Brothels legalized in Ontario

Ontario Court has legalized prostitution laws for sex trade workers in brothels in Canada. Much controversy has been raised about the legalization of prostitution in brothels.  These laws allow sex trade workers have the right to work out of their homes and also are allowed to hire security to help promote and ensure the safety of these workers. Although this has been a large movement in society for these sex trade workers, law makers say the reasoning behind legalizing brothels is because working on the street is much more dangerous than prostitution out of brothels or their homes. There are three rules these workers have to abide by for this law,  they must work out of  these brothels or their homes,  and can hire security to ensure their safety. Although, pimping is not legal, and they also can’t advertise their sex work to the public. 

These new laws raise many issues and concerns for both workers and the community. The community fears that this will have a bad influence on their children and society seeing how they are making prostitution legal, meaning it is okay to perform sex as work anywhere’s inside Ontario. Many people are scared that because the unemployment rate is so high in Ontario then this will then promote people to engage in sex work as an occupation. Workers have argued because it is legal all over Canada to buy and sell sex for example “Porn,” then it is in fact okay to perform it and sell it as an occupation as well. Law makers have argued against the concerned community that “The record is clear the safest way to sell sex is for a prostitute to work indoors in a location under their control.” This in my opinion is true but it can also be very dangerous for workers also because although you are off the streets these allows more lead way behind closed doors. 

Law makers allowing this sex work to take place in brothels and in homes, allows more room for potential crime and drug dealing and usage to occur. In contrast, I feel everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect no matter what profession they choose. Moreover, because the law is allowing sex work to occur in these brothels doesn’t necessarily mean that this sexwork will en don the streets. In addition this can create issues with class because these sex workers are now divided into two classes, street sex workers and brothel sex workers.

Sex work shouldn’t be promoted in Canada I feel because their is alot of crime and drug use that isn’t beneficial to our society. The use of Brothels isn’t goignt o stop the crime, in fact I feel it will promote the use of crime because they are legally allowed to sell their bodies now. Furthermore, I would like to bring to attention that the laws may be beneficial in law makers minds to protect these sex works, but in reality their is still going to be criminal and deviant behaviour that occurs with this type of work and security and the use of brothel in my opinion wont stop this. 

Miss Universe Canada Contestant Disqualified

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Miss+Universe+Canada+disqualifies+transsexual+contestant+with+video/6355165/story.html

Jenna Talacova a Miss Universe Canada contestant was disqualified from a Toronto pageant because she was transgendered. Jenna Talacova born a male and has recognized herself as a female since she has been 4 years old. Jenna took hormone therapy ever since she was 14 years old trying to convert herself into the sex she acquired to be. When Jenna was 18 years old she underwent a reassignment surgery to make herself a female (Raptis,2012).

Jenna faced much controversy with the pageant director and the media and also lots of discrimination because she was born a male. The pageant was made for females the pageant director stated not for transgendered. Many people argued that it wasn’t fair that she was enrolled in the pageant because of her genetic makeup. Because Jenna was genetically born male, they said it wasn’t fair because this made her taller, leaner, stronger jaw line, more muscular and no cellulite ( Raptis, 2012). Media argued that because she was a male she had a higher chance of winning because her body shape was different than those born female.

Miss Universe Canada contestants must meet a basic requirement of being a Canadian citizen and between the ages of 18 and 27 to compete. They also must not be married, pregnant and also have to answer questionnaires and meet these requirements. There is nowhere on the contract or registration where rules state regarding sex-changes or cosmetic surgery (Raptis, 2012). Therefore she should not have been disqualified based on these tactics. Jenna quotes “I’m disqualified, however I’m not giving up,” she wrote, defiantly. “I’m not going to just let them disqualify me over discrimination," (Raptis, 2012). The fight is still on whether or not this is ethically correct. Transgendered should be treated just as equally as those who are born heterosexual or homosexual, they shouldn’t be penalized because they were born that way. Rules weren’t properly addressed and Jenna shouldn’t have to get discriminated against based on her sexual orientation.

