Women in contemporary society are expected to look and act a certain way in order to be accepted by the broader public. During the tutorial we discussed how women were often perceived as being more emotional, less independent, respected less and often worried more about others compared to men. Whilst I do agree with some of these traits, the majority I believe do not depict the majority of women in today’s society. Each woman is different and so is each man. There are a number of women who are incredibly independent and men who simply cannot live without the constant help of their wives or mothers.
I do think we have progressed from previous times where women were not allowed to drive cars, entitled to education or offered a job outside of domestic house duties. Women now have access to education, the potential to work in high powered jobs and can live a happy and successful life without being dependent on a man. However, women are still being classified as “less independent” than men. Despite a number of females living independently without the financial or emotional assistance of a partner, society still cannot accept that it is possible for a woman to not be dependent on a man. If a woman does decide to get married they are often perceived as being dependent on their male counterpart. Personally, I disagree with this concept as in a relationship often women are responsible for running the household, looking after the children and the husband, managing finances and working. Whereas, often men go to work, come home, eat and then go to work. So who is more independent? Obviously this is a very simplistic, generalised view which varies in every relationship, but I often think men are more reliant on women in married relationships. The amount of behind the scenes work women do for their husbands is underestimated, yet society still depicts women as being more dependent on men. I think this raises questions around the definition of “independence.” Will women ever be classified as independent people or are we constantly battling societies predetermined expectations of what women should be?
WEEK 3: Women in Popular Culture, Advertising, and the Media Culture and clothing stores have played a big role in influencing gender roles. In particularly, women’s clothes are always gender stereotyped and it is assumed that women want to wear slim fitting, girly clothes when that is not always the case. I have noticed this doesn’t just happen to older women but begins at birth. When people find out the sex of the baby is a girl they instantly buy pink clothes, even when the child becomes a toddler the female clothes are often more revealing then the boys clothes despite the child being so young. Young female children shouldn’t be sexualised at such a young age, there shouldn’t be any difference in the clothes that girls and boys wear at young ages.
I read an interesting article which talked about a woman who reviewed the clothes for preschool children at Target and noticed that the girl’s short’s were considerably shorter than the boys. Despite the children being in preschool Target still felt the need to sexualise the girl’s clothing, this was also impractical for preschooler’s who would be physically active in quite constrictive and revealing clothes. I don’t see any logical reason for girls in preschool to be wearing such short and revealing pants, Department stores are driving these issues as often Mum’s simply don’t have a choice but to purchase these clothes for their children as there are no other options.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephanie-giese/targets-response-to-my-calling-out-their-girls-clothing-problem_b_5923274.html
Department stores have a large amount of power over what women wear, which is heavily influenced by societies values. Whilst I was shopping at the makeup store Mac I came across something I found quite disturbing, it was a makeup pallet range called “personality palette” and the eye shadow colours were suppose to reflect the personality names that were written on the top. Except I thought the names that Mac had considered “personalities” were very inappropriate and I also didn’t see the relevance of assuming someones personality reflects their choice of makeup pallet.
I went into the store wanting to purchase a nice gold eye shadow pallet and Mac had stereotyped my personality as “power hungry.” If I wanted a simple grey, purple shades I was considered a “basic bitch” which was printed in bold capitals on the front of the packet. If I wanted a nice pink shade to compliment my skin tone I was depicted as a “prissy princess.” I was really disappointed with Mac’s advertising technique as I don’t see the connection between those “personality” terms they used and eye shadows. If I want to buy a purple eye shadow palette I don’t want to be called a “basic bitch.” Mac was making false assumptions about peoples personalities which I found offensive and I refused to purchase their products after that.
Week 4: What is the ‘right’ decision?
During this week’s lecture I realised the huge amount of pressure that society puts on women making decisions about their own body. What should be a decision driven around one’s independent views about what is right for their physical and emotional self appears to be heavily influenced by the broader public.
Whether that be a woman’s decision to get an abortion, to have a child early or to have a child late that is her decision not the public. There is a section of society who disagrees with women getting an abortion, yet also judges teenage girls for having children. Can we ever do anything ‘right?’ In Queensland, Abortion is considered illegal which makes it incredibly hard for women to feel confident they are making the ‘right’ decision to have an abortion as they are being punished in the eyes of the Law for doing so. There really is no “right” decision and women should be supported to choose the best decision for their own body.
