Final Thoughts

General thoughts:

First, I would have to say I still have the same thought about what race and ethnicity represent.  Race is still the socialized categories people are placed in based on the color of their skin.  Ethnicity is still the cultural background people associate with.

This semester has been very enlightening about issues dealing with race.  Before this class I was aware of racial issues and had the desire to make change, but now I understand some of the underlying problems facing different races and ways to help generate change.  One of the most influential classes for me was in the beginning of the semester, watching Tim Wise.  I respond very well to and appreciate direct, no BS information.  I also think the effectiveness of his message stemmed from the fact that he is white speaking about racial issues.  It's fantastic to see someone other than minorities speaking about minority issues because it makes people stand up and realize this IS an issue that affects us all and it is the responsibility of us ALL to do something about it.

As far as gender goes...I have more experience in this area.  It didn't shock me one bit when talking about gender issues that there is still differential treatment between men and women.  Also the fact that women of different racial backgrounds are treated differently is an issue that was not news to me.  This issue, along with racial issues, should always be at the forefront of people's minds as well.  If people were not only aware of these issues, but practiced equality in their daily lives, these issues would slowly disappear.

Professional thoughts:

The information we've covered in this class will be extremely helpful in the media industry.  The first step to improving racial and gender relations is to be educated about the issues.  By having the knowledge necessary to cease perpetuating stereotypes and to choose to be sensitive to things like white privilege, we will be better media professionals.  This is due to the fact that as media professionals we hold ourselves to the standard of only reporting unbiased truth.  Stereotypes are not the truth therefore our knowledge will give us the authority to refuse their use.

On a personal level, the information I've learned in this class will help me in my profession: Advertising.  It is my personal goal to work with a firm or on campaigns that do not utilize racial stereotypes or the objectification of women.  I know this will be much easier said than done, but change in the industry is only going to come from the inside out.  I would also like to be a gender stereotype breaker and at some point be the head of a company.

Blogging thoughts:

Blogging I believe is a great way to express one's thoughts about issues/topics.  The only thing I don't like (which might be in my best interest sometimes) is it can be hard to interpret the tone of the blog or the amount/type of emotion behind it.  Particularly for me, the topics of race and gender are points of passion because I feel in this age we should (as a nation) have grown out of some of the racial discrimination and gender inequalities of our society.  This is not to say all these issues will be gone (because that will take some major societal changes) but I don't think these issues should still be such a struggle for this country.

Personal thought:

This thought is something I've seen throughout the semester and haven't had a great opportunity to say in class.  In my entire college career, this is the first semester I've had a female minority professor (not the first time I've had a female professor).  The thing that shocked me about this is I have never sat in a class that has disrespected and argued with a professor more than this semester.  This not only stunned me, but disappointed me deeply.  Even if the conversation was not blatantly disrespectful, it was the tone of the person speaking.  I have been in classes in previous years where the professor was not a competent teacher (only a great researcher) and students did not argue with them or show disrespect in class (because they were typically white male professors).  The thing I wonder the most is if this were a different university (say somewhere in a city or state that is more diverse i.e.NYC) would this attitude be the same?  I feel like not only does our country have a long way to go with racial and gender relations, but so do we as Gaylord students!

Hip Hop

Ok...so I'm not even going to pretend to be an expert on this topic because I don't listen to much Hip Hop (mostly because I don't listen to the radio much).  But here goes.

Hip Hop to me, is an upbeat version of rap.  Hip Hop also (I think) gets played on both popish and rap stations as well as has its own stations because there are so many crossover artists.

Here are some artists I listened to but had never heard before:

Pleasure P

Snow

Penthouse Boyz

Jody Breeze

A-Game

Here's 5 videos I watched

1. A-Game, Go Head Shawty Video

http://www.hiphopmusicdotcom.com/a-game-go-head-shawty-video.html

2. Jody Breeze, Too Much

http://www.hiphopmusicdotcom.com/jody-breeze-too-much-video.html

3. Willy Northpole, Hood Dreamer

http://www.hiphopmusicdotcom.com/willy-northpole-hood-dreamer-video.html

4. Gorilla Zoe ft. Block Boys, Just Joog

http://www.hiphopmusicdotcom.com/gorilla-zoe-ft-block-boys-just-joog-video.html

5. Nyle, Let the Beat Build

http://www.hiphopmusicdotcom.com/nyle-let-the-beat-build-video.html

In general most hip hop music and music videos I encountered are created by Black artists (mostly male) and are very sexist.  Women in most of the videos are objects to look at or take advantage of and women are the people the men are singing about as objects they use and move on.  Also as a general observation, I noticed many of the artists use the N word and seem to be focusing their music towards either kids in bad neighborhoods (where many of them claim to come from) or their friends.

