The American Media and the Exploitation of Men
Men’s rights in the media are deliberately ignored today on TV and in the newspapers. Men have a social obligation to get married, have children, and support the family by going to work eight hours a day. Not many people think that men don’t have these obligations in life.
Warren Farrell it talks about how men’s expectations are unfair in the world today in the article “Men as Success Objects” by (page 185). Intentions for marriage have changed over the last millennium. From personal fulfillment, relationship, to love both men and women have their reasons for getting married. But with marriage there’s sometimes a divorce that comes with it, which has increased during the years. Because media focus on the women’s rights, most people don’t understand the sexism directed against men. The idea “men are jerks” is thought by women which have dominated the media. Along with fighting the degrading advertisements on the TV, men also have to live up to the obligation of bringing home a salary. Women marry men who are successful or have “potential” to make money in the world today. There are only a small percentage of men who will marry a woman because of her “potential”. More people need to recognize the unequal treatment men get these days.
In the article “Marriage, Horror, and Susan Reimer,” the author expresses his disgust for the idea of marriage and having children. The woman Susan Reimer represents every American woman who thinks that no one is good enough for her. Every “Susan” says that they despise men, yet they want to get married and have babies. These kinds of women will rape men in divorce courts, which should convince men to avoid them. Marriage can also do permanent financial damage to men, which is why being single is not a bad idea in these times. Men should always think twice about having children. From bad schooling to divorce can have permanent damage on a child. Despite what women say, having children should not be a priority. Because of the women’s attitudes towards men today in America, it is recommended to find a wife somewhere overseas.
Both of the texts have a strong point on men’s rights, and the perception on what women really want out of men. The authors would probably agree that men are being treated unfairly compared to women these days.
...(Bloom, 486). As a class, men exploit them for personal use, both economically and sexually. They do everything they can to keep women in an inferior position. This repression is so pervasive that it is even found in the language of the women themselves. Correcting this problem is not a matter of changing individual relationships within the society. As the manifesto says, "the conflicts between individual men and women are political conflicts that can only be solved collectively"(486). In order for things to improve, there must be some change in society at a base level.
Both texts demonstrate the consequences associated with patriarchy, and extend to show that equality, and proper treatment of women can only be achieved in a non-patriarchal society.
These days, marriage contracts fortunately treat both men and women the same, and look at it as more of a partnership rather than a legal contract with economical advantages. (Bernstein, 2011) Today, women have more goals than getting married and having children, most want to go to college and having a successful career. It is normal for a woman to be completely successful all on her own without a husband. These days, a woman can be the bread winner of her family while her husband is a stay at home father. There are also several single working mothers and single working
In the article “What Your Selfies Say About You” by Peggy Drexler, she talks about self-portraits also known as the “selfie”, and how it has taken over social media and added a manifestation to society’s obsession with looks. Taking a self-portrait can be positive in the sense that you are proud of your image and are not scared to share it with others helping boost up your self-esteem. Although this may help others by persuading them to not be ashamed to share their true image, Drexler believes this can also affect other individuals whose focus is only on looks making them feel self-conscious about their looks. A recent study out of the UK found that the selfie phenomenon may be damaging to real world relationships, concluding that both excessive
“Selfies are not all about seeking external validation” (Rutledge). Selfies are generally understood as a form of self-portraiture in which the photographer is also the main subject or, one of, the photograph. Selfies have become a more prominent trend since “[…] appear[ing] on the photo-sharing site Flickr and on MySpace back in 2004” (Rutledge). However, desire for self-portraiture has existed since first commissioned in Ancient Egypt, self-painted since the invention of the mirror, and now simplified and cost-free with digital camera devices (Rutledge). As a result, the now widespread selfie has created a negative stigma that nearly makes them synonymous with narcissism, though such immediate reasoning
Football is the game of the people; it has surpassed baseball to become “America’s pastime”. Anyone who has a family member or friend is the sport should be proud to say they know someone who plays football, and even though pride is what fuels the love of the game, many people are not aware of the consequences that come with playing football. Therefore, if I had a child, and I was asked, “would you let your child play football?”, I would answer I would not let my child play football.
There you are holding your camera an arm’s length away from your face, posing in the most flattering position to capture your best angle. There you are taking a photo of yourself to share with all of your Facebook friends. Taking a self-portrait photo, also known as a selfie, is something almost everyone has done in this new generation. This action is typically done without a second thought. In Alex Williams’ article “Here I Am Taking My Own Picture” that second thought is provoked through exploring the quickly spreading trend of self-portrait photography. In the article while Williams’ provides interesting examples on a changing generation as this trend progresses through social media and modern technology; Williams also leaves something to be desired within the article due to a lack of direction in the author’s stance on the topic.
