Recently, UNCW’s Her Campus started a Youtube channel: HerCampusUNCW. This is a new addition to our chapter, and while the videos themselves are still works in progress (we aren’t professional YouTubers yet), the excitement for their content is apparent! The celebration after reaching 50 views on our second video was pretty intense.
We decided that after our video content has been posted a follow up article should be published to further discuss the topics. We are hoping that our YouTube videos become a way for our readers to communicate their thoughts, concerns and idea’s to UNCW’s Her Campus chapter, so we know what our readers and viewers want to see!
Stephanie and I focused on Slut-Shaming and Slurs in our most recent uploads. The two topics are similar in their main message: Our generation needs to stop slut-shaming and using derogatory slurs to degrade each other. We are not accomplishing anything by hating, discriminating and humiliating each other in hopes of obtaining some sort of person gain.
These subjects are relevant for two reasons. One is the recent media exposure of celebrity feuds, girl-on-girl hate and hateful social media comments. Examples would be Guiliana Rancic on Zendaya’s Oscar hair-do, Instagram users consistently judging Kylie Jenner’s new look, and the harassment of Kristen Layne (an 18 year old from Tennessee who was trying to sell her prom dress via Facebook) from complete strangers. Reason number two is the amount of media influence to use derogatory language and labels to identify specific groups or types of people. If you listen to any song on the radio you’re going to hear men identifying their significant others as their “bitch”, or a woman calling herself a “bad bitch.” The word “bitch” has been transformed from a censored curse word to a positive identifier by our generation. However, the meaning of the word itself is still the same according to Webster’s Dictionary: (n) the female of the dog or some other carnivorous mammals or a malicious, spiteful, or overbearing woman —sometimes used as a generalized term of abuse.
On the flip side, there has been an amazing surge of body-positive, and self-esteem advocates, as well as the push for equality among races, nationalities and genders surfacing in the media scene. Celebrities who’s claim to fame is promoting living healthy lifestyles in ways normal non-celebrities can achieve, like Lisa Lillien (Hungry Girl), and Cassey Ho (POP Pilates), encourage young women to take charge of their overall health, not just their weight. Women who are taking the political sector by storm, like Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila (first female Prime Minister of Namibia) and Saria Blair (youngest representative in the West Virginia House of Delegates, and everywhere else for that matter) are giving other young women the opportunity to have their voice heard when it comes to their country’s political matters.
As Stephanie and I mentioned in our videos, our generation’s use of language is centered around the negative connotation of words and degrading content. We are the millennial generation, also known as a “selfish” generation, who has been given the blessing and curse of living in the digital age. Our influences know the best way to reach us is through music, videos and social media; however, they also overload us with ill-advised messages that we continue to construe and broadcast through our society. To reverse this phenomenon, there would need to be support from not only people our age, but also our prized influences that have helped shape our generation.
Stephanie and I hope our viewers continue to follow our posts and we encourage everyone to comment, rate and give us feedback each week! We want our topics to be relevant to our viewers and up-to-date with pop-culture. Don’t forget to follow our Youtube, HerCampusUNCW, and give us your opinions!