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.