Friday, October 5, 2012

What is the ideal woman?

          What is The Ideal Woman?

What is the ideal woman? Anyone one can sit down and name things that make a woman special or unique, but what do those things entail?To me the ideal woman knows to keep quiet when a man   is talking and to only speak when being spoken to. She cooks and cleans the house while taking care of the children. She is only there for pleasure and bearing children. Her only phrase would be, “Yes dear, no problem.”The ideal woman aims to please. Okay (giggles) let me cut the crap, what kind of feminist would I be, saying this is the ideal woman. This might be the ideal woman for some, but this is not how I see myself EVER. Let’s drop the word ideal because let’s face it no one is perfect no matter how hard you try. Let’s talk about women in general.
A woman loves who she is and how she looks; whether she is a size 2 or 30 she knows she is perfect. I’m not going to lie, being a size 30 is not healthy, but cherishing your body is better than hating it.A strong woman speaks her mind and has a firm hand with her family. She is the glue that holds everything together in her family. When I pick up a magazine like Glamour, Vogue or 17 Magazine I see women being shown half naked to sell fragrances or cars; seriously put some clothes on you’re  better than that. They’re  also really skinny, like don’t you eat any food! You can come to my house and I will be happy to feed you. With all of these advertisements around it may be difficult not to objectify women.
Female stereotypes in the media tend to undermine women as a whole, and diminish them to sexual objects and passive human beings. But what message does this send to young girls, that if you’re  skinny and thin you’re  beautiful, but if you’re  fat you’re  ugly. Or if your hair is straight and long more people will like you than if your hair is thick and curly. Now these stereotypes are just plain stupid, but girls actually strive to be like the women they see in magazines or on television. But why are women objectified in the media?
Men are more comfortable with women in these roles because they pose no real threat to their power, dominance, or masculinity.No man wants a woman to make more money than them; everything with men is a competition. It also maintains an image of what women should look like, so when young girls see these images they know what is expected of them. It keeps women focused on an idea that can almost never be obtained, and it keeps women from focusing on careers, politics, sports and school, areas that were once a man’s domain. Men achieve two things with these stereotypes: one is they get a woman who is less power driven, and two they get women who are attractive or striving to be. That may be why more girls have eating disorders compared to men. In actuality girls make up 90 percent of all people with eating disorders. Here are some pictures of women being objectified in the media.
 

What is the key to fighting this crisis? Let’s think, do you know? Being educated is the key. “Education is the power to think clearly, the power to act well in the world's work, and the power to appreciate life,” said Brigham Young. Education is a universal language recognized around the world. It allows people to interact on a broad level with people of different cultures and achieve goals they have set for themselves.  Education is the power to think for you. So when you read a magazine ask yourself: Do I want to look like her, or do I want to be myself and stay true to myself?       So now that I have you thinking about what you see when you pick up a magazine or look at a billboard on the train, maybe you won’t think that you are not special because you don’t look like the artificial woman you see, because in actuality they’re photoshopped. At least you can say you have natural beauty. Leave comments, I would love to read them! Click the like post also and add me as a friend, I’m a cool person and you’re a cool person, so why can’t we be cool people together:)




Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Turquoise Warrior
Hi everyone, I’m so excited you are visiting my blog. My name is Nkenge Parris or “kenge cullen” because I’m obsessed with “Twilight” and I am a junior in High School, located in Brooklyn, NY. You know Brooklyn all day for my Brooklyn cats, but if you‘re not from Brooklyn I still love you. The name of my blog is “ Turquoise Warrior” which focuses on women, such as loving that you are a women, loving your body, and not being afraid to scream the word VAGINA at random intervals of your life. I entitled by blog “Turquoise Warrior” because turquoise is my favorite color and I feel that this color is very calming, beautiful and inviting. I feel that I am a warrior fighting and advocating for women to be respected and viewed as individuals and not objects, hence the title "Turquoise Warrior".
We will talk about how women are viewed in different cultures and whether or not they are viewed as sex objects or treated respectfully in their cultures such as Asian American culture, Caucasian, African American or culture you can think of. Not really every culture because I probably won’t know all of the cultures you know but you get my drift. There will be posts about how what women wear is not an invitation that says come and rape me, and also whether what they wear says they’re either a slut or an educated person. My favorite topic to talk about is how women are viewed in the media as Disney movies and magazines. I’m blogging because women’s rights are something that is very important to me. We will also talk about, guess what, vaginas. What does it look like, or feel like, or smell like, and taste like?
I want everyone to be aware of the things women face every day in their lives. A woman’s place is not in the house cooking or cleaning, but it’s wherever her heart wants to take her. In my blog I will post poetry from women writers, pictures of women being objectified in the media and posts from inspirational women. I want people to enjoy being a girl. I would really appreciate people’s feedback but only warm and fuzzy not cold and prickly. If you don’t have anything constructive to say keep it to yourself. I leave you with this poem called “My Short Skirt” by Eve Ensler,which talks about how what what a women wears is not an invitation that they want to have sex. I think this poem is great and empowering for women because it lets them know they can wear whatever the hell they want and should not be afraid someone will call them a slut or want to rape them. So here is the poem “My Short Skirt” by Eve Ensler:


My short skirt
i                                                            is not an invitation
a provocation
an indication
that I want it
or give it
or that I hook.


My short skirt
is not begging for it
it does not want you
to rip it off me
or pull it down.


My short skirt
is not a legal reason
for raping me
although it has been before
it will not hold up
in the new court.


My short skirt, believe it or not
has nothing to do with you,


My short skirt
is about discovering the power of my lower calves
about cool autumn air traveling
up my inner thighs
about allowing everything I see
or pass or feel to live inside.


My short skirt is not proof
that I am stupid
or undecided
or malleable little girl.


My short skirt is my defiance
I will not let you make me afraid
My short skirt is not showing off
THIS IS WHO I AM
before you made me cover it
or tone it down
Get used to it.


My short skirt is happiness
I can feel myself on the ground.
I am here. I am hot.


My short skirt is a liberation
flag in the women's army
I declare these streets, any streets
my vagina's country.


My short skirt
is turquoise water
with swimming colored fish
a summer festival
in the starry dark
a bird calling
a train arriving in a foreign town
my short skirt is a wild spin
a full breath
a tango dip


My short skirt is
initiation
appreciation
excitation.


But mainly my short skirt
and everything under it
is Mine
Mine


MINE.