The first soap opera I remember watching Guiding Light is getting canceled. I am not surprised in the slightest, but it is a sign of the times. There is a sustained loss of interest in the genre lately due to a few reasons (1) who has time to watch tv in the middle of the day (2) crappy storytelling. Sure, the storytelling has always been hokey but it has gotten especially bad in the past several years.
For awhile, I contemplated doing a history of social issues on soap operas, and I think there is a lot to it. However, after a few conference presentations, I decided it wasn’t for me. Still this is pretty sad…..it feels like the end of an era and the slow downfall of a beloved television genre.
Teenage Girls may have made pact to get pregnant:
The girls showed up repeatedly at the high school health clinic, asking for pregnancy tests. But their reactions to the test results were puzzling: high-fives if they were expecting, long faces if they weren’t.School officials in this hard-luck New England fishing town say an alarming 17 girls — four times the usual number — became pregnant this year. And even more disturbing: Some of the girls may have made a pact to have babies and raise them together. via
One conclusion as to why these young women would make such a pact is the glamorization of pregnant celebrities in the entertainment media. “Baby bumps” are treated like a great purse or clutch, an awesome accessory every cool person must have. While this is probably not the only reason these girls decided to get pregnant–if they did–it shows we’re still not on target with discussing the long term circumstances of unprotected sex and teenage pregnancy. Jaime Lynn Spears anyone?
Rebecca Walker’s piece about her mother and feminism was disconcerting to say the least. Girl w/ Pen! and Feministing both posted tasteful disagreements with Walker’s assessments of feminism. The part that caught me offguard that a writer like Rebecca Walker who avoided addressing such solid bifurcations or face and gender in her previous books like Black, White & Jewish, went ahead and claimed that feminism was a major reason why her mother was not their for her grousing up.
According to the strident feminist ideology of the Seventies, women were sisters first, and my mother chose to see me as a sister rather than a daughter. From the age of 13, I spent days at a time alone while my mother retreated to her writing studio - some 100 miles away. I was left with money to buy my own meals and lived on a diet of fast food. via
If it weren’t for feminism Rebecca Walker wouldn’t have the opportunities she is able to take advantage of now. Her work wouldn’t be published as readily. Her diatribe on motherhood would be relegated only to kitchen conversations. Without feminism, Rebecca would still have her father’s last name. Without feminism, Walker wouldn’t be the person she is. I am sure her relationship with her mother is a difficult one, and probably Alice Walker took advantage of feminism to avoid being a proper parent. However, it is not feminism’s fault that the Walkers don’t have the best relationship. It is a combination of timing, ideologies, personality, the past, present, and future.
Jenna Bush is supposedly getting married this saturday in Crawford, TX. From an article about the town of Crawford’s role in the ceremony:
I asked ‘Oh, are you going to be going to the wedding?’” Judy asked. The woman replied: “No, I just want to be in town when it’s happening.’”
It wasn’t until late this week that the downtown began to show signs of the event, which will end up in presidential history books.
A white banner with red wedding bells on either side of “Congratulations Jenna and Henry” now stretches across a local storefront. via
“Happy Days” Jenna on left. The rest you can figure out yourself.
Since I’ve been going to the gym in the middle of the day, I catch some interesting tv I wouldn’t otherwise have time to watch. I watch a lot of reality tv/ makeover shows which is appropriate given that its the gym. I do realize a lot of these shows are materialistic and shallow. However, one show, 10 Years Younger, in particular really bothered me. I do enjoy style makeover shows like What Not to Wear but enjoy how they subtly make fun of people but ultimately work on making people think more positively about themselves.
On the episode of 10 Years Younger, there was a 26 year old mother of two. She wore slightly baggy jeans and a white t shirt with no makeup. It was explained that she had gained forty pounds since having her children. The host of the show kept pressing her by asking if she was afraid that her husband would leave her for gaining weight. She finally said yes she did have that fear–that it was her greatest fear.
My gut reaction to this was WHAT! Thats her greatest fear! Not something bad happening to her children or herself but that her husband would leave her because of weight gain after she had their children!?! OK I realize it is a “reality” tv show and there is master editing and manipulation of dialogue occurring. Why would she be with someone who didn’t appreciate her mothering their children but is instead focusing on her looks. Of course, once again this is how the show portrayed this woman’s life.
This got me thinking if an alien who knew nothing about Planet Earth or the human race watched this show how would he or she or they think of the way we value motherhood, one’s intelligence, sense of humor, self-worth, spirit, generosity among other non image based characteristics. It would come across as though we did not value a human unless he or she always looked “put together” and “hott and sexy.” Thankfully, people like me can process their own opinions about such a show and recognize the triviality behind it. Maybe I should make a show about how to get people to read the newspaper more or write in a journal every day. But oh I don’t have a production crew or a major network backing me. Oh well…!
So don’t worry the woman got her fabulous makeover, didn’t exactly looked ten years younger but more together, and her husband looked happily surprised. Wonderful. THE END!
