building blocks to the gender box

You are born into this world with a pre determined gender box.  Because of this you have you path set out for you for the rest of your life.  If you ever try to challenge these parameters, you will be looked at as an outcast, a rebel against the cause.  In society, it is frowned upon to step outside the box, or even think outside the box; these kinds of actions are not acceptable.  I ask myself, why is it that society cares so much about other peoples genders, or sexual orientations?  Just because one person might posses gender characteristics from the opposite sexes box, than why is that a bad thing?  Although in most recent years these types of issues have been becoming less relevant, we still see the issues around.  I believe that there is a need to accept certain behaviors, and this is one of them.

every day reality

There is this show on MSNBC Sunday nights called To Catch a Predator.  I have been watching this show for a while now because I find it interesting to watch.  It is a show that catches online predators, trying to solicit teens.  It is appalling to think that people actually do this; 40 year old men, trying to have sexual contact with 13 year old girls.  The world is a scary place when you aren’t even safe from adults, who are thought to have morality.  Whenever I watch this class it makes me think about gender conflicts.  It is evident that there is this conflict between men and children, not always between the opposite sexes, there is also a conflict between the same gender. I just thought it was interesting how so many things occurring in every day life can relate to the class.

Women in the Work place

Today I was watching a movie for another class called North Country.  This movie was about sexual harassment in the workplace during the mid 1980’s.  While watching this movie, I could not help but to think of how it relates to the class.  The main character as a student (16 years old) was raped; as a result, her parents and community for the rest of her life shunned her, because she was labeled as a whore.  As a woman she got a job at a mining company, where it was common for women to be harassed.  It was not until this women stood up for her rights as a member of the union and fought for equal rights.  I couldn’t help but to think about how hard it must have been for women to work in such conditions, and to this day their still isn’t full equality.  A lot have progress has been made to aid women in the work place, and one day this goal will be established.

gender separation

While thinking about the final project for the class, I began to think of ideas for my topic.  I decided to look into how institutions shape gender.  More specifically, I was planning on evaluating gender separation throughout your life, starting at birth.  From even before you are born, your gender identity is set out for you.  At baby showers, gifts vary depending on the sex of the baby; boys get blues, and sporty things, where girls get pink and “girlie” things.  From that point on you have your path to follow, a girl will grow up wearing dresses, playing with dolls, and using her easy bake oven; boys grow up playing with a football, getting dirty outside and rough housing with their friends.  It is a interesting topic to scrutinize, but it is the way things have been for a great deal of time.  I bring this up because I thought it was something interesting to share with everyone. 

Innocent people

I was working on a research paper this evening about the ongoing wars in Uganda.  Throughout this project I have come across some very appalling information, and am stunned that such things are actually going on in the world.  It is hard to think that humans like you and me can carry out such inhumane acts.  The Lords Resistance army has been pillaging villages throughout Africa for decades, causing havoc along the way.  These insurgents are famous for abducting innocent people, men, women, and children.  They force these people into joining their insurgent group; manipulating men and boys into fighting for their cause, women and girls are enslaved into marriage and forcible raped.  These innocent people have done nothing to the members of the Lords Resistance army, yet they are the victims of war crimes.  I find it astonishing to see that such acts are occurring, and have been ongoing for decades.  I just thought this was interesting and related to many topics that we have discussed in the class.  

gender roles

Gender roles in relationships can be a sensitive subject to talk about.  Some people prefer a traditional style relationship, while others lean towards an egalitarian relationship.  In today’s day in age it is less common to see the fully traditional relationships.  I feel it is more beneficial to share equal roles while in a relationship, while I still believe that there are some things that are more on the lines of man work, or women work; such as mowing the lawn, I believe that is something that men should do.  I am all for egalitarian relationships, but I do still enjoy some traditional aspects, such as the male treating the women out to dinner because I enjoy pampering my women when I can.

Sex Ed.

Sex education is a very under emphasized aspect of a childhood education.  With the ever changing society, I feel there is a need for increased sex ed.  I know from my own experiences in the New York School system we did not have a big sex ed program.  We had the usual 5^th grade gym class day when the boys and girls were separated to watch their own movies; other than that their was brief talk about sex ed in 7^th or 8^th grade health class.  We have a lot more teen pregnancies now a days and that shouldn’t be, people need to be educated about ways to prevent that.   At my graduation (of a school of 300 in my class) their was a separate row near the front for girls that were pregnant just incase any problems came up and they needed help; no that is crazy.  I think that schools should increase the amount of sex education that is given, as well as a greater effort from the parents.  Parents need to take part in educating their children as well.

Rape

Rape is a very dishonorable thing to do; with all these innocent women being raped in times of war, their should be more that the women can do for help.  The soldiers who perform these evil acts should be penalized more severely.  It seems outrageous that troops of men can go through a village raping women and not get so much as a slap on the wrist.  I think more action needs to be taken against the soldiers around the world that commit rape, it is an illegal act, yet so many people get away with it on a day to day basis. 

human trafficking

Human trafficking is a topic that I was never to familiar with until the presentation on Tuesday.  Before than, when I thought of human trafficking the first thing that would come to mind is coyotes, and the trafficking of people into the United States across the Mexican border.  This concept that they discussed was appalling.  It is shocking to know that such things happen among humans especially with the U.S being a region that takes part in it.  You would think as one of the largest crimes, their would be more done to prevent human trafficking. I hope that their will be a day that this is not such a big issue and the law will begin to enforce this issue more strictly. 

