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.