Do Good

This year, I have one resolution: Do good.      

I’ve never look at the New Year as a chance to start fresh with new beginnings – I’ve never counted down to the biggest anticlimax of the year, I’ve never purchased poppers and festive frilly hats with glasses awkwardly shaped as numbers, and I’ve never made resolutions.  This year is the exception. 

The New Year has never signified more to me than the start of my favorite TV shows, and yes I am talking about the quality reality television shows The Millionaire Matchmaker and The Bachelor on Bravo and ABC, respectively.  I’ve never seen a point in making resolutions; after all, what is scrawling down a list of meaningless words like work hard in school, exercise more, break out of my shell, and eat healthy foods really going to do for me in the long run?

This year, I celebrated my New Year in my room upstairs watching episodes of Boy Meets World on Youtube.  Boy Meets World is a show about the coming of age that follows two characters named Cory and Topanga through elementary school, college, and ultimately marriage.  Their teacher, Mr. Feeny also follows them throughout their journeys towards self-discovery.  In the final episode, he gives his final words of wisdom to the group: “Do good.”  When Topanga asks if he means do well, he says “No.  I mean do good.”

And then the clock struck midnight, and the New Year was confirmed with the buzz of Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin’s voices saying “Happy New Year” from the television downstairs. 

An epiphany came over me when I was watching TV the next day filled with commercials persuading me to join Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, commercials asking me to “get my life back on track” and get a degree from ITT Tech.  All we really need out of life to do good, to be good, and to spread goodness.  Doing good is the most that we can ask of ourselves to find perfect equilibrium. 

I invite you all to watch the last scene of Boy Meets World at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgbvtZAYv1g.  

Review of Miranda Kerr's Treasure Yourself

I have always admired Miranda Kerr – she is not just the glossy face on advertisements and billboards, but also a mother to her two-year old son Flynn, wife to Orlando Bloom, creator of the organic skincare line Kora Organics, and author of the self-help book for teens, Treasure Yourself.  Naturally, when I saw the pink and white book decorated with flowers and butterflies on Amazon, I just had to buy it.

Big mistake.

The book is intended to be a collection of memories and lessons geared toward the younger generation of teenage girls to inspire them by teaching lessons about self-confidence, acceptance, and inner beauty.  However, the book is really just 245 pages cluttered with clichés, awkward anecdotes that are impossible to relate to, and hand-drawn butterflies.    

This book can be summarized with the clichés: Follow your dreams!  Be positive!  Smile!  Love your life!  Love your family!  Cherish what you’re given!  Never stop growing!  Seize the possibilities!  Be grounded!  Love yourself!  The entire book was a big sugar-coated lollipop surrounded by vanilla beans, sparkles, and unicorns.  Although I could let the first couple slide, I found myself irritated by the end.  She had nothing profound to say, and while I genuinely believe Miranda Kerr is good-hearted and kind, the book felt like a celebrity publicity piece.

Reading the book was like reading a twelve year old girl’s diary.  The writing was marred with so many repetitive phrases and awkward clauses I wonder how it even passed the editing stage of publication.   In one instance, Kerr writes “If you planted your heart, would it grow?”  Maybe Kerr and I just aren’t on the same brain wave, maybe I don’t understand Australian slang, or maybe I don’t possess the imagination needed to emotionally and mentally grow from reading this book, but in that moment I had to stop reading, collect my thoughts, and push myself to finish the book.  After all, I just had to finish it.

But after a mere 130 pages, I found the last pages to be fluffy quotes and hand drawn butterflies from people that inspire her like Deepak Chopra, Steven Covey, Louise Hay, and none other than Miranda Kerr herself.  The best part of the book was the fifteen pages of personal family pictures that showed the stages of her life growing up – of course the part that didn’t involve reading. 

The book isn’t quite a self-help book.  This book isn’t quite a biography.  It is simply a marketing piece to sell her Kora Organics products that she talks about at the end of the book.  After reading it I am ready to bury it in my backyard, spritz some lemon and noni juice on top, chant some clichés over the bright sunlight and blue skies, and wait for an orb of happiness to grow into my life and bless me with her adorable dimples. 

Well that is, if “dreams really do come true.”  

Believe in the Strength of Women

On November 30^th, the Billboard’s Women in Music event honored pop star Katy Perry as the “Woman of the Year.”  Her speech started out on a very inspirational note about how she had to “fight for [herself] and [her] vision.”  Yet, right after she said that, she spewed out the words, “I am not a feminist, but I do believe in the strength of women.” 

Her statement poses the question – what exactly is feminism, and why is she so reluctant to call herself a feminist?  The goal of feminism is simply to give women equal rights and opportunities as there are for men. 

