30 Barbies and 1 Ken? (30 Rock)

**LOL I'm referencing Emma's anecdote to fit this post title with my Netflix show for

the week (30 Rock)**

thumbs up for all the gifs/images in this blog

It's a standard so common, so glaringly prevalent, that we've begun to be blind to it... the beauty standards set by the idealized image of the "perfect woman," ones that will never be realistically attainable (unless, of course, like the "real life Ken," you plan on spending $371,795 on 340 procedures). While the girls themselves may outgrow the Barbies, the stigmas that will follow them throughout adulthood in the forms of Instagram models, advertisements, and "one size fits all" labels that don't, in fact, fit all, remain.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, and a 00 pant size haven't spontaneously arisen alongside commercialization, though.  Let's not forget that the "ideal" race in Nazi Germany was Aryan-- signifying that these beauty standards present today have been years in the making, subliminally reinforcing the idea that beauty is clear-cut.  If you don't look a certain way, dress a certain way, or act a certain way, you'll never be accepted by society as worthy, and you'll never find love (because, of course, that's the only goal that women can hold in their pretty little minds).  As Prager put it, "a thirty-nine-inch bust and a twenty-three-inch waist are the epitome of lovability" (354).  Perhaps the innate desire to match these beauty standards are what drove Americans to get 15.9 million cosmetic procedures in 2015 alone, leaving many to become literally plastic.  After all, there are only so many Kens in the world, and how else are women supposed to even compete for a man's attention if they don't look like over-sexualized Barbies and allow themselves to be objectified?

Even the basic anatomy of the Ken doll offers some bleak insight on how society views gender roles: while Barbie's genitalia are unmistakably there, Ken's aren't, suggesting that "somehow his equipment, his essential maleness, was considered more powerful than hers, more worthy of the dignity of concealment" (Prager 355).  Even as the girls themselves grow out of playing with Barbies, the ideals of what are considered as desirable, placed within their minds once upon a time, only expand with time.  The rhetoric offered by images in the media today only reinforce the distorted views of women; plastic surgery, Photoshop, and social media outlets for women to compare themselves with each other all leave a pink elephant in the room:  who did it better?  Perhaps this is where the stereotype of women being petty stems from, as they feel constantly pressured to be "better" than everyone else.  How will they do this?  Society has taught us that unless women wish to be seen as old-timey, Jesus-loving puritans, they should steer clear of modesty.  Maybe if they just show a little more skin, maybe if they buy that push-up bra, they'll finally have the same amount of "likes" as the Kate Uptons and Kim Kardasians of the world, because isn't that, like, totally the dream? 

these are real people...... 

There's a double-edged sword here, though.  If you don't conform to Barbie standards, you're a tightly-wound prude, but if you do, you might as well be carrying around a "24/7 always open" neon light-up sign.  Rape culture is developed; women are all too often blamed for sexual assault simply because they were "wearing something too provocative".  It shouldn't matter what a person is wearing, how misleading she could have been, or how much alcohol was consumed on either end; all that should matter is that rape is wrong.  Nevertheless, rape culture is validated by the social norms that exist to confine women.  From a young age, it is taught that exposed collarbones or more than three inches of thigh is simply "slutty" behavior.  Instead of teaching young girls and boys how to label others, perhaps we should focus on teaching everyone not to objectify each other in the first place.

   

this is important

There's much to do to begin this change in perspective, after all, Rome wasn't built in a day... but where do we start?  Perhaps the place to look is the visual rhetoric in which advertisements associate selling a product with selling womens' bodies.  (For more you can check out this video on #WomenNotObjects)

Advertising literally holding a woman down with a label... what else is new?

because what's a burger without Heidi Klum?

Is this advertising a clothing brand or rape?

Yes, go by your neighborhood convenience store and pick yourself up a 

disposable, replaceable, woman! 

Don't be mistaken, these sexist advertisements aren't exactly a new development....

...revolutionary!

this is not okay

If we were to reverse the roles, the advertisements look absurd.  This absurdity has been there all along, but the blinders society put up when it comes to women are all that keep us from noticing the patriarchy; only when men are portrayed in these advertisements as the women are, do we see that something is not quite right.

