I can't tell if I am tired of going to school yet or not. I really miss being home. I have gone home a lot recently but I think that does more harm than good. This weekend I am going to Seth's home. Hopefully, I can still get a lot of homework done while catching up with his family. Then on the weekend of the 25th, I go home again. Someone come see me! I get very jealous when I think of mom and dad and how they can go to New Hampshire and see all the Bilik family. I get jealous of them when they are in River Grove with the rest of the Tarpey family! I'm sure Scott and Michelle feel my pain of wanting to be with the rest of the family, but you just can't.
In other news, I officially have a thesis supervisor. She is a professor in the Developmental Psychology program, but her research interests are very similar to mine. I haven't quite figured out how specific my thesis topic will be. I know it will be dealing with the media and it's effects on womens body image or possibly the objectification of women in media and its impact on mens views of women. I'm sure many people don't really care whats going on in TV, magazines, radio, etc., but the impact its having disgusts me. I find it interesting that the amount of ads, etc portraiting women as size 0, big chested, and fake looking is increasing with the amount of accounts of anorexia, depression, etc in women. Expecially, young women. The age of girls this is affecting is getting lower and lower. There are more and more happenings of eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorders in girls as early as age 5. So many men my age find it amusing to see a "perfect" looking girl in media, but they won't find it so amusing years from now when their 8 year old daughter wont eat dinner because she wants to look like the girl on TV. It has even been empirically proven in controlled studies that women report lower self-esteem after viewing magazine ads displaying extremely thin, airbrushed women. No wonder you hear so many women stating they want plastic surgery, implants, diet pills, etc. They don't have a healthy self-image and can you blame them?!
Recently, I stopped volunteering for the sexual assault center. Not that I wanted to, but last week my pager was going off during class and my professor was not too happy. I just realized this isn't the time for me to be doing this and hopefully I can return to it at a later time. This Friday will be my last time on-call. I still will volunteer for their events, like on the 24th there is a vigil for women who are vicitms of domestic violence I am helping with.
Other than that, classes are good. It's all going by so fast! And on the 10th it will be 1 year and 9 months for Seth and I. Thats going by fast, too!
Hi Suzy,
You wrote about two things I can relate to. Yes, it can be difficult to be away like that. When I was an undergrad there were many times I had similar uncertainty about whether it was all worth it -- being away from home and family. Just try to remember that you aren't that far away and that it's temporary. In my current situation it helps that I have a wife and kids that keep me from being lonely. It also helps that airfare and long distance phone rates have become much more affordable than they were fifteen years ago. But yes, I do sometimes wish that we could see family as easily as the River Grove relatives see each other.
Regarding the abusive marketing of the unattainable figure (not to mention immodest fashion), that's a particularly sore spot with me. When you get the chance, have Rob show you what can be done with Adobe Photoshop. In the Oct 3rd photo album, look at that first picture of Michelle. All her skin tones are without birthmark, blemishes, or (in the case of her legs) spider veins. That's one example. In the Oct 4th album, you'll notice that in two out of the three pictures of you, your birthmark along your neck is gone. You'll also notice in that album that the kids never seem to have gotten that classic "red eye" of indoor flash photography. My biggest trick in this album was in the picture of Michelle, Timothy and Abigail in front of the fountain (photo 20 of 29). I totally erased the water that was coming out of the left spigot and flowing adjacent to Michelle's head. It looked like the water was running down the side of her head. Dad watched me do the edits and was amazed.
Woman are being so lied to in "women's magazines" and similar advertisements. We take that one in a thousand woman and put her on the front cover as an ideal. But as if that wasn't enough, she has professional makeup artists to make her beauty even more unattainable. But then, as a coup de grace, we now use digital editting to make her skin super even, her teeth super white, and her eyes super blue/brown, etc. Then women see these images and can't help but think, "what's wrong with me".
I know it sounds silly, but I partially blame wide spread artificial contraception. While it supposedly freed women from the concern of getting pregnant, it also allowed men to more easily succomb to their baser instincts and more easily view a woman as a sexual object. Sex became totally divorced from procreation, family life, long term committed marital bonds. The amazing thing is that because women are so sold on the supposed freedom and empowerment contraception provides, they allow themselves to get caught up on this "objectification" -- I don't know what else to call it.
But I think it's also closely tied to the more and more sexualized fashions. Why would women want to expose more and more of themselves? You would think at some point they would get uncomfortable, embarassed or at least blush for heavens sake. Yet the fashions being sold as the norm increasingly becoming more sexual. It was hard last week for Michelle to find a pair of jeans that weren't hip hugging, low rider jeans.
Some have said that as sexual relations became more and more sterile physically, they also became more sterile mentally and physically. So in response to that boredom, we as a society find more and more ways to "kick it up a notch" to compensate. Thus the beauty norms become more unattainable and the fashions become sleazier.
I could go on, but it's getting late. If I come across more articles about this in the next several months, I'll drop you an email with the link. Maybe it'll help you with your research.
On a lighter note, congrats to you and Seth. From "this is my friend" to "this is my BOYfriend"... You talk about it going by fast. It wasn't that long ago when we were just thrilled to see Claire sitting up on her own. Just last month, Timothy crossed that benchmark while Claire lost her seventh tooth. If I blink again Timothy will be losing his baby teeth -- you know, the ones that are just coming in now! *grin*
Take care and all our love from your NH siblings, nieces, and nephews.
Posted by: Scott at October 8, 2003 10:14 PMHow about the girls in Cassidy's class who claim to drink Slimfast, and can work it off at the gym when they eat a birthday treat at school?
Glad we got to see you this weekend, Suzy! I'm sorry we aren't planning on any visits to you in the near future- we are broke, and busy, and aren't really going anywhere. We really want to save to go to Disney with the kids in the Spring. It will be Oct 24 before you know it- Confirmation sponsor! WE LOVE YOU!
Hey Scott and Lys, glad you see my perspective on all of this! Thanks for the comments! It helps me stay motivated to try to put this into a 30 page paper!
Also, don't worry about visiting ISU. I totally understand what its like to not have the money to travel around. I think I worry that the kids will forget who I am :)
Love you both!