" Beauty is power; a smile is its sword" - John Ray

This week in class, we discussed beauty and how media has condensed the overall definition of it. We claimed that media is to blame for this issue as it continues to idolize beauty through the most unlikely sources we tend to overlook- such as toys! Media is toying with the meaning of true beauty- see what I did there? We compared a modern day barbie doll to a 70's doll and noted that the modern doll reflects how a "beautiful" woman should look in the eyes of society. By creating such a toy doll, the false definition of beauty is unconsciously encrypted into an individual's mind from a very young age. 

With the amount of blame media gets from the crowd, I always wondered whether they  actually ever even said something which was infact a 100% true. After doing some research, I came to the conclusion that yes they have. Media- or more specifically SOCIAL media has successfully made the definition of beauty diverse. Social media can be seen as the ground where individuals from different backgrounds and perspectives converge. 

 From what I've seen, the most effective way to boost or lower someone's self esteem is through the comments from others.  I think we all can agree that when we upload a picture and receive complements, we feel pretty darn good. This leads you to take more pictures, which overall leads to a more confident smile. It is a known fact that people's opinions can seriously affect the way we judge certain things, why not use this piece of information in a more positive aspect?

Dove conducted a survey and found that after social media gained its popularity, there was an approximately 70% increase in the total number of people of who are now content with the way they look. 

                                     

"It [social media] impacts beauty because there is an opportunity to redefine it."- Jess Weiner

The Impunity Crisis

In 1776, The Declaration of Independence was born and drawn up by the citizens of the United States who mutually felt oppressed by the government and its numerous restrictive laws. The purpose of the declaration was to create unity among the people and right the wrongs, yet it did not live to its full extent.

After its success, social impunity was discovered. People took out the "man" in "mankind" and misinterpreted it as being only directed for men. Therefore, the dehumanization of women was still unofficially apparent. In the Incidents in the life of a slave girl, Harriet Jacobs addresses this issue by exposing the mental and physical hardships of a slave girl named Linda. Linda defies her owner by running way so that she could gain freedom. In return, Mr. Flint  (Linda's master) orders a hunt and announces that anyone who returned her to him would receive an award. Due to this, Linda's great idea of freedom morphs into a state of being "freely" trapped in a closet for 7 years. Free, yet not free. 

Free, yet not- this is what Stanton sees after the the Declaration of Independence. It did not affect the lives of women in any way. "He had oppressed her on all sides" (Stanton 39) Society saw this and graciously granted impunity. Thus, the Declaration of Sentiments was born. Its purpose was to permit women immunity from the oppressor and thus, create true unity among the people. Unfortunately, just like the Declaration of Independence, the Declaration of Sentiments did not live to its full extent. 

In the non-fiction article, Black Men and Public Space published in 1986 by Brent Staples, (way after the declarations were installed in our government) is about a black man who is forced to be alert of his actions and understand the cause and effects of them just so that people can feel "safe" or comfortable around him. When Staples and a women were the only two on the street late at night, the women speed-walked away from what she clearly interpreted as "the danger zone". Society granted impunity to the women thus, making it okay for her to not look at the man as a rightful equal.

 Due to the stereotypical environment we are raised in, it has become almost impossible to not judge someone based on their race. As a result of the increasingly large amount of  inequality faced in our world. impunity is also increasing. 

 "What I fear most is power with impunity. I fear abuse of power, and the power to abuse" -Isabel Allende

                                                        

Good guy, bad guy

As the story of The Scarlet Letter came to an end, I could not help but question whether or not Chillingworth was even the villain or not. His death was not intensified or extravagant, instead he just "vanished from mortal sight" (Hawthorne 254). 

I came to the resolution that though Chillingworth was to some extent portrayed as the evil villain, he was not in actual. He was just a man trying to find a purpose in life. Unfortunately, his purpose was revenge on the kind man (Dimmesdale), thus making him seem antagonist the audience's eyes. 

Though the audience must understand that through Chillingworth's point of view, Dimmesdale was the dishonorable one since he was the reason Hester cheated on her husband. 

In one of my favorite series: Divergent, one of the characters is a women named Tori. She is of the dauntless faction and is portrayed to be on the good side. Her brother was killed by Jeanine Mathews- the head of the Erudite compound. In return, Tori made it her personal vendetta to kill Jeanine. 

This is how Chillingworth and Tori show a stark contrast. Though they both found the same purpose in life: revenge, Chillingworth wanted revenge on the good guy, therefore he was marked as the bad guy whereas Tori wanted revenge on the bad guy, therefore she was marked as the good guy. 

In the end, it all depends on judgement. Usually, the "cheaters" are the one's who receive the hate, but due to the fact that in The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne uses pretty connotations to label Dimmesdale and negative connotations to label Chillingworth, the audience is involuntarily obligated to brand Chillingworth as the malignant character.  

                           

                               

Female Sports Women Are Marked

Many women have portrayed their extraordinary prowess to the world by achieving their goals, yet they go unnoticed. For instance, there is a woman in Australia named Elise Kellond- she won the World cup Football (soccer) All-Stars team in 2011, yet many Australians don't even know who she is. What's the point of winning the World cup when the world, let alone your home country does not even recognize you for your achievement. 

Most of us have heard and seen amazing sport accomplishments made by players all around the world. These players (both men and women) strive to reach the top of the ladder with great success stories, yet why is it that ~eighty percent of people devote their conversations to men's sports only?

 In an article written by Nikola Gow she also questions this issue in Australia and hypothesizes that "This could be due to the sexism of those running media outlets, women’s sport being less popular or the lack of financial gain for the media in promoting it." 

This issue relates to There Is No Unmarked Woman by Deborah Tannen, as she claims how women have become "marked." Though Kellond was given a chance and actually did get to live her dream, she did not become that popular in the media. This is probably because she is a female and is therefore marked in some sort of way to not associate herself to sports. I really hope it doesn't come to the point where female players must disguise themselves as a guy, like Viola from She's The Man and join an all guys soccer team to prove how good they are and finally get noticed (though that would be pretty amusing to see).