Eunhee Kang-Women and Corporate America

Click to listen

While I was doing this media blog, a question came to my mind. ‘Why is business person, CEO, or boss of companies in advertisement or media always portrayed as male?’ I think the answer is in the stereotype that society holds on male and female figures in the workplace. For a long time, male leaders and authorities were dominant; therefore, people’s mental picture of a leader is set into the image of a man. I realized the serious problem generated from this stereotype after listening to the conversation from Oprah&Friends radio.

In Oprah&Friends radio, Jean Chatzky and New York Times columnist Lisa Belkin talked about the barrier that slows down women from succeeding in their workplaces. Lisa argued that women were looked slightly wrong when they try to stand out and show their leadership, because the society visualizes the leader as a male. She supported her opinion with scientific study that asked people to describe the qualities that leader should have. This study discovered that qualities differed across the countries, but no matter what qualities people selected, women were considered not to have those. Based on this result, Lisa Belkin effectively criticized the situation grabbing women from becoming successful.

Although Jean and Lisa held their opinion with scientific supports, their argument can appear biased to male workers. Inequality between male and female has changed by many feminists and egalitarians. Consequently, women were mostly valued equal to man and some were thought greater than men in general. Lisa stated that men think nice women are too nice and not nice women are rude. This opinion can differ between each men and it is too personal to generalize into a thought that men commonly holds on women.

Oprah Winfrey show has gained reputation for active humanitarian arts and feministic movements. Oprah not only hosts the TV show; she also created her radio to provide useful advice, supportive messages, and worldwide issues. Oprah&Friends radio is led by professionals like Jean Chatzky, a financial adviser and the author of bestselling books; therefore, information it delivers is helpful and persuasive to the listeners. Since the form of media is radio, the information is easily distributed to audience throughout radios at house, office, or cars.

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"Women and Corporate America." Oprah.com - Live Your Best Life. 12 Sep. 2008

<http://www.oprah.com/media/20080601_OAF_071207_OAF_JC>

Soohyun Lee- stereotype

"What stereotypes do people have about you? What stereotypes do you have about other people? Are stereotypes beneficial or harmful? Why do you think this?"

Many of my friends told me that when they saw me at the first time, they thought I am a quiet girl who is unsociable, indifferent and does not smile a lot. However, after spending great deal of time with me, they realized that I am an outgoing and humorous person whom they can easily talk to. Although I do not want people to judge me by my first impression, I think walking out into the world without stereotypes is impossible. Any kind of stereotype is ubiquitous.

I have stereotype that all black people are good at playing sports. This stereotype came from my experience in cheerleading and from media. While cheering for TCIS basketball team, I could watch SAHS basketball team, which mostly consists of black people, play and I could not help but amaze at their skills. Moreover, in most of movies or TV shows that I watched, black people were portrayed as good athletes who are physically shaped. My own experience and the media influenced me to make a false generalization that all black people are talented athletes.

I think not all stereotypes are harmful nor do all lead to action. Having a stereotype over something is natural and unconscious phenomenon. For example, if you were walking down a dark alley, would you be more worried by an old lady or a couple of young men in hoodies? The answer to this question is very simple. Although making decision based on our stereotypes can be negative, I think stereotype itself is neutral because it does not necessarily affect our action. The idea that stereotype leads directly to immoral behavior is to undermine a belief in the capacity of people to exercise self-control.

Roots of the oppression of women -Internet (JEAN KIM)

In determining whether the myth of male dominance, saying that "women's subordination is a function of their biology or psychology", logical or not, the article provides an excerpt of the book called the Myths of Male Dominance by Eleanor Burke Leacock, a femminist-antrhopologist.

In the book Myths of Male Dominance, the author mentions a couple of articles she used as to demonstrate how the "universal male dominance is myth not fact". Though the articles from the past and even today depict women as inevitably "passive" and therefore often live subservient lives, the author defies such stereotype from her own experience and the cross cultural study of anthropology. By narrating on her own experience of unconsciously taking the role of a house keeper while both the author and her husband have independant work outside. The author explains how the passive learning of women's general role in a society/household accounts for the oppression of women and further blames such subservient tendency of women to the women's lack of will to rebel and voice up for their equal rights they deserve.

