Teens Talk Back

I spent more than an hour to find examples of teens talking about teen related topics.  I think teenagers are like any other groups that share their opinions and feelings with other people in the internet. 

I found videos about bullying  interesting.  In one of the videos a teenager was talking about his cousin and how he was bullied.  In the second video a group of high school students created a series of skits and sketches to prevent bullying in their school.  This project was very creative and showed their sensitivity for bullying.

Bullying is a serious problem in our schools. As we discussed "Adolescent Masculinity, Homophobia and Violence" in class,  the understanding of masculinity in the dominant white middle class culture is an important factor in bullying.  Also as we saw in the TV series Glee, most of the times adults, such as teachers and administrators do not do anything to prevent bullying.  Nevertheless, the videos I share here shows that teenagers are concerned about bullying and how it affects their friends and relatives.

 

Glee

I watch Glee when I have time. For this assignment I watched the three episodes, “Pilot”, “Never Been Kissed”, and “Furt”. The first assumption of this class is “media matters”. I think teachers and parents must pay attention to what children and teenagers are watching on T.V. Glee like many TV programs for teenagers gives certain messages. In these three episodes we can see that the television series Glee want to include characters who are from different racial / ethnic backgrounds, physically handicapped, and people with Down’s syndrome, gay and lesbian people. Since we live in a diverse society T.V. series must reflect that. Teenagers who watch Glee would learn about these experiences.  

The second assumption of the course is “youth is a culturally constructed category.”

In all three episodes of the Glee we can see what is expected from adults, teachers, parents, and teenagers in middle class American culture. For example in the Pilot episode Will Schuester almost changed his career that he liked very much to make more money for his family. However, one of his colleagues convinced him that he should continue teaching, because he has a passion for it. Also in the episode “Furt” the girl members of the Glee club asked their boyfriends to stand up for Kurt. If a friend is bullied that it is not acceptable, the viewers will understand that message.

The third assumption of the course is “teenagers are not some alien life form.” The TV series Glee shows that teenagers are living in the same society with adults. Their thinking and behaviors are affected by adults. For example in all episodes, Kurt was bullied, however the adults in the school did not or could not do anything, especially the administration and he transferred to another school. As we read in our class about bullying and masculinity these are serious issues in our culture.

 What can adults do to stop bullying?

question

do you think that the hip hop artists can stop being sexist?

Argument Hip Hop

The author Tricia Rose argues that both defenders and "haters" of Hip-Hop are wrong about the role and effects of Hip Hop. In her TED talk Rose explains the historical and cultural environment that Hip Hop was born into in the mid 1970's. According to her, urban areas were left by white people. Africa Americans couldn't find employment and had to live in very impoverished places. This created a new kind of segregation and Hip Hop was born in that environment. Hip-Hop was affected by African-American culture which is mostly based on "communication" and "conversation" modes.  Racism in North America affected people's lives and culture. Their experience was not studied and because of this we don't know munch about the causes of violence and other negative experiences.

 Also the new technologies in recording and music gave new tools to the artists to use other people's songs and music and combine them with their own responses.  They were able to use pre-recorded music and taking sections from them for a new song. Because of this Hip-Hop comes from African American culture and must be studied and its development must be supported.

Rose criticizes the defenders of hip-hop, because according to her "they are wrong about gender and sexism."  On the other hand "haters" are wrong about issues of violence and culture.  The author proposes that Hip-Hop can stop giving sexist messages, instead it can focus on other aspects of African American experience.  Understanding each others experience must be our goal.  Also "haters" of Hip-Hop should realize that violence is the result of destabilized community lives and Hip -Hop does not create the violence.  If we want to stop violence, we must understand the racism and economic and social conditions that causes destabilization of communities. This will also help to decrease sexism and other negative influences in the culture.


  

How should we raise boys

How should we raise boys to resist bullying?

Adolescent Masculinity Homophobia and Violence

QUOTES

I chose three quotes to analyze from the article. The first quote is related to the author’s analysis of media reports on random school shootings from 1982 to 2001. “We found a striking pattern from the stories about the boys who committed the violence: Nearly all had stories of being constantly bullied, beat up, and most significantly for this analysis, “ gay baited.” Their stories of cultural marginalization “based on criteria for adequate gender performance, specifically the enactment of codes of masculinity.” I think that this analysis shows how culture affects people’s behavior. In this article the authors hypothesized that boys who were involved in school shootings were influenced by white middle class republican values which focus on masculinity and protecting one’s masculine characteristics. This is why teenagers who bully others humiliate them about gender and sexuality related issues. In turn boys who feel insulted want revenge and choose violence to teach them a lesson and prove that they are “men”.

