What Do Top Model and Hard Core Porn Have in Common?
What do hard core porn and reality show, Top Model, have in common? Hard core pornography often gets the viewer off on women’s suffering. So does Top Model.
In the first episode the models underwent Brazilian bikini waxes on camera. As Jennifer Pozner described it, “Cameras flitted back and forth from their pained facial expressions to their nearly nude legs spread wide in the air, while the audio lingered at length on the models’ blood-curdling screams as hot wax was spread over their genitals and their pubic hair was ripped off.”
The only thing missing was the close-up.
Pozner went on to describe how contestants have been asked to drop from platforms onto surfaces with little cushioning, or to sit on ice sculptures in freezing temperatures. One model was asked to pose in a pool of icy water – shaking, shivering, and begging for a break – until her body began to shut down from hypothermia and she was rushed to a hospital.
If pain and suffering isn’t imminent, models are asked to act as though it is, coached to look “scared! Something’s chasing you! Something’s coming to get you!” Scared, “but pretty,” that is.
Host, Tyra Banks, has also asked models to act like they are in pain: chest pain, fingers slammed in a door, strangulation… A signature pose was suggested for one model, “Look like you’re getting punched.”
Beautiful, sexy women in fear and pain. All reminiscent of hard-core pornography. In the popular video, “Two in the Seat #3,” an actress is asked by an off-camera interviewer what will happen. She replies, “I’m here to get pounded.”
In other pornos women are hit or raped. Too-large objects are inserted as actresses scream out. Sometimes pain is registered in penetration. Even when suffering isn’t purposely placed in the script, directors don’t bother to edited it out, suggesting viewers’ taste. More and more, the new edge in porn involves cruelty.
I worry about a society that develops a taste for women’s torment. Or for anyone’s distress. As pain becomes eroticized, women can develop a desire for their own suffering. My women students sometimes talk of getting turned on by a little S&M in the bedroom. Depending on how far it goes, the sex play can lead to broken skin, bruising and infections.
We worry about women being battered. Should we worry when women come to crave their own abuse?
As they sexily submit to domination and acts of violence by their male partners, male domination, itself, becomes sexy.
We may have come a long way, ladies. But we’ve still got a long way to go.
Georgia Platts
Related Posts on BroadBlogs Men Finding Fewer Women “Porn-Worthy”
Men Aren’t Hard Wired To Find Breasts Attractive Surprises in Indiana University Sex Survey Men Are Naturally Attracted To Unnatural Women
Sources: Robert Jensen, Ph.D. “The painful truth about today’s pornography – and what men can do about it.” Ms. Spring 2004; John Stoltenberg. “Pornography and Freedom” in Susan Shaw and Janet Lee’s Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions, 4th ed. 2009
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Posted on November 22, 2010, in feminism, gender, pornography, sex and sexuality, sexism, violence against women, women and tagged America's Next Top Model, culture, feminism, gender, pop culture, pornography, sex and sexuality, sexism, sexuality, Top model, Tyra Banks, violence against women, violent hard core porn, women. Bookmark the permalink. 33 Comments.
BroadBlogs 
Just because I don’t quite see the whole picture it doesn’t mean that I get up in arms 😉 I really never saw it quite this way. There have always been many important women in history that are very well known. Cleopatra, Jeanne d’Arc, Marie Curie, Leni Riefenstahl and currently the most powerful woman on earth is Angela Merkel. I suppose the “old-boys-club” as you call it does exist. Walmart never had a chance to make it big here so I don’t know the company very well. Still there are simular companys. Most of them ofcourse were founded by white males, as was the political system. And womens rights 😀 I think if men did not want women to have equal status they would not have let them gained it. I do know some girls who have abusive boyfriends and in my opinion it is totally stupid to stay with those men. Still they do. But funny enough only the ethnic minoritys are popular to beat up women (in the cases I know of especially Arrabs, Russians and eastern europeans), it would go against a gentlemens honour to do anything of this sort.
Probably the main reason for all of the problems society is having is the loss of values. The only rule that needs to be know is “treat someone as you would be treated”. This should be enough for anybody. Unfortunately our western civilization has brought everybody to think that they are great individuals thus bringing them to become egomaniacs. There are only little compromises because everybody values themselves the most. It’s a shame. If this were to change it would make living together so much easier, may it be between men and women, between homosexuals and heterosexuals or just between immigrants and natives. Basically we all just want to get along, it should seem so easy to do so nowdays but in reality it’s hopeless 😦
Thanks for writing in with your perspective!
