Cool Pose

Urban dictionary defines swag as appearance, style, or the way he or she represents themselves.

Websters dictionary defines ego as the self especially contrasted with another self or the world.

These are two terms that people use when a person is quote un quote " cool". And in 1990 Micheal Jordan was the start of what people believed was cool. However, with Jordans success he was still facing the issue of being an African American and fighting racism. The only thing Jordan had on his side was the game of basketball. Do all people believe that African Americans carry a cool pose, swag, or a higher ego to fill a void of feel judge for being African American?

The attached picture is from the Minnesota Alumni Association. This picture shows a certain level of " cool pose". However, if another picture was added and a different race was scoring as well and also showed a certain level of " cool pose" what would be different? I feel that any race should be able to show feeling comfortable in their sport and should not have to create a different cool pose, ego, or swag to feel accepted.

Sex In The Media

On Tuesday's class discussion things got a bit "specific" as Dr.Spencer would word it. The topic of sex appeal is arrousing to anyone, I don't care what you say. It is a known fact, sex sells. The pictures of the " only the ball should bounce" ad's caused for a lot of different opinions and views. There is a new Rebook commerical that I recently saw and thought to myself the sex appeal in this commerical is almost taking away from the product. However, from a males perspective he might be thinking differently.

http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sjMDPhZN-o

The title on youtube of this video is "sexy new rebook easytone commerical 2009.wow!!" This can already show the sex appeal with the title without even watching the clip. Is it okay for women to cause this sex appeal because women are "supposed" to be sexy.

David Beckam also reveals his sexy side with advertising armani briefs. Both of these ads represent sex appeal in different forms, yet at the same time represent a product. These ads can be in comparison to the "only the ball should bounce" ads however, does the sex appeal over power the product?

Asianization in America

Asian Influences : Sports Influences:

-Chinese Food -2008 Beijing Olympics
-Kung Fu Panda - Kabayshi, winner of the hot dog eating contest
-Honda - Sumo Wrestling


These are some of the examples of the influences that we talked about in class. I started thinking to myself how does asianization in America influence athletes? And then my next thought was do the stereotypes that apply to Asians apply for athletes as well? For example, Asian people perform well on mathematical testing and African American men perform well in basketball. However, as I learned in class this is not completely true. Yao Ming, is an Asian superstar in basketball. In the following link is the amazing story of Yao Ming's background and how he became the basketball player he is today.
http://http://www.time.com/time/asia/2003/heroes/yao_ming.html

If nobody ever took a chance to step outside of the stereotypical box than would anyone ever succeed? I do not follow men's or women's golf but I was shocked to see that Asian women are winning the LPGA and earning the highest amount of money, because the stereotypical women's golf player is a suburban area female who grew up living in a gold community. It is great to see that these women did step outside the box and have succeeded so well for themselves. I can say for myself I can understand the influences above and how they influence people however, why do only Asian influences play such a large impact on society?

Women In The Media

When starting to complete research for my blog I knew I wanted to write about women in the media, because previous to our class discussion I was not aware how rare it is for women to meet the front page of a news articles, magazine covers, or online websites. Unless the media is geared towards women for example Shape Magazine, women athletes have a hard time reaching the top. When I typed into google front page articles + women's sports I found it interesting that women's soccer and tennis were the first four headlines. It draws a conclusion in my head, that is it possible women do not make front page covers because there are not as many "popular" star athletes in the four main disvison of sports. For example: football, baskteball, baseball, and soccer. While women have the opportunity to exceed in basketball and softball, the other two main division sports are not even an option as professional teams go. I have posted a link of women in the media and how they are under represented. Is this website familiar to anyone? I myself do not follow womens sports, therefore I was not aware until all of our discussions in how little of credit they actually do recieve.

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_coverage.cfm