Employers demand Facebook passwords

http://www.lfpress.com/tech/news/2012/03/23/19548526.html

Foucault’s theory about the panopticon used as self surveillance is becoming more predominant in our society today. Facebook a large popular social media network is a great example of this view of self-surveillance. Making headlines, “Facebook, lawmakers warn employers not to demand passwords,” a news article is titled. Employers of many companies are demanding Facebook to give them full access to employee’s passwords as a way of surveillance on their life. Employers are using these tactics to “cut around the corners” of asking personal and private questions during the interviewing process. These employers’ arguments are that they aren’t allowed to ask people personal questions such as theirs sexual orientation ( Reuters, 2012). Access to these accounts allows them to have a closer look behind the scenes of what these people are actually like. In my opinion I don’t think this is fair because employers shouldn't want to know things like their sexual orientation or their personal activities because it creates a biased opinion. Employers should only be concerned about the employee’s work ethic, credidentials, and personal skills not if they are homosexual, transsexual or heterosexually gendered. Facebook in many ways is like the panopticon because it is a way to keep tabs and have surveillance on people without asking for permission. It is a way to get a closer look at your personal life without having the awkward moment of asking the questions and not getting accused of judging or being biased. This also creates discrimination about the person they hire based on things they read about on their facebook.

Facebook has had a huge impact on our media as a way of advertising and also a way to get to know people.  This social media network has opened many doors for companies and employers where they are now paying Facebook to allow them access to potential employees Facebook accounts to consider whether or not they should hire them or not. In many ways this is wrong and Facebook has created a network to invade people’s privacy. Facebook should not be allowed to disclose personal information about members and should be kept confidential and should only allow to be disclosed to friends and family on the particular members account. Facebook should not be allowed to be used as a way to watch people and make sure that they are following social norms and engaging in negative behaviours. Furthermore employers should not be allowed access to these sites because it causes bias and could potentially cause large problems with the social media because people are being discriminated against because of their online persona.

Beauty Enhancement

This photo displays how these children use enhancements to fit beauty ideals displayed in our media. This little girl has been photo shopped and airbrushed to achieve this beauty. 

http://www.celebitchy.com/208942/toddlers_tiaras_moms_get_pageant_makeovers_they_say_dance_moms_are_mean/

Toddlers and Tiaras is a hit television series that is based on toddlers enhancing their beauty by competing in beauty pageants all over the globe. These toddlers are dressed up in fancy dresses costing sometimes over 1500 dollars to make sure they have the best dresses to look the most beautiful for the fiercest competition. These toddlers age 15 months and up and use many cosmetic products to enhance their beauty. Fake tans are one of the many enhancements these toddlers use for competitions. Toddlers who don’t use these tans loose points because they aren’t considered as beautiful with pale skin tones. Also these children use fake hair extensions and hair pieces to create luscious hair, without these enhancements children will lose points and may cause them to lose the competition. In addition flippers are used which are a set of fake teeth for those toddlers who are missing teeth. All of these enhancements are essential to have in these pageants and without them could cause these children to lose.

There is great controversy when it comes to these pageants, because they are said to be setting bad examples for these young children. The enhancements of their beauty are taught to them to be essential for competition and are also taught to be used daily so that they are considered beautiful to the media. At such a young age one has to wonder if the child even wants to be involved in these pageants. Parents I feel are using their children to relive their childhood by using their children as the object. Interviews with moms state they were bullied as a child for not being beautiful, and are using pageantry to make sure their child doesn’t face these struggles and have confidence. “A mom defends her eight year-old daughter’s weight loss and admits that she used to weigh 300 pounds (Celebichy, 2012). This is an example of a mom who struggled with feeling beautiful as a child and wants to make sure her daughter doesn’t suffer life she did, and uses pageants as a way to give her daughter confidence. Pageants can be argued as beneficial to the Childs self-esteem at a young age can help children. Moreover, giving your child the persona and identity you want for them isn’t fair because you are robbing them of discovering themselves and the true identity they believe in.

Pageants can also relate to killing us softly 4 where women are influenced by the media. The media influences them to enhance their beauty by using these products. Women are constantly being pressured to fit these ideals which creates these desires to fit the “perfect body,” to become beautiful.

WALL-E Gender Binary

http://goodmenproject.com/arts/binary-creatures-against-the-gender-binary/

Wall-e is a Pixar children’s animated film where they flash forward to what they think will become in our future. This film displays an earth that is completely covered from products from large corporations all over the world.  WALL-E is a metaphor used for WALMART which is one of the leading corporations for consumption and the leading cause of mess that leaves the robot character WALL-E to clean up. Although this film depicts the shots at this large corporation it is also a very educational film with allot of hidden meanings.