  The authors also focus on why white boys are more likely than African American boys to randomly open fire. My second quote from the article is “White boys who are bullied are supposed to be able to embody independence, and manly stoicism. In fact, the very search for such collective rectories can be seen as indication of weakness. Thus we might hypothesize that the cultured marginalization of the boys who did commit school shootings extended to feeling that they had no other recourse.” White boys who were bullied did not have the familial or friend support to resist to bullying and also they do not have a group like women, gays and lesbians, black students and their support.

My last quote from the article is about why some boys turn to violence over bullying and “not others who have had similar experiences.” Important factors are the dynamics of local culture, the responsive of adults and institutions, and the dynamics of their same-sex and cross-sex friendships. This allows us to understand what led some boys to commit these terrible acts and what enabled other boys to develop resistance to daily homophobic bullying. According to the article some boys can represent themselves as men to a same sex or opposite sex friend. Also they might get support from their families and school authorities. These variables and other copying strategies must further research to help us understand how gender and violence are related.   

'Thigh Gap': New Teen Body Obsession?

A new body trend is apparently becoming an obsession among teenage girls.

It's the thigh gap - a clear space, or gap, that can be seen between the thighs when a girl is standing with her knees together. Some runway models have it, and teen girls want it.

"Good Morning America" sat down with four high school juniors from a New Jersey Chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions to discuss this latest trend.

The four girls told ABC News' Juju Chang that they all had friends that were intent on achieving the thigh gap.

RELATED: Victoria's Secret Fashion Show: Models Rock Lingerie on the Runway
Emily Rozansky told Chang that, for many teens, the thigh gap symbolized "the ideal body shape."
Social media sites such as Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter have devotees who flood the zone with images of thigh gaps, bony collarbones and confidence-crushing messages disguised as "inspiration" for staying thin.
Some of the most popular pictures showcase very thin girls with protruding hip bones and a thigh gap.
The teens told Chang that the sites make them feel they have to conform.
Angela DePalma, 16, said: "I see those pictures on Tumblr and stuff and I think that wow, like, they look so good. And then I realize how unhealthy that is."
Tumblr says it discourages blogs that actively promote or glorify self-harm.
According to teen psychologist Barbara Greenberg, statistics show that 80 percent of girls dislike their bodies by the time they are 17 years old. That, combined with a tendency to overshare, makes teen girls vulnerable to even the most subtle messages.
MORE: Victoria's Secret Models Share Secrets Behind Their Toned Bodies
A quick online search brings up page after page of thigh gap inspiration photos and supporters. Experts say the images alone can lead to self-destructive behavior, especially since the thigh gap is, for most girls, an unrealistic standard of beauty.
Greenberg said teens who were pursuing a thigh gap were "setting themselves up for not only an unattainable goal but for an unsustainable goal.
"Even if they reach it, it's going to be very hard for them to maintain it," she said.
MORE: Women Seek Plastic Surgery to Get Kate Middleton's Nose
Surprisingly, some girls' motivation to have a thigh gap isn't to make themselves more desirable to boys. The New Jersey students told Chang that some boys don't even notice it.
It's strictly a girl thing, affecting popularity and status, they said.
Also Read

Question

Is there any feminist version of princess movies before Brave

Cinderella ate my child and brave

Disney princesses are a big part of culture because we see it everywhere. I am a girl and I get called a princess at home. I love princess movies and stories. When I was younger I liked to watch the old and new princess movies and read books written for YA fans about princesses. The writer talks about how she doesn’t want her own daughter Daisy to believe that a prince would come and make her very happy.  Parents call their girls princess and buy them princess toys or let them watch princess tales, not knowing that this can change their girls’ minds about how they must feel and look. The teacher does the same thing too by telling the girls how nice they are or how neat their homework is but complimenting boys on being hardworking and good problem solvers. What we expect from girls affect their development and behavior. If we think that they can be anything they want to be and support them for doing this they wouldn’t focus on irrelevant things like being thin and pretty and having a boyfriend. Instead they would understand that developing their potential is very important and they would focus on both academic and other activities. When they realize that they can achieve their goals like supporting themselves or their families and having a meaningful life they can show that they can do many things. But if we don’t do this and we ask girls to be submissive and depend on men and expect them to focus on being perfect and pleasing everybody they can’t fully develop and they always need other peoples or men’s support in life. What should we do about it? We should be very careful about how we talk and interact with children. We should encourage them to read and to play sports and be active in their community by helping other people. This will help them to participate in school and society in a meaningful way.  In the movie Brave Merida is not a typical princess.  She has goals and she can achieve anything that she puts her mind to.  I think that we should have more movies like Brave for girls and boys.

what i think i am going to do for the final

I think I am going to something with young adult books or young adult tv shows. I know parents don't really want there teens reading some of the YA books or watching some of the young adult tv shows. I will ask the question why don't parents let there teens read or watch tv shows that are for young adult.  I want to work by myself then in a group.

feminism

feminism

outline

I am going to media matters in the group.

