Every College Girl touches on some of the problems a girl in college is in need of solving. The authors write about the common issues every college girl faces in order to connect with the audience and provide them with a solution. For example, how to stay organized, how to arrange your dorm for the maximum space, how to eat healthy, how to save money, and how to create inexpensive gifts. Even though all of this information is helpful in a college girl’s life, especially mine, one big chunk of college life is missing from this blog. Shouldn’t studying be a major focus for college? The authors send a message out to not only college girls, but to society that puts college girls in a stereotypical category by focusing mostly on looks rather than studying, and titling the blog Every College Girl.
When I was looking through this blog, I was intrigued by the title. Every College Girl. I thought, “Well, I’m a college girl, so this blog must be beneficial to me in some way.” As I skimmed through the titles of the articles, it became apparent that this blog connects not only to me, but coincidently to every college girl. The blog includes information about style, gift ideas, healthy eating, and exercise, all while keeping a college budget. What college girl wouldn’t want to know how to do that? This being said, the audience is very clear, college girls. Sure maybe not every single college girl, but the majority of college girls, specifically those who live on campus.
There are many authors that contribute to the blog. Most of the authors have already graduated from college or are upperclassmen in college. That being said, the authors’ claim is ethos, because the authors of this blog have been through college, so they “know the ropes” so to speak. They have experienced first hand the college life of a female, and they know what information is essential to mastering the college life. This adds incredible accuracy to the blog’s information. Some may say that the authors’ claim is pathos. This could be a logical claim because the girls who write the articles for this blog are somewhat writing from emotion because they feel that every college girl needs the information that they lacked during their college days. However, after analyzing this blog thoroughly, I decided it was more of an ethos claim than a pathos claim.
The articles in this blog are mainly about staying fit and stylish while on a budget. For example, one author writes in an article, “It’s always sort of a bummer when the days start getting shorter and summer starts to vanish, but if there’s anything to get you pumped up for the cooler months it’s fall fashion.” Another author writes, “We all know at this point that the Freshman15 is definitely a real(and terrifying) reality. But when you’re stuck on campus eating meal trades or living on your own on a very limited budget, staying healthy can be even more difficult than writing that 7 page paper you should have started a week ago.” These posts are all about appearance rather than studying or academics. It is interesting to me that the author even mentioned the procrastination of a college student but chose to write a post about working out. In a way, this shows us a message. These authors are writing about what they were most concerned about in college and what they wish they knew beforehand. It is a little upsetting to know that they were obsessing over their looks and relationships more than their education. It sent a message to me for sure. From reading this blog, I got a somewhat opposite reaction of what was intended of the authors. I wanted to focus more on my studies than anything else after reading the posts. If I were an author of this blog, I would focus more on study habits and picking a major and career rather than how to do the perfect eye shadow or how to stay in style.
After gathering all of this information, there was one agonizing question that was haunting me. Why is this blog so heavily focused on appearances rather than studies? Afterall, it is college, so it it pretty safe to say that grades are extremely important. However, since the articles are written by former college students about solutions about what bothered them the most while they were in college, they seemed to think that materialistic things were the most important. This to me is very alarming. College should be a time of learning and working toward developing a career. So why is it that college girls are more focused in everything but studies while in college? The society that we live in is very heavily focused on appearances. For example, movie stars are constantly criticized on their figure, hair, and wardrobe. People are also judged in society based on how they look. For example, a man may be turned away from a fancy restaurant if he comes in with jeans on. Therefor, this blog is not only encouraging college girls to keep up a good appearance, but it is also contributing to the growing stereotype of the college/sorority girl. This should be a wake up call to society as a whole.
The message that Every College Girl is trying to get across is that you can still stay stylish, fit, and healthy while in college. However, the message that I took from it is that society sees female college students as wannabe Barbie dolls. The titles of some of the articles manifests this, “Why You Should Wear Hats”, “5 Nail Shades of Summer”, and “4 Subtle Traits of a Keeper.” There is nothing wrong with wanting to keep up your appearance, and it is especially hard to do in college, however the fact that the blog is so heavily emphasized on it, just gives off a bad message to girls in general. It also gives a stereotype that every college girl is so concerned with her appearance. If Every College Girl had included more articles about studying habits or if the title of the blog was changed, it would not have given off a stereotypical message.
