Gender and Sex !!!

For this blog assignment I decided to read the article Sexuality and Society by Kinsey , Pomeroy and Martin . The article was very interesting as well a informative .It mainly talked about sexual orientation " the heterosexual and homosexual balance " .

The article claims that there is a big amount people tend to classify people by their sexuality which thinks that this sexual orientation is strongly define . In reality according to the article there is a lot of people that have a bisexual orientation and that a remarkable amount of people have try a bisexual relationship . 

This fact was very surprising for me . I have friends with different a sexual orientation but non of them have declared them selves as bisexual . I start thinking that maybe people don't declare themselves as bisexual even though have try it and like it . As a matter of fact we have to realize that the words is not to be divided into ships and goats as the article claims . We have to realized that in the world there is not just one choice and there is nothing wrong to be in between choices . 

Race and Ethnicity !!!!

This chapter talks about Race and Ethnicity, I Have to be honest and admit that I was looking forward to study this chapter, since racism and ethnicity problems are big everyday problems that we mostly see in The United States and mainly in New York. To understand better this chapter I choose to read “The Hispanic dropout Mystery: A Staggering 30 Percent Leave School, Far More than Blacks or Whites. Why?” by Susan Headen, and I also watched the video “The Difference between Us”.

I choose to read Headen article because I’m Hispanic and I’m aware of this monumental problem. I have to agree almost with everything that Headen claims. As her main argument she stated that there is more Hispanic-American dropping out than recent Hispanic immigrants. I believe that this is based on culture. When I came here I saw that minorities are generalized and in our case is being “lazy and young pregnant”. In the other hand in our countries (Latin America) there is not this generalization. Basically what happens is that people believe and act according how society labels them. This is something you can prof and see just by going to school. I remember when I came to BMCC I was looking forward to have more Hispanics friends but I end up having more Asians friends. I was very surprised my self. After this reading I relied that it was mainly because my Hispanics friends didn’t try as hard as the Asians in the academics. Sad but true. In the reading Headen claims that schools are trying to implement programs that prevent Hispanics to drop out. Even though I think this will be helpful I believe that what will really make and impact and stop Hispanic from dropout will be changing our labeling. People should start recognizing that Hispanics just like Blacks and Whites are able to do well in school and be successfully, this will be a great way to encourage students and make them belief in them.

The video “The Difference Between Us” also help me to stick with my belief that what we need to do to stop racial differences is change bad labeling for good ones .The video basically explains how shallow and unrealistic are the characteristics categorize race . The video explains that people believe that certain ethnicities are better than other doing certain things. Like Blacks good in sport Asians in academic and Hispanic Passionate. I strongly belief that people acquire certain behaviors according into what they think people expect from them.

The key to avoid and dismiss inequality based on race will be believed that there is not really any difference between us. Color is something from outside. After all every race have a brain two eyes two legs and two arms. 

Extra Credit "Connected but Alone" by Sherry Turkle

Connected but alone is a life speech conducted by Sherry Turkle and specialist and analyst of technology.

Turkle basic aim is to make us reconsider what is technology doing for us. If we simple see it, we believe technology is the best thing that ever happened to us, but once we really analyzed it we can see that the abuse of it can really harm our human being essence. Around 15 years ago when the technological communication was becoming popular Turkle actually was supporting is claiming it will make our life easier , and As a matter of fact it make our life easier but this doesn’t always means it will make it better.  Turkle claims that the abuse of technology is “changing who we are”, since with this we can edit and change what we want to be. Let’s just think about of our social media pages in which we show only what we want society to see. We created a “profile” of ourselves that sometimes is not true. I believe that our generation have become very shallow because of this, now we care more about what someone will look like and text us than what someone will do for us and behave with us . Turkle claims that this ability of controlling and creating our self does will dismiss human real essence. Does a real hug make you feel the same as an “I <3 u”?

There is also this notion of being “Alone together”. We are as devoted to our devices as Turkle claims that we forgot and don’t want to interact with real people. This felling of reaching everyone but knowing no one is created; I personally think this is true but sad. The biggest problem is that even if we want to avoid to be attached to our devices we can’t do it, society demand us to be attach to them. We are “getting in trouble” Turkle claims.

