Class Week 5

We talked about our families and how most were raised in the traditional household with the mom cooking and cleaning and the dad working.  I was for part of my life then it changed when my mom got a very demanding job.  This happened when I was in Jr. High School.  She was and still is always traveling so my dad started filling in her shoes as well as working his full-time job.  Mom occasionally cooks and does laundry when she needs something but other than that my dad does it all in addition to his usual tasks such as mowing the lawn and caring for the cars.  He was the one who stayed home with me and my sister when we were sick or would take us to the doctors. It was different but we quickly got used to it and I never gave it anymore thought until it got brought up in class but in many ways he is the mom and dad of my family and when my mom is in town i just have an extra mother figure.  We talked a lot about gender roles and performance too.  You see it a lot more clearly in early childhood before they start determining their own personal preferences and morals.  The little boys fight and play rough to demonstrate their masculinity and little girls cook and take care of their dolls representing their ability to care for a household.  There are, of course, the people who don't grow out of this need to demonstrate their identity. For example, the men that lift weights all the time, start a fight whenever possible, and believe a woman should take care of them.  There are also those women that really want to be the one to take care of her husband and children and have no desire to be independent or hold down their own job.  This is definitely personal but i also believe it is in how one is raised.  If a woman teaches her daughter to just keep a man happy and care for them then she is most likely not going to have to ambitions to own her own business.  My parents taught me to care for myself and always be independent so I couldn't see being happy just being at home all the time depending on a man to provide things for me.

Class Week 4

In class we had mentioned T.V. and how they target their viewers.  Well I definitely agree with the food channel being contradicting! The show “Cupcake Wars” is amazing and makes me so hungry, then they ruin it by putting a commercial for Nutri-System or Jenny Craig on right after it.  Then I feel guilty about wanting that cupcake and vow to start eating better, but as soon as the show comes back on I want that cupcake again.  It's a vicious cycle that guilt trips me even though I haven't really eaten badly and just thought about it.  They really do know how to target who is watching T.V. when though!  Around dinner time there is more healthy food shows and around 7 pm the movies or series start because they know people are winding down for the night.  Another thing was Veronica Mars, (which is a good show, thanks for introducing me to it!) my group picked up on the fact that the rich preppy kids were all white.  When I thought about it I really noticed that we are kind of that way in real life too, some things are getting more racially diverse but the majority of shows or ads still depict the white man as wealthy (intentional or not).

Class Week 3

Last week we talked about bikers and the stereotype they recevie of being low class even though the bikes they are riding cost as much as a fancy car.  My dad and I talk about that all the time! Normally the discussion comes up when we are ordering our hunting supplies from cabelas.  That stuff is NOT cheap.  Someone may have a deer antler chandelier hanging above their dining room table and  it would be mistaken as trashy most of the time.  Those chandeliers cost around a thousand dollars depending on the type and size.  My mom would absolutely not let my dad get one because it was "redneck and trashy" until she saw the price.  Then she actually thought about it because it was an expensive piece.  That makes no sense to me! Another thing that makes no sense is the fact that in lower class societies and poverty areas no one can say no if they have something to give.  Theres no saving for yourself for a rainy day, you have to give to others on their rainy days.  Someone really would get mad or look down upon you if you had something extra and refused to share in those types of communities.  I like that they are so giving but its also very demanding and defeats the purpose of selfless giving in my mind. The whole point is to not expect anything in return, which as we talked about they don't expect it back, but it's also about not being expected to give it in the first place.  Its called generosity, not a duty!

Class Week 2

One of our discussions this week was about girls wanting to be princesses and boys wanting to be the knight in shining armour.  I believe in older days this used to be the exact way little girls and boys thought.  But our world is changing and so are our views.  It used to be that the womans role was to stay at home, cook, clean, raise the children, and look good.  The mans role was to provide for the family in a monetary way, basically rescuing them from despair as a knight would.  I think the majority of someone's views are what they are taught or see as a child.  Young girls would watch their mothers stay at home and would automatically assume that as their role.  Young boys were taught to be tough; the strongest survive.  Now we teach our children that they can be anything they want.  For example, toy stores sell doctor play sets which would have just been meant for boys a couple decades ago.  Now they come in pink as distubutors are targeting girls for their sales too.  Our society has even started accepting stay at home dads! Not everyone is comfortable with this deviance but it would have been unheard of not long ago.  I believe it is because soceity started telling their children that its ok to be who you are.  If a girl wants to play mechanic then thats ok, if a boy wants to play ballerina then thats ok, and if they grow up to be those in real life, well, then that is ok.