Women in Esquire are meant to be objects

I just found an article of the Esquire editor claims that women are meant to be objectified. Esquire is a men magazine that’s been around since The Great Depression. Since it’s a magazine for men, there are going to be women in the magazine, but only for visual pleasure. Alex Bilmes, the forty year old editor, has stated that “his magazine prints pictures of ‘ornamental’ women who should be admired in the same way that people look at ‘cool cars’.” They take edited pictures of women, sometimes women completely created specifically for the magazine, just for men to oogle at hoping that they buy their magazine. He stated that he could put women in his magazine for reasons of being smart and intellectual, but the readers themselves (and obviously nobody who makes the magazine) isn’t interested enough to read anything about women with brains. He states, “They are there to be a beautiful object, they're objectified.” A lot of people got mad at his statements, saying that he’s a century late and not in a good way. While I do believe he deserves all the criticism he’s getting, he at least admitted he’s fully aware of what he’s doing. Lots of magazines do this, but would never admit to it. Unfortunately, it has proved to sell more magazines and editors will continue to use this until it stops making them a profit. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/9947584/Esquire-editor-claims-women-are-meant-to-be-objects.html

Black Widow

So I’m sitting here, watching The Avengers, trying to think about what to write for a blog post. I get to the scene with Black Widow tied up and I realize I know exactly what I want to write about. While I thought Black Widow was portrayed well in The Avengers, I feel like she was a disservice to the movie Iron Man 2. The only thing she pretty much did in Iron Man 2 is looking hot while she is or is not kicking ass. Other than that there isn’t much to her character. She’s in the story frequent enough so the audience doesn’t forget who she is, but doesn’t say or do much until the end of the movie. She’s just in the movie to look good because everybody knows sex sells. Guys will have more of an incentive to see Iron Man 2 knowing that there is a hot girl in spandex in the movie. There’s a scene where she’s changing into her tight spandex in the back of the car and practically naked. Wouldn’t it be funny to see a hero like Captain America get naked in the back of the car to change into his suit? I find no depth to her character which could have easily written out of the movie. 

Article Analysis 2: Sexism in Video Games

Nicholas Sabljak

Article Analysis 2

4/3/13

Video Game Sexism

                Video games have been popular for many decades now, and have entertained millions of people. There are many different types of games for everybody to play such as first-person shooters, platformers, puzzle games, and many more. Gaming became big with Atari in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s until the video game crash of 1982. The next few years were the dark ages of gaming until the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) rose from the ashes in 1985 to save the industry. Most people who seemed to be interested in the NES were young boys with not too many girls took notice of video games. This set the stereotype that only boys play video games. Though today, women play just as much video games as men do, whether it is home consoles or app games on their phones. Women have always been on the lower side of the gaming spectrum and you can see it since the very beginning.

                Early on, video games were targeted towards men because they were the ones who expressed most interest in playing them. The first video game to ever be created was titled Spacewar! which was a two-player space shooter where one player would try to destroy the other player’s ship in space. Action was considered more of a manly interest, and when arcades hit clubs and bowling allies it was men who flocked to these kinds of machines. Atari didn’t really focus on characters or stories because of how limited they were, but I can’t think of one game where the main character was a woman.  Nintendo released an arcade machine (eventually released for Atari 2600) titled Donkey Kong which the player controlled Jumpman (now known as Mario). The story was Donkey Kong kidnapped a princess and climbed to the top of a building where Jumpman would have to save her. This is the typical “damsel in distress” that many games would tend to follow. The other game on Atari that focused on women was a game titled Custards Revenge, a game where General George Armstrong Custard came back from the dead. The player would control a naked General Custard, and the objective would be to make it to the other side of the screen by dodging arrows and raping a naked Native American women. As a pretty knowledgeable gamer who knows the history of gaming very well, these are the only two famous video games for Atari that had women involvement. One was saving a princess, and the other was making your way to a Native American woman just so you can have sex with her. Even at the beginning of video games, women didn’t have a lead role and were nothing more than mere objects or prizes.

