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[nancyasu-blog]

Transgender Vlogger

Keeping with the theme of transgenders on YouTube, I wanted to talk about Gigi Gorgeous a famous YouTube vlogger. Gigi started out as a male and transitioned to a female, she pretty much put her entire transition online. She has over two million followers and the video “I Am Transgender” has over three million views. This just goes to show how big of an audience she has. Gigi also posted multiple videos of all the surgical procedures she has gone through. She shows all the features she has changed to become a woman like her nose and breasts. Like mentioned in the article, “This Is My Voice: YouTube and the Transgender Autobiography” by Deshane, she states that now with YouTube people going through the transition can control what they want, take out what they want and how they display. It is just a great way to display the person’s feelings to different stories. Gigi Gorgeous has been involved with Miley Cyrus’ foundation Happy Hippies, which show support to the LGBTQ community. There is also a point that Laura Horak makes in her article, that I believe fits well with Gigi Gorgeous’ videos. The point is attractiveness, Horak mentions how body size and skin color affect how many times vlogs are viewed and the response it receives. I have to agree with Horak, I believe with every YouTuber the more attractive you are the more the views. Especially when it comes to all those make up tutorials on YouTube, most would want to hear from people with clear skin and perfect features than from people that are less attractive.  Horak also states how viewers want to see transgender vloggers who are “all male or all female” and the less attractive usually do not become YouTube celebrities. Gigi Gorgeous in her video “I Am Transgender,” shuts down the haters that have a trans issue by saying “my choice to be a woman makes me more woman than a lot of woman out there.” It was her choice to make a change, post her change online, try to tell people that is okay and to stay strong. Hopefully this YouTube celebrity’s change can inspire others to share their story and make them feel comfortable to be transgender in today’s society.

[trings09-blog]

The transformation from one gender to another it very difficult within our society but for someone to post their daily transition and struggles shows a lot of guts. I have seen Gigi on YouTube but at first did not think transgender. I did exactly what Horak talked about and judged instantly off of looks. I think that Gigi takes a very strong stance on knowing who she is and being who she is while there are people that are going to hate out there. I loved the quote she said and included within the post because if she believes she is a woman I for one am not going to tell her any different. I have also met trans women in real life. In fact a year ago at Pride Weekend when I accompanied two of my lesbian friends there. Without a care they were there enjoying life and I loved watching my friends hang out with them.

[trings09-blog]

Dating sites

Love is in the air or at least the cloud as some people refer to the Internet. Affect comes in to play quite a bit for dating sites such as eharmony.com or match.com. But from the reading this week by Marie Hicks, she talks about the dating system as "boys and their toys." In a sense it really is especially seeing how half of my friends are on the hook up site Tinder. Watching them talk with each other about the girls they match is kind of ridiculous sometimes. But I have seen the dating site work first hand as well. My girlfriend's sister met her boyfriend of two years off of match. There are many different pluses and minuses to each space on the Internet but the dating sites are mainly there to help with emotions. Bringing up Tinder as compared to other dating sites brings up another part of Hicks' argument in which early computer dating sites tried to limit the "sleaze factor." Dating sites are not perfect in any way but they do use many different methods to weed out the sleaze balls.

[ajonesy4791-deactivated20171128]

Comments

Todays society revolves around the use of social media. Sites such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc have allowed for people to create situations and openly voice their opinions. When I personally view the comments section on things such as a YouTube video, a majority of the time I find them to be extremely vulgar, degrading, and most of the time unnecessary. This is one of the main reasons I tend to not frequent the comments section on certain sites. With the internet being as popular as it has been for the past 8-10 years, we have grown accustomed to feeling entitled to accessing other peoples information (Avedisaian, 2015). This has eventually evolved to others thinking it is their place to trigger very real emotional responses. After reading through these articles, I immediately though of Lauren Bushnell, the winner of last season “The Bachelor”. I have often times visited her Instagram page and seen comments in regards to her body and what they thought of it. For example, in this video (https://www.instagram.com/p/BRJ1ciejJoM/?taken-by=laurenbushnell) there are comments left on her page such as “she has become disgustingly thin. People can defend it and pretend it’s something else but pretty obvious to me as to what’s going on”, “don’t lose anymore weight!!!!!!!!”, and “someone give her a damn cheeseburger and fries”. These people are expressing their emotions towards the video posted and how she was not fitting to their ideal body.

[trings09-blog]

I really enjoyed reading this post and thought there were many things in which I two agree with. I do not think that I have frequented a comment section of YouTube in a very long time due to the nature of the comments that used to be associated with every video. After seeing the last part of the post and hearing about Lauren Bushnell I decided to look into it. The fact that people have to voice out their thoughts on her weight is ridiculous. It comes down to the followers image of the ideal body like you mentioned and voicing an opinion against what makes her happy and what she thinks is her best image.

