Empress State of Mind

ETHNIC “MAKEOVERS” WHAT ETHNIC WOMEN DO TO LOOK MORE WESTERN

pressia07 — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:12:38 +0000

http://www.cracked.com/article_17501_5-celebrity-careers-launched-by-ethnic-makeovers.html

its a epidemic

BIG girls banned from the club in Canada

pressia07 — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:35:00 +0000

http://hiphopwired.com/2010/08/22/club-puts-ban-on-fat-women-no-big-girls-allowed-30097/

girls gone skank part 2

pressia07 — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:27:27 +0000

http://bossip.com/275879/montana-fishburne-gives-reasons-for-doing-porn-message-to-dad-laurence-started-exploring-sex-world-at-what-age-video/

Murphy brown vs Dan Quale part 2

pressia07 — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:13:37 +0000

http://dlisted.com/node/38430

feelings or opinions?

Iranian Mother Faces Death By Stoning For Cheating On Husband

pressia07 — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 19:20:13 +0000

http://hiphopwired.com/2010/07/06/iranian-mother-faces-death-by-stoning/

MILEY CYRUS PERFORMING A PARTY IN THE U.S.A

pressia07 — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:47:56 +0000

please beware when watching this video, you may experience ear bleeding, nausea and discomfort of some mental and or physical sort, if extreme pain occurs please cut off volume immediately.

http://bossip.com/259680/miley-cyrus-is-skanky-singing-again-video/

what the hell kind of performance was this with the whole “thug look”. how does thug and partying in the U.S.A. mesh together. she is so gone……

racism in modeling

pressia07 — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 02:20:06 +0000

http://bossip.com/259785/the-colour-of-beauty-documentary-about-blatant-only-whites-and-no-blacks-policy-in-modeling-world-video/

Beautiful plus size models

pressia07 — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 02:09:32 +0000

http://www.monifc.com/blog/post/v-magazine-size-issue/

LOOK the brazilian dance goes global

pressia07 — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:59:54 +0000

http://bossip.com/254500/guys-are-ligning-up-globally-for-the-new-brazilian-dance-surra-de-bunda-be-careful-men-video/

More on the attractive woman fired at the bank

pressia07 — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:56:22 +0000

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/showbiz/2010/06/07/behar.debrahlee.lorenzana.cnn?hpt=C2

Child beauty contests

pressia07 — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:53:22 +0000

http://lamblegs.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/wrong-wrong-wrong-susan-anderson/

Is the sex & the city 2 movie racist?

pressia07 — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 03:17:12 +0000

http://bossip.com/254589/sex-and-the-city-racist-against-black-people-arabs/#more-254589

Rapper “Slim Dog” thinks black women aint sh**t

pressia07 — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 02:22:00 +0000

http://bossip.com/255169/slim-thug-thinks-black-women-ain’t-sht/#more-255169

Nasty Brazilian Dance, this is how they get “down” in Brazil

pressia07 — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 23:21:28 +0000

http://bossip.com/252756/this-new-brazilian-dance-is-doing-way-too-much-but-pops-doesnt-seem-to-mind-video/

A woman gets fired for being to attractive in the workplace?

pressia07 — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:56:29 +0000

Read article and leave feedback

http://bossip.com/253581/debrahlee-lorenzana-sues-citibank-because-she-was-too-hot-photos/

Brazilian women shakes her “moneymaker” in front of young boys

pressia07 — Wed, 19 May 2010 23:05:08 +0000

here is a mini-doucmentary and mini video about a famous Brazilian woman known for her butt. She is called in her home land the watermelon woman, for her watermelon butt.

thinks sara bartman

http://bossip.com/245272/andressa-soares-is-the-brazilian-shaker-who-got-famous-after-this-performance-in-front-of-kids-video/

New Age Black exploitation

pressia07 — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:44:51 +0000

http://bossip.com/245313/whats-wrong-with-this-picture-modern-day-blaxploitation-and-coonery-artist-turns-the-canvas-on-lil-wayne-and-rihanna/#more-245313

