McIntosh & Tatum Response

After reading the articles by McIntosh and Tatum I find that I have some of the same ideas as these writers as well as disagreements. McIntosh explains racism as something that most of us are oblivious to in life. She says that it is something that most of us are unaware about and do it unintentionally. She compares it to men and woman. How men look at women unintentionally as being weak and less than them. I do not necessarily think that this is true for all men. This is a very stereotypical idea. It does not apply to all men as well as racism does not apply to all white people—it exists in every race. In my opinion, racism can go both ways. Our country has come a long way since the time of slavery. It has been abolished and now African-Americans have the same rights as white people. Those days are over, it is time to move on. There is no possible way to get everyone in this country to not be bias towards their own race. Individually we have to worry about ourselves and make sure that we are not prejudice towards someone that may be different. Racism has been around for a long time and look how much it has died down since the civil war. This country has come a long way since the Civil War days. It is not something that can immediately be changed overnight. Personally, I am proud of the progress we have made. Different ethnicities are more accepted than ever. I also think that compared to other countries America is probably less racist than any other. After all we are a wide variety of culture and race. Imagine what would happen if a white person moved to Afghanistan and wanted to practice Christianity—they would probably be persecuted. Now that's racism—America’s “racism” problems are nothing compared to that. I think it is best that we all move on, forget about color and look more at a person’s demeanor than the color of their skin. I also believe that the more people rant and rave about these issues more attention will be called to them. If we are all equal then we’re all equal—Everyone, end of story!

Response to Iron Maiden

Michael Jacobson and Laurie Anne Mazur are right on target when they discuss women and the pressure from society for them to be thin in their article The Iron Maiden: how advertising portrays women. Whether it be in magazine articles, internet ads, or on billboards—everywhere we look there are pictures of skinny, beautiful, seductive models showing women just how bad their imperfections really are. In this article, they compare the idealistic body of a female to that of a torture device called “The Iron Maiden” used in medieval times. The device has a woman painted on the outside and the inside is lined with spikes on the inside. The victims eventually die trapped inside the torture device. What a great analogy this is! It is almost to say as if some women are trapped inside their own bodies constantly consumed and obsessed with their imperfections. Some women even strive so hard to maintain this perfect body that they eventually die. Eating disorders are a huge problem in America and—they are often deadly. It is so important for young girls to read articles such as this one to open their eyes to how fake these women that they see on these magazine covers really are. Most pictures in magazines are airbrushed to extreme amounts—to the point that if we were to ever see some of these woman walking down the streets we probably would not be able to identify them. If these women do not even look like they do on the magazine covers than how is it possible for other women to obtain this look? Men are also facing issues with their bodies in the media as well. They have a lot of pressure to be “buff” and muscled up. Some men even resort to steroids which can often be lethal just as an eating disorder can be to women. Though men have pressure too, there is still no comparison to the pressure that women face from society to look a certain way. As women, we have this idea that men will not want us if we are not a certain weight or look a particular way. It is sad to see society so consumed with looks and not what is on the inside. Can we ever be happy with ourselves? It is important to stay true to ourselves and not get caught up in the pressures to be “perfect.”