It's a big feat, changing a viewpoint that is so deep-seated into our mindsets, a feat so large that some have already abandoned it.  But we can't expect that sitting around with the blinders on, hoping for change to just happen will yield real results.  Even if all we can do is talk, or notice, or know that the standards set by Barbies, Victoria's Secret models, and commercialization aren't definitive, we should be doing something to realize that beauty is only skin (or plastic) deep.  

The One Where Ross Explains What Race Is (Friends)

** this blog post is a dialogue between Ross from FRIENDS and his pet monkey (Marcel) who questions the fundamentals of how race functions in society**

"Ross, what is race??? I always hear about you humans arguing about it, but I don't understand it"

"Well, Marcel... race is...er, hard to define...

It's how humans subdivide; we classify ourselves based on how we look.  From a scientific standpoint, I guess you could say race is just how humans are grouped together based on some the traits they have: hair color, skin color, eye shape, skin color... that sort of stuff"

"But... who decided that these traits would dictate these races? After all, those who claim that race is 'irrefutably biological' (@justin peng) fail to recognize the truly subjective nature of how race is defined.  Yes, there are certain genetic variations between races, but who is to say that these variations are what should define race?  Why isn't race based off of shoe size?  Or height?  The answer is simple: society chooses what defines race.  There's no part of the human genealogy that screams 'I BELONG IN ____ RACE,' society chose to create and define races that way.

 In fact, there does not even exist a scientific necessity for divisions based on race to exist.  Humans created race as yet another way to separate within humankind, as yet another way to alienate members of society.  Look at us animals.  We function perfectly fine without races, yet you humans and your need for separation... you still tried to classify us.  The fact remains the same, though--I don't see my friends as madrills, or baboons, or macaques.  I see them simply as monkeys, just like me.  Perhaps you humans have some innate need for competition; why else would you constantly need to separate, to create stereotypes and racism only to make yourselves feel superior?"

surprisingly profound for a monkey

Race is a social construct, simple as that.  It's how society chooses to view its members, even if this viewpoint is not how the members view themselves.  This is shown in Speigelman's Maus; the actual race of the character in question is insignificant, all that matters is how the Nazis saw him.

Now, I'm not going to deny the physical differences present between races, only that these differences entail the creation of race.  The concept of race did not just arise spontaneously from biology, but instead was created by humankind's compulsory need for compartmentalization.  There's no set definition for each race, it's all dependent on society's perception.  

New Generations (New Girl)

It's inevitable that as stories, morals, and life lessons are passed down generation after generation, things will be omitted, lost in translation, and the moral of the story will fall on deaf ears....leaving an ignorance present among younger generations.

I can't begin to imagine the sacrifices my parents had to make in order to immigrate to a new country in which neither of them had any connections, one that had many cultural and language barriers they are still overcoming to date.  When they first immigrated and started at the bottom rung of the social ladder, they made less than a tenth of what they make now (while still supporting the costs of getting grad school degrees).  They became frugal... a trait they haven't shaken since, even after moving to upper-middle class incomes.  I'll still poke fun at the paper bags they use instead of buying lunch bags, or the fact that my dad would rather do his own oil changes.  I can attest to this ignorance--because I am ignorant in this respect.  I don't understand that my parents had learned to adapt, that they learned to save in order to survive.  I don't understand what they had to do to live on minimal incomes compounded with long hours of studying.  I don't understand.  Perhaps this ignorance is a defense mechanism, perhaps we don't want to know others' struggles, so we keep ourselves from doing so. 

This generational ignorance is similar to that portrayed in Spiegelman's graphic novel, Maus when he makes it clear that Artie doesn't quite absorb the horrors of the Holocaust that Vladek did.  The maggots borne off of the dead Jewish people are representative of the lessons left by the Holocaust...something that younger generations don't always pay attention to.  These same flies are shown as killed off by Artie pages later (his use of bug spray drawing parallels the Nazi gassing practices), symbolizing the inability of younger generations to empathize with Holocaust victims.

Art also shows his generation's ignorance through smoking.  Although smoke holds an unpleasant connotation in Vladek's mind, Art smokes in front of him nonetheless, not considering its psychological effects on his father.  Additionally, Art criticizes his father for his unwillingness to waste and his extreme budgeting, failing to recognize that the Holocaust made Vladek like this, that he survived only by utilizing these skills.