Women in sports

pressia07 — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 19:30:37 +0000

I wonder if Mia Hamm would have made it to the World Cup without title nine. Could Jackie Joyner-Kersee win Olympic gold without title nine? Cheryl Miller wouldn’t have achieved her success without title nine. Cheryl was a four-time All-American in high school and once scored 105 points in a high school game. She also enrolled at the University of Southern California where she became a four-time All-American. All these women achieved enormous success in their fields. They all went to college and perfected their athletic ability. Title nine gives women who attend government-funded schools and colleges the chance to compete and play in sports. Title nine was enacted on June 23, 1972. Sports have given women the opportunity to learn leadership roles. Young women learn to work as a team. They gain self-esteem and it helps them stay healthy. Female athletes are often depicted sexually in magazines and advertisements. In advertisements instead of showing their strength, the athletes are displayed in sexually charged poses. Anna Kournikova a professional tennis player displays herself very sexually in advertisements. She is one of the most popular female athletes, but she is not the best athlete in her field. She believes is she is going to be exploited it should be by her choice. This decision makes her a very wealth young woman. Another way the professional female athlete is displayed as being very heterosexual. Female athletes are shown with their families, and with their husbands. It seems to negate the large portion of female athletes that are homosexual. A large portion of female athletes especially the good ones are homosexual. It seems to hide these women, so it doesn’t conflict with society’s homophobic views.

The other side of the burka

pressia07 — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:40:24 +0000

In the opening scene of the documentary the viewer sees water washing up to the sandy beach. The Qesham Island of North Iran seems like a very quiet place. Unfortunately it’s dead quiet. The next scene fills the screen of mourners carrying a dead body on the way to the graveyard. A young woman who was pregnant has hung herself from her ceiling fan in her home. Family members have no clue what lead to this catastrophe. It wasn’t until three local women decided to share their stories on how the women felt in their community. This was not the first suicide in the community. Apparently, there have been multiple suicides of young married women. One of the narrators stated that girls are married at twelve and thirteen years of age. The young girls do not get a chance to fall in love. They are not permitted to get an education. The women in this community are essentially stuck in a loveless marriage, with motherhood and responsibilities. Men in the community can have multiple wives and women have to accept this. One man in the community left his wife for another women. The wife ended up setting herself on fire. The community is depleting financially. Local fishers aren’t receiving any income because of the fishing shortage. Families are struggling with no income, and women can’t work to support their families. The women describing their lives are angry, they hope for a better future for their children. In comparison to the book Girls Gone Skank the young women in the book don’t deal with any of the struggles as the women in the documentary. In the book young women are being exposed to sexualized images and they are bombarded with adult content. However, the adult situations are not the same and are in a highly fictionalized light rather than the reality that the women of Iran have to deal with.

why successful black women cant find a man?

pressia07 — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 22:32:53 +0000

http://bossip.com/240032/here-we-go-again-nightline-special-asks-why-successful-black-women-cant-find-a-good-man/#more-240032

what is a feminist?

pressia07 — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 22:19:44 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YA13GNT8Mc&feature=player_embedded#at=87

Gabourey Sidibe?

pressia07 — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:39:46 +0000

http://bossip.com/230651/out-of-pocket-quote-of-the-day-vogue-calls-gabourey-sidibe-a-joke/#more-230651

comments

Dreamworlds 3: Desire, Sex & Power in Music Video

pressia07 — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:36:04 +0000

I must say this has been one of my favorite videos to watch. The media education foundation has intriguing videos that captures the audience attention while educating at the same time. In my opinion, this video (among others) need to be shown to the masses. Everyone should see this especially the lower class and young females. Immediately, after watching this I wanted by fourteen-year old cousins to watch it. They are so impressionable and the media knows that. The faux reality of the music videos and how it correlates with reality was astounding. The section that shows the puerto- rican day parade was a rude awakening on how women are viewed. The movie shows the “roles” that we play. Some of the various roles mentioned include: victim, school girl, teacher, dominatrix, and eye candy. Women are highly sexualized in various genre’s of music, especially in Hip-Hop/Rap videos. Women in the videos are shot in the position from the male gaze. Female musicians are often persuaded to sexualize themselves. Jewel a very popular folk/acoustic singer had a wholesome, girl-next door image. Apparently, some artists are forced to be more sexual in order to have a career. Unfortunately, Jewel became that girl, and started becoming more sexualized in her music videos. It seems that for a lot of female artists they have to compromise and become more sexualized in order to keep their job. Not all female artists take this route. For instance artists such as Alanis Morissette, Adele, India Arie are very successful and are not sexualized in their videos.

Motherlover?

pressia07 — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:45:47 +0000

http://www.hulu.com/watch/72434/saturday-night-live-digital-short-motherlover-censored

comments?

