"Masculinity Stereotype"

As our class discussed the role of masculinity in society, I became intrigued as to why a society would tolerate and even condone the stereotypical role of masculinity, as portrayed by the media. As such, I decided to discuss and shed some light on a few stereotypes of masculinity.
First, why can’t we grow up untainted by society’s perception of “masculinity?” It seems apparent that we start gender assignment before a person is even born, buying pink things for girls and blue things for boys. It escalates from here as children begin to develop and starts to get mobile. After a little boy falls down, it is common for parents to respond, “Stop crying, suck it up, or you’re a big boy,” whereas a girl is allowed to cry, while being offered comfort, because shedding tears is accepted as a feminine trait. Henceforth, if a boy cries he is acting like a “girl,” because this is a learned accepted fact given to him by society. Oddly enough, I have heard many times that women are more capable of sustaining higher pain thresholds than men, due to their physiology. I don’t know if there is truth in that, but from what I have witnessed in my own life, I would stand behind that statement. However, in order for men to be men, they must be “tough,” they must endure painful situations without the slightest utterance, and not give way to tears of emotion, or else they are not considered masculine.
Secondly, I’d like to discuss the term “man’s work.” Throughout our lives, the idea is impressed upon us that men do certain types of work and women do other types of work. For instance, it is acceptable for a man to work on a car but not for a woman. Such labor is accepted as man’s work, but why? What makes a man more capable of working on a car than a woman? While some would argue that physical strength makes a man better equipped for such work. The tools and equipment available today make it easy for almost anyone to change a tire, oil, or an engine! As such, “man’s work” is a stereotype, repeatedly enforced by media.
The real question remains, what can we do to stop this gender assignment, given to us by the media, and advertisers? My proposal is to become familiar with such “assignments” and become proactive at stomping them out. Next, we must teach our children not to accept such assignments, but to live true to their dreams and passions. In this way, we can pass on less stereotypical views to the next generation. If a boy cries when he gets hurt, let it be. Don’t enforce the stereotypes of masculinity. But, instead work with people, and especially children, recognizing them for their strengths, weaknesses, talents, and interests, rather than specific gender traits.

Terrorist Metro Bombings In Moscow

The recent suicide bombings of two Metro trains during Monday's rush-hour in Moscow has re-awakened world fears of suicide attacks. 39 people were killed and over 70 injured in what was the largest attack in Moscow since 2004 when 40 people were killed by a bomb on a Metro train. The attacks have been attributed to Ingushetia and Chechnyan rebel leaders who have waring with Russia since the time right after the fall of the Soviet Union. The most suprising detail about the attack is that the suicide bombers were not men, but women.

Whilst most of you probably didn't hear much, if any, about these events (because of our news organizations lack of worldwide reporting), it should be be made aware of and should make us realize that we are not the only ones that face problems in the world. This terrorist strike, just like countless others, targeted innocent people just going about their daily lives, not harming anyone and yet, some organization thought it was acceptable to take their lives. This, to me, is unacceptable as no human has any more right than any other to take a life. With these bombings, it shows how little respect these terrorist organiations have for any human life, even of their own kind, and they should be persecuted and pursued to the fullest extent of any applicable law.

These events should remind us tha we are all vulnerable to any kind of attack and we should be extra vigilent on how we deal with suspicious people. We should not turn a blind eye but we should report and investigate so that we can keep ourselves and our fellow man alive. Of course, with this kind of persecution comes the reponsibility of one to not needlessly profile individuals on any basis other than fact of the situation at hand. Russia, like many first-world coutries, has had to deal with many terrorist attacks in recent history and have said that they are working to revamp anti-terrorism laws to try and better protect their citizens. They have vowed to follow these criminals to the "depths of the sewers and bring them to daylight" as Prime Minister Vladmir Putin stated.

Perhaps we as Americans should take a good hard look on the "War on Terror" and its successes rather than downplaying it and demeaning it simply because it is a war. Any fight against extremism is a brutual fight and their will be casulaties, friend and foe but we should not give up the fight. Our brave troops are fighting to make this country a safe place to live in so perhaps we should stop all of out political and social bickering, and realize that, whilst we may have many problems of our own, we still live in a safe and free country and that is what absolutely matters the most.

