More Media and Body Image

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charlotte-hilton-andersen/karl-lagerfield-rachel-bilson-ad_b_853616.html

Sorry for the double post, both on the same subject, but I came across this article and thought it was too relevant to our discussions about the role of the media and body image not to add. [Disclaimer: I do like the brand of ice cream that is being advertised in these commercials, which is how I stumbled upon this article in the first place. It was often a treat while I lived in Spain and I was excited to recently see it in the United States.] The author of the article, Charlotte Hilton Andersen, does a great job in the intro of listing the many different ways women might react to a campaign like this one and none of them are positive. Indeed the whole article is a fantastic analysis of the dichotomy of advertising: pretty, skinny people eating foods they can't possibly eat on a regular basis and stay skinny. How is the general public supposed to interpret this? And how much more shame and guilt does it cause women to feel about their bodies because they can’t eat certain foods and maintain a certain weight?

Life-Size Barbie

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/living/2011/04/25/drew.barbie.intv.hln.html

(I don't know how to actually embed the video, sorry!)

I think most of us have probably come across the “Barbie statistics” that Galia Slayen mentions in this clip but the visual of what those statistics actually mean is pretty powerful. Clearly, this is not a woman who could actually exist, except under extreme and unhealthy circumstances. Other blog entries as well as our discussions in class have pointed out the obvious negative effects that unrealistic and/or unnecessary body image characteristics have on kids, especially girls. It is interesting that, even though many people may have seen the “Barbie statistics” or even just know that her size is improbable, people were still shocked when seeing Slayen’s life size Barbie made in proportion to the toy. This suggests the power of a visual image over written words (which can still be and are very powerful!) and again implies that people often take in what is “normal” from visual images they don’t find shocking. I think Slayen’s assessment that there is a “deeper image” to Barbie, versus her superficial one as a toy for girls, is accurate and her call to be a “critical viewer” of the media is spot on.

Also, here is the "Get Real Barbie" Fact Sheet, as developed by the South Shore Eating Disorders Collaborative (SSEDC).

• There are two Barbie dolls sold every second in the world.
• The target market for Barbie doll sales is young girls ages 3 – 12 years of age.
• A girl usually has her first Barbie by age 3, and collects a total of seven dolls during her childhood.
• Over a billion dollars worth of Barbie dolls and accessories were sold in 1993, making this doll big business and one of the top 10 toys sold.
• If Barbie were an actual women, she would be 5’9” tall, have a 39” bust, an 18” waist, 33” hips and a size 3 shoe!
• Barbie calls this a “full figure” and likes her weight at 110 lbs.
• At 5’9” tall and weighing 110 lbs, Barbie would have a BMI of 16.24 and fit the weight criteria for anorexia. She likely would not menstruate.
• If Barbie was a real woman, she’d have to walk on all fours due to her proportions.
• Slumber Party Barbie was introduced in 1965 and came with a bathroom scale permanently set at 110 lbs with a book entitled “How to Lose Weight” with directions inside stating simply “Don’t eat.”

(that last bullet point is pretty horrific!)

What About American Girls Sold on the Streets?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/opinion/24kristof.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

This weekend Nicholas Kristof wrote an op-ed piece about human trafficking in the US and how Americans react differently to the teenage prostitutes that they hear about abroad and the ones that they see on their own streets. A new book is out talking about the horrors of human trafficking and child prostitution in the US and how the system is failing the girls. The article talks about the American view in which the young girls on the streets are seen as miscreants and are there willingly, not because they are forced into abusive relationships with pimps or come from troubled homes. It is interesting to contrast that opinion with many American’s views of human trafficking abroad, where girls are seen as victims, not criminals.

In class last week we briefly touched on human trafficking and learned more about Comfort women and women being used in a time of war. This article also shows that it is not just in war that these young girls are being used and manipulated. Many of them are caught and put in detention centers while their pimps do not receive any punishment. The new book, Girls like Us by Rachel Lloyd is about her experience as a child prostitute and how she escaped from London to New York and eventually started a non-profit to help girls in the US, who are experiencing the same fate that she did.

This video addresses the extremely controversial practice of female genital mutilation. In this video, two Kenyan girls are featured who are resisting this practice. It shows their parents' reactions to their resistance and how embedded FGM is in their culture. The parents worry that if their daughters aren't cut, then they will not be able to marry and thus, the parents will not receive a dowry for marrying their daughters off. The daughters argue that they do not want to be cut and that they want to be able to go off and pursue an education.

