.  I gave him a sort of disgusted look. (I couldn't help it)  I have seen many guys wear the color yellow and I don't see that color as strictly feminine at all.  After all, many people buy yellow things for babies when they don't know the sex of the child.
     I just think it is ridiculus that parents feel the need to police their children.  Just let your children grow up and don't be so worried about conforming them to gender norms.  Just because your boy wears pink or plays with a yellow toy does not mean that he will grow up to be gay or choose later in life to want to be female.  Your little girl can play with trucks and wear blue and it doesn't mean she will grow up to be a butch lesbian.  Why must we have so many gender expectations and conform children from birth to these expectations?