Gender and Sexuality

                Gender and Sex is a major concern in our world today. Sex is the biological distinction between females and males. In contrast, Gender refers to the socially constructed cultural expectations associated with women and men.  The distinctions between sex and gender are not always so clear cut. In the article Sexuality and Society, scientists researched heterosexual and homosexual balance. They imply that from the time of birth one is fated to be one thing or the other, and there is little chance for one to change his/her patters in the course of a lifetime. In my opinion, who really cares on homosexuality? If someone chooses to love their same gender and sex, it’s really their choice and dedication to take on the critics. I mean men should like women not other men but that’s how we were though in society and life. Many people believe that preferences for sexual partners of a particular sex are merely secondary magnifications of something that lies much deeper in someone’s personality.  Intersexual people are individuals born with ambiguous reproductive or sexual anatomy. Having this in a man can usually result in homosexuality. In research, there have been many attempts to show that the homosexual male has a considerable crop of hair and less often becomes bald. Their characteristics are often shaped like women. For example, they have broader pelvis, larger genitalia, and a tendency towards fat.  What researches say about homosexual men are not all true. They say that they are not that athletic, and are more often interested in music and the arts. I can’t agree with this, but I know a couple homosexual males who are top athletes in their school and are not interested in music as much. Also they say that homosexual males often find jobs as bookkeeping, dress designs, window displays, hairdressing, acting, radio work, nursing, religious service, and social work. This is true but all males and females do these things because it’s what interests them. 

Race & Ethnicity

                    Throughout the world, race plays a big role. Research shows that the main thing that is needed to be changed is a change in moral behavior of poor black urban dwellers. This includes poor black men, who say that they want to stay married and support their children and also stop committing crimes. This is very true, but not all black Americans commit crimes. There are other races out there that do worse things than blacks. In my opinion and what I see through my eyes is that blacks commit crimes just to survive in this world. The skin color of blacks affects their job opportunities and usually results in low-pay work. Ethnicity plays a big role here because a shared cultural heritage often deriving from a common ancestry and homeland are not seen in most people eyes. One of the common denominators of the views on race is that each race still sees blacks as the “problem”. This is such a stereotype because not all blacks are the problem. And the thing that’s gets to me is that everyone seems to pick on blacks. Is it because of their skin color!? Or is it because of their background!? According Cornel West, “Conservatives blame the “Problems” on blacks, and thereby render black social misery invisible or unworthy of public attention”. The word Race is a category of people that are widely perceived as sharing socially significant physical characteristics such as skin color. What liberals are trying to do is plain old stupid and unfair. Why put all blacks into one society, and separate them from the other societies? The Rodney case opened many eyes in the world. It showed that whites have often failed to acknowledge the widespread mistreatment of black people. Especially black males, by law enforcement agencies. Personally I see this happen many times. I’m the type of person who doesn’t only befriend my own race but befriend many other races. I have many black friends and hanging out with them can bring a lot of heat from cops. This past weekend I was walking down the street with five of my friends. Of course they were black and out of nowhere cops came up to us guns drawn and told up to get on the floor. In my mind I was just hoping someone getting this on camera because the cops were harassing us. They came up to us one by one checking our ids and arresting us. When they got to me, they checked my id and asked me if I was black. Right away I was like what the hell why does that matter u already arrested us. But then the next thing I realize the cops let me go because I was not black in skin color. This was an act of Racism where the belief that one race is inherently superior to another. And that is what happened. All the cops were white and had something against blacks. But gladly the owner of the building we were in front of came out can gave me the tape that caught the whole ordeal we went to. Now the 8 cops who arrested my friends for no reason has no job because of their act of racism on blacks. According to p.255 in the book “Experience Sociology”, the graph shown shows us that the majority of whites live in the norther hemisphere when all the money is and the blacks live in the southern hemisphere where there is barely any money. Blacks fall in the minority group, which are a collection of people who suffer disadvantages and have less power. And the whites fall in the majority group who enjoy privileges and have more access to power because of cultural characteristics.