Check out this BBC news website link for more info:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8595162.stm

-Chris Laatsch

Bullying in schools

Bullying in schools is as old as any problem in our school systems. However, the air of denial is so pronounced that some schools identify themselves as "bully free" institutions. These denials have eventually lead to incidents of suicide.

In January, Phoebe Prince, a 15 year old high school student at South Hadley High School in Massachusetts, hang herself after nearly three months of being a victim of bullying. Nine teenagers are now facing charges of stalking, criminal harassment, and violating Phoebe's civil rights.

In Long Island, N.Y. town of West Islip, police are investigating whether cyberbullies contributed to suicide of Alexis Pilkington, 17. Alexis took her own life in March 21 following visicious taunts on social networking sites. What is worse, this continued even after her death, making it more painful for the griefing family and friends.

These are just two examples of end results of bullying. When I was researching on this issue, I was amazed to find out that bullying in schools, though an old problem, is often brushed aside by school officials, teachers, parents, and students. With modern technology, bullying is becoming even worse because of cyberbulling, which is even more traumatizing. Those who are not bold enough to bully others in person, do it easily online.

I have been asking myself questions over and over again regarding bullying in schools. One answer that comes to my mind is, we all have to work together to fight against bullying in our schools. Parents, teachers, school officials, and students have to be involved. Starting from our homes, as parents, we need to teach our children right from wrong. Teachers and school officials need to set rules and punishments towards this deadly problem. Students need to report to authorities cases of bullying they witness.

What do you think?

What Will the Aging Hippy Generation Mean to Society

I’m currently enrolled in another Sociology class called The Process of Aging. It has been a really interesting class and sheds some light on the social, physiological and biological changes we go through as we progress through adulthood into our older years.

People in the field of Gerontology realize the importance of Active Aging in dealing with the aging population. The World Health Organization defines Active Aging as “The process of optimizing opportunities of health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age.”

When you look at the demographic projections of the aging population, it is clear to see that we are really on the cusp of something we have never experienced before. The average lifespan has increased from 47 years to 77.9 years in just 100 years. A woman turning 65 now can look forward to another 20 years of life ahead. Our culture will need to adjust quickly to the aging baby boomers who in 2006 started reaching age 60. Demographers predict that by 2030 the population over 65 maybe as high as 72 million, representing a 100% increase over 30 years, compared to only a 30% growth in the total population (US Census Bureau, 2006).

As a society we need to start planning for the surge in the older population. Our medical professions and our social programs will be choked with the increased number of older people in our society. There will be shortages across the board in any field that deals with older people medically, socially and financially. For anyone still contemplating a career path, anything dealing with the older population will be in great demand.

The aging baby booms will in some ways be blazing trails in this new phase of their lives, just as they did in the 1950’s and 1960’s through the various ways they helped shape society. They were instrumental in causing a shift in society through expressions in music and art, through “hippy” commune-living, free-love, the drug culture, anti-war, anti-establishment and pro-peace movements.

It will be interesting to watch this important group and how they approach aging. They will certainly have different expectations and needs regarding many of the aging issues we have not given much thought to in the past. What will this aging group of one-time “hippies” or protestors accept as their lifestyle and what will their demands from society be? I’m very excited to be studying the field of Gerontology as a career for the next phase of my life and to help me approach aging for myself in a positive and active way.

Poverty got to end!

Poverty got to end!
Who can help to end poverty? We hear about poverty all the time; it is the major problem all over the world. However, hearing about poverty is not the same as going through poverty. If we really think about it for some, it may seem as simple as getting three meals a day and having a warm safe place that can be called home. Poverty means not only lacking basic necessities for existence, but also being deprived from a good quality of life. In our society, especially children and women are the first victims and most affected by poverty. The consequences are devastating, including hunger, diseases, malnutrition, lack of education and mental and social problems. Children are more vulnerable to poverty effects. Poverty exists all over the world it is not disease poverty is a social problem and can be corrected. We can save children and women from poverty by means of as individual donation of money on top of government help. Poverty, the lack of the resources needed to live a normal life. Those people with lack of resource can defeat poverty via our support. Donating money is one way of fighting poverty. If everyone donates a small amount of money, it would make a big difference in many lives. Government also can play a bigger role by supporting more organizations and elaborating on whatever system they use to reach peoples who live in poverty. We can beat poverty-we have what it takes! To get more information go to www.unicef.org

