You Tried.

I recently saw an Australian Snickers commercial that depicts construction workers yelling and hollering "messages of empowerment" to women on the street. While the construction workers were just actors, the reactions from the women were very real.

I think it was supposed to be cute or something? But I was kind of just annoyed.

Initial Thoughts:

+ I think hearing "gender bias" in an Australian accent is probably the funniest thing I've ever heard. That whole scene actually really cracked me up.
"Want to hear a dirty word? GENDAH BIUS!" #lolololololol for days.

+ In case you didn't notice, the women at the beginning are definitely still creeped out by being yelled at from across the street. Women or men, nobody likes to be yelled at when they're walking down the street minding their own business. It's unsettling. I'd kind of like to know how many women were actually impressed and giddy over being hollered at by construction workers (something we are socialized to react to in a negative way, no matter the "message" being sent) and how many were too scared or offended to hear what was being said.

+ Whether they are yelling positive messages are not, why are you hollering and not working? You are at work. This is weird. Pick up a hammer or something.

+ Stereotyping construction workers to be lazy, sexist creeps. Hmm...that doesn't seem like a positive message to send.

+ I was kind of impressed by the commercial until the very end tagline from Snickers: "You're Not You When You're Hungry." So...these men are only acting this way because they haven't had lunch yet? When their bellies are full, they go back to acting like sexist, misogynistic pigs? Uhhmmm....fail, Snickers. If you are only capable of treating members of the opposite sex like human beings when you are hungry, than please, by all means, starve.

It's Like a Disease

Here it is, guys. Another blog post about Frozen. You can leave now if you want.

Sorry.

But not sorry enough to not talk about it.

This past weekend, I was finally able to watch Frozen for the first time!! And ya know what? I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it. I do agree with Dr. Coyne's post about Frozen in that Elsa and Anna were sexualized a bit and Anna = Rapunzel's Norwegian ginger twin. But also I'm obsessed with Kristen Bell (because this) so I'm actually fine with it.

What I'm not fine with, is the way this movie has lodged itself deep, deep within the recesses of my brain AND IT WON'T FREAKING LEAVE.

I'm not kidding, I've had the music from that movie stuck in my head for the last four days non. stop. This wouldn't be a problem, except my poor husband. Every time I'm home, I'm singing the songs. When my husband politely asks me to stop, I do for about four minutes before I just start talking to him in Frozen tunes.

This definitely happened:

Me (to the tune of "Do you want to build a snowman"): DO YOU WANNA MAKE SOME DINNER?

Him (normal speech): Yeah that sounds great. I'm getting kind of hungry.

Me: COME ON LET'S EAT SOME FOOOOOOD

Him: Please stop.

Me: WE NEVER EAT HERE ANYMORE, GO OUT THE DOOR, EATING TACO BELL  EVERYDAYYYYYY (this is actually not true - but it worked with the song, so...)

Him: PLEASE.

Even though he liked the movie (and I caught him watching it the next morning in Spanish),  I think my husband is at his wit's end. And I literally cannot stop.

Help.

There's An App For That.

Quite a while ago, I came across a photo editing app called Perfect365. I'm a big fan of Instagram and editing pictures, and ya know, free, so I downloaded it. For a long time it just sat there on my phone, going unused. Finally, one day I decided to open it and try it out.

Turns out, it's an app that allows you to do your makeup in photos. I got a good laugh out of it. Especially when I found the settings that would do crazy makeup and even add wigs. Exhibit A:

Freaky, right? I thought it was pretty hilarious. That was, until last weekend when my husband and I took a picture on our Saturday afternoon adventure and I decided to play with the picture a little because I wasn't wearing any makeup and I figured it would be a perfect use for the app!

Somehow this turned into a weird obsession over the next couple hours. And then I discovered that the app can actually thin out your face and make your eyes bigger, among other things. It will even thin out your eyebrows for you. Essentially, it's the photoshop for your crappy Instagram pictures.

It wasn't until I was trying out the thinning face feature that I had an overwhelming sense of "What am I doing?!" After just barely learning about unrealistic expectations in the media, here I was turning what was actually a fine picture in to something that wasn't real so it would "look better." I was pretty disgusted with myself once I realized the destructiveness of what I was doing, so I ended it right there. 

Media (and Satan) have the sneakiest way of making you think things are important when they just really aren't. Trying to look perfect all of the time is one of them. The app's tagline is "The easiest way to make you look great." Uhhh how about looking great by building self-esteem? Being happy? Taking pride in your unique features and what makes you you? Better yet, how about not caring so much about "looking great" and wearing sweatpants every day because you can and because you just freaking like it?

Sorry. I'm getting carried away. But this little app gave me a new perspective, and I'm so glad I'm more "media-aware" that I was able to catch myself on what I was doing. Needless to say, I won't be using that app anymore. Even over silly Instagram photos, it is just too easy for me to trick myself into thinking I need to "fix" my physical features in order to look good, and I'm just really not okay with that. 

Empathy vs Sympathy

I am currently in a Child Life class that preps us for experiences as Child Life Specialists, and we talked about an interesting idea while discussing how to best help our patients: empathy vs sympathy.

There are few things I love more than short, yet powerful videos that make a point quickly. And I think this video did a fabulous job communicating a meaningful message using interesting images, slight humor, and very straight-to-the-point statements. Thinking about all of this, it became clear to me how much the facets model of advertising really applied. It was easy for me to pick out the facets in this video, even though it isn't really advertising a product.

Also, big fat nerd status over here. It's fine.

Anyway, it really is a great video. Take a look for yourself!

Stranger Danger

A friend of mine shared this really great article (supposedly) written by a police officer. Written by a police officer or not, there are some really great and potentially life-saving tips in here, so I thought I would share.

Here's the link.

So share with everybody!

On a more light-hearted note, here's a really great video (because there must always be a video if this blog is worth reading at all) that I found that is kind of related, and 100% cute and funny.

Happy Friday, ya'll.

Sustainable Beauty

If you haven't seen it yet, stop whatever you are doing immediately and watch this video:

What an absolutely beautiful role model for girls everywhere. If for whatever reason you can't watch the video right now, here's the gist:

With more role models like Lupita Nyong'o, women and men alike can turn the media around and make some serious and much-needed changes on society's idea of beauty. I think this video perfectly echoes what Dr. Coyne's closing remarks were on Monday, so I really don't have much to add. 

Body & Soul

Last night I had the awesome opportunity to attend BYU's Fiesta. If you have never gone before, I HIGHLY recommend it. The tickets for the show were $3 and it was an absolute blast.

To be honest, I only went for a project I have in another class, but I am so happy I went. Being able to see people celebrate their culture that they love so much is just an awesome experience, and the joy and excitement they had was so contagious.

This event combined two of my favorite things in the world: music and dance. It doesn't matter if it's traditional folk dance, ballet, contemporary, hip hop, jazz - there is something about dance that can communicate messages in a way no other medium can. It's cheesy as heck, but this is one of my favorite quotes and I think it holds a lot of truth:

So, for your viewing pleasure (and also because I feel like I can't post on this blog and not include a video), here are some of my favorite dances of all time (all taken from So You Think You Can Dance, because obviously):

The Economics of Sex

In light of our lecture on sex in the media, here is a really interesting and awesome video I found this week called "The Economics of Sex." It gives a perfect insight into how sex has changed the media so much - in this case, the dating world.