  

The Holocaust was a tragedy few can even begin to grasp, let alone fully comprehend, and although Maus reveals aspects of living as a Jewish person in Nazi Europe, it cannot relay it all.  Much of the Holocaust will forever be lost, as words alone (or words with pictures) are not adequate to describe the magnitude of grief, loss, and pain that is the Holocaust.  Its essence has long been burned (with the bodies and diaries of the victims alike), its smoke long dissipated and forgotten.  No matter how hard our generation attempts to fathom what exactly Holocaust victims went through, we'll never fully understand; we'll always live in a generational ignorance.    

Identity Crisis

"You're so white"

It's a phrase I've heard all too many times, a phrase that has always alienated me to an extent, a phrase that has always made me out to be some sort of "traitor"...

The theme of this blog is "The Office," my all time favorite show, so expect
to see it in future posts as well!!

...but what is it about me that makes me so wholly and incredibly "white"?  Usually this assertion is based off of (incredibly inaccurate) stereotypes: the way I talk, the way I dress, the classes I take, the people I'm friends with, my interests...the list goes on, but never with any just reasoning.  Why is it that the fact that I'm "so white" a negative characteristic of me?  Due to my "whiteness" in all its glory, I'm constantly finding myself having to prove myself to others, as they see me simply as an Asian not smart enough to "actually be Asian".  Oh darlings, if only you could see that there is something in that skull of mine, that I really do have something to say.

I'm also not "white" enough to escape Asian-American stereotypes, either.  My eyes are nonexistent, I'm bad at sports and driving, I don't have free time because I'm constantly hunched over a computer screen or math homework, and rice is the only thing my Asian digestive system can take.  I can't talk about school because it's "easier" for me (and that's just unfair).  College admissions should automatically judge my academic record more harshly than my non-Asian counterparts because the only way to create equality is to create inequality, right?

It's a classic lose-lose situation, "neither tension nor relaxation [helps]"  (Hong Kingston 35).  Either way, I can't win, and neither can anyone who has ever placed under a stigma by society.  Stereotyping is so common that many have been desensitized to it, causing for it to continue unnoticed.  In the words of David Foster Wallace, "the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones hardest to see and talk about," but as long as we keep looking for it, keep talking, the social injustices posed by stereotypes will still be recognized.  In the end, "reporting is the [best] vengeance" (Hong Kingston 53). 

**Although it may not seem like it in this post, I do love being an Asian-American,  "Woman Warriors"  simply sparked this train of thought.**

High School Thoreau

*I thought it would be fun to do a blog post from the perspective of Thoreau if he were a high school student... ENJOY!*

**ALSO: the show I chose to tie to this blog post  (it's called "Awkward") isn't on Netflix, nor is it related to the title of this post oops**

Theoretically, the fundamentals of the American educational system are impeccable, only in the execution of it do we see its flaws.  

 The entire purpose of the school system simply is to take the youngest (and most susceptible to brainwash) of our society and use them to contribute in the continuation of itself.  In essence, the school system serves as one large machine, with each student a gear, its sole purpose to contribute to the functionality of the machine as a whole.  Let's consider a typical education, shall we?

The student will go to school year after year, for thirteen or more years.  After each graduation, the higher-performing students move on and are replaced with new ones.  How does the school system evaluate which students move on and which ones are re-calibrated?  Grades.  How does the system come up with these grades, you ask?  It uses testing similar the tests that are done on parts of a machine to ensure it continues to function smoothly.  After all the less-than-proficient students are either repaired or thrown out, the remaining students serve the machine for thirteen years, until they can be retired from use.  The students' service to the machine doesn't end there, though.  After graduation, the students can still produce two things of use to the machine: children and income.  From the children, the machine continues to function.  From the income, the machine collects taxes in order to sustain itself.  

It's obvious that the general structure of the school system is only to allow for the school to benefit, but let's break this down farther.  Each day for a student is, in essence, mechanical.  At the same time every day, the student wakes up, goes to school, eats lunch, goes in and out of classes, and is dismissed for the day.  Is this repetition, this precision, not parallel to that of a machine?  Even worse, the growing homework load paired with the early morning wake-ups leaves the students too sleep deprived to wise up to the system's extortion of them.  

Simply realizing the injustices of the school system is not enough, though.  You must "let your life be the counter friction to stop the machine" (Thoreau 1022).  I have been no stranger to disciplinary action due to my insubordination towards the machine, neither should you.

After all, how can one call himself a "real man" if he stands supine in the face of his oppressor (Thoreau 1020)?  #RiseAgainstSchoolBoard