Lady Gaga By Kate Rapp

 

On Monday October 8^th we talked about Lady Gaga in class about her depicting a disabled mermaid. My opinion about the topic was that she was giving power back to those who are disabled. And after reading a story that Perez Hilton tweeted about Lady Gaga and her reactions to what people are saying about her weight gain just proves my point even stronger. http://www.youbeauty.com/mind/celebrities-and-eating-disorders?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=OutBrain%2BCPC&utm_term=Lady-Gagas-Eating-Disorder-Is-Going-Publ

Above is a link to what I had read earlier this morning that was being passed around on Twitter talking about Lady Gaga’s “Body Revolution.” On her blog site LittleMonsters.com where she had posted pictures of herself in her bra and underwear with the caption “Bulimia and Anorexia since I was 15.” Now people anywhere, who sign up for the website, can post pictures of themselves and their body image issues and talk about them with people all around the world. This is the definition of taking back what is theirs; to be so brave to post those images on the internet and be proud of themselves. Images such as what Gaga did, people with scars who have cut themselves, dwarfism, disfigurements, and artificial body limbs have been posted on the site. Gaga has created a movement for all her little monsters everywhere to be proud of who they are because obviously… you were born this way. I give Gaga so much credit in starting this and putting herself out there for everyone to join her in this revolution. It just makes me love her so much more.

Here’s another link talking about what Gaga has done: http://www.forbes.com/sites/melaniehaiken/2012/09/26/lady-gaga-puts-bulimia-and-body-image-on-the-table-in-a-big-way/

It'll Last Longer

Sorry to put something up that's unrelated to the most recent posts, but this is related to our topic in class.

My question is, how is the picture supposed to make us feel? How much is said before we even get to the article and learn the context? How is the girl's beauty important, and how does it complicate things? Here's a link to the article . By the way, I believe the photographer later reported "I didn't think the photograph of the girl would be different from anything else I shot that day." ? How can that be true? I'm skeptical, with such a compelling shot.

National Geographic Article

Pride Panel

The Pride Panel on Friday was really cool and helpful. One of my friends just started taking hormones and about a month ago announced to everyone (from her family to all of her friends on Facebook) that she has always felt that and identified as a woman and is officially starting the transformation. The lesson on gender and sex the other week combined with the panel has really helped me understand more about the transformation and what goes on.

My friend is the first person I've met that is going through the transition from male to female, and she has said how it's not only a transformation for her but a transformation for everyone in her life. In her Facebook status she told everyone her new name and that it might be hard for us to get used to, and she understands that. Lydia's response to my question about the transition people go through helped me understand a lot, and will hopefully help out my friend.

In my Adolescent Literature class we're doing a unit on LGBT novels for adolescent readers. I chose to read the book Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger, which is about a teenager that was born male and now identifies as a woman. The professor for this class, Heather McEntarfer, gave us a choice between two novels that deal with young boys and homosexuality or Parrotfish. This novel was one I'm definitely hoping I can teach (I'm being optimistic here! hopefully I'll be able to get a job!) because it does a good job of reading like a typical high school girl novel and being a relatable to teenagers, while teaching the reader what a transgendered person is, the difference between sex and gender, and that not all people fall into one of the two sex categories.

The main character, Grady, has a lot of great things to say throughout the novel, constantly criticizing the concept of gender, thinking “I forgot that changing your gender was not even a question for most people. They just took for granted being a boy or a girl. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be so sure of yourself. To be scornful of anybody who wasn’t just like you” (Parrotfish, p99). My favorite quote in the novel is another one of Grady’s internal thoughts, where he is contemplating her mother, sister and best friend’s reaction to his new identity. “So what did it mean that I felt like a boy? If I couldn’t really but it into words myself, was it fair that I was making Laura and Mom and Eve suffer for it? And yet, hadn’t I been suffering for a long time now?…maybe if people divide everybody up into just two groups- male and female, two lines only- I could have just been a crew-socks-wearing person who played on the boys’ soccer team and it would have been okay. I wouldn’t have had to make a big deal out of being a boy, which seemed to be the part that was making a lot of people crazy” (p105-106). Teaching this novel or even having it on a suggested reading list for a high school English class would be a good start to inform students about transgender issues.

Found this on Tumblr.. grrrr

Panel Reaction

I really enjoyed the presentation from those who shared during the PRIDE panel. I thought it was interesting to hear all of the stories of those who were lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, pansexual and transgendered. One thing that I really took away from the discussion was the general fear that those who are different have about coming out to the world. While listening to their stories I couldn’t imagine having to live with the pressure and fear of not being able to be honest with everyone about who I really am. Also I thought it was really interesting how technical all of the terms and language can be when describing someone who is a member of the alphabet umbrella. The smallest misuse of a certain term could end up offending an individual so correct language is of the upmost importance. It was really nice to see all of these individuals reap the benefits of coming out and being comfortable and happy with their sexuality in front of others. Overall I really enjoyed the presentation because it gave me an insight into a world that one cannot fully understand without living first hand. 

A House Divided

Going off from what we were saying in class about how it seems we don't get much information about the woman in the united states helping others, I feel like as a country now, besides being to self involved, we have our priorities a little messed up. Not to bring politics into in but it seems like a lot of the past president's focus on health care and other huge issues. Which yes they are extremely important but I feel like fixing other problems, that i believe are equally as important, such as the topic of women that the country would be better off. This is another reason why the current president has such a strong following, because he is tackling issues of woman equality and gay rights. Those are the topics I feel we should handle first THEN move on to the larger ones. Like president Lincoln said " A house divided against itself cannot stand".  If we got the country to connect more I feel that woman would not be an after thought and maybe even lead the country.