Beauty, Capitol, and Patriarchy

This week we discussed cosmetic surgery and I believe that it proves to show a great connection between beauty, capitol, and patriarchy. Women, over the ages have done a lot to obtain liberation. However, as Wolfe says, although they now have the power to vote and work out of the domestic household, they are still dominated by the notion of patriarchy. Women, unlike men, look to men and other individuals to judge their beauty. They always strive for a perfection that doesn't exist. And the industrial market economy has taken a great advantage of this vulnerability of women to comply with what they consider the demands of those around them to look not only pretty, but beyond that. Many plastic surgeons are earning a lot of money these days because women want to look more beautiful and go through plastic surgery. Plastic surgery has become a big source of capitol nowadays, which is influenced by a notion of patriarchy, or domination by man, who is the main judge for many women when it comes to beauty. Therefore, the relationship of beauty with capitol and patriarchy can clearly be visualized in society and results in the subordination of women by the market and men.

Bordo and Hunger

While reading Susan Bordo's chapter on women's relationship to food, I couldn't help thinking about how confusing and contradictory that relationship is in our everyday lives.  I, myself, love to eat and love to cook.  Different tastes and flavors, all rich and delicious, are some of my favorite things to enjoy and even talk about.  Yet at the same time, all the messages which are being sold to me, day in and day out, are all about how women should be watching their calorie intake and trying to lose weight.  It certainly spoils the mood of a wonderful home-cooked meal when in the back of your mind you're thinking about that fat free yoghurt in the fridge and how much thinner you would be if you ate that instead of the pot roast and mashed potatoes in front of you.  Bordo talked about how the advertisement industry was perpetually creating an image to sell to women, not only about how their body should look, but also about what their relationship to food should be.  Cook and feed the men, gals, because if you eat any of it yourself you'll blow up like a balloon and be tossed out on your backside.  Such a strange world we live in where a message like that can be fed to us and we believe it.

t h i n.

This topic is really interesting to me. When I was younger, 6th grade I think it was, I remember my friends were cutting themselves for attention and hinting at their attempt at eating disorders. They thought it was cool. It was years and years ago and I barely remember anything about that situation, but I remember that I promised myself that I would never harm myself nor force myself to throw up, no matter how bad it got. And then I remember in 8th grade, an acquaintance of mine was using laxatives to lose weight. I had only talked to her once or twice but it made me so sad. Body image issues are real. While not all of them will force women into eating disorders, there's constant dieting and exercise and staring into the mirror and pulling apart our flaws. Even people who we idolize, who seemingly have PERFECT bodies, deal with body image issues. Singer/ Actor, Demi Lovato, recently had to go to rehab for her battle with anorexia and bulimia (as well as other things) and a documentary was released a few weeks ago detailing her experiences. The trailer for that can be seen here. One scene that really struck a chord in me was her first Thanksgiving since rehab; she says it's her day to "tackle food" and is seen on the phone with her sponsor multiple times. The documentary as a whole is really interesting and it makes me wonder what other celebrities are dealing with behind the curtain. Another thing I saw that relates to this topic is from an interview with Jennifer Lawrence:


I feel like it will be years and years before all women can look in the mirror and be satisfied with their appearance. And maybe the harsh reality is that it will never happen. But it's important to love yourself and your body and most importantly, treat it well.

Bordo on Hunger

When reading this chapter's view on advertising and its correlation to women and their perceptions of their bodies, I couldn't help but think of a guest speaker in my communication class, Seth Matlins. In addition to being an entrepreneur, he is also a father concerned about his daughter's perception of her body and femininity. Therefore, he strongly advocates the "Truth in Advertising" law, which simply states that if an image is altered (i.e. photoshopped), then the advertising companies must state the alterations made. In theory, this should help younger women accept their bodies, realizing that even celebrities' bodies aren't perfect and perky. However, I thought that this might have an adverse effect in that it might spark a chain reaction to even further perpetuate the "thin standard". For example, I would think that because companies want to not use photoshopping (because they do not want to publicize it), so they would search for the even more impossibly skinny, perfect looking people. Therefore, when a woman sees this embodiment of perfection (and not photoshopped!), she will be even more inclined to achieve this body.

