Throughout our group meeting for our final paper we found a number of great articles to use in our final paper/presentation. One of the first and very interesting articles we found was written by three women, Marita P. McCabe, Kelly Butler, and Christina Watt and was titled, “Media Influences on Attitudes and Perceptions Toward the Body Among Adult Men and Women.” This project studied 60 men and 60 women, and found men overestimated their chest, waist, and thighs and underestimated their hips, while women overestimated the size of all body parts. This article is very helpful in that it supports our claim that the media has a negative influence on women and men and how they view themselves. A quote from the article that supports this is, Social pressure appears to be the main factor impacting on a woman’s body concern (Cusumano & Thompson, 1997), and the media appears to be the main source of this pressure (Heinberg, 1996). In the article it also says, “These thin body images have become normalized, and it is claimed that they contribute to the level of distorted perceptions and attitudes that women have of their body.” This is so true and it is one of the main points we would like to argue. Not everything on television is true. There is a thing called photoshop and celebrities use the unhealthiest ways to lose weight, that is why they are always fat then super skinny then fat then super skinny. We also found an ariticle titled, “The Media and Violent Behavior in Young People: Effects of the Media on Antisocial Aggressive Behavior in a Spanish Sample.” This article is by three men; Miguel Clemente, Pablo Espinosa and Miguel A. Vidal. Although this is a Spanish sample it is still a good source of information. They start out by using a real life example about a sixteen-year-old using a samurai sword to kill both his parents and sister. They explain that he is an avid Final Fantasy VIII player and was dressed exactly like his character when he was caught. In the article Johnson, Cohen, Smailes, Kasen, and Brook (2002) reported that males, but not females, who watched more television during early adolescence were prone to being more violent toward others, although no effect was found for other types of antisocial or criminal behaviors. Interestingly, results in the opposite direction have also been found. Hsieh (1996) found that viewing television violence is significantly associated with higher levels of aggression, especially among females, although this effect is less clear in the case of violence depicted in cartoons, particularly in older subjects. This article is kind of hard to follow at times so we probably won’t use a lot, if any, of the information provided.

Works Cited

McCabe, Marita P., Kelly Butler, and Christina Watt. Media Influences on Attitudes and Perceptions Toward the Body Among Adult Men and Women. School of Psychology-Deakin University, Apr. 2007. Web. 12 Apr. 2010. .

Clemente, Miguel, Pablo Espinosa, and Miguel A. Vidal. The Media and Violent Behavior in Young People: Effects of the Media on Antisocial Aggressive Behavior in a Spanish Sample. University of La Coruna, 24 Sept. 2008. Web. 12 Apr. 2010. .

TIM WISE

For more than a century, the United States has been moving to undo the legacy of racism and discrimination amongst its people. The changes have been to create a society reflecting the grand document of its founding, with “all men being created equal”, having “the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” How far all have really come toward such a monumental and ideal society is entailed David Cook’s “By The Color of Their Skin” article; each change for the better seems to bring two more for the worse, shifting away from the desired achievement. Though racism is dying through the effort of the entire nation, race-based discrimination is alive as ever, spawning new policies and issues for all.
The most defining arguments of the Cook article are racism and privilege, and how both influence today’s culture. As defined by Wise, “ Racism is an ideology that says certain people, by virtue of their race, are inferior or superior to others of a different race, with race usually being defined as skin color” (Cook, 2009, p.5). In other words, the color of a person’s skin color defines how they immediately see themselves, and others see them offhand. The quality of a person’s heart and soul may be the most important characteristic of all, but is seen secondary at best to the color of their skin.
The next defining aspect of this fantastic article is privilege. Once again, according to this article by Cook, privilege can also be seen as less pressure to perform. An example in the text was, “George W. Bush mangled the English language with regularity and still became president. If Barack Obama had mispronounced words the way Bush did, would he have been given the same degree of slack” (Cook, 2009, p.5). Because skin color is so defining of who someone is this example and the idea of having less pressure to perform means people of the dominate race may not feel the need to perform to their full potential because they already feel privilege.
Ironically, antiracism has caused a new type of racism, in which the previously underprivileged minorities have become the privileged majority, and the previously privileged racial majority has become an underprivileged minority. People in terms of race being constructed in America today, Cook views it as, “The mistake people make is to think that history stops and starts with each new generation” (Cook, 2009, p.6). What people need to realize is that what happens in one generation effects the next and every generation in the future and it’s impossible to start with a completely blank slate (Cook, 2009, p.6).
In our own lives today, we are affected by racism in aspects of our lives we’re not even aware of. Wise uses the example that, “Job applicants with “white-sounding” names are 50 percent more likely to get called back than those with “black-sounding” names, even if both have the same qualifications” (Cook, 2009, p.6). Such an attitude is engrained in our society; one cannot completely erase their own past, no matter how much they may try.
Such concept might tie into paper three; similar to the quest of all for the perfect meal, the strive for a perfect, just, unbiased society continues leaping forward recklessly in great bounds, and yet remain just beyond grasp. All may be looking for perfection, but all have different ideas as to what perfection really is.


Works Cited
Wise, Tim. "By the Color If Their Skin." Interview by David Cook. The Sun July 2009: 4-12. Print