                After the ages of Atari, Nintendo created its own gaming system that far succeeded anything than Atari has ever produced. Games weren’t stuck to one screen anymore. Now, when a character reached the end of a screen it would slide across with the character. This made games bigger than ever before. Though, none of these games had primary woman involvement. The most recognizable games for the NES were Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Mega Man, Contra, and Castlevania. The most famous one on this list is Super Mario Bros. The story of Mario is hardly relevant, but it features an Italian plumber whose princess is kidnapped by Bowser. At the end of the game, Mario defeats Bowser and saves the princess who rewards him with a kiss. Just like in Donkey Kong the game focuses on a male hero figure saving the poor defenseless princess. She is seen only once at the very end of the game when you beat it. The other game to mention a woman is The Legend of Zelda. This game is more story-driven because its manual tells you all the backstory information, yet it follows the same “saving the princess” storyline as Mario does. Ganon, the King of Thieves, has kidnapped Zelda, the Princess of Hyrule. The main protagonist, Link, has to save her. The gameplay is vastly different from Mario, but the only role of the woman is to be kidnapped and rescued time and time again. These are the stories for every Mario game and every Zelda game that follows afterwards. Mega Man’s prime focus is a robot boy, Contra‘s main character is a war soldier, and Castevania’s protagonist is a male vampire hunter. All these games have multiple sequels and none of them have had any female involvement until generations later. There isn’t even a girl or princess to save. The only game to have a main female role is Metroid. The main character is Samus Aran, who spends the entire game in a suit of armor which doesn’t reveal her identity. So originally, players assumed Samus was male. If you can beat the game fast enough and get the good ending, only then will Samus take off her helmet and reveal that she is a woman. This surprised many gamers, which shows how one sided video games were relating to gender roles. And if you beat the game even faster, Samus will take off her whole suit and reveal herself wearing only a bikini. 

Many gamers speculated you could even get her down to her birthday suit, but there is no way for a player to actually do that. The NES only has one female protagonist, which also involves her stripping down 95% of her clothing. You don’t see Mario or Link stripping down to their underwear when they complete their games, do you?

                Today, it is normal for games to be stereotypical for both genders. Looking at the top selling games today, many focus around men. Such titles include Halo, Gears of War, God of War, Uncharted, Mass Effect, etc. All these games main protagonist is a male figure with at least one female secondary whose involvement is helping the player out by giving them hints and normally just stands there to look pretty. Though, these games are also very sexist towards men as well. Every single one of these games main protagonist is a tall, mean, buff dude who is a complete badass in every way possible. They are extremely muscular, act tough, and aren’t afraid of anything. Though chances are, the people playing these games look nothing like the characters they are controlling. If you look at me, I’m a 5’9’’ male who weighs 135 pounds. I’m skinny and look nothing like these characters. And it seems like 90% of games today has a protagonist who are unrealistically fit. Though, it is true that male characters still outnumber female characters in games. The only two characters in gaming today who are huge are Samus Aran and Lara Croft, from Tomb Raider. Samus’ new game has been criticized because the writers screwed her up by turning her into a whiney little bitch, and crying as enemies attack her.

Playing this new game (Metroid: Other M) pissed me off as a Metroid fan because they took a badass character and gave her a pathetic personality. And Lara Croft is known for having unrealistically oversized breasts.

Mass Effect is a game where the player gets to choose whether the main character is a boy or a girl, and Mass Effect 3 has a game cover where the player can flip it around which displays the exact same cover art, but with the main protagonist redrawn as a female. However, all my friends I know have played this game with a male, and the cover art is defaulted towards male. While playing any of these games on Xbox live, 99% of people are male (who use mics). Whether it is annoying 12-year old kids who just learned how to swear, or an older man talking shit, it is always the sound of a male voice being heard. It’s actually so bad, that when a girl is using a mic, everybody in the room goes crazy. You hear such phrases as, “A girl is playing this game?” or “Will you have sex with me?” I hear this when I’m playing over the internet, or when I watch my sister play online. There is even a 3DS ad which shows a girl playing a game and having no idea what to do with a man explaining how to do everything.

You know, because a girl can’t figure something out for herself. Though, while a majority of video gaming is focused towards a male audience, I do feel video games are sexist all around.