Hip Hop is used in the commercial world as well.  Campaigns like Boost Mobile that use well known Hip Hop artists to promote their cell phones.  Also Dodge uses Hip Hop to advertise their link with Syrius radio in their vehicles.

Some of the ways Hip Hop influences media and culture are things like the clothing style. Many Black (and even some white) men where clothes similar to those worn by artists in the music videos.  Some artists dress in baggy clothes with jewelry, and other were more fitting clothes with layers and hats.

Hip Hop has also influence film.  There have been films that center around Hip Hop and the Hip Hop culture that appeal more to the Black community (because this seems to be the target audience for Hip Hop).  There have also been movies about men rising above their circumstances to get out of the "ghetto".

Hip Hop is not a genre my parents grew up listening to either.  My parents listened to mostly pop and the top of the charts kind of music when growing up.  And even while I was growing up they listened to mostly 80s and early 90s music.

Diversity in Advertising

This week in advertising has taught me that even though we are slowly moving toward a more diversely represented society, we still have a very long way to go.  Here are some of the advertisements I've encountered this week.

1. While watching an episode of a show online, the sponsor was T-Mobile.  The commercial that played at every break was the T-Mobil my favs and unlimited texting.  The family in the commercial was white.  Also at the end of the commercial when it shows each family member and their favs, all of their friends were white as well.  It seems that even if you didn't use a diverse or non-white family, you should at least include diversity in the favs.

2. While watching TV this week, a Cox commercial aired advertising its high speed internet.  It clipped to average people 4 times.  Of those 4 times only 2 were white people, the other two were an Asian woman and a Black mother with her daughter.  Not only were there more than just white people but the clips of white people were the last two clips of people shown.  I thought it was interesting and forward thinking that Cox showed the racially diverse people first.

3.  I picked up the campus newspaper this week and this particular day, there was an insert for Intersession classes.  The insert was structured so that one student was in the forefront and there were a handful in the background.  The student in the foreground was white and the students in the background were white with one person that had a skin color just slightly darker than white.  Now this one surprised me.  I would think on a college campus that attempts to be diverse this would be displayed in some of it's advertising.  Unfortunately I was sorely mistaken. 

4.  While watching TV I noticed several Cover Girl commercials.  In the handful I saw I noticed a couple of things.  The commercials that have everyday women (non-celebrity spokeswomen) there was a wide racial gamut.  This is definitely an advertising strategy to target all women, not just white women.  Also I noticed that their celebrity spokeswomen are starting to be more diverse as well.  Not only do they have white celebrities but women like Rihanna and Queen Latifah and even Ellen (not racially diverse but lifestyle diversity) show that some companies are starting to get it.

5.  Again while watching an online TV episode one of the commercials was for the NCAA basketball tournament.  This commercial I have actually seen on TV as well as online.  The commercial starts with a man in a cubical being confronted by his coworkers about supposedly watching inappropriate video online (when he is really watching NCAA basketball).  The man and the people standing around him are all white, the only diversity in the commercial is one Black woman that gets shown for a second and a Middle Eastern man that is just barely shown at the end of the commercial.  This commercial really shocks me because collegiate basketball is fairly racially diverse (granted it's mostly white and black) but to have very little representation of that in the commercial was interesting.

6. Another TV commercial...this one for Safe Auto.  This commercial I've seen before but it occurred to me this week that I'm not sure how to take it.  The commercial is a Black woman putting gas in her car talking about how it's great to have a cheap/affordable way to get the state minimum coverage.  In my mind, this can be taken one of two ways.  One, Safe Auto didn't want to use another white person in their commercial and cater to a larger audience.  Two, because it's a cheap way to get auto insurance and more racial minorities have lower income than white people.  I honestly don't know how to take it...maybe I'm just over thinking it and there isn't an underlying meaning.

