Annotated
Bibliography:
“Not
that Kind of Girl”- Lena Durham
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/31/health/31brod.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Baumeister, Roy F., and
Jean M. Twenge. "Cultural Suppression of Female Sexuality." (2002):
n. pag. Austin Institute. Educational Publishing Foundation. Web. 05 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.austin-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Cultural-Suppression-of-Female-Sexuality.pdf>.
This
article is about as relevant as I could find to my argument and topic. The
authors discuss the cultural suppression of women's sexuality by framing, what
typically would be a good thing, as a bad one just because of gender. This fits
specifically into my argument because it deals with the current discrepancies
between how men and women are treated during and after a sexual act. The essay
may be slightly aggressive in approach because when speaking about men and
government they sound 100% in objection to men and the "evils" that
they commit.
Chapman, Taylor M.
"Women in American Media: A Culture of Misperception." RSS. Student
Pulse, 2011. Web. 05 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/548/women-in-american-media-a-culture-of-misperception>.
This
is an academic source because it was written based upon a numerous amount of
credible sources, all of which are cited at the end of the piece. The website
checks validity of the work extensively before it is published. It talks about
how the media influences the visual perception of women and how unless we are
desired by men and envied by women we should be "ashamed". This is
the main problem the article talks about but then segues into how this effects
romance, self-esteem, and societal views on a woman.
Crosley, Sloane. "A
Voice of a Generation." The New York Times. The New York Times, 11 Oct.
2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/books/review/lena-dunham-memoir-not-that-kind-of-girl-review.html?_r=0>.
This source is credible because it was written
by a well know critic and published in one of the US's most read newspapers.
She looks at Lena Dunham's book where she says she supports some parts of the
novel and disapproves of others. It talks about where Lena is in her life and
if certain ideas are new or old about feminism and how to overcome objectivity.
It is technically a critique of the novel but is legitimate as a source because
she gives information about the author’s background and suggests the viewpoints
in which the books points were founded upon.
Dockterman, Eliana.
"21 TV Shows That Revolutionized Female Sexuality." Time. Time, 10
July 2010. Web. 05 Oct. 2015.
<http://time.com/2969986/masters-of-sex-television-female-sexuality/>.
As
an article in the Times it is a qualified source because it is extensively fact
checked and is published in something that is known around the globe as a
credible news source. She talks about television and movies that sway the
public opinion about sex and women's role in it. She brings up the show Girls
which the author of “Not that Kind of Girl” stars in. I chose this source
because I figured that I can draw parallels from the summarized TV show and her
book about sex and feminism. This will give me insight on where she drew her
ideas from and whether or not her character in the show influenced any of what
she talks about in her book because her character was a strong female lead.
Garcia, Justin
R., Chris Reiber, Sean G. Massey, and Ann M. Merriwether. "Sexual Hookup
Culture: A Review." Review of General Psychology : Journal of Division 1,
of the American Psychological Association. U.S. National Library of Medicine,
n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3613286/>.
This
piece was rather lengthy and most but not all of the information was relevant
to my argument. The overall topic of this article is the "hook-up" or
casual sex culture of the 21st century. The title of the novel I have chosen
alludes to the fact that her ideals make her not conform or believe in what is
described in this article giving me a basis of controversy. I will use the
information pertaining to how this culture affects females physically and
mentally to further my argument. This source is credible because it was written
after extensive study and research by acclaimed doctors and was published on
the National Library of Medicine's website.
German, Lindsey.
"21st Century Feminism." Socialist Review. N.p., Oct. 2009.
Web. 05 Oct. 2015.
<http://socialistreview.org.uk/340/21st-century-feminism>.
This article gives a list of feminist related
oppressors in this century which will help my support because a form of oppression
is the sexual objectification of women. This website is linked to an accredited
UK newspaper The Socialist. The topic of the article ranges from inequality in
the workplace to false perception of women in sexual settings. I can use this
list of various discrepancies in sexual gender interaction to support my claim
on the skewed 21st century expectations and behaviors of women in
regards to sex.