Another factor that she talks about is that technology makes us believe that we can live in a fantasy world in which we have attention whenever we want, be heard all the time, and cannot be alone. Once again this point may see good and benefactors but not to the point in which they get extreme. She talk about this robot that they are using in a house of elder people in which a women is talking with the robot just like it is a real person. Her we can see how we are showing and giving emotion to technological devices and the worst thing of all expecting to receive emotion back. It got to a point in which we can differentiate what real of what’s not.

Furthermore, I agree with her in the sense that technology is necessary and good as some extend. But we need to know when we are abusing it and its taking control of our lives, so we can never lose our human essence. As much as we need our “IPhone/ Blackberry” we need time to socialize like real human beans.

Class and Inequality !!!

This chapter so far is one of the most interesting of all. It talks about class and the inequality that force it. For a better understanding of the chapter I read an article called Cause of Death: Inequality by Alejandro Reuss and watched the video People like Us. Both of them focus of the different social class and what defines them.

Reuss mainly focus on the lower class and claims that this inequality that lower class people have increases their risk of having health problems. He provided couple of examples in which we can see that poor people is the one that often suffers of various and dangerous health problems. He also denoted that poor people have a different definition depending in the country they are. In this I totally agree with this, since I experience it myself. I have to say that in Ecuador I consider myself a middle-upper class, based on my life style opportunities peers and others, but when I came to America status lowered. Now I’m not able to have the same lifestyle that I used to have and for this my status decreased.

Reuss also claimed that poor people tend to have more health problems because they can’t afford a healthy life style. Let’s just think about the difference of prices of organic food and MacDonald’s, also we all know which one will give us diabetes in a future. Last but not least Reus talks about the size of the gap when it comes to the unequal distribution of resources, basically clamming that in this society the rich become richer and the poor poorest.

As interesting the reading was the video as well. This one manly focus in the upper class and the aim of people of become one of them or just is able to scale status.

The videos main point was that society is just like a big high school in which everyone tries to fit in and become the most popular and powerful. When I started watching it I immediately felt identic with it .it showed how people act and what are their choices and how this reflect the class you belong to. The scene that impressed me the most was from the video How to Marry the Rich in which someone tried to fit it in a high social class group. I know that all of us have experience this is a way or another, maybe being the outcast trying to fit or the powerful determining who will fit.

 As I was watching the video I started to compare American social classes with Ecuadorian ones. I think that American socials classes are more define by money .as we saw in the video is all about what house you have in what neighborhood , I have to say class is also important but once you have money you can slowly but class. I think in Ecuador the most important thing is class (meaning your background and forefathers). Someone can have money but even with that if you don’t have a “classy” last name you will never become a member of the club. Let me share an example. A couple of years ago there was this kid that wanted to study in my high school of what I know his father was a multimillionaire , but he was a farmer guy without a proper last name .the school principal didn’t allow the kid study with us. Even though the school got suit the kid could not get in because high school had the best lawyers on town. I still remember and get really ashamed of my former institution but it’s a clear example of how social class works in Ecuador.

Deviance in our lives !!!

This chapter we are talking about Deviance and Social Control. A deviance is   behavior that does not confirm to basic cultural norms and expectations. It basically shapes from society which means that is not going to please everyone all the time. I believe that it is really important since we are all surrounded of deviances and we barely noticed. Sometimes I think we know we are committing a deviance but still do it and others times we just don’t realized it. In the past days I being noticing some deviance that I committed as well as others. Let me share:

 I work in Mexican restaurant in the noho area. Everyone’s knows Spanish and speak it. I realized that is kind of the official language in the restaurant which is a deviance since we supposed to speak English since we are in America. This is a great example of what normalization (shift in which previuosly deviant behaviors become accepted and conventional.)

Last time I was in the subway and started thinking about homeless. I always believed that they are lazy that’s why they end up like that but then I thought about the Labeling Theory (deviance as the result of how others interpret a behavior and that individuals who are labeled deviant often internalize this judgment as part of self-identity) which mad me realized that maybe after losing all they believed that they are lazy and this is why they don’t work hard to get what they want.

At work I have a very close friend she’s 19 and she’s only working not going to school. She will fit in the loner deviance which claims that who commit the deviant act without the support of other participants. Since she decided not to go to school her mom kicker out, but anyway she stayed strong with her decision.

Since her mom kick she out she decides to go a live with her girlfriend. Then we started to talk about the stigma (the shame attached to a behavior or status that’s is consider socially unaccepted or discrediting). She told me that her mom didn’t accepted her being gay because it not good on the eyes of God and that this is why she’s lazy and don’t want to go to school.