Do you find this funny or offensive?

pressia07 — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:49:43 +0000

http://bossip.com/226445/forehead-tittaes-with-marion-cotillard-taraji-p-henson-video/

I’m sorry to blaspheme, but WTH!!!???? (WATCH THIS)

pressia07 — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:22:37 +0000

PLEASE COMMENT

http://hiphopwired.com/2010/03/19/vulva-cologne-cologne-that-smells-like-vagina-video/

NYC MURAL

pressia07 — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:11:53 +0000

http://bossip.com/227726/does-this-offend-you-mural-in-nyc-getting-a-lot-of-heat-for-portraying-black-and-latina-women-in-a-negative-light/

any comments?

Gaboury Sidibe (one hit wonder or a flourishing future)

pressia07 — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:25:09 +0000

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/10/gabourey.sidibe.career/index.html?hpt=C2

Comments???

Baby Ga-Ga

pressia07 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:51:08 +0000

umm you don’t need English to understand this clip, why is this little girl singing “Lady Gaga”. Even though the dancing isn’t dirty, why can’t she sing a sweet song. It’s like the mother is relying on the costume and song to divert the fact that her daughter can’t really sing sorry just my opinion.

CONGRATS Kathryn Bigelow

pressia07 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:46:27 +0000

Congratulations Kathryn Bigelow on becoming the first woman to win an oscar for best director in the film the hurt locker

The “Glorious” Gloria

pressia07 — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:17:59 +0000

I must say, I am a bit embarrassed. I hardly knew anything about Gloria Steinem. I decided to do some research (Wikipedia) on this woman. During this research I became absolutely floored. What Martin Luther King represents for the Civil Rights Movement, Gloria Steinem is for the Feminist Movement. I firmly believe this woman needs a day of ther year named after her. This woman is incredible! Anxiously, I awaited her arrival in the JUB. I wondered what it would be like to see a living legend. Due to some delays we waited thirty minutes before her arrival. Finally after she arrives and after the two introductions we soon learns that she has laryngitis. The show must go on. So two other ladies delivered her awesome speech. It was so empowering. Even though Gloria had severe laryngitis she was still gracious enough to ask a number questions.

In Gloria’s speech she mentioned ”linking instead of ranking.” Her speech also mentioned (unbeknown to me) that women pay 40% more in health care. I had no idea that there was a gender rating for health insurance. There are a few other things mentioned in her speech. She said “talk as much as you listen, and listen as much as you talk.” I definitely need to start practicing that one. She also mentioned mentoring and to “be authentic”. One of my favorite quotes mentioned was ”exchange what you have for what you need”. Gloria is a pioneer for women all across this country. I felt very honored hearing and seeing her.

West VS East

pressia07 — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:43:18 +0000

Here is a repost of another documentary similar to the one we watched in class last week on deracialization: (It is long, but very good)

http://bossip.com/196672/the-white-beauty-myth-minorities-in-u-k-wanting-to-be-white-video/

Before I begin my post there are 3 additional websites, I think you should check out before reading the rest of my blog:

http://loveisntenough.com/2007/01/22/question-how-can-parents-challenge-western-beauty-standards/

http://www.racialicious.com/2007/05/29/are-eyelids-the-no-1-beauty-concern-in-the-asian-community/

http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Skewed-Self-Image

Western ideals have made a huge impression of the Eastern culture. Unfortunatley, most of these have not been positive. Beauty standards have driven foreign women to basically denounce their heritage for a more Western look. Similar to the African-American community, Asians have a light skin vs dark skin complex. Famous Eastern actresses such as Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li, Aishwarya Rai are all fair skin actresses. I have rarely seen a dark skin asian actresses. A recent gossip blog that I frequent called dlisted.com has an article on a young chinese girl. This girl wants to have plastic surgery to look like Jessica Alba. The young girl’s ex- boyfriend was obsessed with the actress. This girl’s friends suggested that she should go under the knife to get her boyfriend back.

The media doesn’t make any recognition or responsibility over their endless outlook of ideal beauty. I was at Wal-mart yesterday looking in the magazine section. All of the magazines had women either looking sexy or sweet. On the other had the men looked strong, confident, and powerful. Obviously the media plays a heavy role on how we are perceived within our own community and throughout the world. We [women] are not taking enough initiative to rectify our image. In some ways I think women want to considered sexy, but women shouldn’t let sex appeal represent all we have to offer to ourselves and to the world.

