Alright all you sports fans the big controversy topic that keeps the ESPN announcers talking is, “Can Baylor’s Brittney Griner play in the NBA. Brittney Griner is an American women's college basketball player at Baylor University in Waco, Texas who stands 6 ft 8 in, wears a men's US size 17 or 18 shoe and has an arm span of 86”! Holy shit…can you say beast mode! Grinder has changed the women’s game with 14 career dunks and leaving her mark in the NCAA women’s basketball record book. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban got himself some publicity last week by saying he'd consider drafting Baylor women's basketball star Brittney Griner in this year's NBA Draft. This then brings me to the meat of this post. I came across an article that was completely bashing the idea of a women playing in the NBA. However, is it bad that I completely agree? But why does there need to be articles articulating people’s opinions comparing men and women. For example Charles Barkley, Basketball Hall of Famer, quotes, “If [Cuban] brought her in, yeah, they'd sell some tickets to the summer league, which I don't understand what type of losers would go to the summer league, anyway. I agree with Geno, 100 percent. A girl can't play against men. Listen, it's just publicity [stunt]. Mark's one of my great friends, but a woman can't play against a man." In the same manner, UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma strongly disagreed with Cuban's idea that the 6-8 post player could play professionally against men. During a conference call, Auriemma called the idea a "sham" and "absolutely ludicrous." Later on in the article it keeps repeating, “Women can’t play in the NBA.”

 

My second concept about Brittney Griner relates to our class discussion about transgender. Many people on twitter and Facebook say that Griner is a man because of how she looks and her freakish basketball abilities. I wonder how she is handling the criticism and rude comments. I mean with a girl of a size 17 or 18 shoe, where the hell would you find that. But you know what it is just like that little girl in the class video, Jazz. She is confident and believes in herself which is why she is very
successful.

Okay, as a female basketball player, I completely agree, but why are there multiple articles and social media about this topic. The men’s game is completely different, more physically, and faster. Lastly, I want to leave on this note. I do wish/hope she gets a chance to try out. I would hate to see her lose this one in a life time opportunity not only for her but for female athletes everyone due to gender related issues!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. In the same manner, social media is quickly taking over the world, each interaction at a time. There is one particular media outlet that I would like to talk about today and that is the new up and rising Snapchat. Snapchat is a photo messaging application developed by four Stanford students. Using the app, users can take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a controlled list of recipients. Users set a time limit for how long recipients can view their photos, up to 10 seconds, after which it will be deleted from the recipient's device and the company's servers.

 

So, now that you have an idea of what Snapchat does, I recently just came across an article, “Teens' Nude Photos from Snapchat Lead to Investigation.” The article states that, “Students at one New Jersey high school could face child pornography charges if found in possession of nude photos of classmates. Explicit images sent via Snapchat prompted a police investigation after two freshman girls shared pictures on the controversial app and later found them posted on Instagram. The Ridgewood High School students sent photos to at least one male classmate who took screenshots in order to save them to a gallery.” The article then goes into detail pertaining that, “Snapchat has gained a reputation for being a sext-friendly app, allowing users to take racy photos that automatically delete a few seconds after being sent. Under New Jersey law, creating, transmitting or possessing these sexually explicit images falls under child pornography and "Endangering the Welfare of Children." This isn’t the first time kids are taking advantage of social media and it will not be the last.

This particular blogs refers to Chapter 2, “Some Background Debate”, in conclusion to the first paragraph, Media Power Versus People Power. Pg. 22 Personally, I think social medias are being used at too young of age groups. These teens are too young to understand the responsibility of these social media apps. They are too immature and stupid to know how to use them correctly. I wonder what social media will be on the new rise that will get more teens in trouble? Will social media apps come up with a way to limit kids creating crimes? How can social media keep kids safe? Does the media have a significant amount of power over its audience or does the audience ultimately have more power than the media? pg. 22

What does a “gay lifestyle” entail? How would someone living a “gay lifestyle” live? There are those who are struggling with same-sex attraction and are trying to not act on that and then there are those who are celebrating it, who are intentionally living that lifestyle and feeling accepted by God. Many people perceive a “gay lifestyle” as unhealthy. This is untrue. According to Faucault, “Heterosexuality does; instead presents the freedom, and the challenge, to develop a meaningful lifestyle.” Pg. 142

The reason why I wanted to discuss this controversial topic of gay lifestyles is because I have a friend who is struggling to come out of the closet and is scared to tell her family members. She has a very good support group of friends who accept her for who she but she is nervous her family will think differently of her. I feel bad for her because I think she is confused and on one hand, wants the society norm (husband and wife) but on the other, I believe she is truly attractive to girls. She told me once that she will not tell her family because she is waiting for the right “girl” to come along and actually make it worthwhile. I wonder how she is feeling about living this double life?

