I'd like to say a massive thank you to Barnabus Homeless
Shelter for allowing me to attend one of their food hand out nights. The short time I spent
there really showed me the amazing work some people are willing to set out to
do, from making hot food to handing out clothes. I wanted to create this short
video to show the different life experiences the people who live on the streets
carry with them. I think it's pointless to deny the fact that judgment,
discrimination and bad treatment are things these people are all too familiar
with, and we have all seen it. I don't know about you, but this angers me. Why
should someone who has had an unfortunate turn of events in life be treated
with disrespect? To me were all humans, we are all the same, whether you've
been lucky in the decisions you've made in life, or not. During my time
interviewing the people who use the services at Barnabus I came across Richard,
who is featured in the video. Richard had explained to me that he had recently
be beaten by drunken strangers whilst sleeping rough, resulting in surgery to
have his spleen removed and leaving behind a bruised and large scar on his chest. I couldn't
believe what I was hearing, how could anyone be so barbaric to attack another
human in such a venerable state? I think we all need to change our view point
towards the homeless, they're not all drug addicts, alcoholics or criminals. The
majority should not be judged on how the minority behave. Let's work towards changing
our attitudes towards the homeless, let's stop judging and let's start helping.
One thing I learnt whilst being on this project was that we should never take
anything we have for granted, we should be thankful for every day we have and
for everything we have. Homelessness is something that can affect any one of us
no matter what walk of life we come from.
Thursday, 5 June 2014
Thursday, 6 February 2014
Why I think artists like Miley Cyrus and Rihanna are to blame for the image crisis facing young girls.
This blog entry is going to be a bit difficult for me, it's something that effected me in my own life when I was younger but I feel like that gives me more of a reason to write about it now.
I think it would be safe to say that I was not a confident child. I disliked many aspects of my appearance, in fact I think the word 'dislike' doesn't do justice to how I felt. I remember crying in front of my mirror, refusing to go out with my friends. When you see nothing but perfect women with perfect skin and perfect bodies all over the place what else was I suppose to think as a naive child? Cue the airbrushed images everywhere….I assumed we all have to look that way. Body confidence (or the lack of it) was not given enough publicity for it to be an issue and it wasn't acknowledged that this was going on in children of the age that I was at the time. I'm extremely grateful that it is given more thought nowadays and that we understand that there are many young girls feeling the same pressure to be what society considers as ‘perfect', but what is actually being done about it?
What angers me is the reason why there has been such a massive increase in the number of young girls, who feel like they have to look a certain way and act a certain way to be accepted by their peers. It's easy to go and blame specific people for the mess they've caused to the mental health of the younger generation, of not only this country but all over the world, such as Rihanna and Miley Cyrus. However it's not only due to the images these people are sending out, it's the lack of censorship towards them, and its only getting worse as the years go on. Since when did it become acceptable to show a young women swinging naked on a ball at 9 in the morning? I think Miley Cyrus is a good example to use when on the topic of how much were exposing our kids to. It seems like everything she does seems to become a headline for every newspaper and artical; from her smoking cannabis on stage to stripping off completely in her 'wrecking ball' video. What worries me the most is the message she's sending out to girls, in a recent interview with Radio 1's Newsbeat she claimed that she thinks she is "the world's biggest feminist" because she tells women "not to be scared of anything"...WHAT?!?!? If young girls are being told that THIS is what a feminist is then there really is no hope for the future. What happened to the real feminist like Susan Anthony who fought for women to be able to own their own properties? Or what happened to Elizabeth Blackwell? America’s first female doctor who went through years of discrimination for her gender.
If anything the only image that is being portrayed by the world biggest artists like the Mileys and the Rihannas, is that women are looked at as objects that should be sexualised for the pleasure and acceptance of others around us. Let's be honest here, if Rihanna actually wore clothes in her video, or if she wasn't shown humping anything she could get her hands on, would she really sell as many records? Would she be making as much money?...I'll leave you to think of the answer to that. Instead of shoving these images down our children's throats, should we not be teaching them to love themselves for who they are and how they were made?
