Here is my video, sorry it was so hard to read. I feel like this is a topic that is important and people need to know about.

Ending FGM in America (and specifically Ohio!)

This is the website I created to raise awareness about FGM in America: http://fgmamerica.weebly.com/index.html And here is the petition that I plan on passing onto our Ohio state senators and representatives. It would be amazing if you could all sign it and pass it on! http://www.change.org/petitions/end-female-genital-mutilation-in-ohio Thank you so much!

"Women in Reality TV Promoting Self-Denigration, Study Finds"

As I was searching through articles for my current event, and I found one entitled "Women In Reality TV Promoting Self-Denigration Study Finds." Being someone who occasionally watches reality TV, this has been a topic that I have personally been interested in for some time now. The articles talks about a PTC (Parents Television Council) study that analyzed four popular shows for their language content: Jersey Shore, Teen Mom 2, 16 & Pregnant, and the Real World. Each of these shows attracts a mostly teen audience, ranging from ages 12 to 17. The study found that the females on the shows spoke about themselves in positive ways only 24 percent of the time, and only 22 percent of all the conversation directed towards them was positive compared to men who mainly stayed neutral in their language. In addition, women more than often used derogatory language to identify one another in these shows. The study also pinpoints that the majority of negative remarks as well as sexual references comes from Jersey Shore. PTC President, Tim Winter stated, “the findings of [this] study suggest a glamorized, but grossly distorted view of what it means to be feminine.”

The study brings to question what effect the portrayals of women on reality TV has on teens, as well as what the shows communicate to teens about sex, relationships, friendships, and self-esteem.

So what do you think? Do reality TV shows like Jersey Shore, Teen Mom, 16 & Pregnant send bad messages to girls or affect their way of thinking about themselves and those around them? Do shows like Bad Girls Club, Real Housewives, and Mob Wives portray women in overly negative ways?

http://www.christianpost.com/news/women-in-reality-tv-promoting-self-denigration-study-finds-64305/

Disarming Young Women

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/in-moscow-little-girl-soldiers/?ref=women

This photojournalism piece discusses a school in Russia that I found unsettling: a military academy exclusively for young girls. The extremely austere school trains girls who hope for futures in the army, the police force or the Federal Security Service. Denominated "The Little Spies of Putin" by a French journalist these girls are forbidden to smoke, drink, socialize while unattended or even chew gum. The photographer behind the work commented that the girls can “strip down an AK-47 Kalashnikov in the time it takes most kids to send an S.M.S." One image depicts middle school aged girls in what is described as a "Basics of Military Service" class. A young blonde girl in the foreground clasps a small gun, pointed directly upwards. Another, two girls in the snow. They wear gas masks for a training exercise.

While these bizarre and alarming images are of interest in and of themselves, it is their temperament with "femininity" that makes this article of particular interest to this class. The photographer, who has grown extremely close with his long time subjects, observed, "They want to improve the role of women in Russia." Every girl, regardless of age, wears an enormous white bow (almost the size of some of their faces) in their hair to symbolize purity. A museum in the school celebrates famous and powerful Russian women. Beyond military pursuits the school's curriculum includes sewing, ballet and choir. The girls dress in long, poofy ball gowns and gloves for their annual ball with the neighboring all boys school.

For me, this school is a bizarre scene of contrasts. The strength represented in female warriors combined with the old fashioned "feminine" curriculum. The purity of youth and particularly the white bows combined with the brutality of young women and girls training in combat. First of all, do you think it is appropriate to begin this sort of training for anyone at such a young age (though specifics aren't given, middle school seems an appropriate estimate)? Second, does this school promote female strength, independence and power or are its military purposes insufficient an insufficient overture for the decidedly domestic or feminine course offerings?

PS- Please take a look at the photographs. They are beautiful.

A Post-Spring Break Current Event: Grunt Once for Yes, Twice for No

Welcome back from break!

We don't have a current event scheduled for today, so I thought I'd throw you a goofy one:

As a recent New York Times article discusses, "a growing chorus of complaints from fans and some athletes has pushed the Women’s Tennis Association to crack down on what it calls excessive grunting. At a meeting last weekend in Key Biscayne, Fla., the WTA’s board said it planned to tackle loud grunting, shrieking and yelling."

What do you think about the trend of grunting and shrieking in women's tennis? and does it seem to you that fan reactions have anything to do with gender? Do women grunt more than men do while playing tennis, or does it just bother people more when women do? Tennis fans (and players), I hope you'll weigh in.

Also, in honor of Adrienne Rich, who passed away over spring break, we'll read one of her poems, "Diving Into the Wreck," together.