[trings09-blog]

Undocumented immigrants are a hot topic within the United States right now. All of the talk about building the wall and shutting out the illegal immigration. Will it stop or will people just find different ways to get to the US. Well looking into the majority of sites and stats that I found on the internet about the topic was quite the eye opener. From the static amount of undocumented immigrants in the US all the way to the rise in crime. I guess it was a topic that I preferred to stay out of and did not let change my view on anyone. Everyone has a reason for being wherever they are and I am fine with a lot of the undocumented immigrants staying here and working their butts off like most do so that they can stay. The only time I am irate is when there is crime involved and it could be avoided. The main reason that I chose this is due to past videos coming out in which a class valedictorian came out and announced at her high school graduation that she was undocumented. But hey she was given the chance to go to school and she made the most of it. But the controversy that the media and politics turned it into was ridiculous. The girl worked her butt off and made her chances at succeeding in life a lot better. Surprisingly from the information I gathered for the info graph above I did not think was true until I saw it on multiple different sites. With 8 million of the 11+ million working for a living all the way to different states having the majority of the immigrants. I thought Arizona would have been within that list but I was wrong. Then the biggest surprise was the fact that undocumented immigrants from Mexico was actually on the decline while it was rising from other countries. Usually when the thinking of undocumented immigration people would instantly point to them coming from Mexico. We as a society are so quick to judge that we do not offer the help or even the American Dream to a lot of these undocumented immigrants that a lot of our ancestors came to America seeking. I guess thinking more and more about it made me sad with the deportation of mixed families where the adult would be deported and the child not due to them being born in the US. Though having a kid here should not instantly make the parent a legal citizen I do think that there should be an easier process for said family to obtain it if they qualify for citizenship.

[trings09-blog]

The Best Worst Tool Around

The Internet within my eyes is one of the best things to happen as well as the worst things to happen. Yes the younger generation has been brainwashed in a way with the technology they have grown up with but at the same time if used correctly they have access to all of the knowledge they need. It is sort of a double edge sword if we think about it. One of the best ways that feminist's have used the Internet as a tool comes from Larry Lyons's blog in which he used it to get information across that mainstream media did not cover. Since a blog is one of the best places to use one's freedom of speech, Larry used it to provide the information that the media neglected to cover. When used in the right situation other Feminists can portray their thoughts and beliefs on the Internet. There just needs to be a filter within what some will say seeing as just about the whole world has access to anything posted hence the double edge sword I talked about earlier.

[trings09-blog]

Catfished: Reality vs Virtual

There are many different spaces in which both virtual and real life coincide. When thinking about the post, the first thing that comes to mind would be the television show “Catfish.” The online dating and meeting people is a very large aspect of life now-a-days.  Brophy hits the nail on the head with this stating that “the internet is sometimes extolled as a space where one can be or become anyone.” This blurs the line quite a bit due in fact that many of the “catfish” are using someone else’s picture while trying to portray a completely different person to the person they are talking to. This in turn causes a “love” for someone on the other side of the computer that is not who they are showing. The fact of corporeal cyberfeminism within the online dating is surreal and can be used to show someone else rather than themselves. This shows that the embodied experiences that people have can be both good and bad. The good use of it is giving people a different way to meet someone and connect with them if they do not want to look at a bar or do not have enough time to go out to meet others. In the end it is a very helpful tool but can be misused and like Brophy mentioned it can lead to hurting people that try to be or become someone else that they are not.

http://nextshark.com/catfishing-statistics/

[witchbitch6]

The Internet can be a very scary place because there are so many people who have so many opinions. It is very easy to get lost in society’s ideas about what is acceptable to believe and what isn’t. When I feel passionately in favor of something, my very first instinct is to tell people about it and to try to educate and persuade people to believe the way that I do. The problem with trying to create this kind of environment online is that everyone is educated- everyone has access to recourses and information. When you try to create a discussion about an issue, there is someone always who opposes your view and comes to tell you all the reasons why you are wrong. There are benefits though because there is always a rare chance that your voice will be heard and your thoughts will be respected. Speaking as a woman in this world of a thousand opinions, the best place to create resistance is Facebook. It is a great way to practice your ideas and be endlessly fact checked by the people who disagree with you. This is a liberating space because no matter what, my post will remain and no one can really do anything to change that. It can perpetuate oppression because there is always someone who will oppose you and also feel compelled to express themselves. A lot of times, I personally am portrayed on social media as an “angry feminist” because of what I believe. I related personally to the article this week about the “Sad Girl Theory” and what the author had to say about it. As women, we should embrace our sadness and use it as a form of resistance against the people who want to call us angry or sad and show them that the name calling and negativity only makes us more powerful.