Another interesting point in Bordo's chapter is the ideal of how women think about food. I found this interesting because although women constantly think about and eat food and also strive to be the perfect amount of thin and toned, they are supposed to appear unaffected or not consumed with the thoughts about food. This is even more impossible than achieving the perfect thinness because it suppresses feelings and thoughts, which are supposed to be vocalized and expressed in order to not have any negative psychological effects.

Bordo

Susan Bordo Talks about how the body is seen as separate from the mind/soul and the body is inferior. Somehow women sexistly ended up being attributed to the body while men are associated with the intellect. In that sense, men improve themselves by being smarter while women improve themselves with body image. Which is why they struggle to achieve an ideal body and end up with distorted images of themselves, leading to eating disorders.
This insecurity is often brandished to the public by exposing girls to altered images of women that are meant to be what is correct or attractive. It's not fair to do this because people have different body types and sometimes have health conditions that prevent them from ever achieving
"the look". Telling impressionable young girls that they have to be thin is dangerous.

Bordo and the Body

In her chapter titled "Hunger," Susan Bordo offers some interesting insight that looks at the depth of consumerism and advertisement. Products that are constantly being sold to us are advertised in manners that are supposed to make them irresistibly appealing -- we find that we need whatever them product is because it will make our quality of life that much better. When looking at items marketed to women, most of the advertisements for these products take into consideration the feminine appearance. What has been the trending fashion for women since before the 20th century is a slim, slender physique. Thus, we find that our consumer culture has come up with endless products that will supposedly help us achieve this unattainably ideal body. The way these products are marketed to us endorse this unhealthy body image and perpetually instill the idea that we as women need these things if we want to be the best woman we can be. These advertisements simultaneously promote unhealthy lifestyles, for example choosing to smoke a "Virginia Slim" in place of eating a meal. Even today, these unhealthy lifestyles are still being perpetually encouraged with companies such as Wrigley advertising their gum (Extra) with the slogan "From nice gut to nice butt." In their commercials, Wrigley offers the choice of choosing a snack or a stick of their gum, essentially saying that those who choose the gum instead of the food will benefit and lose weight. Bordo highlights how our consumer culture not only promotes the ideologies behind unhealthy lifestyles, but actually plays a major role in creating them for itself.

Susan Bordo

In the writing, Bordo talks about how different men’s bodies and women’s bodies are. Also, our culture had differentiated them and the gaps are wider. It is true that bodies of two different types of people are different biologically, but Bordo talks more deeper of them and tries to explain how it happened and affected our social circumstances.

Susan Bordo

In the movie “Thin”, one of the patients in the hospital talked about visiting her doctor when she was 7. Her doctor openly called her fat and asked her mother what she was planning to do about her daughter’s weight.  At such a young age, a child’s weight is usually not a big determination of how he or she will be as an adult; however, the doctor was already concerned and planting this weight concern in the daughter’s mind. A young girl, such as the one in this movie, is exposed to the societal view of how a woman’s body should be. Everything and everyone demonstrates the idea that a woman should be very thin, and when even a young girl’s doctor agrees with this ideology, he facilitates her behavior to strive for this goal. This ideal body however, is difficult to attain and many women achieve it through harmful forms. Many times, women develop an unhealthy relationship with food. Susan Bordo talks about commercials and ads that demonstrate the way in which our society thinks. She discusses a French commercial of a young girl looking at a picture of her friend’s mother. She says that the mother is so beautiful and so thin, already making the connection that thin is equivalent to beautiful. Then she asks if she eats. Her friend responds that of course she eats, but “just not so much”. This statement suggests that in order to be beautiful, one must be thin, and in order to be thin, one must watch what one eats, therefore beauty and control over one’s food become synonymous. As Bordo says, it shows young girls already beginning to learn to control their weight and in a way, teaches them that this is correct. When these ideologies are exemplified through ads appearing on a daily basis and from a doctor, a person who holds authority in body health, it is so easy for a young girl to learn that she must be thin at all costs.

Bordo

Bordo talks about how our culture has taught men to build their bodies and women to unbuild their bodies. Women suffer from insecurities because they are taught to constantly monitor themselves for signs of imperfection. The perfect body is a total contradiction and impossible to achieve without outside means. Due to the pressures to be perfect, 11 million people suffer from eating disorders. It was interesting with our professor said that if a female makes it out of adolescence without an eating disorder, she is the exception. The perfect body is a huge part of our culture.