SELK'S FOUCAULT ON POWER

 

I am currently an Athletic Administrator’s intern at The Prairie School under the direction of Athletic Director, Sandy Freres.  Referring to Foucualt’s theory on power he states, on page 128 that, “Power is not an asset which a person can have; rather, power is something exercised with interactions.” This phrase most definitely describes Sandy Freres. She is the type of person who takes charge/dominate in a conversation, is very opinionated, and has the most to say. Her co-workers and she admit that she is the most powerful one while interacting with others through conversing. I have great excitement to pursue high school athletic administration; hence, my internship. However, is this trait that is the most beneficial or can this characteristic hurt herself while building a relationship with others??

Food for thought,

 

This is kind of an outside posting. Nothing to do with the book about Foucault and his theory on power, but I would like to address one thing. I was wondering how the males in this Communication class think and feel. I feel like each and every example we explain perceives a bad impressed on the male gender. Or describe a situation where a male has acted poorly or behaved inappropriately; however, that is not the case for all men. There are some men out there that are true gentlemen and are professional. I think we should start putting a positive spin on the male/female gender. But is there a positive approach to this specific topic? Females have been fighting for our rights for a very long time. Will there ever be gender equity?

After venturing into Target’s toy section I was amazed to see the layout of the section and the design of packages the toys were found in. I am use to just shopping and looking for items, but playing the role of the observer I did notice HUGE gender separation! Simple things such as the wallpaper used or the words printed on the box can tell a great deal about the way our society perceives the personalities of boys and girls. These generalizations could be progressing the vicious cycle of standard roles held by mothers and fathers of a family. Today, I want to talk about how toy manufacturing companies perceive gender differences. First, for example, an Easy Bake oven which is located in the girls area of the toy store. On the box of the Easy Bake oven is a picture of a girl baking and a boy eating the cookies. This illustrates gender roles and also the expectations associated with each gender. Women in this situation are taught to do what they can to please the men in their lives. I thought this was very traditional; however, it is very common in households today that the men do the cooking. On the other hand, in the boy’s section holds the toys for “little engineers” and the Handy-Man doll, teaching that boys should be using their minds to build and construct. Referring to chapter 11, Exploring Identity Stories, in Gauntlett’s book, on page 259, he claims that, “Lego Serious Play improves and develops problem-solving and team building tools at a young age. The gender roles that control our society today are so difficult to overcome because they are taught by the toys that toddlers are playing with. So why are girls more likely to choose the Easy Bake oven, and boys more likely to choose the building blocks and Legos?

Furthermore, continuing with chapter 11, Exploring Identity Stories, reflection upon identity can we started and created at a very early age.  Many people have different childhood stories which has mold them and give people opportunity to communicate in various ways. In the same manner, social experiences later in life also create your identity.  Can identity be built permermently at a young age while playing with certain toys? Or is there a chance to change your identity as you grow up and face life itself? I just think you will always have that piece of memory for your childhood that you will cherish and do on to your own children.

Two weekends ago I participated in the first-ever Great Lakes Valley (GLVC) Sports Endeavor Forum in Indianapolis, Indiana. After two days full or lectures and seminars, on Sunday night the candidates and I attended an etiquette dinner. The etiquette lessons were taught by Maria Everding who founded The Etiquette Institute for the purpose of training and certifying adults to teach business, social, college, and children's etiquette programs; as well as, the popular dining etiquette tutorial. At this dinner we were taught proper dining and manners. One of the topics that we covered was how to present a “good” hand shake. She proclaimed that a hand shake from a female should be strong and powerful instead of weak and dainty. A male student-athlete confessed that he would not shake a women’s hand as hard as he would shake a man’s hand. All the female student-athletes at the table were all offended including me. Ms. Everding was shocked as well, and said that it was certainly acceptable to shake a female’s hand with a firm, strong hand shake. I wonder if this is how all males feel??

Now that I understand the idea of what you are looking for in a blog, I wanted to add some additional ideas to this piece. After reading Gauntlett’s introduction, I wanted to tie femininity into this post as well. On page 11, Gauntlett describes, “that the ideas of ‘masculinity’ and ‘femininity’ have been pulled through the social changes of the past few decades in quite different ways.” He also explains that, “Modern women are not generally very bothered about fitting their identity within the idea of ‘femininity’ and femininity is not typically a core value for women today.” I have to completely agree with Gauntlett because I do not think femininity is a huge important as it was a centuries ago. Women today are very independent, self-motivated, and confident than the women centuries ago. Times have definitely changed and it’s important for women to keep showing off their strong characteristics to set themselves apart! However, who is still presenting femininity in modern society? Magazines? How do women feel if they are criticized for her ‘lack of femininity?’ A woman should express herself how she wants without media or public outlook judging her.

http://www.theetiquetteinstitute.com/