As an article on internet, the layout of the page is unique in which it has some kind of advertisement/ announcement section beside the article. As the website is of a national newspaper wirtten on a socialist worker's standpoint, the advertisement/announcement beside the article deliberately delivers the newspaper's characteristic and goal -to present "a socialist analysis of the events and forces that have shaped today's world and sharing the voices of those involved in the many efforts to try to change that world."

The article holds a value in which it provides an expertise opinion on the roots of the oppression of women. However, it is inevitably biased, since it only presents an extreme femminist view on the women's issue and thus prevents the readers from gaining a rational/ fair perspective on the same issue.

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*BIBLIOGRAPHY) "Roots of women's oppression SocialistWorker.org." SocialistWorker.org. 14 Sep. 2008 .

Soohyun Lee- Tefal Ad

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fW9eP4U6SGc

This video is from Tefal commercial, which advertises an iron.
(The picture is not related to the video)

An advertisement is carefully directed to certain audience and is driven by specific objects. Also, its message is crafted to speak to that audience's most important concerns. For this advertisement, the intended audience is people who find it uncomfortable and troublesome to consistently refill water into an iron. However, just like in any other commercials that advertise household goods, in this commercial, a woman is portrayed as being responsible for domestic chores.

In these days, even though the pay gap between the sexes is narrowing and more women are gaining senior positions in the work place, I think equality at home is far from becoming a reality. As it is represented in the advertisement, women still take on the bulk of the housework and child care responsibilities. This kind of advertisement influences people to unconsciously think it is women’s job to take care of household affairs and to constantly monitor what needs to be done in the house. Children, while growing up watching these types of ad, will think the same way and if this continues to happen, inequality at home will not be ameliorated.

Women's sole responsibility for domestic chores can also lead to inequality in the work place. Women have less time for leisure and this hinders them from achieving their maximum of efficiency and reduces their ability to compete fairly at work. However, I found it ironic that whenever men try to do the cooking or cleaning, they never satisfy their partners. Eventually, women end up complaining and doing it all over again. In this aspect, I think women are holding themselves back and causing inequality. Women should abandon their inveterated thought that they are accountable for housework.

Soohyun Lee "Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo War "

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/world/africa/07congo.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=violence%20toward%20women&st=cse&scp=1


In this article, Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist shows how women in Congo suffer from sexual assaults. According to this article, "the sexual violence in Congo is the worst in the world and researchers fear that Congo’s problem has metastasized into a wider social phenomenon. It is gone beyond the conflcit as the number of women abused and even killed by their husbands seemed to be going up and that brutality toward women had become almost normal."

The purpose of this article is to inform readers how severe the situation of women in Congo is and urge them to take action to aid these women. The writer especially talked about limited resources for rape victims as the following.

"But the problem seems bigger than the resources currently devoted to it. Panzi Hospital has 350 beds, and though a new ward is being built specifically for rape victims, the hospital sends women back to their villages before they have fully recovered because it needs space for the never-ending stream of new arrivals."

Moreover, quoting from the victims who suffered extreme violence, the writer tried to excite reader's sympathy and let readers understand the mental and phisical hardships faced by Congolese women.

Reading this article, I could not believe the harsh situation faced by the women in Congo. Since they have different culture and background than mine, It was hard to sympathize with them. The limitation lies in the fact that it is a publication. It might have left out necessary and crucial information or reasons behind the violence taken place in Congo as the authorities can always manipulate the article before its publication. Moreover, since this harsh case is only relevant to women in Congo, it hinders us from getting overall view on oppression of women.


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"Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo War - New York Times." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 7 Sep. 2008 .

Eunhee Kang-Bolivia's Wrestlers

When I heard a phrase ‘oppression of women’, I instantly pictured a women suffering under the domination and power of male figure. However, through this article Cholitas Fight Back, I witnessed the power of women fighting back instead of accepting society’s stereotype as their unavoidable faith. Strong cholitas changed my fixed idea and showed me how oppression of women can be altered as a tool to open people’s eyes to acknowledge women as strong and independent like Bolivian women.

This article exposes strength of women who attempt to escape and fight against society’s oppression. In Bolivia, there are women wrestlers called fighting cholitas. They fight to show their strength and toughness to the public, and female and male wrestlers. One fighter said, “My goal is to lift up indigenous women, who have been treated with contempt.”, and Esperanza Cancina, one of the audience, said, “It’s a distraction. The cholitas fight here, and we laugh and forget our troubles for three to four hours. At home, we’re sad.” Through fighting or watching cholitas in the ring, many women feel freedom from reality of life that restricts them, although the lightness they feel might last only during the game.