Stepp, Laura
Sessions. Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love and Lose at Both.
N.p.: n.p., 2008. Print.
This
book shows the misconceptions and horrible inequality for women in sexual
situations. The subjects studied for this novel were ages 12-24 which pertains
to the age where "hook-up" culture become prominent and readily
affects young adult females. The way in which I can use this information is to
apply it to what Lena Dunham rejects as social normative and see how her
testament opposes the claims made in this novel. This is a credible/academic
source because it was written with extensive study, testimony, and research by
a known author in the genre.
Essay:
Lets Talk About Sex Baby
Sex sells. This is a fact
most can attest to despite whether or not it is a desirable realization. The
important question to ask however is to what demographic is this ploy most
effective on? It is unclear to researchers but obvious in day to day life that
the use of women in this type of advertising for both women and men is more
prevalent than the reversal. This tells us one important fact which is that
women are being sexually subjected by not only men but other women as well. Media
and advertising are the two overarching influential driving forces of this but
on a secular level there are many subcultures to media that perpetuate objectification
in their own way. Even being leaps and bounds ahead of where society stood no
more than a hundred or even fifty years ago there is this new generational vice
that is seemingly degrading the progress woman have made whether or not
millennials are conscious of it. One that is aware however is Gigi Durham, who
in her novel “The Lolita Effect” gives her two sense about the matter and how
extensive media’s affect can have on people. She states, “In general, we are
squeamish about talking directly and rationally about sex, even though we are
only too happy to indulge in the prudent, voyeuristic, and titillating versions
of sex that proliferate in pop culture and mainstream media.”(Durham, 13). In
our culture as well as others, the false perception of women by both men and
other women in a sexual light is a large multi-generational problem that is
only being perpetuated by media and social normative.
Flipping
through a magazine, driving past billboards, or watching a prime time show are
the best ways for companies to reach the public with ads and among the thousands
published a way to stand out is to grab attention with sexually oriented
content. Relating back to the novel “The Lolita Effect” Brody states, “…because
the media, which [is] driven by profit and ratings, aren’t in the business of
respecting or advocating for [women]”(Durham, 2008) Consumer marketing is obsessed
with using sexual premises to lure in customers and augment the image of their
product or service. In some cases female sexuality is the prominent source of
revenue for businesses such as Hooters where the over sexualizing of their
waitresses is a gimmick for attracting customers instead of drawing in
customers with food like a restaurant is established to do. According to Jane
Brody, in an article she wrote for the New York Times, she claims “The effect
of abstinence-only education pales by comparison with the many graphic messages
that portray sexual activity…it has come to be a part of our culture as normal
and acceptable as eating a Big Mac or drinking a Coke.”(Brody, 2006) Despite
this articles’ slight bias to the religious view on sex and sexual entities she
makes a point that seeing sexual acts so regularly in media advertising is
making the urge to copy as common as someone wanting to run and buy a Big Mac
after hearing “I’m lovin it”. This in turn is making sex a casual part of life
especially for millennials because if visuals of it are so easy to access then
it must be easy to access physically as well. When younger women started to
realize this there was a false notion built up in society in the last couple
decades that if they bought the products advertised and acted like the models
selling it that they would gain male attention. They were correct until the
adverse problem started to build in the late 90s and early 00’s in the societal
male psyche. The problem that generally speaking men realized this was now a
common social norm, thus giving birth to the age of casual sex, friends with
benefits, and more recently “Netflix and chill”.