Bordo

I don't want to perpetuate unhealthy body images, but I don't think that the goal of accepting all shapes for a single individual is realistic or healthy as well.  I compare it to having a specific goal and to self-improvement, though just widening the scope of these goals would improve the means that women stretch to.  I do agree that we are fed an unreachable standard of beauty by the media in order to feed capitalist gain, but to blame everything on the media is trite.  People who want to look a certain way sometimes do it based on an internalized image; the most they gain from this is self-confidence.
I also feel influenced because I come from an Asian culture where body image issues and anorexia don't exist, but there is a specific ideal body type that everybody strives toward.  Instead of attaching negative emotions to negative body image, they see it simply as another trait.

Susan Bordo

I agree with Susan Bordo that today's culture puts a great deal of pressure on women to be ridiculously skinny and compare themselves to an unrealistic ideal. I was very lucky to grow up in a household where my body weight was not criticized or questioned; my parents simply encouraged me to eat a healthy diet (with a healthy appetite). Personally, I am satisfied with my weight and physical appearance, probably because I was fortunate enough to have a supportive family who never pushed me to look like anyone else. Most of the girls I know, however, are worried about their appearance, and whenever weight is discussed someone inevitably sighs, "I'm so fat"--when they are obviously not obese. Why can't girls have a normal appetite and a normal body weight?! Honestly, when I look at the figures of female models I feel disturbed rather than admiring of their unhealthy skinniness, and can't imagine how males can find starving bodies to be attractive (or how other females can see them as something to be emulated). I am so sorry that this society is one that tells women they must restrict themselves and their hunger in order to chase an impossible (photoshopped) image of beauty. It shouldn't be happening.

Susan Bordo

Susan Bordo talked about the effect of culture on women’s eating behavior in our society. As we talked in class, women in today’s society create an imaginary ideal body in their own minds and try so hard to achieve this unachievable goal. And that’s mostly because they are influenced by different things that they are surrounded with such as society, commercials, and etc. For example, Barbie and Disney characters are all thin. And this shows how girls from the early ages are being taught that being “thin” like those characters is the ideal body. Unfortunately, many women hate their bodies, so they try to be “slim” by going on a diet and losing weight. However, as Bordo said this may cause eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia.

Bordo

Susan Bordo theorized that the alarmingly high number of women with eating disorders can be attributed to the shallow and unrealistic marketing campaigns of our capitalist society. Women are bombarded with thousands of images of how their bodies should look and act, but most of these are computer enhanced images that are impossible to obtain. This unfair standard teaches girls that slimmer is always better, when the answerm should be healthy is best. I a, especially sensitive to this issue now that my younger sister is growing older and more exposed to this impossible standard.

Susan Bordo

In the chapter “Hunger as Ideology”, Susan Bordo talks about how advertisements has not only shows slenderness size and shape of the women’s body, but also influence girls from young age that they need to control their hunger. Because of the societal and cultural influences, girls diet and try to become thinner by controlling their hunger and therefore they cannot take pleasure in eating food. The control of female hunger is a discipline, whereas males in the advertisements show they have voracious appetites. Men eating a lot and eating compulsively is considered “natural” and “loveable”. Women feeding the other are seen as feminine and it is a feminine pursuit.

Susan Bordo

Woman are continually bombarded with advertisement and commercials for weight-loss products and programs. But some of these commercials makes woman angry because they teach young girls to begin early in learning to control their weight. These young woman learn early that they should start starving themsevles in order to achieve the images of those woman in the advertisements.

Susan Bordo

In class we discussed Bordo and eating disorders. Bordo believes that culture plays a big role on what people, not just females, think of their physical image. And we discussed in class how media is a big factor of this issue. Advertisements always have thin women, and buff men in them, and we believe that it is only acceptable to be thin (TV shows and films do the same). Photoshop, also enhances this view. People look at these advertisements and try to look like these people, who don't even look like this, as they do in these advertisements, in reality. Thus media 'forces' people to workout and diet in such ways that eating disorders develop.

