Although there were many different types of the inspirational posters most were helping conform to negative stereotypes. Such as this one:
But I did find at least one that seemed to fit our criteria as a culture jammer. It seems that back in the day (not entirely sure when) if you typed "she invented" into google. It came back with this result, which someone made into a fake motivational poster.
(interestingly enough both of those links come from the same site, and on the same month)
I did some checking and google no longer asks you what you may have meant when you type in "she invented" into it's search bar.
Lastly, I found a link to a website that allows people to create their own motivational posters quickly and easily. I tried making one quickly, and I'll admit it isn't very good nor funny, but I still tried it out.
Anyways, here's the link if anyone wants to make their own motivational posters:
http://bighugelabs.com/motivator.php
--The N3rd
This is very interesting....I especially like the first one as it clearly exemplifies the stereotypes associated with feminists and also beautiful women....as we sai in class today about Marilyn Monroe who was always presented as sexy or kind of an empty, unintelligent symbol.
ReplyDeleteSorry forgot to sign that one.....Miss Frizz
ReplyDeleteI find it very disturbing how google corrects it to "he". On a positive note I felt the need to see if this was still the case and it is not. Yay for us lol.
ReplyDeleteI think that we can look at the first picture in many differnt ways and read many different things from it. Firstly and most noticably it outlines the "ideal" look for women. The Hooters "waitness" (really models/dancers but not really waitresses) are all tan with big boobs and atre wearing minimal clothing. Secondly, this picture seems to deem any woman who tries to argue these norms a complainer when they are simply standing up for equality. The last thing that I noticed from this picture was the way that it highlighted the lack of respect for feminists. The way that this woman's sign of protest is mocked and made into a jock in disgusting and just shows how far away we are from a society of equality.
-princess consuela banana hammock
I agree completely with everything that Princess Consuela Banana Hammock stated in the previous post about the first "motivational poster". I think, however, that we should also take into consideration not only the beauty standards defined by the "beautiful" women in the poster, but that it is stated that the "unattractive" woman is also seen as a "bitch". This generalizes all women who are not physically "ideal" to fit into that stereotype. yourdictionary.com offers definitions to this term - all of which are degrading or frowned upon in todays society. For convience, i've stated them below. Of course with this term, we also get to take into consideration the origins and literal meaning of the word - which dehumanizes women.
ReplyDelete"bitch (bic̸h)
noun
1.the female of the dog, wolf, fox, etc.
2.a lewd or promiscuous woman
3.a woman regarded as malicious, bad-tempered, or aggressive: a term of contempt
4.anything especially unpleasant or difficult
5.a complaint"
(http://www.yourdictionary.com/bitch)
- Splinter2
I agree with both Splinter2 and Princess Consuela Banana Hammock in regards to their feminist and 'bitch' comments. It relates back to the complicated representations of women in popular culture and the Muppet clip that we watched in class on Tuesday. Popular culture spaces can be both sites of resistance and sites of domination, as depicted in the show. The interplay of images; feminist and bitch, creates the representation of women who speak out as both powerful and dangerous. I think the fact that the first culture jam acknowledges society's perspective of women who speak out, and the common perception of them, makes it a significant culture jam. Of course not all women who protest against sexism are ugly, but the motivational poster pointing this out implies it. Awesome culture jams!!! Thanks for sharing,
ReplyDeleteAubrey B.
I absolutely hate seeing those Google "culture jams", becuase each one I have seen is just reproducing these isms (racism, sexism, ageism, etc.). This one in particular is clearly demeaning towards women. I seen one where what was originally typed in was "The white person stole my car" and it was corrected to "Did you mean--The black person stole my car". I mean, I can completely how these can be humorous, but holy shi* these desensitize our views and allows us to recreate these stereotypes in society. It makes it a little bit easier for anyone to reproduce these stereotypes. The question I have to ask is how true are these? And also in what world is Google allowed to do this? I can't believe for a second that these could ever be true, what does everyone else think?
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post!!!
Aaliyah Jasmine
Ugly women as bitches = "if you're not pretty, or at least a little bit pretty", you won't have any friends!
ReplyDeleteGoodness.
The Doctor
Thanks for the integrative feminist analysis Aaliyah Jasmine! Stereotypes are indicative of cultural norms: how groups of people are essentialized to one particular aspect of themselves, and then how that essentialization is applied to the whole group (your example about black people stealing cars - I remember, about seven years ago now, I typed "criminal" into my clipart search [i]and all the images that came back were a) men and b) black[/i]. That's now changed, but at the time...it was a little horrifying).
ReplyDeleteStereotypes are a cultural tool to maintain domination, and they are created [not deliberately, the process is far more complex than just A=B] by dominant social groups in order to justify oppressive structures.
The Doctor
To say "only ugly women complain about it" insinuates that the problem is recognized but not addressed. This statement reveals that the hooters ladies might recognize sexism, but because they are on the winning side of the battle, they chose to stop fighting. A parallel statement could be, "Earthquakes, only Haitians complain about them". The issue is accepted but then, "not my problem" syndrome sets in. These hooters women are perpetuating the sexualized female stereotype by subscribing to beauty in the eyes of the "male gaze". Not exactly something to be proud of.
ReplyDeleteTVfree.