                Video games have been around for decades. They provide endless hours of entertainment for people, but I feel like the sexism in video games is out of control. Too few games have serious female involvement. The community of gamers see women as people who could never understand video games or technology because they were simply born female. If you are female, you will never understand how to play a video game without the help of a male, and even then you will never be as good as males when it comes to skill. It’s a very silly thing to think about, but that’s how many gamers view the stereotypical woman. As a gamer, I would love to see a kickass woman protagonist in a game that isn’t created for sex appeal. Too bad there are too few games out there like this.     

The Hunger Games

In class, we were required to read The Hunger Games for its view on feminism. The story is set in the future, where North America is separated into, originally, 13 districts. One day, the districts revolted against The Capital, and one of the districts was completely destroyed. The Capital demonstrates their power by having an annual Hunger Games so the districts never revolt again. The main character, Katniss, lives in District 12, one of the poorer districts. Katniss lives with her mother and her sister who need help supporting themselves. She helps out her family by hunting for food. Usually, hunting is a man’s’ job, but Katniss is known to be a great hunter at the beginning of the book. She is shown to be an expert with a bow and arrow, much better than her friend Gale. When Katniss’ sister is picked for The Hunger Games she bravely steps forward, without hesitation, to take her sister’s place. After the ceremony, Katniss and Peeta are heading towards The Capital; Katniss acts calm while Peeta is crying. Usually, the hero is a male who has the save the useless damsel in distress, but in the Hunger Games Katniss is better off than Peeta and can take care of herself. Later, Peeta is interviewed and he admits to having a crush on Katniss. Katniss responds aggressively, by shoving Peeta into a wall and becoming angry. During the games Katniss acts smart to keep herself alive by setting traps and using her environment all together. She is just overall a smart, levelheaded, strong willed woman who can fend for herself.  

Powerpuff Girls: Equal Fights

In class we watched an episode of the Powerpuff Girls called Equal Fights. In the episode, the villain is a woman called Femme Fatale. She is a feminist who robs people in The City of Townsville, but not looking for money; she’s looking for solely for Susan Bee Anthony coins. She rants about how men are weak and can’t stop a woman like her. In a confrontation with the Powerpuff Girls, she convinces them that all men are evil and women get treated with no respect. In one scene, she asks the Powerpuff Girls to name any other respected woman superhero besides Wonder Woman. Bubbles names off Super Girl and Bat Girl where Femme Fatale replies that those characters are only weaker versions of their male counterparts. The girls let her go and become angry at all men for treating women differently.  I saw this episode as a way for the writers to express what feminism really is. I saw how Femme Fatale as a symbol how media likes to portray feminism in a negative way. At the end of the episode, the Powerpuff Girls realize they were acting wrong and Femme Fatale is not a true feminist. Femme Fatale wants females to be superior while feminism is really about everybody being equal. I thought this episode did a great job portraying what feminism should really be about, especially in a show where the main characters are kick-ass girls.  

Artifact Analysis I: Repeat Stuff

In the recent years of our country, as media starts to develop more and more, society has burned into out minds’ how “beauty” should be perceived. Beauty goes hand-in-hand with words such as skinny, tall, big-breasted, white teeth, and wrinkle-free. Most of the time, women models displayed in magazines are fake; either they are photo shopped or customized by a group of editors. One comedian, by the name of Bo Burnham, decided he would create a song exposing the tactics of modern day media. Bo started his career on YouTube in 2006, when he was sixteen, by posting a video of himself playing silly songs he had written on the piano. It eventually got featured on the front page of Break.com and received over a million views in a night. He created more songs, picked up an agent, and made a career out of it. In the last few months, Bo created a new song titled “Repeat Stuff,” which is a satirical love song. The song displays how the music industry impacts girls in multiple negative ways.