As centuries pass by, generations also pass their traditional values to the next generation. some people still think the way their ancestors thought and believe in what they believed in. During the beginning of 1890 people couldn’t have premarital sex, women had to be the caretaker while men were the breadwinner. During this century, those perspectives have changed, argued Stephanie Coontz, the author of “The American Family”. Coontz believes women should have more freedom and there should be gender equality.
In conclusion, even though our society would like to believe that women have always had equal liberties (with men) in everything they do, we can see this is not the case. Throughout human history, woman has believed she is inferior to man, however, now with our civilization progressing in the women’s right movement everyday, women can finally come to terms with the fact that they are indeed equal to men.
From duck lips to dog filters, selfies have taken over, but how do selfies affect us? Some people, such as Judy Farah, believe that selfies have made people narcissistic. She suggests that maybe selfies are an obsession. That every day, sometimes three to four times a day, people will post selfies. She also mentions how selfies have become a bigger deal with celebrities as well, and when celebrities do things, then everyone else wants to do it too. Another writer, Mario Almonte says that “We are living in a culture of people who are very much involved in themselves and becoming a culture of self-indulgence” his statement goes along with what Farah was saying about how selfies have made us narcissistic. From stars like Ellen taking selfies,
On a daily basis people are exposed to some sort of misrepresentation of gender; in the things individuals watch, and often the things that are purchased. Women are often the main target of this misrepresentation. “Women still experience actual prejudice and discrimination in terms of unequal treatment, unequal pay, and unequal value in real life, then so too do these themes continue to occur in media portraits.”(Byerly, Carolyn, Ross 35) The media has become so perverted, in especially the way it represents women, that a females can be handled and controlled by men, the individual man may not personally feel this way, but that is how men are characterized in American media. Some may say it doesn’t matter because media isn’t real life, but people are influenced by everything around them, surroundings that are part of daily routine start to change an individual’s perspective.
A number of popular television shows and films filling mainstream media today have taken a spin to promote women to main character roles of power and command. The traits of these female characters, however, become illusionary as plots thicken to reveal their status to be subordinate to leading male character roles; of which are typically controlling or manipulative over gender stereotypic female traits within the script. While media is being blindly applauded for their newfound glorification of women in power, there remains an underlying message of male supremacy in more than many broadcasted portrayals. Today’s mainstream television media delivers a notion that only a man can pave way for the merit of a woman.
...rriage should be based on? Where is the love that they share for each other? Why can’t women have it both ways? Why can’t they find a man who they love and who will love and respect them back? It is questions such as these that light the fire inside Margaret Fuller. Fuller is not attacking men in this essay; it is directed at women as well. She is simply asking that everyone try to look at things differently. She wants people to understand that if women get more education and skills, men will benefit as well. Fuller’s passion and desire for equality is most clearly evidenced when she states, "What deep communion, what real intercourse is implied by the sharing the joys and cares of parentage, when any degree of equality is admitted between the parties" (42).
“Not Being Advertised…How The Advertising Business Has Changed Over Time.” Ezine Articles, Allan Kalish, 22 December 2005. Web. 4 October 2009
Though the Selfie in social media has been around since 2004, very little background has been developed in research of the Selfie (Barry et al., 2). In Qui’s study researchers seek to correlate the Selfie and the Big Five Personality: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness (445). As stated in the last paragraph, Qui’s research was not able to accurately link the personality traits to the Selfie. They did, however, make inferences on the findings within their research. Positive emotions portrayed in a Selfie are related to being extroverted, agreeable, and open; direct eye contact with the camera is also a depiction of agreeableness. Conscientiousness is positively correlated to public settings and positive emotions. Neuroticism has an association to the duckface (a pursing of the lips in an attempt to create a pouty look) and a lack of facial visibility in the photo (446-447). Nevertheless, these personality trait correlations are dealing with the viewer of the Selfie; which, is an excellent beginning into the research of Selfies, but more research is required for accurate analysis. The second study to be discussed is focused on the relation of Selfies to narcissism and self-esteem. Three types of narcissism were analyzed within research nonpathological, grandiose, and vulnerable. Nonpathological narcissism is overt