Media Matters - Outline

Media provides models of appropriate behavior and attitudes. For example, media defines appropriate roles of men and women, parents and children, and defines what is success or criminal activity.

Media determines what we think and what we believe. The accumulation of media images suggests what is ‘normal’ and what is ‘deviant.’

Media normalizes specific social relations and determines the range of acceptable behaviors.

According to the Marxist theory, ruling class imposes their worldview on subordinated classes. Therefore subordinated classes who accept the worldview of ruling classes have false consciousness, because the worldview they adopt represents the interests of ruling classes.

According to Gramsci, hegemony is exercised through cultural leadership and consent is won. Ruling classes seek to have their worldview accepted by all members of society as the universal way of thinking. Media helps the powerful classes exercise their cultural leadership.

Ruling classes dominates all institutions in society including media forces. They use media tools such as TV, newspapers and internet to impose their beliefs on society which represents their interests.  

However, it does not mean that media as a powerful tool is always used by the powerful classes. Media has also power to provide power to powerless classes. Media should not be seen only as an agent of powerful.

 up.

I am doing Media Matters in the group. 

Media Matters - Outline

Media provides models of appropriate behavior and attitudes. For example, media defines appropriate roles of men and women, parents and children, and defines what is success or criminal activity.

Media determines what we think and what we believe. The accumulation of media images suggests what is ‘normal’ and what is ‘deviant.’

Media normalizes specific social relations and determines the range of acceptable behaviors.

According to the Marxist theory, ruling class imposes their worldview on subordinated classes. Therefore subordinated classes who accept the worldview of ruling classes have false consciousness, because the worldview they adopt represents the interests of ruling classes.

According to Gramsci, hegemony is exercised through cultural leadership and consent is won. Ruling classes seek to have their worldview accepted by all members of society as the universal way of thinking. Media helps the powerful classes exercise their cultural leadership.

Ruling classes dominates all institutions in society including media forces. They use media tools such as TV, newspapers and internet to impose their beliefs on society which represents their interests.  

However, it does not mean that media as a powerful tool is always used by the powerful classes. Media has also power to provide power to powerless classes. Media should not be seen only as an agent of powerful classes.

Question/ Comment

How will the future of teacher student relations in the classrooms be? 

From Knowledgable to Knowledge-able: Learning in New media Environments

Quotes

From Knowledgable to Knowledge-able: Learning in New media Environments

By Michael Wesch

            This is a very good article on a timely issue. I like to cite some quotations from the article which underlie the arguments of the author.

            “This new media environment can be enormously disruptive to our current teaching methods and philosophies. As we increasingly move toward an environment of instant and infinite information, it becomes less important for students to know, memorize, or recall information, and more important for them to be able to find, sort, analyze, share, discuss, critique, and crate information.”

            As a college student I can easily relate these statements to my experiences. Almost everything is stored and available in the media, so that, there is no need to memorize anything. However, I am sometimes challenged to sort and analyze the information that is readily available in the media.

            “To understand the true potentials of this ‘information revolution’ on higher education, we need to look at beyond the framework of information. For at the base of this ‘information revolution’ are new ways of relating to one another, new forms of discourse, new ways of interacting, new kinds of groups, and new ways of sharing, trading, and collaborating.”

            It seems to me that the statement of “information revolution” is rightly used what is going on in the digital media today. It is a revolution changing almost everything in our life.

“This is a social revolution, not a technological one, and its most revolutionary aspect may be the ways in which it empowers us to rethink education and the teacher-student relationship in an almost limitless variety of ways.”

As Michael Wesch states, in the changes coming by the new media environment the most important thing is not its technological dimension, but its social impact. The new information technology is re-shaping out social relations including the teacher-student relations.

 

 

the question

should we have more schools teaching about sex and what it is and how to use birth control for middle and high school age or should we have schools teach abstinence

Introduction: Are Teenagers Necessary? And The Teenage Mystique

Introduction: Are Teenagers Necessary?

And

The Teenage Mystique

By Thomas Hine

I like to cite three quotes from readings “Introduction: Are Teenagers Necessary?” and “The Teenage Mystique.”

