Discussion #3

In the video, "Tough Guise," the main argument is that most young men think a "real" man is a tough, strong, and independent man and that there is a strong influence of media to couple "being a man and violence." ("Tough guise: Violence," 2006) I understand that men are more violent than women, but it is in our nature to be violent at times. I disagree with the highly weighted opinion of the speaker in the video. For example, the first statistic given is of a percentage of violent people (men vs. women). This is fine, but does not back up his argument that men are violent because of media influences. He needs to provide data on the percentage of overly violent men versus non-overly violent men. We, as men, are violent at times, it is in our nature. Men have been territorial and violent for thousands of years, well before the advent of advertisements.

In the video, "Killing Us Softly," the main argument is that media advertisement is greatly remodeling what it means to be an American woman; so much that, "advertisement is the foundation of the mass media...(selling the concepts of love), who (women) are, and who (women) should be." ("Killing us softly," 2010) I agree with this idea, and have seen it played out throughout the years as styles change and so do the women around me. Many of my female students will change their styles, looks, and behavior to win the attention of the boys in the school. It seems that they think they must change their selves to gain attention and be accepted, which is partially true. Media promotes this idea of constant change and that women need to be as perfect as possibly to be accepted.

I think that the media is partially responsible for some violence in men and low self-esteem in women, but I also feel it is in the nature of men and women to be both violent and swayed by others, respectfully. Mass-media has definitely influenced our culture and our perceptions of our gender roles. New forms of media are so pervasive in our lives that we need "to define and develop a new learning style that fosters within students the abilities needed to be information literate." (Semali, 2001) We need to teach our students that all of the advertisements are not educational and are not the truth, because I see many of my student blindly following the media without a thought given to what is influencing them. I can now see that "a lack of critical pedagogy in schools creates passive citizens." (Semali, 2001) I see my students just letting the media guide their lives and suck them into a state of passiveness and persuasion. My students are not the only ones allowing this to happen to them, most educators are, also.

References:

Tough guise: Violence, media & the crisis in masculinity [Web]. (2006). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3exzMPT4nGI

Killing us softly - women are used like pieces of meat [Web]. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVmcmePRqSk Semali, L. (2001, November).

Defining new literacies in curricular practice. Retrieved from http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/semali1/index.html