Wow! What a way to see from the perspective of another family. How the individuals that took part everyday experiences differed by changing their own skin colour.

I wholesomely agree with this article and i love the angle that she took with it. I agree that women in the industry are pitted against men and it is a women jobs to look as they state; "Girls are allowed to be sexy, but not too sexy. Pure, but not a prude." In addition women or girls are only portrayed as long as they look 'pretty' or from the industries point of view perfect! That is why this article compares the treatment of men against the mistreatment of women in the industry and why there is a unbalance of expectations.

Here is an interview that questions whether there is gay artists in the music industry and more specifically the 'rap game' as the interviewed calls it. But can be considered as controversial is that he states that there is a 'gay mafia' and that they are controlling the hip hop scene. For instance he refers to Lady Gaga and how she is running with the gay community and she is winning!

Yeah Miley has gone too far this time!! I think it is worth noting that the section where she was smoking a joint had been censored from TV. But why was it censored from US Television? Plus it begs the question of whether TV needs to have tighter restrictions on what should be seen and what should not.

This can relate to the class discussion on Lady Gaga's 'Telephone' music video and how there is this reversal of the black/white dynamic. This article continues to discuss how Gaga isn't oblivious to her own normativity and how she deliberately plays with her 'whiteness' but in actuality she is then oblivious to to white privilege. Thus the protagonist and in this case Gaga gets the attention while women of colour (beyonce) that are contributing to the redefinition of music and gender performances are marginalised.

I'm not sure if anyone has seen this website before but i though it was amazing with a capital 'A'!! Most of the posts are about the relationship between race and pop culture and the media. So if anyone was thinking of doing their final project with relations to race and pop culture then this is definitely a site to browse through.

This YouTube video ties into the discussion about discrimination and post-racial america. By watching this video it gives an amazing insight from the point of view of the youth and how gay marriage is perceived today. It would have been great to find a similar interview with children of the same age from 30 years ago and compare the opinions, just to see how perspectives have changed over the past decades. But what i found most intriguing is that some of the kids reactions where of confusion but when they were asked why they thought gay marriage was weird or 'crazy' they didn't actually know why. Is this because they don't understand what is going on, or is it because they actually think it weird? 

Following our conversion on the post-racial america, Bethenny Frankel and and Omarosa have had a dispute in regard to Bethenny supposedly having better opportunities because she has 'white privilege'.  It's sad to see that this type of prejudice is still apparent in today's society, 

Best Trailer Ever! This video is a parody of the Hunger Gamer and made it into the Hungry Games.  This video can relate to the black culture discussion in class. The video uses black stereotypes and takes the mick out of what is considered 'black culture', whether it's attitude, music, style etc. Although if say a white person did this wouldn't there be backlash, so how is it okay for african americans to satirize themselves but not others?

This is just brilliant, Miley Cyrus needs to take an African American studies class!!  The writer first conclusion is that Miley has a 'problematic view of what "black" is'. Well all her butt shaking, drug referencing and down right attitude seems to me like she obviously knows what shes doing. This article goes into depth via an interview with an African American Studies Professor and his opinion of Miley Cyrus and how her video 'We Can't Stop', appropriates black culture.

Here is something to consider, are artists today becoming products of cultural thievery? From Madonna to Lady Gaga their use of clothing such as scarfs covering their faces, essentially mimicking certain cultural religions. For instance Lady Gaga's recent fashion statement is reminiscent of the Burka which is religiously worn by Muslim and Islamic females. She even has a song called 'Burqa', whether this is offensive or artistic is yet to be determined. On the other hand younger generations like Miley Cyrus appropriates the black culture and Selena Gomez is inspired by the bindi wearing, arabian dress look. <br /> Are these artists using other cultures for attention and promoting their fame or is it just a gimmick?

Whilst browsing, i came across this article that retaliates Paglia's point that Taylor swift and the young starlets of today are not promoting 'strong female personas'. Arguing that Swift is in fact a independent, powerful women that has proved herself to be more than capable of earning what is an extensive fortune and still be grounded and support herself. For the truth is this girl or women however you want to see her; is just 22 years old and yet she is one of the highest earning and paid women in entertainment. So from my point of view if Taylor Swift doesn't embody a 'strong, female persona' then Paglia has some serious explaining to do!

I thought this was an interesting article because it criticises that critique of 'blurred lines'. In that women are actually being liberated and respected as independent sexual beings and not objects that are subjugated by any man. The article states that i no way is there a claim for rape instead the women is indeed being consensual. Moreover the writer for this is in fact a women and a feminist at that, she wasn't offended and actually liked the song. So therefore becoming offended when all this hype and backlash came out over what was actually a catchy song to listen to in the car.

This video is rather outlandish, the video is shows the abuse and overt sexualisation of females, but it isn't until the very end that the point of view is changed.  For Gayle Rubin class

As we watched in class, i thought i'd re-post it so everyone can enjoy the brilliance that are Bratz! They are real people too!

Following the recent spate of controversy over the sexualisation of artists in today's pop culture. Singer Annie Lennox has criticized not the artists but how musics ''market forces don't give a toss about the notion of boundaries''. However Lennox agrees with freedom of speech and expression, but it is effectively depressing to see and all the sexualised performances as just a glorified and monetized form of self harm.

I thought this was an interesting article in relation to pop culture and how authentic things have become, especially with the introduction of new technologies such as auto-tune and music sampling and editing. The article goes deeper into these. Thus those who want to make a imprint on the industry as the article states is going to be increasingly difficult because ''even the most sincere expressions of self will have to be multiple and complicated''.

I came across this article and it reminded me of the discussion in class where gender is fluid, it changes and what the meaning's on gender and sex were. According to article it describes a culture in Mexico where there are ''Muxes'', these are Zapotec indigenous men who dress and behave in ways associated with women. But Muxes are most commonly known as a third gender, rather than a sexual orientation. It is interesting to see that in the article the muxes aren't ridiculed in their hometown, but actually celebrated, for instance they have a party, and to the muxes themselves they see that it is ''important to have this party to rescue our culture, to rescue who we are and show the rest of the people in this city how we live our sexuality, how we exercise our rights''. On the other hand, mothers in the Juchitan area of Mexico encourage their sons of the muxe leanings because their think the ''Muxes are a blessing from God because their look after you when your sick.....''. All in all this culture in Mexico is very different and when many others see this type of identity as unusual or even disgraceful especially in more conservative places in Mexico.

Upon finding this video i thought it was quite interesting in relation to our popular culture class. Whilst social media is part of popular culture this video, 'musicalised' Twitter! In part it is satirising what twitter has become in that people write about absolutely anything and so we are becoming 'fools', also that the celebrity world (such as Lady Gaga vs Perez Hilton) can be watched in your home and you don't even have to leave your bed! However it also emphasises the positives of social media where everyone is now  ''connected far and wide''and that the world is intertwined. Therefore the message presented is that twitter is what you make it.

Similarly to the Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines' ban at a Scottish university an American university have removed a sculpture of a wrecking ball due to many parodies of Miley's now infamous 'wrecking ball' music video. Although it is noted that this was because of wear and tear of the structural cords.