From The Classroom To Real Life

So as I sit here, really what I am doing is avoiding homework, however I look around and observe the world, the society in which I live, the people and try to think about their lives. The crisis we have in today's world is 

As I began to write about the above journal entry, headphones in, typing away, two women approached me, introduced themselves, (I pulled out one headphone) and they proceeded to invite me to their bible study. I apologetically declined, and informed them I was not interested. (slowly putting my headphones back in) She then asked if I believed in God, I responded with "now that you ask, no I do not". Before I could put my headphones back in, they began to ask me an assortment of questions, what my major was, where I was from, what high school I went to, and then, of course, began to talk about their lives with God. So I thought, why not apply some of the things I have learned in COMS 225 to have a healthy and structured conversation with her. I began to make my argument, state my position and my examples and reasoning behind this. (You could tell she did not take COMS 225) She went on about her experiences, her beliefs about God and religion, and did not ever have a counterargument for my original position or example. While she was talking I put out a finger for everything that I wanted to make a counterargument about, and was making notes in my head, since I thought it may be rude to take notes while she was stating her side. So after about 15 minutes of her not letting me get in a word, I began to take my side of the argument, backing it up with testimonies, life examples and research I have done in the past on the subject. I even finished my argument with a cross examination question so she had the chance to openly speak about her thoughts of what I had just responded with. She finished with her conclusion, where she only continued to speak about her side of the argument, and did not try to resolve the counterarguments I had explained nor answered my cross examination question. (She definitely had a violators point of view on the subject) So I concluded with letting them both know that I understood what her and her friend were trying to do, (convince and inform students on campus about their religion and to attend their bible study) but that I wanted provide them with some perspective and understanding about how some people may feel about the subject. (She hopes that I will meet with her in the future so we can continue this conversation and she can "convince" me)

I believe this is a crisis because although I had apologetically declined their invitation to sit down and start this conversation, they proceeded anyways. Some students feel pressured by this sort of engagement, and I do not think it is right to press your beliefs onto another when it is unwelcome. There are plenty of students who engage with the people who sit at the tables with information, who are wanting to learn more. However, lucky for them, they found a student who was looking to practice some COMS 225 skills.

"one-size-fits-most"

Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/14/brandy-melville_n_5978626.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063

Crisis: These types of stores promote the trend of degrading women, to look and feel a certain way. This Brandy Melvin store only allows women who are a size small to try on clothes, or sometimes even walk into the store, and then women work to lose weight to fit these sizes, with some unhealthy habits.

How Have we seen this in the past, present and future?

In the past, women have struggled to feel equal compared to men in society, such as not being as strong, not being as smart, and not being as fun however, they have also been degraded for their size, looks and the way they dress. Not enough clothes, she is either a whore or she is sexy, depending on her size.

In the present, women are encouraged by society that sexy is how you want to look, and sexy is skinny, tan, and beautiful. Fake hair color, fake tan, fake nails, and sexy outfits, and this is what our younger generations try to conform to. Younger generations are experiencing these situations on an everyday basis and are already starting the trends of losing weight, dieting, wearing make up and sexy clothes.

If this continues then in the future, it will only get worse as we have seen, women are already trying to be something they are not and having very unhealthy ways of trying to lose a lot of weight really quickly. These younger generations are starting dangerous habits at young ages and will continue to get worse as they get older.

Trick Or Treat....smell my feet, give me something good to eat...

Halloween is my favorite holiday, I love dressing up, I love picking out my costume, going out, making memories.  Then I go through the list, do I be the creepy girl from Beetlejuice who believes in ghosts, or do I be a sexy superhero, or even the dead bride. 

As I sit here picking out my costume, and going through the lists, I begin to question myself. Why do we celebrate a day where we promote woman and sex appeal, making fun of other people, or celebrating the death of those who may have been greatly effected. In the past, I have seen costumes to mock obese females all the way to a dead bicyclist. There is something greatly wrong with participating in the embarrassment of people or the other extreme of reminding them of a past experience, they may have personally had to deal with. 

Obviously halloween has been around for quite some time, and has reached a new limit in the last couple decades with sexy costumes, but can we even begin to wonder what it will be if we let these negative rituals continue. Next generations could potentially create a dangerous atmosphere for others to be around, and backlash the movements made towards equal rights, if the celebration continues to spiral out of control. 

A solution to this celebration could be to bring back the fun and joy of halloween with nice, respectful costumes, and encourage your friends and those around you to be aware of how their costume could be offensive to others. 

"But if I took off my clothes, maybe you would notice me."

Claim:
The use of sexual attraction in advertising boosts sales for the company, yet slows down the efforts to portray woman as equal instead of an object.

Evidence: Victoria Secret is a prime example that uses sex to increase sales, to both men and woman. In a study done by Professor Gal Zauberman of the Wharton School and Professor Kyu Kim of USC Marshall School of Business, the reactions of heterosexual men were studied and found that they become hot and bothered, which are similar signs of impatience. Leading to the fact that, with these reactions men and woman alike quickly buy the products they need from the stores, or online, to feel sexy like the image the see. For singer/songwriter Brittany McDonald protecting sex appeal she describes is a strength. She also talks about the troubles she has had and seen in the singer/songwriter industry with trying to achieve her dreams without allowing herself to give into the sex advertising and appealing to the men around you. 

Warrent: I don't know if sex sells (advertising) will ever go away, or ever change. However, in today's world, there are some very powerful woman who are celebrity figures, who can make a change to the way they promote themselves. Using sex to raise awareness of your brand, sell your product, or get what you want, can surely change, if we start the movement now. Knowing that certain companies, people, or products, use these attributes to sell to their customers, we can start by not purchasing these products who promote woman as objects. Also, those of us in the marketing industry can begin to adjust the thinking of those minds around us. 



sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/31/victorias-secret-catalog-time_n_1720813.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brittany-mcdonald/women-sex-appeal_b_1690887.html