7. December 2009 by student.

In all movies there are sexual messages, even in children movies.  Sure there are sexual meanings in the way Belle, Jasmine, and Esmeralda dress and act.  Belle’s super thin waist, big bosom, and narrow hips; Jasmine’s minimal clothing and great boobs, and Esmeralda’s dances and the way she swings her hips.  However, there are some hidden sexual images, which are actually hidden but small enough that we do not see them right away until we look for them.  In Aladdin, when he is trying to get Jasmine to go with him on the magic carpet, if you listen carefully you hear him say: “Good teenagers take off your clothes.”  In The Little Mermaid, on the old movie cover, one of the artists put a male’s genitalia as one of the towers. Also, when the priest is marrying Ursula and Eric, if you look at him at the right moment you will see his testicles sticking up.  There are many more hidden messages in other Disney movies. Hidden messages have been proven to work more than those that you can see without having to look for them.  When we thought that we could show our children safe, sex free movies, and that the best ones came from Disney, we were wrong. By including messages like this in their movies Disney is not only trying to show our children what they are idealistically supposed to look like, but they are also providing parents with another reason to buy the movies. The hidden suggestive messages are there to help persuade the public to enjoy the movie more and help us watch it more often than we otherwise would.

Other movies with hidden messages: The Rescuers and Lion King

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 2 Comments »

7. December 2009 by student.

Marijuana is an organic substance that has been around as far back as we can remember. It really rose to peoples attention around the 1940s, when the government began making propaganda films to keep people from using it. The films were full of known false information such as bogus side effects as well as telling people that they would become hopelessly addicted after a single puff. In more recent times we have discovered that the information supplied in these early films like Reefer Madness have been proven false and have stopped being shown to today’s youth. Marijuana has been illegal for several decades, and even faced with the penalty of incarceration or the possibility of death while attempting to locate this illicit substance, people are still using it in overwhelming numbers. If marijuana was legalized many new possibilities will arise. The first and most obvious is the police stopping their pursuit of people who use marijuana and instead focusing on more dangerous substances, and more serious crimes such as rape, kidnapping, and murder. The legalization of marijuana will also create jobs for people in America, as well as letting those who already posses skills in marijuana cultivation to instead use it in a legal way. The legalization of marijuana will also hurt criminal organizations that profit from the trafficking and sales of marijuana. By legalizing marijuana we can also use it as a form of medicine that we can grow ourselves, keeping the cost low as opposed to giving people such expensive prescription pills that they can not afford them. Marijuana can be used in medicine as a pain reliever, a treatment for depression, anorexia, and even insomnia. One could argue that by smoking marijuana that you are actually hurting yourself, not helping, but with all the drugs approved by the FDA later recalled due to adverse and previously unknown side effects marijuana seems like the better choice. Marijuana has been around for a long period of time and it is pretty well known what happens when marijuana is smoked or consumed.  Right now in the U.S. there are over one million people in jail for misdemeanor possession of marijuana. On average it costs about twenty thousand a year to keep someone in jail, so if that means that it costs the U.S. government twenty billion dollars a year to keep these people behind bars. Over the past few decades several states have seen the wisdom of starting to decriminalize weed, and by doing this have avoided locking up ridiculous amounts of people for petty crimes. Although marijuana may not be legal anytime soon, the slow decriminalization of it is leading to more improvements to our society.

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7. December 2009 by student.

Gambling addiciton is one of the fastest growing addictions in the world.  The cause of this is most likely poker and other card gmaes becoming part of mainstream media on television.  What is a gambling addiciton?  According to the National Problem on Council Gambling it is defined as, “Problem gambling is gambling behavior which causes disruptions in any major area of life: psychological, physical, social or vocational. The term “Problem Gambling” includes, but is not limited to, the condition known as “Pathological”, or “Compulsive” Gambling, a progressive addiction characterized by increasing preoccupation with gambling, a need to bet more money more frequently, restlessness or irritability when attempting to stop, “chasing” losses, and loss of control manifested by continuation of the gambling behavior in spite of mounting, serious, negative consequences.” 

Based on this definition is it really a safe entertainment adventure to spend a weekend in Vegas?  Say you bring $500 to a casino one night. You start play Blackjack or any other game and you get yor $500 up to %1500 within your first hour.  Over the next 3 hours you lose it all.  By this point you should have stopped playing the games already but since you made that first $1000 so quickly and easily you think you can do it again.  You take another $500 out of your bank account and lose that too.  Now you’ve lost $1000 dollars on your first night in Vegas.  This is how gambling problems start.  People lose and they chase their losses and tell themselves they will make their money back even though most people never do.  When going to Vegas or to Atlantic City or anywhere else with casinos there are some things you should never go without.  First always set a limit.  Take that $500 dollars and if you lose it leave the casino and dont to to another one.  Never go alone.  Having friends will help you stick to that first goal and if one person loses all their money, everyone in the group should leave preventing the victim from wanting to spend more money.