                                      Race: The Power of Illusion

          To understand why the idea of race is a biological myth requires a major paradime shift and an absolute paradime shift to shift the perspective in life. Infamy is like seeing what it must have been like in the past years in the world. Race is not based on biology but is ascribed to biology. Many people believe that blacks are more athletic than others. A genetic base of environment training can hold an advantage in different races in sports. There are 4 classes of race in society. And people are described by skin color, hair shape, body shape, eye shape. Some believe that you can identify people race just by looking at them. Others believe that some races have an advantage over others. For example, athletic ability, musicals knowledge, and education. But there’s no advantage it’s just the way you are brought up or what type of training you have. 

People Like Us and Media Magic

                       Media Magic: Making Class Invisible

          In today’s world, the mass media is arguably the most influential in molding public consciousness. Media is highly concentrated, and the different corporations are getting smaller because of ownership and control related issues. But because the companies are shrinking the control of the industry is expanding. In my opinion media plays a big role in our cultural lives, helping us understand society, and know what is going on in the world.

          The U.S is the most highly stratified society in the industrialized world. But if we are the most industrialized society in the world, why are there so many poor people. Many people in the world don’t know what’s going on in the poverty society because the media chooses to provide its users with meager coverage of the poor, which is usually misleading information. Many people believe that the media ignores the poor. And I completely agree with this because in my 19 years of watching the news I rarely see or hear anything about the poor. What people in society should know is that the rate of poverty is increasing twice as fast as the population growth. My question is, why do we have a government? The government is supposed to help their citizens, but recently their more focused on abroad affairs. All you see on the television is war related stuff, and other stuff about crimes. Yes those stuff are important, but we need to know more about the economy and financial related stuff to have a chance to survive as a working class family and become poor. When people hear poor, they roughly think about living on streets and being a disturbance to the world. That’s their opinion, but honestly people need to think if that was them what they would feel like. The Middle class and Upper class can be cold hearted sometimes to people lower than them.

          When the media talks about everyone else, they say we are divided between the”Underclass” and everyone else. In my eyes I really don’t understand what they mean about this, but this message is often contradictory. Much of the information provided to us from the media focuses its attention on the concerns of the wealthy and privileged class of people. This is completely true. For example, recently all you see on the new is celebrities, wealthy people and the president. I say who cares about them; all they do is flash/ show off their money especially the celebrities. Another example I see mostly on the news is the sports in school. All you see is Private schools games on the news. What happened to the other schools that win constantly and win division championships? You rarely see them on the news because it’s most likely public school.

          This article was an eye opener for me. Many of my views towards the media are answered. Only the rich and wealthy prosper on media not the underclass people. The poor and working class people work twice as hard as rich people but get payed so low just because this concept of social structure. Many believe that whichever social classes you are born into you stay in that class. But no that is not true. People can go to school and get an education to better their lives. But the media shuts that down for most of the people; tell the world about misleading information and untrue stuff. The media need to pick up on the poverty issue which is growing dangerously fast.

                       People like Us: Social Classes in America

          This video is about the different class people fall in. It is basically against the American principle to belong to a class but it does exist. The Americans have trouble talking about class because they don’t want to admit that it exists, or let people have a thought of what class they are in. It is based on popularity, money, housing, and where your parents worked or where you work. Social Climbers are people who are very anxious to gain a higher social status.  Upper class people say that they won’t ever drive a Volvo because it is typically a middle-class to lower class car. But then again they say they won’t even drive a ford because it gets stolen a lot. One thing clouds my mind is the fact that they won’t drive a ford which are a middle class car but will drive an upper class car like a McLaren or BMW which tend to get stolen more often. What I see often and do as well is act very tough when an upper-class person comes up to you. Mostly in business middle to lower class people who get approached by upper class-men in suits tell them to take off the jacket and tie. Why? Because they won’t let them look down on them and disrespect them because they have money and power.

          One thing that’s very disturbing is children in schools are being segregated because of this so called class. For school kids, class does matter because other students judge you all kinds of ways. Mostly in fashion because who ever dress to impress tells the others that they are a higher class. This video showed me many things. But that disturbs me is that most of the upper class people in the video are white and tend to shut down other classes especially blacks. For example, one upper class guy tell the viewers that some parent don’t want their kids in public schools because of the blacks. To me that is totally racists. Another thing that is explained in the video is that America is divided by class by which neighborhood you live in, your education, or the way you dress. There are many Inequalities that cannot be explained about class, but class does exist in the world, its just people don’t like to talk about it.