Precious

BLOG #3

I recently saw the movie Precious which tells the story of an African American teen living in Harlem. Through the movie, she is pregnant with her second child from being raped multiple times by her father. Her mother is abusive both emotionally and physically and does not support her desire for an education. While Precious endures countless acts of physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and domestic violence, she is resilient and goes to an alternative school to learn the basic skills of reading and writing.
As many as one in four girls and one in six boys may suffer from sexual abuse by the time they are 18.1 This movie really made me realize that while this is a fictional story, there are people like Precious living in every community. My jaw was literally dropped throughout the movie and I almost felt guilty because I come from a good home and family who support and nurture me. Why should this amazingly strong and resilient girl go through such a devastating life? Why do people like Precious go unnoticed by social workers and community helpers? There were few people who actually helped Precious effectively throughout the movie and they only did at times of dire need. Precious’ successes came primarily from her ability to go to another, happier place in her mind as she lived in these traumatic conditions. There were several improvements to the community’s efforts to deal with child abuse that I think girls like Precious could benefit from.
The biggest issue is the timing of decision making when it comes to placement of children who have experienced child abuse. It is important to get children who are abused into a permanent, safe home rather than go to several sights of foster care. Stability is important for all children, but even more important for those who are going through traumatic events. I think it is also important to make sure that the children’s wants and needs are being not just listened to but actually heard. Adults should be thoughtful and mindful of a child’s personality before placing them in a home. They should get to know the child and be skilled and knowledgeable about topics ranging from psychology to biology to sociology. Social workers should realize that when they make home visits what they see may not be the truth, especially if the child is sitting with a parent. They should be better trained to pick up on subliminal cues. Also, they should make time to talk with the child alone as well as spend time at the home. Staying for activities like dinner or daily chores would allow social workers to get a more accurate picture of the situation at home. There should be programs to make it easier for girls who are pregnant to go to school. Private tutors or small groups with other girls in the same situations would increase the likelihood of success. Also, assistance with child care is critical so the young girls can get a job and continue to go to work. While all of these ideas seem like a perfect world, I believe that if people see the movie Precious they would take more time to volunteer and create programs to help girls like Precious all over the world.
1. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169392.php

Learning About Culture And It's Effects.

Indeed, so far, the most interesting topic I have enjoyed and learned a lot more than I new before, is the topic on 'Cultural Diversity'. I do not know if I was personally attentive or more thoughtful of all that was going on in class, but all the discussions, and videos were very educative and touching to me.

To begin to understand culture, I saw that it is the way different people behave and act which is very peculiar to them and is even carried on to their generations. I noticed that, people have various reasons for behaving in a way that may be due to natural, social, or even personal to them. From all the videos we watched in class such as (Piraha in The Amazon, 30 Days, Borack, and A Class Divided, I have seen that the most important thing to all of them is for a person to try and study the culture of others to make it easier to understand people. I must say I was mostly touched by the lessons the teachers taught in "A Class Divided". I did not know that the values we place on people could really affect the way they perform. I was really surprised to see that the little children were affected by the names their friends called them. It is really a big lesson to learn.

Despite the fact that different people have many reasons for their way of culture, I also think some cultures are very admirable for example, The Opening of Door for others which is practiced in The United States. I see this to be very commendable. A friend once told me that there seems to be even family culture. She said, " her husband's family members all have a culture of not being concerned about a person when you are in their company. However, her family has a culture of being very concerned about doing anything that can affect people who join their company and she sometimes thinks it is to be over concerned. She said her mother was once very concerned about her husband who has a very quite habit when he was in their company thinking that they were boring him with their conversations". I told her I rather admire them for being concerned about what they do to others.

On the whole, we always have to try and learn the culture of other people to know how to live with them. If we do, most conflicts like religious conflicts will be solved.