What It Takes To Be a Princess

What does it take to be a princess? According to Disney, 1. You must have a primary role in an animated Disney movie. 2. Must be human 3. Not primary in a sequel. They must meet all three criteria in order to qualify. The next round of qualifications is about the characters themselves. The next three criteria a princess only needs to pass one of them. 1. You must be born royal 2. Must marry royal 3. Perform a significant act of heroism. Besides the characteristics to be a Disney Princess there is a unspoken rule based off the given film’s box-office success. Shocking it has to do with money. Even to be considered an applicant at the Disney Parks takes much effort and requirements from their applicants.

Each of the official Disney Princesses can be grouped respectfully. The classic era, Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), Cinderella and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), share the characteristics of being highly romantic and just hope to end up with a handsome man. They are more reaction characters, meaning that they don’t take a lot of action themselves, instead letting the plot happen to them, enduring the consequences of other people’s actions and often serve as the damsel in distress.

Next is the renaissance era, Ariel (Little Mermaid), Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Jasmine (Aladdin), Pocahontas, and Mulan. All are very feisty, free willed and have a grand sense of adventure. They are not motivated by romance but they do end up with someone at the end of the movie.

Finally, is the modern era princesses, Tina (Princess and the Frog), Rapunzel (Tangled), and Merida (Brave), and Anna and Elsa (Frozen); who are not official princesses. These women are extremely independent, curious, hard-working and idealistic. Romance and relationships are based upon getting to know somebody and Merida and Elsa does not even end up with someone by the end of the film.

One of the most progressive characters at the time for Disney in 2001 is Kida from The Lost Empire of Atlantis. She fit into the category of Disney Princess except for the profit, making $189,000,000 at the box-office, being an obvious failure.

Anna and Elsa should stand out the most, with not being official princesses. One could say that it hasn’t been long enough since Frozen has been released in, but Merida had her coronation after a year from being released in theaters. A huge sign that shows that Disney is not adding the sisters anytime soon is their absence from Disney's Official Princess website. It seems as if Disney is playing off of the success of the two sisters in marketing, making parents pay more for toys. The picture above is of a Disney princess toy set, leaving out the two biggest box-office successes in all of Disney.

From the examples that little children, mostly young girls, receive from these movies is that it takes a man to make her happy, or true love is waiting around the corner. Problems from this teach these children bad lessons such as the abusive relationship in Beauty and the Beast or touching a person is okay in Sleeping Beauty. With the modern era of Disney characters ever changing and becoming more progressive in the sense of character development, Mulan, Merida, and Elsa, it does not seem like fans of Disney would have to wait long for the idea Disney Princess to emerge in box-offices.

What is the Perfect Body?

What would you say is considered the "perfect" body? People say that they always wanted the “perfect body”! This is to the point that teenagers want to look like the super models on television and internet.

Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, just to name a few, a look at any form of social media can declare a perfect body type. For a female to be referred to sexy and attractive, most people would say that if a girl is curvy, is intelligent, and has a nice smile or laugh. “The perfect female body” is shown below with a girl being positioned seductively, with big breasts and butt and have a thin body. For a male to be attractive, most people would say that if a guy is good body, good hair, a nice smile, and a drive. In the image below is of a guy that Google shows when searching for “the perfect male body.” He is shown to be masculine with muscles exposed with his shirt off. Both of these images leave little to the imagination, making the woman look more like and object and the man very dominant. These are some of what people find attractive in others. But these are just stereotypes, right?

From advertising companies, they mostly have ads containing sexy women opposed to a more unattractive or out of shape female. Someone would pay more attention to the top image of females then of the bottom picture of a few different body types of females. All of the females are thin with barely any clothes on. Compared to the bottom picture, more would agree that the perfect body is just what the ad states.

The Future of the WWE Diva

It is no surprise to see a whole group of people gain more attention in their work. In 2015, was the start off the Divas Revolution in the WWE, but fans of the show might not know what this means for the division. The main goal of the revolution was to bring a new age and aspect to women’s professional wrestling. Now, WWE fans see women taking part in matches that were deemed unconventional or too dangerous for women to compete in, such as the 2016 Charlotte v. Sasha Banks Hell in a Cell. Matches that have been seen as great or not so great has gone down in the WWE archives, such as the 30-minuteIronman Match or the first ever women’s Hell in the Cell Match. It is  matches like these which increases the number of fans, more particularly, female fans to join in the episodic tv show.

Although the revolution was to change the face of women’s wrestling in the company, views see that things have not completely changed. The women are still undervalued in sports entertainment after how the WWE and more importantly, chairman Vince K. McMahon. In the past during the attitude era, women superstars were more sexualized, being seen in bikinis, underwear, disrespected like dogs, and in matches to humiliate them. Even the modern female superstars are advertised wearing revealing clothes and ring attire.

 

What does all this mean for WWE’s female superstar? The WWE is finally embracing its women athletes as more than just eye candy. The modern female superstars are inspiring men, women and children alike to be more innovated in the world.