I was also interested in the “Gen Alpha” comment made during the lecture which states that over the next decade women will be having children in their 20s as the flexibility of jobs will increase due to the evolution of technology. I completely agree with this concept and believe it is already happening. The introduction of social media platforms have given rise to new jobs in the field of lifestyle, fashion and fitness bloggers. These types of jobs are self-driven, incredibly flexible and allow women to earn money from documenting their lives at home. This allows for women to have children earlier and spend more time raising their family. As evidenced by a Fitness Blogger Tammy Hembrow who is 23 years old has 2 children and has accumulated a net worth of 5 million dollars purely through documenting her pregnancies, lifestyle and workout programs through Instagram.
Really shows the power technology has to change the way women work, the timing they choose to conceive children and I would go further to say it has changed people’s perception around young pregnancy’s. People are suddenly viewing young pregnancy as acceptable, almost trendy and attainable. Technology has allowed women to be the stay at home mother whilst also being a working mother, an idea that seemed almost impossible 10 years ago is now quite in reach.
Week 5: Paid and Unpaid work…What’s the difference?
Work is often seen as a way of earning money and allows people to make a living in society. Gender has played a big role in particularly in the past in dictating what jobs men and women pick. Often men would be working full time in high power jobs and women would be responsible for looking after the kids and the house.
These women would often be referred to as “house wives” a social role which often involves physical labour such as cleaning the house, cooking, and looking after children all day. Despite the amount of hard work these women do they are not recognised by the majority of society as doing ‘work.’ Many view women who are housewives as having the easy life as they don’t have to go to work in an institution and earn money. I find this really disappointing and believe that the work women do raising children or managing a household is very much underestimated. Looking after a family or a household is a 24/7 job with no break, it is physically and mentally exhausting.
Going to work is also not just financially rewarding but can give women a sense of independence, pride and personal achievement. Women often have to sacrifice their own careers, superannuation, aspirations and dreams to look after children and get no recognition or respect from society for doing so. Society often refuses to classify the tasks “housewives” do as work as it isn’t paid.
When technically if they were to do the same work in another environment they would be paid. Childcare workers and cleaners are considered paid work but when women do the same tasks at home it is not considered work. The image below states how much stay at home mums are approximately worth if they were paid for the work they did, the total yearly salary was approximately $112,962.
I think people should start using the words Paid and Unpaid work to distinguish between the different forms of work and give hard working stay at home mums the recognition they deserve.
Week 6: Domestic Violence Domestic Violence is a significant issue that is underestimated in society as it often occurs behind closed doors and is not openly discussed in public. Many women often may not realise they are in a domestically violent relationship as their are many different types of domestic violence. I think the media has portrayed domestic violence as mainly consisting of physical abuse however this is not the case. I found one of the slides during the lecture really opened my mind of the different types of domestic violence. It stated that domestic abuse can include using; intimidation, emotional abuse, isolation, denying and blaming, economic abuse and threats.
I still don’t believe this message is effectively being communicated to the public as many women often don’t realise they are in a domestically violent relationship until it’s too late or they are being physically abused. This could also lead to them not seeking many support services as they don’t consider themselves in a domestically violent relationship. But more often they are afraid of seeking help as there partner may threaten them if they do so. I think the context in which domestic violence support services are delivered needs to become more informal to ensure more people seek support.
For example, I watched a video which talked about a city in America trying to pass a legislation which would make it mandatory for salon workers to take a 1 hour training class to learn how to inspect people’s hair for signs of domestic abuse. I thought this was a great idea as the hair salon is often a place where women will go to alone and can feel comfortable talking about their personal lives as it is a non judgmental zone. This makes it a perfect place for hair stylist’s to not intervene but give verbal support, guidance and pass on information about other support services.
