WW: Rape

This article talks about how women everywhere live under the threat of rape, the greatest risk often in their own homes! Rape is a highly unreported crime because people think that rape is only having sex. However, this is not true and rape constitutes any violence inhibited to assert male power and control. The article stated that estimates suggest that the actual incidence of rape may be up to 50 times the numbers reported. Where did things go wrong in American society to make living in America so dangerous? Even here in Pullman, Women's Transit was created in order to help reduce the risk of a woman walking home at night from the library or the gym. It is apparent that rape, as well as many other types of sexual violence, has become a HUGE problem when a woman isn't even safe in her own home. This can be linked to many things occurring in American society today. For one, the images of women in the media make them seem like fragile, sex-crazed people there to please their man whether it inquires violence or sex or the like. It can also be linked to the long-held roles of women throughout American history as being below men. Now that women have gained more rights in all sorts of aspects in society, I feel that men are lashing out by inhibiting acts of violence because it is the only means they can think of to get back at them and it is the easiest means. Are men affraid of change, more specifically a change in the workforce, athletics, or in politics?

WW: Beauty

This article is about how the commerce of beauty has touched almost all places around the world today. It was astounding to see how many different types of cosmetic surgeries women are getting in the USA alone, which in fact happens to be the biggest cosmetic market in the world. This article stated that these types of surgeries are especially common in rich countries, which makes the America an easy target. There were even surgeries listed that I had never heard of before, what are they going to come up with next! And the top five cosmetic companies sales are in the billions. Cosmetic surgery is expensive, and I guess that is a good thing becasue if it weren't I can't imagine how many more people would be getting cosmetic surgery. Yes wealthy people may live a glamorous life, but it is obvious that with these types of surgeries as well as other types of modifications such as tanning, manicures, and teeth whitening, wealthy people have their issues mostly dealing with their body image. It almost seems like torture when you get some type of cosmetic surgery because you are stitched up, swulllen, aching, and on pain meds. Your personall body image should not be something that an individual constantly is concerned about. It takes too much time and energy and there are more important things in life then this. Maybe this is why many American advertisements, especially high-fashion ads, portray such vulgar and sickly images of women. The wealthy can easily afford a high-fashion item so it is directed towards them. Therefore, these ads' models are the norm to their audience.
It is difficult to see girls around me who are abnormally skinny because one would think that they have an eating disorder. However, it is wrong to make this assumption because they totally could not have one. But the point I'm trying to make is that body image and the fact that eating disorders are so common in American society today brings about the assumptions that people who are skinny must "obviously" have an eating disorder.

WL: Media Representations and the Criminalization of Arab Americans and Muslim Americans

In the United States, Arabs are looked at through a demeaning light. This article opened my eyes to American's close-minded views of both Arab and Muslim Americans. It talked about the sterotypes that American's place on both men and women Arabs and Muslims. I totally agree with the articles standpoint that the "demonization of Arabs and Muslims reached a new level after 9/11/01" (465). Before these attacks, as well as America's entry into the Middle East, not much was known about these people's lives. Yes, I knew vaguely that there was constant fighting over a land dispute, but I always disregarded their issues because it had nothing to do with me. However, after America got involved with the Middle East and it's people, more focus was put towards the extreme violence, torturing acts and suicide bombings. Thus all of America's focus was put towards the negative situations taking place, especailly if it involved an American reporter, solieder etc. First of all, this is unfair to these people because we are exploiting their lives and showing the rest of the world these negative images. Yes, awful stuff has and will happen due to terrorist groups, but not all Middle Eastern people hold these violent ideals. Every country has exprienced or is experiencing murder, hate crimes, rape and many more violent acts. So how is it fair that the U.S. is focusing on only the bad within the Middle East instead of the good? How would America feel if another country was exploiting our issues to the entire world? Keeping this in mind, Middle Eastern people fill a huge gap in America's ethnocentric views. Americans tend to view Arab and Islamic males as possessing terrorist ideals. This view of men leaves us to think that the Arab and Islamic women are battered and are living depressive lives. This easily leaves us to feel compassion towards them because they have the live with these terrorist men. Overall, we identify Islam as evil and violent. However, Islam possesses many of the same characteristics that Christianity does. The Bible and Quran express similar ideals of peace, love for your neighbor, forgiveness etc. I know that not everyone is Christian in the U.S., however, a great majority is. There are many other issues between the Middle Eastern people leading to the disputes that have lasted for many years. It is unfair for American's to make all of these judgements without the full knowledge of the people. It is frustrating to see American's play the "blame game" because they think that blaming a spreicifc thing, for example that Muslims religion is causing the violence, will lead them to an answer.