So between Obama’s latest speech, Geraldine Ferraro’s comments, and what have you, it seems like the hierarchy of RACE, CLASS AND GENDER is among us. On all the mainstream news stations, print journals, and online media, the news anchors and journalists are acting like this is a BRAND NEW issue that America has never dealt with before. Well, clearly its been everyone’s minds for a LONG time but since this is the first time that a woman or an African American man is thisclose to winning the democratic candidacy, the topic is all over the place. But we still aren’t addressing these issues in the right way. Instead we are tip toeing around them, only mentioning them as abstract terms and theories. Leave that to the academics. it is up to the media to really get into it.
Even Clinton’s summary of the topics and Obama’s speech is strained at best:
In her opening remarks, Mrs. Clinton said she was “very glad” Mr. Obama had made his speech, given that she said that race had been a “complicated” issue in America that had been marked by “pitfalls” and “detours.” Asked why she was glad, she said that issues of race and gender are “important” and twice called them “difficult issues.” via
Meanwhile, alternative media like Alternet is approaching the categories of race, class and gender with full force. One of their latest pieces called “Veterans Decry Institutional Sexism in Military” excellently details issues female veterans deal with because of their gender.
As soldiers, then as veterans, and, even now, as members of the anti-war movement, women in the military are still fighting to be taken seriously. “It’s hard to be a veteran of the war and a woman,” said Iraq vet Patty McCann. “… A lot of times my experience gets boiled down to what I experienced as a woman — and I don’t get to talk about some of the things that I experienced as a soldier.”
One’s identity as a soldier versus a woman is fascinating. It is a dichotomy that is not explored on CNN or Fox news. It is one that could easily be applied to Clinton and Obama, their racial and gender identities and their identities as political candidates and public personalities.
Major news organizations should take a lead from media like Alternet to deliver us news we deserve.
I think its time to start a petition! Details to follow!
This article from the NYTimes is right on when it asks:
But the politics of the last few months have certainly opened a spigot on the question of where exactly society stands on gender matters.
It’s hardly that all women are on the same side — there were plenty of women making the points men were about prostitution after Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York resigned following the news that he had paid perhaps tens of thousands of dollars for sex. But there seemed to be a starker split between men’s and women’s reactions to the scandal. And women who for a long time felt they were on opposite sides of a generational divide on gender issues were finding things in common.
Its true this week has been an extraordinary one for women, gender and politics in the media from the Spitzer mess to Geraldine Ferraro and whatever else latest Clinton news.
What else I really appreciate about this article is the acknowledgment of women as political spouses giving real identity to those people who choose (or don’t choose that role) and all the consequences of that role. Unfortunately, it should not have taken an extramarital affair for the media and people to take notice. The only real discussion of the political spouse has been about how the former President Clinton interferes and causes problems for his wife’s campaign. Another branch of this storyline is to compare other political spouses to Clinton and discuss how they don’t measure up to him.
The article also touches upon the generational divide between women by discussing how women of different ages and political identities are finding more in common.
Don’t know what quite to say about the postfeminism issue, but hopefully we are not living in a POST anything era!
Just perused the news under “women’s history month” and found these interesting links!
From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Prior to the 1970s, women’s history was rarely a subject of serious study. Now, almost every college and university in the United States offers courses focused on women’s history. How did all this come about? Much of it began from a local effort in California to raise public awareness about the importance of the topic of women in history.
Nonstarvingartists.com covers NWHM events in March.
This year’s annual State of Black America is dedicated to “The Black Woman’s Voice,” with all responding essays written by black women.
History in the Making? explores the the possibilities of what a female president would mean for women’s history.
Maryland Congress tries to institute a day of remembrance for Harriet Tubman:
The resolution was introduced as Black History Month (February) ends and Women’s History Month (March) begins. Several states, including Maryland, already recognize Monday, the day of her death 95 years ago, as a day of remembrance for her.
on this whole “stand by your man” theme.
While watching AC 360 tonight, a blog entry from the show’s website was mentioned. The blog entry was about the supposed necessity for Silda Spitzer to stand next to her husband while he made his official comments on the manner.
While the nation’s mouths are hanging open at Gov. Eliot Spitzer, every time his public apology airs I can’t take my eyes or my mind off of his poor wife, Silda Wall Spitzer. Why is it that she stood there beside her husband during his public admission yesterday afternoon?
But his wife, standing by his side in that awkward non-informational press conference? After her public humiliation, he said, that was just a mean thing to make her do. via
While I don’t necessarily question Silda Spitzer’s decision to stand next to her husband at his press conference, I was baffled by the fact that he never mentioned her directly. It was as though her presence was completely taken for granted. He could have addressed how difficult it must have been for her to stand next to him. But once again this is NONE of my business.
I definitely think the media and press is focusing way too much on the “wife as victim” mentality.
Reminds me of the day the when so many pundits criticized Hillary Clinton for staying married to Bill.