A growing resistance to FGM is now present in Kenya, primarily led by a self-help group known as Abandon the Knife. This group is trying to talk with men and women about FGM and the negative effects associated with it. They meet with the parents of these two Kenyan girls in an attempt to persuade their parents that allowing their daughters to pursue an education will result in far greater benefits than receiving a dowry. They have also began a new rite of passage ceremony for girls who are resisting FGM in which they provide education to these young girls about FGM and what all it entails and then they have a ceremony that marks these girls passage into womanhood, but without having to undergo the cutting.

I found this to be a very interesting video on FGM and would recommend it to anyone interested in this issue. From my Western mindset, I have always viewed this practice with a lot of disgust. However, I have also tried to understand it in its cultural-specific context and realize that it is such an ingrained cultural practice signifying a woman's readiness to get married. It's a very difficult issue for me to not bring in my Western bias that this practice is fundamentally wrong. I know that for many women it is part of their culture and they want to have it done because it prepares them for marriage, but it is difficult for me to accept this and to not bring in my own cultural values and belief in basic human rights, which I believe this practice violates. Thus, the fact that the younger generation is beginning to resist this practice and gain support for this resistance is a step in the right direction. I think this video does a really good job of showing the growing resistance, particularly among teenage girls, against FGM and the ways in which long held cultural beliefs are starting to be changed.

Anthony Robles

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2011-03-21-anthony-robles-retires_N.htm

This particular piece of journalism is important because only once does the author actually mention the fact that Anthony Robles is a wrestler who has one leg. If you were to read the entire article minus that sentence, you would have almost no idea that there was anything unique about Anthony at all. As we learned in our recent class session focusing on "disabilities", often any type of journalism focusing on people with some type of mental or physical disability either seeks to call to attention how miraculous it is that someone with a disability could have had such an accomplishment or it seeks to glorify the disability as the reason why this person has succeeded.

The author of this article remarks only a few times about anything physical at all when mentioning Robles, and aims to focus more on the tangible accomplishments this young man has achieved rather than note that the reason why these achievements are noteworthy are because he deviates from the "norm". Robles' story is uplifting, inspirational and motivational to people of all walks of life and is made to appear no more or less significant because Robles lacks one of his legs. If this article had chosen to focus on how Robles' achievements were more significant because he has only one leg, projected Robles as a wounded warrior and spoke more on the potential struggles Robles faced growing up with his disability, reading the article would elicit an entirely different reaction. If journalists chose to approach all matters of gender, race, culture, etc., with this type of neutrality, I believe that the media would be a much less opinionated and biased part of culture.

"When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?"

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-Did-Girls-Start-Wearing-Pink.html#

Somewhat in relation to the J Crew ad that is sparking controversy, this article addresses the social roots of what created the "regulation" that boys and girls need to adhere to certain societal standards such as wearing blue and pink, respectively. It is interesting how the article starts by saying that couples "have" to know the sex of their baby at first glance because is is very true that our society must know the sex of a baby before they know how to treat and talk to it. For example, when people see a boy baby for the first time, they usually use words like "handsome," "strong," "curious," and "prince," while girl babies are called "angelic," "sweet," "cuddly," "cute." Studies have also demonstrated that boy babies are treated a lot differently than girl babies in the ways in which they are held, talked to, etc. If people do not know the sex of a baby they don't really know what to do or how to treat it. Our gender roles for even babies is so structured that many people can only react based on the societal notions of what each gender is supposed to be.

The article states that separate gendered colors did not come about until just before World War 2 "and even then, it took time for popular culture to sort things out" pointing out what we know all too well, that pop culture is a huge determinant in deciding how girls and boys are supposed to act and dress. With mass communications what they are today, pop culture is spread around the world in a matter of seconds.

The article attributes prenatal testing to the rapid change in keeping boys and girls clothes separate. As soon as parents could learn the sex of the child they could go shopping for merchandise that was perfectly suited to their boy or girl. Of course merchandise companies are providing these necessities and encouraging the behavior with commercials and marketing geared directly at such parents and eventually for children as they become impressionable and easily marketed to with television commercials and children's show characters.

Crossing Arizona - Watch this film!

Movie Review: Crossing Arizona

Crossing Arizona is a political documentary that demonstrates how the current immigration laws in America affect people on both sides of the border and it presents opinions from all sides of the issue. The film explains how the changed border strategy has sealed off border cities, and allowed for funneling though the unforgiving terrain of the Arizona desert. The laws and regulations have pushed immigrants further and further into the desert to cross the border and many people die each year in an attempt to cross through the isolated desert. Many people living on the border feel that no one deserves to die in the desert and they have worked tirelessly to supply water and humanitarian aid to those trying to cross. Throughout the film you will see perspectives from everyone affected by the border laws including, border patrol, immigrants on both sides of the border, humanitarian aid workers, guides, vigilante groups, farmers and ranchers. The film makers did an excellent job presenting all perspectives involved.