                                                Extra Credit

                        Ted Talk Conference on Education

          Studies show that every 1 in 5 kids drop out of high school. That is almost 1 million students a years. Poverty and negative peer influence plays a big role in student’s lives and education. If a student is in poverty, they usually have messed up clothing which affects them because others kids make fun of them. This can lead to kids dropping out. When kids follow a bad crowd they are forced to do things they don’t want to do, but do it anyways because of peer pressure. One of the most looked at thing in education today is human connection and relationships between the teacher and their students. Without good relationships the student won’t listen to their teachers and won’t learn anything. But is the teachers show the kids that they care then that would help everything. Rita Pierson tells us that if a teacher says sorry to a student because he/she made a mistake in class, that can affect the student by letting them know you care for them. If a teacher just teaches and don’t explain the kids won’t lie them. And studies show that kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.

          According to Dr. Ramsey, teachers should know that student’s questions are very important. Answering the student questions can help them understand better and will show them that you care. He also argues that student should be curious of what there are being teached so that they can have a better understanding of it. He goes on telling the viewers that’s there is a big difference between knowledge and learning. And teachers need to see this in kids to help them better understand what is being thought. 

Deviance

   What is deviance? Deviance describes actions or behaviors that violate the social norms of the society.  In your everyday life you see many deviant things that are out of the norms.  One of the most deviance things I've seen every day, and experienced is when you are on the train (for men and women), and a guy comes and presses his body on you for no reason. It is completely out of the norm to do that, and it makes you very uncomfortable.  Another thing that is usually out of the norm is people picking their nose in public. When someone does this people around that person look at them very unusually, because it’s not in the norms of the public. Referring to Chapter 8, to what Durkheim says about Collective Conscience, the shared norms, beliefs, and values in a community is well known to everyone and violating this makes you somewhat of an outcast in the eyes on the community. Over the weekend I went to this party with my cousin, and what I saw was very deviance. I saw parents encouraging the teenagers there to drink and smoke. It was completely out of the norm and I had to leave.  Another thing I've experienced in life that is deviance is girls drinking uncontrollably. It is out of the norm for girls to drink like that, when people look at drunken girls they give them that dirty look and tell them there low lives. When people are labeled to a certain name or a certain way they tend to follow that label. This is an example of the Labeling Theory. This argues that deviance is the result of how others interpret a behavior and that individual who are labeled deviant often internalize this judgment as part of their self-identity. Some people who are labeled as deviant must deal with stigma or shame. This shame can cause a person to isolate themselves from society or even lead to suicide. Stigma refers to the shame that is attached to a behavior or status that is considered socially unacceptable and discrediting. Living around the projects isn't really a good quite neighborhood. Every day you see young kids roaming the streets with their pant hanging down their butts. This is not the norm of the society. These kids should be in school being educated and thought respect and manners. But the major problem is that the parents allow their kids to do what they want, and sometimes that leads up to kids in trouble with the law or even dead on the streets. In my high school days i was very calm but very tough as well. No body messed with me or talk trash about me, and people considered me deviant. I use to cut school a lot, but also never pay attention in class. But the thing that made my teachers stand by my side was my ambition to strive for better education. Many of the gang members in my high school labeled me as a two face jerk, but never stood up to me. Not because i was a big kid, it was because i was very close with the school educators and police staff. Going into college i have change dramatically, but I still strive for that education i believe i am  not getting. The norm for me was to get a better education, and I didn't care for the education i was getting at the time. But in reality the norm was take what you get, and work towards your goals to get a better education. Another example of a deviant act was back in my senior year of high school. I got addicted to online games, mostly first person shooting and mmorpg. I never wanted to hang outwith my friends or even my family, I considered my friends on the game were more important. But as the school year went by, I noticed myself drifting away from the crowd I once use to follow. The norm for me was to play the game and advance past others, but in reality the norm was to not be so addicted and have a life outside of the house or away from the computer. 

