“Me Too” Movement

Malisa Yin, Emma Davies, Liz Druschel, Kristin Sickau, Nora Tietjens, Eva Ragonese

For our history of a public controversy movement project, we are going to investigate the controversial “me too” movement that has sparked conversation across social media these last few months. In our video, we will highlight the different opinions on this subject and controversy and how influential it is to our society.

Below is our group contract of our assigned roles for the project.

Editors- Kristin Sickau

• This role will fulfill our final edits on the research of our project as well as digital editing of the video

Filming- Nora Tietjens and Malisa Yin

• This role will function as the main camera person and director of the video portion

Research- Liz Druschel, Emma Davies, and Eva Ragonese

• This role will focus on gathering sufficient information to fulfill the video portion of the assignment and research the controversy behind this movement

Through the project, we will follow our assigned roles and collaborate to create our final project.

Thursday(11/30) – research day, compile information

Conversation of the different sides of the story

Find the point we want to discuss in the video

Start a rough script for the video

Saturday – video day

Create  script layout for the video

Record video clips

Tuesday – video day/editing

Finishing video clips

Editing videos and media components

Thursday – final editing

Complete editing of the video and video clips

Topic: Transgender athletes

Intro –

equality of sports men vs. women, how do transgender people fit in? What challenges do they face when competing?

Body –

1. history and definition – what does it mean to be transgender and how big is the population of people/athletes
2. importance – history of men/women sports equality vs. transgender
3. applications of inequality – high school, college, professional, Olympics
4. issues faced – transgender women advantage over regular women? public opinion

Conclusion –

issue of men vs. women in sports has been an ongoing well-known battle, but transgender people face this battle silently. Many cannot be identified as transgender by their appearance so even though they are clearly male/female, regulations may require them to compete with the gender they were born as. Transgender issues are very political, and discussed in great depth involving military, marriage, and basic human rights. Sports equality is an aspect of basic human rights that is often not acknowledged and not well understood.

Women’s clothing sizes are an aspect of culture that is often unacknowledged and its changes though time often go unnoticed. The truth behind this common practice can be found through its history, sizing methods, and mental effects it can have on women. Shopping for clothes can be a mentally and physically exhausting process. People can fall in love with one item that they believe is their size, only to leave with utter disappointment when it doesn’t fit. Feelings of self-doubt begin to stem from their height, weight, and overall body shape. Surprisingly, these internal signs of defeat are not always created by the person’s weight or size fluctuation. They may in fact be the product of a long history of inaccurate and inconsistent sizing scales for women that has shifted greatly through time.

Women’s clothing sizes were originally created with nonscientific and racist practices in the late 1950’s as a result of the changing culture. During this depression era, women were generally smaller in stature and weight due to malnourishment and various sources of stress. Due to some extreme measures during this time, a typical woman of this era would not be representative of the size of a woman in the 1980s. With this being said, the women’s clothing size scale was the same for both decades. Created in 1958, the National Bureau of Standards’ “Body Measurements for the Sizing of Women’s Patterns and Apparel” was used widely across women’s department stores and clothing manufacturers until 1983. To create the standard, 15,000 women were surveyed and measured to define the “Average American Woman”. While this may seem like a fair judgement, with this survey taking place in this era, most women measured were underweight and the entire survey population would have been white, given the present state of segregation. This categorized measurements on a scale from eight to 42 as the first modern women’s clothing sizes.

Although this primary scale was finally ditched in 1983, clothing sizes remained utterly confusing for decades longer. To compare our present day widely used sizing scale, today’s size eight would register as less than a size double-zero in 1958. To further analyze the inaccuracies and inconsistencies in women’s clothing sizes, the methods in which sizes are created must be investigated. In recent surveys, many people point the blame of changing clothing sizes to the physical size change of women, specifically in weight, through the past decades. While there is some merit behind this claim, it is not supported by substantial evidence as the largest factor involved with size changes. Due to the current sizing standard being a voluntary code, many manufacturers are non-compliant to follow the universal sizes.