In a whole different and potentially more impactful
side to this issue there is popular television and films. Getting what you want
as a women is now not based on character or even beauty but how
"provocative" or attention grabbing one can be which is a major theme
among most reality TV and young audience movies. Half of what is on TV
specifically written for and marketed toward women is “popular media focusing
much more heavily on a whole host of negative or limiting aspects of women,
including an intense scrutiny of and emphasis on their looks” (Kathy
Caprino, 2014) Women often blame men for creating this monster of a stereotype
for women in media but in fact it is most commonly perpetuated by women for
women. In shows such as The Bachelorette, Jersey Shore, and Flavor of Love all
the women portrayed are extremely physically attractive and most likely
intelligent but have one goal or purpose which is to gain and keep male
attention. In an essay by Brandon Albert he describes the show Flavor of Love,
“The show is extremely disrespectful towards women, depicting several women
fighting to be with one famous man. It’s almost as if society thinks it is okay
to treat women in this manner, since it is justified in many songs and other
forms of media.”(Albert, 2009) He criticizes society for making it socially acceptable
to act in this manner however the women are the ones watching and more directly
competing voluntarily to win one man’s attention. The means by which they go
about this task will not be shocking either. They are shown being sexually
overt or more commonly referred to as “slutty” and those who are best at it
typically win in the case of the Bachelorette or gain more air time with no
notion of the reverse happening with the male characters in the show. This
competition was not created by men and is not for men either, they have been
showing off for women and “peacocking” ever since mating became survival of the
fittest. In some twisted way the new form of peacocking has turned into a
women’s responsibility and they are taking the “easy” route to short success.
Speaking of easy, how difficult can it be to look good or
say the right thing when all you have to do is press a button? As the possible
biggest influence of the millennial generation, social media fuels women's need
to not only buy into the objectification of other women but engage themselves
in creating a false public perception. How often do the words “well did you
look him/her up on Facebook or Instagram?” come out of the mouths of todays’
youth? Way more than they should because now there is a way for people to know
someone without ever meeting them face to face or even through a friends
stories. Individuals anywhere from as young as five up through thirty or even
older build a judgement of a person upon their internet life. This can work in
one of two ways because if enough time and effort is put in that person can
look, sound, and act way more interesting and “cool” through social media
outlets however those who chose to not whatever the reason are immediately
deemed as weird or dull. “When you live in a culture that sexualizes young
women … it is not very surprising that, when you give [them] the tools to
objectify themselves, they use them in the same way.” (Kotenko, 2013) She is
getting at a reoccurring argument that female objectification has always been a
part of society but with the rise of social media it has become less of a tool
for men to control women but as a tool for them to out show each other. “These
sites are very popular among girls and many young female users have been found
to present themselves in a sexualized way. Evidence has emerged that some girls
use these sites to present themselves as sexually active or available.”
(Gunter, 2014) By seeing seemingly accomplished women on social media becoming
famous for twerking or how big and sexy her lips are society will further and
further the impact on young women’s perception of success and being “cool”.
More often than not these videos and pictures are posted with the intent to
impress or gain attention from a potential sexual partner or the opposite
species as a whole. This is where the lines become slightly blurry as to what
the real motive is for women to post this as a way to success whether it truly
is just for attracting men or if it’s more about the principle of making
yourself seem sexier than the girl posting a minute later. Whether a woman
means to or not, social media is used to put our best and most interesting
selves on display more often than not to allow society to put us in a preferred
category of individuals that are deemed envied by women and desired by men.