7. Another commercial I've seen this week (I've also seen banners online at different Web sites) is the Dove body care commercials.  Dove, in my opinion, has done a pretty good job of incorporating racial diversity in their ad campaigns.  The body care commercials have many different races represented and they are not typically staggered to place one in the background over the others.  I think, similar to the strategy of Cover Girl, Dove is targeting all women, not just white women.

8. Yet another commercial (I promise I really don't watch excessive TV) was for Verizon.  The commercial is a couple who are across the world from each other (both white).  They are the only two people in the commercial.

9. Sorry...another commercial.  But this time it's Target.  Target has 3 new lines of make up and all have different selling points.  In the commercial all make up creators talk about their lines and none of the models they use are of racial minority groups...all are white.

10.  Of the commercials listed at the bottom of the assignment, I watched the Nike commercial.  The racial diversity was alive and well in this commercial, most likely because Nike targets/gets business from all different races.

Over all, it seems to me that the advertising that has more diversity are the one's selling products to women (particularly beauty products).  I think part of this may be contributed to things like Dove's campaign of making girls comfortable in their own beauty instead of molding to societies impression of beauty.  This means that when it comes to Dove and Cover Girl, they are on the right track (and fighting an uphill battle) in showing there is more than just white beauty.

I also think, as the illustration at the top of the page suggests, the people creating advertising are not racially diverse (and they need to be) so they don't consciously incorporate people who may not look like them.

This Dove commercial has an Asian woman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=til0M5NhFKo&feature=related

Cover Girl commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP8XU7ZLS5o

Stereotypes

Unfortunately in our society stereotypes are abundant and utilized in every avenue of media. To give you an idea about the extent of penetration in our society here are some instances this week I've noticed.

1. 2-23-09, TV show-Chuck on NBC, watched online, usually airs Mon. at 7pm

This episode featured one of the female characters dating an Asian man who is very intelligent and being manipulated by a mob-type group because he can't stand up to them.

*Racial stereotypes

2. 2-24-09, in the OU Daily newsroom around 8:30pm

There is a news scanner that runs constantly in the newsroom and when we got wind of police at the union, of course people rushed over. It ended up being a false alarm. The police were there because some people were scared because a Black man seemed upset and possibly out of control.

*Racial stereotypes

3. 2-24-09 TV Commercial on E while watching Chelsea Lately, 11:25pm

I was watching a television show and a commercial came on that was advertising vitamins (one-a-day for teens to be specific). The commercial featured two teens (one male, one female) and the slogan of the commercial was the one-a-day vitamins (one for females, one for males) target what each gender desires--for males it enhances healthy muscle growth, for females it enhances clear facial skin complexion.

*Gender stereotypes

4. 2-24-09, TV show-The City, watched online (usually airs Mondays at 9pm)

This show is one of my trash TV addictions! In the episode this week on of the girls (Allie) is a model and is working on the set of a shoot. The shoot was for a magazine and it involved Allie and a male model on a bed flirting. Initially he is encouraged to take her jacket off while she gives in. Then as the shoot continues she ends up on the bed, under him, with him kissing her neck.

*Gender stereotypes

5. 2-25-09, at work around 7:45pm

Unfortunately working in a restaurant uncovers stereotypes/assumptions that are unflattering. One of these such stereotypes is that Black people do not tip well (percentage-wise and compared to everyone else). This being said, a server I work with was complaining about having a table with Black people.

*Racial stereotypes/assumptions

6. 2-26-09, Class-Health Promotion Programming at 9am

We were talking about statistical grouping and discussed the race/ethnicity categories listed on many surveys, applications, etc. Our class is not extremely diverse but our instructor reverted to the Black man in our class to ask his opinion and a woman with Native Indian background.

*Racial assumptions

7. 2-26-09, TV show-NCIS, watched online at cbs.com 11pm

A character in the episode Caged is a female prison guard who went on a few dates with her co-worker and then she continued to call him over 150 times in 3 weeks with no response from the man.

*Gender stereotypes

8.  2-27-09, TV show-NCIS, USA 4:10

This episode a child called the agency because his father was kidnapped. The agency had to call social services and a woman showed up to take care of the child.

*Gender stereotypes

9. 2-27-09, TV show-NCIS, USA 4:15

Same episode, the agents visited the office of the child's father and his assistant was a beautiful blonde woman who proceeded to get the group of men coffee and make flirtatious eye contact with the attractive male agent.