Week 7: Social Media and Body Image In the past women’s views of body image were negatively shaped by reading magazines, fashion advertisements and television advertisements. However, in contemporary society people are not watching as much T.V, don’t read magazines and billboards are increasingly becoming less effective in delivering messages to target audiences. The channels which women are using to receive information has shifted with women now spending a significant amount of times on their phones and on social media platforms and this has exposed women to larger concentrations of unrealistic body images. In particularly, Instagram is a social media platform which is used by fashion bloggers, fitness blogger, celebrities and ordinary people. It is a platform which creates more harm than good as people often post heavily edited pictures of themselves and it is an inaccurate representation of their lives as people only post positive pictures of themselves. This can have a negative impact on women’s health and make women feel self conscious about their bodies. This Ted talk raises some interesting points around social media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czg_9C7gw0o
This quote from an article posted on blackboard I thought was really interesting, “Instagram is the most harmful social network for your mental health.” I completely agree with this quote and I think the issue of social media and mental health has not be taken seriously amongst health professionals. Social media is a new technology and I don’t think people have looked into the long term impacts of the platform. People can now get constant and instant updates of Instagram pictures on their phones all the time, therefore their is no escaping the negative effects of this platform. Furthermore, people appear to be addicted and obsessed with knowing about other people’s lives and are constantly comparing their lives to the Instagram famous women. Often people have “fomo” a fear of missing out, and are always checking their Instagram to ensure they are up to date with the celebrities and bloggers. This creates a toxic cycle of people being addicted to the platform resulting in them being constantly exposed to unrealistic depictions of body images which can have a negative impact on health.
Week 8: Mental Health and Substance Abuse Post Natal Depression
Being a mum is not easy and women living in contemporary society are often under immense pressure to be the perfect mum and raise the perfect family. How women raise their children is often influenced by so many conflicting sources such as books, media, and family members which can become very overwhelming for some women. This can often contribute to women becoming anxious and doubting their own abilities to raise their child. Paired with the many challenges of raising a new born child can lead to women developing post-natal depression. I think this is a really serious issue that isn’t voiced much in the media. In particularly, social media platforms have allowed many women to document their experiences with pregnancy, birth and raising their children on Instagram and Facebook. However, generally only the positive sides of raising children is portrayed on these platforms and these women are depicted as the perfect mum. Although, this isn’t an accurate representation as often they never document the low’s in their life only the highs. Many women end up comparing their lives to the “social media mums” and this could contribute to women not feeling they are coping well with motherhood. This video has an interesting insight into some women going through Post natal depression. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V64PqXKs02g
Young Women and Drugs
Illicit drug use seems to be becoming a normalised activity amongst young women and has led to many women not understanding the inherent risks. Often women will only take these drugs when out partying on the weekend and will not consider themselves as drug users but more “social” drug users. However, a considerable amount of women will become addicted or feel they cannot have fun on a night out without being under the influence of drugs. This has led to culture of teens who are addicted to drugs but are not seeking help as they don’t classify themselves as drug addicts. I think young women are increasingly becoming more dependent on taking drugs in club scenes and festivals as a means to deal with insecurities or mental illnesses. Young adult hood can be a difficult time where many people are still discovering who they are as a person and people can often look into experimenting with drugs. In some situations, I’ve noticed people continue to use drugs as a method to lose weight. Young women using drugs could potentially also have underlying mental illnesses or eating disorders.
Week 9: Women's Health in Same Sex Relationships: Double Standards?
I found this lecture really interesting as I didn’t know much about the health risks of being a lesbian. It was quite alarming to see that lesbians were 10% more likely to smoke than heterosexual women. Lesbian women could be dealing with more emotional stress and use smoking as a coping mechanism. I also thought it was interesting that lesbian women were at risk of many of the same STIs as heterosexual women. It is possible that lesbian women may not get regular STI checks as they think that STIs are mainly only contracted from men.
Throughout my life I feel like there are some double standards which exist between lesbian women and gay men. I have grown up being exposed to a having a number of gay men friends who are open about there sexuality but very few lesbian women. I feel like women are more private with their sexuality and society is not as accepting of lesbian women as they are gay men. Women seem to always want to have a “gay guy best friend” and they are seen as almost like an object which women want to have in their life. This has been depicted in a number of movies (e.g Sex and the City) which depict gay men as always being flamboyant, feminine, enjoy shopping with the girls, provides great advise and listens to women talk about their life over cocktails. This is a stereotype created by society as not all gay men are like this, these stereotypes are not just formed around gay men but also lesbian women. In the movie, Mean Girls there is a lesbian woman who is depicted as being scary, a butch, always bullied, doesn't have many friends and is an emo. These are not very positive connotations of lesbian women compared to gay men.
