Katy Perry Playing Dress Up on Sesame Street

Katy Perry was invited to sing a kiddie version of "Hot 'n Cold" on Sesame Street. I decided to watch the video before I read the stories. I watched the video twice and didn't see an issue. She was very animated in her facial expressions. Her make up was bright. I noticed that they made it a point to make sure that her face was in the center of the screen or took up enough of the screen for it to be hard to notice. I thought the song and the video was very cute. However many parents did not like the fact that they could see the crack between her breasts. They thought the outfit was too racy for Sesame Street so Sesame Street nixed their plans to put the music video about opposites in their show, but decided to post it on Youtube for a short period of time (which is where I saw it). On Sept 25th, Katy Perry featured in a Saturday Night Live skit spoofing being booted off of Sesame Street. In the spoof she sported a tight Elmo shirt with an altered neckline which showed of her breasts.

I personally think that getting rid of Katy Perry's Sesame Street music video was no necessary. I doubt Sesame Street's target audience really cares about the fact that they can see her boob crack. In fact, if a 22 year old woman can watch the video three times and not notice the "boob problem" then a 3 year old certainly won't notice. I'm sure there were even guys who didn't notice at first. I think the wardrobe people for Sesame Street did a great job of downplaying her breasts.

I really don't think this is the first time Sesame Street has had women with their breast showing on one of their programs. When I was younger I could have sworn there was an Elmo movie that had a dance scene where there was a woman in a red dress with a red boa dancing in the street. I thought it was "Elmo in Grouchland" so I went searching for it. Instead I found Vanessa William's scene where she played "The Queen of Trash". Check it out:

The Raspberry Challenge

Maybe the whole Katy Perry video wouldn't have been a big deal if it would have put it in an Elmo movie. I'm not condemning Vanessa Williams for this. I'm just saying that I'm sure parents could find something wrong with this video even though their kids wouldn't.

Someone tried to compare Miss Piggy's wardrobe for the past however many years to this one time shot with Katy Perry. While I get where they're going, Miss Piggy serves an older demographic.

In closing I don't think that Katy Perry's dress was inappropriate. I think that some parents may be overreacting to this whole thing. Luckly for the little Katy Perry fans this may not be the last time she gets to play around with Elmo. In fact, Elmo even wants her to come back and play with him some time.

"Elmo Loves Miss Katy" GMA Interview

Elmo talking about Katy Perry on CBS

Changing my Skin, Changing my Gender (Nothing Special)

About a year ago I signed up for this game called "Second Life" (or SL). I'm sure a lot of you have heard of it. For those of you who haven't, it's a virtual reality game where you can do what you want, be who or what you want, and there are very few rules and restrictions. A majority of the content on SL is made by its residents aka users. Yep, you can pretty much do whatever you want as long as it can be made/animated and doesn't break the federal law! Lol!

SL is about living out your fantasies in a world were the sky's the limit. If you've always wanted to be a dragon you can. If you want to be a vampire, knock yourself out. If you want to know what it's like to be someone of the opposite sex, have fun. One thing that people like to do in SL is have virtual sex. Someone had the idea to make beds and other items loaded with sexual animations of sex positions and, naturally, it took off. So now, if you want to have a threesome with a lycan and a midget, if they agree to it then you can do it.

When I joined Second Life a year ago I wasn't thinking about having virtual sex. I just wanted to have fun online to pass the time. I heard that a person could make their avatar whatever they wanted to make it and all avatars can fly. Who doesn't want to fly, right? I was game.

When making my avatar I decided I wanted it to be a black female. When you first start second life they give you a starter avatar and from there you can create your clothes, your shape (aka body), and pick your skin color. The skin that they give you to work with aren't that great. They look pasty and unrealistic. Therefore people seek out more professional, photorealistic, skins. Luckly, I found a free, decent, skin for a black female. It was certainly hard to come by because most freebie skins are White. The Black (or any other race that doesn't fall under the umbrella of "White") freebies suck for the most part (I saw one with a dark brown/green girl with pink areolas and nipples. Really guys? Really?). From what I hear even the ones that can be bought aren't that great...but that's another story.

