Sunday, October 19, 2008

Media Ethnography

For this week’s blog entry, I decided to focus on a thread that went on during Wednesday night’s final presidential debate between Obama and McCain. The setting of this chat is within a well known website for brides-to-be called theknot.com. There is an area for discussion, and a great variety of boards that people can chat through. Though most of the conversations are about everyone’s future weddings, and questions they have, a lot of the time the chats are not always wedding related. On the local Minneapolis board, which I have been a part of since I got engaged back in April, a vast amount of topics are discussed, ranging from wedding etiquette, to personal problems the women are having (i.e., a girl on the board’s fiancĂ© was recently in a bad motorcycle accident, and it looks like he will have to be in a wheelchair for awhile. The other women on the boards have been helping her cope by letting her vent whenever she needs to, and have even put together a basket of stuff to help her and her family through this tough time), to the most recent political issues. On Wednesday, I decided to just “lurk” on the board, instead of being as active as I usually am, and just watch how those who were participating in the board reacted throughout this final presidential debate. The link to this specific thread can be found here.

During the Vice Presidential debate, many of the same users of this forum discussed how they thought the debate went and what they felt was ridiculous and what wasn’t. During this most recent debate, it is obvious as to which side the majority of the users are on, politically speaking. The women who were actively participating in this thread were: chaoticmum, woohoo2, kissinyou, Payne2b2008, Emma1125, LittleSweetie, LuckyNo7, Ahmed’s Girl, JenniferlovesJordan, jaimes57, ksugar526, anitalynn, and littlemissflip. All most all of these women are all members of theknot.com who post regularly throughout the day, but there are a few who tend to “lurk” more on the boards and only post every once and awhile.

I know from previous political conversations that the woman who goes by woohoo2 is more conservative than the rest of the board, and rarely criticizes Obama because she knows that the majority of the people who actively participate on the board are Obama supporters. So to see her comments against those who are clearly rooting for the DFL to win the election is interesting. Early on in the thread she says, “But he seems to be doing well when he's sitting. He's older, but then again you can't predict life. He might live to be in his 90's and with a sharp mind. Obama could have something unexpected happen and have his life changed. I don't put as much stock into age as others though. Nice way to dodge the question john. geez louise. I hope obama owns up to his commericals.” She never outright criticizes Obama without criticizing McCain at the same time.

The woman who goes by chaoticmum is the one who started the thread, and is very passionate about her political views. Even in her “signature” she has an “Obama Mama” bumper sticker. She is very up to date on what is going on in the political world, and knows where each candidate stands on the issues. During this debate, chaoticmum took to criticizing McCain’s physical features, along with many of the other women who took a moment to point out the excessive blinking that was going on during the debate on McCain’s side.

Near the end of the thread, anitalynn pops up and posts some of the points that she found to be very important, and discussed how and why she believed that Obama should be declared the winner for this debate. She says:

“I watched the debate over at my in-law's house. With 2 of their family friends- both are SD 41 DFL Party Chairpeople, and one is a teacher on top of that. We had a great time... :D Obama looked and sounded Presidential. He had clear, cohesive thoughts. He made statements, laid out a plan, had bullet points to support his plans. McCain had none of the above. I kept screaming at Obama during the whole talk about 'smearing' each other. McCain-Palin has been smearing Obama's CHARACTER. McCain-Palin's negative campaigns have not been about issues. They have been smearing and negative about Obama's Character. Obama's negative ads have been about POLICY. Obama has not smeared McCain's character, he's smeared McCain's POLICY. 2 very different things, and I wish Obama would have come right out and said it. "I, Barack Obama, have been releasing some negative ads about McCain's policy, because I feel his policy is flawed. I have NOT released negative ads about McCain's character, as he has done about me. McCain's runningmate, Sarah Palin, said I palled around with terrorists. Character misrepresentation and defamation. I have not participated in that type of negative advertising or campaigning" I'm trying to keep personal things out of it. Yes, McCain looks like an older Dubya, with his shaky face and shaky hands and constant stuttering and mouth opening but no sound coming out motions. It drives me nuts. His beady eyes and the way he can't open his mouth. BUGS me. That is not what I base my vote on... It certainly doesn't make me want to look at him for 4 years, but whatev. Obama laid out clear plans, clear intentions, and fully explained the basis of what he would like to establish when he is in the White House. I heard mainly avoidance and subject changing from McCain. I liked this moderator best - I like how the ground rules were established to help keep them on topic. Didn't work completely, but I like how Bob interrupted to explain - the question is this, how do you plan on doing this.” Anitalynn posts even more after this, and defends all of her points so that there are no misunderstanding as to how she views McCain and Obama.