Walking through the grocery store, I notice that all the foods stocked neatly on the shelves contain the same few words that are highlighted. Words like “organic”, “all natural”, “multigrain”, and “sugar free” instantly make the foods seem more appealing as I throw them into my shopping cart. Why do these nutrition claims sway my opinion of the food? How can a simple word instantly decide whether or not I will spend more money on my grocery bill for the hope of being more healthy or sustainable?

As a society, people are always looking for quick-fixes that will improve their overall health and well-being. These “buzz words” seen frequently on products in the grocery store can often convince the consumer that the food will be a healthier option.

I, like every other person, love a quick fix to my issues. But I can assure you, eating an “all -natural” cookie will not save you.

So, here’s the issue with these health claims. Most of these claims are not supported by the FDA by any measurable requirements. This allows marketing production teams to literally take full control of what the consumer will think about the product. If the first thing you see on a box of gummy snacks is “made with real fruit”, then you may be less inclined to check the nutrition label for the shocking amount of sugar that accompanies this so called “real fruit”.

The number of these persuasive nutrition claims is expanding daily, but there are a few that are extremely common on products across the globe. These include ploys for sugar free products, organic, all natural, vegan, multigrain, free range, fat free, and light/low calorie products.

There are also several claims that are accurate and beneficial to economic and individual health such as Fair Trade in foods like coffee and chocolate. People are more inclined to buy foods with the official Fair-Trade seal because they know it will actually make a difference in global production of the ingredients.

It is important as a consumer to understand these persuasive methods used by food production companies in all parts of the world. If you can educate yourself on the truths behind these nutrition claims, you will be able to become an effective consumer and avoid spending too much money on false claims.

Summary: I want to analyze why people will wait in the Starbucks line in the Hub for 30 minutes each day for overpriced coffee. This also includes an analysis of why people drink coffee in general, and whether this trend has changed over the years.

Intro: Why do people drink coffee? As I walk through the HUB daily, without fail there will consistently be a line of 30+ people waiting for their overpriced, sugary coffee with a butchered name on the cup. So my analysis stems from my curiosity, why do people drink coffee? As a disclaimer, I’m not much of a coffee drinker but I find myself wanting to consume this tasty beverage at times for odd reasons. Sometimes I’m tired and I feel the need for an extra boost. Other times, I just want to fit in with the rest of my friends. When 3/4 of my 9am class comes prepared with a variety of coffee beverages, I find myself wondering what it is about this “magic juice” that entices people to burn their dining dollars before the second semester even begins. 

Point 1: What are the reasons for drinking coffee?

            – status symbol (makes you seem more sophisticated)

            – connects you to other people (coffee dates, peer pressure)

            – Solves your problems!  tired = drink coffee, hungover = drink coffee

            – Coffee = maturity, adulthood

            – Society wants us to be mature, civic duty to be mature & hardworking –> drink                       coffee!

Point 2: What is the role of advertisements for drinking coffee?

Talk about advertisements & what they mean (All adults in advertisements!)

Comfort, warmth, peaceful way to wake up

working people drink coffee, people need coffee in the morning to function

mature and sophisticated people drink coffee (accent)

Point 3: So who consumes coffee? Has this changed over time?

– Everyone, adults, college students, parents

– More sugar, can’t drink black coffee

Point 4: What are the different meanings behind drinking coffee?

– Different meanings? Seen as status symbol – power, authority, comfort, hardworking

– Commonplaces? Adults drink coffee, professional people drink coffee, coffee =                                      maturity

Conclusion: How does coffee relate to being civic? Coffee makes people function, socialize, and work hard. Aren’t these the exact qualities people look for and expect to see in adults? While it may go unnoticed, coffee plays an important role in cultures across the globe and contributes to civic life. Every day, pressures of society push people to get jobs and work harder, and a symbol equated with these ideas is coffee! The drink of choice by successful business men and struggling college students, coffee can truly be “the best part of waking up” for many, even if it means paying a lot and waiting in a long line for one cup.