UNIT C - Blog 19

After watching the video from Democracy Now I now realize how women weren't really included that much when it came to characters on cartoons. In this video Geena Davis brings up the Looney Tunes and how the only female character was Granny which was Tweety birds owner. The only way that Tweety would begin his antics was when Granny left so she really wasn't seen that much on the show. Also Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck were female characters on Disney but they weren't really seen that much and weren't really needed for anything since they just pranced around in tiny outfits worrying about shopping. Female characters didn't really show much significance and the media acted like female characters weren't needed in order to bring the shows to life and this can portray an image to children that women aren't important in society. It might seem ridiculous to some people because this is only a cartoon we are talking about but many people don't realize how much these cartoons shape the lives of children. Children are impressionable and often mock what they see and if little boys see shows that only have male characters they could grow up thinking men are more important than women and little girls might grow up feeling inferior to men.

The media also has a major influence on adults and how they are perceived in their work environments. The media depicts women on shows and movies to be inferior to men alot of the time and this could make some men believe they are better than their female workers and might talk down to them on the job or treat them differently because they are under the impression that the men should hold authority and be held at a higher standard than women.

In chapter seven Britton talks about male officers and how they dealt with their dignity and violence. Male officers have to prove themselves in order to get the respect of fellow employees, especially supervisors. Male officers have to stir up trouble, beat up inmates to show them who's boss or help out other officers or save their lives in order to show they are worth the other officers time. If they act like cowards and don't prove themselves then they are basically seen as nothing in the other employees eyes. Some actions women take to prove gender identity is among them in the workplace is by the way they are assigned in the prisons. In Brittons book it is said that the female officers aren't allowed to strip search men or overlook the mens showers because other workers are afraid that the women will be sexually assaulted. This shows gender identity because men are just as likely to be sexually assaulted as women and even if women are assaulted it seems as if the other male officers don't think they are strong enough to defend themselves. One female officer said they the women officers are usually put in building security where they are constantly around other males in case something bad were to happen, this seems like these females aren't trusted to be alone and they are treated as if they are children and can't be left alone for even a second. Trust seems to be a big issue with these officers because they don't even feel safe having a woman officer as their back up, they prefer a man because they think men are stronger.