Gay Male
I’ve grown up to be very accepting of gay men, except I feel like it hasn’t been the same situation for lesbian women. It seems harder for women to be openly accepted as homosexual than it is for men to be in some situations. Lesbian women would often be depicted as “dykes” or tom boys and weren’t as accepted into friendship groups as gay men. Whereas, gay men were seen as cool, fun and outgoing. I feel like this would result in not many women feeling very open about their sexuality. However, I also do believe it can be more difficult for men to be accepted as gay within their male social groups. Also, women can often openly hook up with other women and not be considered a lesbian. Whereas, if a man was to kiss another man they would instantly be considered gay. This is again a different double standard which is evident in society.
Week 11: Body Hair, what body hair?
Women are highly sexualised and objectified by the media in particularly in high end magazines. This advertisement depicts a woman who is wearing very limited clothing and the focus is on her shiny legs and her small body. Not only is she lieing on the ground but her facial expressions are very passive, she looks helpless and not in control. Whereas there are four men surrounding her all fully clothed, wearing suits and have a very powerful stances and facial features. It almost appears she is about to be gang raped by a series of Dolce & Gabana male models. This advertisement is a prime example of how women are portrayed as sexual objects and are inferior too men. This material is widely available and occurs across all forms of media and promotes sexual objectification of women. It also creates unrealistic body image standards for women, The media is heavily influencing women’s appearances, with men expecting women to look a certain way based on what they have viewed which is often unattainable, impractical and unrealistic.
The concept of body hair is an interesting topic, which I have observed is currently making a comeback. Women having body hair over the past decade has been frowned upon, resulting in many women spending large amounts of money on razors, waxing products and laser treatments. What was created as a natural, normal body component which has a purpose of regulating heat, is a sensory item and provides protection, yet we seek to rid our bodies of all hair other than that on our head. Bazar really. Not to mention the absolute waste of time this hair removal ritual is. And for what purpose? Men? Society? Why do you shave your body hair? Often many women feel uncomfortable having body hair around men and also generally in society it is not accepted for women to have armpit hair. Except it is accepted for men to have armpit hair and leg hair. Currently, I have noticed women beginning to challenge these social norms surrounding body hair and have begun to embrace their natural hair which I think is great. It’s a concept which at first surprised me, purely because I have grown up my whole life never seeing women with body hair. But I think the more women who get involved with the movement, the more accepted it will be in society and I hope in the future we can all throw out our shavers!
Here is a video of some really inspiring women embracing their body hair, a great video to get you motivated to bin your shavers and cancel your next waxing appointment ladies.
Week 12: Education for Women in Vietnam
During class we viewed a video on the challenges that girl’s face in Vietnam, I was particularly interested in this topic as I have just returned from completing my placement in Vietnam. The video talked about how education is highly valued amongst Vietnamese women and is seen as a gateway to a better life. These women were incredibly grateful for having the opportunity to seek an education and are very driven to improve their knowledge. I thought this was a really interesting concept to hear as in Australia people view schooling from a completely different perspective. Often many children are reluctant to go to school and take their schooling for granted.
The culture surrounding education is very different in Australia compared to Vietnam. In Vietnam people want to go to school but don’t have the money but in Australia people have the money but don’t want to go to school. Children in Australia have never had to worry about not having the opportunity to attend school and therefore, have never been exposed to the adversities in life that would occur through not receiving an education. Rather they have only been exposed to the negatives associated with attending school and do not value their education. Whereas, children in Vietnam understand what it is like to grow up without an education and they value education more as it is a means to improve their future and potentially earn more money for them and their family. Here is an interesting video on the power of education for girls in developing countries https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e8xgF0JtVg
During my placement in Vietnam I noticed that these values translated across to students in University as well. All the students had so much pride for their University and were so involved in cultural extra-curricular activities at the University. Whereas, in Australia unfortunately people are not as engaged with their University activities and it’s often a struggle to get students to attend lectures. Compared to Vietnam where students attend University 5 days a week.
Amongst my peers I have noticed that people are praised for leaving assignment’s last minute and it appears as being “cool" and "laid back.” Whereas students who are organised, take pride in their work and attend class are not praised by their peers but are questioned as to why they put in so much effort? The old saying “4s open door’s” is one I’ve heard a lot on campus. The values around studying and education is very different in Australia compared to Vietnam and I think Australian students have a lot to learn from Vietnamese students and should view education more positively.
Week 2 reflection: Women Are…..