in the work place

After reading material world by Valenti, I observed some very interesting statements that she made.  Valenti made some very interesting comments on society and women; women’s equality is still not quite where it should be.   One thing that she said that stood out to me the most was the whole glass ceiling concept and the fact that women on average only make 76% salary compare to what a male does in the workplace.  It is shocking to see that there is such inequality still in this day in age among the workplace.  I believe that something should be done about this disparity; with today’s society we should not see such evident divisions among men and women in the work place.

relationships

The other day I was thinking to myself about generalizations and expectations within relationships.  I was wondering why that in relationships there are certain expectations that occur.  Such things that I was thinking about are why their are certain time restraints that society puts on relationships, such as you have to be dating for a certain time before you can tell your partner that you love them.  Why is it that people might think it is to soon to say a little four letter word.  If you know what love is, and you know that is how you feel, why cant you express these feelings? Is it solely due to the fact that you have not been dating long enough?  Why is it that people feel scared to throw the phrase out their, because they are not sure if their partner will get scared away?  Society has put this pressure on us in relationships, that we must follow a certain process and if we deviate from that path it would be frowned upon.

what a girl wants

The movie what a girl wants was a very interesting topic that brought up allot of heated debate throughout the classroom.  There were many things stated in the movie that made a lot of sense, and there was also some thing’s that shocked me to hear coming form 10 and 11 year olds.  I was amazed to hear that a 10 year old girl figured she would be encountering the pressures of sex as a 13 year old.  That statement just caught me by surprise.  It is amazing how much influence the media has on teens and the whole population in general.  The media age has changed society drastically, altering gender roles and identities in ways we have not seen before. 

Tong Chapter 8

After reading tong chapter 8, I gained a whole new perspective on feminism.  It is very intriguing to see how feminism has evolved over the years and how the views have changed.  It seems almost as if the second wave feminists would not get along with those of the third wave since their views varied so drastically.  I personally feel that it the third wave is on the track to something special especially since this is no near the end of this movement. 

gender roles

I was recently thinking to myself about gender roles, and I can’t help but to ask myself questions as to why things came to the way they are.  It always makes me wonder why it is that males have such high expectations in the eyes of females. Why is it “typical” for the male to ask out the female on a date or why is it pretty much the male’s obligation to pay for dinner.  It is not that I disagree with those roles, because I personally agree with them at times, I simply just always wonder why it is this way.  I know back when man was a hunter-gatherer society it was the successful hunter that would obtain the most women, but what is the deal today?  I suppose that sexual evolution plays a big part in the gender roles that are assigned in today’s day and age.

The role of males

I am writing about an interesting article that was in our readings for the class.  The article is Men as “general beings”.  I thought this article brought up some valid arguments that make a lot of sense.  One particular things that stood out to was “for men that prism is generally invisible, and they often view themselves as society does: human, generic person”.  Men never really had the option of individualizing their personality.  If you acted in different ways then the public eye perceives men then you are wrong for it.  Men were never given an opportunity to challenge customs, because if they were to do so it would challenge their masculinity. 

9/23 Dr. Widman

Today’s class was much different from most other classes that we have previously had.  Today we had a guest speaker come in; the guest speaker was Dr. Widman.  This class instantly got heavy when much confliction arose between Dr. Widman and some class members.  Dr. Widman is a reliable source of information and some students seemed to question some of his findings, which I don’t see why.  The recurrent theme that was brought up was that culture had more of an effect than biology.  Although I think culture is a contributing factor in some cases I do not fully agree with the argument that was raised.  I do on the other hand feel it was a valuable addition to the class discussion and I am sure will bring much more heat in the classes to follow.

9/21 class

Tuesday’s class was very interesting.  When we split off into small groups we got a striking conversation going.  The idea of gender identity and roles brings up many questions/controversies.  Why is it that a women’s identity can be questioned if she takes on to many masculine roles?  Why is it not okay for a male to have any feminine traits?  With today’s society it makes managing your “role” very complicated.  Peer pressure has strong impacts on how people act, whether its male-male or male-female or vise versa.  It is easy to say that couples act much different while alone, than they do in public.   Males might act more “macho” in front of his guy friends, were if he were just with his girlfriend, he might take a much more sensitive approach.  But due to society norms, it is not acceptable for a man to not be macho.  This debate is intriguing in many ways and poses many questions.  

Class discussion 9/16

Thursdays class discussion brought many pieces of the puzzle of conflict together.  While looking at the causes of conflict, much debate is brought up.  I feel the most interesting part of the class discussion to be the differences between male and female conflict.  It amazes me to think how things can be so different between sexes.  Because of these differences it makes it more difficult for those of opposite to understand each other.  I look forward to discussing this topic further in class.

A "simple" deffinition

After Tuesdays class I was astonished by how difficult it really is to define conflict.  You would think it would be a simple answer of to come into collision or disagreement, but in reality, there are many ways to describe the word.  Then when you put together gender and conflict, it opens up a whole new world of discussion.  This topic can drive conversation all over the world, as well as in our class.  I look forward to our future discussions of this topic throughout the semester.

gender and conflict class

After thursdays class I couldn't help but to continue thinking about what we had discussed in class that day.  I found our conversation intriguing about women in the work place and their roles.  What made me think the most was something my mom told me about where she works.  She is upper management for capital one bank, and she dis-likes hiring younger women, in their "child bearing years" (as she put it).  I know most people in the class thursday would probably disagree with my moms statement, but she to this day would much rather hire a male than a female.  She has found in the past that younger women effect the departments efficiency especially if they get pregnant.
I do not necessarily believe it is fair for an employer to do something like this, but that is how the business world is now-a-days.  Management wants to be as efficient as possible.