*Gender stereotypes

10. 2-27-09, at work around 6pm

I realized at work tonight that we in restaurants perpetuate the stereotype that all cooks are Mexican and do not speak English. While this is often the case, we do have white cooks and many of the Mexican cooks understand and can communicate in English very well.

*Racial stereotypes/assumptions

When I think about all the instances this week of stereotyping, it actually shocked me more to see how many gender stereotypes I encountered. Let me explain (because all stereotyping is shocking-or at least should be). I noticed more gender stereotypes that I listed above-many, many more. I think I could have listed 20 or more because of advertisements. I'm still not entirely sure why this shocked me so much because I know that gender stereotypes are extremely common in advertising. This of course saddens me because the constant bombardment of these types of images cause younger generations to internalize these stereotypes and perpetuate them.

It also disturbs me that instead of trying to combat these stereotypes we (our society in general) choose to use stereotypes for humor and entertainment (which only makes people think it's acceptable to maintain these practices).

Also, I think the fact that in our society we are always bombarded with stereotypes day in and day out, we take these stereotypes to be valid and then are not quite as accepting if people do not fit the box we try to put them in. 

If you want to check out NCIS go to http://www.cbs.com/primetime/ncis/

If you want to check out The City go to http://www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/the-city/series.jhtml

Privilege

In class we watched a lecture by a man named Tim Wise, a nation-wide lecturer about racial relations in this country and the issues we still face. A particular issue he focused on is the idea of privilege (the underlying white advantage) and how it impacts levels of society.

Now I must admit before seeing this section of his lecture I had heard of privilege but had never thought about it deeply (because I am white and do not deal with the disadvantageous side of privilege).

Unfortunately because of this practice, law enforcement targets non-white individuals to search, airport security targets middle-eastern individuals, and employment opportunities are not equal (even with affirmative action) and our society turns a blind eye because we are "past" those issues. I know this subject makes people uncomfortable, as well it should. But it should make people uncomfortable because of the injustice and need for change, not because it's a taboo subject.

Does the media utilize privilege in its presentation? I believe it does. Unfortunately I don't think even our media has moved past this issue. I think if the media would not stand for privilege and make "white America" more aware I think it would slowly move the country forward into true equality.

Here are some instances this week I have either experienced or seen privilege:

1. I was driving down Jenkins, on the phone, not paying attention (therefore going much faster than I should) and there was a cop sitting on a side street. Granted as soon as I saw him I slowed down because I realized I was going too fast but he did not even stop me for a warning. I have a feeling (it is completely speculation but none the less) that if I would have been another color I would have been much more likely to be stopped.

2. When watching news programs or even the comedy "news" shows, there are very few minorities compared to the number of whites. The media is getting better, but every station seems to have the "token" black person and "token" Asian person. Unfortunately I don't think news programs express the diversity of this country.

3. In the same idea, prime-time television is not as diverse as I believe it should be. In the same way, some shows have a few minorities in the show but many of those shows play off of racial stereotypes.

4. This week I was made aware of a bill being presented in the Oklahoma Legislature that will make English the official language of Oklahoma. This to me says that we are not accepting of other people coming into our country (even though we claim to be the land of dreams, thus enticing other to move here) but then saying that you must accept our language because we are not open to yours.

5. While I was in the kitchen today and NBC was on the television playing Howie Do It and one of covers they used was a television show that breaks into people's houses, breaks and trashes all their old electronics and then replaces them with new ones. Well one of the people being "punked" in this particular situation was a young black man. And when Howie showed up playing a security officer, the young man ran away because given the situation he would have been in tons of trouble.

6. The fact that there are award shows for different races (but not a specifically white show) means that there is not total equality.

7. On that same note, the fact that there are racial organizations on college campuses (and again not white) means there is not total equality.

8. Once again, just the simple fact that there is an African American Studies department on campus means there is something lacking in our history (meaning history is made and told by white men) that there needs to be a department devoted to the other side of things.

Does society still believe in the one drop rule? To this I say, much to my dismay, absolutely. Here's why I say this.

First, in last fall's election, even though President Obama is half black and half white, he is considered a black man. Not just a man of American and African roots, a black man.

Second, on that same token, I have a friend in law school and she is in the same situation as President Obama. Her father is black and her mother is white. Even though she is "mixed" she is classified by our society as black because her skin looks as if she has a permanent tan.

