The Influences of the Media

I definitely agree that the media influences me as well as everyone else who watches television or reads a magazine. Trying to wear "what's in style" is a major influence on society and what they wear. I love to look through fashion magazines and see what famous designers are creating. I also like to check out celebrities and see what might look good on me if I wore it. I'm still my own person but there are things that are risky and I would not try on but if I saw someone else wearing it I would want to see how I would look wearing it. I guess you could say that's copying someone else and not being original but I could change it up and add my own style to it. As long as it's something not everyone is wearing i think it's fine. I know of girls who spend ridiculous amounts of money on clothes, shoes and makeup. It's fun to have nice things but there's a limit to how much I'm willing to pay for something. Just because something is Chanel or Gucci doesn't make me want to go broke just to have it. But then again maybe that's hypocritical because a lot of the things I buy I could do without. To me it just depends how much the media influences you. I hate people who think they are too good for things just because it's not name brand.

On the subject about sex in the classroom I think it's definitely a good thing to be educated by professionals. In middle school and high school I had health classes that taught me so much about different diseases and situations. Coming from someone other than my parents I think was good because talking to my parents about certain things is awkward. I'm very open about but there are always questions you never want to ask. The classes I took were insightful and I think it was great to get straightforward answers and facts. In tenth grade my health teacher invited a lot of speakers to come in and talk to us. There was one guy who talked about how he had a child and he was only eighteen at the time. We were able to hear how his life changed and how he had to worry about buying diapers and all the extra responsibilities he had to handle while his friends were out partying still and having fun. Coming from your parents you might just see it as them nagging you and it won't sink in. Another speaker came in to talk to us about how STD's and other diseases spread. She made us sign a card that said no sex until marriage and of course half of the class just threw it away but honestly I think it was a great way to get the point across not to just have sex with anyone to make them happy or just to stay in a relationship. I also think that parents can be naive in the sense that they think there child isn't having sex. This is not good because then if there child is and they don't talk to them about practicing safe sex and being responsible then they could end up pregnant or with an STD.

After watching Spongebob I was surprised at some of the stuff they had on there. I'm not going to lie, there were some things that I didn't catch or get right away so I had to watch it again with a friend. My little sister and younger cousins watch Spongebob all the time and even though they might not pick up on these sexual innuendos it isn't necessary to put it into a kids show. I don't remember any sexual innuendos in the Disney movies. I just looked up "Disney sexual hidden messages" on youtube.com and the stuff they showed was ridiculous. It was nothing I would even catch at all or expect anyone else to. They showed how the pollen from the Lion King floated into the word "SEX". It wasn't until after they they said what the hidden sexual message was I was able t pick up one it. that I don't agree with being strict about what children watch. I think you should monitor what your child is watching and not let an eight year old watch PG-13 movies. But I had a friend whose mom was so cautious about what her daughter watched on t.v. or saw in the movies. When I would go over we would watch movies and she would have to check out the rating and see why it was rated that way. I think that's too much. Nothing was ever that crazy but I guess to each his own. I think my parents raised me well. I have my values and morals and they might be considered bad to some but I respect myself and I try not to let any one's actions influence me negatively.