I feel so privileged to not be in that place of constantly trying to please others, I can finally say I love myself for who I am, but that's only due to educating myself on the fact that the only reason these unrealistic images are being sent out is for the artists to make money. Learning to accept myself opened so many doors for me, I never thought I would be where I am today, doing the things that I love and achieving my dreams, so why is acceptance not being taught to everyone? Do we not all deserve that same feeling of satisfaction with ourselves? Why are we having a 'eh-lets-just-brush-it-off' attitude towards young people's perception of body image? It was shown in a recent survey that 1 in 3 girls aged between 14 and 15 skip breakfast to stay slim and 1 in 5 skip Lunch too, the numbers doubling since the last survey conducted in 1982!
The sad truth is that young, venerable people are being taken advantage of to make a buck or two. Once we accept what the limescale of modern society has done to our youth, we’ll rise above it but we cannot keep ignoring this issue!!!
I think it would be safe to say that I was not a confident child. I disliked many aspects of my appearance, in fact I think the word 'dislike' doesn't do justice to how I felt. I remember crying in front of my mirror, refusing to go out with my friends. When you see nothing but perfect women with perfect skin and perfect bodies all over the place what else was I suppose to think as a naive child? Cue the airbrushed images everywhere….I assumed we all have to look that way. Body confidence (or the lack of it) was not given enough publicity for it to be an issue and it wasn't acknowledged that this was going on in children of the age that I was at the time. I'm extremely grateful that it is given more thought nowadays and that we understand that there are many young girls feeling the same pressure to be what society considers as ‘perfect', but what is actually being done about it?
What angers me is the reason why there has been such a massive increase in the number of young girls, who feel like they have to look a certain way and act a certain way to be accepted by their peers. It's easy to go and blame specific people for the mess they've caused to the mental health of the younger generation, of not only this country but all over the world, such as Rihanna and Miley Cyrus. However it's not only due to the images these people are sending out, it's the lack of censorship towards them, and its only getting worse as the years go on. Since when did it become acceptable to show a young women swinging naked on a ball at 9 in the morning? I think Miley Cyrus is a good example to use when on the topic of how much were exposing our kids to. It seems like everything she does seems to become a headline for every newspaper and artical; from her smoking cannabis on stage to stripping off completely in her 'wrecking ball' video. What worries me the most is the message she's sending out to girls, in a recent interview with Radio 1's Newsbeat she claimed that she thinks she is "the world's biggest feminist" because she tells women "not to be scared of anything"...WHAT?!?!? If young girls are being told that THIS is what a feminist is then there really is no hope for the future. What happened to the real feminist like Susan Anthony who fought for women to be able to own their own properties? Or what happened to Elizabeth Blackwell? America’s first female doctor who went through years of discrimination for her gender.
If anything the only image that is being portrayed by the world biggest artists like the Mileys and the Rihannas, is that women are looked at as objects that should be sexualised for the pleasure and acceptance of others around us. Let's be honest here, if Rihanna actually wore clothes in her video, or if she wasn't shown humping anything she could get her hands on, would she really sell as many records? Would she be making as much money?...I'll leave you to think of the answer to that. Instead of shoving these images down our children's throats, should we not be teaching them to love themselves for who they are and how they were made?
I feel so privileged to not be in that place of constantly trying to please others, I can finally say I love myself for who I am, but that's only due to educating myself on the fact that the only reason these unrealistic images are being sent out is for the artists to make money. Learning to accept myself opened so many doors for me, I never thought I would be where I am today, doing the things that I love and achieving my dreams, so why is acceptance not being taught to everyone? Do we not all deserve that same feeling of satisfaction with ourselves? Why are we having a 'eh-lets-just-brush-it-off' attitude towards young people's perception of body image? It was shown in a recent survey that 1 in 3 girls aged between 14 and 15 skip breakfast to stay slim and 1 in 5 skip Lunch too, the numbers doubling since the last survey conducted in 1982!
The sad truth is that young, venerable people are being taken advantage of to make a buck or two. Once we accept what the limescale of modern society has done to our youth, we’ll rise above it but we cannot keep ignoring this issue!!!
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