Women in contemporary society are expected to look and act a certain way in order to be accepted by the broader public. During the tutorial we discussed how women were often perceived as being more emotional, less independent, respected less and often worried more about others compared to men. Whilst I do agree with some of these traits, the majority I believe do not depict the majority of women in today’s society. Each woman is different and so is each man. There are a number of women who are incredibly independent and men who simply cannot live without the constant help of their wives or mothers.
I do think we have progressed from previous times where women were not allowed to drive cars, entitled to education or offered a job outside of domestic house duties. Women now have access to education, the potential to work in high powered jobs and can live a happy and successful life without being dependent on a man. However, women are still being classified as “less independent” than men. Despite a number of females living independently without the financial or emotional assistance of a partner, society still cannot accept that it is possible for a woman to not be dependent on a man. If a woman does decide to get married they are often perceived as being dependent on their male counterpart. Personally, I disagree with this concept as in a relationship often women are responsible for running the household, looking after the children and the husband, managing finances and working. Whereas, often men go to work, come home, eat and then go to work. So who is more independent? Obviously this is a very simplistic, generalised view which varies in every relationship, but I often think men are more reliant on women in married relationships. The amount of behind the scenes work women do for their husbands is underestimated, yet society still depicts women as being more dependent on men. I think this raises questions around the definition of “independence.” Will women ever be classified as independent people or are we constantly battling societies predetermined expectations of what women should be?
WEEK 3: Women in Popular Culture, Advertising, and the Media
Culture and clothing stores have played a big role in influencing gender roles. In particularly, women’s clothes are always gender stereotyped and it is assumed that women want to wear slim fitting, girly clothes when that is not always the case. I have noticed this doesn’t just happen to older women but begins at birth. When people find out the sex of the baby is a girl they instantly buy pink clothes, even when the child becomes a toddler the female clothes are often more revealing then the boys clothes despite the child being so young. Young female children shouldn’t be sexualised at such a young age, there shouldn’t be any difference in the clothes that girls and boys wear at young ages.
I read an interesting article which talked about a woman who reviewed the clothes for preschool children at Target and noticed that the girl’s short’s were considerably shorter than the boys. Despite the children being in preschool Target still felt the need to sexualise the girl’s clothing, this was also impractical for preschooler’s who would be physically active in quite constrictive and revealing clothes. I don’t see any logical reason for girls in preschool to be wearing such short and revealing pants, Department stores are driving these issues as often Mum’s simply don’t have a choice but to purchase these clothes for their children as there are no other options.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephanie-giese/targets-response-to-my-calling-out-their-girls-clothing-problem_b_5923274.html
Department stores have a large amount of power over what women wear, which is heavily influenced by societies values. Whilst I was shopping at the makeup store Mac I came across something I found quite disturbing, it was a makeup pallet range called “personality palette” and the eye shadow colours were suppose to reflect the personality names that were written on the top. Except I thought the names that Mac had considered “personalities” were very inappropriate and I also didn’t see the relevance of assuming someones personality reflects their choice of makeup pallet.
I went into the store wanting to purchase a nice gold eye shadow pallet and Mac had stereotyped my personality as “power hungry.” If I wanted a simple grey, purple shades I was considered a “basic bitch” which was printed in bold capitals on the front of the packet. If I wanted a nice pink shade to compliment my skin tone I was depicted as a “prissy princess.” I was really disappointed with Mac’s advertising technique as I don’t see the connection between those “personality” terms they used and eye shadows. If I want to buy a purple eye shadow palette I don’t want to be called a “basic bitch.” Mac was making false assumptions about peoples personalities which I found offensive and I refused to purchase their products after that.
Week 4: What is the ‘right’ decision?
During this week’s lecture I realised the huge amount of pressure that society puts on women making decisions about their own body. What should be a decision driven around one’s independent views about what is right for their physical and emotional self appears to be heavily influenced by the broader public.
Whether that be a woman’s decision to get an abortion, to have a child early or to have a child late that is her decision not the public. There is a section of society who disagrees with women getting an abortion, yet also judges teenage girls for having children. Can we ever do anything ‘right?’ In Queensland, Abortion is considered illegal which makes it incredibly hard for women to feel confident they are making the ‘right’ decision to have an abortion as they are being punished in the eyes of the Law for doing so. There really is no “right” decision and women should be supported to choose the best decision for their own body.