Actually, male dominance it isn’t natural. There are, and have been, egalitarian societies where rape is rare or non-existent. Anthropologists living among the Arapesh were surprised that they had no concept of rape. Europeans meeting American Indians were similarly shocked: virtually no rape or battering.
What evidence do you have that European girls do better in school because they have extra privileges/advantages? I don’t know anything about giving girls better grades in Phys Ed, but that’s not something that greatly helps GPA. But really, if girls can only do 2 pull-ups, why should they be graded down because they have less testosterone to build muscle mass? Or why should the disabled/peo w/asthma be graded down because they can’t do as much. Women have more endurance, flexibility and greater balance. Boys shouldn’t be graded down because they have less capability in those areas. Rather, why not grade on participation/effort and what would be expected for your sex/ability?
Re: “I am still young and do not know of any women who has ever expierienced a disadvantage… there are no structural/cultural effects.”
How many Prime Ministers, members of Parliament, CEOs, are women? People who read an essay (the same essay) by John McKay and Joan McKay think John’s is better. Yet the only difference on the whole paper is “h: verses “a.”
Quick example of a structural effect: The old-boys-club: People tend to hire people like themselves. Structurally, mostly white males are in power, and they tend to hire/promote people like themselves. Wall Mart has a lawsuit against them for doing just that. Supreme Ct is taking a look. Of course, the Supreme Ct is mostly white males, who tend to see the world from that perspective. So you see the effects of social structures and a culture which believes white males are smarter/more capable than everyone else.
And who’s angry at men? I’m not. Current system isn’t their fault any more than women’s. I’ll be discussing w/in next few months.
Also, head of household is female only if she’s single. If a man’s there, he’s considered head.
Also, all men don’t have more power than all women. A lot of men feel that a lot of men and women are more powerful than they are. But on average, men have more power/status.
“If men aren’t threatened by women, why do so many get up in arms when women advocate for equal status, rights, opportunities?” This point seems most interesting to me. I have actually never noticed this happen.
You’ve never noticed it? It sounds a bit like you. 🙂
I am sorry, it seems I have forgotten to close the HTML tag properly. I meant to post this link
It won’t work 😦
http://www.sciencecodex.com/study_finds_young_men_more_vulnerable_to_relationship_ups_and_downs_than_women
I suppose it is true that one is influenced by the surroundings, still, is this what would cause someone to develop a sexual fetish? Many men crave the dominance of a women, like a mistress or something, I suppose sexism is sexy to some, maybe because it is instinctive. Do not forget that we do not all have total control over our urges. Still I find it hard to believe that someone would actually get to find sexism sexy if they do not already have an open mind towards this.
I have been raised and am currently living in Europe. I have always found it to be cruel how society treats young boys, giving girls a lot of advantages in school or founding a lot of institutes and organizations whose purpose it is to support only females and not male humans, thus leaving the boys at disadvantage. Girls do get better grades in school for being girls, this becomes most obvious if you observe the physical education (sports). The argument here is that women have a weaker body and thus can’t run as fast/far and/or do other excercises as well as a man can. Still people who have other disadvantages like having astmah or being obese or maybe having diabetes or some other reason they may not be able to achieve the same results as the others get left behind. For example, if a girl would receive an A for achieving a certain result, than a boy (even if he has problems with his health) would only get a C for this exact same result. Because the girl is being put to an advantage by the system. This is just one of the things that seem wrong if you compare girls and boys in my countrys schoolsystem, since society seems to be so convinced that all women are being put second, they try their best to create advantages for women from the early beginning. To the observer though it would seem that sexism here is not fought but simply turned around. And that exactly is the threat to the whole cause.
I am still young and do not know of any women who has ever expierienced a disadvantage. My grandma may still have had those disadvantages you speak of, but it would seem silly for women nowdays to be angry about those, after all there is nothing todays men could have done about that. On the other hand what is important is how this will be handled in the future. There may come a time when out of the fight for emancipation there will become a war against the other gender.
