Beauty Cult

I was happy to see J. Valenti explore the beauty issues that females deal with on a daily basis. In the chapter, “Beauty Cult,” she covers all the issues, from eating disorders to wearing shoes that destroy your feet, just to be accepted by someone else. Valenti says, “None of us want to be ugly; in fact, we all would really like to be beautiful-and it’s killing us. Literally.” I feel she is spot on with that comment. Being a non-traditional student and making the transition from the business environment to the college environment, I have to agree with her. In the business environment on a daily basis, I would see female co-workers shoved into tight shirts, which pushed their breasts up and out, just trying to catch the eye of a VP, hoping it would be their ticket up. I wondered how in the world that was comfortable. I know when I wear a tight shirt, I can barely breath or move and it’s definitely not comfortable. In my opinion, when women stop using their bodies as vessels for advancement and start earning their way up the business ladder, men will start looking at them in a different way.

Lesbians Need Not Apply…

I have to agree with Valenti, when she says, “In one of the cruelest moves ever, the anti-sex, anti-gay crowd is trying to keep anyone who isn’t straight or married from being parents.” Obviously some things have changed since she wrote the book. We know have a pop-culture figure, “Octo-Mom” who is an unmarried woman that had six children she couldn’t handle in the first place and then through fertility procedures, had 8 more. Really??? Give me a f-ing break. What in the hell was the doctor and her thinking? It’s hard for me to believe that she didn’t do it for the fame and money. Granted not all unmarried women out there are trying to have multiple children at one time, but they should be able to bear children if they want too. My only suggestion would be to do a financial check on those unmarried woman that are wanted to raise a child on their own. It does seem common in our society there is a plethora of unfit mothers that are popping out kids, like they were a Pix dispenser. When there are thousands of fit unmarried women and married couples that struggle to have kids and can’t afford fertility procedures. As far as homosexual couples go, they are just as capable to raise a good kid that a heterosexual couple is. If anything, being raised in a homosexual environment would open the eyes of the child to be more understanding and accepting of other people.        

    

Writing Assignment 3 Blog

How did you arrive at your research question?

• I arrived at my research question because I’ve seen the obesity rates of this country grow rapidly. Whether it’s the transition from a mainly agricultural environment to a more technical one, the plethora of fast food restaurants or the lack of social skills; our society is slowly killing itself with obesity related illnesses.  

What is it that interests you?

• Being someone that’s concerned with my weight issues and someone that comes from a morbidly obese family, I’m very interested in this topic. I’m interested to see how the Baby Boomers transition was different than the Gen Me, and whether Gen Me is going to learn from the previous generation or continue down the same self-destructive path.

What do you wish to explore and why?

• The areas I plan to explore are; self-esteem issues related to morbid obesity between the Baby Boomers and Gen Me and the food choices and work habits between the two generations. In Gen Me, Twenge discusses the self-esteem issues for the Gen Me population, but she never mentions the obesity issues with the generation. She also discusses how body improvement procedures are at an all time high, for the Gen Me population. With that observation, I’m going to conclude that obesity plays a huge role in the lack of self-esteem with the Gen Me population. The Baby Boomers either didn’t care about their looks as much as the Gen Me population does, or they had more physically demanding jobs or careers, compared to the technical environment that most of the Gen Me population are going to go into.

