Why I do what I do...

Last night after Chapel, I went to Wendy's with a few EC students. We talked about a variety of things, but ended up discussing the "crazy Christian lady" that was on ABC's WifeSwap a few weeks ago. I shared how we had watched the clip of her after she came back home. She was going nuts! Slamming things down, screaming at her family and the crew (I believe the direct quote was: "Get the hell out of my house, in Jesus' name!!"), and generally throwing a complete fit. My class, surprisingly enough, wasn't talking about the religious side of it (which could be interesting in itself), but the gender side of it. What if a man had been acting in the same way? Would the producers have still shown it, knowing he would be perceived as violent, aggressive, hateful? With a woman, she was just written off as "that crazy woman".

So, I'm talking about this with the students and I see a light go off above their heads. They've honestly never considered gender roles on television and how things like that could change the audience's viewing experience.

I'm sharing, they're learning! They're thinking critically! This is why I do what I do...it's why I wanted to be an RD (to pass on some of this supposed wisdom and life experience to those who'll come after me) and why I'm pursuing a Master's in Mass Media Studies (to be an advocate for Media Literacy and critical thinking). It made my day!