I chose to do a website since it can be accessed by everyone and can help inform other people about workplace discrimination. The tone is objective and informational since the primary goal provide information to my audience. Although more directed at African-American people either in the workforce or planning to go into it, my audience is everyone since the site includes information that can inform average people so that they are better able to recognize if they are unconsciously discriminating and how to help if they see discrimination.
I used PiktoChart and number to make my infographics. I used made all three of my infographics. I used 1)relational to compare the number of people of different race in the workplace; 2)numerical to show the different wages for people of different races and their level of education; and 3) chronological to make a decision tree to tell people what to do if they face discrimination. I used a blue and grey color scheme for all the infographics since it looks professional and so that everything matches.
My issue brief topic is racial discrimination in the workplace particularly toward African Americans but possibly other ethnicities too. I first want to find a brief history of having people of color working in the same jobs as whites and how it is common for people of different ethnicities to have the same job; I do not want to date all the way back to slavery since that history would be too comprehensive, but it should include major events in attempting to provide equal opportunity to everyone. Then, I want to research laws and polices that make it illegal to discriminate in the workplace; however, I also want to find how these policies fail or what policies allow discrimination to continue. Lastly, I want to know the effects of workplace discrimination on the individual; for this, I want to find how it effects mainly the victim, but if I also want to see if I can find whether or not it effects whites in that environment as well.
My experience with being a twin is something that I have always wanted to write/talk about but never really had a way to do it. Since being a twin is such a major part of my life, I felt almost obligated to write about it since so many people are under the impression that being a twin is all-fun-and-games.
The biggest challenge for this podcast was writing the script. I could write a book about everything I’ve experienced as a twin, so having to narrow it down was really difficult. I felt like everything had equal importance and I wanted to talk about so much but I still had to pick-and-choose what to include to keep it under 500 words. Not only that, but I take this topic so seriously that I wanted the script to be really good so that it really portrays how passionate I am about this. Part of the problem with my original script was that I tried to cram in too many stories so I didn’t have enough time to talk about my overall belief. Also, I got in kind of a bad mood while writing it, so it ended up sounding like I resent my sister, which is not at all the case! Even though my sister and I used to fight a lot in the past (like most siblings), I absolutely love her and definitely did not want the script to make it sound like I didn’t! I ended up going with my second draft since I got a lot of positive feedback on it and I couldn’t really think of anything in it that I wanted to change.
Personally, I thought recording it was pretty cool. I felt like a voice actor or something! But similar to writing the script, I really wanted to get the inflections in my voice right so that it portrays what I intended, so I ended up having to record things like a million times. Sometimes, it was a little hard for me to actually talk about my experiences since the topic is kind of upsetting to me but I still had fun recording it. I thought about adding sound effects but I couldn’t find any I liked and I didn’t want them to distract from what I was saying anyway. Overall, I thought the TIB podcast was a pretty fun assignment and a great way to warm up after winter break.
These are absurd, intrusive, and rude questions, but I faced them all growing up as a twin. Whenever someone would ask what our names were, we would tell them—“I’m Danielle, and she’s Dominique.” Most times, people would immediately confuse our names and act as though it were excusable or turn us into a human guessing-game where they’d run up to us, guess who was who, congratulate themselves if they got it right, and then run off again without even having a real conversation. Or they would simply save themselves the trouble and refer to us both as “twin.” Regardless of what they did, I was left with the overwhelming sense that I was always being compared to—and in competition with—my twin sister.
People would openly compare us right to our faces, like one time when a group of girls debated over who was prettier. My sister and I were particularly competitive with academics and refused to share our grades with each other. I felt like if she did anything better than me that I was going to be the “bad twin.”
And yet everyone wants to have a twin, as if they don’t realize how lucky they are to be considered an individual. To be known by your own name. To be treated like a person and not a form of entertainment. To not have to compete with someone who literally lives with you.
To have individuality.
