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The Height of Vanity

While reading about the process of leg lengthening I was completely shocked. I knew that there are surgeries for this kind of thing for patients with back problems because they were born with legs that weren’t the same height but I had no clue that people would want to go through this willingly for just a few inches. In the article it’s discussed the amounts of pain and the process some of these people go through for less than 5 inches. It’s said that it increases their ability to get a job or even a partner but in the scope of things is a year or more of your life in bed worth it? To me it’s insane to think about someone being this self conscious about their height but it is even a big thing in America as well.
This photo shows the average body of a model, a playmate and an average woman. We dream to six feet or above like the models who walk on the runways but clocking in at six feet doesn’t seem to be all it’s cracked up to be. The average man in America is only five foot ten and most men admit they wouldn’t want to date someone taller than them. It has also been seen in studies that many women are intimidated by women that are taller than them especially in the work place.


The superiority complex women get from models has reached new heights in the past few years mainly due to social media and the press putting these models up on pedestals. Women still desire to look like them despite all studies shown saying that some of these models have the worst health problems, they don’t eat and they generally have shorter life spans. To me women are striving for something virtually impossible. The height and weight of super models, the ability to eat whatever they want when they want and the picture perfect health to go with it.
-Mare




By reading this article, I found out that there is such thing as a surgery procedure that makes women, or men, taller (according to this article, women tend to do this surgery more, especially in China). The reason it’s so popular, and necessary, is because Chinese society links height with beauty and power, that even companies set a height requirement on hiring! “The Chinese government – the Foreign Ministry requires would-be female diplomats to measure at least 5’3”, and males, 5’7”’. 
The procedure- a total of 5 surgeons and 3 hours of sawing, drilling, hammering, and grafting. “A hole is cut into the patients leg just below the knee joint, and the bone is sawed in half… a long metal pin, ‘locked nail,’ is inserted into the bone cavity. The nail is banged into position with a metal hammer, and then the frame is secured around the leg. The frame is adjusted to force the bones apart and stretch the skin, muscles, and nerves.” The total time is takes for a full recovery: 1 year. 

I found an article from the American Psychological Association having to do with height and jobs. I just quoted a few sentences from each of the articles:
“Each inch above average may be worth $789 more per year”
“…Someone who is 6 feet tall earns, on average, nearly $166,000 more during a 30-year career than someone who is 5 feet 5 inches –even when controlling for gender, age, and weight.”
“The process of literally ‘looking down on others’ may cause one to be more confident… similarly, having others ‘looking up to us’ may instill tall people more self-confidence.”
“… The average height of American men is 5’9” and the average height of American women is 5’4”.”
I think the only difference is that China lets people know that there is a height requirement, but here, it’s not told. It’s more disguised.  

-Alex





As discussed in the article "The Height of Vanity" in the book The Meaning of Dresses you begin to see that China's economy is growing quickly, but you may be surprised that some Chinese citizens are growing, too.
Research shows that in China, Chinese society equates heigh with beauty and power. But this surgery is no joke. It will take a team of surgeons over 3 hours to drill, hammer, and graft a patients legs to lengthen their height. The surgeon will then insert a metal rod into the bone and with time will begin to expand vertically allowing the bone and muscle to grow. This procedure is quite expensive averaging out to about $85,000 in the US. Most patients will most likely go to a foreign doctor to spend less than half of that. But as you know, you get what you pay for.

In the video below, it is said that many people struggle with height dysphoria, which means they are unhappy with their height. Therapy hasn't shown to make a difference and there have been cases of suicides due to unhappiness with ones height.

This procedure is said to be extremely painful and causes the individual to be bed ridden for months at a time. But in the end they have been able to add at most 6 inches to their height. And in the video below, the man that chose to do this to himself has not just done this procedure once, but twice to continually keep growing.

It has been said that the few extra inches has increased the patient with self confidence, as well as helped them with their dating life as well as in a business atmosphere.
 

Generacion Latino

This article discussed the growing involvement of Latino influence in the rest of the world. From music to fashion to make-up and food, America and many other countries are being influenced by the Hispanic culture. This is due to the fact that they are 4.3 million strong, more than 14% of the total Hispanic population and 13.6% of all teens (at the time this article was written in 1999).
It started to not only become okay but actually popular to be more like J-Lo for example. People were idolizing her curves and make-up and the importance of looking like a wealthy white teen started fading out.


With the amount Hispanic teens were spending on make-up and fashion and their increasing numbers that started out growing white teens their traditions such as thick liquid liner, embroidered shirts and break dancing it seemed that everyone was doing these things making them the idealized practices to be a “cool” teen.
I liked reading this article because I thought it was interesting to see how people viewed the rising of the Hispanic culture 10 years ago. Some of these traditions that people picked up on in the early 2000’s are still relevant now. For example the liquid eyeliner still stuck around and Hispanic actors are still very well recognized and utilized in Hollywood.
 

-Mare



The article mainly talked about marketing towards a mass audience using the Latino culture because people are starting to embrace it, those who aren’t even of the origin. If youre wondering why, according to the article, the Hispanic population is 30 million strong, and it isn’t slowing down any time soon- it’s growing four times faster than the general population.

Some designers have had their collections based off of Latin influence:
Rebecca Minkoff - Spring 2014 Collection - New York Fashion Week 
 
vibrant colors, embroidery, and Frida-Kahlo inspired braids

Hollywood as well. Instructions Not Included, was the first time I have personally seen a movie hit theatres that is IN Spanish with English subtitles.

