The Daycare Dilemma

Should your kids be put in day care?  It is a question that many sets of parents must answer in the United States.  Many people will say that abandoning your kids and putting them in someone else’s care can have negative or harmful effects on the children.  However, studies have shown that this is not true.  Many studies will say that daycare can have many positive effects on children.  So what is really the question that is being asked here?  Are we really asking about whether or not the kids should be at home or are we really asking about whether or not the mother should be at home?  In Kimmel’s text that we read in class titled “The Constructed Problems of Contemporary Family Life”, he says that the real question being asked is whether or not women should be working outside of the home.  Why is this?  We have also seen in class in the Rosie the Riveter movie that women were thought of as being workers within the home, unless something such as a war would prove otherwise.  After the war was over, women were supposed to go back to the home and work just as they were before the war.  The fact that we are still battling this issue in today’s world is baffling.  It is very common for women to work outside of the home in today’s world.  In the article that I have read on my own by Melinda Moyer, she says that “It’s impossible to predict how day care is going to affect an individual child, like, you know, your actual kid”.  Although it is impossible to know what the outcome of daycare will be for your child, we know that there are some positive and possibly some negative effects.  However, according to Moyer’s article, the negative effects such as being slightly more aggressive, are negligible and barely measurable at all.  So, in my opinion, the choice of daycare is not about the child’s health.  We all know that mothers want the best for their children, and that includes health.  But if the mother is working and is unable to be in the home to adequately care for the child, then daycare seems to be the best option.  Our world has turned this question on the children, when in reality, it is really questioning the mother’s care for the child and whether or not she feels she should not work outside of the home in order to be there for the child.

The Daycare Dilemma

Article link posted above.

Magazines and Media have more representation

In the article Teen Mags, how to get a guy, drop 20 pounds and lose your self esteem by Anastacia Higginbotham, it explains how the politics of teen magazines work. Basically the media gets models that embody their unrealistic standard of beauty, then alter the looks of these models so they can sell certain products or clothing. The article discussed how most of the models in magazines are skinny and white, but now magazines are making more of an effort to include more women of color in their spreads. Not just the random light skinned black girl who is just as skinny as the white girl, but girls with afros and other natural hair styles, and curvier black girls as well. There are also more Hispanic people and Asian people in magazine spreads.  Recently, Nickelodeon star turned social activist and budding superstar Zendaya was made into a Barbie doll, making her one of the first black women to be made into a Barbie Doll. The media has also made more efforts to give minorities more opportunities to shine, because representation is important. Some examples of this include the remake of Annie as a black girl as Annie, and a live version of The Wiz. In conclusion, the media is making more of an effort to include everyone and more people are represented, making it easier for young girls and women to have higher self esteem.

Models Are People Too

After watching the Ted Talk “Looks Aren’t Everything, Believe Me, I’m a model”, by Cameron Russell, my perspective on body image and appearance was complete led flipped around. This particular speech aims at portraying the reality and severity of the daily life of what our society considers a “model”. Cameron strongly begins her talk by entering the stage in a tight short black dress with tall heels and then quickly changes into a less revealing, and less appealing long floral skirt and large sweater. Right off the bat the audience is able to see just how looks can be the make or break it of a person’s appearance.  Cameron then goes on to explain how so-called privlaged she was to happen to win the “genetic lottery”. Moreover, she adds an excellent comparison by saying that when young girls say they want to be a model it’s just as similar as when someone says, “I want to win the lottery”. You don’t get to choose that, it just happen to some individuals rather than other.

            Cameron further develops her speech into the description of today’s media and how the images we may see throughout ads; commercials, newspapers, and magazine are certainly not what they are made out to be. The pictures are false, she explains. She even admits that she is completely the opposite of what photos of her portray her as.

Throughout her Ted Talk I realize I am completely interested in this topic because of how I was never before able to see this side of it. When we see these outcomes, for example, a magazine, we don’t consider the background of that individual posing awkwardly to attempt to look “sexy”. We don’t bother to understand their story or even their own views on this topic, and that’s why this particularly stuck out to me.

