Gender and Sexuality

 

Watching the video “The difference between us” I have learned that even we seem different from each other in some way such as features, skin color, hair color, etc., we still have the same DAN, same roots, and we all share the same ancestry, genealogy and history. 

 

According to chapter 11 “Sex is the biological distinction between females and males; and gender refers to the socially constructed cultural expectations associated with women and men”. The article “Night to His Day” by Judith Lorber, talks about the difference between sex and gender.

For most human beings these two words will sound as the same thing or a synonymous from each other, but it is not, it involves dissimilarities among sex and gender. Sex as similar to race is ascribed statuses that are assigned at birth and we cannot choose or change it. In contrast, gender refers to our behavior, the roles we assumed, the attitudes we have based on our sex, and the expectations people have over us. 

 

Society wants to seem both, males and females as different but equal at the same time.  Nowadays, women can do mostly the same thing as men but we are still segregated on jobs, each gender do the work that for the community is considered as “appropriated.” Even if we are in a modern world the differences between genders will never going to end because if we say that both, women and men can do the same work, it is kind of lie, maybe we can have the same jobs as men getting a less wage than they do, society will always be in charge of maintaining a gender separations. For example, Women that work on the Marines should wear a makeup, hair care; have an elegant appearance, and all that stuff that defines a girl just to differentiate females from males. 

 

In social construction does not matter what men and women do even if they do the same work, but social institution perceives what they do as different from each other. As part of the stratification system even if women belong to the same race and social class men will always be above women. 

 

Overall, even if people are equal one to another, we are not treated in the same way because we should act and behave according to our gender.

 

Race and Ethnicity

      The article “The Hispanic Dropout Mystery: A Staggering 30 Percent Leave School, Far More Than Blacks or Whites. Why?” By Susan Headden is mainly concerned in the reasons why Hispanic people dropout of school.

      It is very disturbing to know the high percentage of Hispanics that dropout of school in the United States for reasons that in some cases cannot be cataloged as valid. The rate is about 30 percent of Latinos students, which is the twice rate than whites and three times more than blacks.

      Most of the Latinos leave school because the language is one the primary barrier to succeed academically. But what about those kids who were born here and have the opportunity to speak English fluently and some others speak both, English and Spanish? This percentage of the Latinos who fails in school just because they are bored? I don’t think is a good excuse; they just don’t want to take advantage over it. This statement shows that the Latinos who were born in the US, have a greater rate percentage of dropouts of school than the foreign born, who have become the forty three percent of Hispanic students that leave the school.   

      The other percent of Hispanics teens that quit school is because they have to work to support their family, social economic inequality and some others for their migratory status, that does not allowed them to receive any help from the government; therefore they cannot pay their tuition.

      As a Latina, I feel very disappointed knowing that we belong to the higher rate that don't succeed in education even though we have many opportunities, but everything depends on how we were raised and our values. 

Social Inequality

The video “People like us” is about the social class system and it is based on looks, popularity, money, and so on. American nation has a lot of tribes and are based on what we do or how much money we make, also opportunities and aspirations. People used to coexist with the same social class they belong to, and class is seem in every way, the way you look, the type of food you eat, the power you have, the respect you have and more. Looking at class differences reveals many things about American’s hopes, fears, and more.

The choices you make reveal your social class. Having money means having the freedom to create your own life style as long as your life with your taste of your particular social class. Unequal social classes have many differences, upper class people have limitations, and they don’t do things what lower class people do, eat or chose to wear. Lower class people do things without being judged, unlike wealthy people, they are worry about their looks and what people think or say about them. Navigating social classes in America can be tricky and impossible to change so easily because even if you move from a lower to an upper class you will feel that you don’t fit in it because you still will need more to learn.

                              

The article “Cause of Death: Inequality” by Alejandro Reuss is about how social inequality, gender, and education hide an immediate cause of death such as heart disease, diabetes, accidental injury or homicide. Lower class people have a worse health and tend to smoke or to drink heavily and that is because they are lack of access to health care, good diets and exercise, and as a result they are more often hospitalized. Usually men with less than 12 years of education are more than twice as likely to die of chronic disease compared to those who have more education; therefore, educated people are able to have higher income and higher life expectancy.