Susan Bordo

In her chapter titled "Hunger as Ideology," Bordo discusses the strong, prevalent influence that advertisements have upon women of all ages, and upon various other audiences.  Her first example shows how young girls are being taught at a very early age that they need to monitor their eating habits and continuously be conscious of what they are eating and how much they are eating. 

All of this leads back to capitalism, which has been a common theme throughout this class.  Advertisers know exactly who to target and how to appeal to a particular demographic in order to persuade them to purchase a product or service.  At the end of the day, advertisers and companies care about one thing and one thing only - money.  They don't care if their advertisements skew a young girl's perception of her own body weight or shape.  Advertisers' goal is to do, show, or say whatever they need to in order to drive your business to their store or product.  I think that most Americans would answer "yes" if they were asked if an advertisement has ever made them feel a certain way or compelled them to buy a product or service.  I do not condone advertisers putting ideas into children's minds that may lead them to establish poor self confidence or body images problems; however, I think it is just the nature of the game.  Their goal is to make money, and in order to do that they need to make you feel like you need their product.

Susan Bordo

In class and discussion today, we discussed Bordo and eating disorders. Bordo discusses how culture influences eating patterns of women and girls. The body is maintained by many from a cultural influence meaning that many women try to diet and have a thin figure due to the demands of culture and society around them. Advertisers and celebrities also play an essential role in this; we are constantly producing eating behavior through culture in this country. Today, women seek to live up to an ideology that is almost impossible: the idea of becoming very slim. Many women make it their life objective to be thinner and make dieting and losing weight an integral part of their life. Ofcourse, this can have dangerous implications. However, the strong value that is portrayed of a thin female through advertising in today's cultures makes many girls believe that the risk is worth it. Bordo mentioned the height of this problem, which results in numerous eating disorders such as Anorexia and Bulimia. The clips we watched in discussion from the film "Thin" showed girls seeking treatment for this disorder and their psychological processes and reasoning's behind their dieting and eating styles. One girl mentioned being called fat by others who did not accept the notion pleasingly (thus representing the demands of society that compel certain individuals to act in this way and trigger the habit of eating restraint or purging).This, once again, demonstrates the strong influence of culture and individuals on eating behaviors in today's society, which then leads to constant efforts of maintaining a thin image at a huge price.

Bordo: Eating Disorders

In chapter one of Bordo's Hunger as Ideology, its ironic how girls in the modeling or media industry watch their weight constantly, yet they are portrayed as healthy individuals but the tactics they use to stay thin are not healthy. Most women look at the commercials and want to look identical to the thin women, but little do they know the tactics they use are dangerous. Not eating a full meal or not eating at all is a way to tear your body down. Also Bordo made an interesting point that women's desire for food is used as a metaphor for women's sexual appetite. I didn't notice this idea until I read her essay, its funny because in the commercials the girls that are eating the low fat dessert are constantly licking their fingers and the spoon in a sexual way. The reading brings food, sexuality, and desire into one.

New Black Man- Mark Anthony Neal

New Black Man-

In Chapter 1 of New Black Man by Mark Anthony Neal, the "crisis of black masculinity" is examined along with it's meaning throughout the black community. The first few paragraphs begin by introducing a common issue within the white community, where there is an apparent notion that all black men have a wild and authoritative sexuality that is seemingly "uncontrollable". Therefore, black men are commonly feared and mistreated simply because of the fact that they are black, and not because they have done anything wrong. Here Anthony writes, "We seem to have lost our sense of shame as a society."

The text then goes on to state that, because of this specific "US white man" view of all black men, it is not hard for the reputable black men to fall into the "thug-nigga" persona. Therefore, in a sense, the white population contributes to the reason why the black community has to live with these stereotypes. By enforcing the labels, they are instead being created.

In affect, black men are forced into a world of conflicting identities: the subordinate and patriarchal. Black men are subordinated by the white community, but at the same time subordinating black women. What kind of world do we live in that we expect a group of men to treat their women with respect if we don't treat them with respect? And quite similarly, how can black men expect to be treated with respect if they don't treat their own women with respect? Its a never ending cycle that can only be broken one way; with the common notion that humans are humans no matter what color or sex.

