Author Archives: Julia Halladay

Choose Beautiful

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Dove has recently started a new campaign called “Choose Beautiful”. In different countries above two door ways there are two signs one that says ‘average’ and one that says ‘beautiful’. Many women chose the average door at the beginning and in the end walked through the beautiful door. After thinking about how they view themselves many women admit that they would walk through the ‘beautiful’ door if they had the chance to walk through the doors again.

This ad really made me think about my personal views of myself and what decision I would make. I personally would most likely choose the average door, even though many people have me that I am a ‘beautiful’ young girl. After thinking about it, you should choose the door that makes you feel comfortable. More women need to see and realize their beauty. You have to love yourself before you can truly love someone else, so why wait any longer.

What door would you choose?

[youtube]https://youtu.be/7DdM-4siaQw[/youtube]

Gender Bias and Discrimination

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A former female software engineer is suing Twitter for allegedly using a secretive promotion process that favors men. She filed her class-action lawsuit one day after an ex-employee of Facebook alleged that bad behavior including sexual harassment and race discrimination occurred in the workplace.

Women are less likely to ask for and receive promotions. Huang, the ex Twitter employee is urging women employees to come forward if they were denied a promotion in the last 5 years.

What does this say about companies and treatment of their female employees in the workplace?

Game of Respect

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Remember a time when gender roles were challenged? Well Italy is trying to change gendered stereotypes, and the government does not approve. They are trying implement a program titled Game of Respect. This program is aimed at children aged three to six in 45 schools in the Trieste region of Italy and involves educating teachers about how to use games and role-playing to teach gender equality.  “It is not about sexual attitudes. It is about roles in society and stereotypes”. Many officials think that this program will create confusion for the children about sexual identity.  The biggest obstacles for this program are political.

What do think about The Game of Respect? Do we need something like this in the US?

Bathroom Binary Code

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Over 150 universities have bathrooms that are not labeled with binary terms. The bathrooms were changed due to comfort of non-gender conforming students rather then safety concerns. “These are two gender-open bathrooms where students of any gender can go in, and use the restroom, and feel safe, regardless of gender expression or gender identity,” Michelle Margulis (Links to an external site.), president of NU’s Rainbow Alliance LGBT student group told CBS Chicago.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/c9JhGNysgrk[/youtube]

 

 

Costume Controversy

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What Would You Do is a show with hidden cameras that use every day scenarios to capture people’s reactions. This episode is about a parent and child in the costume shop deciding what to wear.The boy wants to be Belle and the girl wants to be Spiderman. They are trying to break gender norms, but everyone is siding with the parent.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/MFn81_HAvWg [/youtube]

Most reactions are about finding other costume ideas and sticking to gender “appropriate” costumes. The last person was the only one who sided with the child. What would you do in this situation?

They now make costumes for girls such as Spiderman and Batman, which include tutus and more feminine pieces. But what about boy princess outfits? They are expected to be tough and strong; an alternative might be to dress as a prince.

What do these reactions say about our society and the costumes that are “appropriate” for girls and boys?

Living Different

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Oxygen recently aired a four-part special titled Living Different. This showcases nine women who live outside the stereotypical box and are not restricted by norms.

The episode #LoveWithoutLabels is about an androgynous model named Rain. She models as male and female and dates both male and female. She does not conform and is not defined by labels. She defines herself as a “proud androgynous women”.  To learn more about Rain you can visit her blog and her twitter.

This episode is also about Lizz and her longtime girlfriend Stacey. Stacey is transgender and has decided to transition into a male. To learn more about Lizz and Stacey’s relationship and Stacey’s transition you can read this interview.