Sydney Royce

Sydney Royce is an 8th grader at LREI. She was born in Manhattan, and currently lives in Brooklyn. For my topic I chose "The Portrayal of Women in the Media," because I feel like this is a very important issue in our society that affects many women today. My goal is to really learn about this topic and to teach the younger students at our school about the harm this can cause.

The Stereotypes of Women on TV: Our Workshop at the Paley Center

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On Thursday, February 2nd, we were given the opportunity to go to the Paley Center. The Paley Center is a digital museum that teaches classes on certain topics relating to TV, advertising, and radio programs. We sat in on a private workshop led by Rebecca. She showed us a montage of different clips from TV shows, music videos, and commercials from the 50’s to the early 2000’s. Most of them exemplified the same topics.

In some of the older clips from the 50’s-60’s they were very discriminatory of different body types, and being “fat” was seen as scary and ugly. Most of the girls who were stereotypically pretty, got more attention, and the girls seen as “ugly” were completely ignored. In more media from the 70’s-80’s there was a lot of talk about dieting and eating disorders, and also making sure girls looked perfect for boys. There were also a lot of women that were over sexualized. For example, in a wonder woman show from the 70’s, she wore a tight corset showing her cleavage, and very tiny shorts. When she was fighting she would barely fight so she could remain “womanly.” In clips from the 90’s-2000’s there were a lot of common themes with high school girls talking about random or serious things then randomly jumping to talking about boys. There was a lot of themes being stupid and clueless.

Overall, even though we have evolved as a society and our perception of women in the media, there are still the same themes coming up today. It’s important for us to realize and notice these things. It made me think because some of these shows that were shown in the montage, are shows I have watched before. I didn’t even notice some of the problems with the way that the female characters in the show were portrayed. This was a very eye opening experience, and I’m so glad we had the opportunity to go to a class. I’m excited to learn more about this and do some of my own independent research.

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Our Tour and Interview with Milk Makeup: How They’re Changing the Beauty Industry

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Yesterday we were able to go to the Milk Makeup headquarters in Soho. Milk is a makeup brand that is vegan, cruelty free, and overall clean. They are known for their diversity within their brand and also their differing mission from other cosmetic brands on the market. Their products design wise are very gender neutral and fun. When we first arrived, we took a tour of their office and got to see what they do there. Everything from coming up with new products, working on advertising, creating PR and hiring models, to doing photo shoots, happens all there at the office. After the tour, we sat down with Kate Ingram and Tyler Smart. Kate is the director of Creative Operations, and Tyler is the CCO of the Creative operations. They both work very closely with all of the teams and make sure everything is going smoothly, and they are getting everything done before the deadlines.

After touring the office, we sat down and started their interview. We asked questions about their main mission of the brand and how they have evolved. Milk started as a photography studio that would take photos of “real people,” and progressed into a makeup company that was supposed to enhance your inner beauty, and not just cover up your face. When representing their products they choose all kinds of people of different races, genders, age, and body types. Over time, Milk has created such a great community that has really created a positive reputation for them. This makes the buyers feel good about the makeup they wear, and the brand they are supporting.

The interview was really helpful and I’m so glad we had the opportunity to talk to Kate and Tyler. They are such a unique brand and I’m so excited to use this interview for our project.

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How the Media Causes Eating Disorders: Our Interview with Elizabet Altunkara from NEDA

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Last week we had our interview with Elizabet Altunkara, the Director of Education at NEDA. NEDA, the National Eating Disorders Association, is one of the largest nonprofits in the U.S. Their mission is to help any people who suffer with eating disorders, but also educate people on what an eating disorder is and how to prevent one. NEDA has a website with lots of information but they also have a hotline for anyone who is struggling with this, or is curious about eating disorders.

Elizabet said that most people who experience body dissatisfaction feel as though their bodies are flawed. Most people but mainly women, feel that they don’t have their ideal body and this idea usually results to eating disorders. On the website it states, “Over one-half of teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives.” These symptoms can be different for everyone, but these are the most common ones with eating disorders. A lot of girls and women feel that they need to be thin and beautiful in order to be “desirable” or “accepted.” A lot of boys feel that they need to be thin and muscular so they can feel more masculine.

From both sides, the reason why many people have eating disorders is because of our culture and the pressure to be a certain way. NEDA’s goal is to really teach people to love themselves and learn to accept their bodies. This organization is so amazing and inspiring and I’m so glad NEDA exists. It is such a great help for anyone who is struggling with eating disorders and/or has any questions about it. It was a great opportunity getting to talk with Elizabet.

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“The Gains and Pains of America’s Fitness Obsession”: Our Interview with Natalia Petrzela

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Our first interview was with Natalia Petrzela. Natalia is a writer, professor, activist, podcast host, mother, and fitness expert. She teaches a class at The New School exploring the topics of gender, race, and identity. She has also written several books, and one of them is about the obsession with fitness.

She said that because of the unrealistic standards in the media, many women feel the need to workout and over exercise. This is one example of how the misrepresentation in the media can affect women. A lot of women feel that in order to get the “perfect body” they need to obsess over some form of fitness. She even said a lot of fitness instructors even encourage this behavior by making comments about eating habits and trying to get a “bikini body.” Because of the media there are often “beauty trends” which usually switch up every few years. For example for a little while everyone wanted to look like the Kardashians and have a curvy body with big boobs and a big butt. The new “beauty trend” is to be the opposite and be very skinny with a 90’s model body. This is  harmful because it contributes to women wanting to try different forms of working out to change their body.

In our society there’s this huge pressure to exercise not only to be healthy, but to lose weight. What women view in the media as desirable or as the new “body trend” is what they want to see in themselves. This culture of exercising to change your body is toxic, and instead we should view fitness as doing it to raise endorphins, be active, and to be healthy. This interview really changed my perspective and made me more aware of this obsession with exercise. I really enjoyed this interview, and I’m so glad my group got to talk to Natalia.

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