            The first verse starts by stating the true intentions of modern day love songs. Before the song even starts, Bo talks about how love songs used to be beautiful and differ drastically than what we’re used to. He quotes the first few lines from the song, “The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” by T.S. Eliot and compares this, satirically, to mainstream love songs. Bo states, “Love songs now-days are just as beautiful guys: Usher, Justin Bieber, One Direction.” Bo points out that love songs are now made by rich and famous singers, who probably don’t even write their own music. Songs on the radio today are played because it’s the style of what the general public likes. They want a catchy beat and that seems to be about it. Usher, Justin Bieber, and One Direction are all groups on the radio who constantly sing about generic love in front of an easy-to-remember tune. As the song starts, Bo starts mocking the premise of love songs and quickly switches to the reality. “I love your sis, I love your dad, I love your mom. / But, more than all of that I love the fact that you are DUMB enough / to not realize everything I've said has been said before…” He points out that the industry is glad that girls are stupid to not recognize their marketing scheme. This is even proved more when he starts singing about the media’s perspective. “I also hope you don’t see through / this cleverly constructed ruse / designed by a marketing team / cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem / and girls’ desperate need to feel loved.” Companies today know that if people are happy with the way they are, they will not make a profit. So they cleverly create ads that show an unobtainable image of beauty that every girl wants to achieve. The first verse of Bo’s song points out the true intentions of the media and how they plan on making money off girls.

            Next, Bo enters the chorus, which analyzes the form of love songs. The chorus is attacking the structure, rather than marketing scheme. In order for songs to be successful they have to be likeable and, normally, simple. The majority of American’s prefer simple, easy to grasp songs rather than deep, intellectual ones. Bo states this when he sings, “America says we love a chorus, / but don't make it complicated and bore us.”  Bo now explains the title of the song. “The meaning might be missing. / We need to know the words after just one listen. / So repeat stuff, repeat stuff, repeat stuff...” Given the three artists Bo mentioned before the song, it is true that songs sung by groups like Justin Bieber like to repeat themselves too much. This is done so the song is easily remembered and the meaning isn’t difficult to understand. If a listener doesn’t remember the name of the song or isn’t able to relate, it is unlikely to sell well. Prime examples of this are Justin Bieber’s “Baby” and One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful,” both of which have repeating lyrics and sing about loving girls. Bo’s chorus perfectly describes the structure of modern day love songs.

           

 Next, the second verse describes how the songs, themselves, are written. Bo exclaims that the songs are written broadly enough that they could be applied to every girl. “I love my baby, and you know I couldn't live without her. / But now I need to make every girl think this song's about her. / Just to make sure that they spread it like the plague / so I describe my dream girl as really, really vague.” If a love song singles out a group of girls (topics such as different hair color), that group won’t purchase their music, thus the industry gets doesn’t make as much money. One of his jokes talks about girl’s hands. “I love your hands because your fingerprints are like no other.” This is vague enough to apply to every girl because everybody likes to be complimented and feel unique. Everybody has a different fingerprint, thus making the girl listening able to relate and feel special. Now, a normal song wouldn’t have something this silly because it’s an obvious joke, but the line does its job by pointing out how love songs are written. Afterwards, Bo makes a joke about how precise producers must be. “And I love the way your torso has an arm on either side / If you're my producer you might be thinking, ‘oh no, sound the alarms! / You're not appealing to little girls who don't have arms!’” The joke is saying even something as simple as having two arms isn’t relatable enough, because some girls may not have arms and won’t buy their music. If you listen to the music of One Direction, this is completely true. In “What Makes You Beautiful” the girl they’re singing about can be applied to everyone. “Baby you light up my world like nobody else, the way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed.” Anybody can flip their hair unless you don’t have hair you can flip. But most girls, do in fact, have hair they can flip. The media knows people have to relate to music, so they write a song that’s so simple you can’t not relate.

