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April, 2013

  1. Advocacy Project

    April 18, 2013 by Taylor Kantner

    domestic violence brochure

    This is the final product of my advocacy project. I decided to create  a brochure to spread awareness about what domestic violence is and how someone can figure out when it’s happening. Hope you enjoy!


  2. PAS #7 Kayan Tribe

    April 17, 2013 by Taylor Kantner

    The most interesting ideal of beauty that I’ve learned about comes from the Kayan tribe, which is located on the border of Burma and Thailand. The ideal woman of the Kayan tribe starts to practice beauty at a very young age, more specifically the age of five. When a young girl turns the age of five, she begins the ritual of wearing brass rings around her neck. This ritual has been around in the Kayan tribe for centuries. As the young girl grows up, more and more rings are added around the neck. As time goes on, the necks will eventually elongate due to the increasing number of brass rings that the neck has to sustain and make the woman more appealing to men. An article that comes from Oprah.com explains, “The shiny, brass rings are the ultimate sign of female elegance and status.” Women begin to think of the rings as a way of life and after they have grown so used to them, feel as though they cannot take them off because their necks won’t look right anymore. These rings aren’t light either, some women bare quite the amount of weight on their necks.

    The only problem with this ritual is actually something the Kayan tribe can’t really do anything about. The location of where they live is a big tourist attraction so these women are seen as “animals” as one site says. This site about beauty across the globe explains how people go to this area just to take pictures of these women and what they do in their everyday lives. Many women may want to remove these rings later in life because of the health risks that could possibly take place, but there is too much embarrassment that can come along with it. Like I mentioned before, it becomes a part of who they are since they’ve worn them pretty much their whole lives. Another reason is because of the discoloration and bruises that result from the rings as well. So as much as this beauty ideal is tradition and a sign of status in the Kayan tribe it is probably not the best thing for the women’s health.

    https://sites.google.com/site/beautyacrosstheglobe/kayan-tribe

    http://www.oprah.com/style/Beauty-Around-the-World/5


  3. PAS #6 Beauty of Mauritania, Africa

    April 17, 2013 by Taylor Kantner

    The perceived beauty of the people of Mauritania, Africa is so different from our culture, it was really fascinating to learn about. Instead of the westernized beauty of being skinny and fit, Mauritania women are considered to be more beautiful the bigger they are. It used to be normal in their culture to force feed young children so they would gain weight, which was the ultimate sign of beauty as well as wealth. Weight is a sign of wealth since the area of Mauritania doesn’t get much rain. While we look up to those that are thinner and more attractive, it happens to be the polar opposite than the women in Mauritania who care more about gaining weight than losing it. According to an article from 2007 about obesity ideals, “a quarter of the 1.5 women in Mauritania are obese” which is quite surprisingly less than the percentage of American women that are obese, but the difference being there are no fast food restaurants in Mauritania.

    On the other hand, this is also hurting the women because the weight obviously can impact their health in many ways including heart disease and diabetes. It is becoming such a problem that the government is trying to intervene and change the way parents are bringing up their children. Even though the ideal woman in Mauritania is considered to be obese, society ideals could be changing every day. For one, there are new television shows depicting skinny model-like women, helping to eliminate the ideals of more overweight women. This is especially for the upper class women too, so beauty is becoming more and more westernized as time goes on. I really thought the practice of force feeding young girls was a crazy ideal for beauty, but learning more about it I realized the efforts that are being made to get rid of the practice. I think that it’s pretty cool that they see larger women to be more attractive and not stick thin women, but I also believe there’s a limit to how large and that force feeding should not be occurring at such a young age.

    http://www.wunrn.com/news/2007/04_07/04_16_07/042207_mauritania.htm


  4. CI #4 Discrimination in Certain Jobs

    April 16, 2013 by Taylor Kantner

    There have been studies for both men and women in the job market with findings that the more attractive people are hired. Most would say this type of discrimination is not fair and this should not be allowed to happen. I have come across an article from 2010 that actually says the complete opposite. Another study was done and showed results that contradicted the idea of hiring someone because they were more attractive. Coming from a professor from Denver Business School at the University of Colorado “attractive women face discrimination when it comes to landing certain kinds of jobs.” The findings from this study were particularly focused on women and that the more attractive weren’t hired for certain types of jobs such as, “manager of research development, director of finance, mechanical engineer, and construction supervisor.” I guess these jobs wouldn’t typically be considered a woman’s job, but that’s the problem. There is a stereotype for each of these jobs, especially for the construction supervisor. The fact that attractive women aren’t hired just because of what type of job it is is an issue all in itself. An interesting point that the article does make clear is that attractive men weren’t affected by this and seemed to have the advantage all of the time. This is for sure a double standard within the workforce that shouldn’t be occurring.

