Cosmo Magazine Not Helping the Problem

 Cosmopolitan magazine prides itself on being a magazine for a women by women. However that couldn't be further from the truth. Women should spend time uplifting each other and making each other better however cosmopolitan prides itself much like the beauty industry by telling women in order to succeed in love, sex, friendships and life over all  they have to read this magazine or buy this product.  Cosmopolitan magazine commonly known as Cosmo magazine has been selling women dreams and sex for almost as  long as its been around. It's crass, classless headlines draw its readers in every single time. Not to mention putting some of the teen sensations and role models for young girls in skimpy clothing with headlines that read "HIS BEST SEX EVER".  Now I don't know about you but I would hate to see my little sister, niece or my daughter fawning after these unrealistic body imagine goals that Cosmopolitan promotes as well as its various sex goals and tips right on the cover. Even grown women are prone to feeling inadequate after reading some of these articles and seeing this women dressed according to  Victoria Hearst one woman advocating to have Cosmo  pulled from the shelves and even goes as far as to say it's covers rival Playboy Magazine in this article.  Below is just one controversial magazine cover from Cosmo with 17 year old actress Dakota Fanning looking stunning on a cover embedded with several sexually explicit headlines.

Aside from its controversial cover the substance of cosmopolitan magazine is hardly as intellectually stimulating as its competitors such as Vogue and Glamour. The primary focus of Cosmo is sex tips and tricks, beauty tips and tricks, how to get the guy articles  and of course the interview with whoever is on the cover. Below are a few articles pulled directly from the magazine.

Now if sex tips, oversexualized women, unrealistic body goals, and 10 ways to get him to ask you out for coffee is your cup of tea then Cosmo is for you. However as someone who likes a  lot more substance and a lot less self help and sex tips I'd make a a hard pass on Cosmopolitan. If you want to learn about all the over evils of Cosmo here are some more articles to check out.

Cosmo's False Promises

Cosmo Selling Women Short 

#FoodPorn

In advertising, we are told that sex sells, which I guess is true when we think about clothes, perfume, cologne,makeup, and jewelry. However, when it comes to food, how is that sexy? How is sex helping sell a food product?  As american's we sexualize everything all in the name of Sex sells. If sex sells why are we only seeing sexy women in these food commercials? There are very few commercials that have sexy men eating burgers or drinking soda. Women have been used as a method of selling products for men since the dawn of time.  

Sex sells to men obvious way of a sexy woman eating a burger but sex sells to women as well in these same advertisements. Women look at these ads and say if I drink Pepsi like Cindy Crawford ill be sexy like her too. Ad's affect everyone everyone whether you believe it or not. There are people that sit in a room that make sure you do. The bigger question isn't why does sex sell, its why is America So comfortable sexualizing EVERYTHING? Food is supposed to be food, it's not supposed to be sexy.

These are the ad's our kids see everyday, these are ad's that are embedded into the minds of the kids who want these products. Girls are given this unrealistic expectation of they can eat all these unhealthy things and still be thin like the model devouring the burgers, and men expect women to be able to evoke the same sexual emotions they get from eating Nutella, in the bedroom, more unrealistic expectations for women to live up to thanks to these sexy food commercials. What message are we really sending here? The answer unfortunately that sex is associated with everything because it does in fact sell.

  

Bad Bitch?

The word bitch has been apart of our culture for so long and much like the word queer it originally had a negative connotation behind it. Also like the word Queer and the LGBTQ community women everywhere are getting in front of the word bitch and using it to empower themselves or compliment one another. Bitch used to be one of the most demeaning things you could call a woman  but now the terms "Bad Bitch" "Head Bitch In Charge" (HBIC)  and "my bitch" are changing the stigma or at least they think they are.

The re-branding of the word bitch first surfaced in the 90's according to an article on Vice.com exploring the evolution of the word. Now there is nothing in my opinion, wrong with stripping the word of its negative meaning and re-branding it as something completely different. The problem i have and the problem I believe more women should have is the fact that the more negative meaning of the word still flourishes dimming the shine of the rebranded word. A vast amount of people continue to use the word as way of putting women down and as an insult to men.  Women can call another woman they don't like a bitch and there will likely be a fight but those same women can post instagram pictures like the this one

and get  hundreds of likes.  Where is the line? Where is the line with the word Bitch, just like with the word Queer and the "N" word. Who is allowed to say it and who isn't? How do we know when its being used positively or not?