Free Choice

pressia07 — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:12:25 +0000

If anyone has ever had a question about a black woman’s hair and been too afraid to ask, the new documentary “Good Hair” is the answer. Here is the trailer’s website http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A68UVn0nMvo. The premise of the film came to Chris Rock when his daughter approached him with a question. His daughter asked him why doesn’t she have good hair. The documentary focuses on the serious role hair plays in black women’s society and how it affects their self-image. It also shows the great “lengths” black women will go through to attain ”good” hair.

The documentary was very informative and funny. Chris Rock gets input from various actresses that wear weave such as Nia Long, Megan Good, Lauren London and Raven Symone. The documentary in my opinion didn’t really dive deep on why black women have such psychological issues with their hair. At the end of the film he tells the audience that he will tell his daughter that the hair on her head is not as important as whats in her head. I believe this is a true statement.

However, if anyone has seen Chris Rock’s wife she wears more weave than I do (I wear weave all the time). How is Chris Rock’s daughter ever going to believe that long hair isn’t important when her mother perpetuates the world’s view of beauty. In a way too, I am conforming to this image of beauty, because the hair I wear is long. Although, my “real hair” isn’t on the creamy crack (aka relaxer). The movie briefly states on how hard it is for black women to stay with the natural texture of their hair. I wished Chris would have dug in deeper on this issue. Tracie Thomas one of the commentators of the film states: ”Keeping the texture of your original hair and letting it grow is considered revolutionary.” In my opinion, that statement is so true. I know personally for me when I see a black woman wearing her “real hair” within its original texture it makes me proud. It’s strange how something like hair, can alter your mindset. Also here is an article that I found on Glamour magazine about race and beauty. It’s a must read! http://www.racialicious.com/2008/03/04/glamour-magazine-on-women-race-and-beauty/

http://www.glamour.com/magazine/2008/02/race-beauty-panel?currentPage=4

Selling Anxiety: How the news media scare women

pressia07 — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:20:43 +0000

In my readings of Selling Anxiety chapter seven has been the best. Hillary Clinton has been an obvious target for the media to attack. During last weeks group project, we watched a youtube video of Hillary Clinton campaigning. In this video some crazy man is yelling at Hillary, “iron my shirt!” I couldn’t believe the blatant disrespect that I saw before my eyes. I have never heard a woman verbally attack a male candidate. You would never see a woman say to a future [male] presidential hopeful, “take out my garbage!” I wished someone would have tasered that idiot. Why does the notion living the “American Dream” can only apply to white males. Why do women have to put their dreams on hold. Why shouldn’t a little girl grow up to have great aspirations in life and attain them. No one ever mentions what a class act she was during the media frenzy of her husband’s martial affair. I find it disheartening that her sex stands in the way of benefiting the country. Why do countless men including, her husband infidelities become acceptable Why does Hillary’s sexual orientation comes into question? In the book it mentions that during her husbands first campaign trail she was called “cold, calculating, and way too ambitious” (Selling Anxiety 76). I mentioned before in my last post that Hillary was criticized for crying during one of her campaign stops. So apparently, she’ a bitch or she’s soft, and won’t be able to make tough decisions. If you were to look at all her accomplishments and give those to a male candidate, that male candidate would already be president by now.

Feminist Yay or Nay?

pressia07 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:02:22 +0000

I am woman hear me roar! Whoa that is a bit extreme, but I do believe I am a bona fide feminist. During last week’s assignment I was baffled on the various types of feminism that existed. They all sounded so good except for the power feminists. It shocks me that the power feminists believe that women shouldn’t consider themselves victims. In our society it is so clear that women are victimized daily. The question that power feminist should be asking is should [women] who are victimized keep a defeatist attitude. I am all for equality in and out of the workplace. It’s still aggravating that we are still trying to resolve these same issues in 2010. I believe that any woman whatever color you are, you are going to experience some type of sexism. I identified with the multiracial feminists as well as the thrid wave of feminism. In the past, it seemed that if you were a feminist and you want to be taken seriously you couldn’t be very feminine. I believe that, the idea still has some validity even though young women can now embrace the “girl culture.” For example, when America was getting its first introduction of who Sarah Palin was, her looks were constantly mentioned. The media constantly mentioned her looks as though she couldn’t be taken seriously because she was a former beauty queen. Hilary Clinton came under scrutiny when she teared up on the campaign trail. Being a woman comes with struggles, but eventually in time we will be victorious.

