User talk:Marimathews

"I just added a section to this article on the affects reality TV has on women. The content synthesized a number of research articles and current material on this topic.  Please do let me know if you have suggestions or can point to additional material to support this contribution."

The effects of reality TV on the average woman in general Although I know reality TV affects men and women in several different ways, I found the feminine beauty ideal associated with reality TV to be most interesting and important. I personally believe that stereotypes exist because of most of the things on TV and in the media, and when shows such as “The Kardashians” and “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” expose us to what its like to rich, fabulous, and beautiful, we all expect that to personally happen to us when in reality it hasn’t even happened in all honesty to those “stars.” I quickly realized their lives are not as perfect they make us think they are. President Obama stated "until a girl can imagine herself, can picture herself as a computer programmer, or a combat commander, she won't become one. Until there are women who tell her, ignore our pop culture obsession over beauty and fashion... she'll think those are the only things that girls are supposed to care about." While I agree that once someone dreams bigger, it may come true, it is also true that it is hard to shy away from the beauty ideals since they are so heavily pressed on us in our culture today. These images of the perfect woman and the perfect clothing, and lifestyle are around us everyday and gives women the wrong interpretations of success, which is truly disheartening. Parents try so hard to keep their kids away from things like this, and from catching on to the stereotypes and beauty ideals, but it is truly inevitable. Julia of MSNBC states, “As much as many parents will insist “not in my house,” there’s a good chance that your child has swallowed reality show toxins,” proving that once parents even think about keeping their kids away from things like this it is already to late.

The effects of reality TV on women of color Shows such as Real Housewives of Atlanta and Basketball wives are on the rise in the reality TV show world. In an article written by Tamika Mallory of NewsOne paper, she states her frustration for the depiction of African American women on television. Tamika states “On a daily basis, we are bombarded with images of women of color dancing half-naked in music videos, or prancing around fighting each other on one of these TV shows.” Which in my opinion as well, is completely true. Things like this are only furthering the stereotypes of women of color in the world as we know and see them today. While carrying on terrible stereotypes, this also is not creating a great image and perspective for future generations and the viewers in general. Julia of MSNBC states “shows like this are teaching viewers to disrespect black women.” I could not agree more, with the way they show racial stereotypes and they act and treat each other is not something that should be shown on television. Tamika Mallory made a good point in stating “Even though there may be extensive money in reality TV, have we decided that it’s worth the cost of selling our souls and misleading our children?” basically meaning that we have to make a change, we should not brainwash other generations with all of the made up stores within reality TV.

The effects of reality TV on young women When I think about television and ultimately young women, for some reason MTV shows such as teen mom and jersey shore automatically pop up in my mind. I see a lot of controversy over these shows everywhere almost every day, which is why I decided to analyze them. First of all, many people seem to think that MTV’s hit show “Teen Mom” influences young women to get pregnant and such, but could this show really just be “Teen birth control?” According to Melissa Maerz, “from 2009 to 2010, the U.S. teen birth rate declined 9 percent, the steepest one-year drop since 1946” which is right around the time the show became popular. I also read that “90 percent of teen viewers said the show makes pregnancy look "harder than I imagined," and 72 percent said it motivates them to delay parenthood” which persuades me to believe that Teen mom is not all that bad of a show after all when it comes to the message it relays and not so much content or quality. With “over 3 million viewers each week” and the national teen birth rate declining a significant amount since the release of the show, I think it is safe to conclude that Teen Mom is not for everyone, but definitely not a huge threat to teens who see it as an eye opener simply because “The series does not sugarcoat the challenges its subjects face” (FeiFei Sun, TIMES) making people see the harsh realities before hand not that every situation is the same but that is the risk you take.

I like the topic you chose of television and the influence it has on young women. I researched this topic a few years ago and was interested in the correlation between pregnancy rates due to the common experience it seems to be with some young women. I actually took a different stance and believed that it did indeed glorify teen moms in certain aspects. I like how you covered both avenues and shared the results of each. Katie.mackiewicz (talk) 21:40, 17 November 2013 (UTC)Katie.mackiewicz

Peer Edit Response
I really liked the topic you chose. Reality TV seems to be taking over our entertainment world, and for the most part, I find it hard to find any positives in it. But you definitely have made a valid point when you deemed Teen Mom to be a teen birth control. You brought up the shows "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" & Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, which I thought was really interesting because even though they expose young girls to the rich & fabulous famous lifestyles that exists, it still doesn't seem like something they, themselves, can attain because you either have to be born into it or marry into it. I think it would have been interesting if you would have addressed shows such as The Girls Next Door, which glamorizes the notion that if you fix yourself up enough, you can be a playboy model too & how that might effect the young girls who watch these shows. Great job though! :) Nicolevnguyen (talk) 23:09, 17 November 2013 (UTC)

Peer Response Edit
Hi there! I really enjoyed your post and you brought up some valid points. The only thing that I can think of to edit is from what I was told about the Wikipedia project is that it is suppose to be fact orientated and not opinion based. I noticed you had a few of your own personal beliefs in there and I think that we are suppose to stay away from that. I could be wrong but just something you may want to look into. But again it was a really good read! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rdunn23 (talk • contribs) 06:38, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

Peer Edit
Hi! I really enjoyed reading your article and thought you brought up some really good points. The only suggestion I have is that instead of including "I" statements or opinions, to instead include facts that can be supported by research or other articles you found. I'm not positive, but I think the wikipedia pages aren't supposed to have opinions and are instead supposed to have information that can be verified with other published sources. Good job on your article though, I really enjoyed reading it!

AlexiJo91 (talk) 22:06, 21 November 2013 (UTC)