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7. December 2009 by student.

In our society, the media is constantly putting out ideas of what beauty looks like. Majority of these images and ideas of ‘beauty’ are very unrealistic.  Everywhere you look there are airbrushed images of thin men and woman on covers of magazines brain washing many people into believing that in order to be beautiful that is what they need to look like.  Although, this may not always result in eating disorders and all eating disorders are not taken up because of this reason, it certainly does give people an unrealistic idea of how they ’should’ look.  Also, many celebrities have personal trainers, nutritionists, and time that most people do not have to keep themselves in perfect shape.  The interaction between people in our culture with the actors, models, and other celebrities we are constantly being entertained by is very influential on us.  It can lead some people to become so obsessed with their self image that they start making unhealthy choices for themselves but also, it can be inspirational for some to go about things in a healthier way and keep themselves in good shape. 

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7. December 2009 by student.

Why is the drinking age still 21?  Most people feel that it should be changed to allow people that are 18 years of age to legally buy and consume alcohol.  Turning 18 opens up many doors for an individual in America.  First, technically 18 is the age of adulthood.  Turning 18 allows an individual to serve their country in the Armed Forces.  It allows you to go overseas and fight for your country, shoot for your country, kill for your country, but to drink for your country, wait three more years.  Turning 18 means you are no longer under the protection of your parents, you can no longer be charged as a minor for committing a crime.  You can now buy lottery tickets.  Turning 18 means you can purchase and smoke cigarettes and other tobacco products legally.  So why are all of these things allowed but you are still not allowed to drink alcohol?  My personal opinion is that it is purely a health issue.  Although I do not agree with the drinking age remaining at 21 I do understand this argument.  The human brain is not fully developed at the age of 18.  According to a study done by the National Institute of Child Health and Development the brain may not be fully developed into the mid to possibly even late 20’s.  Also many 18 year olds are not mature enough to handle the responsibilities of drinking.  So even though everyone feels that the drinking age should be changed to 18, maybe there are benefits of it remaining at 21.

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7. December 2009 by student.

The way people communicate these days are a lot faster and a lot more convenient than it was back then. Instead of meeting up with friends to talk we can just call, text, or use the internet. It keeps us inside most of the time. In a way cell phones and all the new technology is very helpful because parents and friends can get in contact with each other a lot easier. It also has its cons; families do not eat dinner together as much as they used to because of television and friends are not getting together as much because of the internet. My mom said her and her friends would meet up just to talk because they did not have cell phones or facebook. She also said that she had dinner with her family every night and even helped her mother cook all the time. Another thing she said was that they went by day and night, not clock time. For example, if my mom went out, her mother would tell  her to be back before dark instead of 7 or 8 o’clock. Her mother could not call her by cell phone either, so my mom could do whatever she wanted without her mother knowing. Now we have better communication with pros and cons.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

7. December 2009 by student.

The amount of money given annually in unemployment checks has become very controversial in America.  Many people believe that by giving unemployment checks, we are giving people an excuse to be lazy. They think that several of the people receiving unemployment could go out and get jobs but would rather settle for the amount they are receiving from their unemployment checks.  This makes many American angry because the money given in these unemployment checks is taken from the income of those who do work.  On the other side of this argument, while there are certainly people who do not need to be taking unemployment benefits, there are several who actually are in need.  This issue is an example of social conflict because the decisions are ultimately left up to the government which may be favored and supported by a large amount of our population but still leaves plenty of people who do not agree with the decisions made by our government very unhappy.  If we were to reduce the amount spent on unemployment checks or eliminate them all together we could risk hurting our economy more than helping it. For example, a person working for an average salary at a large company may think keeping the money that would usually be given to taxes for unemployment benefits would add up and be beneficial for him, but if the people receiving unemployment checks no longer get them they won’t have money to spend which may have an impact on the company he is working for in the long run.  But also if unemployment was not an option we may have a better working percentage which could end up being beneficial for our economy as well.  It is hard to tell exactly which scenario would benefit our economy as a whole the best, which is why the issue is such a big one. 

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7. December 2009 by student.

Today, every magazine you pick up has a celebrity on the cover who looks perfect. His/her body has no fat on it and their face is absolutely flawless. After seeing celebrities on the red carpet or at award shows, it is sometimes hard to recognize them in pictures. Celebrities are made to look totally different for events than they do in real life. The pressure from society to be perfect has pushed many over the edge.

Every model pictured in magazines or walking the runways are tall, a size zero, and have perfect skin and hair. Many teens push themselves to look like the models they see in the media, but most are never able to reach what they think is perfection. Our society has a corrupted view of how a teenage girl should look. You cannot control your height or the genes who inherited from your parents. When girls are not able to reach their idea of perfection in a healthy way, many end up turning to unhealthy and dangerous way to look perfect. If one girl is a little heavier, she may resort to an eating disorder to loose the excess weight. Another girl may be unhappy with the shape of her nose and get plastic surgery so she does not look different.