In this film it displays a gender binary where the films two main characters are genderless. Although they do not identify their gender in the film, there are allot of traits that the two main characters posses that help people follow gender stereotypes in order to attempt to guess there gender. The two main characters in this film are WALL-E and EVE. Though, Eve is more feminized this film than Wall-e the traits possessed from each character leave you continually wondering if they are male or female. What made this film so amazing is that though Eve is more feminized by staying clean and groomed the traits each of these characters possess are reversed to those of the gendered stereotype. Wall-e is gentle and caring in this film and is never angry towards anyone. While Eve gets angry quickly, and is most often very unkind. This is an example of how these gender stereotypes are reversed because the norm would be that women are the nice caring ones, and men are more strong and aggressive. Wall-e in this film posse’s qualities one would normally assume to be female such as what people assume that women aren’t as skilled as a man which creates controversy because of our male dominant society. Eve in this film plays the dominant role and is seen as very smart and has many talents unlike Wall-e. This film highlights many important aspects in our society that we face every day. This film shows that we need both genders to survive in society and it also highlights that no gender is better than the other.

This film is also based on romance, and in it is so hard to tell who is male and who is female. This is so difficult because the gender binary is constantly changing once you think you uncovered Eve as female, she switches and possesses masculine traits of a stereotypical male. Moreover, the same thing occurs with Wall-e the whole movie you are trying to uncover their gender identity but struggle because of the constant changes in their behaviours.

Wall-e is a great film that displays the various hidden meanings and issues we are dealing with in our society today. Wall-e uncovers the over usage of consumption in our society while also letting us see gender issues. These issues are both core issues in our society and this movie allows us to look at things in a different light. Who would have thought that two robots would allow us to understand what gender is. The way these two robots present themselves helps us understand just how genderdized our society is. Moreover, we are living in a society full of stereotypes that need to be let go in order to fully live in society with equality. 

WALL-E meets Eve

Advertising

According to Jean Kilbournes film “ Killing us Softly 4,” advertisements are talked about and used widely every day,  it emphasises that 3000 ads everyday are exposed to the general public through media and power and are influencing our society each and every day ( Kilbourne, 2010) . This film talks about how advertisements are very influential to our consumer society and by displaying these images creates an ideal persona that everyone wants to live up to. This in comparison is very similar to the author of “Power and Everyday Practices,” claim that we shape our marketplace based around the wants and desires of our society using a theory called consumer sovereignty.

 In the film “Killing us Softly 4,” Jean Kilbourne outlines that advertisements are very influential on us each day. Advertisements are used on everything; buses, airplanes, schools, buildings and even food. The usage of advertisements is a great way for marketing businesses and clothing items. Although, the way they are displaying us is simply wrong. Advertisements sexually objectify women and men everydays just too simply make some profit off of their product. Also everyday women are constantly having self image issues because of the way they advertise women’s beauty (Kilbourne, 2010). The ideal that all women should have the slender body and perfect hair is unrealistic because that perfect person doesn’t exist she is just airbrushed and photo shopped to look that way. These advertisements tells us who we are and who we should be in our society and if we don’t live up to these standards then we aren’t considered beautiful or the best. Furthermore, Kilbourne emphasises that it is impossible to fit the ideal because it doesn’t exist especially for non white people because they have different type of hair and skin then we do, so it is almost impossible to get soft silky hair when you are naturally born with course hair.

The authors of “Power and Everyday Practices,” claims that advertisements are a cultural meaning and act as means of social communication with our society through use of media and power (Brock, 203). Material goods can act as markers of status and this is a main concern that advertisements put forth what Jean Kilbourne says is the considered “ideal” person. Kilbournes’ claims about the ideal person displays that if you can’t afford or live up to the standards that these advertisements than you will be considered not beautiful, and poor. Consumer goods are used to embody the wealthy, in order to metaphorically communicate their higher status (Brock, 204). Upscale emulation, is a term the author uses to show where they are wealthy and what position or class they have in our society (Brock, 204). Advertising as a cultural role relates not purely to its ability to sell individual products, but its ability to act as false information. This helps induce the shape of consumer desire and behaviour.

