This Isn't Competition. This is War.

Men are expected to take an intense liking to sports.  If they don't they're masculinity may be questioned.  When discussing what can be considered if a male does not want to participate in sports Ralph Donald states, "The alternative, say the mainstream voices of American socialization, is too dreadful to consider: life as, at best, an un-manly male, or at worst, a suspected homosexual." (From "Knockout Punch" to "Home Run": Masculinity's "Dirty Dozen" Sports Metaphors in American Combat Films)  When men do participate in sports they are expected to behave violently and seriously.  As Ralph Donald's article discusses, they learn violence early and the language they use is similar to what can be heard on a battlefield.  This is evident when most of the terms used in football could directly link the players with being soldiers.  We as a society keep promoting sports so strongly to men because they're masculinity is so significant to us.  This is why perhaps people will go so far as to question they're sexuality if they lack interest.

High Standards of Media

In This is Emo by Chuck Klosterman the idea of "fake romance" was introduced.  Klosterman suggests that there is only fabricated romance because the media sets the standards for a "perfect relationship".  For example, in class discussion it was brought up that in a "perfect romance" a couple will never fight.  Klosterman's main thesis was that no one can ever be satisfied or truly happy in their relationships because they only have the fake definition in their head.  This idea of a fake perception leading to frustration was also introduced when we discussed the female body.  In the article Only 2% of Women Describe Themselves As Beautiful women are described as never satisfied with their physical appearance.  As we discussed in class the media sets the standards as to what physical traits make a woman a "perfect beauty".  The video Killing Us Softly Four actually shows what is done to photos of models to make them appear perfect.  For example, elongating the neck and making the eyes larger and a shape that is not in human genetics.  Therefore women find it hard to call themselves beautiful.  They are often frustrated with their bodies.  We see the same frustration to reach perfection in Klosterman's article.  Both relationships and beauty are defined by the media.  We will never meet the media's standards.

Females' Bodies Are Dead

What I found to be most interesting and most depressing from this weeks discussions and readings is that there isn't really a person in a woman's body.  It is simply just a body and that is all she is.  All that matters is if her body can be considered perfect or if it can sell a product.  For example, in the article Decoding Victoria's Secret: The Marketing of Sexual Beauty and Ambivalence by Marie D. Smith one of the assumptions that a Victoria Secret ad is based off of is that a woman's physical beauty can sell any product.  The article goes on to say "...men first respond to women as a physical object and later as a person."  In the video Killing Us Softly Four Kilbourne describes the dehumanization of women through media and society.  It is no surprise that most women hate their bodies and become frustrated with themselves and that we as a society enjoy to watch violence to human bodies on television (as described in Why Don't We Like The Human Body by Barbara Ehrenreich).  Especially violence to a woman's body.  This way of thinking has a negative impact on the way our society functions.  Women shy away from calling themselves beautiful because of body image.  It seems that a woman can only have a beautiful body but there is no such thing as a beautiful person.  Popular culture and the media are filled with only perfect examples of bodies.  Without a beautiful, perfect body, what do women have to offer?  This seems to be the shallow yet popular way of thinking.  There is no person inside the female body.  There is only a body. 

Let's Talk About Sex

Attitudes towards sex have certainly changed with the times.  Our grandparents most likely only kissed before marriage.  Now it seems like sex is only...well sex.  It seems that there are more one-night-stands and less pressure to get married so young.  The only word to describe sex in today's culture is casual.  Its casual in conversation, in the media, and even the act of.  The words "sex" and "love" are growing farther apart.    This can be considered a positive movement because sex and sexiness are no longer the elephants in the room. On the other hand STDs are more common and marriages don't last.  The lack of censorship is also desensitizing us to sex and sexiness. If a woman knocked on my door and she was naked when I answered, would I even notice anymore?  Would you?  Maybe to improve this negative aspect we as a society should leave more to the imagination and try to instill the "wait" in our children when it comes to sex.

Am I a Result of TV?

My generation has grown up with a television in every household.  My parents make this evident when they tell me the home television was the ultimate babysitter.  I would even go as far to say that television has molded my overal presentation and my way of knowing the newest fads.   When i was younger I knew what toy I wanted the most on my birthday because it was the latest commercial I saw.  Even now I may be sitting down to enjoy my favorite television show and think an actress's hairstyle is sexy and may want to try to dublicate it.  People don't usually percieve me as a follower or even fashionable but even subconciously I may follow trends and common ideal behavior for the young and the beautiful that I watch on television.