Therefore a new group of people was created; the "New Black Man". This is addressed as one who "embraces a feminist worldview". But first a specific issue needs to be discussed.

Hip Hop; A powerful unit to the "black world". Anthony discusses its pros and cons; Pros being that it usually holds a powerful message and is a great talent. Anthony definitely has an appreciation for its soul. Cons being that it encourages black men away from a brighter future.

So with a world like Hip Hop comes a new form of black man, the "talented tenth". These are "today's successful black men", many of which used to be predominantly in the world of hip hop but now are a part of all aspects of the working world. However, the talented tenth are causing problems for the apparent "New Black Man" mentioned earlier. Because they are placed above the spectrum of regular black men, the New Black Man gets away with a lot more trouble then would the general white man. With crimes such as rape and abuse, not only does the New Black Man tarnish the black man image but he broadens the separation with himself and the general black population (women and children included), pushing the general black man further into oblivion.

Lastly, Anthony takes note of the Million Man March which he describes as the "greatest gathering of black man ever" to "declare to the world our readiness to stand up like free Black men to take responsibility of the freedom allegedly given to us in 1865." Although a great notion, this march had many negative consequences. Anthony discusses the problems it caused for black gay men as well as black women by excluding them from the fight for the respect of all black people. The Million Man March supports the "Strong Black Man" which describes a black, strong, heterosexual, conservative, and one-dimentional man. The problem with this is that it leaves out everyone else in the black community, and therefore is promoting awareness for only a few black individuals which in turn is not helping the problem. Obviously it is extremely important to help the cause of black men, and Anthony is aware of this, but he also knows that it should not be done at the expense of some black men along with black women and children. It needs to be a unified battle.

I agree fully with everything that Anthony had to say. The very first paragraph confused me because I thought he was being serious when he mentioned that OJ Simpson was above the "black drug dealers" of the world, but then I understood what he meant. Anthony was saying quite the opposite, that it is not only the black drug dealers that make up the black population. The Black Population is so often criticized for the acts of a few individuals.

Sometimes I also felt that Anthony was arguing that white men are innocent until proven guilty (when it comes to crimes) while black men are guilty until proven innocent. When he mentioned the "talented tenth" later in the text it made me think of a particular movie. If you've seen Boyz N The Hood, there is a scene where a black policeman stops a car and is extra violent with the black driver, yelling at him for being a "filthy nigga" simply because of his skin color. This was an ironic scene as the policeman himself was black, which connected me to the "talented tenth" notion that Anthony was discussing about how it is not only the white man who stereotypes the black community, but certain black individuals as well.

Overall, I think Anthony was trying to bring attention to the vast difficulties of the identity of black masculinity. Because it is a struggle of not only sex, but gender as well, black men are thrown around within a world of domination and subordination, causing a clash of power which in turn affects individuality. In order to fix this we should keep in mind three important things. 1. The white population as a whole has stereotyped the black population because of a few bad people, something that could have easily been done to the white community had it not started as the dominant power among races. 2. Black men and women need to fight off the black stereotype within their own community if they wish to have it eliminated from the rest of the world. 3. Black liberation includes all sexes and ages, so "black masculinity" must be found within a world of respect for black women and children as well.

newblackman.

I found Neil's writing to be quite interesting. One of his major points that I found myself enjoying more than anything was his point that when they were creating a "new strong black man" they were just reinforcing and giving new life to the old patriarch that existed previous. In order to be a "strong black man" you shouldn't have to shun anybody. The homophobia that was present in that culture was quite prevalent. Oh, another point that he brought up that I found intriguing was about that everyone was so quick to blame hip hop and "gangsta rap" when a lot of negativity and scandals were caused by the church. I don't really have any previous knowledge on these topics but I definitely agree with Neil's points

Mark Anthony Neil

The new black man book illustrated the struggle of identity faced by black men and how they strive to reach an impossible ideal, while being viewed negatively due to  racism, stereotypes and the actions of certain individuals, and how even prominent figures in black history had flaws and commited things such as adultery. As with many groups of people, they are forced into a box where the only exceptions are a "talented tenth" of them but they are all equally scrutinized and ostracized. There was a lot of finger pointing, but in the end it came down to flaws and shortcomings in the very institutions that were aiming to change the notion of what it was to be a strong black man, that were ultimately detrimental. I also found it surprising that the community commits things against itself, especially against known figures such as Rosa Parks being mugged, or how the hiphop generation gets blamed for things.

