Web Essay

I really have no clue what I am going to be do my web essay on. I am struggling to find a good topic. I have been playing around with wix.com and googlesites, and I think I like wix.com better. I really enjoy the black and white websites, I think the simplicity is very eye catching. This is not a black and white website, but I really like this home page: http://www.wix.com/sannekeprins/sproud. I know that my website will be constructed with a tables of contents of some sort. I want it to be easy to navigate, and I feel like the Body web essay is a little too confusing for the reader.

Kinky and Barbie's Queer Accessories

From "The Philosophy of Longevity, According to Barbie": "I want nipples, she's often longed to say. And fingers that can separate from each other. I dream of dexterity and crying. But Mattel will never let her talk- the know Barbie's seen too much."

From Barbie's Queer Accessories: "How old is Barbie?" Avoids the reading of that question- what age girl does Barbie represent- that would force Mattel to provide biographical details, thereby jeopardizing the free play of fantasy that Mattel considers a major factor in Barbie's success."

I really enjoyed both of these quotes because it emphasizes that Barbie is very minimal, but just enough. She is not anatomically correct, and she is portrayed as a fantasy of a real person, but she is not, obviously. Mattel created this fantasy for Barbie, and limited the information that was given about her. This was because Mattel wanted to create her as a "fantasy" or Mattel wanted to cover their butts. If they gave her too much information, they would be portrayed negatively because the image of Barbie is not a sound one for young girls. Any information Mattel would have provided about Barbie would make them look bad, so they pretended that she was a "fantasy."
I have really enjoyed reading these two books. I plan on posting more quotes that I find interesting on this blog at a later time. I hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend!

clothesline project

http://www.clotheslineproject.org/About_Shirts.htm
This is the link to an event called a clothesline project. This Wednesday at OU is having their own clothesline project workshop at the McKee house. The clothesline project is a great event that provides support to victims/survivors of sexual assault. Basically, students and community members who are victims/survivors or just want to support the cause will come and make t shirts that have a message about sexual assault prevention. These t shirts will then be on visual display on campus. SO, anyone is invited so I hope to see you there!

Body Outlaws

I really enjoyed the two readings in body outlaws this week. Bar Barbie, in Mondo Barbie was not my favorite. I absolutely loved that their was a male author in body outlaws. I also was intrigued how gay men perceive their body image. It seemed a little too familiar, just like how many girls and women feel. Homosexual men have to attract other men, and men are more stimulated visually. I think that is a shame that these men feel that they have to deal with the pressures of body image. I thought it was interesting that he said that when he dated a slimmer man, he always felt fat next to him. I can definitely relate to that. I also liked the essay about tattoos. I LOVE the quote saying," to mark the passages and triumphs on the other side, on the canvas that is my own flesh and blood." I think tattoos are a wonderful way to express your triumphs and failings in a form of tattoo form. I do not have any tattoos, but I think that if something impactful happened to me, I would want to get a tattoo to remember it by. My mom is extremely against tattoos, but I think it is that generation who still thinks of tattoos as trashy. I think that tattoos can be extremely meaningful and important to reclaiming ones lives.

blog 2

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. I really liked the readings for this week. I thought that Strip was very liberating for Diana. I could not imagine the fear and insecurity a transexual would live through, and I wished we lived in a society where everyone is accepted. Diana not only had to deal with what other people thought of her, but establishing an identity she was comfortable with. I thought it was interesting how the readings mentioned clothes to hide imperfections. It is obvious that women use clothes sometimes to hide themselves. In Barbie Q, the pretty clothes covered up the barbies melted body parts from the fire. In Strip, Diana wore baggy clothes to make her anonymous. I think anytime someone writes it can be gendered. In a blog, you have freedom to write more freely or structured. People can make their blogs however they want, but I think the style of the writing still has "gendered" undertones. For example, Some blogs are very straight forward for a strict purpose and they lack emotions. Some blogs are used similarly to a diary where one is more reflective.
I thought that the missbimbo website was extremely.... interesting. This is something that younger girls would love to do. I think its horrible that her weight is online, emphasizing that weight is important. Also the name of the website is ridiculous. "Bimbo" is so demeaning to women and girls should not think of her as someone who is hot and successful.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23851531/ this is another article I found that talks about missbimbo. What are your thoughts??

first post

Hello. My name is Emma Bogard. I am a junior at Ohio University and am a getting a double major in social work and international studies with a focus on Africa. I have two younger brothers and I am from Dayton, OH.
I chose to take women and writing for several reasons. I had heard that it is a good course to take, and for my junior composition class I wanted to be able to write about something that interests me. I have an interest in women's issues, especially about women's health and sexual assault prevention.
I used to write a lot when I was younger, but stopped writing as much when I started high school I used to keep a lot of journals. This summer, I cleaned out my room and found them- they were interesting to read! I don't know why I lost my interest in writing, but this summer I kept a journal for an internship I had, and I remembered why I enjoyed writing. It is comforting and a nice release to write your thoughts on a piece of paper.
I was a huge barbie lover when I was younger. My cousin had a lot of barbies and she gave hers to me when she stopped using them. I would always put the barbies in dramatic situations. I also played with Barbies for a long time, I think I stopped playing with them in fifth or sixth grade. I really enjoyed my grocery store barbie, which came with food and a shopping cart. I also had a Jasmine barbie, which was also one of my favorites. Her clothes were the best. I also played with American girl dolls too. I had two: Josephina and Molly. Currently, all of my barbies are in the attic of my parents home.