Some of the more memorable and upsetting moments in the film was the footage anti-immigration rallies in Arizona. A man in Tombstone started the “ Minuteman project – Veterans for a secure border” in which American citizens gathered from around the country to “protect” the border saying it is their duty and every American should be out there helping the government to do their job. This rally seemed to stir hatred and anger more than protect anything. Their goal was to create a deterrence for the immigrants trying to cross, but if I were someone attempting to cross the border and I had paid my life savings to make it into another country I probably wouldn’t allow a knitting grandmother from California in a camping chair be much of a deterrence. It was easy to see how the Minuteman project could escalate into a recruitment fair for white supremacy groups.
Water is one of the biggest problems for the people crossing the desert and it is not possible for someone to carry all the water necessary for the journey. In an attempt to stop the deaths in the desert, many people and organizations have provided water stations and started search and rescue groups to help. One man maintains a cache of water jugs he refills daily to help those in need. In one scene he returns to his jugs and sees them strewn about and many of them are slashed or have been intentionally burst. He says to deny someone water is “a crime against humanity.”

If you are interested in an in depth follow-up to Jennifer Piper’s lecture this is the film for you!

Sweatshops and Women

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn8LnEkKfIU&feature=related

A terrible result of economic globalization is sweatshops. Multinational corporations have been moving production facilities to developing countries in order to take advantage of cheap labor. As you can see in the video, most sweatshop workers are women. Most of the women are young and uneducated and consequently lack the knowledge and resources to stand up for themselves. Workers wages range from 5 to 20 cents per hour. They are often forced to work over time and not allowed bathroom breaks. The living conditions for sweatshop workers are crowded and dirty, and worst of all, women are often sexually harassed. Employers are known to falsely promise women better jobs in return for sexual favors. In a sweatshop in Saipan, pregnant women were forced to have abortions in order to keep their jobs. The treatment of women in sweatshops in truly horrific and I urge you all to be cognizant of where you shop.

This video is very powerful, as are the comments listed below the video. Clearly the video is made by college students, which is great and shows activism. However, others cannot handle the activism and are extremely ignorant with their comments. One comment says “yay sweatshops!!” and another says “I love retarded liberal college students pretending like they know everything when they know nothing... lets just shut down all the sweatshops don’t worry the children/mothers wont turn to worse things like prostitution.” It is shocking that people can actually be so ignorant. People need to become educated and aware of sweatshop conditions before change can actually occur.

Pink Toenails and Masculinity

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-talk-pink-toenails-0414-20110413,0,4817384.story

If you google J. Crew and Pink toenail polish, you will find multiple media channels - big news stations, blogs, comment boards... - all commenting on the fact that a woman representing J. Crew and modeling new clothes was pictured with her young son who had his toenails painted pink. This caused a massive uproar all over television and the web.

Tonight, Jon Stewart put together a piece on all the rants, which I can't find yet, but am sure by tomorrow will be on YouTube. One of the men he found, a supposed specialist, stated that such an action goes against masculinity, not verbatim, but that is what he meant. Society is so set in the established gender roles, and when a young boy gets his toenails painted by his mother, instead of it being a bonding moment, a sweet gesture by his mom to show affection, it is taken as an assault on what it means to be a man. Someone said she should be saving funds for later when he needs psychotherapy. Really? This goes back to what exactly it means to be a 'man.' Clearly in the western world, wearing pink nail polish signifies homosexuality, and being feminine, because pink is a 'girl' color. First of all, there are plenty of 'manly,' straight, men who wear the color pink, and secondly, why do so many people care? Why is the media all over this topic?

I find so many things wrong with this whole thing and I was instantly angered. The attention paid to this action is ridiculous when you look at the state of the world, but it speaks volumes to what people care about, and are thinking about. We are all so interconnected with one another that such an instance makes national media - it is sickening to me. Just wanted to share and rant a little.

Sterilization in the Czech Republic

Government Admits Forced Sterilization

After talking about sterilization in class today, it made me think of several conversations that I had with Roma women in the Czech Republic. The Roma population, also known as gypsies (which is a derogatory term), is the minority population in the Czech Republic and throughout Central and Eastern Europe. I checked out Wikipedia's definition of Roma and it referenced a 2003 article in The Guardian about Roma in the Czech Republic. 75% of Roma children are educated at schools for children with special needs and learning disabilities and the majority of Roma adults are unemployed. In 2003 the percentage was 70%, compared to the national average of 6%.