New Black Man

Mark Anthony's book, "New Black Man", has been very though provoking so far. Anthony discusses the stereotypes that plague minorities, and how a single individual's actions can affect the image of an entire race of people. If black people can be stereotyped based on a few violent crimes, then white people should be labeled as greedy due to the finical crises caused by the banks. This point illustrates how you cannot lump entire race/ethnicity/culture of people together when an individual is the one to blame.

New Black Man

Through the reading of Mark Anthony’s book New Black Man, I could realize how the stereotypes had suffered a black man. It was surprising that an individual's act could influence the reputations of the whole race. Misunderstanding regarding a Black man such as “sexually perverse” created victims with aggressive behaviors. One of the interesting thing while reading this book was to categorizes black men as “New Black Men” because they are categorized based on the stereotypes.

Mark Anthony Neal

Coming from a small (and close-minded) white-majority town, I understand what Neal is talking about when he references all the stereotypes that get unfairly thrown at black men. I know people back home who narrow their eyes in suspicion and instinctively leap to lock their car doors when they see a black man walk by. Such racial profiling is a blind prejudice and a terrible influence on society. And unfortunately, I think it's true that there would be less shock / horror given to the story of Nushawn Williams if he was white. Personally, I would look at a man who wantonly, irresponsibly spread AIDs with equal disapproval and censure no matter what color he was...but for some people, apparently, race makes a difference. I would like to note, however, that some black men seem to have given up changing the stereotypes and have turned to reinforcing them; one only needs to look at the average DPS crime report description to see what I mean. Just as females need to protest and work against oppression if they want gender equality, black men need to contradict the bad societal associations that are placed upon them in order to eliminate them. However, society certainly has an equal responsibility to stop shoving them unfairly into a box of negative stereotypes.

Mark Anthony Neal

The excerpt from New Black Man refers to Nushawn Williams who infected 13 girls with HIV. The reading points out that if he were white, he probably would not have been portrayed in such a negative light “preying on innocent, troubled young girls” in the media coverage. Rather than understanding his actions as one man carrying himself in a negative way, his actions were reflected on young black men who society was beginning to think could be just like him. This poses a problem because it places stereotypes on people generalizing one statement to a whole population even if it is untrue for the majority of people. It also emphasizes the fact that, as the excerpt mentions, it is a slippery slope from being considered successful to being seen as someone like Williams.  

New Black Man

It was hard for me to understand what Neal talks about this time. However, I am sure that this opportunity affected my thought on black men. In this writing Neal basically talks how black men were treated as low classes because of stereotypes of them. I think it would not have been a serious problem if people had viewed black men from different points of view. We all need to be aware that trivial misunderstanding can bring a big impact to someone.

New Black Man

In the first chapter of Mark Anthony’s book New Black Man, he describes the stereotypes of a black man. Just one of the acts an individual did influenced the reputations of the race. They are seen as “sexually perverse” and aggressive behaviors toward defenseless victims. The chapter also categorizes black people into “New Black Men”. The “Talented Tenth” contains elite and educated middle-class people, where as the hip-pop generation have the problem of sexism, misogyny, and homophobia. It is interesting how blacks are categorized into either one type or the other based on the stereotypes.

New Black Man - Neal

New Black Man, by Neal, talks a lot about the desire of the black community to seem united in some way against the oppressors, while the internal conflicts remain hidden from the mainstream eyes.  This is mentioned particularly within the black church community.  It also talked about how mainstream culture has this idea about black male sexuality that it is somehow extremely strong and also dangerous.  Which is naturally a very old idea, and clearly over-generalized.  It talked as well about the hip hop culture, and how many middle class educated black people feel like it is the big problem, a way to degrade and stereotype all black men and women and even causes them to follow along and become that stereotype.  What I thought was particularly interesting was the way that the black community seems so enclosed within itself, and how ridiculous it is that the mainstream culture appears outside of it in some way.  However I think that both cultures interact and change one another.  Whether or not that is a good thing remains to be seen.  Is it better for a community to remain seperatist in a way?  Or is it better for all cultures to be open together and mixing and free flowing?  Or is that just assimilating....

