Gin and Topics: Lollipops, Donkeys, and Misrepresentations

WordsDoneWrite I know!!! Right?!?! That was just plain creepy!!!

SocialMediaDDSWordsDoneWrite I have to admit, I'm such a wimp I wasn't able to get through the whole thing...I had to click out of it and even just the first little bit served to give me nightmares!

SocialMediaDDS On Lollipop...yes, you have to let it access your FB profile. Do it and then go into your privacy setting and unlink it.

I'm still gathering my thoughts on the Miss Representation video. The struggle I'm having is women are our own worst enemies. Combine that with the fact that we can/should use our feminity in business and I think I'll likely make some enemies when I write about it.

ginidietrich it IS a slippery slope...I sometimes feel that women DO give women a bad name. That said, the focus needs to be redirected to empower the VERY positive aspects of being a woman. I agree with lkpetrolino in that women and men are different and THAT SHOULD BE A GOOD THING!! One of the speakers that flew past on the MissRepresentation video is, I am pretty sure, an author I heard interviewed on WI Public Radio and, if it IS her, the interview that I heard was pretty provocative. Her opinion is that we need to start to immediately give messages to girls, even as babies and toddlers, about their potential. When we first meet a little toddler girl, for example, our urge (and she is really right about this) is to say something along the lines of "oh how pretty you look today" (really...think about how often we automatically do that!!). She, herself, struggles with that knee jerk response but, squelching it, she gets down to the child's eye level and asks her perhaps, what book she likes or what does she like to play with etc....bringing the young girls attention to something she LIKES to do and then focus on how fun, awesome, cool (fill in the blank) that is to do. If we do that consistently enough with little girls, they will stop thinking that their power lies in how they look/their beauty and more in what they are passionate about. I was absolutely hanging onto her every word and how powerful it would be to change the culture of how girls view themselves.

Okay...that's it...for now....oh and I will give Lollipop a look...

ExtremelyAvg You are probably just as qualified as anyone. I can't resist but a little mini rant about this....heck I might write my own post as well, however I fear it would turn into a three part series of me ranting and throwing my arms around spastically (I'm italian, I can't help it)

1) No doubt the media is agenda setting. That is true in this topic, it is true in politics, it is true in many, many, many things. There is no doubt about that fact

2) Woman and men are different. That is a law of nature. Women who try to succeed by trying to succeed 'as a man' will undoubtedly lose. However, there is nothing that prevents women to succeed by trying to succeed 'as a woman'. Because that is what we are. We are women, not men...and in that we have our own power. Sadly, too many women overlook this fact.

3) As a whole, women are their own worst enemies. This is not just true in gender equality, but in any circumstance where one sector of the populations feels they are being marginalized based on their (gender, culture, religion, race, sexual orientation, etc.). Go out, create your own reality, live the life you want, be the person you want to be. The biggest limitations are ALWAYS self imposed.

The End....for now.... :)

lkpetrolino Okay, though I am writing my own blog piece, I'm now concerned that it is not nearly as good as your comment. Okay, not really concerned. I will probably work the words 'monkey' and 'bacon' into my post, to distract people from it being sort of mediocre.

My latest conversation: Upgrade

ExtremelyAvg Ah...the old monkey and bacon trick...works every time!

lkpetrolinoExtremelyAvg Laura, your third point is why I feel like I have a split personality on the issue.

ginidietrichlkpetrolino Gosh, addressing #2 would be like wandering into a mine-field, blind-folded, dragging a donkey behind you (by a leash!). I'm really of two minds like you both. I don't like the role of victim but then you look at the stats for some of our major institutions/entertainment/etc. This is tough topic but I'm interested to read what you both have to say once you publish.

ExtremelyAvg WOW! It really makes you want one?! If so, the advertising is brilliant.

I don't know where to begin, either. I fee like Jekyll and Hyde.

TheJackB I love that you dug into the facts and stats. Hilarious! I wonder which states it's legal? Hang on...I'm going to find out.

ginidietrich My old blog has a few of these stories scattered through it so it caught my eye. I'll make a note of the 13 states where it is just a misdemeanor. ;)

My latest conversation: One Father Speaks- The Media Does Not Define Me

TheJackB Fascinating! Check it out: http://www.animallaw.info/articles/ovuszoophilia.htm

It's a felony in only 16 states. The other 13 states it's a misdemeanor.

ginidietrichTheJackB Sigh. Naturally. TX isn't on the list. (But Arkansas is? How does THAT happen!? Having lived in both states, my mind is blown.)

Marandaginidietrich I think that we ought to ask Rick Perry what he thinks about it.

My latest conversation: One Father Speaks- The Media Does Not Define Me

TheJackBMarandaginidietrich Of course it is not illegal in Jersey. It seems only fitting...

NancyD68TheJackBginidietrich NJ and TX should try that for their next hospitality campaign - "Beaches and A*ses"

Maranda LOL!!