Another difficulty that Roma women faced and may still be facing today is sterilization without consent. In 2009 the government finally admitted and apologized for sterilizing Roma women. Czech doctors were sterilizing women when they were giving birth. The women would be given the consent forms right before they gave birth and were pressured to sign papers that they did not understand. Many were threatened that if they weren't sterilized they would lose their children. Doctors were sterilizing the women to curb the traditionally high fertility rate of Roma women. The practice started during Communism to prevent "undesirables" from reproducing and supposedly ended in 1989, but the last recorded case was in 2003 and many activists still believe that this is occurring. Another article in Womensenews.org, Sterilized Roma Say They Did Not Consent, discusses the widespread discrimination that Roma women face in general and reiterates women getting sterilized without knowing what was happening.

The Roma, like people with disabilities, are pressured to be sterilized without fully understanding the process or what they are consenting to. Perpetuating the idea of undesirables and the image of a perfect, ideal body will not create a more understanding and accepting society, but potentially continue or increase sterilizations and abortions. It will continue to hinder the progress that many minority groups have made. By sterilizing the women, the Czech government and state-run hospitals re-enforced the idea that they were not as good as other women and they did not deserve to have more children.

Disabled People's Rights

Reading about the history of how Western countries have dealt with the disabled populations makes me think about a job I had during my undergrad studies at CU Boulder. I took a job with the Center for People with Disabilities because it was relatively high-paying. I worked with people who had disabilities running the gamut from very high-functioning adults who worked at jobs like bagging groceries or cleaning offices to those who were unable to speak or care for themselves. I would take them on outings using public transportation, changed more than a few diapers and learned to teach clients life skills such as street safety or kitchen proficiency.

What the concise history of Western perception of disable people reminds me in particular about the Center for People with Disabilities is their focus on moving disabled people from being sequestered in institutions and generally out of sight from the general population to joining it by living in supported group homes, working and traveling on public transportation. Literally just seeing disabled people on the street, in stores or on public transportation is a form of activism to combat the lingering effects and practices from the decades of eugenics dominating the debate about and decision making for disabled people.

At first, I felt uncomfortable working with these disabled adults, but then I grew accustomed to our differences and it became more normal for me; this is an important, beneficial side effect when disabled people are allowed and supported to live with the general population and not in institutions from childhood.

A Female Image, Piety & Power

* Note: I just now noticed the post before me after writing this... sorry for the double up on the topic!

In response to this week's readings:

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/04/11/france.burqa.ban/#

"2 arrested as France's ban on burqas, niqabs take effect."

After a law was passed back in October, placed into effect Monday, it is now illegal to wear a burqa or a niqab in public in France. Violators, including visitors, will face fines and "French citizenship courses." Also, "Forcing a woman to wear a niqab or a burqa is punishable by a year in prison and a 30,000-euro fine (about $43,300). Forcing a minor to do the same thing is punishable by two years in prison and a fine of 60,000 euros."

The ban has caused a range of issues to surface, from religious freedom to female oppression to modesty rules to tenets of the Islamic faith.

Supporters of the ban, most notably the French government, have cited its implementation for security purposes, stating it's of utmost importance to be able to "see people's faces" to maintain a secure nation. Additionally, it has been noted as a way to maintain French identity, a nation of "bare-headed fashion."

Moreover, supporters of the ban claim that seeing the burqa is a tangible sign of an oppressive faith that ultimately strips women of their agency and dignity. The supporters claim that the ban will enable women to relieve themselves of this painful restraint on their identities.

On the flip side, many Muslim women are offended by the ban which treats them like criminals for a practice they have voluntarily chosen to follow. Some Muslim women feel like the burqa or niqab grant them more agency, as they do not have to feel judged by others on their bodies or appearance. However, some Muslim women agree with the ban because they believe the burqa is imprisoning women who think they are practicing piety, but are truly maintaining an oppressive practice. (A "false consciousness," if you will.)

So, is France stepping on the religious freedom of Muslim women? Are they trying to liberate women from an oppressive practice? Are they falling to stereotypes of the media in order to preserve their "French identity"? Are French Muslim women not a part of this "national identity"... and why? This law makes me think of the article by Lila Abu-Lughod, "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?" Is France attempting to "save" Muslim women who in fact share their devoutness through modest wear? Is it even the place of a national government to insist that they know "what is best" for all Muslim women in the whole country? Are the "security" reasons for this law truly legitimate or are they just a cover-up for a greater agenda to be served?

