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! 

A little about me..

Hey guys! My name is Heidi, I am a full-time student at RIC majoring in Gender studies with a minor in communication. I'm taking this class not only because this is a requirement for my major, but also because the subject is very interesting to me. When I am not on campus I am at work. I work at AAA in the call center and I also work with the elderly at a Nursing home in East Providence, so as you can imagine I'm a busy body.  I really look forward to all the discussions we will have as a class this semester. :-)