As the speech continues, Cameron also includes a very interesting point where she discusses questions that she is sometimes asks and how she answers them. One that stuck out to me personally is when the young girls would tell her that they wanted to become models when they grew up and she answers “why?!” so concerned. It’s relieving how she responds that you can literally be anything in the world that you want to be and out of that you think you want to be a model?? She then transforms her argument into that after awhile the attention and focus on her appearance becomes exhausting. She admits that beauty isn’t everything because she doesn’t want to just be noticed as a “pretty girl” because girls who look similar are so much deeper than that.

This especially is what made me reflect on this video and consider the ways in which we dehumanize individuals like this and rarely give them the respect they deserve. Models are human too, and I believe we, as a society should start acting like it.

Working as a Dad

The other day I came across an interesting article about how dads now a day are finding it hard to fulfill both their duties as a father and their duties at work.  Still being fairly young myself I have never really thought about these things as I do not really plan on having any kids and I do not have a job that I work at year round.  The article talked about how a man named Dustin Baylor had always wanted to be a doctor but also wanted to be a dad, however, Dustin had no idea how hard it would be to have both of these dreams come true at the same time.  It talks about how difficult it is to be woken up at night by both his pager and his kids and how trying to succeed in both areas of his life can be overwhelming but in the end worth it.  This got me thinking about my dad.  Growing up my dad would have to work his 9-5 job every day but every day he would also come home and sometimes cook dinner or have to take me or my sister to practice.  I never really thought about how difficult it must have been for him sometimes when he had to come home tired after a long day and wanting to take a nap but his two children pestering him to take them somewhere.  I honestly have no idea how he did it, but he did, every day without complaints.

In the article chore wars it discusses about how women and men now a days tend to split the work up evenly but society still thinks that women are the ones doing almost all of the work.  It also talks about how men now a days are expected to be involved fathers but are not always sure how because when they were growing up their fathers weren’t expected to have that role so they have no role models to copy after.  I think that as a result of the first point where dads are expected to become more involved will solve the second problem where dads do not have guides on how to handle both responsibilities.  As a result after a few generations where the dads are more involved and setting an example for their sons as to how to balance work and raising a child men will figure it out and be able to balance both of these jobs.  I know my dad set a good example for me and I hope one day I can set a good example for my son.



http://www.today.com/money/many-dads-struggle-have-it-all-balancing-work-family-826045

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM4Xe6Dlp0Y

In The Ted Talk, Looks Aren’t Everything, Believe Me I’m A Model, by Cameron Russell, the speaker talks about her experience of winning “the genetic lottery.” As a well-known model Cameron talks about her experience with modeling and people that she meets that aspire to become a model. Cameron talks about how the industry in filled with girls who won the genetic lottery at birth, and saying you want to become a model is like saying you want to win the lottery.

            She then talks about  how the models we see in magazines and in different ads, are not real people. She states how in real life she is nothing like what she portrays she is like in photographs in magazines. The models we see in magazines are a fixed image of what many people in the industry want to sell to the customers that are reading the magazine.

            Cameron later discusses how when young girls ask her how they can become a model; she simply replies with the question, “why do you want to be a model?” She tells the young girls that there are so many aspiring jobs in this world and to be a model is not something you should necessarily aspire to be because it is not a  job. She mentions that as a model she gets a lot of free stuff but not for the reasons that she would want free stuff for. She tells stories about how stores have given her free dresses and police officers have not made her pay for tickets because of her beauty. She says many people that she meets have a hard time getting past her beauty and do not try to know her on a deeper level. At runway shows while she is getting made up she will look around at the other models and witness the most self-conscience girls that exist. Models are very self-conscience because a lot of the time these girls think that all they have is their looks. She says that it is draining when people are so focused on your looks all the time.

            After watching this Ted Talk, I reflected on what Cameron said and the points that she made. I always think about how magazines portray women and how it makes young girls feel about them, but I never looked at it from the models perspective. I never looked at the bigger picture and reflected on how magazines and the media make models feel exhausted. Our standard of beauty in today’s culture is causing from frustration from not only the reader’s side but also the models’.

