http://www.topnews.in/people/queen-latifah Queen

                I chose to remake this image of Queen Latifah. I think of Queen latifah as an incredibly beautiful women, who crashes through the box of what beauty should be in media today. Not only is she a woman of color, which is historically a much underrepresented group of people in the media, but she is also not the typical construct of a beautiful body size. She is a full figured women, who embraces her curves, and flaunts her body. She carries herself in a very confident way, and does not pretend to be perfect, but does show that she is worthy and beautiful. Although she does not fit the common ideals of beauty, she makes no apologies for that. She is an extremely positive role model for young girls because she is so successful. She has broken through outlets that are dominated by women who fit certain characteristics. For example her very successful career in the music industry. This is an industry that is overflowing with women who are thin and light, yet she persevered. Later becoming a Cover Girl, Queen Latifah broke through yet another barrier. As a Cover Girl her beauty is celebrated.

                Cover Girl is a cosmetics company targeted to women who strive to be beautiful. By using Queen Latifah as a model to endorse these products it does prove that different types of people can be beautiful, which in my opinion is a very positive message to send, especially to young girls. However, Cover Girl is using Queen Latifahs undeniable beauty is how the ad is using women’s bodies. Her facial beauty is undeniable, and although does not align with the norm, it is still being facilitated in a way to sell products to women who want that same gorgeous glow.  Her body is being used to sell products to women, much of the beauty seen in this ad and others are impossible to obtain. 

proposal

1. Contact information: Title: Sisters Supporting Sisters Community Service Partner: UCF Victims Services and Panhellenic counsel. Group Members: Sarah C. and Chelsea L.

2. Community Partner Profile: We are choosing to work with the victim services center on the campus of the University of Central Florida. The mission statement of this organization is “To collaborate with and empower organizations and individuals to eliminate violence in our communities through advocacy, education and training.” The goals of the victims services is to educate students about domestic violence, and inform victims of their rights. Some of their are people to work for the Vagina Monologues,by hanging posters and passing out fliers, as well as working the event as ushers or collecting tickets. Also they do a drive in April for "Underawarness month" where they collect sheets and panties to give to victims of assault. http://victimservices.ucf.edu/Services.html

 3. The Proposal Define the problem:
          The main problem we want to address through our service learning experience is branching the gap between two major organizations. Victim services at the University of Central Florida and the Greek life on campus are both filled with people who are wanting and willing to make great changes for the community. One of the major goals of the Greek System is making an impact on society. Each organization requires that each member participate in the philanthropy of the organizations choice. Beyond that each member must complete a pre assigned amount of hours doing community service on their own. These organizations have a huge amount of members, and at the end of the day the time they spend raising money or volunteering absolutely makes an impact on the people they are attempting to help. The victim services center at UCF is also filled with people who have a clear vision of the type of impact they would like to make. The people that work for victims services do so much hard work to complete a vision and make our campus a better place for everyone who spends parts of their lives here. They are doing such amazing work helping women in the community as well as on the campus. But, they do not have the man power that the Greek system does. However, their goals are much clearer.
              Unfortunately in the past the alliance between these two organizations has never been strong enough to last after executive members graduate, or boards change. Therefore, Chelsea and I would like to strengthen the connection between these organizations, allowing them to communicate and work together. Victim services has some wonderful opportunities for the Greek system to get involved in, and Chelsea and I would want to make sure each chapter knew of these chances. For example the Vagina Monologues will be playing on campus and downtown. Volunteers are needed for things like being ushers, or hanging banners. If chapters knew of these opportunities they may be willing to help, in turn opening dialogue about the show and different issues touched upon in it. Also the “underawareness month” would be a great way to be able to educate chapters about the very real and happening dangers of assault on and off campuses, and give them a way to help. By donating panties to women who have been victimized, Greek women can begin to understand and have empathy for what is going on. Also the women who have been hurt will hopefully be helped by our small donations.
              Ultimately the main source of change in my mind would be having a representative from victim services come to different chapters to speak about the dangers that can come with not setting boundaries within a relationship. Knowing the difference between what is appropriate and what is unacceptable is something we both think could be very beneficial to every women and man on campus. The statistics about  abuse are staggering, and prove that it is a huge problem "One and five reported that she had been physically or sexually abused"(261) . This is not an issue facing just one group of women, it is an issue all women should be informed about. By bringing in an educating greek women, it is our hope that they will continue the conversation in other aspects of their lives, and put an end to violence against women. After all, like Lori Heises said "This is not random violence; the risk factor is being female" (257).
       We hope that whatever relationship made between Pan and Victim services this semester will continue into the years to come. Both organizations would benefit from keeping a strong relationship alive, especially because they are both filled with hardworking people who want to make a positive difference in the world. Propose a plan that addresses the problem or need: For our service learning experience we have chosen to bring together the victims services center with the Greek community on campus. Both of the organizations have already been well established, therefore working together would be beneficial to both parties. The problem of domestic violence does not exist only in certain realms, it is prevalent in the lives of all women.