IVUS Ch. 12: Racial and Ethnic Interpersonal Violence

This chapter helped me answer a question that has been discussed in a couple of my classes now, "Has racism really gone away?". After reading the personal stories about beatings and other types of racial violence, I feel that racism has not gone away. The tension between different races is still present in American society today. Even though more attention has been put on racism, I think that the hatred of people who are different then us has been too embedded within our minds in order to go away. Are there any factors contributing to this type of violence? The first thing that came to my mind was the media. Advertisements, movies, and television all bring some sort of racial influence to the table. For one, we do not see as many colored actors or models as white actors or models. We also continually see the same racial roles. This helps to influence who we think is superior and who we think is not as well as the types of roles they should play (profession etc).
This chapter helped me to reflect on previous instances in which I experienced first hand violence between different races. Growing up, I went to a private high school located in an area known for violence especially gang violence. Throughout my high school career there had been two shootings at the school down the street involving gang members of different races. My high school consisted of all white people except for about ten black people. I remember how the white students, including myself at times, thought that seeing a black person at our school was basically weird. Even though this situation did not exhibit any physical violence, it was more so a mentally subdued violence because black people were automatically looked down upon and thought of as out of place at the school. Even though their parents most likely had the same types of jobs and some even lived in the same neighborhoods as other white students, the shock of their presence was still there. In the chapter, it talks more about the prevalence of hate crimes and racial violence throughout time. I feel that my experience in high school is a perfect example of a starting point that eventually contributes to racial violence. If kids today are noticing others' race as the first thing they see when they look at a person, then it is apparent that race still matters a lot to individuals as well as a tension between them.

IVUS Ch. 13: Militarism and Violence

The amount of money and focus that goes into the military is excessive. It is so excessive that is taking away from other issues that this country needs to improve on. America is considered to have one of the most powerful militaries and thus, I feel that this statement has kept the fighting off of American soil. Do not get me wrong, this is a good thing. But when this focus becomes so extreme that we abandon other major issues it takes away from the well-being of our country as a whole. It is a conspiracy as to how the big business corporations team up with the government to improve their personal profits and maintaining the status of having the newest weapons etc. So one big question that comes to my mind is "Where are our taxes going? Would the government really lie to millions of people in their country?". I think that this excessive spending and focus on the military and weapons creates more of a desire as well as a false set of arrogance in which the United States feels that they can interfere (with military actions) in other countries' issues. It also has created an economic downfall. As everyone knows today, the American economy is awful! This downfall started when we put our focus on Iraq and put an extreme amount of money into more weapons and soldiers. The government is not giving us straight facts but very vague ones. With this in mind it is difficult for an American citizen to say that the invasion of Iraq was justified. We do not know if there was a better solution in getting oil resources because the information was so vague. It is frustrating to think that such a powerful and influential group of people are basically taking advantage of their people by providing only the facts that justify/support their actions and thus making people do what THEY want.
This has contributed to an even greater gap between the wealthy and the poor. In the book State of the World 2008: Innovations for a Sustainable Economy "the combined income of the 500 richest people's income is equal to the millions of poor people's income" (8). This goes to show how little the big corporate business as well as the military spending is helping the country. These greedy business men and powerful politicians' greediness give the world this bad perception of Americans as a country that can do whatever they feel like.

Abstract

A picture is worth a thousand words. The images that advertisements convey to their consumers are very useful tactics in which the companies use to get people to use their product. Today in the United States media advertisements are everywhere subconsciously influencing both children and adults regardless of gender; from the huge billboards outside, to the television commercial that comes on in during your favorite show, or to the magazine ad that pops up while reading. In America advertisements convey many different types of feelings and thoughts produced for their audience. Females are many times used as sexual objects of affection by the males. Today, the product is overshadowed by the images of these women. Men now desire and fantasize about women and tend to think of these scandalous picture as the norm. This is not only demeaning, but it enhances the belief that women are merely sexual objects and that males still hold the superior position in society. It is intriguing to see how these images have changed overtime as well as the effects that these images have had on American society.
This topic will be taken from the textbook Inequality & Violence, Women’s Lives, as well as from the videos viewed from class. I am also still looking for a scholarly source from the library but have not found one yet.