I believe that at least in my environment there are no cultural and strucural forces that keep women at disadvantage. The opposite in fact, society is creating artificial ( or at least new) advantages for women. Why do people always feel the need there is a need for programms that support women only? Is this not sexist? Why do people not take men seriously if there is for example a case of sexual harrasment? And even women themselves act as if they were “the weak gender”. At least that is the impression I get if I notice women always demanding things instead of working towards them and accomplishing them on their own. For example the women I know will always expect a man to open the doors for them, to treat them like a women would be treated in a Disney movie, but on the other hand she will not be statisfied with having a special role in society. She will demand emancipation while wanting to keep all the amenitys she feels she deserves.
I have been living with my mother since she and my father got divorced when I was still young. I have always considered her to be the head of the household since it was her house and she took care of most things. I never thought this to be of any importance though since I had no desire to be the head of the household and there were no other people living there apart from us.
There may be a lack of pay but I would not know anything about this. What I do know though is that birth control today is actually realistic and having children is a womans choice, still here in Europe a woman has the possibility to have a child so to speak just take a break from work for some time. Funny enough, some of this is actually featured in the film “Sicko” by Michael Moore. It would seem that the working conditions women may have problems with do not have anything to do with male opression but with the greed of companys. This is one of the disadvantages that capitalism has forced upon us, how many advantages it may have.
People in positions of power (politicians, ceos and such) are most likely to be corrupt. Most likely they also got into those positions by being corrupt. This is most definitly the case in politics at least. To me it is not possible to observe a disadvantage for women in this case either. You may have heard of “Angela Merkel”, the Federal Chancellor of Europes largest and most powerful country.
I have always felt that many women have more power than me. Mostly because they would employ the cruelest methods to get what they want with all power. But I do not wish to generalize, this is only my expirience. It may have been that I somewhat had a ruff start with women though and I feel this way because of that 🙂
Also I would like to contribute this I have found recently.
“If men aren’t threatened by women, why do so many get up in arms when women advocate for equal status, rights, opportunities?” This point seems most interesting to me. I have actually never noticed this happen. Honestly. Maybe it is that men feel they are discriminated against because of their sex for the way the women do it? I don’t know.
However I must say that I find this whole topic most interesting.
Do any of you actually know men who watch Topmodel? I do not. To me the show seems disturbing. It doesn’t feature anything that could be remotely of interest to me. Just a bunch of girls trying to make big money by selling their bodies. I think it’s rather disgusting. As far as I am concerned this is a show that only women take interest in. Also I do not know of any men who would feel threatend in their manhood by a woman. Women and men are different, we all know that women can never become men and likewise, so why bother feeling insecure because of the other genders behavior? Still, I wonder if there is something like this whole feminism thing for men? At least in Europe emancipation is going as far as having men put to artificial disadvantage by making girls have better grades in school just because they are girls. I wonder if the future generation of men may come to hate women for always having disadvantages in society because of their need for “emancipation”, not realising that if they truly are strong they are free to do what they want anyway. Isn’t it a person itself who sets their own limits? Anyhow, I am getting sick of never having people fighting for mens rights. There are so many men being hurt or opressed by women somehow, mostly in relationships though, why doesn’t anyone care? Because society got to a point where womens rights are more important than mens. At least so it seems.
Whether or not men watch Top Model, the show can still have hurtful effects on women.
When women learn to tie pain and eroticism together, they can learn to crave their own pain. And if Top Model were the only one promoting this, it wouldn’t matter. It’s one of many voices with the same message. Which ends up in many advertisements. (I’ll be writing on this early Jan.) But I know several women who’ve learned to find male dominance (whether humiliating or painful) erotic. And that keeps sexism sexy so women don’t complain.
Re: Women and men are different, we all know that women can never become men and likewise.
Biologically true, but we act as though women and men are much more different than they are biologically, limiting women’s opportunities and status. That needs to change.
Re: “in Europe they make girls have better grades in school just because they are girls.”
Where do you get this information?
Re: “I wonder if the future generation of men may come to hate women (because men will) always have disadvantages in society”
That’s an odd question since that’s the place women are currently in. Women have done a fabulous job of not hating men despite the disadvantages they have experienced historically. Fortunately, a lot of men who care about equality are working for women’s rights.
Re: “realizing (women) truly are strong they are free to do what they want anyway.”