Are diamonds really a girl’s best friend?

pressia07 — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:41:45 +0000

Check out this funny video (comments please)

http://current.com/items/89614245_sarah-haskins-in-target-women-jewelry.htm

http://current.com/sarah-haskins/

This chick is hilarious and alot of her videos relate to our class!!

ENJOY!!

Generation M: Misogyny in Media & Culture

pressia07 — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:25:04 +0000

This documentary really shined an accurate light on how women are portrayed in our current society today. It was very enjoyable, and I can’t wait to show this film to others. The issue that affects me the most is our addiction to vanity. The media really wants women to feel ugly, and inadequate. The [media] wants women to fill this unattainable expectation of beauty. Heidi Montag, who i mentioned earlier in a blog is a prime example of this. This issue not only affects women here in America, but overseas as well. When women from other countries view our television shows, their perception of beauty changes too. Women in other countries want to have fairer skin and a thinner stature. In some Asian cultures, women feel the need to have plastic surgery on their eyes. Asian women want a crease in their eye to look more “Western.” In the pursuit of this “false”beauty women lose their individuality. They lose a bit of their heritage as well. Women should embrace our flaws not hide them. These “flaws” make us who we are. Women are more than just a pretty face, d-cup breasts, and a big butt. We are innovators, creators, and entrepreneurs. The [media] should focus on empowering women instead of demeaning women. If women don’t take a stand to force the media to begin altering “our image” the future generations of women will be in deep jeopardy.

Documentary on De-Racialization

pressia07 — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:21:23 +0000

This documentary shows how the western world has affected foreigners perceptions of themselves

This documentary shows the usage of the same tactics, used to get foreigners to change their appearances.

http://bossip.com/196672/the-white-beauty-myth-minorities-in-u-k-wanting-to-be-white-video/

Another photoshop disaster

pressia07 — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:33:47 +0000

You can look this good after having a baby

http://bossip.com/207980/kourtney-kardashian-says-ok-is-out-of-pocket-for-photoshopping-her-baby-weight/#more-207980

I hate the way magazines portray women after pregnancy. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure some of them do go under the knife. This picture is so wrong. Kourtney Kardashian just had a child for goodness sake, shouldn’t be illegal to show pictures like that, I mean isn’t it really FALSE ADVERTISING?

COMMENTS?

How Nature, Nurture and the Media shape our gender

pressia07 — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:17:09 +0000

One of the most pivotal moments in my life, that defined my gender was my first training bra. I was around 10 or 11 years old when the event happened. I was playing outside like any other day, and my mother called out to me. She told me to go to the bathroom and put on this (in my head contraption) bra before going back outside. I stared at her funnily, and asked her WHY do I have to wear this? She responded something in the way of ”you’re growing up now and you can’t have your boobs flapping all over the place.” She also mentioned something about being looked at differently now that I was coming into a more mature body. In that moment I realized that I wasn’t the same as before. My mother brought an awareness to my body that never entered my mind before. Before, I was just a kid playing outside, but now I’m a young woman that must be conscious of her new found boobs.

Media was so influential on my life, partly because I loveeee to watch T.V. (that’s probably why I am a EMP major). Growing up I watched television shows such as: Saved By The Bell, Family Matters, Boy Meets World, Alex Mack. Most of the women in the show had lead roles, or strong supporting roles. I also read a lot of Teen Magazines, and I really just wanted to be like the girls in the magazines. I wanted to have the right clothes, the super popular boyfriend, the world essentially.

I thought if I had those things that they would help boost my social position in school. Those things never happened and it left me feeling really depressed a lot of times. We (women) are conned into thinking that if we have those things, that stuff = happiness.

Women are subtly told to put confidence in things and not within ourselves. Young girls are looking in the mirror and are hating what their seeing. I recently watched a video on this pseudo celebrity named Heidi Montag-Pratt. She is 23 years old and has recently had 10 plastic surgeries done. She had already had one before, but apparently needed a few more nips and tucks. The gross portrayal of this young woman and others are undoubtedly affecting millions of young girls across the globe. (Go to URL to see Heidi Montag in all her splendid daftness)

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=9600569

I only wished back then, what I have now…… SELF -ESTEEM.