Sunday, October 30, 2016

Waiting For Approval

It takes a lot of dedication to do a research paper for your capstone.  For me, I have been developing this research for quite some time with writing a variety of different research papers that discuss the gender inequality between men and women in the sports industry.  As something to set my paper a part from most, I decided to conduct a survey study, in which it is still in the review process with the IRB board, and with the results of the survey I plan to plug them in my paper to help elaborate and display just how much inequality is relevant in this industry.  It is rather interesting to read, but it is even more interesting to experience the level of behavior that a male puts forth when a female walks into a sports facility.

Most recently, I interviewed for an internship in a sports facility where it was just males in the office. The moment I walked in, eyes were on me and you could feel the judgement spewing through their minds and even looks towards me.  It was certainly something I have never experienced before, only researched about and interviewed other sport reporters about it.  It raises questions in my mind to ask myself, is working in the sport industry worth it?  Furthermore, what did the women who do this as a career do to get where they are today?  To me, it is certainly an admirable job position for any female to take on, but I do not see myself, personally, working in sports.  With that being said, I am anxiously waiting to see if my survey does get approved and if it does, I am curious as to know what the results of my survey will be.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Killing Us Softly In Advertisement

While first watching Killing Us Softly 4, created by Jean Kilbourne, a documentary discussing the different themes of advertisement seen by the new millenniums that sexualize women and less of men, I was shocked.  My eyes were immediately opened in surprise that I was not aware of the extent of which advertisement agencies go to reach peoples attention.  The intended meaning may be for the product, such as shampoo, but the deeper meaning that arouses the emotions from people is that the product for shampoo is sexualizing a woman who may be unclothed and words that say “even the cleanest need to get dirty sometimes…” or something in that regard.  By having her presented unclothed and having that slogan to go with the product, your attention does not go to the product; it goes to the woman and the slogan, dehumanizing the woman herself.  It sends a message to the audience, mainly women, that they should emulate the women they see in ads.
Killing Us Softly 4



Kilbourne makes it a point to tell her audience that no woman, not even the women featured in the ads, look flawless and have no pores.  It is quite impossible to embody someone of that nature that is “perfect” when in fact no one is perfect.  She discusses the Dove campaign that went viral where it demonstrated a woman being photographed and at the same time, being photo shopped to not look like her.  Some celebrities have taken a stand to tell people that some of the images seen in magazines of themselves are not real.  Kilbourne even mentions one ad that Oprah Winfrey was featured in and without Winfrey’s consent; they used her head on a figure skaters body for a magazine cover.  All of which to portray an unrealistic image to their target audience, which was women.  Kilbourne also goes into the psychological issues that women and some men face, but mainly women.  She mentions that models were getting so skinny that eating disorders began to be the main focus of which people focused on rather then the clothing the model is wearing.  Some designers have taken a stand, just like celebrities have, and are not discriminating against models who represent the “real” and “average” woman, which should be the main target audience the designers are focusing on.  Throughout the documentary, Kilbourne focuses on main points that should be addressed more on, especially for high school girls and boys in their health classes to fully understand that the advertisement world is throwing unrealistic and inappropriate ideas to the younger demographic that they should not embody the ads themselves and should focus on themselves individually as real humans.        

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Created The Survey & Now We Wait

There has been a great deal of progress led to a screeching halt due to getting approval from the university to distribute my survey via email to the entire student body.  This news makes me rather nervous because if it is not accepted, that means this study can not meet the deadline for finals.  It is an attitudinal study, therefore since it falls under psychology, it must be approved by the IRB to then be sent to students.  I am certainly crossing my fingers that this survey gets approved so I can further my research for my capstone.

As we play the waiting game, I have not stopped researching more cases of women who have endured social scrutiny because of their gender in a male dominated field in sports.  In fact, I have experienced recently the immediate discomfort of going into a male dominated office and feeling the pressure of being a female.  I then was reminded by a dear friend of mine that having those feelings is a common thing because it not only happens in sports, it also happens in any male dominated branch you enter.  Hearing that, it lit a fire within to set forth with furthering my research and raise awareness on the importance of equality for all in any field they go into, but more specifically, women in the sports industry.

Monday, October 10, 2016

Delving Into Art & Copy

The film, Art &Copy, directed by Doug Pray, is not just a film about advertisement for digital and print, but it is a film that explores the many sides of advertisement.  Much of the material that was introduced into the film allowed insight for viewers who on an everyday bases just blink at advertisement and not study the artistry behind it.  In fact, as a viewer myself, I would just blink and not think twice about the meaning nor the artistry of the ad that tells a story to its’ viewers.