Third, in case the last two do not suffice, one of my friends and coworker has less than 1/4th black and yet she is considered black. To prove that she is classified as such in our society, one day at work a table treated her as if she was a second-class citizen. The people at the table not only did not want to speak with her, but while she was still in ear shot they would denounce her as a person. Whoever thinks racism is a thing of the past is sorely mistaken.

At the end of the Tim Wise lecture he spoke about the responsibility of knowledge. This section of the lecture I found to be very consistant with my beliefs. I do believe that as people are made aware of racial issues they must change their behavior or engage in social change to help make a difference. I know people might say, well I'm just one person, but let's face it, Rosa Parks was just one person.

The N Word

So to understand where this post is coming from, I need to tell you something about myself.

I work at Outback Steakhouse as a server and although we do have a somewhat diverse serving staff, we still run into racial issues. That being said, I was at work this weekend when I walked into the kitchen where one of my white coworkers (we will call him W) was talking to one of my black coworkers (we will call her L) about the N word. I'm not entirely sure the background to this conversation but from my limited understanding, W said something using this word and L asked him why he felt it necessary to use that word.

Now at this point, I'm drawn into the conversation because I walked into the kitchen. L had asked W when is the appropriate time to use the N word. Is it only behind people's backs? Is it only when they say or do something, or act a certain way? When is this word appropriate? 

So as W is stumbling over some words, L turns to me and with a glance, directs the question my way. I simply said that I don't believe this word is appropriate to use not matter who you are (race and gender included), where you are, or what your circumstances.

L proceeded to explain to me that the reason this word is accepted among black people is simply because the original word is turned to slang and instead of the -er or -o ending there is an -a ending (which enlightened me because I was unaware this was the case).

As I thought about this the rest of the weekend, it occurred to me that if people (celebrities, musicians, and comedians included) would cease using this word (slang or otherwise), it could only help racial relations. 

Let me explain. Because of the connotation and evolution of the N word, it is only "politically correct" for black people to use this term. In my opinion this is absurd! If a word can only be used by a specific group of people or by certain races (as society defines them) it can only be detrimental to racial relations. Think about it. If a white, yellow, green, or blue person uses this word, everyone gasps because it is a derogatory term. But if a black person uses it, it's acceptable because they are of the race the word was created for. Just because a black person uses this term does not mean the historical connotation does not exist; therefore it should not be used period.

I know this is extreme, but to vastly improve racial relations in this country I believe it will take an extreme social movement. This could be a humble beginning.

In case you are not as familiar as you'd like with this term here is a link giving the history.

http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/2420/Nigger_the_word_a_brief_history

Sugar Babies

I was watching Good Morning America last week and was disturbed by one of the investigative stories aired. The story was about "sugar daddies" and "sugar babies" and the websites created to connect the two. The men on the sites are anything from single, married, divorced, 40, 50, (you get the picture) and they have money to spare after paying for mortgages, bills, child support payments, or whatever they must pay. The women, well, they are just looking for someone to pay for their shopping sprees, rent, and travel expenses. The cover for this scheme?The men are just looking for hassle-free, no strings companionship, the women, money.

The couple interviewed for this story said the men make note of, and choose young women who have ambitions and goals in life; they don't just pick any bimbo looking for money. My response to these men is a resounding SPONSOR COLLEGE STUDENTS! If you truly care about people with goals and ambitions in life and are itching to spend your hard earned money, spend it wisely and invest in the future of the nation (our future professionals) instead of wasting the money on $500 pairs of shoes, $5000 NYC rent, and who knows how much on weekend vacations! Or instead of paying for companionship, if you really want to help these ladies, help them find jobs and be self-sufficient because they will become reliant on you and accustom to the lavish lifestyle you are providing. Then when you are no longer giving them money, they will flounder like a fish out of water.

To the women (or in some cases young ladies) I say, stop watching the Real Housewives of Orange County and respect yourself enough to work for your money instead of relying on the age-old stereotype of the male benefactor. And I know I will step on toes by saying this, but who really needs a $400 purse and $500 pairs of shoes.

Needless to say, I find this practice not only revolting and a huge waste of money (because you really can't buy good companionship, no matter how hard you try), but I have to say (with the risk of sounding like a crazy feminist) women are taking a step backwards.

To watch the video of the sugar babies story here is the link!

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6757808