Yesterday I was talking with one of my good old friend from Ecuador. We remember all those fun times we had and how we used to get drunk. I remember I start drinking mainly because all of my friends did it. This could be an example of differentia association theory. According to this theory deviance is learned through interaction with other people involved in deviant behavior.

In Ecuador recent new I found out that they are going to abolish the rule of not drinking on Sundays, mainly because everyone wants and drinks on Sundays. This could be called a decriminalization which is the process of making and illegal action legal.

There was this article that I read yesterday called the positive Function of the Underserving Poor: Uses of the Underclass in America by Herbert J Gans which made me reconsider the way I see society and the economic system. The article talked about 13 elements that are based and associated with poor people. Basically it explains that is the way that we see poor people that make them poorer and keep them there. I thought that it is us the ones that are supporting this system, which I think is unfair. So it is good to be deviant in this case? Not thinking as everyone else and not support the system.

It very complicated to fight any system but this is how reformation always starts. 

Socialization towards the future!!!

This chapter I believe was one of the most important so far. It talks about Socialization. There were a couple of reading and videos that make me understand us and me a little better. Hope it help you to understand.

Killing us softly is a live speech of Jean Killbourne, in which she mainly talks about women and advertising. This video for me wasn’t only interesting but also and eye opener. Killbourne showed how women is seen as an object rather than a subject whit all those sexist advertisements. It’s true that sex sells and I was aware that almost all the advertising have female image on it, which often looked perfect. But what I wasn’t aware of what these images do to the concept of a women .It is truly softly destroying us.

We have been trying to become an intangible thing. Why? By looking at this advertising us women are looking for a perfect look that is often not true, and because we cannot get it out self-esteem get terrible affect. Then we wonder why men are so shallow and chauvinist. Women are been stereotype in something that is not possible or true. But this does not only happened to us but we can see it in male as well

The video A Call for men exposed by Tony Porter, which is a live speech, showed how society is afraid of changing stereotypes, in this case man being fearless. Once again we all carry this imagine and opinion of what a men should be. But it’s correct? Whit thinking about it we support inequality in a way or another, by believing that male have to be stronger tougher and dominant.

Porter was talking about The Men Box, which basically carried the rules for being a man; pitifully I will say the box forgot that men just like women have feelings and needs. At the end we are all human beings. Porter claims that man should start liberating themselves from this stereotype, I strongly I agree and propose women to do the same.

Both videos where interesting and impacting. It showed that the agents of socialization (people and groups who teach our culture), meaning us must change our perspective of the world in other to provide more equality. Our customs norms believes and values are pass true generation to generations this is how socialization happens, but and whit this stereotypes of what we should be or what we should become are also establish. It’s hard to change this perspective since it’s something that we learned since we were born. 

We are bombard whit images of the perfect women been sexual and strong men being dominant. Our med’s I (our spontaneous creative and unpredictable self) is being destroy and replace for a meads me (since that learned from society) that media have created. What of men wants to cry or women don’t want to sexy? It will be a chaos for quite a bit since society is not use to this. Change is hard, but there is always room for resocialization (the replacement of old norms and behaviors), after all we are a society that works whit people wants a needs and these changes from time to time.

 (Guess Advertisement showing dominant male and sexual women)

Recently I read two articles one called The Retro Wife and the other Parent Socialization of Children , which not only catcher my eye but also made me reflect about the socialization my parents provide me and the one I want to provide to my future

The article explains how the agents of socialization , meaning the people and groups who teach us about our culture, shape the way we think , but not always reflect what we really desire as an individual. It shows that the life-course perspective,(age, time and place that shape our identity )can drastically change .In this case the article the Retro Wife talks about the role of women as a family taker and working field.  It claims that now days the majority of women wants to be successful in their working field and that they tend to leave family as a secondary. In the other hand it presents that there have been an increasing amount of women that started to avoid this trend and started to be proud family takers. It’s a biological determinism which means that our biology shapes our human behavior. Personally I believed that even though I love my dad as much as my mom , my mom was better for taking care of my and the household.in another hand the article Parent socialization of children showed the different types of parenting and what are the main elements to be a successful parent . It denoted that there should be a balance in power, control and support which I agree whit since this is how my parents raise me. It also denoted that there are three types of parenting Authoritative (rules but warm), Permissive (No rules) and Authoritarian (only rules).

