Blog #15: Final Thoughts

"The Rise of Enlightened Sexism” topic struck a chord in me in this class, making me think twice about the television I grew up watching and what I watch now. I absorb the stories in a completely different way. While I agree with Douglas on most things, I disagree on placing Grey's Anatomy among the shows that fall into the enlightened sexism category. There is some display of it, but I see it as more of a story built on feminist views - I'll post my final paper on this topic later.

I also appreciated the opportunity to do a more non-traditional writing format with blog posts and feature-style writing assignments. It brought me back to my journalism days as an undergrad and inspired me to pursue more journalistic writing on the side. 

This was a great class to end my MLD program on. Thank you!

Blog #14: Grey's Anatomy Clip from Final Presentation

Hi All,

Here is the link to the video I had in my presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiGYP3s-7cs

To give you a little background - Meredith Grey wants to ask for a pay raise and is struggling to build the confidence to ask Bailey.

Bailey isn't going to just hand it to her.

I'd love to hear anyone's views on this scene or general thoughts about women asking for pay increases... Do you think there's a difference in a woman asking a male boss for an increase versus a woman asking a female boss for an increase?

Blog #13: Diving into 'ShondaLand'

ShondaLand -

"It’s where all the badasses live. The ones who stand up for themselves. The ones who do what they want and say what they want and dance how they want and wear what they want. And you don’t give a crap what anyone else has to say about it. Shondaland is for the warrior in all of us. Shondaland is for the mighty, the competitive, the smart, the daring, and the bold. Add your voice. Join the tribe."

After researching Shonda Rhimes and her show Grey's Anatomy, I've come to realize a whole other world outside of just the shows Rhimes writes and produces. She's an empowering ball of energy who is a huge advocate for equal rights from race to gender and beyond. This reflects directly in her shows.

While the main point of my final feature is to discuss her display of feminism in Grey's Anatomy and the concept of enlightened sexism, I learned a few other key elements to her leadership technique/style.

It's called "colorblind."

In an article published by The New York Times in 2005, Rhimes says, "I'm in my early 30's, and my friends and I don't sit around and discuss race ... We're post-civil rights, post-feminist babies, and we take it for granted we live in a diverse world."

Her approach to casting is to simply not define her characters based on race. She leaves out that descriptor in her scripts and goes through the casting process based on talent and who fits the feel of the character. It's a unique approach and one people weren't/aren't accustomed to.

By doing this, she ended up with a culturally diverse cast of men and women.

Blog #12: From Somebody to Nobody

The questions in this blog prompt are pretty difficult to answer or at least solve in one swoop. We live in a society that is stuck in its ways, but one that we need to work on breaking the negative habits. I think we need to restructure our systems and focus on recognizing that we should be helping human kind, instead of looking at life so selfishly. There's disregard for certain people because some don't want to be bothered. For example, nonviolent crimes regarding drug use. Rather than labeling kids or adults as "druggies" and locking them away where temptation grows and their behavior is reinforced by negative influences, our criminal justice system should recognize that sometimes all these people need is help to recover and separate from the drug use.

Our society also needs to reevaluate how it is helping communities dealing with chronic lack of jobs and political disempowerment. Because, really, it's doing nothing. There are many factors that come into play here, and one of the pieces that comes to my mind has to do with our healthcare system and also the creation of programs to help people get back on their feet or even off the streets. We need to change our view of how we look at human kind. We're all so stuck in our bubbles and only want to help ourselves, but our survival in this world should be a team effort. We need a healthcare system that serves all, not just those that can afford it.

There are many layers to bettering our society from crime, equality, etc., but it has to begin with changing our mindset and working together.

Blog #11: Moments from the Women's March on Chicago

After our conversations in class the past few weeks, I thought I'd share some moments from the Women's March on Chicago that I took while walking the crowded downtown streets. Some of you attended, so you know how crazy packed it was. It was incredible to see so many people come out to support a cause that continues to affect women on a daily basis. I think this form of protest is important, but I do think we need to continue our efforts beyond social media and a march through big cities throughout the world. Things won't change for the better if we're all talk ... we have to continually act on our beliefs ... just some thoughts for this Monday afternoon. 

Blog #10: The Media, Real Women and Gender Oppression

I really had to think about this blog prompt, because after reading Douglas' eye-opening book, The Rise of Enlightened Sexism, I think it's almost impossible to identify a TV show, film, documentary, etc. that truthfully depicts the reality of a woman's life. I'd say there are bits and pieces of the relatable experiences of a woman throughout most show or films, but much of it falls short or dreams too big -- making it feel as though we have achieved it all (when we clearly haven't).

I can go on and on about my addiction to Grey's Anatomy, but this is one of those shows that either gets it right or demonstrates wishful thinking. In an operating room, the women dominate the surgical field, but in reality, it's very male-dominated. Even so, producer Shonda Rhimes, has taken 13 seasons of fictional medical lives in Seattle, Washington and touched on real-world issues from race to gender equality.

You'll hear more about this from me in my final presentation, but here's a few clips of how feminism plays a role in Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital:

Topic: Salary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiGYP3s-7cs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heYLeBgrg38

Blog #9: Changing the World One Click at a Time?

I think social media should only be seen as a tool to disseminate information – not the driving force behind social movements and activism. It shouldn’t be convenient to stand up for what we believe in. We shouldn’t be clicking a few buttons, typing a few words, and expecting change to just happen. It doesn’t work like that and it never will. Social movements and activism are about our freedom of speech, supporting our beliefs and pushing back against a system. This requires physical movement, discussion and person-to-person interaction.

As technology continues to advance, I’ve been watching human connection fade. We bury our faces in our phones, tablets, laptops, etc. consumed by newsfeeds, emails and text messages. A simple conversation between two human beings or more is a thing of the past. We’ve taken our discussions online. But, when we do come together, face to face, we forget how to speak to each other. We alter our conversations and lose sight of how to understand each other’s emotions. We don’t have a screen to hide behind.

What I’m getting at is that we can’t use social media as a foundation for social movements or activism, because it’ll die as fast as pushing the “post” button. It gets buried, disorganized, shredded, lost in translation. We’re so easily forgetting that change takes a tremendous amount of effort. We can’t sit on our hands, bobbing our head back and forth expecting our tweet for the day to suddenly give women equal pay, make people believe in climate change and so on.

I do think social media has a purpose. It does give ample opportunity to mobilize people to take action in larger numbers on the streets and engage those who normally wouldn’t be involved. But to make it the driving force cheapens the whole purpose of social movements and activism. Use it to garner attention. Don’t expect it to do the change for you.