However, these great strides in WWE entertainment still results in a smaller amount of time in the spotlight for women on Raw and Smackdown. With the Divas Revolution over and the Divas evolution going strong, the WWE Universe watches match after match. But WWE does spotlight their women superstars in shows like Total Diva and Total Bella. It is about time these talented superstars get this chance to compete on the next level. in my opinion, the WWE is setting a good example for women to strive for, and changing how women should be perceived as top level talent.

How Pornography is Portrayed in Media

Whether people admit to it or not, most people watch porn. In this day and age of internet, teens are introduced to pornography at young ages. Pornography is apparent in advertisements, television shows, and news broadcasts.

If you flip through any magazine odds are that you would see some kind of sexualized picture of a model, actor, actress, or average person. Whether it is on the red-carpet events or Sports Illustrated or Playboy magazines, most images leave little to the imagination. Gamer and theorist on YouTube, MatPat, expressed in a recent live stream how in his early career of making videos, a video with a more click bait thumbnail was seen to have not only more views but reach a popular page on different websites multiple times. This infers that people are attacked to more "risky" photos.

In many South Park episode, viewers see how men act when the subject of porn in brought up in discussions, going as far as lying about their devious acts and trying to act innocent, and finding talking about it uncomfortable.

In the documentary, The Price of Pleasure: Pornography, Sexuality & Relationships, Professor Gail Dines infers that aspects of pornography leak into the real world, as people cannot separate fantasy from reality. The fantasy of pornography is made to look glamorous in the eyes of the viewer. People who are more open to porn act like the girls are okay with how they treated in videos and blur lines between really life and their fantasy world. On twitter performer Nikki Hearts mentioned how a fan groped her wife, Leigh Raven, who is another performer in the industry. This can be interpreted as women being sexually objectified based on they work.

Full Episode: Informative Murder Porn

A look on the Twitter of members of the porn industry show the hate people have for them as the highlight their haters and brush it off referring to their source of income. Where someone would think that these people are just for graphic content not suitable for all ages, a look through social media show their interests pertaining to politics, animals, family and other “safe for work” content.

Sexist Advetising in Stores

When you walk down the toy or clothing aisles in any sore you are bound to see segregation between boys and girls. The products designed for boys are seen as masculine colors such as blue, green, and black. Whereas a girl’s product is much more appealing to a female stereotype. From the toys ad clothes presented in stores someone can identify that boys are meant to be more aggressive, adventurous, masculine and a girl should be more self-aware of their general appearance and be someone who takes care of others, seen in playing with dolls.

 

Eight-Year-Old Girl Calls Tesco Out Over 'Sexist' Kids Clothes

Toys aisles are completely separated by toys having one side for boys and the other for girls. Even in commercials, we see that companies target either a male or female demographic. Throughout history we can see a change in clothing and colors which define gender. Pink was once a color to describe masculinity and blue for femininity, until it changed. The clothes have changed from unisex designs to being fitted with certain color, patterns, or how they are advertised in media everywhere. People do not understand or look at the influence that this has on children and how they behave.

People have come to the conclusion that males and females are just as just as good as the other. Then why do we see separation in stores? By making a product for a certain person, say a pink shirt that says “fabulous,” it is only acceptable that a girl is seen wearing that shirt opposed to a boy. With a society such as ours, children are being acceptable to all the form of media and how they interpret their own sexuality only to be judged by others.

How Video Game Characters Are Portrayed

Genders are portrayed in games can influence players' perception of gender roles. Males in video games are represented by their leadership, muscles, and all around badass in the gameplay. Take characters such as (left to right in the images below) Master Chief; Halo, Jack Mitchell; Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Mario; multiple games to choose from in the Nintendo archives. These men are of different games, from first person shooters (fps) or platform gaming. Every one of these men are main character in their games with a female sidekick. The female characters in the three games, Cortana (Halo), Ilona (Advanced Warfare), and Princess Peach (Mario), are slightly sexualized in some games and scenes, and act as the damsel in distress in some situation. In other games where the main character is female, they are over sexualized or shown to be clumsy, of suborn.

In the game Bayonetta, the main character is a girl, but is over sexualized. Bayonetta is 603 years old witch, but physically looks 26-year-old, 27 tops. In addition to her young figure, her clothes come off when she casts a powerful enough spell. His game has sold millions of copies between the first and second installments, and I doubt that it was the gameplay that caught everyone’s attention.

However, in Life is Strange, a game with a female protagonist, has gameplay ranging in actions with different outcome and an effect on the future with the ability to rewind time. With her mysterious powers, the player watches as Max, and other characters who are mostly female, screw something up in the first run play. And the second. And the third. This game is different as it is mostly grounded within reality and a majority of characters’ female. Even though with its major success. There are just not many games like it that are as popular.