Editor’s attempt was to tell the story of cholitas with cultural aspect. Since the article is written for and published by National Geographic magazine, the situation of fighting cholitas is fitted into cultural frame other than political or social view. The editor mentioned a social issue by explaining the treatment and reactions cholitas are receiving from men; however, it is stated in indirect manner, so that the cultural value is more strongly expressed.

National Geographic magazine is well known reliable source to the reader. It distributed environmental and cultural issues with insightful voice and solid evidence that population of readers is big. As this magazine deals with continuously raising issues or publicly unknown issues, it intrigues readers to flip the pages with curiosity. But this article also contains bias. The article only stated the view of female audience Esperanza, but the majority of audience filling the seats to watch cholita’s fight is men. The explanation about the reason for men watching the game isn’t clear, but I am assuming that it would be similar to women’s-to forget about troubles they have.
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Guillermoprieto, Alma. “In the wrestling rings of Bolivia, skirts fly as CHOLITAS FIGHT BACK!” National Geographic Sep. 2008:112

Sterotype -JEAN KIM

Stereotype is a certain assumptions people make about other people due to a few known/visible facts. For instance,when an individual hears the term "Black American", it is most likely that he/she will immediately think of the words gangster, tattoo, hip-hop, and basketball. Likewise, people have stereotypes of Asians that all Asians must be good at math. Stereotype is such a dominant factor in our daily lives that nearly every individual holds a stereotype about each other, whether negative or positive.

People call me a girl with a multi personality. Day students, who do not get to see the "real Jean" often holds a stereotype of me, assuming that I am an extremely timid and shy girl who can never speak up. I can say that the dorm students, who have seen my active and humorous sides definitely know a larger portion of who I am, however they still have a certain sterotype about me. Since I ate more than most of the guys back when I was a freshman, they still think that I always eat a lot. The stereotypemy friends have about me is not as offensive as the ones with the black Americans. However, it could still have a negative effect on my life in ceratin circumstances such as a cheerleading tryout. If I had not yelled from my gut, I could have been disadvantaged, since the judges knew that I was known as a reserved person at school.

While other people have that stereotype about me and my personality in general, I find myself having stereotypes about other people as well. Just because I saw a few blond girls in Colorado who were fascinated by a British guy at the same camp, I have a stereotype of blond girls that they all get fascinated by a guy with a British accent. Though this kind of stereotype is not exactly "harmful", it can neither be considered beneficial, as I am most likely to make irrational judgement about girls with blond hair from my biased perspective of them.

Examining the two types of stereotype and some examples, I have come to conclude that stereotype has either neutral or negative effect on others. It may be harmful/negative when a person is receiving unfair treatment due to the stereotype other people have about him/her. It may simply be neutral if it does not have a direct, insulting, or threatening effect on an individual.

Eunhee Kang-China's X Factor:Girl Power

Female athletes’ power was globally proved through 2008 Beijing Olympics. This article generally supports the idea that oppression on women is less evident compare to previous days. Now female athletes perform their abilities in world wide stage and they accomplish better results than male athletes. The government is supporting and sponsoring women financially to cultivate them into better athletes. Women have shown their capacities to survive and endure hard trainings and willingness to overcome sufferings to stand as strong women. Although the editor mentioned about decrease of female population in China because of sexism and quota system, she emphasized the increasing power of women.

The number of medals and percentage stated in the article support that women’s participation and power in society has increased. However, this article focused on female Olympians in Chinese society; therefore, conclusion that women are treated equal to men might be less applied to other countries’ female athletes. As women are genetically less fit to play sports designed for male, they would receive more pressure to obtain medals. Since the editor’s purpose was to inform clear influence of women athletes to the readers, oppression and mistreatment that might have occurred behind the stage aren’t stated in the article; it consequently created a bias.

This article is credible and the editor’s voice is influential not only because the editor used solid evidence to argue her points, but also because the Time magazine is popularly know as reliable source to readers. Also the characteristic of magazine which focuses on specific themes, unlike those of newspaper which focuses on publishing daily reports or worldwide issues promptly, allows reader to associate messages with various issues included in that certain theme.

