Evolution of the Bikini Summary and response

    While enjoying yourself at the beach, is your first thought of a woman in a bikini of an object or tool? Well in "The Evolution of the Swimsuit" by Jessica Rey, author of "Decent Exposure", Rey argues that bikinis help to objectify women and have stripped us of our modest values. Rey begins with her analysis of the song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini". She uses the lyrics of the song to demonstrate the embarrassment of the woman being described in the song. Rey points to this embarrassment as a result of her natural understanding of modesty. Rey furthers her point by describing the history of the bikini and how negative the initial reaction to the bikini was. Rey uses studies from princeton to demonstrate what regions of the brain light up when viewing an image of a woman in modest clothes and a woman in a bikini. When looking at the image of the bikini the part of the brain associated with tools light up, and Rey uses this to show that men objectify women in bikinis .Rey uses images of how woman in the past would wear a one piece or even a full dress while at the beach to preserve their modesty, and proposes we return to to our prior, modest, roots. Although I thought the speech by Rey had strong pathos, unreliable references and studies gravely hurt her ethos and logos.

　

    In the speech by Rey, it was very easy to connect emotionally with her and made me want to agree with her. Her ideas and reasons, like preserving and upholding modesty, would have been improved, if she had reliable logos and ethos. How she was lacking in logos was because a few of her statements did not make sense, like "born with a sense of modesty". People are not born with a sense of modesty, but rather modesty is something that is taught and learned. Another way she lacked in logos was her alienation of people who are not Christians. What hurt her cause the most was how badly her credibility was destroyed with her unreliable statistics and examples. Her princeton example was severely hurt by the lack of details and explanations on how the studies were conducted, leaving questions that needed to be answer like " how long was that part of the brain light up", "how many people were tested", "was it the same person in both images", and "do the men react the same to a live woman rather than an image". Also Rey used a large number of stats and quotes from outdated sources, from over half a century old. For me there were too many holes in her argument, coupled with her using this being an opportunity to make money, for me to side with her.

　

   

　

   

A First Amendment Junkie summary and response

In the article "A First Amendment Junkie" New York Times bestselling author Susan Jacoby argues that the first amendment is a right that should not be changed or modified to fit the ideas of a small portion of feminists. She shows that some of the ideas of the feminist have priority issues and are hypocritical on the subject of the first amendment. Feminist, who are known for their strong disapproval for an amendment of the first amendment, take issue with the pornograpy, and Jacoby uses this lack of consistency to weaken the argument of feminist. The author addresses counterarguments of kiddie porn and the anti feminist views of pornography, by claiming kiddie porn is not an example of freedom of speech and people have the right to freedom of speech and expression. Jacoby provide alternative ways to censor your house and families to ideas that you do not agree, by not waiting for the government to intervene.

 

I also agree with the point that Susan Jacoby was arguing for and do not believe that the first amendment should be changed in any way. Although I may not agree with what a person has to say or their ideas, they still have every right to have their own opinion, just as I have. Censorship of a person and their ideas is a direct violation of a person's constitutional rights that no one should have to allow. Susan's great response to the counter arguments were what I found she did the best, and was what really convinced me that her views were the same as mine.

The most important idea she had, for me, was the fact that she gave different was to either show that not everyone had the same opinion of pornography, or that there were other was to avoid contact and interactions in things, such as porngraphy, that you do not agree with. Some things I felt she could have done better are a few more ways that pornography is not as harmful as other ways freedom of speech can be misconstrued, instead of only the Nazi march through the jewish neighborhood. Although that example was very effective to show what Jacoby was trying to prove, one or two more would have made it even more relatable.

Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack Summary And Response

In 1988 Co-director of the S.E.E.D Project (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity), Peggy McIntosh, wrote "Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack", an article that addresses and challenges the universal denial but underlying acceptance of white privilege. McIntosh does this by first setting a foundation of how privilege of any sorts has come about, starting with the idea of male privilege and how that moved and became white privilege.The author shows that although white privilege is not preached, or even acknowledged, it is still very prevalent and are inherited indirectly from the generation before. McIntosh goes on to describe white privilege as an " an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks", these being things that are not seen as advantages over the other race but are still not completely accessible by someone of color. McIntosh creates a list of fifty situations, ideas, or economical standings that play out differently for her, because she is white. The list illustrates moments that are taken for granted daily by whites, but not because they choose to, but rather because these are problems they have never had to face because of their race.



　

I completely agree with the ideas of Peggy McIntosh and felt her argument was strong and well supported. The situations from the list are moments that are shared universally but are resolved in a multiplicity of ways, with many coming from the bases of race. Me, being a man of color, found it was all too easy to relate to the message and the situations that were presented by the author. What I thought was most effective about the article, was how well McIntosh captured the smaller moments that are often overlooked simply because they are everyday moments that are still very impactful and it all revolves around race. This made it easy for me to think of situations like being followed around in a store, or having an event reflect or be attributed to my race.

　

McIntosh even addresses the idea that race still matters. Although it may not be something that is said openly, it still determines how you interact with others, what you do and do not say, and how we handle everyday situations. McIntosh even shows how the mindset of a person is somehow related back to race. Although people are not, for the most part, intentionally biased or impartial due to race, but rather it is how we have been conditioned and as a result it is a problem that we can not ignore, but together we must find a way to solve.

Harlan Coben summary

            In March of 2008 Harlan Coben wrote an article describing how Spyware is a great idea for parents to monitor thier children's behavior and interaction, while not being invasive and ruining their child's privacy. Coben begins by giving a description of what Spyware does, how it's relatively easy to install, and how it can be benificial to the safety of a young son or daughter. He then goes to address two counterarguments for the use of Spyware, the first being that some will argue that it is an invasion of privacy, and the second is that there are other less invasive ways to protect and montior what your kids do online. As a rebuttal he gives two reasons why those two counter arguements have been ineffective in the past and how much more effective Spyware would be comparatively. Cohen then acknowledges the fact that there will be things like pornography that teenagers will look at and whether or not to block or discuss pornography are at the discretion of the parents, and even gives a personally story. The author then gives example of how Spyware has been used effectively in the case of a friend whose daughter was doing drugs while also sleeping with the drug dealer. Cohen closes explaining how although it may seem like an invasion of privacy, it's really more of an effective way of protecting your child in the " evolving challenges presented by the Internet".