Internet bullying Vs. School yard bullying

Group members: Lauren, Jessica and Heidi

1. Academic Article on History of cyber bullying

2. The Rise of Cyber Bullying 

3. A Timeline of Bullying 

4. A blog with link to personal stories to victims of cyber bullyng 

5. Statistics on cyberbullying 

Cycle of Outrage (quotes)

I didn't particularly enjoy reading this text beacuse of how it generalizes that all teenagers are criminals. For this blog post I picked to discuss a quote/question that really stood out to me. Weren't radio, films, and especially comic books, responsible for the frightening changes in the bahavior of our youth?(Gilbert 23).  This is a question that really sums up what this entire class is about, yet we dont have a concrete answer to it. Can we really blame just radio, films and comic book for the changes in teens behavior? What about consumerism? Gilber discusses in the text how "hot-rod" culture fueled youths needs to individualize and modify their vehicles. Similarly to what Raby discusses in her text, this can be seen as teens growing up too fast and balancing on the thin line of adulthood and adolesence. Earlier in the text, Gilbert discusses how adolecents were getting married at younger ages and having premarital sex which changed the mores and icons of adolecent subculture, thus we see how teenagehood was being shortened as teens moved into adulthood faster. In my opinion we canno just blame radio, films and comic books for the chages that were occuring in teens. Palladino talks abou hwo marketers began to make teens their targets, which led to teens getting jobs at earlier ages to be able to purchase what was being sold to them thus leding them right into adulthood. 

Another quote that struck me was in the Juvenile Delinquency Films chapter when the 1949 film Knock on Any Door was discussed. The film employs flashbacks to explore the tragic and destructive influence of the slums (Gilbert 181). It later goes on to explain that the main character whom is accused of murder was a product of "the slums" meaning he came from a bad enviroment of immigrant background. This struck me beacuse I come from immigrant background and have never found myself, even in my teenage years to be involved in criminal acts. Was the film writter trying to say that all teen criminical came from the same socioecomical background? 

There is also a part in the text that stood out for me when Gilbert says "jor-riding" led to morre criminal activity amongs teens. I disagree with this completely! At this age, teens are finding who they are, what they are interested in and give socialization priority. Why is it impossible to think teens want to go out for a "joy ride" with friends to talk? 

Pray for Venezuela

I'm sure most  of you have seen or heard the phrase "Pray for Venezuela", which has been trending in social media but do you guys know what is really going on there? I didn't. I usually refrain from watching any world news or TV in general because off all the sad stories reported daily, but I decided to look into what is going on in Venezuela because of all the attention the younger age group was giving this issue and because it sits close to home for me. In class these past few weeks, we've talked about the dominant discourses, preconceived ideas and overall assumptions we have of teenagers in the US but what about in other countries? I'm sure that some, if not most of what we've talked about in class will probably still hold to be true in other countries but lets take a look at what these teens in Venezuela are doing for their country and their freedom. Please take a couple of minutes of your time to watch this video and PRAY FOR VENEZUELA! 

A Tangle of Discourses

I'll begin my blog this week by expressing how frustrating it was to read this entire text because of how lenghthy and wordy it was (even a bit unclear to me), however I was very interested in the material Raby presented.  Raby examines five dominant Western culture discourses: the storm, becomin, at-risk, social problem, and pleasurable consumption. Personally, I think people come up with titles to define every stage of children's lives since the day they are born till the day they turn 18. For instance terrible two's where kids are expected to act up, have temper tantrums ect. then we have the big girl/boy stage and so on. The stormy teenage years have always been blamed on the teens because they are "flooding with hormones" however Raby mentiones Steinbergs research "which suggests that the teen years are 'stormier' for the parents than for teenagers" (p431). This came as a shock to me because adults/parents are NEVER blamed for anything so how dare Steinberg say that the parents of these hormonal teens are going through a very similar hormonal imbalance that causes mood swings, changes in behavior etc.? But it make's A LOT of sense! My mother always told me I gave her "gray hairs" from all the stress I caused her in my teenage years and I've always felt awful for it but can it be that her greys were a sign of her aging at the same time I was growing up? 

In recent years we've seen a significant increase in teen pregnancies which means those teen mom's wll be raising their teens well before they reach their midlife issues, will the same be able to be said about them?

I was very bothered by the fact that Raby does not include any other races like Hispanics/Latinos or Asians because I know those teens and grandmothers opinions would differ than those of these women that were interviewed for this research. As a person of Hispanic decent, I was considered an "at-risk" teen because of where I grew up and where I am from, which exposed me to violence, sex, drugs etc. more often. Raby doesn't says in the beginning of the article that the women and girls she interviewed all  considered themselves "middle-class" (p427) why not include working class families also? I know she mentions in her intro that it was hard to find both a granddaughter and grandmother willing to participate but I think adding this to her research would've provided more insight on the real at risk teens and what that really means. I searched at risk teen PSA's and found this one I liked and wanted to share with you guys. Raby also talks about pleasurable consumption and how marketers are specifically marketing teens. For the middle-class family, this is not as big of a problem as it proves to be for working class families that really can't afford anything that is targeted at teens. These "at risk teens" living in poverty are usually surrounded by violence and some (not all) will turn to violence to get what it is that they want so they can fit in to what everyone else has. Palladino also lacked the talk of race in the article They're Getting Older Younger, when it discussed how teens have become the target for marketers. I grew up hearing seeing my peers fight over a pair or Jordan sneakers, why isn't anyone addressing the issue of class and race when it obviously plays such a huge role? (And if it is mentioned it is not disused in detail)

All in all I feel like teens are always in a lose lose situation where they will always be blamed for everything because of how they are represented in the media. 

Unlearning the Myths

Throughout my Gender Studies classes, media portrayals have been a hot topic always touched upon but never discussed in detail.  Last semester in one of my courses we spent a class period discussing the topic at hand in this article; Disney princesses. Here is the video that we watched in that particular class which began to open my eyes to what Disney has taught us and continues to teach our children. 

While I was reading this article I realized I felt the same way Justine did. I didn't want to dessect these movies I grew up watching and loving, I felt like i wast tearing apart my childhood memories, but I know it is necesary in order to change what we will teach our children, a whole new generation that can break these stereotypes. 

I remember when I was younger, I loved watching Cinderella. It was my all time favorite movie. I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. I often expressed this to my parents and they were completely supportive of me. My father especially always wanted to see me in dresses, my hair long and staight with a matching hair piece on my head. I realize now, my father was just feeding into the stereotypes that we are taught as children. Even now at 23 years old my father still expects me to be his little princess and he alsways expresses how he expects me to marry a man that can take care of me and treat me like a princess.

The messages in these legendary movies about what a girl is supposed to look like (light skinned, blue eyes, long haired and thin) how they're supposed to act, what theyre supposed to do etc are burried under these glamorous and magical scenes that it is really hard to believe how damaging they really can be to young girls. Young girls are growing up believing that in order to have the "happily ever after", they must look a certain way and if they don't, it is impossible to be happy which is wrong!