Oppression of women was severe in China because of the tradition that puts male into superior position. According to this article, “A traditional preference for boys over girls has led to widespread sex-based abortions, leaving China with one of the world’s most lopsided gender ratios.” As China is neighboring country, Korea has received direct and indirect influences from it. Korea had same problem, sex-based abortions; therefore, oppression of women in China wasn’t new or strange issue to me. However, as I have seen great performances of female athletes through Beijing Olympics and this article, I am convinced that China is definitely going through big social changes. After reading this article I saw possibilities of female athletes’ better future performance and female’s active participation in the society. Still biased perception on women exists, but I believe this movement in China can be a great impact for Chinese women to fight against oppression of women.

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Beech, Hannah. “China’s X Factor: Girl Power” Time Magazine 21 Aug. 2008

Oppression of Women (JEAN KIM) -TV (CNN)

This news of Darfur women constantly being raped in the refugee camp is reported on CNN.
The news is reporting on the situation in which the women are exposed to extreme danger in Darfur and how the United Nations is putting forth the effort to educate the women in order to prevent them from further phsycial and mental damages. The news also informs the public of the ignorance of the Sudanese government of such atrocity taking place in their nation, as most of the women are afraid to report the situation in the fear of being told to leave the country by the government. Towards the end of the news report, the solution is suggested as more female police officers and the stronger United Nations' protection would possibly decrease the number of Darfur women being raped every time they go far way to get water and other daily supplies.


As an internationally well known news, CNN is most likely to present a neutral and objective perspectives on different events. However, as there is no such thing as a perfectly objective news, this report on the Darfur women's situation also presents a ceratin stance, delivering the message that more support and protection from a large organization such as the United Nations is needed in Darfur, Sudan.

Although the Darfur crisis is an issue that is internationally recognized as severely brutal, CNN may still present a skewed report, as it only points out what the Sudanese government is "not" doing, as a dominant broadcasting network in the West.

Oppression of Women (JEAN KIM)

One of the most famous, possibly a femminist live talk show, Tyra Banks Show took a unique approach to demonstrate the oppression of Muslim in the United States. Tyra had one ordinary American woman disguise herself as a Muslim woman with the traditional Islam costume and the hijab around her head and live a life as a Muslim woman for a day. While the woman and one actual Muslim woman were walking down the street and simply passing by other people, they noticed how most of the people had to stare at them at least once just because of their costume and the stereotype of a Muslim as a terrorist. They tried asking random people to take a picure of them and got rejected. Then they directly asked a person randomly what their first impression of them and the man refused to answer.

This particular episode of the show is provoking enough to create controversey among Muslim and non-Muslim women in the United States, as it only presents the extreme case of discrimination by a scenario that is intentionally set up to get the non-Muslim audience upset about the issue. Though it may be an efficient way to inform the people about the issue through the voice of a celebrity, it may be the show's limitation at the same time, since the label "celebrity" may over exaggerate any kind of issue and may prevent the audience from thinking rationally on different perspectives.

Moreover, as the show host, Tyra Banks is a non-Muslim, it is inevitable that it deliberately leaves out the fact that the Muslim women can "choose" to wear hijab and that they are actually proud to wear it in respect for their religion.

Soohyun Lee "Raped, Kidnapped and Silenced"

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/opinion/14kristof.html?scp=5&sq=raped&st=cse

"Mukhtaran Bibi is a woman who was sentenced by a tribal council in Pakistan to be gang-raped because of an infraction supposedly committed by her brother. Four men raped Ms. Mukhtaran, then village leaders forced her to walk home nearly naked in front of a jeering crowd of 300." She was supposed to have committed suicide but she could get help from local Islamic leader and testify againt her attackers. She also built two schools, one for boys and the other for girls, thinking that the best way to overcome this harsh abuses was through better education. However, the authorities put Ms. Mukhtaran under house arrest to stop her from speaking out. Moreover, whenever she tried to go outside, police pointed their guns at her and she was barred from leaving her country. This is because the Pakistani government fear that "she might malign Pakistan's image."


The purpose of this editorial is to urge President Bush to take action against the Pakistani government's unfair treatment towards Ms. Mukhtaran. The author believes that President Bush's favorable attitude toward the "bold leadership" of the President Musharraf (Pakistan) caused Pakistani government to carry out such wrongful action against Ms. Mukhtaran. The purpose is very clearly represented in the editorial as the author stated "So, Mr. Bush, how about asking Mr. Musharraf to focus on finding Osama, instead of kidnapping rape victims who speak out? And invite Ms. Mukhtaran to the Oval Office - to show that Americans stand not only with generals who seize power, but also with ordinary people of extraordinary courage."