Anyway, I found my Black girl avatar, tweaked the shape a bit, and when I was happy with the final result I started to go out into the world. I started on Help Island Public, a newbie friendly island that many people start on and goes back to when they get lost or have nothing else better to do. It's pretty normal to get ignored in Second Life so people not talking to me wasn't a big deal. I went to other islands and got the same thing. There were times where I spoke to people, we had our little conversations, and we went about our business. There were times where people would start conversations with me, invite me to be in their groups (but it was Bloodlines and they want everyone to be in their group so...yeah. Lol!). I was asked to be a pole dancer by another black female avatar, a job that I turned down for various reasons other than the obvious. Also, when guys hit on me it was usually white guys from different countries who didn't really know how to speak English that well. (But thanks to the Google Translator in SL we communicated just fine) Their demeanor towards me made me feel like they were only talking to me because they thought I was an easy lay. One stereotype about black people is that they're hyper sexual. Also, I would tell them I'm from the United States and in other parts of the world girls from the USA are seen as being rather loose. Combine the two and you have someone who's perceived as someone who's only good for being naked in a bed. The image that comes to mind is a hip-hop video girl. I'm sure I'm not the only one who had/has that image. I think that the only thing a lot of people have to go off of when they think about black people is what they've seen on TV and the little bit of stats (skewed or not) they've heard about black people, and that's how their opinions are formed. (Not to mention some people may have inherited their opinion of blacks). Needless to say I didn't add these guys to my friends list nor did I have virtual, limitless sex with them.

I decided to shake things up a bit and become a White avatar. In my quest to find my Black skin I found a couple cute White ones. Just like I did with the Black one, I tweaked the shape until I was happy with it and went out into the virtual world. Once again, I started on Help Island Public and once again I was ignored. However, when I went around to the same islands that I went to before I got talk to more often, Bloodlines hounded me (I swear I realized the value of the garlic necklace the day I got about 5 bite requests in one place. I never needed it before. Luckily I was with a friend that had one and he gave me one), I got hit on more often, and when I got hit on it seemed like the guys was genuinely attracted to my avatar or at least genuinely horny enough and thought my avatar was hot enough to do. I didn't feel like they were talking to me as if I were an easy lay, but as one horny person talking to another. I told them I was from the USA. White girls have their fair share of sex related stereotypes though they aren't as prominent as the ones that are thrust upon black women. So why wasn't I treated as an easy lay? These guys were from the same parts of the world as the other guys but they treated me differently. While it may be a fallacy to assume that a random guy from a certain part of the world would think the same way as another random guy from the same country (since everybody's different) I think it's safe to say that in every country there are general beliefs that people adopt...like how a lot of people in the USA think that most, if not all, the black people in Africa are starving to death and illiterate because of the "just give 19 cents per day" commercials. :-\

Discrimination on SL isn't rare. Tall avatars discriminate against short avatars, human avatars discriminate against non-human avatars, heterosexual avatars hate on homosexual avatars, etc. For a world without limits it seems like if you don't conform to a certain look, which is actually someone else's fantasy, you will have a hard time living out your fantasy unless you happen to find an island that caters to you.


Later I wanted to experiment with gender. I wanted to know what it would be like if I were a boy, or rather a man. So I went searching for a black male avatar. I didn't find a black male avatar for free so I made one. He came out pretty cute even though his skin looks pasty. Unfortunately I haven't been able to use him that much because there are people who know me as the female and it would be awkward if they saw me as a guy. I can see it now, I'm banging some chick and some guy I screwed the week before would walk in on us (which is pretty common in public places) and remember my gender neutral name. Or maybe I'll be transforming in a public house or in the sky and he'll see me. I think if I want to see what Second Life life is like as a male I'm going to have to create a new account. Pain. in. the. butt. However, I think I would have some interesting stories of my life as a male avatar. :)

Black Privilege?