The Music community I think plays a really big role in the word as a whole. Some of the most popular female artists like Nicki Minaj, Trina and even Brittney spears have tried to get in front of the word and make it mean something positive for women, but for every positive reference there's twice as many negative ones out there eating up the limelight. Rappers specifically continue to use the word to objectify and degrade women; in a world where women are trying to wash the negativity away this is not helpful. Some of the very people who are trying to empower women through the use of the word still continue to use it in a derogatory way in their music and everyday life. The solution to the problem should be much like the solution for the N word: NO ONE SHOULD USE IT. However we all know it's not that simple, everyone use the word Bitch whether in a positive light or a negative one, the word gets used no matter what. The question of whether or not the word is empowering women or not, well that just depends on who you ask.

All Representation is Good Representation?

When it comes to representing Disabled characters in the Television or movies its very rare that they have their own story line, most times the story line is their disability and them over coming it. When you think about T.V. shows like the very popular Freeform show Switched at Birth. One of the sisters is the Deaf and even six seasons in her disability continues to be her storyline. This representation for the Deaf community seemed to be a good one until the community realized that her disability was the the only storyline she really had. Her relationship with her boyfriend wasn't really depicted well and her only family storyline was them getting used to her being deaf

when she was originally adopted.

A few deaf viewers posted their opinion on Deafeyeseeit.com of how they had high expectations for the show only for them to be met with disappointment. 

Then you have shows like glee where one of the main characters Artie is paralyzed from the waist down. There are a few episodes that highlight his disability but for the most part it focuses on his vocal abilities, his friendships and bullying for his vocal abilities and not because of his disability. That in my opinion is great representation, you have a character that other disabled people can relate to. Also in Glee there is a character named Becky who suffers from down syndrome and is a cheerleader and although she isn't a main character she is present through all the seasons. 

Overall I don't believe all representation for disabled characters is good representation especially on shows or in movies with the disabled character is the butt of a joke or they're only there to be pitied. Cuba Gooding Jr in Radio is a great exampled of disabled characters being used as the butt of the joke even with him as the main character, it didn't bring awareness to his disability instead it made fun of it. I think Hollywood is missing a big opportunity by not casting actual disabled actors for roles, I think that by not casting them for roles about them is ultimately isolating them further, but that's just my personal opinion. 

Get Familiar: Integrating the LGBT community

 In society it is becoming more and more common to see same sex couples in the media as well as in real life, same goes for the trans community. The question is: When is it appropriate to introduce this lifestyle to children?  Our kids see this everyday in the media from the news being about Caityln Jenner to shows with cross dressing or gender neutral characters or even the same sex relationships. The fact of the matter is our kids can't get away from it. I think it's important in the day and age to get children familiar with the Different types of people their are out there so they understand and don't offend anyone and most importantly so they understand that these people are normal.

Cartoons like the powerpuff girls featured one of the main villains HIM as what most of the world perceived as a male who was extremely feminine and dressed like a woman. This show is rated y7 meaning 7 year olds and up was the intended audience.   There's a clip below of HIM's moments on the show and you can see he is a very feminine character. But is 7 too young to introduce this type of lifestyle to children?

Then you have shows for a slightly older audience The legend of Korra on Nickelodeon features the heroine Korra who  is believed to be bisexual. The show is rated TVG, so typically for children ages 10 and up.  Korra was a strong female character and up until the series finale there was hardly any sexuality confliction but of course parents argued that there was a problem with her being bisexual even though the series never confirmed it. 

Then you have your TV14 shows reality and sitcoms that features gay characters, trans characters and everything in between. It's 2017 and more and more shows featuring members of the LGBT community are going to be around. The best advice the writers at the huffington post can give is to be prepared when your child starts asking questions, because there is no telling where your child will get its first glimpse into the community. In my personal opinion I believe its very necessary to be prepared to have these conversations with your kids, it's not as simple as the birds and the bees anymore. 