The limitation of this kind of media lies in the fact that an editorial writer builds on an argument and tries to persuade readers to think the same way she/he does. The following shows how personal and opinionated the editorial is.

"I've been sympathetic to Mr. Musharraf till now, despite his nuclear negligence, partly because he's cooperated in the war on terrorism and partly because he has done a good job nurturing Pakistan's economic growth, which in the long run is probably the best way to fight fundamentalism. So even when Mr. Musharraf denied me visas all this year, to block me from visiting Ms. Mukhtaran again and writing a follow-up column, I bit my tongue."

After reading this editorial, I cannot help but agree with the writer's viewpoint. However, since the editorial is intended to persuade readers to think the same way the writer does, it is a natural phenomenon that I support the writer's opinion. Although the writer of this editorial did a good job in explaining the harsh situation of Ms. Mukhtaran, he discredited Pakistani government without solid ground. Since he is in favor of Ms. Mukhtaran, he only wrote things that benefit her and degrade the government. It would have been better if he wrote what kind of difficulites are faced by Pakistani government to show that the editorial is unbiased and equally considers both sides. Moreover, I found it kind of ironic that Ms. Mykhtaran herself is drawing a clear line between man and woman. Although she speaks out for women's right, when she built two schools, she separated girls from boys. I wonder why she did not put them together in one school.

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"Raped, Kidnapped and Silenced - New York Times." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 6 Sep. 2008 .

Eunhee Kang-"Gracie"

Gracie Movie Trailerclick
'A fifteen-year-old girl Gracie Bowen grew up in a male-dominant family obsessed with soccer challenges herself to show capability of woman as a soccer player throughout the film. Her older brother Johnny who was a highschool star player in boy’s varsity soccer team dies in a car accident. This tragic incident motivates Gracie to try out for boy’s varsity soccer team to replace her brother’s position. During 1978, the time setting of this movie, girl’s soccer team didn’t exist; therefore, Gracie struggles not only physically but also mentally to gain trust from others and also from herself.’

This film is based on true story of the Shue family. Elisabeth Shue, who acted as Gracie’s mother in the movie, is an actual Gracie character. Since the real character of this film is involved and Davis Guggenheim, husband of Elisabeth Shue, directed this film, Gracie’s story is delivered in very personal voice. Gracie struggling to break the wall of discrimination on woman is depicted in concrete detail as the purpose of the movie was to inspire audience to change their perspective on women. The story has great message that encourages women to challenge and to follow their dreams, but it is possibly biased since the story is personal. Not all girl soccer players can make into boy’s team, and not all girls can prove their capabilities to biased society. However, the movie depicts Gracie as representation of girls in general, and sends a message that many girls are similar to Gracie who couldn’t show her ability to the world because of the restriction on women but later overcomes her problem. This is true in some sense but extreme in some point. People around Gracie tried to warn her because they were worried about her, not because they wanted to oppress her dream.

A film effectively convinces audience to believe its messages by presenting solid characters with credible stories. While I was watching this movie, I found myself feeling satisfied from fictional character Gracie. Since I have experienced discrimination just because of my gender, Gracie’s achievement released discontentment I had toward fixed idea of women in society. This movie inspired me to prevent myself from becoming trained by set ideas on women, and to move forward to my dream.
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"Gracie Official Site: New Movie Trailers: Elisabeth Shue, Carly Schroeder Soccer Inspirational." Gracie Official Site: New Movie Trailers: Elisabeth Shue, Carly Schroeder Soccer Inspirational. 29 Aug. 2008 .

Video: http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=b8BUWC9ynso

Eunhee Kang-A thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner published another bestselling novel, A thousand Splendid Suns. As Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, his novel is inspired by the lives of Afghan. His story vividly pictures the conflicts and historical tragedy happened under the oppression of the country’s instability during Soviet invasion and return of Taliban. Now he is working as a U.S. envoy for the UN refugee agency to provide stable environment to refugees feeling displaced around the world. I believe that he attempted to spoke for powerless Afghans, especially for women, vulnerably facing their tragic faith through his story. Hosseini revealed mistreatment of women by drawing readers into his tunnel of story colorfully painted with the reality in Afghanistan where refugee crisis is severe. Fictional stories of two Afghanistan women, Mariam and Laila, allowed readers to understand the cause that restricted women from living their lives they deserve as human. Since the novel connects readers to the story with a strong visuals and emotions, I could indirectly experience oppression on Afghanistan women.