I think this is a challenging issue, but it points out something very important: here is an example of how one nation is attempting to deal with the cultural "Other," a concept that has been discussed by many prominent feminist scholars. How can an individual, a government, or even factions of a religion find a unifying agreement of what this type of symbolic dress may mean? Can we wade through the "cultural relativist" argument that tries to help us understand and tolerate instead of judge and disrespect? Or, is this the type of issue that needs to be seen through a human rights perspective that trumps relativism in order to move toward women's rights? Are we even in the position to say what the answers to these questions are....are our Western minds able to grasp the meanings behind symbols that are unfamiliar to us?

A challenge, indeed.

---------------------

Just a second little thing to add:

This article: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/01/21/femen.topless.protest/index.html?iref=obinsite

"Topless feminist protesters show what they're made of"

The article explains the women of Femen, Ukraine's topless female protest movement. Femen's leader, 26-year-old Anna Gutsol, explains: "Our goal is active Ukrainian women who want to be involved in society and politics.

Here is an an alternative method that women have taken in order to act as agents of change in an entirely different setting. How does this article compare to the banning of the burqa in France? In one case, we have Muslim women arguing that they command respect through the wearing of the burqa, and the other, wearing nothing at all is a symbol of power. Is the response the same? Is the "topless" feminist movement in the Ukraine a sign of oppression and patriarchy? Some might say that using sex and lust to sell a feminist image is contradictory, but those people might also say that using a veil to cover one's self is also contradictory to the notion of empowerment. Can "outsiders" truly understand what the intention or purpose is of either of these actions? The article claims that after a "nude protest" of a woman being stoned to death in Iran for committing adultery, the group received praise and thanks from Iran for their action. So, why does this group receive praise for their "nontraditional" forms of empowerment while the Muslim women receive criticism for remaining fully covered? Is nude activism more or less respectable than a Muslim woman wearing a burqa to show her dedication to her faith?

What roles of the media and the media's portrayal of the two groups are playing into people's perception of the two issues? Is the stereotyped "Other," the Muslim woman, the target of the burqa ban because of the international perception of oppression tied to her? If so, how is she to shed this label if she truly believes she is doing something good, on her own will? What is the media's perception of the topless feminists, and how does this portrayal affect their message? Who are we to believe/respect/understand/tolerate?

France's new legislation on the Burqa

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/10/french-police-arrest-burqa-ban-protesters/?hpt=C2

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1375781/Burka-ban-New-French-law-forbids-Islamic-women-wearing-face-veils-public-real-protest-London.html

These two articles discuss the new legislation in France that bans Muslim women from wearing Burqas. Proponents of this legislation claim that veils that cover the face are in opposition to French ideals of women's equality or the secular tradition of French society. Muslim women who were protesting France's new legislation were arrested on Monday. Women who break the new legislation by wearing burqas could face a $215 fine. As discussed by Abu-Lughod, the burqa is "central to contemporary concerns about Muslim women" (p.785). The burqa has been described as portable seclusion, in which the burqa is viewed as a "liberating invention because it enabled women to move out of segregated living spaces while still observing the basic moral requirements of separating and protecting women from unrelated men" (p.785). Therefore, the burqa is viewed very positively as well as empowering by Muslim women, but in Western society it is viewed as a means of oppression.

Does this new legislation seem fair? Should Muslim women living in France be subjected to these laws? Does secularity allow for legislation to dictate what Muslim women are allowed to wear? Where do we draw the line on secularism?

Multi-media production resources

Hello all -

Here are some resources I've been finding for different aspects of producing a multi-media production for the final project. Hope they are helpful - I would be grateful to know what you all are finding, too, as well as advice/wisdom from any of you who have created similar works before.

General Digital Media Storytelling
The Center for Digital Storytelling has excellent resources (and is the service used by our speaker last week to tell different immigrants' stories. In particular, the resources section has a treasure trove of other related sites and I noticed that there will be a storytelling workshop in Denver 21 - 23 April:
http://www.storycenter.org

The Knight Digital Media Center has a cornucopia of tutorials and general digital media goodness:
http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/

Interviewing Resources
Have you ever heard the Story Corps oral histories on NPR? The stories often leave me in tears. The organization that does this, Story Corps, has an excellent website with a question generator that may help you brainstorm, especially if your subject is a family member:
http://storycorps.org/record-your-story/question-generator/

Phone Recordings
Here are some ideas for how to record a phone interview, if you need to do so:
http://transom.org/?p=1165 – general how to for a variety of phones
http://transom.org/?p=8681 – recording using iPhone apps

Production Software
I currently plan to use iMovie on Mac and I understand that for PC's, the free Windows Moviemaker is useful. Curious what others plan to use...