As human beings, we are all naturally different. We all have likes and dislikes, different styles and tastes, and particular personalities and characteristics. And even though they aren’t treated like it, twins – like my sister and me – are individuals too. Think about when you describe someone: you wouldn’t try to accurately describe them by saying that they have eyes, a face, and a body, because everyone has that. You would describe them with things that make them different. For example, I would describe my sister as a type-A brunette with a killer sense of humor that loves musicals as much as breathing and is a strange mix of down-to-earth and ditsy; while I would describe myself as an artsy, ambitious, big-hearted bundle of big blonde hair who can’t finish a book to save her life and daydreams too much for her own good. For two girls who are supposed to be like “the same person,” we sure are pretty different!
And that’s what’s so great about people; they’re all so unique. Frankly, we tend to admire people’s differences and often times wish we were more like them. I admire my sister more than anyone because she has so many traits that I don’t have, but that doesn’t mean that I want to be like her. I’m just fine with being myself, because regardless of what anyone else says, I know there is no one quite like me.
The first idea I had for my ThisIBelieve podcast was for it to be about the benefit of the arts in high school; as a member of the band for 9 years, I know how big of a role band has played in my life and I believe that the arts do not get nearly as much respect as they deserve. I noticed this particularly when I was in marching band since I was a part of the marching band for 5 years and became the saxophone section leader and a featured soloist; everyone in the band worked extremely hard and for long hours, yet our school did nothing to complement us. Regardless, we still learned a lot about team work, effort, commitment, and punctuality from being there. My second idea was for it to be about my experience as a twin; most people do not have this experience and it gives you several unique outlooks on life and makes you value independence and individualism. I feel like a lot of people do not realize how great of a privilege it is to be different.
My passion blog is going to stay the same since I still love my hair! I might try to add at least a few more videos now; my old computer was horrible and did not have enough memory for the videos but since I have a new computer, I definitely want to try to make videos again. Overall, the general content will still be tutorials, product reviews, and stories since I had a lot of fun with that last semester. It is probably going to have less tutorials though since I will have my braids in for a while, and there are only so many hairstyles you can do with them! So it is probably going to be mainly about experiences with natural hair or hair advice.
For my Civic Issues blog, I am thinking about either doing race or education; however, I am currently leaning toward doing my blog on education since I already know a few topics that I would want to cover. I thought about doing race because over the course of my time at PSU, I have developed more of a racial identity than I used to have since I actually have friends of my own race now since at my old school I really did not have many black friends; so writing about race would be beneficial for me to learn even more about race related issues and for me to inform others about them. I also thought about doing educations because I hear a lot of talk about how other countries have better educational systems than we have in the United States and I really want to know more about that; frankly, I also have some issues with the way our school systems are set up so I would definitely have some topics in mind that I would want to write about. It would probably end up being a mix of grade school and college education issues.
This group project was such an interesting experience. In group projects in high school, people were always slow and disorganized; to make matters worse, most times I had group projects, they were in non-honors classes, so the people I would get paired with never really worked that hard so I end up doing a lot of work since I do not want them to mess up my grade. But this group project was entirely different. I was taken aback by how well everyone communicated what needed to be done and how everyone delegated tasks. Everyone worked so hard that I felt like I was not doing enough! One thing that really stood out to me was that even when we were assigned something, everyone still wanted to help out with the other assignments. Back in high school, people were given a part to do and would leave and do only that; but in this one, everyone wanted to do more and help each other, which I had never seen happen before! I truly admire the work ethic of all my group members and hope that I was as good as a member as they all were to me!
I really loved the class overall. Prior to taking it, I never read the news or cared about what was going on in the world or anything. Admittedly, when I first actually realized that the class was about civic issues, I was kind of like “oh man, what did I get myself into?” But this turned out to be one of my favorite classes! I always loved reading the articles because they always had such interesting takes on issues. I had to send a few of them to my parents to read because I thought they were so good! This class also helped me to mature as a person since the majority of adults seem to know about these issues and talk about them. Actually, my parents took me with them over Thanksgiving break to this dinner with a few of my dad’s business friends and at one point they started talking about not standing for the national anthem and I could actually talk to them about it! And everyone there was over 50 years old! When we got home, my mom said she was so proud of me because I can speak so comfortably with adults and she could not do that until she was almost 30! I also liked how the class uses so many different mediums for projects. Usually, english classes just focus on essays with the occasionally powerpoint presentation; but this class used everything from blogs to essays to speeches to videos, which I thought was really cool. My personal favorites were the blogs since it was fun to express my ideas on the things that we read and to blog about my hair since I honestly have always wanted to do that! It was also fun to read other peoples since the food ones were some of my favorites (and I read on someone’s blog the last time that Baby’s had really good milkshakes so I took my friends their later that day and we all loved it)! I cannot wait to see what next semester has in store!