I was also interested in the “Gen Alpha” comment made during the lecture which states that over the next decade women will be having children in their 20s as the flexibility of jobs will increase due to the evolution of technology. I completely agree with this concept and believe it is already happening. The introduction of social media platforms have given rise to new jobs in the field of lifestyle, fashion and fitness bloggers. These types of jobs are self-driven, incredibly flexible and allow women to earn money from documenting their lives at home. This allows for women to have children earlier and spend more time raising their family. As evidenced by a Fitness Blogger Tammy Hembrow who is 23 years old has 2 children and has accumulated a net worth of 5 million dollars purely through documenting her pregnancies, lifestyle and workout programs through Instagram.
Really shows the power technology has to change the way women work, the timing they choose to conceive children and I would go further to say it has changed people’s perception around young pregnancy’s. People are suddenly viewing young pregnancy as acceptable, almost trendy and attainable. Technology has allowed women to be the stay at home mother whilst also being a working mother, an idea that seemed almost impossible 10 years ago is now quite in reach.
Week 5: Paid and Unpaid work…What’s the difference?
Work is often seen as a way of earning money and allows people to make a living in society. Gender has played a big role in particularly in the past in dictating what jobs men and women pick. Often men would be working full time in high power jobs and women would be responsible for looking after the kids and the house.
These women would often be referred to as “house wives” a social role which often involves physical labour such as cleaning the house, cooking, and looking after children all day. Despite the amount of hard work these women do they are not recognised by the majority of society as doing ‘work.’ Many view women who are housewives as having the easy life as they don’t have to go to work in an institution and earn money. I find this really disappointing and believe that the work women do raising children or managing a household is very much underestimated. Looking after a family or a household is a 24/7 job with no break, it is physically and mentally exhausting.
Going to work is also not just financially rewarding but can give women a sense of independence, pride and personal achievement. Women often have to sacrifice their own careers, superannuation, aspirations and dreams to look after children and get no recognition or respect from society for doing so. Society often refuses to classify the tasks “housewives” do as work as it isn’t paid.
When technically if they were to do the same work in another environment they would be paid. Childcare workers and cleaners are considered paid work but when women do the same tasks at home it is not considered work. The image below states how much stay at home mums are approximately worth if they were paid for the work they did, the total yearly salary was approximately $112,962.
I think people should start using the words Paid and Unpaid work to distinguish between the different forms of work and give hard working stay at home mums the recognition they deserve.
Week 6: Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence is a significant issue that is underestimated in society as it often occurs behind closed doors and is not openly discussed in public. Many women often may not realise they are in a domestically violent relationship as their are many different types of domestic violence. I think the media has portrayed domestic violence as mainly consisting of physical abuse however this is not the case. I found one of the slides during the lecture really opened my mind of the different types of domestic violence. It stated that domestic abuse can include using; intimidation, emotional abuse, isolation, denying and blaming, economic abuse and threats.
I still don’t believe this message is effectively being communicated to the public as many women often don’t realise they are in a domestically violent relationship until it’s too late or they are being physically abused. This could also lead to them not seeking many support services as they don’t consider themselves in a domestically violent relationship. But more often they are afraid of seeking help as there partner may threaten them if they do so. I think the context in which domestic violence support services are delivered needs to become more informal to ensure more people seek support.