“Anne Freud theorized that the experience of adolescence is so filled with pain, trauma, and turmoil that our conscious minds suppress it. There is a serious problem with this theory, though. Survey after survey of young people show that they are not miserable at all. They have problems, of course, but they feel confident about coping with them” (p. 2).

I agree with Thomas Hine that Anne Freud’s theory is problematic. My personal experience and observations do not fit this theory. Adolescents or teenagers are not filled with pain, trauma and turmoil. They experience problems but adults experience problems, too. Teenagers should not be characterized with those words.

“Our beliefs about teenagers are deeply contradictory. They should be free to become themselves. They need many years of training and study. They know more about the future than adults do. They know hardly anything at all. They ought to know the value of a dollar. They should be protected from the world of work. They are frail, vulnerable creatures. They are children. They are sex fiends. They are the death of culture. They are the hope of us all” (p. 11).

I used to hear these kinds of statements about teenagers, but I am surprised when I see all of them together. If adults or society are so confused about who teenagers are how they can developed solutions for the problems of teenagers? I think one of the reasons of this confusion is that teenagers are not a homogeneous group. There are many kinds of teenagers. From thirteen to fifteen, there are big differences among them.

“On the night of June 6, 1997, an eighteen year old woman from Fork River, New Jersey, gave birth to a six pound-six ounce baby boy in the women’s rest room of the catering hall where her high school senior prom was taking place. Her son was found dead, tied in a plastic bag in a trash can in the lavatory where he was born. His mother meanwhile was dancing, smiling, and to all outward appearances, enjoying what’s supposed to be a magical night” (p. 12).

This is really an unacceptable crime. The mom was cruel. It is hard to understand what kind of a personality she had. Her behaviors must be condemned. However, it is also hard how this event can be used to characterize a very large group of people called teenagers. Obviously, a teenager did something very wrong. There are also many adults doing things worse that what she did. Should we use to characterize adults by using the crimes committed by some adults. I think this is unfair.

 

this my cat fuzz

this my cute dog

this my dog

question

How munch is the media influential in shaping the teenagers' consuming behaviors?

A Tangle of Discourses: Girls Negotiating Adolescence

A Tangle of Discourses: Girls Negotiating Adolescence

By Rebecca C. Raby

“Parents brace themselves for the challenges that are assumed to come when their

children enter their teenage years, and many parents turn to advice columns,

books, talk shows and therapists for guidance.

In an interesting shift from this standard discourse of adolescence, Laurence

Steinberg’s research suggests that the teen years are ‘stormier’ for parents than

for teenagers (p. 431).  

The statements above make a lot of sense to me. I think that the metaphor “storm” explains a dimension of teenage hood. Yes teenage years are story years for youth. However, it seems to me that it is more stormy for parents than it is for adolescents. Many parents assume that their adolescent children will do something wrong. This assumption is in the culture of adults. Parents are mostly over concerned about their teenage children. This concern directs them to discipline and control the behaviors of their children. In turn, their over protective behaviors irritate teenagers and make them rebellious.    

“Youth today are courted as a high-consumer group, and are modeled in the media as the ideal age, with teenage hood constituting the onset of ‘the best years of your life’. Social historians often connect the emergence of adolescence to processes of production and patterns of consumption (Kett, 1977; Adams, 1997). (…) Today, youth not only advise their families on how to spend money, but are identified as a group with both free time and disposable income (Palladino,1996)” (p. 437).

The discourse of adolescence as “Pleasurable Consumption” and considering the role of media in the construction of this discourse is also meaningful. Today teenagers as a group are seen as profitable consumers. It is very obvious. When we go to mall or similar shopping places we see that most of the shoppers are teenagers. It is also seen in all TV and magazines advertisements. Teenagers are shopping in all places. In addition they advise their parents what to buy. In this context, an important point is that they are heavily influenced by the fashion industry and media. Whatever is commonly advertised in media, it becomes trendy and it is bought by teenagers.  

“The present paper has examined key dominant discourses that frame adolescence, the investments behind these discourses and some of the contradictions embedded within and between them. (…) Clearly this discussion is simply a beginning, as these discursive patterns intersect with, and are disrupted by, class, race, gender and sexuality.(…) Discourses are not monolithic and unchanging; quite the contrary. Their study allows us to de-naturalize taken-for-granted assumptions (p. 446).

The five discourses of adolescents identified by the author are not clear cut categories. Also they are not universal. They are affected by race, culture, social class, gender and other similar factors. They cannot be seen as unchanging. Specifically, social class and culture, like media, influence teenage behaviors.