Justine Dolorfino

I just noticed that facebook uses what appears to be a male silhouette for “profile” to represent the generic user. Check out the icons for “requests” and “photos” too. I just think it’s interesting because it brings up a few points:

— is it easier to use a male image to represent generic consumers of a product?
— where else is stuff like this visible?
— does stuff like this actually matter?

Some quick facts about the state of our undergraduate system in the United States.
(full size here)

— I think it’s really important to point out that college students today spend 9+ hours engaged with media and technology. This doesn’t begin in college, either; I’d be curious to see similar statistics for younger students. 
— I also think that it’s always important to recognize the gendered wage discrepancy in the United States.

These are just the things that really jumped out at me. Any thoughts?

If you want to be sexist and perpetuate gender stereotypes for musical instruments at the same time, I would suggest buying a t-shirt with this print from Lemur Music.

I’m having a hard time putting into words everything that is wrong with this image. However, the main things that come to mind are 1) the objectification of the feminine form & 2) the implicit idea that all bassists are men. His form’s not even very good. Plus, the play on bass (with emphasis on the last 3 letters) is just tacky.

When things like these are sold from otherwise-reputable musicians’ businesses & I continue to overhear statements like “you can’t play that, that’s a girl’s instrument” and vice versa at observations, I am reminded that we still have a long way to go in music education. Where do we begin? How do we fix the problem?