As a friend and I were watching TV the other night, we were skimming through the channels and he nudged me when a girl in a skimpy swimsuit popped up and told me to go back. I went back to see what the big deal was and it turned out to be the "25 hottest women in Hollywood" or something like that. I found it interesting that even tho these women were from a very competitive pool of actresses and movie stars, almost every single one of them were shown in bathing suits or their sexy underwear. Its almost like they are saying "nevermind their talent, put them in something skimpy!" It even gets better. Right after the "25 hottest women in Hollywood" went off...the "25 sexiest men in sports" came on. Every single guy was fully clothed, in uniform, doing whatever sport they do best. So basically, the men were sexy for the sole fact that they were good at a sport and it had nothing to do with their bodies. Kind of ironic, i think. This made me think of our slide show in class Thursday and how men are seen as the masters and women are just kind of viewed as meat. I mean I guess you could say we are used to these kinds of things being on TV. It's just become more prominent from taking this women studies class, that we (women, society, the world) shouldn't have to be "used" to it! In my opinion, they either need to focus on the success and careers of the "25 hottest women in Hollywood" instead of their bodies....OR....they need to take those uniforms off, show a little more skin and focus on the bodies of the "25 sexiest men in sports."

Sexual Harassment

So this week as we were discussing "Rape as Social Murder," we talked about how the victims often don't get themselves past the situations because they think that they cant....they are either too scared or they convince themselves that it is their fault. The same goes for not only rape victims but sexually harassed people as well either physically or emotionally. They tend to stay in an abusive or bad relationship because they are too scared to get out or they convince themselves that somehow they deserve the harassment they are receiving. This whole topic kind of hit home for me a little bit in a way. In high school we had a sheriff that was assigned to our school...we had the same REALLY nice officer for my first three years, but my senior year he retired and we got a new one. I worked in the office for my block of classes senior year so I was one of the first students that he met. I tried to make it a point to be nice to him and say hello whenever I saw him because he was new to our school and didn't really know anyone. However, by about the middle of our first semester, he started getting a little too friendly. At first I didn't think much of it, I just tried to ignore it. One day however, he crossed the line. Long story short, I was walking down an empty hallway and before I knew it my arm was twisted behind my back like I was being arrested and I was pushed up against a wall with him leaning on me so I couldn't move while he jokingly said "this is what I do to bad girls." I didn't tell anyone about it for the longest time. I thought that since he was a sheriff and obviously had authority over me that it was my fault, that somehow I had provoked it. Eventually he kept bothering me till the point that I had to tell someone. I ended up telling my coach who turned right around and told our principal. She called me into her office the next day and we had a long talk about the whole situation. Needless to say he was asked not to return the following year. Its crazy things like these when you start to realize that you can totally relate. Not that my experience was super traumatizing or anything, but it does make me take things a little more seriously sometimes.

Hazing

This week we read an article about high school senior girls hazing the freshman girls and getting away with it like nothing was wrong. These girls were doing everything from name calling to beating the crap out of these little freshman girls....and when the freshman girls were being questioned about it, they acted like nothing was happening. All of this is so bizarre to me! I started thinking back to my high school days and how scared I was to walk into what seemed like a HUGE high school. The only thing I was really worried about was getting lost and missing a class or walking in late and looking like the lost little freshman. I can't imagine what it would've been like to have to worry about that AND watching your back to make sure no one was coming to attack you! The only form of "hazing" that we really did was in sports...but it was no where near what these girls are doing. Occasionally we would have to carry a senior's bag off the game bus or fill up the water bottles before practice but that was about it. No getting our faces smashed in or any of that crazy stuff. I think what is the most shocking to me is that these are GIRLS doing these crazy hazing scandals. Its interesting to read different articles in class about girls and how we are supposed to act....in one article we are supposed to be prissy little well behaved girly girls....and in the next its okay to beat other girls' faces in because we can get away with it and no one will name names. Kind of ironic I think.