Ethos, Pathos & Logos Post

Select a hip-hop artist (e.g. If you do not listen to hip-hop, any other music genre will do) to investigate. How does h/she establish ethos with his/her audience?
 As I sit here listening to TuPac’s album, All Eyes on Me, I’m focusing on the words, rather than the beat. Even though he was a genius when it came to mixing goods beats. Right off the bat, in the first song of the album, he talks about being a straight rider and that no one wants to mess with him. Then he goes on to talk about having battle field scars while driving in plush cars, indicating these are requirements or rites of passage to being a gangster / hustler. The entire length of the song or rap he is referring to himself in first person, as if he was telling a story about the events of his life. The audience he is trying to reach or relate to consider the activities mentioned in the song; about getting battle field scars, driving plush cars and smoking dope as daily activities and seen in high regards to the gangster lifestyle. If Tupac would have talked about any other activities, besides gangster / hustler activities, he wouldn’t have been able to reach his audience or been as famous as he was. Being a part of the Tupac generation and knowing his background from interviews and documentaries, he spoke about his true life activities. He was a gangster and hustler. At one point in time, he was regarded as one of the toughest musicians in the industry. He was known for starting shit with the east coast rappers, like Notorious BIG and Jay-Z. In one of his songs, Tupac refers to having relations with Notorious BIG’s girlfriend at the time, Faith Evans. By doing this, he once again increased his credibility with the gangsters / hustlers on the west coast. Some would say that those verbal assaults on other artists eventually caused his demise. Even the manner in which Tupac was killed increased is credibility. At the end of day, Tupac stayed true to his upbringing and environment never letting go of the gangster mentality; which to this day keeps him in the forefront of the gangster rap and the hip-hop industries. 

My Ad

Tell us about the ad you have chosen. Spend some time describing the ad in detail. How does it objectify a male or female? Next briefly identify the intended audience. Go further than identifying young, white women. Use the example that I have provided you with for the writing assignment for the first essay. Discuss how and why that ad targets this audience. Use supporting details from the ad to support your claim

The ad I chose is that of a well known super model, scantily clad, posing in provocative positions while holding onto a massive double cheeseburger from Carl Jr.’s fast food restaurant. I feel this ad is very objectifying to women because of the outfit the model is wearing and the positions she puts herself in. The intended audience for the ad is obviously men between the ages of 18 and 40, due to the scantily clad model. I also believe the ad is intended for women between the ages of 15 and 35, because of the use of the model. Carl Jr.’s wants us (the consumer) to think that it’s ok to indulge in a massive sandwich that’s filled with saturated fat and contains thousands of calories. As an obese person and a certified personal trainer, who has struggled with weight my entire life, I find this ad to be very disturbing and degrading to those of us in the obese community. To see a super model promoting a fast food product; is not only a huge slap in the face, but it contradicts everything those in the weight management and fitness industries are trying to promote. In real life you would never see a super model eating such a sandwich and if they did, they may only eat a few bites of it. I would be interested to know if the models actually ate the bites that they took during the commercials. What I would like to see, but will never happen, is all fast food related ads removed from being aired on TV, similar to the way cigarette commercials were banned in the 90’s.         

      

Writerly Biography

My name is Clarence Sanford, but I prefer to be called Jr. I’m in the second semester of my freshman year of college at MWSU. I’m a Non-Traditional student, who is able to pursue a degree in a field that I feel is going to be rewarding and satisfying, which is very important to me. I come from the Liberty area, where I grew up and I currently reside. After losing what I thought was going to be my career job, in March of 2010; my wife and I felt it was important for me to return to school and get my education, in a field that I have interest in. I also come from a family that has obesity issues and that’s another reason why I’m choosing to pursue a degree in Health and Exercise Science. I want to be able to teach and help my family on how to deal with this deadly disorder and find a way to conquer it.
My reading and writing experiences were null and void until last semester, when I started my college career. During that semester I took English 100, where I was encouraged to explore my reading and writing skills. By the end of the semester, I discovered my passion for writing and I developed an interest in reading. From the lessons I learned last semester, I decided to continue blogging for personal reasons about my Lifelong Battle with Obesity. Which I plan to use the material for a book I plan to write some day.

As far as myself as a reader and writer, that my classmates and you need to know is; I’m always true or honest with what I write. I feel that I’m a pretty average reader. However, I’m not afraid to speak my mind or voice my opinions. I do respect those that have different views than I what I have. I would say my one weakness is reading; it seems that I can find something that needs to be done around the house, before sitting down with a book.
I’m excited about this semester, after last semester. I hope my writing skills improve because that will only make my process of writing my book that much easier. Some of the topics this semester are interesting, and I’m looking forward to it.