What's black privilege? The word "privilege" is defined in Merriam-Webster's dictionary as, " a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor ; especially : such a right or immunity attached specifically to a position or an office."

People say that it's a privilege that black people get to demean themselves by calling themselves the n-word and using it as a "term of endearment". Examples of terms of endearment are "sweetheart", "baby", "cutie pie", "buddy", etc. Then again terms of endearment can be used to insult people as well.

Greeting: "Hey sweetheart."

Anger: "You need to go get your ears checked, sweetheart."

If you can say "Hey n-word," what's keeping you from saying, "You need to go get your ears checked, n-word,"? IMO I think people want to say it more so that it can be used when angry as a way to shut someone up and get the last word more than a term of endearment. I'm sure a lot of us have been acquainted with the powerful feeling that comes with saying something so harsh to someone that they can't respond an they feel so bad about it that they cry in front of you. I really think that's the main reason why people want to be able to say it without repercussion to get the power that comes from saying it. If someone truly wants to use a term of endearment, there are enough non-offensive terms of endearment that one can choose from to not have to say the n-word. Also, calling someone by their name (ie: Andre) or their accepted nickname if they accept it (ie: Dre) is a good idea too.

It's bad enough that there are black people that use the word and demean each other, they really don't need anyone else's help.

People say that it's "black privilege" that a black person can call someone racist and be believed. I really don't think very many people believe a black person when they call someone racist. It's not about the black person saying it, it's about the white person's reaction. It seems that unless a black person's accusation is followed by a white person(s) cosigning on it and/or very clear video evidence they'll just get brushed off for the most part as making up excuses, being lazy, and just whining. It seems that a lot of white people are more worried about what other white people will say about them rather than the fact that the were dead wrong and offensive. In the case of celebrities, especially those with TV/radio shows, they don't really care that their celebrity said what they said as long as people don't start threatening their sponsors saying that they will patronize their competitors (and then do it). If that happens the show will lose their sponsors thus losing money. The celebrity must then address the issue whether it's in the form of an apology or even getting suspended for a certain amount of time. However, if there's no buzz over what the celebrity did no one, not even the show producer, will say a thing. Anyone who heard it and got offended (whether they were listeners or on staff) would be advised to kick rocks because they really don't care that what they said was insensitive as long as they don't get in trouble for it.

People even go as far as to say that BET, the first TV network geared towards black people, is a part of black privilege because there's no WET. What would be the point of WET? BET shows black people in the worst light possible to make a buck. Believe it or not, black people aren't the only people who watch that train wreck. Heck, BET is having hard time finding an audience with black people. They started to lure some people back with reruns of popular shows like, "Smart Guy", "The Game", and "Thea" but they're still BET: Big Embarrassment Television. While the age and gender demographic of most TV channels is different more times than not the race is the same. White. So why be upset about WET when there are a lot of channels geared towards white people? If you want something that mirrors BET try MTV. They're both by Viacom and BET has (pretty much) become the black version of MTV. (It was headed that way anyway)

Why did BET start in the first place? Founder, Robert (Bob) Johnson, noticed that there wasn't much programming geared towards black people or even showing black people in a way that was favorable. Therefore in 1980 he started the BET channel. BET's mission statement said, "it was created to broadcast the culture, genius, beauty and talents of the black race." (http://bit.ly/c643HN) BET has fallen so short of its mission statement it should be illegal. Unfortunately what started out as a good idea turned out be a monster of a network that the USA could do without.

With that said if there was a WET that truly looked like a white version of BET there would be huge blocks of "r**neck" programming, Jerry Springer, Girls Gone Wild, music videos will have the infamous theme of sex, drugs, and rock & roll with some rap and pop (including pop country) videos since there are white people who like that stuff. There will be reruns of sitcoms like "Friends", "Darma and Greg", "Coach", and other all white cast shows (there's a ton to chose from), there'd be a reality show that takes it's cue from "The Jersey Shore" and pick on and embarrass some other segment of the group of people under the umbrella of white, there'd be a video countdown show that is like a reincarnation of TRL but a bit worse, some Roman Catholic services and preachers like Joel Olsteen will come on before and after "Girls Gone Wild" and on Sundays, etc. Is that what you want, what you really really want? Being a TV prod major I can tell you that something like this wouldn't work not because it would be deemed as racist but because TV is a bit of a good ol' boys club. They're not going to put anything that crazy about white people on one channel.