As Hosseini stated that “This book is dedicated to Haria and Farah, both the noor of my eyes, and to the women of Afghanistan’, I could assume this book is somewhat biased. The narrator delivered deeply moving stories of Mariam and Laila.
‘After her mother’s death, Mariam was forced to marry a forty-five-year-old Pakistan shoemaker Rasheed when she was fifteen. Her marriage with Rasheed stole her dream and freedom. She blamed Jalil, her father, for sending her away from people she loved, and herself for trusting him. Laila, a beautiful girl who wanted to marry with someone she loved became Rasheed’s second wife after her house exploded by bomb with her parents. Mariam and Laila are physically abused by Rasheed, and their rights are taken away by the government’
These two stories written in perspective of two Afghan women create sympathy toward Afghan women in general, and hostility toward men and authoritative government. However, the other side of the story about Jalil and Rasheed was never mentioned.

Although oppression of woman in Korea is not severe compare to struggles women face in Afghanistan, discrimination of woman is still evident. When I was a girl, I was told to sit like a girl, act like a girl, and talk like a girl. I heard about social disadvantages on women and experienced them as I grew older. Reading this novel reminded me stereotypes still existing in Korea’s culture and society. And I truly felt sorrow toward Afghanistan women naturally targeted as victim by Taliban or men who desire to prove their authority.

This book will be also made into a film.
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Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. New York:Riverhead Books, 2007.

JEAN KIM- Darfur Women at danger (news from Amnesty International)

A Human Rights Organization named Amnesty International has reported the severity of the raping of the Darfur women on the camp sites as a consequence of the "2003-4 attacks" (Amnesty Int'l). The article addresses how the "Janjawid militias used rape as a weapon to humiliate and punish the communities they attacked". Another issue presented in the article is about how females are disadvantaged when it comes to reporting such abuses to the police. Moreover, it informs the readers of the reality in Darfur in which the police and the nation as a whole is indifferent about the issues on females.

Since Amnesty International is an organization established as a means to help protect human rights all over the world, it is inevitable for them to use extreme or emotionally provoking language as to convince the readers to take an action over certain human rights issues. However, this article on the Darfur women can only have a potential bias, as it is a well known fact that the people of Darfur are being threatened from genocide and rape. If there is any potential bias, it would be a bias created from not considering the culture and religion of the nation (which they address humanitarian problems on) deep enough. Aside from life-threatening issues such as the Darfur Crisis, the standard of human rights may depend on different cultures of different nations.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Rape: ever present danger for Darfur's women | Amnesty International." Amnesty International | Working to Protect Human Rights. 31 Aug. 2008 .
Bibliography)

Soohyun Lee Step 5 II

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wjCSoZd8jwM

In the video I linked above, a female referee Fatou Gaye talks about how difficult it is for a woman to be welcomed in the male-dominated environment of refereeing. I heard that even in the supposedly gender-equal UK, women referees are not always accepted with open arms. However, being a Muslim woman referee in an African country is much harder because in the country, it is not seen as appropriate for women to go out to work. Therefore her success in this field can be seen as a huge achievement.

This video shows that women still face limitations in terms of choosing a job. Especially jobs related to sports, women are not welcomed as many people think that women do not understand the game well and are not physically strong or quick enough to be involved in sports. However, this video also has a message that women should stick to their dreams no matter what and try hard to achieve their goals. For this reason, I think the purpose of this video is to encourage women to be brave and to implant hopes to the women who is in in the same situation as her.

Watching this video, I felt so strange because I have never seen a woman with referee uniform before. Whenever I watched soccer games on TV, I could only see male referees running around the field. Because of this, I unconsciously thought that there are no female referees and came to have narrow point of view.

While this video can be valuable as it is a primary source, it can be biased and limited since it only displays the perspective of a Muslim woman living in Africa. Although it can be true that woman referees all over the world face the same problems as Fatou Gaye, in countries such as Sweden, which puts great emphasis on equality between man and woman, woman referee might be respected and welcomed.