The
hot lists of ITunes, Spotify, sound cloud, etc. are cluttered with songs
written by both women and men that degrade and discredit women as a valuable
part of society without a second thought given by both the writers and the
listeners. This may seem a tad harsh and is a wide generalization because this is
not always the topic in all music but by looking at the top charts and what is
playing in cars, clubs, headphones, and even at sporting events is vulgar to
say the least. Many lyrics will allude to or sometimes dictate verbatim a dirty
sexual act where the women then later is praised for it. Hearing that extent of
positive reinforcement/ correlation constantly and in everyday situations does
affect how women see sex and themselves as a part in it. Brandon Albert says,
“Every generation goes through a trend of music that greatly inspires that
specific era on what to wear, how to act, and what to say” (Albert, 2009). This
has been true for decades however with the new twenty-first century era of
music he goes on to write about how women portrayed as an accessory to
successful men and that a symbol of having success is a car full of half-naked
women doing what they are told. This affects young boy’s perception of not just
the individual women but also what it means to be successful. If that seems
like a socially acceptable behavior then it will trickle down into how they
treat women at different points of success in their lives thus again further
perpetuating the problem at hand. With the negative visual images in music
videos and the lyrical evidence within the songs young women are starting to
doubt their standing in the eyes of any man. Self-importance is a very
important thing for young people to realize especially in adolescence which is
why when famous people, whom much of today’s youth looks up to as role models ,
say that unless a women is sexual she is a prude while in the next stanza that
if she does she is a “slut” or “hoe”. This not only installs a double standard
to female sexuality but leaves girls still feeling confused but that the better
and “cooler” thing to do is act promiscuous so that men are at least paying
attention. In the “Lolita Effect”, Brody examines how it is not exposing young
women to pop culture and music at a young age is bad even if sexual but if it
will subliminally cause negative body image or low self-esteem it then becomes
a problem. Women in this capacity are far less vulgar, however are still
villainizing each other for expressing themselves sexually no matter the
situation. Taylor Swift, a role model and icon for a majority of the world’s
female youth, sings in a current hit, “She’s an actress, whoa. She’s better
known for the things that she does on the mattress, whoa. Soon she’s gonna find
stealing other people’s toys on the playground won’t make you many friends. She
should keep in mind…There is nothing I do better than revenge.”(Swift, 2010)
She is heavily judging and accusing another woman of acting in a way her male
counterparts are encouraging on the very next track. Both types of degrading
lyrics not only add to the double standard of female sexual expression but also
leave an entire generation at ultimatum crossroads of societal respect.
Females,
specifically in the millennial generation and younger are not only allowing
themselves to be objectified by men but my more importantly media and
themselves. Jane Brody recognized this and wrote a shocking researched based
novel about the overwhelming amount it oversexualizes and objectifies women more
specifically young girls. Succumbing to sexy advertisements, buying degrading
music, subscribing to sleazy accounts on YouTube, and tevoing unrealistic and
unbecoming reality TV are some of many actions women take in the wrong
direction without noticing it. The point of all this is not to generalize the
male population and blame but to turn the finger around and instead point to
each other and what society creates every day. If society could stop being so
transfixed with sex and focus more on what it means and not how fast it can be
called up then the marriage statistics of people 20-35 would maybe not be down
ten percent from last decade and twenty-five from the one before that.
Relationships would maybe not only be one sided, women could stop dressing and
acting for men but for themselves, and the double standard would slowly
diminish. It’s always a good thing to look and feel sexy but if it is only to
make someone else think the same on that alone it is not worth the hassle. Women need to remember that it is all about
owning their sexuality and that it is up to them at the end of the
day or in this case the beginning whether they take a “stride of pride” or
“walk of shame”.
Writers Reflection:
I
chose this text because I have studied this concept in a women’s gender studies
class and find it interesting to analyze something that so directly influences
my life. The passages I read were interesting and had viewpoints different from
any other literature that I have read on the subject. They sparked a
realization that this problem is not solely male perpetuated but that my
argument should be shifted toward analyzing society’s influence as a whole. It
was both easy and difficult for me to write because in some aspects I was able
to easily think of points and arguments on my own but then trying to find
support to back these claims was very difficult especially in a scholarly
capacity. I actually tried to revise as I went along because as I got my ideas down
on paper I realized that certain arguments or pieces would be more effective in
other points of the essay. By moving pieces around and adding more where
necessary I think that I was able to fully encompass the argument I was trying
to portray in a smooth and effective manner. I was able to work on having a
strong voice while avoiding first person which I tend to revert back to
subconsciously. It was helpful that we were required to make an annotated
bibliography because I had never done so before and although I did not use many
of my sources I was able to keep the process in the back of my mind while
finding new ones. This made my writing utilize the sources better and to a
fuller extent that I have been able to in the past. Overall, this essay helped
me as a writer and was enjoyable to write because I actually felt invested in
the argument rather than reporting on the ideas or problems of another.
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