For example, I watched a video which talked about a city in America trying to pass a legislation which would make it mandatory for salon workers to take a 1 hour training class to learn how to inspect people’s hair for signs of domestic abuse. I thought this was a great idea as the hair salon is often a place where women will go to alone and can feel comfortable talking about their personal lives as it is a non judgmental zone. This makes it a perfect place for hair stylist’s to not intervene but give verbal support, guidance and pass on information about other support services.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz6Ey1uNt-Q
Week 7: Social Media and Body ImageIn the past women’s views of body image were negatively shaped by reading magazines, fashion advertisements and television advertisements. However, in contemporary society people are not watching as much T.V, don’t read magazines and billboards are increasingly becoming less effective in delivering messages to target audiences. The channels which women are using to receive information has shifted with women now spending a significant amount of times on their phones and on social media platforms and this has exposed women to larger concentrations of unrealistic body images. In particularly, Instagram is a social media platform which is used by fashion bloggers, fitness blogger, celebrities and ordinary people. It is a platform which creates more harm than good as people often post heavily edited pictures of themselves and it is an inaccurate representation of their lives as people only post positive pictures of themselves. This can have a negative impact on women’s health and make women feel self conscious about their bodies. This Ted talk raises some interesting points around social media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czg_9C7gw0o
This quote from an article posted on blackboard I thought was really interesting, “Instagram is the most harmful social network for your mental health.” I completely agree with this quote and I think the issue of social media and mental health has not be taken seriously amongst health professionals. Social media is a new technology and I don’t think people have looked into the long term impacts of the platform. People can now get constant and instant updates of Instagram pictures on their phones all the time, therefore their is no escaping the negative effects of this platform. Furthermore, people appear to be addicted and obsessed with knowing about other people’s lives and are constantly comparing their lives to the Instagram famous women. Often people have “fomo” a fear of missing out, and are always checking their Instagram to ensure they are up to date with the celebrities and bloggers. This creates a toxic cycle of people being addicted to the platform resulting in them being constantly exposed to unrealistic depictions of body images which can have a negative impact on health.
Week 8: Mental Health and Substance Abuse
Post Natal Depression
Being a mum is not easy and women living in contemporary society are often under immense pressure to be the perfect mum and raise the perfect family. How women raise their children is often influenced by so many conflicting sources such as books, media, and family members which can become very overwhelming for some women. This can often contribute to women becoming anxious and doubting their own abilities to raise their child. Paired with the many challenges of raising a new born child can lead to women developing post-natal depression. I think this is a really serious issue that isn’t voiced much in the media. In particularly, social media platforms have allowed many women to document their experiences with pregnancy, birth and raising their children on Instagram and Facebook. However, generally only the positive sides of raising children is portrayed on these platforms and these women are depicted as the perfect mum. Although, this isn’t an accurate representation as often they never document the low’s in their life only the highs. Many women end up comparing their lives to the “social media mums” and this could contribute to women not feeling they are coping well with motherhood. This video has an interesting insight into some women going through Post natal depression. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V64PqXKs02g
Young Women and Drugs
Illicit drug use seems to be becoming a normalised activity amongst young women and has led to many women not understanding the inherent risks. Often women will only take these drugs when out partying on the weekend and will not consider themselves as drug users but more “social” drug users. However, a considerable amount of women will become addicted or feel they cannot have fun on a night out without being under the influence of drugs. This has led to culture of teens who are addicted to drugs but are not seeking help as they don’t classify themselves as drug addicts. I think young women are increasingly becoming more dependent on taking drugs in club scenes and festivals as a means to deal with insecurities or mental illnesses. Young adult hood can be a difficult time where many people are still discovering who they are as a person and people can often look into experimenting with drugs. In some situations, I’ve noticed people continue to use drugs as a method to lose weight. Young women using drugs could potentially also have underlying mental illnesses or eating disorders.
Week 9: Women's Health in Same Sex Relationships: Double Standards?
I found this lecture really interesting as I didn’t know much about the health risks of being a lesbian. It was quite alarming to see that lesbians were 10% more likely to smoke than heterosexual women. Lesbian women could be dealing with more emotional stress and use smoking as a coping mechanism. I also thought it was interesting that lesbian women were at risk of many of the same STIs as heterosexual women. It is possible that lesbian women may not get regular STI checks as they think that STIs are mainly only contracted from men.
Throughout my life I feel like there are some double standards which exist between lesbian women and gay men. I have grown up being exposed to a having a number of gay men friends who are open about there sexuality but very few lesbian women. I feel like women are more private with their sexuality and society is not as accepting of lesbian women as they are gay men. Women seem to always want to have a “gay guy best friend” and they are seen as almost like an object which women want to have in their life. This has been depicted in a number of movies (e.g Sex and the City) which depict gay men as always being flamboyant, feminine, enjoy shopping with the girls, provides great advise and listens to women talk about their life over cocktails. This is a stereotype created by society as not all gay men are like this, these stereotypes are not just formed around gay men but also lesbian women. In the movie, Mean Girls there is a lesbian woman who is depicted as being scary, a butch, always bullied, doesn't have many friends and is an emo. These are not very positive connotations of lesbian women compared to gay men.