    In the reading Positive Functions of the Undeserving Poor: Uses of the Underclass in America, it talks about poverty and about the different functions of undeserving poor.  One of the most concerned thing to both populations (poor or not poor), is the street crime activity. The criminal or disapproved behavior that is ascribed to these two populations resorts to it often classified as unworthy and undeserving. Once the poor are judged to be undeserving, they are then no longer thought to be deserving of the public aid that is financially sufficient and secure enough to help them escape poverty. These judgments of the poor as undeserving are not based on evidence, but derive from a stereotype. This is an example of the Labeling Theory.  Some functions that are described in this article are the Economic functions. Economic banishment and the reserve army of labor describes that people that have been labeled as undeserving can be banished from the formal labor market. An example that is given is school kids who are labeled as school dropouts often lead up to believing it and are thought to lack the need for work experience, and might not be offered jobs. Another example of the undeserving poor to support themselves economically is supplying drugs. This is a major issue that is present around the world. These undeserving poor people are banished from other jobs remain eligible for work on the streets and sale of illegal good, including drugs. 

Socialization

                                                                     A Call to Men

                Tony Porter is a role model to many men and kids. He talks about this man card called the “Man Box”, that men should follow this so that they won’t look weak in front women or even other men. Tony brings up a story of his brother dying as a teenager. The funeral was two hours away from where they lived. On the way back, the limo stopped at a rest stop so everyone could relieve themselves for the long ride back. Tony and his father stayed in the limo, and as soon as all the women got out the limo, his father started to cry. The thing tony didn't understand was that his father was apologizing to him over and over again and giving him props “saying good things” because tony was not crying. Later on Tony realized that his father was appoligizing because he broke that man box and showed emotions.

                Tony Porter goes on saying that the “Man Box” is more important than anything in a man’s life. Tony explains that “The Collective Socialization of Men” is brought together by less value, property, and objectification. And all of these things add up to violence against women. He tells us that it is OK to not be dominant, it is OK to have feelings and emotions, it is OK to promote equality. That a man’s liberation's are tied to a women’s liberation. Tony Porter tells us another story that he asks a nine year old boy “What would it feel like not having this Man Box”. And surprisingly the boy told him he would be free.

                                                                    Killing Us Softly

                This video was very touching, and opened my views towards advertisement a lot more. I never knew that advertisements used women or even exploit them to sell products. The video opens up talking about birth control Ovulen 21 with a phrase saying “Works the way women thinks by weekdays not cycle days”. Jean Kilbourne goes on talking about ads are everywhere, and advertising is the foundation of mass media. She explains that advertisement tells us who we are and who we should be. Advertisement is mostly about women and their good looks. There has to be an ideal image, and women would do anything to have this image.

                Women in ads are often white, thin, and good looking. But women of color are often shown in ads as animals who wear animal clothes and make-up. As the video goes on, the presenter explains that women bodies are dismembered in ads just to sell products. The most focus is on the women’s breasts, that it can be used to sell anything. The video tells us that if men had to show themselves as women do then what would they wear/show. One example shown was the “Wonder Jock”, the strap for a bulge you have always wanted. This ad exploits men, but it was to show how men would react to it, and see what women go through. In ads, the body language you see in women is mostly passive and vulnerable. Most ads also show women as gold diggers which is very offensive to women. Another example shown was men looking down on women as the dominant race. But in racial ads, the women are looking down on the colored men. It is all about “Power”, the presenter describes. This video is an eye opener to many people who don’t pay attention to ads or don’t realize the negativity of ads.

                These two videos relates back to chapter 6 on Socialization. As young kids we learn the basics on how to act and show you feelings. Boys are thought to act tough and show no emotions, but girls are thought to show emotions and be beautiful. The video”A Call to Men” explains how men/boys should act. And how even society can’t really change them because they believe so much in this “Man Box”. In the second video “Killing us Softly” Jean Kilbourne talks about how girls from very young age are exposed to advertisements that teach them that they have to be pretty, and have to meet those expectations that a man want. Many of the examples she show in the video has to do with exploitation of women and how they “dismantle” there body to fit this ideal image. These ads can be referred to as agents of socialization which are people or groups who teach us about our culture.

