“The first thing they think is‘What does she know?’…as if gender has an IQ.” –Aja Kelleher

I just read a really interesting article that focused on how much women earn compared to men in the workplace. Some of the figures thrown out are startling! The woman being interviewed, Aja Kelleher, has a pretty significant job, making her earn between $80,000 to $115,000 a year. The kicker comes when she found out that some men who worked at the same company, in the same position, earned 20% more.

Click here for the article

I've never really understood this. If a man and woman are doing the same exact job, why does he get payed more? Ugh. It's frustrating. Her quote at the beginning of the article really sums things up; why does it matter if it's a man or woman doing a job? If they're working hard, accomplishing things, how does a person's sex make a difference?

I decided to do some research on the matter, to see if the article matched up with other information. Click here to see it.



Apparently there are three major reasons why there are gender gaps in income, such as hours worked, occupational choice, and maternity leave. Looking at the first two, I guess they make sense, but Maternity leave? The article describing the downside of maternity leave explains my frustration, claiming that it is a major reason women are discriminated against for jobs, such as a CEO for a company, because she may become pregnant. I understand that it costs any company money and time, but really? It's ridiculous to think that a fully qualified woman wouldn't get a great, high-paying job because she may want to have kids.




Here is a graph explaining 2005 Census Statistics that show males 25 and older had higher yearly income than females 25 and older among all races.

"My ultimate dream is to move to Jersey, find a nice juiced hot tanned guy and live my life."

Wow. I was going through my daily, internet routine (webmail, facebook, jezebel, perez), when I came across this gem.




(Click here!!!)



Apparently it's a joke? I don't know how this is funny, because not only does it degrade women, but it makes a joke out of domestic violence. Really? Well, this picture fits nicely into a hot topic that has been in the news lately: Snookie's famous punch on MTV's Jersey Shore.

I have to be honest with all of you, I love Jersey Shore. It's unhealthy. I'll catch myself quoting it with my friends, using the word guidette in daily conversation, and yes, when I'm out on a Friday night, you will see me doing the fist pump. That being said, I like it in the way a person enjoys watching a train wreck: It's amusing. It's fun. It's silly. On a serious note about the show, I didn't know how to react to Snookie getting punched in the face. There is OBVIOUSLY never justification in hitting a woman, let alone any person, but to air it on TV? The show is wildly popular, and that situation (no pun intended) brought a major amount of viewers into watch. The thing I was more interested in was how the advertisers reacted. Was it right for some of them to pull out? \What if it was one of the other housemates that got punched in the face, like Pauly D? Would there have been the same reaction? Would people have believed he deserved it? These are things I always think about when any fight breaks out, because it’s definitely a gender issue. If a man fights, it’s to show his dominance, to prove his power and masculinity, but when a girl, like Snookie, gets hit, or gets in a girl fight, it’s a huge ordeal, because women aren’t meant to fight. I’m in NO WAY saying she should have gotten hit, and I personally believe they shouldn’t have included it on the show, but it’s just a few questions to get people’s perspectives. I’m not sure if it is, but it could even go into the issue of heternormativity category, because Snookie’s punch can’t easily be "put into a box" because of her sex.

What do you guys think?

Hey everyone!

I'm not very great at composing blog posts, but hopefully I'll improve over the course of the quarter.

So onto my biography.

I'm a junior at Ohio University, and my current major is English, although, against the better judgment of my adviser, I might be switching. I'm from Canton, Ohio, where I was born and raised. My plans after college? I'll most likely end up going to school for a bit longer, but my dream is to work in a huge library or museum as a research assistant or archivist, but time will only tell. With the way things are looking out there, I'll most likely end up flipping burgers somewhere.

So, for my first formal post, I thought I would continue to discuss Adam Lambert, or, as the Internet likes to call him, "Glambert". This post has to deal more with a personal experience I had with his fame rather than his appearance on the AMA's.

Last year, I lived with three other girls, and I have to confess, I was obsessed with watching American Idol. I was never into it much before last year, but once my roommate Katie started tuning into FOX weekly, it became a ritual amongst our room. It's all I could think about and talk about. I was OU's personal Simon Cowell. As most of you know, Adam was on last year, and was almost the winner, but (wrongfully) lost to Kris Allen.

Now to relate this to our current conversations in class, I had a perfect picture of the negative aspect of heteronormativity when we first discussed it. Along with me, my roommates were rooting for Adam the entire season of the show, because they thought he was cute, and, obviously, he can sing. When they heard the rumors of him being gay, they automatically weren't that interested in him. Not to say any of them are, in any way, homophobic, or mean about gay culture, they just weren't as curious about him. I can recall an instance where my one roommate said that she didn't understand why he was gay, and that she Kris won, because he was so cute (which I defined to mean, heterosexual, in so many terms). I was floored. How can his sexual orientation honestly determine his ability to be a great performer? Yes, he is a bit outrageous, but, isn't Lady GaGa? And this was before his performance on the AMA's, so he hadn't done anything too explosive. I think that most of America thought the same way as my friends, because he didn't win, and whether it was due to his flashiness or the gossip about him about him being gay, he didn't win.

I see this fitting in perfectly with heteronormativity because they, like I'm sure others were, automatically inclined to push Adam away because they couldn't fit him into a category. Instead the went for Kris, whom I'm pretty sure is married , which is something most view as endearing, and it shows his heterosexuality, which they can put a label. I can't say I'm preaching, because I know I've also been confused about someone or a situation because I couldn't label it or put it into a box that I, along with society, see as normal. It's a confusing matter, but I hope to get more of a grasp on it.