She said that her mantra is “If you believe in yourself, you can be anything.”  Many of her songs, including Firework and Part of Me, express the theme that you can achieve anything as long as you put your heart to it.  Perry is strong, independent, and confident – all of the qualities she has developed through her life experiences like being denied record labels multiple times and overcoming her failed marriage to Russell Brand.  Despite embracing all of the qualities of a feminist, she chooses to separate herself from the word.

Perry could have just as easily omitted that part from her speech to focus solely on the strength of women.  The fact that she went out of her way to mention it shows that feminism has a negative connotation attached to it.  Feminists don’t cover themselves with war paint and prance around a bonfire nude.  Feminists don’t smear lip gloss all over their face and go up to men screaming “Is this what you want?”  Feminists don’t exterminate the male population so they can rule the world. 

In my blog, I have written about many aspects of feminism – my view on Taylor Swift’s music, rape culture, wearing makeup, abortion, the Victoria’s Secret fashion show.   The beautiful part about feminism is that it is not black or white, but rather a diverse spectrum of thoughts and ideas.  It is a shame that it is often viewed as a bra burning cult of psycho women.  

Because just like Katy Perry said, the goal of feminism is to exercise "the strength of women."

Katy Perry's entire speech can be viewed at: http://www.billboard.com/news/katy-perry-s-woman-of-the-year-acceptance-1008036452.story#/news/katy-perry-s-woman-of-the-year-acceptance-1008036452.story.

A Response to: The Victoria’s Secret “Fashion Show”: A Feminist Rant

The author of the blog peacehopetrees.tumblr.com strives to prove that Victoria’s Secret “teaches women that [they] are objects to be owned and experienced.”  She goes on to show that the male-dominated company is catered towards pleasing the needs of men.  As a result, women are the subordinate sex by blindly supporting Victoria’s Secret.

The author criticizes Victoria’s Secret for having their models play a “passive role” where they are “hyper-sexualized” and “anti-intellectual.”  The models play everything but a passive role in the annual fashion show.  Victoria’s Secret is one of the very few modeling industries that encourages their models to express their creativity and individuality both on and off the runway.  The women are not walking closet hangers with their mouths sewn shut, they are all unique individuals who show how down to earth they are in interviews and segments in between the runway in the fashion show.  For example, the 2012 fashion show had a segment on Candice Swanepoel’s life growing up in South Africa and discovering her passion for modeling.

 

Also, the author gives into the stereotype that models are brain-dead beauties.   All of the models are inspirations rather than train-wrecks – they show how women can live a balanced life between their career, family, and simply enjoying life.  Miranda Kerr, for example, manages being a mother to her almost two-year old son Flynn, wife to Orlando Bloom, CEO of her organic skincare line Kora Organics, author of the self-help book Treasure Yourself, and one of the top Victoria’s Secret models.

Considering both of the CEOs for Victoria’s Secret are women – Lori Greeley and Sharen Jester Turney – the author’s claim that the company gives into a “media culture created for men by men” is false.  Even if the company were run by men, this is a business, and they are simply catering to their audience of females.  As a matter of fact, the Examiner reveals that more women than men watch the fashion show, with “twice as many women as men in the 18-34 age group.” 

Victoria’s Secret is critiqued for focusing more on how women can “better please their men” as opposed to their comfort.  The company sells more than just lingerie; their fashion show also advertises their fragrances, beauty products, clothing, footwear, active wear, and swimwear.  Judging by the success of this company, without them having basic comfort, it is doubtful that they would get this far.

The author ends with the notion that women should boycott Victoria’s Secret for “favoring misogyny” and keeping women in the mindset that they can “purchase success” and look like their models.  It is natural that Victoria’s Secret will have high standards for their models, simply because they are a company and they are looking to maximize their profits.  Just like McDonald’s has a food stylist to make the burgers looks perfect on commercials, Victoria’s Secret casts models that will help sell their merchandise. 

Because ultimately, that’s the goal of Victoria’s Secret: sell merchandise, not dehumanize women. 

Unpopular Opinion

I’ve found that throughout the United States, it is popular for women to hold up signs advertising the message “Teach men not to rape.”  They seek to show the folly in our society – that we teach women how to avoid getting raped instead of teaching men not to rape.

There is no doubt that rape is bad.  It has been implanted in our brains ever since we were born – from when our parents told us to keep our hands to ourselves in kindergarten, when we watched the first episode of Law & Order: Specials Victims Unit, when we saw that story on the news about the unfortunate incident that happened to a woman walking to her car alone past midnight.  Rape is consistently portrayed in a negative light; in no way has ‘society’ taught men that rape is “ok” or “good.” 

So what’s so bad about teaching women some preventative measures to avoid being raped?  The fact that college security teaches women to watch their drinks when they’re at a party, walk to their car to with their keys wedged between their knuckles, keep pepper spray with them in case of an emergency, practice the buddy system, or learn basic self-defense isn’t shameful to society – it’s helpful.                 

