In today’s weekly podcast post, I present Jay Frosting’s podcast “Miss Gender,” and specifically his episode entitled “Are things getting better?” in which he discusses a woman named Ashley’s difficult transition into becoming a woman. Ashley begins by explaining how tedious and frustrating the process of waiting for gender-confirmation surgery (GCS) can be due to the fact that there is a large demand for it and additionally because there are only a handful of surgeons in the world that can reliably perform the operation. Though Ashley has already successfully gotten through reassignment surgery, she brings up the point that she cannot properly orgasm, and as such she wishes to undergo an additional operation; unfortunately for her, though, this may not happen until as late as 2017 due to popular demand. Still, Ashley’s biggest problem continues to be her failure to gain the support of her parents, who are not exactly pleased with her decision to become a transwoman. She describes the immense pain she experiences when her parents refuse to call her by her preferred name, and preferred pronoun. She even goes on to explain how her parent’s continual misuse of proper pronouns may in fact pose a threat to her safety if individuals in public who are not transgender friendly overhear the fact that she used to be a man. Similarly to other individuals who experience such complications when transitioning, this is a heartbreaking story. In a way, society is still warming up to the notion that gender reassignment surgery is a fairly regular operation these days, so it is at least somewhat understandable why not everyone would necessary be comfortable around transgendered folks. I am sure Ashley is fully aware of this reality and has accepted the unfortunate consequences of her choices; still, it is baffling that her own parents are so against her decision and I can only image how it must feel not being able to revel in the comfort and security of one’s own parents, who should be there for their children no matter what. I truly envy people like Ashley who have the confidence and self- respect to follow their hearts and live the lives they know will make them happy and best suited to take on the world.

http://www.missgender.com/

In today’s podcast, entitled “Women are not men,” Stephen Dubner discusses unexpected statistical differences in activities shared among both men and women. Particularly intriguing, he explains, is the discrepancy between men and women in terms of their presence on Wikipedia; in addition to the fact that (according to a study conducted in 2013) only one in every six women is an editor on Wikipedia, women also account for only about 9% of the website’s total edits. This gendered imbalance has been problematic on the website since its inception; one such woman Dubner interviews recounts the tale of her first days at Wikipedia wherein several of her articles were outright denied for seemingly no apparent reason. Whether this was in practice an act of sexism or not, it is still questionable that her article would be shot down so quickly while men’s articles at the time were accepted with open arms and were not highly criticized. Perhaps, at the end of the day, a continually strong male presence online is merely a function of the social construction of gender more than anything else. Society has historically valued the opinions and morals of men to a much greater extent than women, and even though one’s identity is masked considerably behind a computer, this standard has unfortunately continued to be the case online. To that end, I find it especially interesting to ponder the concept that men continue to be the dominant gender even on the internet; if we cannot physically see that it is a man who is posting content behind a computer, how is it that we sense a man is indeed the one posting it? Is it the way the content is written, or even the “voice” that the content gives off? If so, the perhaps the ultimate question is why what men write, even in the privacy of their own homes and sheltered from the outside world, is more valued and is taken more seriously than what women write? 

Today’s podcast discussion deals with Dr. Anita Biressi’s podcast entitled “The importance of hearing the voices of ordinary women.” Dr. Biressi is a professor at the University of Roehampton which is located in London, England. The focus of the Dr.’s conversation relates to the importance of voicing the opinions and values of ordinary women who do not necessarily have the power to do so on their own. Unlike women who may be celebrities or politicians, ordinary women do not have tremendous power over influencing gendered associations and norms. This is rather problematic considering that your average day woman can be just as prolific in promoting gendered connotations in the public sphere as famous women yet more often than not simply lacks the resources to do so. If we think about the way society has defined gender, and everything that gender represents for being a woman, 99% of everything that women are pressured to think, feel, and experience are a product of what the influential women of our time have ingrained into the fabric of society. Not only is it unreasonable for all women to be expected to meet the standards of what women with authority have provided them in the realm of gendered expectations, it is also outright unfair. If the majority of women were allotted the ability to voice their opinions as common people, then society would function on a much more functional and sensible plane; furthermore, women would likely gain the confidence to act in ways they desire to rather than follow rigid gendered associations. 

This week’s blog, entitled “Always Talk to Strangers,” focuses on women who grew up talking to strangers every chance they got. This, of course, goes against the stigma that talking to strangers, especially for women, is unadvised as it can often be considered dangerous. This topic was presented by way of Bianca Giaever’s podcast entitled “She Does.” Giaever has done work for both Radiolab and This American Life. Giaever argues that while talking to strangers can indeed be intimidating, and is certainly inadvisable at times, more often than not doing so will open new avenues for potentially great and meaningful social interactions. While some of her guest speaker shared tales of success in their interactions with strangers, others offered their struggle in breaking out of their comfort zones. In particular, one her guest speakers relayed the story of getting her heart severely broken by a man, and the difficulty she continually faced in overcoming her fear to trust anyone around her or even take a chance at talking to strange new men she encountered.

