The Social Construction of Gender

I have decided to talk about my reaction to a specific section of the text, the section under "Gender Identity in Everyday Life." I found the story about James/Jan Morris. I found this section to be very interesting because I have a friend that is going through James/Jan's process right now. He is a guy, but tells me that he feels like he was put in the wrong body, like he SHOULD be a female, but he's not. He talks to me all the time about how confusing it is for him, and how difficult it is to live in a body that he claims is "not the right one."
I'm sharing this story, because he recently had a makeover (without any form of surgery) and is now what he believes to be a female, who he was always meant to be. It was very difficult for me to be understand this whole process, but I tried my hardest to be there for him. The most interesting thing to me is that just like James/Jan he told me that his life has completely transformed because people look at him and treat him differently. He does say that there are certain things that he misses about being a guy, but also loves taking advantage of the way females are ordinarily treated.
I thought I would share this story because it goes right along with the section of the book and I thought it was interesting that my friend and James/Jan had very similar experiences.

Global Inequality

I found the podcast very interesting because it made me look at Global Inequality in a completely different light. I've always found it bothersome and unfair how some countries are so much poorer and lesser than us in the United States, but this is the first time that I realized it can actually affect us as well. Although America sometimes seems so much like it's own little world, it really is not and it is dependent upon other countries for its economy. When other countries' economies are struggling, the US definitely feels it.

What I really liked about this podcast and this class in general is that while some undergraduate classes only study race, gender, and class when covering social inequalities, this class also studies the inequality between developed and less developed countries, which I believe to be the greatest inequality of all.

This topic was very interesting to me and therefore I did some extra research, I found that the World Bank reported that the widening gap between rich and poor countries over the last thirty to forty years accounts for much of the increase in worldwide income. Isn't that interesting? It's amazing how much we really are as the saying goes "all in this together." I just wish there was a way that we could work together to solve these inequality crisis, but is there a way? Will there ever be a way?

inequality among individuals and households

Social Class

This is by far the most interesting topic to me that we have studied up till this date. I would specifically like to talk about my view of social class in the United States. Social structure is a very important part of any society around the world, but I think that America has a unique approach to this. I would like to start by saying that I do believe it is true that Americans are judgmental and tend to see others in a certain social class because simple things like the brand names the other person is wearing, or not wearing, by the car that they drive or the house that they live in. Now, that is what I believe is the typical answer if you were to take a survey on the street, but let's reach a little deeper shall we?

I like to call this the "underdog" theory, and although the PBS website did not discuss this, which I was hoping it would, I decided to go ahead and talk about it anyways because I think it is interesting. So what do I mean by the "underdog" theory, well let's apply it to sports for this example. Do you remember the Oklahoma and Boise State game, where Boise State was thought to have no chance to win, while at the same time everyone was cheering from them (because they were the underdogs). Well, while they were defined and judged by others to not be as good as Oklahoma, they actually ended up winning and everyone loved it! Why? Because they were the underdogs!

Another example, the classic Cinderella, Pretty Woman story. Who doesn't love it? The "underdog" Cinderella or Julia Roberts, while they were looked down upon as being lower class or lesser than others, they ended up turning into beautiful classy ladies and completely proving everyone wrong. That's what I think makes America so different than anywhere else. Just think what movie just won an Academy Award, Slumdog Millionaire, another great story about a "rise to riches." America is about second chances, America is about breaking out of the social structure you are "thought" to be in and changing your destiny. Now although this is not true in all cases, I wanted to highlight it because I think it is so interesting and really well kind of awesome! Hehe.

What are your thoughts?

Americans and Technology

Call me "old fashioned" but I definitely believe that new technology has made Americans more isolated from one another. I know that people claim that myspace and facebook allow you to keep in contact, but people take advantage of it and instead of writing a card to say "happy birthday" or calling to sing "happy birthday" or even instead of taking that person out to lunch for their birthday, people now just send a message on facebook, fast, simple and easy, but is it really as personal? In my opinion, no way!

Even with cell phones, people text instead of calling because it is more "convenient" to keep in touch that way. Now, while I am guilty of using text messages, I would much rather prefer to call the person up to have a conversation with them.

