Girl Gets Boy Gets Girl Gets Boy...and Vice Versa

No matter what time era it is, we're all still waiting for the typical high school girl to finally take action and ask her crush out. We're in the same time period for independent female movement, from famous female political figures, to women taking on male-dominated fields, yet we recoil in horror as your average teenage girl decides she's done waiting, and goes and asks him out instead. Why is that? And isn't speaking your mind all about what being a women is about?

It used to be that typically, men are supposed to make the first move when dating, yet over the years it has become acceptable for a woman to casually ask a guy out to a date, prom, etc, without being ridiculed. Even with a cheesy pick-up line, a male can still get a girl interested somewhat, yet us females are restricted to casual flirting and eye batting, in order to not scare the person away. It's nerve wrecking on either side to make the first move in dating, but somehow it's seems as though it's easier for a man to go up and ask a girl out, because that's the way we've been following for centuries. We've made so much progress over the years with female society evolution, that you would think we would be as aggressive in relationships as we are in our work environment. 

Women like to put men up to the challenge of how they will approach them, as if they have to face their fears, man up, and use a state of the art  pick-up line to get our attention. Sure, everyone can be a little insecure and hold back for a while, and we all have the fear of being rejected. But when it comes to women, one might say it comes off as desperate, or needy. Men may also be fine with being asked by the opposite gender, it makes them feel wanted, and probably takes the load of their shoulders too. Then again, it may not be insecurity at all, it's possible, like I said before, that it's just plain tradition. As a shy guy/girl, the other person asking first is probably an instant confidence boost.

 One of my favorite comic series are the Archie Comics. They are based off a teenage boy and his fun adventures and situations in his high school life. His two friends/girlfriends, Betty and Veronica are always competing for his attention and he can't seem to chose between them. Anyway, oddly enough, Betty and Veronica are also best friends, but are very different. Veronica is rich, seductive, and sometimes selfish, while Betty is sweet, smart, and athletic, but extremely fond of Archie. Both girls are constantly after him, but Betty would always try her hardest to get his attention without luring him away with material goods. No matter how hard they try to get his attention, they set an oddly both good and bad standard for girls. They are constantly in a love triangle and can't seem to move on or find a way out, and they are persistent, and that gets his attention. They are always looking for possibilities, both good and bad. Even when in love, they still act as strong independent women.

Despite being pushy, Betty chased what she wanted, and stands up for herself, and as you can probably tell, this post is chalk-full of maybe's and maybe nots, but that's what love is about isn't it? Sometimes it's really about the comfort zone that we're in, and that you have to make sure you show your real persona, and don't come off as cheesy. We are all plagued with the task of being ourselves, but not bordering on fake. From the Sadie Hawkins dance, to the (hopefully), soon to be female president, being straightforward is beautiful in it's own way, and there's nothing wrong with a girl who's a little bit confident. 

Thank you for reading this post, this is only my opinion and you are always entitled to your own. I'm not here to offend anyone, and these views are just my own. :)

~ Governess Bob

Strong Is Beautiful

As we know, gender equality for sports has been a tough issue over the years, weather it's male cheerleading, or women's basketball, I think media has taken its toll, and so has the production behind it. 

Everyday, male and female athletes go about their same routines, getting up early, watching what they eat, and committing to their sports and training, they both have the same amounts of dedication to their sports, regardless of their gender. So why is it that we have so much more respect for male dominant sports rather than we have for women's? It seems as if females are seen as non-violent, emotional figures while men are seen as tough and aggressive.

It always seems that women get the shorter end of the stick when it comes to athletics. The Men's Olympic soccer team flies business class to their games, whereas the women fly coach. Apparently we don't play as well, sell enough, or overall look as good as men do in sports. We're 45 years into the title IX bill, and us women are still judged on how we look when we play rather than how we play. I feel like too many sports companies try to make women's sports more appealing. Companies are always looking for a way to feminize gear and make it more appealing to men. I play volleyball, and I want to feel good about how I look when I play, but not judged on how short my spandex is.

Clara Hughes, an olympic speed skater
participating in a mostly male-dominated sport

Even aside from the required wear there's the actual playing. Some sports require less contact and strength between women in the sports whereas the men are encouraged to push and shove and get aggressive. Many of these rules apply to baseball/softball, hockey, and lacrosse. Overall even more people are upset over the money male athletes make over female athletes. It is shown that men make a considerate amount more than their female counterparts when it comes to athletics, and that even male teams are more prone to having a larger budget increase than female teams. We have made great strides in the 21st century on showing more and more women athletes  on TV, yet we still see more male sports coverage on TV   than woman's.