My sister, who goes to Pitt, texted me at three in the morning saying “go on google and look up election. Just election.” So I did that and saw that Donald J. Trump was just elected as president of the United States of America. She told me that she literally cried when she saw this and that people are rioting on Pitt’s campus in outrage. I was still working in the studio at the time and people there were crying because Trump — a man who is considered racist and sexist, has joked about sexual assault, menstruation, and people with disabilities, has skipped out on taxes, and only wants to benefit rich, white men — was elected president. One of my friends is from India and she told me that she came here thinking that America was this great country but after this election she has entirely reconsidered.
As someone who is entirely against Trump, I am absolutely devastated that he was elected as president and disappointed that the American people thought that this man was fit for presidency. He is accused of all of the previously stated offenses and the majority of this country thought “wow, what a great presidential candidate!”
I truly do not understand how women in particular voted for this man. Do they not mind that Trump has made fun of menstruation? Do they not care that Trump has said that he would inappropriately grab a woman? Why is this the man that they want to make laws? At this point, equal pay for women is completely off the table since this man cannot even respect women enough not to joke about their bodies or about assaulting them.
And to make things worse, Trump supporters are getting on my nerves by complaining about the anti-Trump backlash. I have seen people try to justify Trump’s presidency by saying that blacks, Mexicans, Muslims, and women voted for Trump so he clearly is not racist or sexist. There are women and blacks in the KKK too, but that did not change the fact that it is still a racist organization. I heard someone today saying that people who voted for against Trump were being “sore losers.” This phrases is used for games where the point is to win or lose. The fate of this county is not a game. We are not upset because other candidates did not win; we are upset because we are afraid that the next four years of our lives are going to filled with sexism, racism, and hatred for others.
I have never felt the color of my skin more than I do now. Before, I knew that I was black, but I never felt like it would impact my daily life. I am truly afraid that racism in this country will get so bad because of this man that they elected that I have to face racism head on. I am even more terrified for all of my Muslim friends; as if Muslims were not already persecuted in this country for being “terrorists,” now it is going to get really bad for them. For all I know, Trump could just decided to export all Muslims for virtually no reason. At this point, there is a 50% chance that I will not be standing for the national anthem next time it is played; why would I honor a country where over half of the voting population supports racism and sexism and could not care less about to sexual assault, not paying taxes, or making fun of those with disabilities?
If someone out there has voted for Donald Trump to be president, can you please explain why you voted for this man, because I truly do not understand why.
Quentin Bell, a well-know fashion historian, “finds it remarkable that people would willingly go ill clad in order to appear fashionably well dressed” (Finkelstein). I could not agree more with this statement. Although I had a dress code in high school, I felt like everyone broke it; I must have seen someone wear a crop top, mini skirt, or booty shorts everyday, regardless of the weather. As if it could not get worse, I went to college where women’s fashion is even more revealing; once I rode the bus the night of a football game and one girl wore a crop top that was so short you could actually see her sports bra underneath with an overall skirt that was not even buttoned. After seeing these displays of immodesty over the years, one cannot help but wonder how fashion has transitioned from full length ball gowns to essentially walking around in a bra and underwear. By looking at trends between 1960 and today, one can identify how sexuality in the media, feminism, self-expression, and body image contributed to modern day women’s fashion.
Television majorly impacts fashion for adolescents by demonstrating the expected attire for youth in society. Since its creation in the 1960s, television has powerfully impacted the American population’s perception of societal norms — particularly in fashion. The vast majority of Americans watch television; approximately 118.4 million homes have televisions in America this year compared to the “52 million sets in American homes” in 1960 (Nielson and Jordan). The shows, movies, and commercials on television flaunt the “ideal” members of society to virtually the entire American population, which creates the cultural expectations of appearance, behavior, and morals, which manipulates our sense of what is considered “normal.”
