Monday, September 17, 2012

JOUR 4250: September 13 Review


Thursday my class was assigned to read an article out of Vanity Fair titled “Who is Wall Street’s Queen B.?” I thought to myself, sure, an article about two women who made it big in a male dominated field. Our instructor’s reasoning behind this was quite the opposite.

The article was loaded with sentences belittling Erin Burnett and Maria Bartiromo. It included embarrassing examples of their nicknames: “street sweetie” and “money honey.”

The entire theme of the article focused around the idea of the two in the middle of a “catfight.” Both reporters have denied the claims.

Vanity Fair author Suzanna Andrews thought it was so important she decided to include it just below the headline. “She has worked hard, for years to get there, so the meteoric rise of another gorgeous CNBC anchor, 32-year-old Erin Burnett-‘Street Sweetie’ to Bartiromo’s ‘Money Honey’-has everyone talking catfight,” Andrews wrote.

I couldn’t have picked a better sentence to summarize how embarrassing this article was. I thought it was so unprofessional I could have sworn it was a satire piece, making fun of other articles that actually report on stuff like this.

Our class has had lengthier discussions than the one we had on this article. I think its because everyone seemed to agree on its quality of writing.

We moved on to watch another video titled “Sexual Stereotypes in the Media.” It was interesting because for the first time we got to see how men have been subject to stereotypes. One classmate brought up an excellent example of how G.I. Joe action figures have gotten more and more muscular each year. It was an example of how men are increasingly becoming more self-conscious of their appearances as a result of media pressures.

A mixture of the classmates’ personal comments reinforced the instructors’ lesson for the evening. Next time I read the assigned articles, I wont be blind-sided like I was with the Vanity Fair article. Read it for yourself. Click here.





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