Talking Points "Myths That Bind Us"

• Author: Linda Christiensen

• Title: Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us

• Argument: Christensen argues that through dominant media we are told how to view ourselves and those around us and that it is dominanted by the lens of the culture of power. Like Macintosh, she argues that we need to see this SCWAMMP privilage for what it is if we are going to go about changing it.

• Quote #1: "No one wants to admit that they've been handled by the media." This is Johnson all over- NAME IT, own it. You have to realise that you ARE shaped by your culture, be that form your parent's ideals, school, childeren's books, magazines, barbie, tonka trucks, or the color blue. I remember that smash hit that happened when they made a "lifesize barbie" that you could share your clothes with- except that they never fit right becasuse REAL five year olds do not look like barbie. The media is all around us, and to resist it we first have to see it.

• Quote #2: "If the race of the charecter is the only thing changing, the injustices will still remian." Okay, so snow white is now mocha caramel, but if she still is helpless without men around her, capible of only cleaning and singing and looking pretty, needing a man to come save her, then we're no better off. What about mocha caramel that goes hunting and teaches karate to the men so they can defend themselves when she isn't around that goes camping on weekends and maintains a trapline? Maybe thats a stretch- but atleast its different then the norm of your typical disney woman that looks like playboy and ends up being a princess.

• Quote #3: "Happiness means getting a man, a transformation from wretched conditions can be achieved by consumption..." Oh the dominant ideology leaves so much to be desired. It leaves no space for the LGBTQQI community, or for any woman who is happily independant. Also, shopping will cure all. If you have golden slippers, legs, a sparkly dress, blond hair, and VERY fair skin you'll be perfect- but if not- you can always buy them. Won't that be great- another generation of spenders that can max out their credit cards on shoes and get their temporary high only to have to go out and do the same next weekend. But it will make you a princess, and make prince carming come rescue you from bordom and your incapible self- so isn't that a good thing?

• My Responce: I found a book in the Unity Center the other day called "Daddy's Roomate" and i was terrified about what they would do to make the gay community sound bad to little kids. I was very happily surprised to find it did a very nice job of explaining the community. Books like this are just not as availible as they should be. Media is so ingrianed in everything we do and how we see ourselves. We as women feel incomplete if we don't have big hips and round brests (like a post-pubesent woman) but shaved legs, arms, vagina, and pits (like a pre-pubescent child). If men aren't tall, ripped, and hung then they fail at life. I had a teacher on the board the other day label two triangles as male and female (she first marked the blue one as female and then, appologized to the class for her "mistake"). Media, staing in the home and school, shapes how we view eachother and ourselves for the rest of our lives, and if that can't include any tomboyish women or black men or buddhist people, then why would we view it as "normal"? :(