As someone who perhaps does not take enough chances when it comes to talking to strangers, I can sympathize with some of the individuals in this podcast. Not only can talking to complete strangers be terrifying, but it can also be threatening in select situations. Still, I can recall specific instances in my life in which I have spoken to strangers and have actually gotten a lot out of the interaction. One example that comes to mind is when I took a chance by striking up a conversation with a girl sitting next to me in a psychology class, and ended up happily dating her for 6 months. So, what’s the real lesson here? Use your personal judgment when deciding whether or not to talk to a stranger, and, should everything appear to be normal enough, take a chance. Because you never know. 

http://www.shedoespodcast.com/listen/bianca-giaever

In this week’s blog I will be discussing an important event that took place in June of this year- the WNYC’s (a flagship public radio station of New York) launch of the first-ever women’s podcast festival. This festival, lasting for two days, was entitled “Werk It: How to Be a Grown Ass Podcaster,” and was hosted by Anna Sale, Roxane Gay, Lulu Miller, and others-all of whom are important women in media. Among some of the principal points addressed throughout the course of this event included statistical data proving that, in the realm of journalism, men receive on average 63% of the credit of most media-related stories over women. Additionally, statistical data pertaining to iTunes reveals that women host only 15 of the top 100 podcasts on the application. Clearly, this data reveals a rather prevalent gender inequality in the realm of new media. The primary goal of this event, as such, is to bring new voices and new ideas to the forefront of media, and hopefully convince the general public that the beliefs and values of women should in all fairness be appreciated and weighed to the same extent as men. I personally believe this festival is meaningful in that it promotes ideals of gender equality and allows women from various walks of life and opportunities to speak out against the oppression they may very well experience as a part of everyday life. The more that women are inspired to stand up to the gender inequality that exists as a part of our world, the more society will take notice. Slowly, but surely, women will be allotted equal rights with regards to media attention and sponsorship.

http://www.wnyc.org/press/womens/podcast/festival/

This week’s podcast discusses the relationship between race, gender, and marijuana. In a nation where marijuana has now been legalized in multiple states and is steadily becoming more and more accepted in our society by the day, we must take into account the implications of race and gender in relation to the drug. As Sarah Mirk, the author of “race, gender, and marijuana” claims, African Americans in the U.S. have historically been twice as likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana. This brings up an interesting thought; now that the marijuana industry has become a big legal business, who will be part of this business? Will the people that have been damaged by the system the most severely in the past, such as blacks, hold positions of power in the industry, or will the industry simply be run by wealthy white people? We must consider our country’s history of racism in addressing this question, and the unfortunate truth is that minorities will likely be limited in their ability to climb the corporate ladder to the same extent as whites. In terms of marijuana’s role on gender, at least, it seems that many women who work with the drug professionally are hopeful; marijuana’s rising legality means new business opportunities for them in the sense that the pot shop market is relatively untapped. In a corporate world largely dominated by men, women now have a unique chance to prove themselves and take charge; still, they must be swift in this quest before gendered stereotypes takeover and they are left obsolete. Perhaps the same goes for African Americans and other minority groups.

https://bitchmedia.org/article/popaganda-episode-race-gender-and-marijuana 

“Studies have shown that lower pitched voices are perceived as more competent.” This was a primary topic of discussion on NPR’s recent segment entitled “Talking While Female.” For purely biological reasons, women are disadvantaged when it comes to their ability to command authority simply because their voice boxes are smaller than men’s. Partly, according to Rindy Anderson, professor of biology at Florida Atlantic University, this is a function of women generally being shorter and less hormonal than the opposite sex. This poses a problem for intellectual women the world over who fail to garner the respect they deserve from their contemporaries and from men in power who naturally have lower voices. It is no great mystery that men are often placed in positions of power more easily than women, and while, no doubt, the complexity of this issue goes well beyond the parameters simply of vocal pitch, the reality of the differences that exist in vocal tones among men and women may be a considerable factor of why this discrepancy exists. In the realm of women in politics, studies have shown that, when compared side by side, political ads done by women who speak in lower tones are more successful than ads done by women who speak in higher, more cheery tones. This evidence has even led women to purposefully speak lower and more “masculine” in such situations in order to gain support for their campaigns. Consequently, in an attempt to sound more competent, many women feel forced to speak in their lowest register, a phenomenon known as “vocal fry,” which studies have shown both men and women consider untrustworthy tonally. Not to mention, it is very difficult and in fact damaging to the vocal chords for a woman to maintain speaking in her lowest register at all times and in all situations. What can we do to resolve this dilemma? For one, I personally believe that we as a society should start focusing more on the ideals and values of women and ignore how their speaking voices sound; whether a woman’s voice is perceived as “competent” or “incompetent” is in the end truthfully irrelevant if they have good ideals. Whether we like it or not, the voices we were born with are the voices we have to offer to the world, and we should be proud of the way we sound and feel free to express ourselves openly without criticisms or judgment.

