What’s The Sitch?

Hello Everybody here is the hot topics we discussed this week!

Spycams in South Korea

Privacy is not an option for many women in South Korea. Currently there is an epidemic of spycams disrupting their lives in the most private areas. In many public restrooms there are miniscule cameras being placed to take photos or videotape women and exploit them on the internet. It is a complete invasion of privacy and honestly disgusting to think about! How would you feel if every time you went into a public bathroom you had to make the conscious realization that someone might be watching you? Women in South Korea are speaking up about the issue and advocating for action to be taken to protect them. Link

Rachel Mckinnon

Dr. Rachel McKinnon just won gold at the UCI Masters World Championship and she is a transgender woman. As amazing as this is, all the articles about this event are actually pointing to the woman who won the bronze medal but not in a good way. Jen Wagner-Assali took to twitter to complain about the fairness of the competition and imply McKinnon was not deserving of the title because she is a trans. We talked about the issue of transphobia and the necessity for inclusion especially from cisgender individuals who have the privilege to speak up on issues of injustice and discrimination. Link

Bank Exec mocked on twitter

Melania Edwards an HSBC bank executive has been ridiculed by twitter users over her “unrelatable” and “unrealistic” daily routine where she wakes up at 5:30 to meditate and play tennis before heading to work. Her lunch break that lasts 90 minutes and location switches, leading up to coming home and cooking dinner with her boyfriend. Our discussion this week centered around the different response this may have received if Melania was a man. Would she still be called by twitter users an “American Psycho”? Whether or not the routine is unrealistic being called a psycho is a bit extreme, but there is definitely a double standard when it comes to men and women in the work force. Link

Honduran Migrants Marching for the US

 

Honduran migrants march toward the Mexico-Guatemala border in hopes of making it to the United States. Thousands of Central American migrants are fleeing to escape poverty, violence, etc. to find a better life and jobs in the states. Once stopped at the Mexico-Guatemala border migrants tried to break through barriers to get across the border. Some scaling buildings or jumping into rivers to escape going back home. We discussed the amount of desperation and humanity needed to understand the reason for fleeing one’s own country. With the US already struggling to help immigrants in the past and the current political climate we are in our class worries if this is the beginning of a potential mass genocide. How long would this many people be allowed to continue to march while it remains peaceful? What happened to our views in the past on immigration? During WWII people were fleeing their homes and coming to Elis Island, not we are denying people to capacity to leave a very harmful situation of living. Link

 

Gender Bending

Something that I have been seeing across social media as of late is an increase in Broadway gender bending roles. Gender bending is merely a person dressing and behaving as someone of the opposite sex, so for Broadway there are role reversals of sexes. There is an annual event called Broadway Backwards that raises awareness for LGBTQA+ issues and provides a safe and welcoming environment for the queer community to enjoy performances by their favorite actor or actress. Despite this happening through Broadway I have been noticing versions of this from all over surfacing on social media. We discussed how this can be a form of allyship between cisgender people and members of the LGBTQA+ community, however there needs to be an emphasis of representation not being taken away from the community. People who are straight should not be typecast as someone who is queer, taking away that opportunity for someone who can represent that specific identity more accurately. Link

CGI Influencers

Any guess as to what each of these women have in common?

Photos: https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/cgi-virtual-reality-model-debate

They aren’t REAL!!

The new trend hitting the social media scene is CGI (computer generated imagery). The influencers are on social media looking extremely lifelike and confusing people about whether or not they are fake. This raises the issue of moving backwards from body positive efforts. This could be effective and done right if they become more inclusive with the people they promote as CGI and the portrayal of unrealistic body images. There is also talk from Quantum Capture CEO and president Morgan Young with virtual human customer service in hotels replacing need for concierge. A concern we see for not only this, but also the fashion industry is what are the implications of replacing real humans with CGI counterparts. Will this decrease the already difficult means of representation for minorities in fashion? How will this impact human connection, or will it in any way by only seeing an influencer through a screen or a concierge you can access in your room at the push of a button. Are CGIs the future? Link

Thanks for reading!

Check back next week for more 🙂