 Action steps:
• Establish a relationship with victim services
 • Meet with pan executives to see what they are open to
 • Create an open line of communications between victim services and pan]
 • Create a competition and prize incentive for which sorority donates the most underwear for “Underawareness”.
 • Speak at a PAN meeting market the opportunity to have Victim Services speak to their chapters and the “Underawareness” Fundraiser. Inform chapters about the volunteer and community service opportunities with Victim Services.
• Visit chapters with Victim Services speaker.

 Timeline:
 • WEDNESDAY 2/15 3:00 PM: meeting with Christine Mouton o 5:00 PM: call PAN risk management chair to explain our project
 • MONDAY 2/20 o 12pm: Meeting with PAN Risk Management Chair to give proposal and further explain our timeline. o 11:00pm: Receive feedback from PAN officers and Advisors.
 • WEDNESDAY 2/29 o 3:00pm: Present opportunity for speaker and our the “Underawareness” fundraising competition.
 • SUNDAYS March and April (Dates scheduled due to chapters availability) o 7:00 PM: Victim Services give presentation on boundaries. Remind chapters about the “Underawareness” Fundraiser.
 • WEDNESDAY 4/18 3:00 PM: Collect for “Underawareness” Fundraiser.

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African American Feminism Today Panel Discusion

On Monday February 6 I attended a lecture about African American Feminism today. It was very interesting to get a different perspective of other issues affecting feminism today. I think sometimes it’s easy to overlook the hardships that others face because I do not face those same hardships. It’s very important to understand that certain differences cause a different world view, especially for a cause such as feminism. We all as females can relate to feeling underappreciated due to our sex, but beyond that oppression do exist. The panel had a great insight into some different scholars that I am not familiar with and was interested to learn more about. The first person we discussed was Malcolm X. The woman on the panel who taught us about Malcolm X was a political science major and found his work to be very interesting. She also had a vested interest in feminism. She said that much of what is written about Malcolm X today illustrates him as a chauvinistic man who agreed with the oppression of women. She found this hard to believe because so much of his work was fighting against the oppression of African Americans in society. She decided she would do her research on Malcolm X beyond his seemingly chauvinistic ways. Although most of her research agreed with the opinion that he had been incredibly racist, she felt that it was not explaining the entire story. She said in his auto biography it explained that he looked up to strong female figures in his life, his sister for example would offer him much insight. The women from the panel example that much of what people considered his sexiest ways had much more to do with his culture and religion that anything else. He did not actually see women as second class citizens; he was just raised within a culture that did not believe women wanted anything more. He still very much respected the women in his life, although his main fight against oppression had to do with the unfair treatment of the African American society at the time. The second women we heard from on the panel sparked a discussion that was very touching. She began to speak about modern feminism as a whole, and how the media portrays feminism. She asked “who are some women you all would consider African American feminist you see today?” Some answers, such as Michelle Obama were very well received. Many people in the class agreed that she was a great role model. She is strong and well received; she does important work, yet it seen as a caring and good mother. She is proud of her race. The next discussion is what surprised me. Someone answered Beyonce as a good role model. She is strong and seen as independent. Everyone nodded in agreement; I mean who doesn’t love Beyonce? This is when the panel brought up a point that in my mind really highlights the different things that should be taken into account while still encompassing feminism. She said that Beyonce is strong and a good female role model, but that she lightens her skin on magazines and album covers, that in actuality she is much darker then she seems in the media. This started a discussion of all of the beauty treatments women of color must go through to obtain a “whiter” appearance. Girls talked about how they must perm their hair, and how they would rather just cut it all off. And why would the “white standard” be the standard of beauty anyway? It was very interesting to hear other peoples perspectives of an issue I had never really entertained.