Neal

In chapter 1 Neal is showing different angles of stereotypes of the black man based on their class, occupation and establishment of a human being. Neal is showing how the black mens reputations is in crisis by how society is portraying them. I think Neal is saying that every race and gender has a stereotype but some, like the black men, are exposed more in todays society. Individuals whom may have different stereotypes than what the whole of their race are being categorized get the short end of the stick for what people in the media and society choose to target over other races or genders.

Mark Anthony Neal- New Black Man

In New Black Man, Mark Anthony Neal confronts what he sees as the stereotype of the black male. One of Neal's central points is that the actions of an individual reflect upon the entire group. He qualifies this idea with the example of "demonization." From this concept stems the very point that the way people view the black racial group is a constructed stereotype stemming from a select number of negative actions.

One thing I find interesting is the selective mind-frame that people tend to view things with. The positive actions and people often pass unnoticed, or are even considered standard and the only acceptable courses of action. Negative actions, however, have a much more significant fallout and are viewed with much more judgmental perspectives. This holds true in Neal's example of the black stereotype and in the way that black men are often highly judged for the bad actions of select individuals.

New ______ Man

I think what Neal is saying in New Black Man in regards to racial profiling may be generally accurate, but that it is easily applicable to any race or group. Racial profiling is just a fancy phrase for stereotyping. When a pattern develops, as humans we recognize it and apply it. If murders only happened on saturdays, people would probably stay at home or be more careful on saturdays. This is a natural response. Racial profiling of black men has come from individual incidents as he mentioned (Tupac, Nushawn Williams, etc...) that have developed into patterns. But this happens with any other group as well. If only one or two sorority girl were to get drunk and slutty at a party, it would be accepted as an individual case. But when it became more common than uncommon to do this, we recognized the pattern and predicted its reoccurrence. Yes it is a stereotype, but it comes from supported events. Not everyone in a group falls into the stereotype, in fact many may not. Or, like Connell's definition of masculinity, maybe only a couple fit the model exactly while most fall short. Nonetheless, stereotypes, while crude and often unjustly critical, stem from truths and are applied everywhere and to everyone.

New Black Man by Neal

In the first chapter of his book, Neal describes the stereotype for black men, and gives several examples of how the actions of one black man affects the thoughts of many others for these men. How they are seen as very sexual beings or seen as aggressive. I agree that this happens a lot, when people give into the stereotype just because of one man's actions. But as for me I try to think more openly, here people out and take people as individuals.

New Black Man

The stereotypes and generalizations demonstrated through the media becomes an extremely powerful message.  The media is an omnipresent force in today's society and overwhelms many others.  Considering how influential consumers are, the effect of the media on the stereotyping of black people by presenting examples that are then encouraged to be generalized to cover an entire race.  At this point, I can't tell whether or not the stereotype comes before or after any interactions with an individual; are people influenced by previous misconceptions or are they learning as a result of their environment?

Mark Neal

In chapter 1 of Mark Anthony's book, "New Black Man" he discusses stereotypes of black men. He says that many people believe that if one black man does one bad thing then the whole race is also just as guilty. In this chapter, Neal talks about the crisis of black men in America and the stereotypes that exist in society. He says that the hip hop, MTV, and other forms of entertainment all have bad reputation. He argues that just because one black man did something wrong in the past, like Tupac, then it doesn't mean that you should say that all blacks are as bad as Tupac.

Mark Anthony Neal

In my opinion I agree with what Neal had to say regarding the over-generalization of black males when it comes to their sexuality. Since Nushawn Williams committed so many sexual acts with various women, society overgeneralizes that black men are too sexual and are more likely to commit sexual acts. In today's society because a bundle of black people are loud and "ghetto", the other races place a permanent "fact" that all black people are loud and ghetto, which is not true because I am an exception. I know how to be civilized when its necessary. On to the point about hip hop music influencing young black males is 100% true, all the guy friends that I have that are interested in music think they can go through life without a college education and fall back on a music career. I would rather want to see my race getting an education and not satisfying the myths that are placed upon them.