You don’t seem to be aware of cultural and social structural forces that keep, and have kept, women from doing what they want. Historically women haven’t been able to vote, own property, get a divorce, have a right to their children, have a right to their wages, have right to credit… the list goes on. Today they continue to be discriminated against through sexual harassment, lack of equal pay, lack of equal promotions, and an internalization (belief in) female inferiority that keeps many accepting male dominance. Who’s considered the head of household and most homes?
You say that women have more rights than men today. How come men are in many more positions of power including presidencies, prime ministers, Parliament, Congress, newspaper publishers, CEOs…
Why don’t you explain to me specifically how women have more power?
Re: “Also I do not know of any men who would feel threatend in their manhood by a woman.”
If men aren’t threatened by women, why do so many get up in arms when women advocate for equal status, rights, opportunities?
I didn’t realize these kinds of issue before reading this article. It is quite a serious problem if the society is finding torment of women interesting. However, I think the situations in Top Model are different from that in the porn. Women in porn were being abused to satisfy the needs of men. This is totally different from Top Model, in which the contestants were pursuing aesthetic scene, which is what a professional model should do. Moreover, I take it as a part of acting training in the episode that Tyra asked the models to ACT as if they were painful. I think what Tyra was trying make them as professional as possible. Besides, if the model mentioned in the article, whose body began to shut down from hypothermia, was one of the contestants, then the description was not accurate at all. I remembered that Tyra told that girl: “You are the only person who know the limit of your own body”. Tyra was teaching her to protect herself.
In short, I just think that the situations are totally different and Top Model was not trying to satisfy the sexual domination of men.
A couple points here.
First, if it’s about acting, why is to focus so much on women’ pain.
Second, there are a lot of things in our culture that mimic porn, eroticizing violence against women. Top model is just one of them. And it doesn’t affect just men. Some women learn to eroticize their own abuse, too. Someone commented recently (a little before yours) on how she has come to get sexually aroused over being abused – and how the craving for violence against herself can get worse and worse. So women are definately affected, too.
The way this is tied to male domination is that when a woman is being treated in a violent way by a man, or when men or women come to find that sexy, male domination (men violently overpowering women in this case) becomes sexy.
No offense, but I think you are being subjective.
I dont deny that Tyra asks those girls to act as if they are painful, BUT, think, what are they imitating?
They are imitating the feeling of angle twist, or hit onto a door.
These are some of the common things that we encounter every day. I hit my head most of the time in one very day. I even hit my head when I was in a bathroom.
The point is, Tyra is not asking them to imitating the painful facial expression when they are being abused by MEN.
Secondly, you are focusing too much on THAT episode.
I remembered that there was an episode in one cycle which they went to Spain. And before they went to Spain. Tyra took them to a acting class where they act on stage!!
Their acting was not about pain, but about a love story.
So, I think that Top Model is NOT putting their focus on making women painful!!
But to train them as a profession because models sometimes need to act in a comercial, too.
Last, referring to your first question. This is a contest for females. So the people acting as if they were painful are, of course, women!!
Have you ever watch Men Hunt, which is a male model contest?
I remember that in one episode, those guys were asked to take some pictures in S&M manners. I think you should also pay attention to that, too.
Sorry for my rudeness above, but those are what I am really thinking. But besides, the Top Model part, every thing that you said about porn, I totally agree on that.=]
You’re right. They’re not being abused by men. But the show is pairing “sexy” with “women-in-pain.” When “women in pain” comes to be seen as sexy, a lot of people start to get turned on by women being hurt, and that contributes to sadistic fetishes that both women and men learn. Then when they play it out, typically the man takes to violent/dominant role and the woman takes the submissive/abused role. This all leads to sexualizing male dominance.
Top Model is not the only pieces of pop culture that does this. And eroticized distress can be portrayed in gay porn, as well as toward men. But the bulk of pop culture is targeted toward women.
Women harming themselves is a regular theme of the show. My point about women being asked to act “hurt” is that that’s the primary way they’re asked to act. Why don’t they have them act in other ways a lot more often?
I had no idea what was going on at top model- I thought that was the show by Tayra Banks but I don’t watch those things. anyway – I am proud of those who saw through it and walked away. There has to be better ways to make money then that.