 The consumer sovereignty model, assumes we logically seek to maximize their own wellbeing by choosing the goods and services that best fulfill their needs. This model states that those with income or wealth are able to use their power to help encourage producers (Brock, 206).  They do this by giving the steady message that cuts across all advertisements today, this is that happiness comes from the claim and consumption of the marketplace. Consumer sovereignty allows customers to have power because they are the dominant population that the company needs to make profit off of. Without the use of advertisements and help form our society we wouldn’t have as large of a market place we do today. Our society creates the desires and needs and we make a market shapes around their wants.

This being said, the consumer sovereignty model relates to Jean Kilbournes film “Killing us Softly 4,” because the bourgeoisie class has influenced our marketplace making it difficult for the people in the proletariat class to live up to the standards displayed in these advertisements. The market for these goods has greatly influenced the way we display these images in our usage of advertisements in a way for the lower class to want and desire these products creating more profit for our marketplace.

Panoptican

Michael Foucault advances a fundamental understanding of power. Foucault sees power as a productive and not repressive, and says it produces new things every day. Foucault believes that power circulated in network ( Brock, 89). Michael Foucault’s ideals are much like a social network of power. Foucault’s ideas in relation to Facebook create an unequal balance of power. All these elements can be represented perfectly through the Facebook world which is uses as a site to communicate interactive discourses.

                Foucault’s ideas of power can relate to today’s society influencing human behavioural practices by using the internet as a level of power structure. Using the internet is an essential part of our culture, where we now rely on it to find out important events, news and a way of communication all around the world. The internet in many ways is used for interactive discourse, which can both be a public or private event. Most interactive discourses are used over popular social networking sites such as Facebook, My Space and Twitter, where you can interact with friends and family you know close to your network or anywhere else across the world.

Facebook, Twitter and MySpace are all perfect examples of ways in which Foucault viewed power. Creating profiles and updating statuses with personal details to allow people to have a view of our lives. Also many people add people they don’t know to Facebook and pretend they know them based on their online persona. This represents one of Foucaults main ideas because he says that power circulates in networks. Facebook uses these profiles to receive their own personal power over what people are allowed to have access to on their profiles and who they decide to become friends with.

Discourse related to human behaviour which then becomes everyday though. Facebook is a great example of Foucault’s theory of the panoptican self surveillance ideal because we control and create profiles of what we want our peers to see. Foucault ideas of surveillance as a panoptican can relate to present day online social networks which display our own personal identities. This model of the panoptican was used many years ago for prisons as a tower placed in the center of the prison so the guards could watch inmates at all times. The real success to thus design was that the inmates couldn’t see the tower making them act like the guards were there at all times behaving accordingly. Being a member of Facebook you can never be sure who is watching you. In the beginning Facebook was designed to be able to contact people in our social network to keep in touch. Facebook is now what i feels a way the government and the owner of Facebook can have full access of surveillance on many people’s lives around the world.

Facebook exemplifies Foucaults theory that he sees power as productive and not repressive, and says it produces new things every day. Facebook is a form of production because, you are able to create profiles and become friends with new people which also allows the government and owner to have full access to your lives making it beneficial to them. Moreover, Foucault believes that power is not something you possess.

                One of the central points with the panoptican according to Foucault is that it is asymmetrical. In the case of Facebook and many other social networks the owner and person at the top of the company should have the tools and database to be able to view and have all access to the people in the Facebook world. This is much like the panoptican surveillance because there is always someone watching but you just don’t know who it is that is watching you. In many cases the government has full access to Facebook is a way to always have a tight watch over people so you constantly can monitor what is going on in their lives much like the jail. As a member of Facebook you also have the option to friend or unfriend people you wish, for the most part controlling who you let monitor your life.

Michael Foucault’s ideals are greatly represented through the Facebook world where you are a product of self-surveillance as you tweak your profile just the way you want the world to perceive you. Foucault’s central understanding of power he sees power as productive and not repressive, and says it produces new things every day. Furthermore, Foucault believed that power circulates in networks (Brock,89). Michael Foucault’s ideals are much like a social network of power. All of these elements can be repressed perfectly through the Facebook world which is used as a site to communicate interactive discourse.