Who am I? I am someone who hates answering this kind of question but here goes. My name is Debra Bree. I’m a junior at Hunter, earning my degrees in English/Creative Writing and Media Studies/Media Analysis and Criticism. My aim is to use these degrees to dissect, analyze, and critique (sometimes constructively, sometimes not) media of all forms so we can learn from mistakes and do better. To represent people better, to add another voice to those who refuse to be shut down or out. Television, more so than movies,, has influenced the way I think, the way I write, the way I view the world. My introduction to and affination for hockey over for the last few years has started me down a path I’d been longing to travel for as long as I can remember.
Growing up in a female oriented household is probably why I am where I am today. This is not because my family was particularly feminist or anything. But I have three sisters and we were raised by my mother so I learned quickly that there was no man in my life to do things for me like my friends had. And as I grew up, I wondered, “Well, why isn’t this a normal thing, a woman taking charge of her own life? Why does everyone I know expect men to do things for them?” There’s a lot of insecurity that came with it, and it’s still there, but I’m learning to reconcile what I see around me and what I believe needs to be changed.
Growing up without male presence and watching TV shows that were dominated by men - I quickly grew tired of those with whom I couldn’t relate. I wanted shows that gave me realistic role models for me, a teenage girl. to see what I could do in life. For example, in a previous class, we were asked to list our top five TV shows. Off the bat, the first two I thought of were Scrubs and Boy Meets World. Yes, those shows are dominated by males but they still have strong, well-rounded female characters who have every intention of being the best and doing something great with their lives. And that it doesn’t really matter what they look like while doing it but if they want to look fabulous for themselves while kicking ass, more power to them. It’s not a necessary thing, I know that now because it took me a while to realize that when I wear make up, if it’s not for me, I don’t feel right about it.
More recently, mass media has focused a lot on social media which is a good and bad thing. I’m very pro social media on all platforms and while people are attacked anonymously, or at least definitely not in person, it’s something we need to regulate on our own, kind of like the honor system. Which is kind of the idea about how social media works - an open dialogue where hopefully the uninformed and ignorant learn a few things about not being entitled and privileged. But as information and networking tools, social media has great influence.
I mentioned hockey before - it’s something that has really opened my eyes on how there is no fandom safe for women and PoC to actively partake in. Sports is its own awful entity of racism and misogyny and as it’s something I’d like to, and have veeeeeery slowly started to, pursue a career in, constant commentary and critique can go a long way to opening up doors and minds. One of my favorite, and probably the best, hockey stats people (a woman), drew up the following to let people know the difference between hockey fans and puck bunnies (a term used by men, and unfortunately some women, to degrade female fans):
It’s something like this that inspires me and moves me to keep going. Media is all around, mostly bombarding us with shame and insecurity. It’s time for it to change, and yeah, I want to be a part of it.
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