Blog #4: Land Acknowledgement

Recognizing the darker aspects of history have been at a crossroad in recent years. I keep noticing people encouraging discussions regarding discrimination and violence while others choose to boldly ignore those parts. With controversies surrounding recognition of cases of displacement, tragic parts of history and culture are being demonstrated to modern audiences. Recognizing displacement has its own problems, as there are many methods of doing so that not every negatively affected agree upon. When researching methods of amends, I noticed that land acknowledgement of land originally resided by Native Americans, while rather simple in definition, often creates wide-ranging discussions regarding history and its censorship and the erasure of Indigenous culture. Upon making that realization, I decided to make it the topic of my essay.

Henry P Huntington's "What Do Land Acknowledgements Acknowledge?" highlights the depths of land acknowledgement. The simplicity of land acknowledgements and how some Native Americans disagree with the practice is mentioned, but the article primarily focuses on the atmosphere and conversations acknowledgements can encourage. Awareness and recognition of displacement is much more preferable to knowing ignorance. Land acknowledge is recognition of an occurrence of displacements centuries and the continuing injustice effecting the descendants of Indigenous people, heavily implying that those who have benefited are determined to fix current discrimination issues and to make sure that such instances do not occur to future generations.

Original Article: What Do Land Acknowledgements Acknowledge?

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Blog #2: Fixing the Positive Stereotype of Natasha Romanoff

Iron Man 2 , the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to include Natasha Romanoff, gave the Black Widow a weak introduction, as her character is written to fall under a positive stereotype of women being valued only for their sex appeal. Future films where she is featured have better established her personality and motivations. Despite the well-written exploration of her character in other films, it was not their responsibility to properly develop Romanoff. Iron Man 2 could have included a characterization of her that did not rely primarily on sex appeal. The backstory and occupation of Romanoff follow that of the original Marvel comics, so the movie was correct in keeping her career as a spy. Inclusion of her sarcastic humor and serious, calculating personality was necessary. As seen in the movie, without her signature traits, she is rather one-dimensional. Her lack of personality emphasizes the dependence the movie places on her beauty as a definition of herself and woul...

Blog #1: Positive Stereotypes

Movies and television shows have a history of attempting to make audiences like female characters that are portrayed as attractive but with a lack of personality. The character is typically noted and applauded by others for her beauty, which does not appear as a negative portrayal of women. The issue, however, is that some women in the media are primarily characterized by their good looks and are not given any other form of identity. They are treated like their beauty is their personality, which gives the impression that women can only be respected and liked if they are pretty. One of the most well-known women in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Natasha Romanoff, also known as “Black Widow”, was introduced under that positive stereotype. Her first movie was Iron Man 2 , where she first appears in a tight-fitting blouse, catching the attention of the male characters, most significantly Tony Stark, who looks up more information about her. She then defeats one of Stark’s friends in a ...

Blog #5: Transgender Women and Healthcare

Throughout my life I have had transgender friends complain about the discrimination they faced in relation to healthcare. I remember some coming out during high school, where some in the medical field thought that they were too young to make decisions regarding their gender. Most of my friends were lucky with the support of their parents, though some expressed initial fear that they would not be welcomed and therefore not get the transition materials (typically medical) they needed due to parental permission being required. Even if transgender people are adults, they can still have difficulty finding the needed medical treatments. Many transgender people face discrimination with finding employment and housing, which can effect their location to places with proper medical treatment. In addition, without effective insurance, the treatment can be rather costly. The most obvious concern when actually given the opportunity to get treatment is the possible transphobia, which does exist ...

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