It has also come to be that we have pushed certain sports into the specific men's/women's sports category, like labeling volleyball, tennis, track, gymnastics, and cheer, as being female sports, and basketball, wrestling, football, soccer, and baseball as male sports. Even though it seems that some of these sports appeal to a certain type of gender, it still doesn't mean we have to discourage kids from participating in the sport they love, just because of some silly stereotypes. On TV it bothers me that when portraying female cheerleaders, volleyball players, etc, it shows them as sexy, catty girls who are bullies, and have no faith in their sports. Whereas the males are dedicated, and ready to face whatever comes in their way. When the media focuses on female sports, it is usually on ones that society identifies as feminine. We stereotype the female gender in traditional female sports. Why are us women compared against each other in appearance, and not in performance, skill, and dedication? Masculinity comes in all shapes and sizes, and you can still be a pretty face while being a hard-working athlete.

WTA's "Strong is Beautiful" campaign

This is just my opinion, and I can only hope that in the future, us women won't be cheering on the sidelines, or sewing the team uniforms, but actually playing the game, like we are now.

~ Governess Bob

3 Book Recommendations That Will Blow Your Mind

Hello there!
Oswin Oswald here. First post EVER. I should be totally honored, right?
I am. Which is why I am going to shower you readers with positive things instead of a lengthy rant.

So today I’m going to give you THREE AWESOME BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS.

But since this is a blog about tackling media issues, I am going to tackle a big one. Each of these books contains a positive female protagonist, a realistic one who isn't a breathing stereotype.

So now, my dear readers, without further ado, I present to you(in no particular order):

1. Nation, by Terry Pratchett

Nation starts back in the olden days. There's a pandemic going on in England that's wiped out the royal family, and almost all of the living heirs to the throne. One of the two still living is a 12-year-old girl named Daphne who's in the middle of the Southern-Pelagic ocean, traveling with a religious captain and his foul-mouthed sailors. The other living heir is her father, who's trying to find her after a natural disaster takes place.
So these two living heirs are nowhere to be found, which is a problem, because one of them has to set foot on English soil within a decent period of time after the monarch’s death. 
Meanwhile, on a Southern-Pelagic island, a boy named Mau is sailing back to his home island after having completed a coming-of-age ritual. He traveled to the Island of The Boys and is heading back home in his adorable little canoe when The Wave hits. (Read as: tsunami) 
He manages to stay alive because he's far enough away from the worst of it, but when he arrives at The Nation(his island), he finds that his entire island has been wiped out. And there's also something that wasn't there before- Daphne's ship. Yep.
Aaaaaand... let the story begin. Mau and Daphne can't understand each other, but they have to learn to because they're all the other's got. Nation is coming-of-age novel filled with humor, insights, incredible realizations and character growth, realistic and lovable characters and also pure awesomeness.
Daphne's the realistic, well-intending female protagonist. She's awkward, funny, practical, brave, but also very, very scared. She doesn't fit any one stereotype and reminds me of real people I've seen around me. All-in-all, it's a fabulous book that everyone should read.

2. Icefall, by Matthew J. Kirby

I haven't read this one in a while, but it's on my shelf and it's a fabulous read. It takes place in a time when vikings frolicked and somewhere near Greenland. Probably.
Solveig, a 13-14-something-year-old girl, is trapped with her siblings in an unbreakable ice fortress. She and her brother and sister(and a lot of restless soldiers) are anxiously waiting for news of their father(the king)'s victory at war. But as the seasons go on and the icy walls don't break, everyone begins to turn on each other. There's a traitor in their midst, someone who seeks to bring down the entire kingdom.
Solveig and her siblings struggle to survive the claustrophobia of being a prisoner of time, and also to find the traitor themselves before he or she gets restless and decides to end it right there.
Solveig is another utterly realistic character. She's scared but ultimately being brave in the end. She's kind but has her limits, and we see her reach them in the book. One of the main themes of this book is self-discovery, because Solveig, the over-looked middle child who isn't pretty like her sister and can't become a great warrior like her brother, feels like she just passes through her father's gaze. Through all the craziness of ice and traitors, she discovers her talent, finds out who she has the capacity to be.

3. The Worry Week, by Anne Lindbergh

This one's a little bit younger than the others, but a great read for everyone. I read it when I was ten or eleven and still love it.
Anyway, it's about a girl named Allegra and her two sisters who are visiting their family's vacation home in Maine when a family tragedy halts their vacation abruptly. Their parents have to go to a funeral and are going to dump their daughters off at their aunt's house in Boston. But they'd much rather stay on the island than at their aunt's house, so they come up with a plan to trick their parents and their aunt and stay at the island on their own.
It's a wonderful book about sisters and adventures and honesty and one of the main reasons I like it is because it's about a family working together and it's really just a lovely story. Oh yeah, and Allegra's awesome too because, again, she doesn't fit any stereotypes. She's smart, but makes mistakes and doesn't think everything through all the time. She's kind and patient with her sisters but gets exasperated with them like you'd expect. So really, if you just want a quick, fun read, this is your book.

Okay, that ended up being longer than I expected. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this post and will find a new favorite in one of these books(if you haven't read them already!).
--Oswin Oswald