Woman's Studies Event

On Wednesday, November 20th, I attended a talk given by Nev Schulman of MTV's show Catfish. Although he did not technically speak on specific issues related to Woman's Studies, I think the talk was beneficial to the 95% female based audience and the 5% males at the event. I was able to listen and relate a lot of what he said to what we have talked about in class. He was able to use his own personal stories of success and fame and try to get his message out there about the important of being yourself and not judging others.

Nev talked a lot about self esteem and how important it is to be yourself and not let society dictate who you will become. For him, he thought the only way to be happy when he was younger was to be popular and to be popular, he thought he had to get with every girl and have the right look. I think this relates to the class because society is constantly telling us through media and pop culture that in order to be successful and happy, you must look a certain way, act a certain way, and be a certain person, regardless of whether or not you want to be that person. It is never about being who you want to be, it is only about being what society wants you to be. Nev said this was a blow to his self esteem because he did not believe he could live up to society's expectations. Once he discovered that he could do what he wanted and be who he wanted to be, his self esteem went up. He reminded the audience that this was the key to their happiness, not trying to please society.

Nev also wanted to let the audience know that everyone has a story, and you shouldn't judge them, you should listen. When Nev was younger, he would not treat people how they deserved to be treated. Since then, he has discovered that actually listening to them and knowing what they are about could really make all the difference. Society tends to put labels on people to give them a one-dimensional aspect of themselves that defines their whole personality. 'Gay' 'Slut' 'Freak'. If we buy into those labels, we will never be able to see people as anything other than how society has labeled them. Nev wanted to get the point across that knowing people's stories is a good way to change our perspective and take those labels away.

The last point that Nev made was to not try to over sexualize yourself because society makes it seem ok. With movies and shows and celebrities becoming more and more sexual, people feel like it's alright for them to do it, especially on social media sites. But this can end up hurting you and hurting others around you. If you are not comfortable with that, then don't do it. You should not let society make it seem like you have to be that way.