- Alex




In this weeks article “Generacion Latino” it was discussed how our generation these days are more accepting towards the Latino race. A few years back it was not as common to turn on the TV and see a Hispanic actor or actress making big changes within the industry. If you wanted to see a Hispanic making waves within the industry, you knew you could go see a Tele-Novela
but today, you can simply go watch Modern Family and get your dose of Hispanic madness from the famous Sofia Vergara. She has made such an impact on our society that she is one of the most top paid actresses today on national television. She is being sought out by companies such as Maybelline to record funny and stand out commercials as well as on talk shows such as Ellen Degeneres and Saturday Night Live.

She has helped open up acceptance within the Hispanic community and role selection when casting for TV shows or commercials. Just an example of this for me in my life is a few years back when I began modeling it was very hard for me to audition for certain roles because of my last name. I then decided to cast as Valerie Ann or Valb, which gave me a way out from being type casted. I was always put into the Hispanic category, holding me back from my full potential of being able to take on different roles in the industry. Today, after Sofia Vergara and other Spanish actresses have made an impact on our culture and generation it is actually a lot easier to get acting jobs because they are looking for more Hispanic roles. It is actually not held against you if you speak Spanish like it was a few years back. It has really made it a lot easier for us to accept who we are and run with it.
 -Val

Halloween In The Media

As far back as we can remember the typical Halloween costumes have been ghosts, witches, vampires and every other scary creature that we hear in stories and decide to bring out in real life one night a year. But with growing technology and having social media be everyone’s main hub for news and trending topics we’re seeing an increase in popular costumes based off of what’s popular each year. For example this year a huge trending topic was Miley Cyrus’ performance at the VMA’s where she wore little to no clothing and danced with a foam finger. Seeing as this was such a specific social norm to violate people saw it as the perfect opportunity to dress like her for Halloween since it was so outrageous and recognizable. The costumes influenced by the media aren’t just limited to crazy celebrity outfits either. They can be from popular movies such as Minions from Despicable Me or fan favorites such as Walt from Breaking Bad. The norm is no longer to be scary even though this is what the holiday was set for but it is to show how clever you can be in imitating the most popular points of this year. 

Shown here is the official ‘most popular costume of the year’ according to studies shown on most commonly purchased outfit. Because of Miley’s wild behavior and unusual outfit that blew up in the media it became popular to imitate her. The article wrote about this also discusses the other influences I mentioned as the top 5 most commonly purchased outfits this year. 

http://smusmc.com/halloweens-hottest-costumes-inspired-social-media/

-Mare








This article mainly focuses on how quickly a well-thought-out costume (or thought to be original) becomes outdated because of social media. It gets talked about, shared, retweeted, liked, etc. people are constantly seeing it and getting inspiration from others, and of course, the media. Whatever is popular during the year, you can bet there will be 20 people around you dressed as the same thing. According to the article, this is how media destroyed originality in creating costumes, or deciding what to be. “Costumes are celebrated and critiqued as fast as Internet memes, bits of viral culture that quickly rise then flame out.” In this article it talks about a girl that spent $150 on her costume (outfit like Miley Cyrus was wearing at her VMA’s performance) in mid-september, but by mid-october, it quickly became outdated- because well, she’s not the only one going dressed up as Miley Cyrus. to read more about the article, click here


Miley Cyrus' performance was so popular that:

other celebrities dressed up as her

even kids are getting creative with it

and of course, you can't forget about the pets


here's even a tutorial on how to dress as Miley

& not to just limit on Miley, here are some others that I found on huffingtonpost






- Alex


Since I was young I have always noticed that Halloween costumes and themes have been affected by movies and music. Now a days costumes have become even sexier than they were years ago and this is attributed to movies that make young teens feel they need to be sexy on Halloween to be socially acceptable. The movie Mean Girls is just one of the many movies that have influenced young girls to dress sexy. In the article I read, it states “There's a line in the film Mean Girls, repeated by many girls, that Halloween is the one night a year you can (dress like) a slut.... So there is this attitude that (sexy costumes) are the cool costumes.” (USA Today) 
An example of this in Mean Girls is when one of the main characters dresses up as a “sexy mouse” and Lindsey Lohan not knowing that Halloween is the one day of the year to let your slutty fantasies flourish; dressed up as an “Ex-Wife”. She was looked at as weird and slightly an outcast. Society has changed and people have learned that for Halloween either your with it or your not. But the honest reality is that “Sexy is back” and people will continue to try and be sexy even if you must be a “sexy mouse”. Lastly, the article brings up a very good point:
“ The bigger issue is that this continues to teach girls every day that what matters most about them is their physical body. Their intellect, their ethics, their character are all secondary to the physical presentation and their need to please the world with how they look. And there's no doubt in the research that this (over sexualization of girls) is problematic for boys, too. As they hit adolescence they are surrounded by girls presenting themselves as much more adults than they really are. And one of the messages they can pick up is that to be a winner you have to "score." That means learning very inappropriate behavior that has very long-term effects on how they relate to women.” (USA Today)
We as adults and parents need to start teaching the younger generations that its not all about being sexy because society has made us believe that that’s what its all about. We must help our kids learn how to be creative again and how to respect their bodies and give off a different  self image on Halloween. You can be sexy but sexy doesn’t have to be half naked.
-Val