The "Average Black Girl"

Throughout the course of this semester, we have discussed many different stereotypes.  More specifically, this week we have talked about Iranian stereotypes within the book “The Perfect Persepolis”.  Each of us face stereotypical judgement every day of our lives.  However, depending upon our race, ethnicity, gender, or class, some are judged more than others.  The video that I have attached above speaks to resist the idea of the stereotypical black woman.  The woman in the video, Ernestine Johnson challenges our society’s idea of the stereotypical black woman through a poem.  In the poem, she clearly identifies different elements of the stereotypical black woman.  At one point in the video, she says “they say I’m not the average black girl because I am so well spoken, poised and full of etiquette”.  This is an element of the stereotype that I believe African-American women suffer from quite often.  Society has this idea of black women and expects that all women who fall into this category act this way.  This belief that black women are not civil, and do not possess etiquette, is very negative to say the least.  Stereotypes are generally negative in nature, and that is why people suffer from them.  People can already have an idea about another person in their head without ever getting to know them.  As Ernestine Johnson continues to speak, she also discusses how when people see that she does not follow the stereotype of black women, they become surprised.  That is why they tell her that she is “not the average black girl”.  After continuing to challenge these stereotypes, she concludes her poem with how she herself would describe a black girl.  She speaks about those who fought for racial justice, and racial/gender equality.  Those women are who she believes should be considered the average black girl.  So when people then try to compliment her by saying that she is not like the average black girl, the intended compliment becomes an insult due to the negative connotation that is the stereotype of black women.  Our world is full of stereotypes.  People like Ernestine Johnson should not have to stand up and defend themselves, but as a result of the world’s negative views, some feel responsible to bring these negatives to the light.  Whether it be a result of race, gender, ethnicity, or class, stereotypes do nothing but bring people down, whereas our world should be building each other up.  

Ted Cruz and Reproductive Rights

Another election Cycle leads to the inevitable bickering of the left and right over women’s reproductive rights. This article quotes presidential hopeful Ted Cruz in a town Hall meeting he held for supporters in the important swing state of Iowa. Ted Cruz addresses the long-standing stigma that the right is generally t old white men who are trying to dictate what women can and cannot do with their bodies. According to senator Cruz the right has never wanted to limit contraceptives but that notion is nothing but propaganda being spewed from the left to demonize the Gop. Senator Cruz then went on to scrutinize Hillary Clinton’s reproductive rights position without explicitly giving his own. The saddest part of this exchange was how political it was. It was blatantly obvious that the answer to this question about women’s reproductive rights was a political one.  Ted Cruz could of taken this opportunity to spell out his position on reproductive rights and without a time limit like in debates he could of not only stated his stance but why he felt that this policy was the best for the women of America. When politicians don’t do this it makes me ask: are these answers really based on what’s best for the voters? Or does this politician think that’s what his constituents want to hear and believe that this vague left-hating response will give him or herself a spike in the poles. But what Ted Cruz did give me is an opportunity to ask the question: how political should reproductive rights be? In my opinion and I think most women would agree that reproductive rights have become too politicized. This starts with our countries view of reproductive rights: these issues were once very Taboo so they were seldom on the for front of policy until Rowe v Wade in 1973 and since then we have seen a dramatic spike in policy aimed toward reproductive rights. In my opinion like in most things there is some level of government regulation needed in relation with reproductive rights to do things like prevent third trimester abortions but what if for the most part we let reproductive rights be just what they’re called, rights; Inalienable, absolute rights. It’s no wonder why some women don’t want the government having say in their reproduction or contraceptive decisions. Angela Davis illustrates in her writing “reproductive rights” how the government in the past has used reproductive rights to push its own agenda even systematically limit the populations of people of color. I don’t see why there is this level of regulation needed in what seems to me to be a very personal matter in which our government should have little to no opinion.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/30/politics/ted-cruz-condoms-iowa/index.html