Finally, a random resource I find intriguing – online tools to create maps to weave into your story, particularly if you plan to create a project intended for the internet:
http://www.storymapping.org/resources.html

Mountain2Mountain: Streets of Afghanistan Exhibition

http://www.streetsofafghanistan.org/
http://www.mountain2mountain.org/

"Dare to believe in our common humanity" - Mountain2Mountain

Founder of Mountain2Mountain, Shannon Galpin, has dedicated her life to helping the people of Afghanistan, specifically the women, whose voices go unheard and often ignored. She founded the organization in November of 2006 and has made countless visits to the country, instituting needed projects, working with the communities and has helped impact countless lives. Shannon tells her story with such passion, as she sold her house, and started Mountain2Mountain with limited funding, but has put her life and her whole heart into this organization and its' mission.

She came to DU last quarter and showed the documentary, Waking Lions, made about her travels and experiences for the very first time. The documentary highlights how Shannon works in Afghanistan, the challenges she faces, and how she pushes the envelope to bring about change. Students for Africa, the organization out of Korbel that I co-lead, was one of the student groups to bring her and we were extremely honored. She will be invited back to campus some time soon - so keep a look out.

The exhibit, Streets of Afghanistan, will tour the country and will be coming to our town, Denver on April 28, and to surrounding towns as well: Telluride for the MountainFilm Festival May 27-31, and Breckenridge July 1. Definitely don't miss this !!!

A little about Mountain2Mountain:

Mountain2Mountain is working to create education and opportunity for the women and girls of Afghanistan. We believe that investing in women and girls is the most effective way to achieve stability and economic prosperity. We don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach to complex problems. Instead, we believe in long-term solutions that are user-generated, village to village. We don’t just build schools. We work alongside the Afghan people, other NGOs and local governments to develop programs that will create transformational, societal change.

Our current projects are focused on girls education, rural midwifery, imprisoned women and children, the Afghan youth movement and the deaf community.

I for one am so inspired by Shannon, and all the projects Mountain2Mountain is currently involved with. The website says that she decided to "be the change" she wished to see in the world, and it is people like her, and organizations like this, that should remind us all that we may be only one individual, but each one of us can do so much, and working together, we can move mountains. I really believe that.

In Country: Soldiers' Stories from Iraq and Afghanistan

Today’s Guatemalan Guest Speakers, Domingo Alvarez Ajanel and Pedro Bernal Raymundo, brought the reality of war and its aftermath to our classroom. Domingo’s earliest memory, at age six, was of soldiers attacking his village, seeing people being shot and killed, and running away as shots were fired around him. At 15, Pedro was shot in the leg by soldiers. These men have spent the majority of their lives in a war zone and even now are haunted by their memories.

Jennifer Karady, artist, photographer, and journalist, captures memories of war in photographs. Her current exhibition, In Country: Soldiers’ Stories from Iraq and Afghanistan, is at the University of Denver’s Victoria H. Myhren Gallery in the Shwayder Art Building. Through photographs and interviews, she recreates aspects of the soldiers' war memories and places them within the context of the lives they lead at home. Creatively ingenious, stunningly photographed and filled with metaphor, she captures the essence of a memory and brings it to life in present day context. Juxtaposing past/present, soldier/civilian, and danger/safety, her works often include the soldier’s family and tell of the difficulties soldiers face when readjusting to civilian life.

Karady, like Domingo and Pedro, shows how the violence of war stays with the survivor long after the last bullet has been fired.

The exhibit will run now through May 1, 2011. I would highly recommend making the time to see the photographs for a surreal tour of duty.

Immigration, Detention and Women

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/us/18detain-1.html?_r=1&ref=us

This article is a good update on what we discussed in class about the detention centers and immigration law, 287g. Similar to what Jennifer pointed out in class, the article states that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights believes the government has not done enough to make sure that individuals are not singled out and detained because of their race. As a result of the Commission's report and investigations of immigration detention centers, they want the government to cancel 287g.

According to the article, the Obama administration is working to make changes to the system and they claim to have already made some important changes. Yet, the Commission is justifiably concerned about the continuing problem of detaining immigrants in the current conditions and circumstances. This problem is especially problematic for women, as this letter to the editor demonstrates:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/opinion/lweb27immig.html?src=twrhp

This letter, written by Anika Rahman, President of Ms. Foundation for Women points out the specific atrocities that women immigrants are sometimes forced to face. One frequent problem that immigrant women have is not being able to report crimes, particularly domestic violence. Some citizens of the U.S have a difficult time getting help in cases of domestic violence let alone immigrant women who know they cannot contact the authorities for help, further perpetuating the cycle of violence. This became a significant problem for women in Arizona when the SB1070 law was passed last year; thus further enforcing one of the many human rights issues immigrant women sometime face.