Gay Male
I’ve grown up to be very accepting of gay men, except I feel like it hasn’t been the same situation for lesbian women. It seems harder for women to be openly accepted as homosexual than it is for men to be in some situations. Lesbian women would often be depicted as “dykes” or tom boys and weren’t as accepted into friendship groups as gay men. Whereas, gay men were seen as cool, fun and outgoing. I feel like this would result in not many women feeling very open about their sexuality. However, I also do believe it can be more difficult for men to be accepted as gay within their male social groups. Also, women can often openly hook up with other women and not be considered a lesbian. Whereas, if a man was to kiss another man they would instantly be considered gay. This is again a different double standard which is evident in society.
Week 11: Body Hair, what body hair?
Women are highly sexualised and objectified by the media in particularly in high end magazines. This advertisement depicts a woman who is wearing very limited clothing and the focus is on her shiny legs and her small body. Not only is she lieing on the ground but her facial expressions are very passive, she looks helpless and not in control. Whereas there are four men surrounding her all fully clothed, wearing suits and have a very powerful stances and facial features. It almost appears she is about to be gang raped by a series of Dolce & Gabana male models. This advertisement is a prime example of how women are portrayed as sexual objects and are inferior too men. This material is widely available and occurs across all forms of media and promotes sexual objectification of women. It also creates unrealistic body image standards for women, The media is heavily influencing women’s appearances, with men expecting women to look a certain way based on what they have viewed which is often unattainable, impractical and unrealistic.
The concept of body hair is an interesting topic, which I have observed is currently making a comeback. Women having body hair over the past decade has been frowned upon, resulting in many women spending large amounts of money on razors, waxing products and laser treatments. What was created as a natural, normal body component which has a purpose of regulating heat, is a sensory item and provides protection, yet we seek to rid our bodies of all hair other than that on our head. Bazar really. Not to mention the absolute waste of time this hair removal ritual is. And for what purpose? Men? Society? Why do you shave your body hair? Often many women feel uncomfortable having body hair around men and also generally in society it is not accepted for women to have armpit hair. Except it is accepted for men to have armpit hair and leg hair. Currently, I have noticed women beginning to challenge these social norms surrounding body hair and have begun to embrace their natural hair which I think is great. It’s a concept which at first surprised me, purely because I have grown up my whole life never seeing women with body hair. But I think the more women who get involved with the movement, the more accepted it will be in society and I hope in the future we can all throw out our shavers!
Here is a video of some really inspiring women embracing their body hair, a great video to get you motivated to bin your shavers and cancel your next waxing appointment ladies.
Week 12: Education for Women in Vietnam
During class we viewed a video on the challenges that girl’s face in Vietnam, I was particularly interested in this topic as I have just returned from completing my placement in Vietnam. The video talked about how education is highly valued amongst Vietnamese women and is seen as a gateway to a better life. These women were incredibly grateful for having the opportunity to seek an education and are very driven to improve their knowledge. I thought this was a really interesting concept to hear as in Australia people view schooling from a completely different perspective. Often many children are reluctant to go to school and take their schooling for granted.
The culture surrounding education is very different in Australia compared to Vietnam. In Vietnam people want to go to school but don’t have the money but in Australia people have the money but don’t want to go to school. Children in Australia have never had to worry about not having the opportunity to attend school and therefore, have never been exposed to the adversities in life that would occur through not receiving an education. Rather they have only been exposed to the negatives associated with attending school and do not value their education. Whereas, children in Vietnam understand what it is like to grow up without an education and they value education more as it is a means to improve their future and potentially earn more money for them and their family. Here is an interesting video on the power of education for girls in developing countries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e8xgF0JtVg
During my placement in Vietnam I noticed that these values translated across to students in University as well. All the students had so much pride for their University and were so involved in cultural extra-curricular activities at the University. Whereas, in Australia unfortunately people are not as engaged with their University activities and it’s often a struggle to get students to attend lectures. Compared to Vietnam where students attend University 5 days a week.
Amongst my peers I have noticed that people are praised for leaving assignment’s last minute and it appears as being “cool" and "laid back.” Whereas students who are organised, take pride in their work and attend class are not praised by their peers but are questioned as to why they put in so much effort? The old saying “4s open door’s” is one I’ve heard a lot on campus. The values around studying and education is very different in Australia compared to Vietnam and I think Australian students have a lot to learn from Vietnamese students and should view education more positively.