Helen Wilson

How accepted are gays in our society today?

While on our discussion in class about the snickers commercial and the reactions from gays someone in the class brought up the fact that her sister is a lesbian.  She said that she feels uncomfortable walking in the mall holding her girlfriends hand.  This is horrible if you ask me.  It isn’t fair how much of an impact our society can have on a persons life.  Just because people have different views then you doesn’t mean that one of those views should be right and the other wrong.  What if the roles were reversed and it was gays and lesbians that were the accepted and heterosexuals were not.  What if you were walking with your partner of the opposite sex and you felt uncomfortable to hold their hand or to show affection because you are in public.  Of course this is not the reality of it all.  And because people dont understand it, many close their minds to it.  Love is love, it does not have to be between a man and a woman.

Of course there is a reason why I am writing my blog entry about this topic.  First its a huge issue in our country today and the battle is still not won.  Also I am speaking on behalf of myself as well.  I am a lesbian.  Most or all of the class would probably never think that i am if i hadn’t said it here.  So here’s the question, is me being in love with a women wrong just because I myself am a women?  Is it fair to say that because I am “different” then you that I should not recieve the same rights and freedoms that heterosexuals are entitled to? 

I am in love with my girlfriend who I have been with for a year.  When i walk in the mall i hold her hand with pride.  I will not allow others to put me down or make me scared to be myself and to love the person I am with.  I hope that many people can do the same and stand up for what they believe in.  Be proud of who you are! Dont let anyone stand in your way!

And as for my rights as a lesbian… The battle has just begun! We will fight until we get the freedoms and rights we deserve as United States citizens!

For my weekly blog post I will be discussing the snickers advertisement from the super bowl and peoples reactions to it.  We talked about the advertisement in class and for the most part we all agreed it was discriminating towards gays.  It was also brought up that gay activists were making a big deal about the commercial.  They felt it was homophobic because of the way the guys reacted after they kissed.  But to me ripping out your chest hair just isn’t all that manly. 

I personally thought this commercial was hilarious when i saw it.  I never even had the thought in my head that this would have offended people.  Although this was my reaction and many others felt the same because it offended a certain group of people it is seen as discrimination.  This one thing is causing a lot of head aches for snickers.  What if it had been two girls kissing?  Would it have been ok then? I think it definately would have went over better and probably not have caused as much controversy.  But then there are those who looked at the commercial as if they were making out with the snickers because it was so good.  The snickers was so good that they didn’t realize what they were doing and just had to eat it. 

I guess the only question that we are left with is if you were a gay male.. how would you feel about this commercial?

“The triumph of advertising in the culture industry is that consumers feel compelled to buy and use its products even though they see through them.”

People buy products all the time just to “fit in” because “everyone” has it or because they want to be one of the first to own a cool, new product.  Advertisers try everything they can to trick teens into believing that buying their product will make them look cool or make their friends jealous.  They trap you in and make you want to buy the product even if it is cheaply made.  When a product is high in demand they can charge rediculous amounts of  money and people will still buy the product.  An example is Ugg Boots.  When they became popular everyone wanted a pair.  You weren’t “cool” if you didn’t have them.  They charge over a hundred dollars for a pair of cheaply made boots that in my opinion, look funny.  Teens are trapped into this because name brands seem to be everything these days.  Once one kid has something, the rest of them want that same thing.  They believe they will gain popularity because of the clothes they wear and the more money they spend, the better.  The best part is that most kids these days are just spending their parent’s money like crazy on all of the name brand clothing they want.  It is like a domino affect because once they have one pair of Uggs they want more.  The company makes all different kinds constantly to get more and more people to want a third and fourth pair because then it becomes that… your not cool until you own the sand, chestnut, black, brown, blue, pink, purple, high and low cut boots.  People are spending hundreds on these shoes when they could just go to Target and get the same looking shoes for about $20.   The “in” styles are constantly changing and people are dishing out their money just to “fit in”.  It no longer is an issue of getting ripped off because in the eyes of a teen, popularity is by far more important.