EXTRA CREDIT!

HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS:

TED is the non-profit organization devoted to Ideas worth Spreading; share a deep commitment to addressing the high school dropout crisis. The facts are alarmist, one in every five kids, dropout of school before they graduate, and in some others countries is much worse. Rita F. Pierson, Ed. D says that kids dropout of school or don’t learn is either because of poverty, low attendance, negative influences and the most important thing is the relationship students have with their teachers. Most teachers do their work just for a salary, but what they don’t realize is that students do not learn from people they don’t like. Once she had an academically deficiency class that she cried, but she tried her best to find the way to take her students from where they are to where they need to be and raise their self-esteem. For me is very impressive how Pierson encourage her students even they know are bad, but for her, they are on the road and is way to be better in life. 

Melissa Perez who wasn’t interesting in school and at the age of 17 gave birth of her daughter who definitely changes her life in a positive way. Being pregnant changed her approach tremendously. Being a mom at a young age make her think that she needs to succeed in life, finish high school, go to college, and to have a better vision about her future. Now she is on the right track because she is the first person in her family who has finished high school.

Dr. Geoffrey Canada says that this year we are going to lose many children because they are not going to graduate from school and people could help these kids to not fail but mostly nobody care. This is the primary reason that makes the educator thinks that education has failed, but he stills believe in the kids and young to succeed in life.  

Professor as Pearl Arredondo help a lot of kids to not being a victim of their own circumstances and move on because she feels identify with those kids who have experienced a father/mother loss. That is why she doesn’t want students to fail, she wants them to take courage and do the right things and accomplish their goals.   

I really enjoyed watching this video because students need to be encouraged, having a good relationship with their professors, because as Pierson said “educators were born to make the difference” and that make me think that not all the people have the skill of teaching. That is why professors have to love what they do and have a passions for it and students with the teachers’ help and perseverance will have a better vision about how to play the game about succeeding in life. 

Social Inequality

The video “People like us” is about the social class system and it is based on looks, popularity, money, and so on. American nation has a lot of tribes and are based on what we do or how much money we make, also opportunities and aspirations. People used to coexist with the same social class they belong to, and class is seem in every way, they way you look, the type of food you eat, the power you have, the respect you have and more. Looking at class differences reveals many things about American’s hopes, fears, and more.

The choices you make reveal your social class. Having money means having the freedom to create your own life style as long as you life with your taste of your particular social class. Unequal social classes have many differences, upper class people have limitations, and they don’t do things what lower class people do, eat or chose to wear. Lower class people do things without being judged, unlike wealthy people, they are worry about their looks and what people think or say about them. Navigating social classes in America can be tricky and impossible to change so easily because even if you move from a lower to an upper class you will feel that you don’t fit in it because you still will need more to learn.

The article “Cause of Death: Inequality” by Alejandro Reuss is about how social inequality, gender, and education hide an immediate cause of death such as heart disease, diabetes, accidental injury or homicide. Lower class people have a worse health and tend to smoke or to drink heavily and that is because they are lack of access to health care, good diets and exercise, and as a result they are more often hospitalized. Usually men with less than 12 years of education are more than twice as likely to die of chronic disease compared to those who have more education; therefore, educated people are able to have higher income and higher life expectancy.

Deviance

Deviance is behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society. Here are some examples in which we can see some deviance behaviors in our life.

1- Kony runs the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Africa and is responsible for massacres, mass rapes, and creating a legion of child soldiers. He has evaded capture for nearly three decades. This is a formal deviant behavior because this African man is training kids to be criminals and even kill their own parents.

2- Gay marriage is something normal for gay and mostly for the rest of society. They say marriage is about love not about gender but there are people that will see this as a deviant behavior because for straight people, this will be weird and they will not support it.

3- Having tattoos and piercing all over your body it’s nothing illegal but it seems to be part of deviant behavior. I think people heavily tattooed are seemed as criminal by the society. They also tend to be the people that cause most of the chaos in society.

4. Tyler Clementi was an eighteen years old student who jumped and killed himself from the George Washington Bridge because his roommate used his camera without Clementi’s knowledge by recording Tyler kissing another guy. He uploaded the video to twitter where many people was able to watch it. Deviance is seemed in this case because his roommate violates his freedom.