Just because we have established that rape is wrong – just like robbing banks, massacring innocent people at gunpoint, and stealing people’s credit card information – it doesn’t mean that it will stop.  Stealing thousands of dollars from a bank is wrong, but it still happens.  Killing people by gunpoint is wrong, yet the incident is Connecticut has left twenty-six victims dead.  Stealing people’s credit card information is wrong, but then again identity theft is a common occurrence.  The fact of the matter is rape will never stop. 

America is well past the stage of psychologically teaching people that rape is wrong.  It is in countries like Saudi Arabia, where the victims are blamed for putting themselves in this situation and are sentenced to prison and lashes in civil court, that must work to spread this message.  American citizens need to realize that rape is and always will be wrong, but learning ways to prevent it isn’t.   

A Response to: Seventeen Magazine's BMI Calculator

I had always scoffed at the teenagers who petitioned to magazines against them casting skinny and tall models for photo shoots.  I never believed that Seventeen, a magazine directed toward people from their pre-teens to young adults, was trying to tell readers that being slender and tall was beautiful.  Yet, after I stumbled upon a petition against Seventeen for their BMI calculator on change.org, a website where anyone can make, share, and rally others to fight for his or her cause, I found myself disgusted with what the magazine is teaching girls.

Although the website accurately calculates BMI, Seventeen’s ‘healthy ranges’ are far off the true healthy ranges adapted from the Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults: The Evidence Report, the ranges that are used by the government to determine who is considered within a healthy ranges, on the brink of becoming obese, or already obese.

Whereas anywhere from a 19-24 is considered within the healthy range, Seventeen declares that anywhere from a 14.8 to a 21.7 is the healthy BMI range for sixteen year olds.  After playing around with the numbers on their BMI calculator I realized that if I were to gain a mere five pounds, I would be considered obese by Seventeen’s standard of healthy.

A BMI of 17.5 is considered the standard for diagnosing anorexia and a BMI of 15 is considered severely overweight.  Yet, Seventeen believes that these numbers lie within the ‘healthy ranges’ for teenage girls.

Studies conducted by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders show that “95% of those who have eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25.8,” the prime age that Seventeen targets.  As anorexia holds the “highest mortality rate of any mental disorder,” it is necessary that Seventeen realizes how skewed its numbers are so that teens can practice healthy habits without the pressures of being considered thin and beautiful. 

I invite you all to sign the petition created by Lauren Stalnaker on change.org.  The petition can be found here: http://www.change.org/petitions/seventeen-magazine-correct-their-bmi-calculator-s-definition-of-healthy-range. 

A Response to: Suzanne Venker's "The War on Men"

Suzanne Venker, in the article The War on Men published on Fox News, details how it is “so unfortunate” that the modern woman is entering the workforce and beginning to provide for herself by not relying on a man for her well-being.  She suggests that women must “surrender… their femininity” so that marriageable men will come about since statistics show that as time progresses more women and less men have a desire marry.  This article is sexist toward women by commanding that women submit to domestic roles so that men can provide for their families since it’s “in their DNA.”

Today’s modern woman – an independent, self-confident individual – is described as “unknowingly… angry” and “defensive” since she “think[s] of men as the enemy.”  When did a woman striving for personal success have anything to do with looking down upon men as competition?  A woman strives for personal success because of her personal motivation and desire to be successful – just like men.  Although it is no longer taboo for women to enter the workforce, their motives are still questioned because they supposedly “push men off their pedestal.”  The fact that Venker believes it is a woman’s fault that a man feels less ‘manly’ since they are becoming more equal in the workforce is degrading to the female sex. 

Venker urges that women change in order to “live the balanced life they seek.”  There is nothing balanced about a woman being confined to domestic duties while the man provides for the family simply for the sake of the man’s self-assurance that he is the one in power.  She is right about one thing though, “Women have changed drastically.”  Just because women have achieved suffrage, have gained a voice in politics, started to influence government policies, and secured the rights to their body, it does not mean that “Women aren’t women anymore.”  Women have changed for the better and women will continue to change until universal equality is reached.

That is what feminism is all about – creating and protecting equality for people of all sexes, of all races, of all countries – not pressing for backward ideas that reverse the progression of women.  Instead of viewing the feminist movement as a necessary step to the progression of humanity, she views it as an advantage to men since they can “have sex at hello and… live with their girlfriends with no responsibilities.”  It is twisted that Venker tries to empower women into gaining financial security by marrying or having sex with a man.

If a woman chooses to not work, that’s great.  But if a woman chooses to pursue a career and achieve her dreams, she should not be shunned as foolish for limiting a man’s opportunity and not taking advantage of staying at home to care for the house and children.