Teenagers have a tendency to watch shows that draw “heavily from media images and storylines as they wrestle with who they are and where they fit in the world” for instruction on handling situations or for an idea of how to present themselves (Steele). The natural inclination for people to adopt the norms they see on television is the reason why children shows usually include positive behaviors like sharing and being kind to others; the children watching the show will believe that this is how they are supposed to act and emulate what they see on TV. That being said, many shows feature characters that are part of the “popular crowd” or characters that the audience is supposed to aspire to be like as being ill clad. Portraying characters that are designed to be idolized by adolescents as people who wear scandalous clothing pushes teenagers dress similarly to the immodest characters they see on television.
The promiscuity on television pressures young women to sexualize themselves through fashion. This originally started in the 1960s as a result of “permissive society,” a societal trend characterized by “the rising status of women both inside and outside the home, … loosening sexual attitudes, … and the declining influence of religion in the personal lives of most Americans” (Petigny). Because of this movement, media has become more sexually explicit; plus, the invention of the oral contraceptive pill in the 1960s has made premarital sex more common, since it greatly reduces the risk of pregnancy (Boundless). Most television shows for young adults include some type of sexual relationship, even if it does not relate to the actual plot of the story; for example, the ABC show How To Get Away With Murder is about law students taking on court cases while hiding the fact that they have committed murder; yet, almost every episode has a sex scene in it. Doesn’t make a lot of sense, right? The oversexualization in the media has made promiscuity significantly less taboo than it was in 1960.
Our increasing normalization of sex is reflected in our clothing choices. Those who believe that hook ups and premarital sex are a part of normal everyday life are more likely to dress immodestly compared to someone who does not plan on being sexually active. This leads to fashion trends where people show their bras through their shirt and wear daisy dukes in order to make themselves desirable to men. Over this past summer, one of the major trends were backless shirts and dresses and plunging v-neck tops. Personally, I would not wear something that has an extremely low neckline, since it tends to look too promiscuous; however, some women may want to attract the attention of men through their clothing and would happily wear this kind of attire.
Feminism has impacted fashion over the years by creating styles that are designed to look less feminine. In the 1960’s, women were becoming more common in the workplace. By obtaining workplace jobs instead of staying home and raising a family, women began to challenge the typical patriarchal society by proving that they are equal to men and that men do not control their daily lives. Women refused to be considered “passive objects of the male gaze” and refuted the fashion trends from the previous years where full-figured women and tailored waistlines were in style (Negrin). Instead, women opted for a more boyish look which resulted in trends like the “shapeless mini dresses [that] de-emphasized a woman’s natural form” (1960s Fashion). Everything from the fashion to the body image was made to look prepubescent; “thin and androgynous” figures were all the rage and women wore boyish fashion trends and loose fitting clothes to hide their curves (Women’s Body Image).
As time progressed, the hostility toward women’s fashion lessened and developed into “an avenue for self expression and creativity” (Negrin). While current fashion trends have reverted back to the figure-flattering style that existed before the 1960s, the mentality of not wearing clothes for male satisfaction still remains. Now, fashion is thought of as a form of self-expression; women have the freedom to choose what they want to wear and to determine what style of clothing they prefer. While fashion is still used to attract men, it is used more as an indirect method of exerting power over them. By dressing in clothes that attract male attention, it allows the woman to decide whether or not his attention is wanted, giving the woman the ultimate decision to either reject or accept his advances.
It is widely accepted that modern day fashion is a method of self-expression. Although everyone is different and has their own style, self-expression is somewhat limited since the most famous stores, like Forever21, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Victoria’s Secret, will sell what they expect will be in high demand. Also, assuming that women’s fashion has become progressively less conservative, they will end up selling mainly immodest clothing. If a woman wants to dress stylishly, but still conservatively, she will probably have to settle with what popular stores sell or go out of her way to find modest attire. For example, I tend to dress more conservatively, yet I still own quite a few miniskirts and crop tops since that is all stores sell, and most modest clothing reflects an older generation. However, for someone who does not have the confidence to wear immodest clothing, they will have a much more difficult time buying fashion-forward clothes.