5. My knowledge about the Ku Klux Klan is that this is an organization of white U.S American people against immigrants. It all started since African Americans came here as slaves and they fought for their freedom, once they were free and had their home, the Ku Klux Klan took action and started killing them and burning their houses and pertinence. This shows a deviance behavior from white people because they did things that society used to see as normal even though they were acting as cruel.

6. When I was in eleven grade I had a friend in school that was sixteen and she was a good student but suddenly she end up being pregnant, we all was surprised. In our senior year, her baby was a little grown and she could go to school but her baby was a priority to her and she left school and she couldn’t complete high school. This is a deviant behavior because she cannot offer to her son a better future and a good income for her and her children.

The article Positive Functions of the Undeserving Poor: Uses of the Underclass in America by Herbert J. Gans talks about the strange alliance between the poor and the wealthy in American society. Poor people and poor people of color are disproportionately labeled as underclass and undeserving.  The unfortunate are blame for most of the crimes and unacceptable behaviors that occurred in our society just because of the stereotypes they supposedly into. They are called lazy and are consider to have a higher criminal activities than any other class or rich people because they either dropout of school or can’t get a job to stay out of trouble. Being labeled make them fall into the “labeling theory” which is an approach to deviance that attempts to explain why certain people are viewed as deviants while other engaged in the same behavior are not. That is why being labeled in this way can cause criminal to stay criminals and they aren't seen as a positive function, they are seen more towards negative. In conclusion, the society will always continue to have a gap between the poor and the wealthy people and will create an unequal balance and will contribute to an equal treatment. 

Socialization!

The video “Killing Us Softly” by Jean Kilbourne, develops the representation of women in advertising and how that image of women influences over us. Advertising is mostly viewed on the mass media whose primary purpose is to sell products and a good looking woman is a powerful tool for ads.

In the US more than $180 billion are spent on advertising and the average person sees over 3000 ads daily. Now with computer’s technology is possible to generate a perfect real woman. Most commercials focus on only a part of women’s bodies, especially their breast and bottom, and I think we are used as objects to promote products. Besides that, women’s bodies are exposed to be judged by society and their worth depends on how they look. This concept of a perfect women and the obsession that comes from media images have resulted in an average of one of every five young girls to have eating disorders. As a woman I think we have to change our attitudes on how we “have to look” and men should accept us how we are.

The video “A call to men” by Tony Porter is about how people have stereotypes over how boys should behave in society. Growing as boys they are taught to be strong, courageous, dominating, no fear, no emotions, and no pain. Men are superior and women are inferior, men are strong and men are weak, and therefore women are less valued. Apparently, boys and girls are treated totally different, and Porter uses his own kids as an example. If his daughter comes to him crying and no matter what happened to her, daddy will be there and she will be consoled. Unlike his daughter, if his son comes to him crying, as soon daddy hears that he will start to make some questions like “why you crying,” “tell what is wrong,” “I can’t understand why you crying, “put your head up.” Even if they are kids, parents especially fathers want to treat them “like a man.”

              Here we are talking about a “man box” where men are used to follow what their own gender says or expects from them to be part of the society. But parents have a great influence over their sons will act according to how their parents raise them. That is why fathers have to teach them that it is okay to have feelings and emotions, that it is okay to promote equality and not be dominating because if they stay in the “man box” it will be destructive for them because they are forced to live in it.

I think these two videos “Killing Us Softly” and “A call to men” have a strong connection with chapter 6 Socialization. Socialization is the process through which people learn their culture’s basic norms, values, beliefs, and behaviors. On one hand, Kilbourne speaks about how women are good for advertisements and how a perfect body and beauty influence the products’ selling. This makes women have a sense of self which is the collection of thoughts and feelings you have when considering yourself as an object. On the other hand, Porter talks about how boys behave differently from girls. Men are mostly concentrated in staying in the “man box” that determines that they should not cry or have emotions, that they are stronger than women, should be around people of the same gender, etc. But that is what boys are taught at early ages from their parents who are their agents of socialization. The agents of socialization are people or groups who teach us about our culture. In conclusion I think men should treat women the same way they should treat a man, with respect and with more communication.