Soohyun Lee Step 5

Few days ago, Oprah Winfrey talked about her harsh and painful childhood during her show. She said that she was born to teenage parents and had a mountain of obstacles already in front of her as a newborn baby as she was female, black, and poor. She was raped by a cousin when she was nine years old and later molested by a male friend of her mother's and by an uncle. However, she never told anyone about the abuse that she was suffering. Instead, she held her anger and pain inside and became rebellious. She repeatedly ran away and got into trouble. What was worse was that she became pregnant and gave birth to a stillborn baby boy when she was fourteen. She said that "It was just an ongoing, continuous thing. So much so, that I started to think, "This is the way life is."

Her use of strong and emotional voice indicates that the purpose of the conversation was to make the audience sympathize with her and take actions to help young girls or woman who have been sexually abused by man. Since the "Oprah Winfrey Show" is prevalent and popular all over the world, the message can be spread among the public swiftly. Moreover, the show is easy of access as people can watch it on TV and Internet, which are considered as most influential media these days.

As I watched the show, I could not help but ask myself "Are women nothing but toys to man?" Listening to Oprah's childhood experience, it seemed as if women were just there to please and satisfy man. However, at the same time, I thought that this is biased, as it only deals with Oprah's childhood. It was 1950s when she was a child and this period was especially hard for women and black people to live. In addition, her painful childhood might have been resulted from her poor living conditions. If she came from middle or upper class parents, she might not have faced the severe problems that she suffered. This limited point of view causes a skewed display of the oppression of women. Also, the fact that she was a black woman with poor background living in 1950s hinders the obtainment of objective truth concerning the current obstacles faced by average women.

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"Oprah Winfrey Interview -- page 2 / 8 -- Academy of Achievement." Academy of Achievement Main Menu. 30 Aug. 2008 .

News on Oppression of Women (Jean Kim)

BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) has reported that one man and eight women have been sentenced to death by Stoning. It turned out that they were all convicted of adultery, the crime in which the traditional Islam law commands a death sentence by stoning. The article further blames the fact that uneducated women are becoming a major target for such brutal death sentence, compared to the males who commit the same adultery.

From the article's disapproving voice against such irrational application of laws, it can be inferred that the purpose of the article is to inform the public of the reality in Iran where women are getting oppressed. By emphasizing the fact that the women in Iran cannot even properly present their cases to the court just beacuse of their sex, the article also plays a role of convincing the public and other human-rights organizations (such as Amnesty Inernational) to take action.

The article may be biased in a way, since it only presents the Brisitsh point of view, when the Iran-Britain relations is quite hostile from the "concern that Tehran might be developing nuclear weapons" (BBC). Moreover, as BBC only wants to depict the Western perspectives on the Islams and other non-democratic nations, the article deliberately left out the Iranian/Muslim view on the subject of women's rights. Although Britain and many of the democratic Western nations criticize the Islam's discrimination over females, a number of Islam women in fact "do not think they are conditioned to accept second-class status or view themselves as oppressed" (NY Times 2006).


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Bibliography)

"BBC NEWS Middle East Nine face stoning death in Iran." BBC NEWS News Front Page. 30 Aug. 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7516238.stm.

"BBC NEWS Middle East Timeline: UK-Iran relations." BBC NEWS News Front Page. 30 Aug. 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3077540.stm.

"Muslim Women Don't See Themselves as Oppressed, Survey Finds - New York Times." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 30 Aug. 2008 .

Eunhee Kang-step 4

When I look around, the great influence of internet is evident in everywhere. Wireless internet is available at school, home, office, and even coffee shop, and people carry their laptop to be accessible to mass information and communication network. Worldwide news is updated in every minute, and thousands of new websites are created every day. One video posted in Youtube can make one person famous than ever, and internet users can create cyber communities. Because of internet, the world became smaller but more connected.

Therefore, when I was asked to choose the most influential media, I didn’t even go over a list of media existing in our life but picked internet without a doubt. My average hour using internet per day is usually more than hours I spend in school. Because internet has developed rapidly within a decade, I can research articles and news for International Relations class, create blog to post assignments for English class, and appreciate art pieces without actually visiting the museums in London or Tokyo. Not only internet allowed me to be accessible to information, but also it resolved the limitation in communication. Although some of my friends are living in 10 hours flight from where I live, I contact with them through msn and Facebook. These technological developments influenced me to be more involved in global issues, and more actively interact with people around the world. Since mass information is available through internet, my life became more convenient; clicking internet explorer icon twice opens a whole new world. Eventually internet improved my quality of life.

