Hello friends! Welcome back to my blog! In today’s post, I will first be discussing about our recent group subvertisement poster topic which was “What is Feminism in 2020?”.
Here is the picture of our group’s subvertisement poster.
The message that we were trying to convey was how people often tend to assume that the word “maid” will definitely be a female. There are often gender stereotypes when it comes to different occupations. In my opinion, I feel that there should not be a household gender gap as both men and women are capable of doing the same thing, be it cleaning or cooking. To be precise, our strengths and weaknesses should not be defined by our gender. It is important to not categorise genders into different expertise as in this generation, women and men can both be successful and capable in their own ways. For example, some females can be very good at managing money but bad at cleaning, while some men can be very good at cleaning while bad at managing money. With that, I feel that both females and males should be looked at equally and have equal opportunities to do what they want to do.
Mediated Public Sphere
Now that our generation revolves mainly around the media, many people often uses it as a public sphere. Their opinions can be shared easily through social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Here is an example I took from a Facebook page.
Many people use the media to make memes of things that are relevant in this day and age. Some of them make memes to diss about something, while some make them just because they are bored or they find something funny. This meme was made by a Facebook user, explaining how sites like Google and Facebook are always “listening” on what we are discussing or searching about. Personally, after online shopping, I will often scroll through my other apps like Facebook. Most of the time, there will be advertisements on my Facebook feed advertising on the things that I was searching for.
Comment sections on social media sites are often a public sphere to many users, as it is where they share their thoughts, experiences or knowledge based on that post.
Here are some of the comments from this Facebook post. It is evident that I am not the only one who experienced this.
Another example of a mediated public sphere will be Our Share Shelf.
Our Share Shelf was founded by Emma Watson. It is an online forum group for people who supports feminism and equal rights. They can share books that inspire them and discuss about topics with the community of people online. This acts as a form of open discussion, connecting different views from the public.
Also, you can simply just post a picture on your Instagram page with a caption that includes #oursharedshelf for everyone to see your book recommendation on Instagram! How easy is that!
To conclude,
Unlike the past, when only rich white men were allowed in the public sphere, I feel that our current generation are very lucky as we can share our opinions online so easily. This mediated public sphere becomes a discussion forum for us, enabling us to talk about things from books recommendation to even political views. This really shows how much the society progressed as more and more people are using the media as a mediated public sphere, which enables more perspective and exchanging of views among the community. However, the users should also know where the boundary line is when it comes to sharing of their own personal opinions. This is to avoid any unnecessary drama or conflicts as some issues. There are some things that we can joke about and there are some that we cannot. Hence, we should all be aware of what we share and be responsible users.
Thank you for reading! Hope to see you on my next post! 🙂
References
50 Feminist Memes That Will Make Most People Laugh But Trigger Sexists. (2020). Retrieved 4 March 2020, from https://www.boredpanda.com/feminist-memes/?afterlogin=savevote&post=1528542&score=1&utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic
jonasbro. (2016). Retrieved 4 March 2020, from https://jonasbro.tumblr.com/post/113217857621/if-someone-had-told-me-that-my-brother-could-go
8Shit. (2020). Retrieved 4 March 2020, from https://www.facebook.com/281849238620927/posts/1876761542463014/?d=n
Our Shared Shelf. Retrieved 4 March 2020, from https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/179584-our-shared-shelf
jy 
Hey JY!
I too noticed that anything that I typed into google when it comes to schools & products will appear in a form of advertisement especially on youtube. Recently, I searched up SIT and the next thing i knew the promotional video for SIT appeared in the youtube video I was watching. I was also curious on whether they are in fact ‘listening’, I whispered the name of the product I was interested it into the microphone and guess what? The advertisement for the exact product was sitting nicely below the youtube video I was watching. I personally feel that it is sort of a marketing technique? But it’s just creepy, makes me wonder if my phone actually captures my personal conversation & even ‘pictures’.
I’m also very much pleased that your team raised the topic regarding the word maid being a term that most people understand that it refers to only women. The first image of a housekeeper would always be a woman but men can too be a housekeeper! In fact, I agree that there is a stigma that housekeeping is a work for women but in this present society we should discard this ideology and be more open. Housekeeping is just an action to keep your personal place clean, does it matter if a female/male are doing it? I hope our society can be more open-minded & remove the stigma that women are ‘build’ to do housework.
Neat blogpost! I’m looking forward to your next one 🙂
LikeLike
Hi JY!! I love your blog posts, they are always easy to read!
I agree with you that gender shouldn’t be the criteria defining our strengths and weaknesses. However, I do think that there are things that most women do relatively better than man! Women are more careful than men and that’s why it’s always the mother taking care of a baby but not a father. Of course there are exceptional cases but in my point of view, in general, there are strengths and weaknesses for both gender.
I’m quite sure that those sites are “spying” on us!! Recently I’m finding a room to rent and suddenly all of the advertisement are related to room rental! That’s why I always cover the camera on my computer HAHAAA
Look forward to your next post!!:D
LikeLike
Hey JY! It was really fun making the subvertisement with y’all.
I like how you pointed out that the old public sphere was run by mostly old rich white men. It must have been kind of a dilemma of it’s own convincing someone who doesn’t understand your class struggles, and hoping they will represent you in the way you need to be. The internet was definitely a game changer, and even if our opinions are a source of profit (as you mentioned) for companies, I still think it was a pivotal point in our society. The ads are annoying (and sometimes scary AF) though, not gonna lie.
Looking forward to your next post!
LikeLike
Hey JY, great blog post today. Your examples of the various mediated public sphere brings lots of insight. As we are in the age of the Internet, everyone can share and discuss topics online via different platforms. I especially like meme culture and reading Facebook comments too, as they provide the human touch and humour. Other than that your group’s subvert was good too. I felt that it made me think about what is socially acceptable in our society. Questioning the male vs female dominated jobs that we have grown custom to. Men for example are equally as capable of doing housework, whole women too can have successful businesses.
LikeLike
Hello JY! I really loved your group’s Subvertisement! I feel that your group brought up a good point on the subconscious assumptions that people have about ‘’maids’’ being mostly females. I reflected at the back of my head after your group presented on your poster and realized that the picture in my head when I think of maid agencies are all just female tanned skinned females. (Not trying to prove that I am racist because I am not! I just want to prove that it is the way that the society sees maids and how we are brought up that shaped our minds to have those stereotypes.)
A great representation of multiple examples of mediated public spheres and the types of topics being discussed there! I also agree with you that we might tend to overshare personal details on these platforms and it could be dangerous for our wellbeing. I feel that privacy is the most precious information to us human beings and it should be kept confidential. Keep writing! 😊
LikeLike