Nowadays boys and girls feel comfortable wearing the same type of shoes. These shoes are unisex, designed for both genders and people like it and feel identified with each other.

Normally, when guys go to the store to buy Jordan’s sneakers they ask for women’s size because it looks “smaller” on their feet and are cheaper. Society cannot even distinguish if that was designed for girls or boys because it looks pretty alike. This product makes men and women interact with each other without differences.

“The Retro Wife” by Lisa Miller is an article about how women decide a position on society. Nowadays, mothers have the freedom to choose whether to stay at home taking care of their child or simply to work. Some years ago, women were forced to stay at home and do home chores. At that time they had no choice and did what they thought were good at it. People still think that “Women are raised from the get-go to raise children successfully. When we are moms, we have a better toolbox.” I do not totally agree with Miller on this point, because some mothers decide and want to stay at home because they are more sensitive than men, and it doesn’t mean that women should be better at it. Mothers such as Kelly who thinks that staying at home cooking, helping their kids with homework, teaching the life lessons and habits that they should know as long as they grow up, is priceless, might be right but we push ourselves into a position where men can think that they are superior to us, but many women have demonstrated that we can handle both, a family and work life. Even though women are better educated than they have ever been and better educated now than men, at this time we still have some restrictions for example, giving us fewer responsibilities at work and therefore we earn only 77 cents on the male dollar which I think is not fair because we are as capable and do the same work.

The article “Parents’ Socialization of Children” by D. Terri Heath is about how culture and parenting styles can influence their child’s ideas, attitudes, behaviors and beliefs. There are three types of parenting styles. Authoritarian parenting demand obedience, imposes restrictions, punitive styles demanding obedience and respect. Authoritative parenting encourages independence but still places limits and controls. Permissive parenting is much more uninvolved in the child’s life and as a result children are aggressive, aimless, and lack self-control. The parenting styles, culture and the social economic status have a great impact over the children’s academic success. Parents who have higher SES can spend more time with their kids, but being a good parent is not the one who spends the entire day with them; a good parent uses the opportunity to teach them some math, reading, writing, interacting and understating skills. 

Milgram Experiment

            The Milgram experiment is one of the most controversial experiments in history. This is mainly focused between obedience to authority and personal conscience.Obedience means compliance with higher authorities in a hierarchical structure. (Experience Sociology.) “Milgram also used the term conformity meaning going along with peers individuals of our own status who have no special right to direct our behavior”.

            Twelve normal public members participated on this experiment; the teacher is told to administer an electric shock every time the learner makes a mistake, increasing the level of shock each time. The point of this experiment is to see if they can stop the procedure or to see how far people can go in obeying the professor if it involved harming another person. At some point of the procedure the volunteers didn’t want to go on because they didn’t want to cause pain to the learner, but the experimenter guide told them to continue. Here we can see how power can influence on people. According to “Experience Sociology” power is the ability to bring about an intended outcome, even when opposes by other. In other hand, the teachers’ position shows us an example of powerlessness because even tough they didn’t want to continue they had the sense of following the orders.

            In conclusion 9 of 12 participants went all the way to the end. In Milgram original experiment over 65% of people continued to the highest level of 450 volts. This made the social psychologist think that “ In some circumstances violence is absolutely justified because people just follow orders of their superiors” We can see violence in our daily life and people tend to coerce. Coerce means the “force compliance by threatening, intimidating, pressuring, or harming someone”

            After watching this video and reading the chapter 5 of “Experience Sociology” makes me think that “we” all the people in the society are likely to follow or obey orders by any authority figure even if some people can cause harm to an innocent human being.  Obeying is mostly related to power. Power can occur in smalls groups too, for example“Rewarding Power” is used when the parents have the capacity to control their child’s behavior. “Coercive Power” is another example of power that is seen in today’s society when any authority from a company has the ability to fire a worker if he/she fails below a given level expectation. Even though the world has been revolutionized we are designated to follow instructions from a higher level position person or groups.  