I worry that Americans have become so warped by this technology that they think this way: why call when you can text? Why go and visit if you can just call? Why call or go visit if you can keep in touch over email or facebook? That way I can still sit and watch my favorite teleu can just call?

I actually wrote an essay on this topic my freshman year and I talked about an experience I had. I was driving in the car on campus at William and Mary and I literally could have hit about 4 or 5 students because they didn't even see a car coming because they were too busy checking their email on their phone or texting to even look up. It's just not safe! Not to mention texting and driving! I am so glad that laws are being set in place to stop that.

To answer the last question, I am very worried about where our future is going. I can't even imagine the type of relationships my children will have when I'm older. Will they even attend school or just do everything online, so they don't even have personal relationships with others there age or their teachers? I know I may be assuming to the extreme, but think about, look how much our generation has changed in comparison to our parents. My mom told me her family would sit down for family dinner every night, and on special occassions watch TV together as a family. I think of the modern family now, and the kids have ipods in their ears and are texting on their phones, every one's rushing to go watch one of their shows, or to work on their computers. It's really almost sad. But my family has always made it a priority to sit down together and build those personal relationships.

The Criminal Justice System

I am going to focus this week's blog on something that really bothered me while watching the film "What I Want My Words To Do To You.." I wrote about in my response paper for the film, but now that we have an opportunity to write further about something about the criminal justice system, plus all of you get to read it, instead of just the Professor.

Ok, so what bothered me about the film was the fact that the punishments could be so much harsher for some than others even though they committed virtually the same crime. Some of the women had actually held the gun and murdered someone and then received either twenty years in prison or life, yet in other cases the criminal can just be an accomplice, not have any part in firing the gun or actually murdering the person and then receive a lifetime in prison.

Now, I know we only got a glimpse of the crimes, and I'm sure there's a lot more to some of the stories than just what was brought up, but this is an issue that has been bothering me for some time. I feel like our criminal justice system could be "cleaned up," if you will, in the "punishment" area of our system. I can't imagine how hard that would have to be, and I know that each Judge is a different person, with different feelings and reactions to things, but isn't there a way of making everything a little bit more universal. I wish I had an idea on how to do this, and I'm sure if it were easy then it would have already been done, I know that our criminal justice system is doing it's best, but I just wish everything could be a little bit more fair. Although that brings up the point that my mom always told me growing up, "life's not fair."

My question for you, those who have read this, what do you think? Do you think there is a way that we can do better or do you think that our system is doing the best that it can? I seriously would love to hear what you have to say, so please comment on this blog!! :-)

Thanks!

Nature vs. Nurture

This debate is one that I have always been fascinated by and one that I have always had a difficult time deciding what to believe. While on one hand I do believe that certain characteristics are natural, like most males being physically stronger than most females and having specific things like hair on their chest and face and females being responsible for having children. I also on the other hand believe that some characteristics are nurtured, like a female being responsible for raising the children, while the husband goes to work each day, or the idea that males are the protectors of the household, etc...

This honestly really is difficult for me to choose one or the other because I find that I feel completely 50-50 about it. I do believe that society has had an affect on certain things, but at the same time we are biologically made one way or another and that is something I do not believe nurture can change.

It is interesting to me though, just how much times have changed. I am currently taking a History class and we were studying the relationships between males and females in the past, along with their roles in society. So much has changed and it's fascinating to study, because those things that have changed I do believe have been nurtured by society. For example, the idea of separate spheres has almost completely disappeared in the modern day family, even though it does still exist, times have dramatically changed.

So...nature vs. nurture, which one do I believe? Would it be ok to say both?

:-)

BBC Clip

I thought the clip of Hugh Laurie was actually very funny, although that many Americans might find it offensive. It is very obvious from the video that British view Americans as being self-involved in an annoying way, which was exemplified by the British gentleman who comes out in the end and "punches" Hugh.

Also it I thought it was very interesting how they played each of the characters off of each other. Hugh, representing the typical American rock star with greasy hair, torn up shirt and relaxed demeanor, while the British gentleman comes out in a clean fitted suit. Thus further shows the British view of Americans as perhaps being lazy and less refined.

The last part of the clip that I would like to point out is the lyrics in the song that Hugh is singing. The song consisted of three words, "America" and "the states." This could represent the ignorance and single-mindedness that is sometimes contributed to Americans.