Video about Guatemala Genocide

This is a video done by Daniel Goldhagen, based on his book Worse Than War. In this video Goldhagen traces genocide through personal interviews with survivors and perpetrators. He starts with his father who is a Holocaust survivor, and meets with others from Bosnia and the Srebenica massacre, Rwanda, and Guatemala. He looks at what actions are necessary to get a mass group to participate in genocide, and what the psychological and social influences are. The most disturbing piece takes place about 1hr 29min into the video when he meets with Rios Montt in Guatemala. Here Rios blatantly states that there is no proof he committed genocide simply because there is no proof that he wiped out an entire population of Mayans. His cavalier attitude is really disturbing. Another interesting point is the watch his interview with Hutus now in work prison camps due to their partaking in the mass killing of Tutsis in 1994. What do you feel is the role of international democracies in persecuting Montt, or even getting involved with these situations to prevent them from happening again? If many of the actions were deeply rooted into the society, do you feel there is hope for preventing it from happening again in Guatemala?

Miss Representation Trailer, A Film By Jennifer Siebel Newsom, 2011 Sundance Film Festival

"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any" - Alice Walker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2UZZV3xU6Q
www.missrepresentation.org

The trailer alone is very powerful to watch, and made me think of the exercise we did the other day - when we got in groups and told stories about the first time we remember being aware of our bodies, or what people thought of us. Every woman in my group remembered a moment that we were awakened to our bodies and the way others viewed them, for better or for worse. That in itself is astounding, because like the one girl asked, 'when is it going to be enough?'

Women are faced with messages everyday, and I go in and out of being angry at times, wanting to fight for change and then feeling a sense of numbness. When you see images on magazines, on television, on blogs, discussed in class, across campus - the way society views women is everywhere and any female is constantly reminded about 'how she should look,' 'what she should wear,' and even 'who she should be' and 'how she should act.' How does this change?

I think this is a start. I wanted to share this trailer because I think everyone in this class would be interested in seeing this film - there are currently no screenings being shown in or around the Denver area, but maybe someone would like to organize this? I may --- this is a short blurb about the film:

As one of the most persuasive and pervasive forces in our culture, media is educating yet another generation that a woman’s primary value lay in her youth, beauty and sexuality—not in her capacity as a leader, making it difficult for women to obtain leadership positions and for the average girl to feel confident herself. Stories from teenage girls and provocative interviews with politicians, journalists, academics, and activists like Condoleezza Rice, Lisa Ling, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Rosario Dawson, Jackson Katz, Jean Kilbourne, and Gloria Steinem build momentum as Miss Representation accumulates startling facts and statistics that will leave audiences shaken and armed with a new perspective. (Runtime 90 minutes.)

The film is doing more than just showing a documentary to people, they are organizing a social action campaign as well. The funds raised will support woman's leadership groups working on public policy and legislation, as well as those encouraging best practices in many fields such as media and the role media plays, further creating awareness and a foundation for change.

Change takes time, but how much? And how much more time are people willing to give? Films like this help spread awareness and get people thinking - but more importantly, the question should become, what can each of us do individually to change the way the media and society portrays women? Change starts small - so by sharing this, hopefully I started something, and it can only grow from here.

The Way They Dress

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703899704576204580623018562.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

This is an article that I found on the Wall Street Journal about a few weeks ago. I just recently remembered it and knew that it would be very relevant to our class. Last week, we were discussing girls and their body image. We read "Between body and culture: Beauty, ability and growing up female," and this reading talked about how many different women view their bodies based on how others perceive them due to their culture, race, age, weight, etc. In particular, for teenagers, they develop a sense of their body image not only from their peers but also from the media. Most of the time if they do not feel as though they fit the ideal image that the media portrays then they are not beautiful enough. This leads to a steep decline in self-esteem and unfortunately can lead to depression and/or eating disorders. It is amazing how the pressure to meet a certain idolized image of the perfect female can completely tear us apart.

My article mainly focuses on how teenage girls dress these days but does it from the perspective of older women in terms of how they see this younger generation. The mothers struggle with wanting to be able to give their daughters all that they want but not being comfortable doing so when it comes to allowing them to dress in certain ways. They want their daughters to fit in and not be ostracized because they are not allowed to dress the same way as their peers, but even so these mothers don't want to see their daughters dress in a way that strips them of their dignity.

My 14-year-old sister's friends are in this same position and some of them mirror the girls in this article from the Wall Street Journal. This issue of how to dress and body image is still very prevalent with teenagers, and I'm not sure that anyone has really come up with the best way to address this.

What would you do if you were a mother or a sister in this position, trying to mentor a young teenage girl? How can you be sure you are doing the right thing?

Mitochondria

The title of this post might be a little discombobulating, as this is a communications class, not a biology class, but anyway...