    The article goes on to say that there is a name for this type of situation occurring, ” the ‘beauty is beastly’ effect.” The fact that these women may be more attractive than others is actually hurting them when it comes to being hired for certain jobs rather than helping them, which is usually the case. I guess it makes more sense to hire attractive people in jobs that deal with sales and having to interact with people and convince them to buy a product, but that shouldn’t be the only quality an employer looks for.  Also, another point the article makes is that attractive women are still put into roles such as secretaries or receptionists or any other stereotypical feminine occupation. I think these jobs will always be considered more feminine and more of a woman’s job, but I don’t think a male should be ashamed or embarrassed to be hired as a secretary. I think it’s definitely time to move forward and make further progress in striving to get as close to equality as we can within the workforce.

    http://phys.org/news200318394.html


  5. PAS #5 Maori women in New Zealand

    April 15, 2013 by Taylor Kantner

     

    The Maori people are found in New Zealand, but are of Polynesian decent. The Maori have a very distinct and much different picture of beauty than we do here in the U.S. Tattoos, more specifically moko, have a lot of meaning in the Maori culture. Something many consider here in America to not be flattering is actually a sign of beauty in Maori culture. It dates all the way back to ancient times when tattoos were considered a sign of power and status and “the head was considered the most sacred part of the body.” It was originally only for the men at the age they would go through puberty to attract women. Women were also tattooed just not as extensively as men were. For women, the tattoo that was chosen had to have some meaning to it, which contributed to an “individual identity.” Another type of tattoo for women that was considered to be the “epitome of beauty” was getting the lips colored blue. These blue lips contributed to much of their beauty. Tattoos on the mouth, lips or chin are most popular and is what attract men to these Maori women.

    Today, women don’t usually get these tattoos on their face, but now on their lower backs and men on their upper arm. It shows how these times have changed and the tattoos on the face aren’t thought of as being ‘beautiful” anymore. This is another example of western influence I believe. I think the western world may be influencing the placement of the tattoos since tattoos on the face are no longer socially acceptable. I read an article about a women not being hired at a cafe just because of the moko she had on her chin. So it’s obviously affecting lifestyles of women now that it is not common to have mokos on their face. I thought this was such an interesting thing to be considered beautiful because I had never heard anything like it before. It’s just cool to see how different countries have different views on beauty.

    http://www.tattoocreatives.com/maori-tattoos-for-women

    http://history-nz.org/maori3.html

    http://www.squidoo.com/maoritattoosymbols


  6. PAS #4 Beauty of India

    April 15, 2013 by Taylor Kantner

     

    India is all about tradition. This tradition comes into play when considering the beauty of Indian women. From the Indian fashion to their very distinctive beauty secrets, the women display what is considered the beauty of their country. The body part considered to be most beautiful of Indian women is the nose. The nose is a perfect triangular shape and small along with brown or black eyes.

    From the moment they wake up they are already practicing some of India’s precious beauty secrets. Engaging in exercises, such as yoga and other exercises contributing to a good body shape. There is a special tree called a Neem tree which is valuable through and through. It is considered “the queen of all beauty ingredients.” Usually used in medicine, it can also be used in tea that helps with acne and works as a moisturizer as well. Another product they use is honey. Something we have over here too, but I bet you never thought of using it as conditioner! If mixed with olive oil, it creates a great hair conditioner. Honey is also known to absorb moisture in the skin. These are some beauty tips that many of us here in America probably don’t know much about, which is pretty cool.

    The typical Indian dress includes the traditional yet modern “Indian Saris” that are known by all parts of the world. It is called a ghagara- choli and is made up of a shorter shirt (choli) that covers the upper half of the body and a matching skirt (ghagara) to go along with it. Also, something they wear with it is called a duppatta that they wear over their shoulder. I’ve seen these dresses they wear and they are absolutely beautiful and definitely compliment these Indian women. But also, very different from what we wear here in the U.S.

    An article I read about an Indian woman that was born in India but has lived in America most of her life and hadn’t seen anything like what she saw in the magazine in India before. What she describes is that India has never considered being skinny to be beauty and how when she was younger her parents would make her eat to gain weight and not lose it. But what she noticed in this magazine was surprisingly Indian models were skinny and lighter skinned. This just shows how much of an impact American culture has on other countries that had their own values of beauty.

     

    http://www.ibiblio.org/hazine/india.html

    http://www.mapsofindia.com/culture/india-culture.html

    http://health.india.com/beauty/traditional-indian-beauty-secrets/

    http://prasadjain.hubpages.com/hub/THE-BEAUTY-OF-iNDIAN-LADIES–A-CULTURAL-LOOK


  7. CI #3 Powerful Women

    April 15, 2013 by Taylor Kantner

    Men may be considered by many as the most successful or the best in business, but women are close behind. There are important, successful women all throughout history and today classified in Forbes’ “World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.” The article about powerful women all over the world just goes to show that women are certainly more than capable of making a name for themselves and do so in a most elegant fashion. The Forbes’ World’s 100 Most Powerful Women includes women that have succeeded in politics, media, business, etc. It covers a huge range of jobs, women making it clear that you can be successful in just about any job you work hard for, no matter man or woman.

    Some of the women that made the list are Hillary Clinton, Oprah, Lady Gaga, and Diane Sawyer. The women I just named are from the United States, but there are women on the list from all over the world, such as Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Ministers, and CEO’s of companies all over the world. One of the youngest women on the list is the Yahoo! CEO as of July of last year. I think most people were shocked when she was chosen and decided to take the job. At only 37 years old it just shows women and younger girls what you can accomplish when you work hard for something. I think that’s a great thing about all these women making a name for themselves, young girls can look up to them and see what they have succeeded throughout their lives and these girls will want to follow in their footsteps. These women are role models to young girls. I think every young girl should have some sort of role model in her life, someone to look up to and strive for similar goals.

    These women on the list of Forbes’ “World’s 100 Most Powerful Women” give girls something to strive for everyday. I love the fact that these women are accomplishing things that not too long ago  many would have thought to be a man’s role in society. I would love to see women’s names on that list in the future that are younger and show the world that they have worked hard to get where they are and women too can rule the world.

    http://www.forbes.com/power-women/list/

     

     

     


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