            The bridge of Bo’s song deals with girl’s insecurities. Media plays a big role in our lives because we are constantly exposed every day. Bo sings, “I'm in magazines / full of model teens / so far above you.” The images in magazines and ads are rendered to make the women look stunning. The final image we see isn’t real people, but people photo shopped to enhance their looks. Every flaw from their face is removed or altered. Though, young girls aren’t aware of this. They aren’t supposed to know because it’s the goal of media to make these girls feel insecure and buy products to make them feel better. Girls grow up in this environment and are constantly reminded that they’ll never good enough, so they listen to media that boosts their self-esteem. Bo continues, “So read them and hate yourself / And pay me to tell you I love you.” Girls are meant to hear these songs sung by attractive boys. If these boys sing songs about loving girls, the girls listen. At the end of the bridge, Bo nails the disguise in the media’s scheme. “And the parents always come along / because their little girl is in love. / And how can love be wrong?” How can love be wrong? Love is important and a natural part of life. We all seek love and want to be loved. Love is the feeling of acceptance in the eyes of someone else. Nobody views love as being wrong, but the media uses love to their advantage to make money. Media purposely knock girls down, and the girls will pay money to be built back up. After the bridge, Bo ends the chorus again. He states, “We know it's not right, / we know it's not funny / But we'll stop beating this dead horse / when it stops spitting out money.” The sad thing is, this marketing ploy works and the industry will continue doing it as long as they make money. Look at Justin Bieber. He has millions of fans who are mostly teenage girls. He’s attractive and constantly singing about loving them. One Direction’s songs are also about loving girls and are frequently on the radio that is sung by five attractive looking boys. Bo ends his song by explaining how the media uses girls’ insecurities to make the music industry rich.

Bo’s song “Repeat Stuff” was made to exploit the music industries’ cruel ways of making money. It reveals how popular mainstream love songs aren’t made for the arts, but to simply cash in on girls’ insecurities. Love songs used to have meaning and heart, but it was soon discovered that they are a quick way for an artist to make money. We can all relate to being in love, trying to find love, relationship issues, and dealing with breakups. There are so many subtopics in the topic of love that it’s easy to write a generic love song that relates to people and watch it become a successful money maker. Unfortunately, as Bo says, this isn’t going away because the feeling of love is human nature, and love makes too much money for the industry to just stop. And how can love be wrong?  

Video of Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=702Goo5Fsao

Lyrics:
I love your hair, I love your name, I love the way you say it.
I love your heart and you're so smart 'cause you gave away it.
I love your sis, I love your dad, I love your mom.
But, more than all of that I love the fact that you are dumb enough to not realize everything I've said has been said before,
In a thousand ways, in a thousand songs, sung with the same four cords.
But you'll still buy it, and let me finger you.
Yeah! Finger you! Finger you!

Oh girl I hope you don’t think it’s rude

When I tell you that I love you boo

I also hope you don’t see through

This cleverly constructed ruse

Designed by a marketing team

Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem

And girls’ desperate need to feel loved

America says we love a chorus,
But don't make it complicated and bore us,
The meaning might be missing,
We need to know the words after just one listen,
So repeat stuff, repeat stuff, repeat stuff...

I love my baby, and you know I couldn't live without her.
But now I need to make every girl think this song's about her.
Just to make sure that they spread it like the plague, so I describe my dream girl as really, really vague.
Like, I love your hands because your fingerprints are like no other.
I love your eyes and their blue-ish, brownish, greenish color.
I love it when you smile, that you smile wide.
And I love the way your torso has an arm on either side.
If you're my producer you might be thinking "oh no, sound the alarms,
You're not appealing to little girls who don't have arms!"
But they can't use iTunes so fuck 'em!!
Yeah! fuck 'em right in the face!

Oh boy..
Oh hello satan!
It's all about love, it's all about love,
It's all about love and album sales.
When you repeat stuff, repeat stuff, repeat stuff...

Listen up girls!
I'm in magazines full of model teens
So far above you
So read them and hate yourself
And pay me to tell you i love you
I love you
And the parents always come along
Cause their little girl is in love
And how can love be wrong? how can love be wrong?

When you repeat stuff! repeat stuff...
We know it's not right, we know it's not funny
But we'll stop beating this dead horse when it stops spitting out money
But until then...
We will repeat stuff.

First Blog Post!

In class we watched a documentary type video explaining how women appear in media and society. I thought the video was very eye opening. I had no idea men treated women so poorly, especially in politics. It was very ridiculous and shocking how superficial men are towards women, rather than listening to their ideas. Especially the women newscasters, men were commenting how much leg skin was showing. I also found it funny that advertisers know that men between the ages of 18 and 34 don't watch as much TV as women, so they try to use women, knowing that they appeal to men, to help sell their product. And the statistic seems somewhat true because I don't watch TV at all, unless you count Doctor Who on Netflix. I think many people should see this documentary because feminism seems to be a bigger issue than people realize.