[trings09-blog]

What a powerful message and a hundred percent on point. I agree with everything that you said within your post. The main part that I agree with is that Facebook is the best place to create resistance. Everyone knows more than the other person and everyone wants to pick a fight over the Internet. Maybe due to the fact that people have the power of Google under their fingertips. No one nowadays really expresses their opinions in person as much as they do over the Internet. I also enjoyed reading "Sad Girl Theory" and thought that the author really hit the nail on the head in the fact that though girls are seen as sad and angry a lot of them use it to their advantage and it helps them.

[trings09-blog]

WST 394 racism and sexism

It is the 21st century and this problem continues to happen within our society. Within the case study "The Politics of Emoji Diversity" there is talk of fixing racism and sexism. But why did it have to start that way in the first place? Like stated in that study there were lego's that came out with a "neutral" color and did not identify with a particular race. That was years ago however and people back then may not have looked at it the way that our society views it now. This could have been a toy for kids and seen as nothing else. I think one of the largest things that I see within inequality has to do with social media as a whole. The very first video within the readings this week proves it. Especially right now, I see people on social media going back and forth about the Women's March or Trump in office. And a lot of the guys commenting on them are simply trying to pick a fight or belittle anyone standing up for them. I am not saying every guy does it but for the most part I see a guys name and profile picture attached. Workplaces still show a sort of inequality in my mind. Working within the shipping industry I see many different openings and employees that consist of a certain gender. The warehouse workers are normally male while the office workers consist of majority female. Sure both parties could do each job but there is a set standard that comes with it. At the same time it could be more so the choice of the person and I have worked with many girls that lift the packages that men do but prefer not to and when an opening comes in both the warehouse and office they would simply prefer the office. I myself being a guy prefer the office simply because I do not want to lift packages all the time. The nice thing is that the wage gap is shortening and hopefully soon each gender will be making their worth based on performance rather than gender.

[magicalcandylandfairy-blog]

The first installment of Bustle's new documentary series, NSFWomen, explores what it's like to have your period when you're homeless. For every share on...

The reading that spoke to me the most was, f. wilding: where is feminism in cyberfeminism, http://www.obn.org/cfundef/faith_def.html. This page reiturates the need to redefine femenism into cyberfemenism without forgetting that its about holding both men and women to equality. I chose the video above because it clearly shows how the internet can be used as a tool to provide vital awarness of womens needs. We often use cyberfemesnism to critique males about the way they cyber-relate or put down women, but we  turn a blind eye to issues such as the hardship of homeless women . The above video is an ultimate example of cyberfemesnism because its bringing forward an unspoken issue and giving it light so that change may begin with something as simple as sharing this post. I learned that cyberfemenism in the 90′s was about standing your groud and no longer being pushed over as the weaker sex. Today cyberfemenism is crucial because media does not make women or men aware of detremental violations of human rights such as sex trafficing in the U.S. Cyberfemenism is difficult to find in a time when bodyshaming or cyberbulling are something that can often be ignored beacuse they are seen in the tangible world. I can not define where femenism is in cyberfemenism as it is a blurry line, but I can say that its very much alive and morphing into something stronger.

[trings09-blog]

I could not agree more within your post. I also believe that your picture holds a lot of truth in the fact that a lot of men believe that feminists are anti-man though there are many men that can be feminists. I do enjoy playing Xbox and have noticed that many games are starting to support the cyberfeminism movement within the gaming world. There are more and more games bringing in female characters within a "male dominant" topic such as gaming. Then towards the end of your post another valid point comes up showing that there is a blurry line with feminism in cyberfeminism.

[trings09-blog]

WST 394 post 1

Hello everyone my name is Travis and I am originally from Colorado Springs. Currently I reside in Southern California with my girlfriend. I graduated Last year with a degree in Communications and will get another major in Women and Gender Studies this May. The two degrees have many similarities that have helped me within both the workplace and life. I do not use the internet a whole lot for personal use. I do go onto Facebook and Pinterest to look up recipes but for the most part am not surfing the internet daily. It is not that I do not like to use it, but more so that I try to do other things first before jumping onto my computer and surfing the internet. Sometimes I will look into news if something big happens within the country so that I am more well informed but for the most part stay away. I will also go onto youtube here and there to check out new songs that are trending and in so decided to share a song I enjoy.