I'm currently reading this book aside from school called Power Up your Brain: The Neuroscience of Enlightenment. It was written by an MD and a PhD, the latter of the two a shaman who has travelled the world to seek out how people find "enlightenment." The book intertwines the scientific aspect of how your brain works with the spiritual journey of seeking enlightenment, while guiding readers through a program on how to (literally) rewire your brain to find this.

While there are many aspects of the book, one aspect I found most intriguing was about the mitochondria, a.k.a. the powerhouse of the cell and what shaman's call "the feminine life force." In case you don't remember from high school biology, the mitochondria dictate how every cell ages, divides and dies, as well as which genes are switched on and off, and how neural networks in your brain are formed. Without this vital but tiny piece of the cell, life wouldn't exist. With as many cells as there are in your body, mitochondria make up roughly 10% of an average adult's body weight. The entire book focuses on syngergizing your brain, making all parts work together so you can be enlightened, be compelled to create, be peaceful, and overall, inherently happy. (It almost sounds like a self-help book, but it's not, I highly recommend it for anybody!)

Anyway, what this has to do with femininity. All the mitochondrial DNA in your body is inherited from your matrilineage (your mother's family tree), meaning the source of energy that sustains all life on the planet is truly a feminine life force. Those who are enlightened (as described by this book) have gotten in touch with the feminine life force within them.

I wanted to post an excerpt from the book, or something, and this is the only one I could find that references the feminine life force of the mitochondria:

http://www.thefourwinds.com/newsletter/Aug_10/news_alberto.php

In case you are interested in this book (seriously, everyone in the world needs to read it - the world would be a better place for it!) here's the Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Power-Your-Brain-Neuroscience-Enlightenment/dp/140192817X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302037707&sr=8-1

Video: "Pretty" by Katie Makkai

Katie Makkai - Pretty
This fits well with our discussion in the last class on body image.  Where do pressures about body image come from?  Are these pressures any different today than they were in the past for your mothers, grandmothers, great grandmothers...?  How have capitalism and marketing played a role, and the assumption that technology (surgery, pills, etc.) can provide the solutions (similar arguments offered for the environment, war, etc...).

Taking the Gender Fight Worldwide

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/world/europe/30iht-letter30.html?pagewanted=1&sq&st=nyt&scp=2

Michelle Bachelet has parlayed her experience as Chile’s first female defense minister and then as first female president into a new position. She now heads the newly formed U.N. Women agency. Always surprising, she threw traditional feminism a curveball when she said, “We need men. We need to obtain big important male champions.”

Not only are her appointments controversial, her agenda is as well. Her primary objective is focused on female empowerment, not female victimhood. She believes getting women into politics, business, military and peacekeeping roles is paramount to their gaining empowerment. She believes the quota system is a starting place for women but that alone will not get the job done. In advocating working with men within the system, she is seeking to gain support while expanding women’s roles.

While she has had great success in Chile, it remains to be seen if she can extend that success and those goals to a worldwide audience. The U.N. system of negotiation and compromise would seem to present a vastly different form of governance than Bachelet’s previous positions have entailed. Her challenge will be to make women’s issues a universal topic to many varied governments with many varied agendas. Her past success bodes well for predicting her administrative skills and hopefully her broad agenda will appeal to the world at large.

Do you think Bachelet’s approach is correct? Do you think female empowerment is the paramount issue for women?

Hard Labour in Hungary - Birthrights - Al Jazeera English

Hard Labour in Hungary - Birthrights - Al Jazeera English

I thought this story fit well with our discussion on the role of bodies and body image and is also an interesting twist to the general topic of a woman’s right to make decisions in regard to reproductive choices. In Hungary, it is currently illegal for women to be attended by a medical professional should they choose to give birth at home. Medical professionals who do so risk going to jail. It seems like an odd law (the video goes through a number of probable reasons for its continued existence) and once again suggests that women should not be entrusted with the control of their own bodies. One of the main arguments given by the authorities and the press is that “hospitals are the only safe places to give birth.” I wondered what Lucy might have to say, seeing as she’s “witnessed” the survival of the human race despite the fact that people have been born at home up until very recently in human history. Obviously, the advent of modern medicine, including hospital facilities, has much decreased infant mortality rates; however, the Hungarian women who are facilitating the homebirths are medical professionals and bring that expertise to the bedside, whether in a hospital or in a house. Many of these women have worked in the hospitals and, frustrated with the lack of control that women were allowed concerning the birth of their children, decided to pursue methods that they feel give that control back to the mother.

Why do you think the government has such a strong interest in restricting women from having homebirths? Is this a residual effect of communism (state vs. individual)?