“Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us”

Quotes

1. "The idea of not being completely responsible for how I feel about things today is scary. They influence how I behave, think, react to things." Page 129

While I was reading I thought this quote was 100% relatable to everyone. Unless you live under a rock but the only reason I am saying this is because every advertisement, television show, movie, and ext have influence people. The student who quotes this says she gets depressed thinking about it because media has molded her to dress the way she does. I agree with this because many of the women in magazines are the people young adolescents and teens look up to. So what they wear is what they would like to wear as well. Media has also influence women to have the "perfect ideal body structure". For a long time, it has been that women should have the flat stomach, big butt, hourglass shape body, long hair, and much more. It was not till recently people have been more open to women of all shapes and sizes. A couple of examples is that sports illustrator finally has a size 16 model as the cover of the magazine. Which is amazing because this is something that can open the door for a lot of women who are on the thicker side. Lastly, the Barbie company came out with a new model of toys. Usually, barbie is known for their ideal blond hair, tall, white women and that was what all of their dolls consisted of. But it was not till the past year the barbie release dolls that actually look more realistic. There are curvy, short, tall, some with darker skin than others. This a huge deal because kids can see that everyone is different and there is not ideal image for beauty.  

2. "I want to develop their critical consciousness, but I also hope to move them to action."

Overall, Sexism, racism are going to be in cartoons but this also does happen every day in real life. Sometimes we just become so blind when it comes to these issues. What the teacher is trying to point out is that sometimes we need to look a little closer and realize that these are big issues and a problem in our society. 

Questions/Comments/Points to share

I personally really liked this article because it gave the students perspective on how media affects them. This is something we can all learn from because at one point in our lives we have been dramatically influenced by media. Me personally media has affected me by how college is portrayed. This is kind of silly but the way it is portrayed is that college is just filled with a bunch of partying and or never having a social life because of how much homework needs to be done. College is something different and new. Me personally I am just trying to get my degree, make awesome friends, do new things and make some great memories. What are some weird misconceptions that media has made you believe?