Untouched Vs The Perfect Body

Two companies aimed at similar demographics trying to promote the same body image positivity, but they are going about it in two completely different ways. Victoria's Secret's The Perfect Body Campaign versus Aerie's Untouched Campaign.

Aerie's Untouched Campaign was launched to challenge the idea that all girls/ women are supposed to be shaped like supermodels and that there was only one type of body size. The Untouched Ad Campaign featured women of all different shapes and sizes who hadn't been retouched in any way shape or form, they took the what you see is what you get approach and as a result sales increased 36 percent withing the first fiscal year of the campaign according to Reporters over at huffington posts . Now 36 percent increase might seem like a big deal and for the company it was, but the problem lies within Aerie's actual product. Such a postive message in the Ad campaign only for it to fall flat. The untouched campaign was supposed to be about women of all body sizes being sexy and beautiful but aerie doesn't have products that support all these women. The Largest bra size they go up to is a 38DD and the largest size for panties is simply an extra large. If you don't believe me check out their site. So for an ad Campaign to support all sizes you would think they would at least have a large variety of sizes for these women that they are praising and encouraging to be their natural selves.

Then you have Victoria's Secrets (VS) who launched its super controversial "The Perfect Body" Campaign that featured its standard "Angels" and Angel Sized models. The problem with this campaign was that VS  didn't feature models of all body types although they carry products that go up to a 40DDD (Click here for Proof) VS attached  that perfect body type to the women that they pictured in their ad. The purpose of their campaign was to promote their new "BODY" bra that was made for all women no matter the shape or size. However the way the campaign translated was "this is the perfect body" and although that wasn't the intention it caused a decrease in sales according to business insider  and a lot of backlash.

When it really comes down to body image campaigns they can really be hit or miss and honestly no one is ever going to get it right. There is no way to capture an image that represents every single body type in the world because EVERYONE is different. Although both of these campaigns had their successes they were not met without backlash. No matter who you choose to shop with someone is always going to be feeling left out and while that's super unfair, unfortunately that's how the cookie crumbles.

Black Women in Positions of Power on TV

There was a time when you would turn your Television on and would hardly ever see african american women as stars of the show, and you most certainly wouldn't see them in roles where they were in positions of power! Not anymore though! Black women are kicking butt in the industry these days, women like Taraji P. Henson (Empire) Kerry Washington (Scandal) and Viola Davis (How to get Away with Murder)  are all the stars of their respective shows.  Taraji P Henson plays the outspoken diva CEO to her record label on Empire, Kerry Washington's character Olivia Pope is an attorney or "gladiator" who is at the disposal of the president to clean up messes in and Viola Davis play a shark of an attorney name Annalise Keating who takes on the most difficult cases while she continues to teach a law class at a University. These women hold some of the most prestigious roles on television, roles that for so many years were exclusive to men and predominately white men at that.

  

Cookie Lyon: Taraji P. Henson

Annalise Keating :Viola Davis 

Olivia Pope: Kerry Washington

It took decades for women of color to get to this point, to the point of being lead rolls, these women stand on their own and open the door for so many women of color to be able to take on these roles. Its realistic, these days it's So realistic that the CEO of the multi million dollar company is a black women think Oprah Winfrey, the right had to the president of the united states was Condoleezza Rice, and Shirley Chisolm was an Outstanding attorney. We as a people need to see more women of color in these roles serving as role models to these young girls. According to Time Magazine Kerry Washington's role on ABC's Scandal made her one of the most influential people of 2014 she's in great company on that last the writer of her show Shonda Rhimes also made that list, another african american women who also is the write for How to Get Away with Murder and Grey Anatomy. ABC  even earned the hashtag #ShondaThrusdays on twitter due to all three of these shows dominating that channel on Thursday nights running back to back. As a black woman it's empowering to turn on the television and see women who look like me running the show, this is just a small step in an even bigger step that media is taking to showcase people of all colors, race, gender and sexuality in television lets just hope that we can continue to take these great strides together, especially in times where it seems the world is trying to tear us apart.