By brain washing our younger generations to only see themselves as beautiful if they look like the models in magazines, we are corrupting them from being an individuals. Our country is a mixture of cultures with people who look nothing alike. We need to be reassuring the younger generations that being different is not something to be ashamed of. How boring would our country be if everyone looked exactly alike? Body image peer pressure has become too strong for a large number of teen girls, we need to turn this around before more girls continue to harm themselves.

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7. December 2009 by student.

A relationship is no longer what it used to be.  We have open realationships were people are dating but they are allowed to see other people.  We have friends with benefits were people have the physical part of the relationship but there are no emotions.  Than there is the actual real relationship where two people like each other and want to be together.  What is the point of these things?  They are in no way positive or beneficial.  a relationship isn’t about sex or staus it’s about two people that care about each other wanting to express these feelings for each other by becoming intertwined in the others life.  There is something wrong with society today that most people thinks relationships are about sex.  Sex is supposed to come after the relationship has been going for a while and you want to be able to express your feelings.  Television shows should stop trying to glorify these fake relationships becasue it only makes it seem like it is more okay.  Parents need to talk to hteir children about what a helathy realtionship is so that they can maybe make the right decision when it comes times.  

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7. December 2009 by student.

In the past 20 years or so, much attention has been paid to the problems of anorexia and bulimia among young women.  In an attempt to be as thin as possible, many young women desperately do the unthinkable — starve themselves or force themselves to vomit their food after eating, often after binging.  Unfortunately, not only is this act extremely harmful mentally but also extremely harmful physically – examples: exacerbated weight gain once such measures cease, hair growth on the face, expanded bellies, and rotting teeth are just a few of the dreadful consequences.  Some cases even result, tragically, in death.  So what leads these young women to such acts of desperation?  Their having to resort to such measures proves this is not a weight that is attainable through normal diet and exercise.  Where then did these women develop a distorted ideal of what an attractive female is supposed to weigh?

As many lately have rightly noted, the blame largely false with the fashion industry.  Take for instance the recent Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.  Beautiful models paraded down the runaway in sexy lingerie, as millions watched on television.  In recent years, some of the models have had healthy, “normal” figures, such as Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks.  But this year in particular, the models were exceptionally thin, almost unhealthy-looking.  And, a recent Ralph Lauren ad was scolded for purposely using Photo Shop to make the already-thin model even thinner, resulting an almost sickly, unnatural woman in the ad.  What message does all this send to the young women watching, who assume this is the standard for beauty?  Almost as bad is the image it sends to the men watching, “THIS is what your girlfriend or wife is supposed to look like” — who will then, in turn, apply pressure on the women in their lives to look a certain way. Women have always felt pressure to be accepted as attractive — for instance, geishas in Japan would purposely damage their foot bones by squeezing themselves into shoes that were too small, because small feet were considered beautiful in their culture.  It is an inherent part of social and human behavior, for both men and women, to take actions to look certain ways that are attractive to the opposite sex as this is all tied on to our primal need to engage, and eventually breed, with the opposite sex.  Thus, it should be no surprise that young girls nowadays will do anything, including unhealthy, life-threatening actions, to be attractive to men.  But that is precisely why we should, as a society, be extremely careful to present a normal, proper image of what is healthy and attractive — and that is not women who weigh 100 pounds. Interestingly, the idea of women taking extreme measures to be attractive to, and please, men seems antiquated and at odds with feminism’s strides over the past 50 years.  It almost seems sexist that a woman should harm herself simply because she feels it will help her find a male partner.  As such, sociologically, it seems feminism has made many strides but, in the area of ‘beauty at any cost to attract men,’ it seems we are still quite backwards.  

Another interesting aspect of the emphasis on ‘extremely thin models as the fashion industry’s ideal of beauty’ is that thin usually does not correlate with primal sexual attraction.  Full hips and even a healthy belly have, for thousands of years, denoted a woman who will breed well, be able to bear children, and be fertile.  Hundreds of years ago, men would scoff at overly thin women and found ‘healthy’ figures to be sexy (see, for example, Renaissance-era art work).   So does the fact that some men nowadays like extremely thin women mean that, as a society, we no longer find breeding-potential to be a sexual stimulant or a top trait to look for a in sexual partner?  On the other hand, it is possible that, although men in the fashion industry push this overly-thin-is-sexy image, men in general do not find that attractive and still seek curves and a healthy body in the women they find sexy.  Further sociological studies should be done (via, for instance, polls administered to men in the general population) to determine whether, and how, our ideals of female beauty have changed.  In the meantime, we must ensure that our young women do not fall prey to unhealthy actions in a bid to be ‘attractive.’

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