After this post, littlemissflip jumps in to say that she believed that McCain did better during this debate than he had during the last 2. Anitalynn politely questions her, and they converse with one another on their opposing viewpoints.

In conclusion to observing this online thread, I like how this group of women can interact with one another and discuss touchy topics such as the presidential election coming up and stay civil about it. I have witnessed the members of theknot.com’s Minneapolis local board protect each other when someone new, or a mean AE (alter ego) pays a visit to the board. By being somewhat anonymous, these women are able to be more out spoken about their opinions and don’t feel like they are asking stupid questions. The more heated and popular discussion that happen on this board typically goes the same way. There are some women who will be very blunt in their responses, while there are others who will respond to people as they would in real life. I know for me, it is easier for me to have discussions with “strangers” over the internet rather than face-to-face because I am normally a very shy girl who would rather look at her feet then look someone I don’t know in the eye- let along divulge private information to a group of strangers. Through my observations, I have caught on to a pattern of how people respond, and who typically “rules the board.”

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Who Decided that I wasn't Beautiful?

Since I have been very interested in the portrayal of women in the media since I started this class, I will continue on the same theme for this entry of my blog.

In the media, women are required to be an image of ideal beauty. They are supposed to be role models for young women across the United States, and show everyone else what Americans see as beautiful and what is not. Women are to be flawless and graceful at all times, and to never be seen in a state where their hair is a mess, and they are not wearing any make up. Women must also be thin. If they are naturally thick, then they must control and manipulate their bodies and eating habits to achieve the desired look. In my last post, I had mentioned the difference between how women were portrayed in the 18th century compared to how they are supposed to look now. Back then, women were glorified if they had some fat to their bodies because it meant that they were wealthy and could afford to eat more than what was necessary for survival. If you were skinny, it meant that you couldn’t afford to eat enough. Now days, the women who are looked up to by girls all across the United States are those who do not look healthy at all. Beach stated in his book: “these representations have resulted in adolescent females engaging in unhealthy eating habits, anorexia, and bulimia, with long term negative effects on their bodies” (pg.48).

In the world of sociology, the concept of how women are portrayed in the media is on the forefront of research. In one particular article, written by Jo Ann M. Buysse and Melissa Sheridan Embser-Herbert, they discuss women athletes, and how no matter how strong, or how well they excel in their sport, they are always women first. On the other hand, in men’s athletics, the sports stars are seen for what they do, not who they are. Buysse and Embser-Herbert wrote: “the reality of women athletes as strong, skilled, competent competitors is masked by media representations that depict them as good enough to compete against other women but never as good as the top men in the same sport” (pg.68). In sociology, researchers are concerned as to how popular media is affecting young women in regards to how they are portrayed. The message that the sociology discipline seems to be conveying from my limited research is that the medial portrayal of women has a general negative effect. While there are some aspects of the media that condones this kind of behavior, most of the media continues to advertise with the “ideal beauty.” They let everyone who participates in this specific media what is acceptable and what is not.


Constructions of Gender in Sport: An Analysis of Intercollegiate Media Guide Cover Photographs by Jo Ann M. Buysse and Melissa Sheridan Embser-Herbert, Gender and Society, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Feb., 2004), pp. 66-81