Hypothermia? really? But then I am the Lady that does the exposing of the ads – I just didn’t know top model was one of the shows that uses these gals this way.
I do however have the ads that result from abuse.
I have watched Top Model since day one. When it first started I really didn’t pay any attention to it because I was 12 years old and did really know anything about what they were doing or any of the similarities it had to porn. It wasn’t until I got older when I slowly started to notice those things. I actually have since stopped watching because I can not stand watching what they make these girls do just for a modeling contract.
I too have watch several episodes of Top Model, but when the girls are asked to do outrageous things, I really question whether or not the televsion network and producers really cares for the welfare of the models. It’s as though the only concern is the show’s ratings and the girls are simply objects of entertainment. The viewer’s must get a “kick” out of watching it because more and more episodes of some for of cruelty are still being created and shown. Someone needs to step in and speak up for the girls because the only thing they want is to succeed in their chosen career, and the producers causing hypothermia is not something these girl should ever have to put up with simply to get signed, no matter how badly they want it. Just my 2 cents.
I’m a avid Top Model watcher–I love the show. I’ve questioned a few episodes that involved large sacrifices for a great picture, but I never equated the show with violent pornography. Top Model will often introduce painful challenges and tell the girls to either “take it” or forget about winning. That’s just called “sucking it up.” I’m all for that. No one likes watching others complain. The reason why they are on the show is to be top models and if looking appealing while in scary, dangerous or painful situations was that easy, everyone would be a top model. In fact in some ways, the show has empowered me as a woman. Sometimes the models look “ugly-beautiful” in photos, bringing out my confidence that I can look beautiful without being Miss America.
However, as far as the violent sex goes, I will admit being one of those women who enjoys it. I also know from experience, however, that violent sex is addicting and only induces more desire for increased violence, which almost became borderline physically dangerous sometimes.
You seem to make other commentators point about women getting conditioned to crave their own abuse and eroticizing male dominance – alluding to it as pretty and empowering it just one dangerous step further. I would not have a problem if individuals subscribing to these attitudes were the only ones affected by their import. The problem is, when those so disposed – men or women – normalize and pretty up abuse in the main stream that ‘tough’ women ‘suck up’, in the main stream through pervasive messaging in shows like ‘Top Model’ it sets a tone and expectations that leaves nobody untouched – women running homes or in the workplace striving to be successful. Your own defence of ‘sucking up’ manufactured pain and suffering to the effect of harm to self as some kind of prerequisite for success as a top model is an indication of just such a tone and expectation.
I can definitely see the similarity you pointed out in porn and “Top Model.” While I haven’t seen the exact show that you’re talking about, it does seem pretty extreme what they have to do in the show (like the girl who had to go the hospital because of hypothermia). Hard core porn is the same way. It’s all about taking the person (usually the woman) to the extreme of what she is able to tolerate…and then filming….and then broadcasting it for anyone to see. Top Model and hard core porn wants to project the feeling of what a situation might be like, to illicit a positive response from the audience and make them want more…unfortunately, it’s at the expense of whoever is being hurt.
You can’t keep you daughter away from Top Model. You have to change the way society views or tolerates views of females. You say it is sad how they allow themselves to be subjected to this? Look around – it is normal to them – it is all they ever have known. It has become so normal you don’t seem to realize that you are feeding this to your children and then wondering why they are behaving this way?
Thirty years of ignoring advertising that our kids see from the minute they are born.
They grow up on it and have no idea this is not their actual role.
http://freemenow.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/sexualizing-america-12-of-12/
I agree with you that the Top Model is similiar to porn. I think it is sad the things these young ladies allow themselves to be subjected too. It is not a show I would want my daughter to be watching and maybe having influence on her and the way she felt about herself!
Its in the media!!
I don’t think its just in Top Models where they are encouraging our society to talk down to women and get a thrill of women getting tortured because we all have internalized that females are weak and fragile. In a recent film that I’ve watch “The Killer Inside me” with Jessica Alba,Kate Hudson, and Casey Affleck. Where a sheriff was violently expressing out his male dominating character and was feeding off torturing women. “Instead, violence becomes the default for story and character, with bodies, primarily female ones, bashed — brutally, relentlessly, excessively, bloodily — in front of the unblinking lens of director of photography Marcel Zyskind, a frequent Winterbottom collaborator.”( Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times Film Critic) This movie is seriously degrading to women because the killer was so created by his mother who also internalized and crave her own abuse. A line from the movie that I cant ever forget was when the mother said to her young son[7 yrs] ” Hit me it doesn’t hurt, your daddy do it all the time.” Surely I hope this is NOT going on where parents are teaching their kids violence and especially violence towards women!