When I was looking through this blog, I was intrigued by the title. Every College Girl. I thought, “Well, I’m a college girl, so this blog must be beneficial to me in some way.” As I skimmed through the titles of the articles, it became apparent that this blog connects not only to me, but coincidently to every college girl. The blog includes information about style, gift ideas, healthy eating, and exercise, all while keeping a college budget. What college girl wouldn’t want to know how to do that? This being said, the audience is very clear, college girls. Sure maybe not every single college girl, but the majority of college girls, specifically those who live on campus.
There are many authors that contribute to the blog. Most of the authors have already graduated from college or are upperclassmen in college. That being said, the authors’ claim is ethos, because the authors of this blog have been through college, so they “know the ropes” so to speak. They have experienced first hand the college life of a female, and they know what information is essential to mastering the college life. This adds incredible accuracy to the blog’s information. Some may say that the authors’ claim is pathos. This could be a logical claim because the girls who write the articles for this blog are somewhat writing from emotion because they feel that every college girl needs the information that they lacked during their college days. However, after analyzing this blog thoroughly, I decided it was more of an ethos claim than a pathos claim.
The articles in this blog are mainly about staying fit and stylish while on a budget. For example, one author writes in an article, “It’s always sort of a bummer when the days start getting shorter and summer starts to vanish, but if there’s anything to get you pumped up for the cooler months it’s fall fashion.” Another author writes, “We all know at this point that the Freshman15 is definitely a real(and terrifying) reality. But when you’re stuck on campus eating meal trades or living on your own on a very limited budget, staying healthy can be even more difficult than writing that 7 page paper you should have started a week ago.” These posts are all about appearance rather than studying or academics. It is interesting to me that the author even mentioned the procrastination of a college student but chose to write a post about working out. In a way, this shows us a message. These authors are writing about what they were most concerned about in college and what they wish they knew beforehand. It is a little upsetting to know that they were obsessing over their looks and relationships more than their education. It sent a message to me for sure. From reading this blog, I got a somewhat opposite reaction of what was intended of the authors. I wanted to focus more on my studies than anything else after reading the posts. If I were an author of this blog, I would focus more on study habits and picking a major and career rather than how to do the perfect eye shadow or how to stay in style.
After gathering all of this information, there was one agonizing question that was haunting me. Why is this blog so heavily focused on appearances rather than studies? Afterall, it is college, so it it pretty safe to say that grades are extremely important. However, since the articles are written by former college students about solutions about what bothered them the most while they were in college, they seemed to think that materialistic things were the most important. This to me is very alarming. College should be a time of learning and working toward developing a career. So why is it that college girls are more focused in everything but studies while in college? The society that we live in is very heavily focused on appearances. For example, movie stars are constantly criticized on their figure, hair, and wardrobe. People are also judged in society based on how they look. For example, a man may be turned away from a fancy restaurant if he comes in with jeans on. Therefor, this blog is not only encouraging college girls to keep up a good appearance, but it is also contributing to the growing stereotype of the college/sorority girl. This should be a wake up call to society as a whole.
The message that Every College Girl is trying to get across is that you can still stay stylish, fit, and healthy while in college. However, the message that I took from it is that society sees female college students as wannabe Barbie dolls. The titles of some of the articles manifests this, “Why You Should Wear Hats”, “5 Nail Shades of Summer”, and “4 Subtle Traits of a Keeper.” There is nothing wrong with wanting to keep up your appearance, and it is especially hard to do in college, however the fact that the blog is so heavily emphasized on it, just gives off a bad message to girls in general. It also gives a stereotype that every college girl is so concerned with her appearance. If Every College Girl had included more articles about studying habits or if the title of the blog was changed, it would not have given off a stereotypical message.
No comments:
Post a Comment