https://bitchmedia.org/post/women-are-making-headway-in-the-male-dominated-world-of-podcasts 

Today’s weekly post once again draws from Jennifer Shewmaker’s podcast entitled “Gender and Media Talk Podcast” in which her guest speakers Lori Day and Pia Guerrero discuss the topic of girls and leadership via their “Making Caring Common” project based out of Harvard. Primarily, the discussion draws on examples that recount the fact that girls from a very young age face challenges as far as being perceived as legitimate and respectable leaders. One point brought up by Pia that I found especially compelling came from an article entitled “are you holding your own daughter back?” which explicates the notion that female teachers whom are not personally good at math often allow their young female students to be okay with the fact that they are not good at math either. This is considered a fairly common phenomenon. While in a sense it is good for such female teachers to not allow their female students to become discouraged when they do not grasp certain academic subjects such a math, the negatives of this situation outweigh the positives, as doing this not only stunts these student’s development and leadership skills, but additionally allows these students the luxury of accepting defeat without having truly attempted to overcome their struggles with the subject by means of hard work and determination. Without a doubt, it can be asserted that part of girl’s difficulty in assuming roles of leadership in our contemporary setting is related to the fact that girls are overwhelmingly viewed as inferior to men. While society has certainly progressed in its acceptance of female leaders within the last few decades, the unfortunate reality is that women are still less respected than men in the eyes of society, and this reality may perhaps be rooted in the fact that women as young girls are not given the right tools to gain the confidence necessary to push past the boundaries of gender inequality and lead with authority. 

Link to the podcast: http://jennifershewmaker.com/2015/08/10/4422/

In today’s weekly podcast discussion, I will be evaluating Jennifer Shewmaker’s podcast entitled “Gender and Media Talk” in which her guest speaker Dr. Elizabeth Sweet of the University of California, Davis discusses her doctoral dissertation so-called “Boy Builders and Pink Princesses.” Primarily, Dr. Sweet’s dissertation deals with the topic of gendered toys and inequality of the 20^th century. In Dr. Sweet’s opinion, an opinion further supported by Shewmaker, there is a discrepancy in the way that toys are packaged among boys and girls and this discrepancy works to effect and reflect gender roles in society. In part, the packaging of toys largely influences what boys and girls gravitate towards as items of personal interest. As she raised her daughter through the years, Dr. Sweet began to take notice of the way toy stores arranged the toy sections of their departments; namely, a good majority of such stores would clearly delineate the boy’s section blue and the girl’s section pink. Although there are companies out there, such as the LEGO franchise, that initially wished to create a product that was gender-neutral, within a matter of years the company became synonymous with boys and excluded girls almost entirely. In that LEGOs are meant to inspire children to be creative and use their imagination, this is problematic. While there is nothing wrong with the fact that girls, by default, often gravitate towards fairies and princesses as toys, such toys do little to engage their critical thinking skills and may at least in part hinder their mental development. Still, because the product is so geared towards boys, the larger issue at hand may be that girls whom do wish to play with LEGOs may feel unwelcome to do so and consequently may feel outcasted among their peers. It is the opinion of Dr. Sweet and Shewmaker, one with which I agree, that we must begin to take steps as a society to make toys more gender-neutral to benefit both sexes as fully as possible. 

http://jennifershewmaker.com/2015/04/11/podcast-gender-and-media-talk-boy-builders-and-pink-princesses/

My first blog post draws from the BBC Radio podcast "The Working Life of Women Police Officers, Nannerl Mozart, Layer Ann Olivarius" and primarily covers the struggles women police officers face on a daily basis. Working in what is often considered a rather masculine-dominated field, women police officers habitually fail to garner the respect they deserve not only from the general public but also from their superiors. In part, this may be due to the fact that women police officers tend to utilize peaceful tactics to problem-solve rather than brute force, and, while arguably more effective in the long-run, such tactics are considered weak in the eyes of men. Assistant commissioner Helen King of the Metropolitan Police, as the lead for improving public confidence in the police, is often thought of more as a counselor than a “true” police officer. Nevertheless, she stands by her duty as it serves to help drive down crime across the city of London. Nikki Holland of South Whales Police, another such woman interviewed, has made it her priority to lead projects to raise awareness regarding violence against women and girls; again, while such projects keep her away from the front lines of battle that many police officers must brave, her job is no less imperative as a whole. Personally, I respect women police officers just as much as men, and while it is true that society has constructed the position of the police officer to be more masculine than feminine, this does not mean that women cannot be great police officers as well. In truth, there are a number of women police officers that assume masculine-type roles such as those on SWAT and those who work undercover, so while certain women prefer to work on projects behind enemy lines, this is unquestionably not strictly the case for all women who wish to work as police officers.