Blog 9

Today I came across this news flash: INDIA: Single Women Break Their Silence, Challenge Societal Norms. The article coincided with its bold title. This article took on an introspective view that focused on the poor treatment of widowed Indian women and how some women are standing up for them while challenging cultural ideologies. One woman stated that,” A widow is not treated with respect. At times she is still expected to shave her head, wear extremely simple and course white clothes, forbidden to wear jewelry or make-up, and is forced to eat separately, the food consisting of a frugal vegetarian diet," Jha points out. "Why should widows undergo such tortures? Men don't face such discrimination when their wives die; they just marry again!"( Nitin Jugran Bahuguna) This quote exemplifies how poorly widowed women are treatment in India. There is a deep social stigma that surrounds widowed single women. However, recently six women gathered from different states in India to create a movement for the promotion of Single Women's Rights. This is a huge step for them and this committee of women are “ committed to reviewing and expanding the legislation on women's right to property and ensuring that women would inherit their share from their parents and also their in-laws,"( Nitin Jugran Bahuguna) Also, the site reported , “Amid the difficulties that confront them, the women behind the forum and similar undertakings have made a firm resolve to address these gender inequities.” !"( Nitin Jugran Bahuguna) Overall, even though these women are taking a great risk in speaking out, on a whole they are empowering women all over the world to speak out in the name of justice and equality, which is truly inspiring.


Website Intern Press Service – a communication institution with a global news agency at its core. IPS raises the voices of the south and civil society. IPS tells the story underneath. (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48953)

Blog 8

I found myself bewildered yesterday after I Google image searched the top women pop singers in America, such as Mariah Carrey, Beyonce, Brittney Spears, ext. I was bewildered because of the extraordinarily raunchy pictures that were displayed of them. In those moments of sifting through their pictures I realized even more so that women in westernized culture are seen as sex symbols. Granted I have known that sex sells and that it is an industry standard, however seeing the raw footage in front of my eyes on my computer screen gave me a very bright awakening. This lead to my next question, what do popular singers in non-westernized cultures look like, and how are they portrayed by their culture? I surely know how Americans portray their top singers, with use of sex and demoralization but what is it like for women singers in Asia, India, or Kenya? I did a bit of research and found the following pictures. The first is of a young female from Singapore her name is Tanya Chua Jian Ya. She is currently a pop star coveted in Asia, including Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. I looked through the pictures of her on Google image and came across the following one which was a great representation of all of her pictures.This picture is tasteful and not blatantly sexual and most of the pictures that came up when I Google imaged her were like such. view picture at

http://www.ginnwei.com/2008/07/31/tanya-chua-tacit-understanding-new-best-collection/

Next, I found Sharon Prabhakar an Indian Pop star. Her pictures were also quite classy and the one I put below is the most sexual one I could find of her which is nowhere near the level of sexual promiscuity that Euro/Americans have on their artists. view at http://www.hindisong.com/Interview/Interview.asp?ContentID=1075

Finally, I found Amani Museke who is one of the biggest female stars in Africa. She is from Kenya to be precise, and quite frankly it was hard coming up with a sexual picture of her on the Google image as well. The picture I found was arguably the most sexual one out of the whole vat.- veiw at http://www.museke.com/node/2189

Overall, I wish I could post some of the most sexual pictures of American/Euro women pop singers but I would probably be kicked out of class. From all the countless pictures I could tell I viewed that non-westernized cultures hold their top women singers accountable for their actions and view them with more respect than American or European cultures. Is it unfortunate, YEAH, DEFINITELY, should this be a topic that is studied and brought out in public YEAH!!!! FOR SURE, however besides my ranting I hope this blog offers some insight into how different cultures view their top female pop singers verses how westernized cultures view there pop singers and I really hope that westernized countries begin to see the harm they do to the female image, by making such sexual images of our top female talents acceptable.

Sorry that I could not figure out at more reasonable way to show case the pictures with in the blog... :)

Blog 7

Most recently in the news I found that Women in Iran were just granted an award called the Anna Politkovaskay award for Courage. This award is given out once a year in to women who stand up for women’s rights, in memory of the Russian humans rights advocate and journalist who was murdered three years ago in her elevator of her apartment complex. Anna was a very brave woman who spoke out against violence of women and supported equality for all people with a strong emphasis on women’s rights. The Anna Politkovskaya award for courage is an award that is meant to keep Anna’s spirit alive. Each year the award goes to women who demand great women’s rights. This year it was presented on Tuesday October 5, 2009 to a group of women in Iran who have set out to ascertain one million signatures on a petition that supports greater women’s rights in their country, Iran. The group that gave the award to the Iran women said, “"We gave them the award because they are an extremely brave and courageous group of women and they are really changing the society in Iran, which is extremely difficult," RAW in War founder Mariana Katzarova told Reuters”. (www.reuters.com) This is a very powerful statement because it shows that the passion of a small group of individuals can bring about awareness and ultimately promote positive change. I found this out only an hour after it happened and I am a world away from this situation, but it affects all women and me in that right because where there is injustice for one there is injustice for all. The spirit, fight, and risk of imprisonment that the Iranian women put forth shows their determination and dedication towards this problem and by all means I hope they continue bringing about such broad awareness and support towards this very urgent issue. Power to the Women and may change occur faster than they expected. One Million signatures are on there way!!!!!