Neal - New Black Man

In the first chapter of New Black Man by Mark Anthony Neal, the author describes racial profiling and how the act of a single individual may affect the reputation of that individual's racial group.  Neal uses a strong word, "demonization," to describe the effect that one black man's actions can have upon the entire race. Neal uses the example of Nushawn Williams - a black male who infected over thirteen young woman and girls with the HIV virus between 1996 and 1997 - to show how Americans applied racial demonization to all black males after word spread about Williams' "sexually perverse, predatory behavior (towards) unsuspecting and defenseless victims" (Neal, 7). Neal's point, I believe, is that people should not base his or her opinion of an entire race off of the acts of one individual or a group of individuals.

There have been times in my own life when I have had an unpleasant interaction with some type of person and jumped to conclusions about that race as a whole. In the moment, when you are the person doing the racial profiling, it seems justified. However, if you think about the racial profiles that other people may apply to you before speaking to you or getting to know you, you realize how unfair racial profiling truly is.

New Black Man by Neal

In this chapter, Neal talks about the crisis of black men in America and the stereotypes that exist in society.  Neal argues that music, television and etc demonstrate black men as a failure. He said “it was perhaps easy to isolate Tupac Shakurs, Allen Iverson, “pookies” and Nushawn Williams of the world” and make them the reason behind of this failure. As an example Neal points out Nushawn Williams who infected a number of young women and girls with HIV. Furthermore, Neal talks about the black men of upper-class which were known by “the new talented tenth” and the lower-class ones which were “the hip-hop thug”. I agree that some mistakes might have really bad consequences and the damage sometimes may be irrecoverable, but at the same time I think there are different types of stereotypes in today’s society and we can’t judge everyone based on a mistake that some few people did in the past.

Neal

Neal describes that race and patriarchy has put the black men into an “invisible” category. This category establishes the Black men’s identity as the “New Black Man". In the upper middle class, Neal explains the formation of masculinity represented by "The New Talented Tenth" and the lower class is represented by the “Hip-Hop Thug” stereotype. This reminds me of my writing 140 class when we did an essay on intersectionality. There are many different factors that effect people based on their gender, race and class.

Neal - New Black Man

This chapter shed a lot of light on black stereotypes and how people from different races respond to these stereotypes and reputations. Neal talks about the "talented tenth" which is the small portion of elite, educated black population that continues on to be successful in the job sphere. This concept reminded me of an interview with Magic Johnson. In this interview, Johnson encouraged black teenagers to stay in school and not be so focused on finding other quick-fix routes to success. He talked about how the majority of publicized success stories in the black community concerned athletes or hip-hop moguls and this leads black teens to think that they can only be successful through athletics or hip-hop music. This relates back to Neal's point (of the "Strong Black Man") that when a stereotype is thrust on a community, many people will fall in to the reputation of that stereotype simply because that is how they think they should be acting. The concept of the "strong black man", as Neal describes, is progressive and aimed towards bettering the perception of the black male, but it leaves very little room for flexibility. Thus, a very rigid template is constructed for black male masculinity, which effectively stigmatizes black homosexuals or other identities within the black community.

New Black Man by Mark Anthony Neal

I personally had an extremely difficult time understanding the point Neal was attempting to make in Chapter one. However, from what i understood, he was trying to say that the black man is in trouble due to the racial stereotypes that many people associate with him. Neal gave examples of Nushawn Williams who infected many girls with the HIV virus. He said that Williams met the fear that many individuals attribute to the black male-- about their "sexuality, interracial relationships, and sexually transmitted diseases." I think he was trying to say that we stereotype alot in today's society; I agree with him in this aspect. I do not think that just because one individual did something--we should attribute that behavior to a larger group of people--in this case we are referring to ethnicity. In other words, just because Williams engaged in such behavior doesn't mean every black man will--it is very ill-informed of us, i personally think, to infer that. Neal also talks about hip-hop and its relation to black man and how black man fail to take part in alot of university activities and have a tendency to move towards hip-hop and "away from realities of life." He talks about "talented teeth," a group of elite and educated black men described by the activist W.E.B. DuBois. However, it is important to note that women are not included in this concept, which leads us to note gender discrimination.