I know what I want to be when I grow up

I want to be a forever student. I miss school. Lately, I have noticed that I miss school a lot. There are a lot of times, I wonder if my major (Sociology) was a wrong choice. It's too broad, and it didn't train me to do really anything. But at the same time, I loved what I was studying. To me it was fascinating. Studying human behavior and theorizing why people are so stupid. It's just awesome. Still to this day, I talk a lot about what I studied while in school. Particularly, I always seem to bring up my Human Sexuality course I took sophomore year. Who wouldn't want to know about masturbatory practices and nicknames for it?

The reason I bring this up, is because some fellow co-workers and I are in charge of leading a segment of Friday training. The topic we decided to present was Body Image and Media. I took a Woman's Studies course and always found the work of Jean Kilbourne to be fascinating so I was super pumped about doing this.

While doing some initial research on the internet, I found nothing. So I decided to look at the UW-Madison library website for some inspiration. I was looking at all the listing of journal entries on Body Image and Media, Gender and Sex Image in the Media etc., and found myself jealous of all the students who were able to check out that material and read it. I actually found myself desiring to check out the material to read FOR FUN! Such a nerd, I am. Luckily I found some awesome websites that showcase some examples of offensive body image usage.

I am also planning on using a book, I read for my Comics Literature class called Ways of Seeing by John Berger. Part of the book comments on art and advertisement and how women are "surveyed." According to this book, both men and women are taught to look at women as objects (the surveyed or the object of the "gaze") and not actors (the surveyor or the "gazer"). Also, a woman's presence, or how she is portrayed, is how she WANTS to be treated. A man's presence is a outward expression of his emotions, and is not indicative of how he wants to be treated. A kind of modern way to look at this is if a woman is dressed "slutty", she wants people to treat her as a "slut." Summed up: Traditionally men are not concerned, or don't have to be concerned with what others think. Woman need or should be concerned with what others think. I could go on and on about this book, but you should read it if you have the chance. It's only 154 pages (with A LOT of pictures).

If you want to do your own little investigation, first take a look at the links I connected to and read about the ways women, and men, are objectified (ex. focusing on body parts and not faces, the positioning of the bodies in sexual positions, the use of the mouth, as dolls/not humans at all, violence, etc.) pick up a magazine: whether it be Cosmo, Maxim, Essence or whatever, and take a look at the ads. Particularly, the liqueur, tobacco, perfume and clothing ads. This is fascinating stuff here people!

Ok, enough with my dorkiness. Later.