My Guilty Pleasure

I hate to admit it, but award shows are a guilty pleasure of mine. I turned on the Oscars expecting to be irritated by stupidity on Sunday night, and I was actually pleasantly surprised by some of the awesome things that happened at the award show. From #AskHerMore to the discussions about equality, there were some great moments that made me feel a little less guilty about my guilty pleasure.

Now don’t get me wrong, there was a lot that needed to be fixed and addressed- Neil Patrick Harris said it best, “Tonight we honor the best and the whitest”- but, what do you expect when the Academy has an extreme lack of diversity (94% men, 77% white, and a median age of 62 if you want to get technical).

It’s kind of bizarre that the entire day leading up to the actual award show is spent judging the celebrities on what they are wearing. So it is safe to say one of my favorite things that happened is the Ask Her More campaign. It is an awesome movement that encourages reporters on the red carpet to ask the incredibly talented women interesting questions as opposed to who made her dress or what she’s wearing (and thank God they ditched the “mani-cam”). Below is an example of some of the ridiculous questions women get asked when on the red carpet, or discussing their work.

                                       

This year we learned that when you “Ask Her More” we can actually learn a lot. For example, when Julianna Moore was asked about her role in Still Alice, she took the moment to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s disease by saying:

“There’s this misnomer that dementia or Alzheimer’s is a normal condition of aging, and it’s not. It’s a disease-- and a disease without any treatment or cure. It’s the sixth leading cause of death.”

But unfortunately even with this new movement, there were still instances of the women being asked about their outfits. And of course the tremendous amount of articles and shows featuring “The Best and the Worst” are still offensive, considering these people are so much more than the outfits they wear, and if they are happy with what they have on who really has a right to judge them?

The gossip industry loves to pick apart women at these events, and Perez Hilton has no shame in his women bashing. He took the time to point out that he has been disappointed in Kiera Knightley’s maternity wear for the award’s season (seriously??), and gossiped about who had the best skin. These types of media are extremely hurtful to women and young girls because they are encouraging the “Botox Baby” phenomenon and other cosmetic surgeries. Instead of being congratulated on the great things they have accomplished to get them to the awards show, there are people picking apart every part of their body and their style. I feel that this is so harmful because when young girls see such negative comments toward successful women, it may cause them to think that success doesn't really matter, it is all about how you look- thus leading to the use of cosmetic surgery throughout their lives.

Another awesome moment occurred when Patricia Arquette won an award for Best Supporting Actress. She took the time during her speech to discuss the gender pay gap and how it is time for every women in America to have equal rights. (Her comments did spark some controversy though, but I am hopeful it was just a moment of poor word choice). 

(Meryl Streep and I had a similar reaction to her speech)

An additional favorite part of the awards show was John Legend and Common’s performance of Glory, followed by their remarkable acceptance speeches. They brought awareness to the fact that there are more black men under correctional control today than there were under slavery in 1850. I thought this was a great moment because they brought awareness to an issue black men are facing today. 

Hopefully with the help of celebrities like the ones I mentioned and movements like Ask Her More, in the future award shows will become something I don't need to refer to as a "guilty pleasure."

I Know I'm Not The Only One...

Am I the only one who can’t stand like 90% of what comes on the radio? If the world could come to a mutual agreement to only play Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran on the radio, I’d totally be okay with that. Speaking of Sam Smith, you go Grammy award picker people (how are Grammy winners picked???) for selecting him to win FOUR awards!

Anyways, back to my rant. What’s with all the songs we play in our cars and so cheerfully sing to? The other day I was walking around my office singing “I’m in love with the co-co” not realizing that song is about cocaine… w.t.f. And that is definitely not the only song that has major drug references, but what’s even more common in so so sooo many songs, is blatant sexism. And what’s weird is that the objectifying of women isn’t just coming from male artist, female rappers (Nicki Minaj for example) seem to be doing it as well. 

I personally try to find happy songs that make me want to take someone into my loving arms (see what I did there? ha!). Unfortunately, I still find myself unconsciously jamming out to some songs that make me wonder what the heck music has come to. Here’s an example, over the summer I remember going out to the bars and happily dancing to horrible songs (“just shake that ass bitch”… I mean really??), only to later realize that there are some horrid messages engraved in those lyrics. Remember Wiggle by Jason Derulo? He sings about how a girl has him in the club making wedding plans… all because she had a nice ass?!? Well guess what Jason, she probably has a nice personality too, but did you ever stop to think about that, no ya didn’t! And what’s up with playing songs about how “bitches ain’t shit but hoes and tricks”?!?! YG says in that song that hes got a "bitch" with "big ass titties" and Tyga says he needs "a bitch that could f*ck, cook, clean right," the whole song is so sexist it's sickening. What the hell! 

I digress. But seriously, why can’t we have more nice songs that empower women? These messages that are being sent in most popular music are basically idolizing body parts, which the average woman may not feel comfortable with flaunting around. They say that TV shows have a link to cosmetic surgery procedures, but I think that the music industry also has an effect. There are so many songs that are so overly sexualize, like Only by Nicki Minaj -“She was sittin down on that big butt, but I was still starin at them titties though” - it just sends a horrible message to girls. If we act like the greatest thing a woman has to offer is her “big butt” or “titties,” then how are girls without the “ideal” body going to feel? And by ideal I mean the unrealistic, and usually surgically made bodies that are shown in the music industry...

Oh Nicki *sigh*

Some may think I am dramatic, but I think the perfect resolution for all of this is to simply stick with only playing Sam Smith's music. Or ya know, other artist could just stop singing about big butts and stuff.

My Gender Shouldn't Be Used As An Insult...

Every year in February, we Americans dedicate roughly four hours of our lives to Super Bowl Sunday, and personally I was just there for the commercials this year (who cares if the Raven’s aren’t playing, am I right?!). This year, a few of the commercials received some negative backlash… Nationwide, I’m talking to you.

But nothing made the Internet go crazier than the Always #LikeAGirl commercial (see below for the extended version of the commercial). Within minutes of the ad airing, Internet users everywhere began feuding. Men were starting their own hashtag #LikeABoy, wondering if equality is what we’re looking for, why weren’t men included. And let’s not forget, Always is a company that sells feminine hygiene products.

 (What the heck is a meninist... seriously??)

So I wondered, why is it that an advertisement that was made to empower girls and women turned into such a controversy?

After seeing the response to the commercial, I realized that it was the exact reason why we NEEDED it. We are so used to seeing super bowl commercials that are objectifying women (GoDaddy…) that it’s normal, but the moment we start empowering women, we make a mockery of it. I would like to think that the positive comments outweighed the negative, but the fact that there were any negative comments is bothersome. Why is it that the phrase “like a girl” is used as an insult?

I believe the reason this ad gathered so much attention, is because it is breaking the stereotypes we are used to seeing on TV, especially during the Super Bowl. We are used to seeing women as the nurturing and kind figures, so when we see them being competitive and aggressive (like they were after they realized that they were insulting themselves acting weak), it grabs everyone’s attention. The group that was most startled by this? The group of people that the Super Bowl is intended for - men. Dominant groups are attracted to things that justify their dominance, and women standing up for and empowering themselves isn’t really ‘benefitting’ men, therefore it resulted in backlash.

Now I don’t believe all men were against this commercial, and I don’t think all females were for it, but it is interesting to look into the reasons why anyone could have been offended by it. In regards to Always, I think they did it right (I mean I have been talking about a tampon company for the past week). They definitely picked a subject that would get people talking, and pulling at the heart strings of feminists everywhere.

Here is the full commercial, which was first shown in June, 2014.