In general, one must have a high level of confidence to wear revealing clothes, since her body is out there for the world to see and criticize. Originally, only women with thin, built bodies would wear revealing clothing as a means of showcasing their “perfect” body. However, today’s campaigns for body positivity aim to make women feel confident enough to show off their body, regardless of their weight or body type. The obsession with having a thin, curveless figure in the 1960’s created widespread eating and health issues and eating disorders for women as they tried to obtain an unrealistic and unhealthy beauty standard. As awareness of this issue increased and people began to expose the unattainability of idealized body types, more and more campaigns promoting healthy self-image began to appear. This awareness of healthy body image has influenced fashion to accommodate plus-sized women, as well as thin women, to flaunt their bodies with confidence. Fashion industries now push people people of all sizes to wear these immodest clothing to showcase one’s love for her own body by flaunting aspects of it that society deemed unattractive.
Essentially, women’s fashion has transformed from the medium-length hemlines, loose fitting clothes, and high collars to crop tops, mini-skirts, shorts, and low necklines due to changes in media, feminism, self-expression, and body-image. Our current fashion has its roots in social issues from the 60’s that still exist today. Television has become a major factor in fashion trends by stressing sexual freedom as well as portraying characters that are meant to be popular as wearing immodest clothes; women’s liberation and feminism has created an ideology that women do not need to dress to impress men, but rather, because they want to dress in that way; and the backlash against the eating disorders that arose from the 60’s obsession with thin body frames has generated another ideology where women should be happy with their own bodies instead of trying to reach unattainable and often times dangerous beauty standards. However, who says that you have to flaunt your body to be confident about it? The flaw in the logic of today’s fashion is that people believe that you must expose yourself in order to seem confident due to over-sexualization in the media. This negates the idea that a woman can show her self-confidence in the way she carries herself rather than how she dresses. Nevertheless, fashion is about self-expression. If you personally enjoy wearing less conservative clothes, then go for it; if you want to dress conservatively, that’s fine too. Whatever you choose, have fun with it and be confident in the fashion that you choose to wear.
Works Cited
Boundless. “The Women’s Rights Movement.” Boundless Political Science. Boundless, 26 May. 2016. Web. 02 Nov. 2016. https://www.boundless.com/political-science/textbooks/boundless-political-science-textbook/civil-rights-5/women-s-rights-41/the-women-s-rights-movement-231-1901/
Finkelstein, Joanne. Fashion: An Introduction. New York: New York UP, 1998. Print.
Jordan, Winthrop. The Americans. Boston: McDougal Littell, 1996: 798.
“Nielsen Estimates 118.4 Million TV Homes in the U.S. for the 2016-17 TV Season.” Media And Entertainment. The Nielsen Company, 26 Aug. 2016. Web. 02 Nov. 2016. http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2016/nielsen-estimates-118-4-million-tv-homes-in-the-us–for-the-2016-17-season.html
Petigny, Alan Cecil. The Permissive Society: America, 1941-1965. New York: Cambridge UP, 2009. Print.
Steele, Jeanne Rogge. “Teenage sexuality and media practice: Factoring in the influences of family, friends, and school.” The Journal of Sex Research, vol. 36, no. 4, Taylor & Francis Ltd. Nov. 1999. pp. 331-341. Print.
“Women’s Body Image and BMI: 100 Years in the US.” Rehabs.com. Rehabs.com, 2016. Web. 03 Nov. 2016. http://www.rehabs.com/explore/womens-body-image-and-bmi/.
“1960s Fashion: What Did Women Wear?” Vintage Dancer, Vintage Dancer, 19 Oct. 2016. Web. 03 Nov. 2016. http://www.vintagedancer.com/1960s/1960s-fashion-womens/.
Negrin, Llewellyn. “Fashion and Feminism.” Appearance and Identity: Fashioning the Body in
