Smoking ====# ~~~ Sexy? Seductive?...Let's See..

Well, personally I can not see why people find smoking attractive! It smells, it stains and potentially kills. However, I have tried it :-( Hypocrite right? When I tried it, I nearly choked and spent the rest of the night being sick - perhaps now you can see they I fail to see smoking as an attractive hobby.

With regards to media and film, I can see the relevance of smoking and can't deny that I'm impressed by how much of an effect it had in the industry! Admittedly, the only film that sticks out in my mind, where I remember smoking being used in a sexy and seductive way is GREASE. This is a classic example of films using cigarettes to expose a character in a desirable and alluring way.

However, after doing some research into the topic I uncovered that the following -

• Humphrey Bograt smoked in a number of films such as Casablanca. Hes notd in the film industry for creating a new level of popularity toward smoking. The majority of the characters he played were tough guys, their bad boy image became more appealing when Bogart was smoking a cigarette. HOWEVER, although this portrayal was seen as attractive, the reality is very different. Smoking took Bogart's life in the end, the unfortunate truth is that Cigarette smoking can kill and effects your health.

Things are very different in today's society. Today, smoking is exposed in a negative way on so many levels! Thoughts have changed and the government is now looking at smoking in films in a different way. It has now been labelled as a cause of bad behaviour and people believe its projecting a negative image to teenagers, teaching them that smoking is cool and acceptable. This fairly recent news article includes a modern outlook on smoking and the extreme views held by authourities towards its involvement in films.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/8194253.stm

Week 12 Suggestion?

Week 12 Suggestion: I think that a trip to a prision would be a great idea, so people can see where 'Being Bad' can potentially lead and many could witness that being in prision is the perfect way to waste your life away!

Prostitution!

Ok, so Prostitution is usually seen by society as; bad, unclean and dangerous but can we honestly say this is true of all types of Prostitution. Yes, I do understand that some women and men participate in harmful Prostitution, in these cases drug use, violence, lack of contraception and sexually transmitted diseases can be major issues. Therefore, I can relate to views about Prostitution, generally it is seen as people abusing their bodies, having no respect for themselves and often members of the public will find it disgusting and a very undesirable thing in the world.

However, nobody can state that all kinds of Prostitution are unsafe and risky. Hundreds of people go out every weekend and have one night stands without contraception whilst their drunk and probably high on all kinds of drugs. The only difference between these people and those involved in Prostitution is the money aspect, and to be quite honest, I'm sure many of those who have regular one night stands wouldn't mind getting some money out of it! It is hypocritical to slate Prostitution when we are probably friends with people who act in similar ways to Prostitutes (minus the money). Regardless of the money, we need to remember that people who act in this way are consenting adults, they are agreeing to this sexual activity together and are fully aware of the risks involved.

This link is from the Home Office, a government based website. It exposes the views they hold towards Prostitution, it surprised me to see that a lot of text is quite sympathic towards the subject and addresses it in a delicate way. The website appears to be siding with Prostitutes and aims to portray those willing to pay for sex as the negative element in the situation. http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducing-crime/prostitution/index.html

Stealing: Shop Lifting

Stealing seems to be a subject that everybody has something to say about! When a large amount of students were asked in the Being Bad lecture if they'd ever stolen, I was shocked to discover that over 50% admitted that they had, atleast once during their lifetime. Personally, I have never stolen from a shop or from a member of the public. It is not something I believe to be morally right, however, I have never been in the position that I have needed to steal anything, for example, it could be said many homeless people have taken food from a shop because they couldn't afford it and would otherwise, potentially die from starvation. This kind of shop lifting, I tend to find myself tolerating, despite the fact homeless people have usually caused their place in society. Moreover, I can not help thinking that it is not fair to judge at homeless people at face value and I try to understand that they MIGHT NOT be there by choice. Opposing this, the fact that theives steal people's personal belongings I find disgraceful and people need to learn to respect others!

Somebody suggested in this lecture that stealing from a big company, for example shop lifting a television from Comet, is ok because it is not really going to affect their 'already large' profits. The fact that our society is starting to think this way is a real shame! Although, it may not hugely affect their profits, shop lifting IS NOT morally right and this kind of stealing is purely members of society being greedy, and if everybody thought this way, our society would crumble.

Take a look at this link, this is quite an interesting News article that explores, what, where and why people steal according to British 'stats' and research: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4477596.stm