I think the reason why internet has the most impact on my life is that it exists everywhere; no matter where I go, I observe people using internet. Another reason is that it is ideal. Internet provides communication network, mass information, and entertainments. The ways to find these values are convenient and efficient. Consequently internet became part of my life and a media which greatly influences my life.

STEP 4 Soohyun Lee

(picture from the musical "42nd street")

The type of mass media that has influenced me the most is theatre performance. Since every theatre performance has its own message and theme, I can get life lessons out of it. For example, When I watched the performance "42nd street," which dealt with Great Depression era, I could learn that there is always a hope in every situation and that we should not give up easily when we face difficulties in our lives.

Moreover, the theatre implants idealism into the public and gives us possibility and hope. I think this is why many people live vicariously through theatre or movie. Whenever I get stressed out, I try to watch theatre performance since it helps me to set aside my difficulty for awhile and to feel pleasure indirectly through the characters of a play.

Jean Kim (Step 4)

Out of all existing mass media, I would say the internet has the most influence over my life. Internet allowed me the opportunities to communicate with a wide range of people, from my friends in Korea to the people I met abroad, in an interactive manner. Since the internet provides me with convenient ways of meeting people in groups by simply getting on-line, it saves a great amount of time. Moreover, internet acts as an effective communicating tool especially for a timid person like me, as it does not require a face-to-face conversation.

Internet holds a significant level of influence over my personal life also because it allows me an access to the up-to-date current events without having to get the actual paper newspaper.

Without the internet, it would have been extremely time-consuming and inconvenient to contact with a wide range of people and to exchange information. Moreover, absence of the internet would also limit a great portion of my daily entertainment.

Eunhee (Step3 -types of mass media)

*Magazine

-How it is used: Magazine is a type of mass media that provides entertainment, information, education, advertisement and communications to the mass/readers.

-Audience: People who seek for certain field of information (such as business, fashion, science, and news, etc.)

-Typical characteristics:
*Targeted to specific groups of people
*Prescribed/published once a month, weekly, etc
*Numerous visual aids as to emphasize certain message/information
(examples: advertisements and fashion)
*The cover page gets the readers' attention)
*The format/presenting styles are based on effective organization that helps readers to catch the points.

JEAN (Step3- types of media)

*Internet

-How it is used: It is a type of mass media that provides a wide range of information (searching)/data/entertainment/communication through the worldwide network system.

-Audience: People all over the world

-Typical characteristics:
*Spreads data in a short amount of time
*Easy access -hence information is easily exposed to the mass
*Interactive-24 hour communication
*Inanimous
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Bibliography) "KBT: Internet's major characteristics." HSC - Herve Schauer Consultants - Cabinet de consultants en s?rit?nformatique. 21 Aug. 2008 .

SOOHYUN (Step 3 -Types of media and how they are used)

*TV

-How it is used: Television is a type of mass media that is used to entertain, educate, inform, or pursuade the mass diverse categories of presentation

-Audience: The public

-Typical characteristics: '

*Advertisement: visually appealing/entertaining and pursuasive

*News: Formal and informative

*Drama/Soap opera: entertaining and features the latest culture/issues

*One way communication

*Divided categories (different channels/programs: discovery channel, on-style, religion channel, etc.)

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Bibliography) "Television - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 21 Aug. 2008 .

Definition of Mass Media

Mass media is a way to communicate with a large group of public, often to influence them with certain ideas/issues
-Mass media includes magazine, TV, newspaper, advertisement, radio, movies, etc.




Bibliography: "mass media - Definition at the #1 Online Dictionary." Dictionary & Thesaurus - YourDictionary. 19 Aug. 2008 http://www.yourdictionary.com/mass-media.

Biography- Group 3 XD !

*Soohyun:
Soohyun was born on December 4th, 1990 and has a younger brother ( eight years younger than her !) who looks just like her.
She is a beautiful, talented, creative and smart girl who loves dancing and cheerleading♥, and acting. She is going through the second year of the rigorous IB program, but excelling in every class.

*Eunhee:
Eunhee was born on August 4th, 1990 and has a younger sister who also attends TCIS .
She is a extremely gifted artist who expresses her own unique style.
She is deeply in love with all kinds of cats and she looks like one :)

*Jean:
Jean was born on September 13th, 1990 and has an older sister who goes to college.
Just like Soohyun, she loves cheerleading and plans to perform her best this coming basketball season!
Most people think that she lives her own unique/random world, but is friendly to everyone.
She plays the clarinet and has been taking band class for four years.