Teenage Wasteland by Donna Gaines 

The article “Teenage Wasteland” is about four teenagers who committed a suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning by one of the teens in Bergenfield, New Jersey. The author from this article wanted to know the reasons why these adolescents ended with their lives. But during her investigation she found that something else is wrong with them because they weren't just friends they also had an intimate social bound linking them together, and Gaines tried to go deeply into their personal backgrounds of these teens and what she found is some social problems such as: broken families, drug and alcohol abuse, economic problems, and so on. 

This article written by the author Donna Gaines brings the problem of teens running away of reality and taking the worse decisions for their lives. But this is what society may think, but this is not what it really is. They have been labeled as “burnouts, druggies, and losers” which made them feel isolated and have nothing to do in life. Society has an impact over them and shapes their lives putting them near the bottom academically, economically, and socially. This article reflects the kind of problems that many American families are facing nowadays. That is why is very important to know and understand their behavior in society because behind their attitude, there could be something important role missing, especially played by their parents.

Gaines concludes her article by giving her opinion and the possible reasons why they committed a suicide. She believes that teenage suicide will not go away until their bad lives go away. I think that what they need is just more communication, attention, love, and support especially from their authority (parents). 

Sense and Nonsense about Surveys by Howard Schuman

This article shows us how a survey should be studied, the characteristics and how and why it is important and beneficial.

According to Howard, surveys draw on two human propensities that have served us well from ancient times. One is to gather information by asking questions. The other is to learn about one’s environments by explaining a small part of it which is the basis of sampling.

Howard talks about the history of survey and the right and wrong way to collect data. But what is a survey? According to the book “Intro to Sociology” a survey is a study, generally in the form of an interview or questionnaire that provides researchers with information about how people think and act. Also the survey is an example of quantitative research, which collects and reports data primarily in numerical form.

Surveys involve two districts steps: One is to choose the right information by generating questions, which is an effective way of acquiring more information and greater understanding of all kinds and assuming that a person answers accurately. The other is inclination which is an examination of a small part of the population.  When it is a population sampling, the data or facts should be representative of the entire society and the sample should have sufficient size to guarantee statistical analysis.

Surveys need to follow some steps as mentioned before. It can be from a specific group (sample) or a group as a whole (population), and it has to be analyzed correctly to get a good picture of what society needs or wants. In other words, a good survey needs to be worded by questions to clarify any doubts to determine any conclusion. 

Who am I?

Who am I??

My name is Jhojaira, and I was born on January 29, 1994 in Ecuador. My parents thought me the importance of education. When I lived in Ecuador before coming to the United States, I was educated in a religious school, where they thought me to value life and other important beliefs. These values helped me to grow up as a better person in society. During those years in Ecuador, I represented my school on the basketball team. At the same time, I played an instrument; which was the flute for handicapped children and the elderly. This helped me to be more charitable.

I was thirteen years old when I came to the United States. At the beginning it was very difficult because I grew up in a different country, speaking Spanish. But learning a new language was another challenge for me to face it.

In my school, I was in a class full of people that could only speak Spanish. It was a comforting environment, but it was a situation that kept me from learning to speak English fluently. It was a challenging situation, but I would always put my best foot forward. In this school I have learned to be sociable and interact with those who speak English. Besides that I began to share with other cultures which made me feel excited because I learned from them and they learned from me. 

My main goal is to obtain a strong academic knowledge, and become a Pediatric Nurse. Trying to get a degree in this field is not an easy task, but neither impossible. Once I was in a museum, I saw a quote that says " I cried for a pair of shoes until I saw a child without feet". The famous Ecuadorian painter, Oswaldo Guayasamin, adopted this phrase from the bible and wrote this quote in his museum. When I feel that I can no more and I want to give up I always remember this phrase and this makes me think that I have what I need in my life, and any obstacle that appears in my life, I can surpass it.

My biggest influences in my life are my parents. They are an important part of my life because they always support me in my decisions, they are always next to me whenever I need them. They are my inspiration to succeed in life, and simple because they are my role model to follow.

The respect that I learned as a very young person certainly carried over into my life in later years. Now living in a society full of diversity made me learn from a lot of cultures,  traditions, and respect different point of views. This county shape our lives in the way we decide; to do good and stay positive
or fail and ruin our lives. We already have the opportunities to achieve our goals in this nation, everything is in our young hands because we are the success for the next generations.