 

In my opinion, most games with the main character female are like this because it is what the majority of gamers want. Go to any gaming website and there will be article after article and post after post, repeating that there is a lack of innovation in video games. Games that are different and innovated just don’t sell and go unknown or forgotten. It comes down to what people want subconsciously, a well-known, identifiable games that they are drawn to by the popular trends and pictures sexy, attractive females or over masculine men.

Double Standards in Equal Gender

A quick glimpse in the past and you can see that women were treated unfairly and sexist. Although times has changed with help from the ideas of the feminist movement, this trope is still around. But this is beside the point. With the advancements in how women are treated for the better, this doesn’t change the major opinions of the masses.

Growing up, I was raised on the belief to respect women and the classic ‘a man should never hit a woman,’ like I believe many other guys were raised to act. In recent years, girls have been taught that they could do anything and that they are just as equal as men. This leads to completion between the two genders as some women try to reach the level as a men, and some men tries to outdo  women on their level.

In the nickelodeon tv show, Zoey 101, the main character Zoey joins the schools wrestling team. Throughout the matches she ‘competed’ in, she won because the men she was wrestling forfeited. Where Zoey wanted to be treated as an actual competitor, the men brought up a double standard. If they win, they beat up a girl who is seen as weak, but if they lose, they are humiliated for losing to a girl (seen as the weaker gender).

In the end, it comes down to people wanting to change the cultural norms but are unable do to stereotypes and how people were raised to think and act. As we see more women tryout for men sports, such as baseball and football, more men will try to protect their masculinity.

I think Deadpool speaks for most people….

How the LGBT Community is Identified in Video Games

Video games have been around since the late 1940s and ever since have expanded to the vast network of games we know today. When you are asked about any video game, how often would you talk or even think about the LGBT characters in them? Not very I assume. In many of these games the LGBT characters are not shown in the most positive ways.

The Resident Evil franchise is known for its gruesome and survival horror gameplay. Released in 2000 and rebooted in 2011, one of the main characters in the Resident Evil Code: Veronica is Alfred Ashford. Ashford is the villain of the game and suffers from a severe mental disability. After years of looking up to his more intelligent twin sister Alexia, he becomes more demented when they separated, and even goes so far as to dress like her and imitate her personality.
 

Trevor is the most memorable characters in the most recent instilment of Grand Theft Auto. This man who can be categorize as a psychotic white trash drug dealer of the lower class can be chalked up as a gun toting maniac with a mental disorder. Trevor can be seen as bipolar in the gameplay and is attracted to both genders, as well as crossdressing. He is not exactly a villain, but from the gameplay, Trevor is portrayed in a negative view for everyone to see.

Overwatch is a team-based multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment, being released in 2016, and reaching the status as Blizzard's fourth major franchise. One of the most noticeable characters is Tracer. In the comic released by Blizzard Entertainment, “Reflections”, Tracer is depicted as being in a gay relationship although it was not actually said. This is the most recent video game character who plays the role of a hero and is not slandered in any of the gameplay.

Although there are many games that depict the LGBT Community in positive way, the ratio of offensive stereotypes to non-offensive are very little. Video games should include a larger option for LGBT Community and roles in the games. Even video games developed and made in Asia get changed to be less LGBT once they are sold in America and other countries this similar views on the matter.

What DC Wants You to Forget About Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman is one of most independent comic book heroes of the DC Universe. Since being introduced all the way back in 1941, this Amazonian Princess has undergone many, many changes to her character arc. In addition to being a demigod, a being who is the offspring of a god, Wonder Woman is one of the most powerful heroes in the DCU and is portrayed as the physical embodiment of feminism, I will get to this later.

“Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don’t want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women’s strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.”

William Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman, wanted was the Amazonian to fight for justice, love, peace, and sexual equality, as much as he wanted to put forward his belief that the world would be better off if it was run by women. The lasso of truth came about because Marston was one of the inventors of the polygraph lie detector test. Did you know that?  With the insight of Wonder Woman’s meaning, however, she first appeared in All-Star Comics #8, where she quickly became an honorary member of the Justice Society, but by issue #14, they made her Secretary, for being a woman, a role she had for years. It would be best that DCU fans don’t see this aspect in the upcoming Wonder Woman and Justice League movies, both coming out in 2017.

It brings disappointment to the fans of the Amazonian Warrior Princess in her earlier years in the DC Universe, I will get to that later, and more recent outrage in the world. On October 21^st, 2016, Wonder Woman was appointed as the figurehead of the feminist campaign to be a “United Nations honorary ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls.”   This was shortly lived as not even 2 months later, on December 14^th 2016, Wonder Woman was stripped of the title for being “not culturally sensitive”. Talk about equality. This was a monumental to everyone, not just feminist, as Wonder Woman did what no other fictional character has before.

Although this may seem as a setback for feminism, it does demonstrate that anything is possible for a strong woman, and that she can achieve anything in modern society. As seen in this fictional character with strange roots, that I will NOT get into for the sake of keeping what she stands for alive, Wonder Woman will continue to be a role model for a range of people extending for men, women, boys, girls, and everyone else.