WST 3015
April 2, 2010
Activism Log 5
Activism
On March 26th I volunteered for an event sponsored by UCF's "MSC's Week of the Woman." It was a kind of "girl’s night" where the Girl Scouts were invited, along with UCF students, to have free food and watch a screening of Disney's The Princess and The Frog in a facility on campus. I helped hand out free popcorn and went to enjoy the movie myself since I had not seen it. Due to complications, the movie was unable to be shown. In order to keep the young girls entertained, a few of us played games and danced with them. There was also a short discussion on girl’s rights and well being in the community and the benefits of the Girl Scouts as a program.
Reflection
One funny thing that happened during this evening was during the little "dance party" we had since the movie wasn't working. I was surprised to see that most of the girls knew every word to some of today's more popular songs (Miley Cirus!). I was especially shocked to see that many of them knew every word to Ludacris' rap portion of Justin Bieber's song "Baby." This was surprising to me 1- because it was a room full of 7 year old girls raping along with Ludacris 2- that these girls had actually listened to this song enough times to memorize the words and 3- some of the words to the song. After we did our analysis of sexism in songs, it was interesting to be able to break down this song as well. The Ludacris rap is: "Luda, When I was 13 I had my first love, there was nobody that compared to my baby, and nobody came between us, no-one could ever come above, She had me going crazy, oh I was star-struck, she woke me up daily, don’t need no Starbucks. She made my heart pound, I skip a beat when I see her in the street and, at school on the playground but I really wanna see her on the weekend. She knows she got me dazing coz she was so amazing
and now my heart is breaking but I just keep on saying…." (lyricsmusicvideo.blogspot.com/2010/01/justin-bieber-ludacris-baby-lyrics.html) The idea that at 13 these girls should have a true love boyfriend that they obsess over is ridiculous. I would not think that this idea would contribute positively to the rising teen pregnancy numbers in America. The Starbucks commercial mid-song is just an added bonus.
Reciprocity
The media as a whole has such a negative influence on young girls and women today. This includes television, movies, advertising, as well as music. It has been shown that "advertising images can severely undermine girls' self-confidence and sense of agency, which can lead to serious physical and emotional health problems," (Kirk & Okazawa-Rey 208). Girls should not have to compare themselves to such negative images through out their lives. By listening to songs such as "Baby," these girls are setting themselves up to fall into society's skewed expectations of them. This song reinforces the social stereotype that all young girls are boy-crazy and in search of long-term loving boyfriends. It completes leaves out the idea of homosexuality or an independent woman who is not seeking a man in her life.
Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. Fifth Edition. Boston: McGraw Hill Higher Education, 2010. Print.
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