                

                 The Retro Wife by Lisa Miller explains a story about a girl who wants to be a CIA agent at the age of 16. She went to college and had to work at bars and sling burgers to earn some money. As she got older she got married and had two kids. Both her and her husband was working, and she felt that every household should have one caretaker. She argues that girls play with dolls as kids are thought from the get-go on how to raise children when they grow up. Many girls/women now-a-days doesn’t stay how to take care of the kids, mostly they send them today care and go to work. Some believe this is a good thing because the kids get to socialize with other kids, but in reality kids need their parent more. Also women are as busy as men are and can’t cook, clean, or do dailys house chores as they use to. My opinion on this is that its a good idea that women work because they can help pay bills and go out to explore the world. But it’s somewhat still there responsibility to cook for a man. I honestly think a man should learn how to cook, so he can treat his wife as well. It goes both ways in the society we live in today. 

This is a picture of Travis Pastrana and Jolene Van Vugt who are apart of Nitro Circus. Dangerous sports is not all about dominant men trying crazy stunts. Jolene is a motocross girl, a bmx pro, and skateboard champ, who lives life with no boundaries. Men love to do crazy stuff and like to show off in front of girls. But if guys watch Jolene do her stunts they would respect her just like they would respect other men. Jolene is a great example to show that women c an do things men can, its just hard work and effort that need to be put into doing these things.  

Power

            What is “Power”? Power “potere” is the ability to bring about an intended outcome, even when opposed by others (Experience Sociology Page 111).  In everyday life you can see power being enforced on people who can’t do anything about it. For example, workers in a corporate business have to listen to whatever the boss says or the fear the chance of getting fired. This is an example of Exploitation where the act of using people’s labors to produce profit while not compensating them fairly. Working at a private business which was a Homeless Shelter was a great job. But as I continued to work there I noticed my boss empowering poor people to care for themselves and their families. This was an international business which helped many poor families. But this empowerment drove this business down due the multiple complaints it got.

            Referring back to the video “The Milgram Experiment”, the experiment conducted was to show if the teacher would choose to continue the punishment as the learner kept getting the wrong answer. The Sociologist who observed the reactions to this experiment explained that normal people would inflict pain and violence even if they don’t know it. Many of the teachers kept asking to stop the experiment because they feared the result would cause long term damage to the leaner. But in fact, as shown in the video, the teacher was in power the entire time and didn't know it. This is an example of Powerlessness where the teacher thought they were situated to take orders and rarely had the right to give them. These people felt that they lacked the decision making power which was not true.

            One of the most obvious and visible for of oppression is Violence. In everyday life you can watch or hear about violence that takes place in the world. In the American society, women, blacks, Asians, Arabs, and gay relations have to live everyday under multiple threats of violence. People tend to Coerce when in the act of violence. Coerce is referred to as “force compliance by threatening, intimidating, pressuring, or harming someone” (Experience Sociology Page 114).

            Power can occur in small groups as well. For example “Rewarding Power” can be used when a parent gives their child weekly allowance so that they can have the power over their child behavior. Another example of power is “Coercive Power”, which is the ability to punish. Police officer has the right to enforce the law but generally uses their power to gain what they want. For example issuing and parking ticket when no law is being broken. The person can argue all they want but it’s the officer’s word over there.

            The Milgram Experiment was an experiment to show “Power Tactics”. It showed various strategies people use to influence others in daily life. After the experiment was finished the sociologist asked every volunteers who’s fault would it be if the leaner had died. And as expected the volunteers answered and said “It would be my fault because I was in control of the machine”.  The sociologist knew that answer was coming and asked them “why didn't you stop? You were in control, in power of the machine and still continued”.  The volunteers stayed quiet and didn't answer the question.

            Another personal experience that happened to me was in high school. Teachers tend to empower students rather than simply transmitting facts. A student must listen to the teacher in order to achieve their goal in finishing school. Going into college, a college education can be an important means of learning about their situation and developing skills necessary for getting a good job. Graduating from high school changed the way I viewed my approach to school. And I took advantage of this to use my power to get a better education and better my life. 