Still even if they did it's not like it would hurt anything after it gets kicked off the air. Why? Because usually when negative stuff is put on TV about a minority that negativity is projected onto the entire group. When negative stuff is put on TV about a minority there's a lot of forgiveness in that. (And just so you know...white people are still the majority: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html)

It would seem that the things dubbed as "black privilege" actually aren't. There are other things involved in this so called "black privilege" but they all pan out to being something that isn't a privilege or something that is needed because of the type of country the US is.

When a Fat Girl Talks About the American Beauty Standard

When I graduate from college I will be working in the American media. I'm fully aware of the American Beauty Standard and the changes it's made in the past 50 - 60 years. However whenever the topic of the American Beauty Standard comes up people think I'm talking from my own insecurities. Honestly, if I really gave a frack about the American Beauty Standard I'd be a nervous, anorexic wreck. (I'm not thrilled to be the size that I am, but I'm not so fixated on this standard that I'm going to extremes to meet it)

Lets say the conversation starts out being about, idk, cast directing and how physical appearance can affect whether you get the part or not. I'll start throwing out facts that I've learned and give real life examples and someone will chime in and say, "But you gotta be cool with who you are." True, you have to be fine with who you are, but them picking you isn't about how you see yourself (outside of exuding confidence). From there someone will make a comment about how I (personally) should be happy about who I am regardless of my weight. HOLD UP! When did this become about me?!

When I was a college freshman I did an experiment for sociology about this type of thing thinking I'd be bold and do something no one else dared to do. My teacher was REALLY excited, like I was about to make a wonderful scientific breakthrough or something. I knew I wasn't but I figured that I would get great results. Outside of the fact I didn't go with my gut for this experiment that made it suck dealing with people who had little sideways comments about me appearance and how shallow they thought the experiment was annoyed me.

I know that certain information is better received depending on who's giving the information and what the receiver thinks about the person giving the information. For instance a person who can barely sing can tell someone, "You're not supposed to push in order to get the note out. Pushing is not your friend." and not be believed, but when a vocal coach says it they're believed.

A little boy can call 911 and say, "My mom is on the floor and she's not moving," and not be believed, while an adult can say the same thing and have an ambulance at their door. (Yes this really happened. It was all over the news a few years ago.)

Likewise, when someone who the general public would think isn't happy with how they look (whether the person actually is or isn't is irrelevant right now) talks about a beauty standard they are not taken seriously and are thought to be speaking personally. However when a celebrity or someone who's well known and knows about a beauty standard they're believed.

:-\

The Fat Cycle (Curse of a Fat Person)

Issue: A fat person can't get a job as a fat person.

Common solution given by bloggers and commenters: Lose weight

The Cycle:

- The fat person needs money to buy food to lose weight. (You can't just stop eating. That's, actually, counter productive.)

- The fat person can't get a job because they're fat because they're fat.

- *extra factor* even if the fat person did lose weight where are they going to get money for new clothes for interviews if they don't have money?

It was just something I was thinking about today. Interesting cycle.

Having an Open Mind

You know what I've noticed in my life? A lot of people who say they're open minded are some of the most closed minded people in the world. Why is it people will say they're open minded then, when they get into an argument, talk over the person and say, "You're close minded. I already know what you're going to say." Why is it people will say they're open minded then say, "because you won't agree with what I'm saying you're close minded,"?

Being open minded means to be willing to hear/see/understand the another side of the issue, but that doesn't mean you have to accept it or agree with it.

However, people tend to think that a person is open minded if they hear/see/understand what a person is saying then agree with it if what that person is saying is (or perceived as) the road less traveled or more controversial.

Meh. I just thought I'd write about this just because it was bugging me today.