After reading “The death of pretty”
and “fantasies of power” I felt like the authors would get along with their ideas
of how women and girls are trying to be “hot” because of today’s media. In my
opinion there wouldn't be a huge debate between the two authors I would expect
them to talk about how women are becoming more objectified in today’s media. They
would hit the topic of how most girls in today’s media are shown in very little
clothes and are shown the stereotypical form of what all men consider beautiful
or hot. However their views on who is to blame for this is different Pat
Archbold the author of the death of pretty seems to believe that it is partly men’s
fault however it is mostly girls fault for this happening saying that they
should know better. While Susan Douglas the author of fantasies of power
believes that is more of the men’s fault for force feeding the newer
generations of women media that she describes as enlightened sexism. This would
cause some conflict if they were forced to meet since this seems to be their
major difference in thinking. Though I could see them arguing about if men
would actually have the urge to protect the pretty as pat says or if they would
just get distracted by the consumable of what is a “hot” girl. However overall It
seems that both are hoping however that women will go back to pretty as Pat put
it or to become more interested in their roots of feminism that the media seems
to want to destroy that Susan talks about throughout the reading. They both
though seem to think that it will take a long time for this to happen. Personally
I feel they would have a decent time with each other though they would have
some different views they would both agree that girls need to stop wanting to
be objects of lust and desire and try to become more innocent as Pat put it or
what Susan feels the spice girls are where women can be both successful and
beautiful.
I completely agree with David’s blog! I believe that the authors of “Fantasies of Power” and “The Death of Pretty” would get along very well and are right about how girl are degrading to themselves. In todays society girls are looked at funny if their skirts are too long, if their bust isn’t big enough, etc. But that shouldn’t be the case. Girls that let guys judge them based off of things such as these do not deserve guys like that. A girl should be loved from the inside out, not from the outside in. A friend of mine has this saying called “butter face”, in other worlds “but- her- face”. This saying perfectly describes why he is just my friend. He judges girls by their looks and not what is inside of their heart. Today guys look more for lust than love and girls allow themselves to fall into that. I think girls need to start realizing that they don’t have to wear short skirts and low tops to be “beautiful”. If girls respected themselves, guys would respect them too. This situation works both ways but I would have to say is mostly the girl’s fault that causes today’s guys to be the way they are. I look at my parents and realize that my dad really does love my mom for her heart and not the way she looks. They met 45 years ago and still love each other very much. That is what pretty should be. It should be real and not an act!
ReplyDeleteI think these two authors would not get along very well at all due to the fact that in Archbolds essay the only reason for women to appear as either hot or pretty is to please the desires of the man. Douglas would respond to this by telling his views . Douglas would tell him that the media is presents the same idea of women portraying themselves a certain way are degrading and eroding women's self-esteem.
ReplyDeleteI agree with David's blog as well. I believe that the authors of "Fantasies of Power" and "The Death of Pretty" would get along very well if they went to a dinner together. They would agree with that girls are degrading to themselves. Girls today are judged a lot for how we look, we are supposed to be super skinny like models and have big chests because men find this attractive. A girl should not be degraded because she doesn't look like she comes out of a magazine, but she should be loved from the inside out. A man should love a girl because she is beautiful not only on the outside but on the inside as well. Today men just look for a girl they can show off to their friends, a trophy girlfriend, which makes us girls feel bad and we don't deserve this kind of treatment by men. For example my mom and dad have been married for 20 years and they both still love each other so much, my dad says he loves my mom because she is pretty on the inside as well. That is what love should be like, but it has just degraded so much over the years. You don't need to wear miniskirts and tube tops to be called beautiful. If you respect yourself enough and bask in your own kind of beauty, a guy will respect you and love you for you, and not just on the outside but on the inside as well. I mean it could also go both ways and say it is the girls fault for making men the way they are today. But you should bask in your own beauty and not degrade yourself so low because beauty comes from the inside as well.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with David’s post because after reading “Fantasies of Power” and “The Death of Pretty” I believe the authors would not get along very well on their main beliefs. In “The Death of Pretty”, Archbold states that women have started to focus on becoming hot, instead of being pretty, which he describes as a combination “beauty and projected innocence”. He talks about how men prefer to be with a pretty woman rather than a hot woman. He goes on to say that men want to protect and defend the pretty. I don’t think that Douglas would like to hear him say that men should protect women. In “Fantasies of Power”, Douglas talks about how society has convinced women that they should project the image of a “perfect woman”, with large breasts, size two waists, amongst other qualities that should be changed, if you don’t already have them. While they have similar views about society changing a woman’s image, they differ in the fact that Douglas wants more for woman than just becoming pretty again. They agree with each other that it will take a long time to change into something better for both men and women. They would probably agree with wanting women to become more successful and beautiful at the same time, instead of settling for one or the other. I think they could agree on some things, but overall would not agree.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with David, after reading “Fantasies of Power” and “The Death of Pretty” I feel like both Susan Douglas and Pat Archbold would get along fine for the most. Both authors would dwell and agree in an overall since that women are overly objectified in the media and that innocence is gone, but when it comes down to the minute details of the situation, the reader might start to see where the two authors might differ in their stand points. It seems that Pat Archbold would talk more about the fading of pretty and innocence to where females become more a hot commodity. He touches on the fact that the media plays a role in the detriment of the female status, but he mostly talks about how it’s the women’s fault for their demise; the ailment of years of liberation just to lead up to this loss of innocence and pretty, to become a hot consumable. Susan Douglas is more of a feminist when it comes to the situation, predominately blaming the media with all of her allusions to TV shows and movies. Other than the media she dives deeper into the matter to reveal different associations tethered to seeing women as second class citizens; the culture, women themselves, men, society, and the media are to blame as a whole. Though both authors are valid in their argument, it seems that Pat Archbold is coming from more of a man’s stand point, being vague, barely touching on other possibilities of why, then blaming it mostly on women themselves. Yet Susan Douglas comes from the stand point of an educated women on the matter, being that she goes more in depth and weighs other key factors of the objectifying other than just women themselves.
ReplyDeleteI too agree with David. If these two authors were to have dinner together, their time together would strike decent conversations. At the very least, both would agree that women have been overly induced by media in all its forms and have lost their prettiness in exchange for looks that men supposedly find more appealing. The differences the two authors, Susan Douglas and Pat Archbold might bring to the table most likely would be who or what is to blame for the whole degrading outlook of women specifically. Susan Douglas from "Fantasies of Power" had strong views on the deteriorating outlook of women. Her beliefs would further emphasize the impact media has had with portraying females in an extremely objective manner with various TV shows, TV programs, clothing shops, movies, singers...etc. Whereas Pat Archbold the author of "The Death of Pretty" would focus more on females losing their decent, "pretty" appeal because of the perceptions males overtly favor towards women. Because a high majority of males find females more attractive with better features and immodest exposure, females may not see any other options for themselves but to comply with what males are stereotyped to find attractive. This is when the “death of pretty” occurs. I believe each of the authors would find interest in one another’s views toward women with society or the ways in which women could redeem themselves in today’s society. I believe each other’s idea on sexism might become a hot topic of discussion for the two, but they could learn a lot from each other and better cultivate their own ideas.
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