Culture: Photo Voice

Culture is the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc. My nationality is American but my family is from Guyana which is located in South America. Many people think I am from India because my religion is Hinduism.  But the truth is there are many Hindu's around the world who is born into different culture's. Most of my family was born in Guyana, but i was born in the United States, and grew up around many different cultures. Another thing that people judge about some Guyanese people is that they speak "Hindi". But in Guyana we speak English.  Even though some words we have is different from the American language, it sounds a lot like each other. In the Guyanese culture we cook a lot of "Curry". This is one of the traditional foods we have. Other cultures also cook curry, but usually it is cooked everyday in my culture. Once every year my family has a "Jhandi", which is a day when we preform a religious function at our house to bless the family and the house. One of the most important value in my family is relationship between each other and communication. When attending a family party or a family function everyone is communicating, but once in a while I will notice that my cousin would keep to himself. It's completely out of the norm for him to do that but he has autism and needs his space at times. In this blog I will show you what type of culture I am surrounded by in my daily life.

This is the flag of Guyana. 

This is a picture of carnival. This celebration is celebrated through out many different cultures. Mainly between Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago. 

This is a picture of the Guyanese traditional food "Chicken Curry". Many other cultures don't call it Chicken curry but curry chicken. This is usually argued by the different cultures because they want it called what they call it. It is funny because it doesn't matter how you say it.

Non- Material Culture 
This is a picture of our traditional clothes. On the left is a Sari which only girls wear mostly to church. But there are many women and girls who wear this daily not to show off the style of it but its party of there culture and beliefs. On the right is a Kurta, which only guys wear. This traditional clothing is worn in the Hindu  culture as well as the Muslim culture. They wear it to church(Temple) or to Mosque.   

Symbol Element of Culture

This is a picture of GANESHA (also spelled Ganesa) is one of the most well-known and most widely worshiped deities (God) in the Hindu pantheon. My last name comes from this god, and my family worships him to the fullest. Many other Hindu’s worship this god as well, and pay their respects to him when they attend church (Temple). But for people who do not know who this god is, they see a ugly looking "being" who looks half man half elephant. This is the major cause of culture war, because people judge to fast and not know the full meaning of what they are judging.

Symbol Element of Culture

This is the symbol of “Allah” the god of the Muslim culture. There is no known picture of him but us Muslim’s we believe this is the sign of him being there (existing).  Since I am half Muslim, I pay full respects to the culture, and learn from my family the knowledge that was passed down from generations. But to others this culture is a disgrace. Ever since 9/11 the Muslim community has been hated and blamed for what has happened. Before knowing anything, people take actions to drive the Muslim culture out, but we are here and stronger than ever because we are a community who stick strong to our beliefs and religion.

“Jeans”- Material Culture

Jeans is the best known American culture trait. “Most” Americans in the United States once wore jeans. It is American made, and others around the world American made Jeans just to show that they have this American brand. I say “most” Americans were jeans because in other culture they follow their guidelines and that can mean:

1.       Can’t show their skin or body feature. This is followed by the Muslim culture where the women and girls have to cover their skin.

2.       Other cultures like the Amish culture wear their traditional clothes to show that they are Amish.

Values of Culture

Same Sex Marriage is based on the decision of the two lovers. I personally think it’s a good thing for same sex marriage because it will make a ton of people happy. It opens a new world for these people but at the same time many concerns grow. There are many people who disagree with this type pf culture people are following and discriminate them. Many think marriage should be between a Man and Women because it is the “Norm” in society and culture.

Folkways of Culture

This is the peace sign that symbolizes peace. But to other people this sign in their culture may be known as a bad sign, and offensive meaning that can cause conflict.

In this blog I have shown some examples of different cultural views and how the norms of these cultures can be different in a different culture. People should try to understand the different norms of a culture before they judge or show any type of hate towards that culture.

Machael Montano is one of the best Soca artists that is around today. All of his songs are in English, but some words are from his culture, which is from Trinidad and Tobago. But many people from the islands can understand these words because the language is the same. Referring back to chapter 3, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, can be applied to Machael Montano songs because some words are in English and others are in Trinidadian. But the thing about Machael Montano is that he loves to make songs with other people. For example his latest song "Indian Gyal" is a song he made with Drupatee Ramgoonai. This song is sang in both English and Indian. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KTTJ1mCKIc If u listen to the song u can hear them same "Wok up de Larki" which means work up the girl in English but in Indian means work up the lady. Very similar, but that one word changed how people interpret the song.