What I found so interesting was Apple and their approach to digital and print advertisement.  Specifically in 1984 for the Super Bowl commercial that did not show the product, but presented a more abstract approach to what Apple, specifically Macintosh was.  It starts off with an army of people marching in to then sit down and listen to a large monitor of a man with sunglasses on telling them what to do and what was going to happen.  Symbolically it presented itself as a cult of people, and then a rebel came running in, slinging an iron mallet to the screen and breaking it.  Chiat/Day Agency created this ad, and quiet honestly they presented, in a sense, what we see Apple to be today.  In a society consumed of technology, nine times out of ten you will find that the person beside you has an Apple iPhone, an iPod, an iPad, or even a MacBook.  We have become the “cult” that was featured in the 1984 Super Bowl commercial and Apple is the leader. 
 
Found At HotGas.net
From that moment in 1984, Apple and Macintosh have never been the same.  It changed the dynamic of advertisement and has helped raise the competition between products and how products are advertised.  Many times now, advertisement is presented to us at an emotional level, pulling at our heartstrings.  Some advertisement agencies do not even focus on the product until highlighting it at the end, leaving viewers to interpret the commercial the way they see fit.  It is ingenious idea and now since watching Art & Copy, advertisement is not just an element in the marketing field, it is art in the form of theatrics, presenting a story to us to help grab our attention to then buy and partake in the ad itself.    

Sunday, October 9, 2016

New Progress on My Capstone Research Paper

I am getting very excited for my capstone project, yet there is much more work that is needed.  In previous posts regarding my capstone, I mentioned that I am working not only with Monica Larson's assistance, as she is my capstone director, but I am also working with a professor from Morehead University in Kentucky.  Professor Chen works specifically in women's studies in sports.  He has become a huge asset in the progression of my research.  In fact, I have just finalized an abstract that I am submitting for the IACS Summit that is going to be held in Phoenix, Arizona in March 2017.  This is a conference that accepts just a limited amount of research papers that they then have the writers and researchers deliver to the Summit.  With being a dual major in Recreation and Leisure Studies, my advisor on the West side of campus, Dr. Kendig, along with my other professors in that department, attend these conferences and this would be the first to have a Shepherd University student deliver their paper in front of a conference.  However, that will only happen if my paper is accepted.

In addition to completing my extended abstract, I have completed my survey questions and I am in the process of entering them into Survey Monkey (a survey machine that helps track the rate success and number of participants) to them be approved by the university to be emailed out to the student body.  Once the survey's are completed, it is just a matter of plugging in my findings and reconstruct my paper to solely focus on the perception people have of female sports and media coverage, including sport reporters and journalists.  I am extremely excited and am hoping to have this done by the end of October to then present to the faculty by early November.

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Positive Progress On My Capstone

The progress I have made with my research paper has been great.  I am currently conversing back and forth with a professor at Morehead University in Kentucky that specializes in conducting studies with other students around the United States.  His name is Professor Steve Chen and he has been a huge help in guiding me in the right path as to whether my study should be geared more as a qualitative or quantitative study.  The survey questions to be submitted to Shepherd University's research center are still a work in progress, however I have submitted my paper to the writing center on campus to have it revised for grammar mistakes and sentence structure.  After I have made the corrections, I submitted my paper to Professor Steve Chen and we are in the process of drafting an extended abstract to be submitted to the IACS Summit for the conference in March of 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona.  If my research paper is accepted, I will be able to present my findings to the Summit.  In addition to getting my paper ready for submission, I am also looking into different publications to have my paper published.  I am excited to see what these next couple of weeks have to offer and the work I will be putting into my paper to help formulate the best paper to help shed light to the inequality for women in the sports industry.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Title IX Academic Resources Help Shed Light On Female Inequality

In 1972, President Nixon had signed a document, a document we now know as Title IX that set the world of sports on a frenzy.  The reason why was because Title IX is a document that falls under the Educational Amendment that states any educational program receiving Federal assistance can lose funding if it discriminates the sex of participants in that sport (Women In Sports: The Struggle for Equality, 2000).  This piece comes from a document called, Women In Sports: The Struggle for Equality that was published back in 2000 and discussed Title IX and what it stands for, the first encounter of inequality that was televised with the Women's World Cup in 1999, and how this document signed back in 1972 has done little to raise awareness for equality and eliminate discrimination.

The 1999 Women's World Cup had more than 658,000 fans in attendance and one billion television viewers.  One of the first largest viewings of women's sports.  However, women in soccer still make half of what men do in 2016, yet the U.S. Women's Soccer Team has more wins recorded then men do.  With that being said, in April 2016, the women's team filed lawsuit against the league due to inequality.  There is no equality in the world of sports, even if women teams receive more wins then men.  Title IX can be seen to be one layer of the wall of inequality being stripped away, however there are many more layers to be pealed away before we see equality between men and women.