WEll we had better start trying – nothing changes by giving up or chalking it up to ” its going to be a hard battle” or some are stupid.
Truth is too many are too lazy to do anything about it.
Women make up 52% of the population and along with males who may not go along with this – something can and should be done – but everyone blames it on the few top models who pose instead of the millions who do nothing about it.
It’s really hard to say..women have a voice and it’s their choice if they use it or not. Women don’t have to go through that pain and suffering, but some are stupid and have no self respect for themselves. Either way the media is going to portray women as the beautiful and sexy “weak one”. This is going to be a very hard battle to fight and may not be easy to change.
I agree on your point which says women can make their own choices in choosing to please men in this disrespectful way or not. I guess one of the important reasons for those women to do this stupid thing is that they are brainwashed by the media. Very often, male dominance is encouraged by mass media as we can see countless ads on TVs, the Internet, etc, using male dominance as a gimmick in attracting people’s attention.
This “norm” creates an illusion to some women, making them to believe that being control by men is exciting and male domination is sexy, therefore, hurting by their male partners is just a way to show their love to their male partners.
Even though this SM style may be accepted as the “norm” to some women, I do think that women don’t have to please their male partners in such a shameful way.
No self respect.
Women are the majority – they think with both sides of their brains if they are ever allowed to excel men fear they will not remain in power.
There was a time when the world was a Matriarchy very very very long ago.
I would be very happy if we would simply learn to be equal.
Well said
Having been a marketer for the porn industry I can safely say that yes…treating women in ways you have described above has been the norm in the porn industry. Unfortunately, I don’t think the imagery of a woman is distress is worse today than in any other time, I think it is just out in the open more. It has become more accepted and has now begun to ripple outward into other arenas. As to the porn industry, more women are getting behind the camera and there has been a subtle shift from objectifying women because if it and turning them into the modern day answer to a heroine. It’s a gimmick to attract more women to the industry as purchasers. As a result – men don’t like the new stuff. When Top Model first came out I watched it with my daughters. I started seeing things on there that I would never want a strong woman to do. (The whole “Miss America” thing) We no longer watch the show. I do not see Tyra as a role model anymore than I see a porn star/director/producer as a role model. There is no difference, they make money off of the use of either their body or another’s. They both starve themselves and perpetuate the fake ideal of a woman. The ideals that pander TO men.
As a novice to women’s studies I am appalled at the cycle of hatred displayed towards women over the centuries. We have this idea that we have come so far and yet even as we speak our rights are back on the table for discussion. So here is my question to you….will it ever end? This subjection and oppression of women? What is it that a frightening populace of men are so scared of?
Will it ever end? We do know that this sort of behavior has not been found in all cultures. Some societies are, or have been, quite egalitarian. So oppression is not a necessary state. I’ll write more on that later.
Now that we have patriarchy will things change? Well, things have changed a lot over the years. So far it’s been two steps forward, one step back. But making male dominance seem sexy certainly won’t help. That’s a hard one to deal with. Especially since even quite a few feminists find it sexy, too.
Agree. Male dominance is not sexy. It is antiquated. I am amazed at the amount of “Romance” books that today’s women read. I stopped reading about women being abducted,raped and later falling in love with their captor when I was 16. We are taught to believe in that Fairy Tale…the funny thing is I just read how those Fairy Tales evolved. Two factors were forever present: Religion and men when it came to re-writing those old Folk Tales. I struggle with the attitude here in the Midwest where a woman who shows her independence is either A) a “dike” – there words not mine or B) a Bitch. That attitude needs to change especially when those labels come from other women.
Of course we should worry – as I have said over and over and over – we have normalized this for so long students have come to accept this as the way it is and should be.
Worry is an understatment! We should be outraged and up in arms over it! For pete sake in Brazil where they have naked beaches they don’t allow sexualizing and objectifying women this way!
Wake up America!
Are you teaching these girls or just gathing information in these classes?
I say the same things to my students that I say in these posts.