Thinking about women in history as we celebrate International's Women's Day today makes me think about how far women have become to obtain equal rights; Even though in some aspects we have achieved acknowledgement I can't help but think in other areas we still have a long way to go. Earlier in my education I learned about women through holidays like Martin Luther King's Day. Women like Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks, brave individuals who played key roles in the fight for civil right,s in a community who was wrongfully slaved. Even though slavery ended women still had a lot more to accomplish and so they began to work at it. Susan B. Anthony started it all by simply requesting equal pay for women teachers. Miss Anthony gives our generation something to think about as the website www.womenhistory.com explains: "Susan B. Anthony, never married, was more often the organizer and the one who traveled, spoke widely, and bore the brunt of antagonistic public opinion." Even though I don't have children I know women are capable of raising their children and having a career. It seems that now young ladies are becoming mothers at ages as young as 13 and forget about school and more importantly their future. There is definitely a small percentage of women who continue their education or pursue their career after bearing a child. Stanford university news (news.stanford.edu) say: "The problem is less pregnancy than poverty, say scholars... They dispute conventional American wisdom that teen-age motherhood is emotionally and financially ruinous. It's true that most teen-age mothers and their children are poor, they say, but delaying childbearing, by itself, does not necessarily help poor women escape poverty." From my experience few of the girls who dropped out of middle school or high school did take the option of a school that met their needs or went on to college. I only know one who is currently working on her masters which makes me wonder what about all the other ones?
Stanford University Law Professor Deborah Rhode said in the same article, "there are cultural norms and pressures in this society that make it hard for teens to just say no, particularly if they lack opportunities to say yes to something else... There is also a common perception in this country that teen- age pregnancy is somehow a problem of minority groups but white teen-agers account for 68 percent of all adolescent births in the United States and over half the births to unmarried mothers." It is true that from what I have seen in my peers I have certain perception of an issue that is much bigger than my community but as a person looking out to these scenarios it is a bit over whelming with a feeling of what more could've been done to prevent these outcomes.
What we see, hear and the emotions that it stirs within us is often due to television, radio and more popular now the internet. No doubt about it if you are near a TV, radio or have a wireless connection your being fed all these ideas, information, opinions and visuals that can have you hooked for hours. If you're like me you can easily get sucked into something and just like that you're hooked. Gladly I'm not ten years old and I do not say or do everything I see and hear however it's clear due to the observational theory that we are bound to copy what we see and what we find desirable. If something has got our attention we are likely to watch it over and over and so much that we keep that information deeply inbedded. It almost makes you worry that if someone believes in something so much they start performing those same actions and when they get results, even if they may be destructive, they continue. It is true I do believe we have control of our actions but I've seen what people under a certain mindset are capable of doing. Which is why media is such a big influence and a big part of our society. funderstanding.com explains: "A person’s behavior can affect his feelings about himself and his attitudes and beliefs about others. Likewise, much of what a person knows comes from environmental resources such as television, parents, and books. Environment also affects behavior: what a person observes can powerfully influence what he does. But a person’s behavior also contributes to his environment."
The shows we have on TV go anywhere from MTV's Jersey Shore to Spanish Novelas on popular networks like univision and Telemundo. In Jersey shore we have a group of Italian Americans, among other cultures like Spaniard or Puerto Rican, many witness as they party the nigth away at Club Karma and the boys looking for women they can take back to the house and "smush." Jersey Shore being the highest rated telecast in the history of MTV shows what most people are watching. Novelas on the other hand are also very popular I fortunately grew up in a house where those were not on every night. Commercials promoting these shows were on every news break and here you see women as sexy bomb shells who are dramatic. Rosie G. writes in her article: Las Novelas - Are they racist? (beinglatino.wordpress.com) "As the years have passed these novelas have become a lot more racy in their content." That I know to be a fact because I've seen it with my own eyes before they were much cuter with kids, schools and nuns; Now it's scenes with naked people in tubs discussing their love affair, the change is evident.
In the music industry we have a little bit of every flavor in all the genres but where women are degraded in hip hop and rap. This genre is known for it's explicit and sometimes even violent lyrics. Women are often referred to as bitches, whores and sluts. Sexual acts are spoken about loosely and the music is often promoted as it's funny so laugh about it kind of way. Unfortuantely not only is it not a luaghin matter their lifestyles are often times dangerous, many famour rappers have died in this line of work. The problem however lies deeper than the lifestyles of the rappers, the fans range from kids to teens who are often looking for role models and they are the ones that proudly sing and try to act out the music.
Times are sure different from when women were trying to fight for equal rights and now that we have the right to education, voting, career opportunities and so much more do we really have it all?
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