Both articles provide numerous of examples and experiences of different women and cultures. This made me think about my aspirations for the future. I used to picture myself in 10 years from now as a professional women being successful at work, the second concern I always have was my family. I think that it’s because I like to be extraordinary in everything I do and like to be reward for it. But as I was reading first the article I realized that I could be extraordinary and rewarded also by being a family taker. As this family taker I’m going to apply the Authoritative parenting style, because I think its more balance. It also was the one my parents socialized with me and I think I had worked very well.

At the end I came up whit the idea that even though were are thought to live in an anticipatory socialization (individual practicing for future roles that are adopt by norms) there is always a chance to resocialization (Individual replace old norm whit new ones that will adapt better) , if that’s what you want.  It is true that we develop our  social self-depending on the  culture and structure that we live in    , but let’s remember that culture can change depending on people needs, that the power that we can all have .

(Me in the future a full time Autoritative parent after being a succesful business women)

POWER POWER POWER !!!

Power is a word which everyone uses and has it. Its and essential in our existence, this is why I really enjoy reading this chapter about power and its derivatives.
As I said before power is something that everyone haves but it depend wheatear and how they use it according to this we have different kinds of power as it’s shown in the text. Moreover the attached reading gives us more deep explanation about a kind of power which is oppression and its types. There is also the milligram video which is a perfect tool that helps to understand the usage of this power in human being. In the video they exemplify the obedience of authority to show how powerful power is.

There were remarkable points that ill like to share in both the reading Five Faces of Oppression and the Milligram Experiment Video.
Five faces of Oppression

The reading talk about exploitation as a type of oppression. If I would not read the article I wouldn’t think about it even though it is something that I fell every day. The reading explains that exploitation is something an authority whit power does so we can deliver an outcome that isn’t well paid. Immediately I though about immigrants in New York and how they get exploit because they don’t have all rights of Americans. It happen in my job in where there is a couple of people that works harder than me but get paid less, but even though  I know that’s wrong I don’t step up for them because my job will be in jeopardy.

Keeping up whit the immigrants subject the reading bring another type of oppression that is often apply to immigrants which is imagination. Margination is the type of oppression in which someone is exclude or limit because it’s different. I must admit that I have felt this for being an international student in use. It’s very sad and frustrating that I can’t have all privileges that regular students have like Medicare, social security, financial aid, credit and others.

The article also talks about powerlessness as being a part of margination. Karl Max defines powerless as have no power, meaning be able to nothing against the authority. I believe that we all felt powerless at least once in our lives, since we always are surrounded by authoritarian people. In our childhood whit our parents, in the school whit our professors or in our country whit politicians. Even though this is something that will always being obstacle in live I think that we always can fight it against.

But sometimes there is a person that doesn’t fight against it and this is what is called Culture of Silence. This happens when people get use to have no power and don’t fight again abuse. Honestly I have no personal experience whit the subject and I think it’s because I have been raise in a freedom environment. Then I started to think about people that haven’t been race in a freedom environment like slaves in the past centuries, and then I understand this sadly behavior.

Violence was another element that catch my eye .just like power and oppression this in an element that surround us all the time. Moreover violence is the most use element for oppression and so from power as well. This made me though how antique our society still is, since it has to work applying physical harm.

Just like the reading there where remarkable events that catch my eye in the video the milligram experiment.

The first thing that really impresses me is that in the past they used this experiment which badly harms humans being in name of science. At the beginning I though how horrible is to intentional harm a human being whit incredible pain. But then I started to think that whit out experiment we wouldn’t be able to know about obedience and authority.

Another thing that was really interesting was looking at the reaction of the people that were having the teacher role. I was surprise that some of them were so calm knowing that they were harming someone. Of course there were others that felt horrible when they have to apply the electric shock. I think I relate whit them

Also there was persuasion in the video. We were able to see how easily people are persuading it. Even though people were doing something wrong which they also believe it was wrong they still did it because someone told them that it will be for a good cause.

The experiments in their majority were blaming others as an excuse for the pain they provide. This was really interesting since I think blame is the easy excuse for every problem we may cause. We all use it and I believe we will still be using it because this not only takes your physical guilt way but also mental guilt in some of the cases

Finally the most important part of the video was seeing how they prof the experiment. They were able to prof the people obey in most of the cases not because of fear or need but mostly because the power that an authority resembles .

I found this so interesting since we can see that there is no need to be cause harm to have power. It’s easier and better to just become an authority.