Gender Society

Act Like a Lady Think Like a Man

I loved this excerpt! I have this book and it is very comical with many truths intertwined in the context. Steve Harvey is absolutely on point in the example he provides in his book. In fact when I first read this section I was cracking up! I read it to my boyfriend and we talked about I am the woman in the example who comes home upset because another woman came to work with my blouse on, wanting my man to discuss it with me. The point of the example, as Harvey explains, is to prove that while men do have emotions and feelings, they do not verbalize them as often as women, so women shouldn’t expect men to talk with them for hours, it’s just not their style. I believe this is true, but I believe it true because of gender roles in society. As Harvey points out, men are taught to be strong and to fix things as children, and they keep those ideals as they go throughout life. Now if a ma were to do something outside of those societal norms, then that man is considered deviant, he is going to against the social norms of what society deems as “masculine.” I found this read to be entertaining because it was accurate in terms of traditional societal norms of what is acceptable of men.

A Woman’s Beauty: Put-Down or Power Source?

This article is about how society’s emphasis on women to be beautiful oppresses them by forcing them to constantly strive to achieve a level of beauty that is superficial, unlikely to reach, and unable to maintain. In contrast, men are almost always expected to be strong and intelligent, and imperfect. Even after women have assumed new roles such as businesswomen, executive directors, CEOs, and even construction workers, they are still required to be attractive in order to maintain a socially constructed level of “femininity.” I found the article to be accurate in that women are held to a certain standard and often when they don’t meet that standard to are made to feel worthless. All the while, men are praised for being successful and slightly flawed. I also agree that Christianity takes the spotlight away from outward beauty and places emphasis on inward beauty and virtue. I think it is even more interesting how the author explains that in some European countries men are referred to as “beautiful,” but in many modernized Christian countries, men are only referred to as handsome. I have referred to men as beautiful before, and I didn’t feel he was feminine. I called him beautiful because he is gorgeous and his personally was a beauty.

Transgender Identities

The article talks about transgender issues in society. The article explains that transgender has a different definition in different countries, but one thing that remains the same is that in many countries transgender people have little or not protected rights under law. The author also explains that sex biological and that gender roles are learned and exist within a dichotomy. You are either male or female, and when you do not fit into one or the other, society does not know how to deal with that. Doctors and parents will, at times, go to lengths of surgically “correcting” an infant who is perceivably born with both body parts. Some of these surgeries may have to be repeated throughout the child’s life. The article also talked about how man transgender people go into prostitution because they cannot find employment and are more susceptible to disease and violence, as they can be very vulnerable. I definitely agree with the article, I believe that it society only allows for male and female gender roles and if a person does not fit into that dichotomy, then people begin to panic. While I may not agree with a transgender lifestyle, ii do not believe that anyone should be discriminated against or victimized because of their lifestyle. I also believe that the journey to rights for transgender individuals has just begun and that there need to be more advocacy groups in order to fight for their rights. However it may be a struggle for respect for transgender individuals.

Suit Over Estate

“Suit Over Estate” is about a transgender woman who married a man that was twice her age and when he died, his son tried to keep her from having any access to his father’s estate because she was born a man. Anytime someone marries a person significantly older than their age, people automatically think they are marrying for financial gain. Try adding on to that issue the fact that the woman was born a man and you are bound to have issues. I wonder if the woman ever won the settlement?

Heterosexism Hurts Heterosexuals

The list at the end of the packet reinforced the theme that heterosexism exists within our culture, it’s something that is learned and it is something that does nothing but hurt society and our culture. It does this by promoting miscommunication within families and delaying the government’s response to AIDs, primarily in the 1980’s HIV-AIDS was referred to as “the gay disease” so there was a delayed response. That is until heterosexuals began getting infected. I found this list to be very informative. I never considered the actual term heterosexism or that it contributes to the government’s response to AIDS.   

Genocide, War and Punishment

The Nuremberg Trials

This was a very interesting read in that they talk about the lack of remorse these Nazi war criminals had for the millions if Jews they killed. I found myself wanting to research more about the topic. The Nuremberg trials took place after the Holocaust, in Nuremberg, Germany. It was a small town and it seems as though the trials turned the small town into a circus show for a while.

The trials were devised to convict the most prominent Nazi war figures of war crimes and bring them to justice. At first, the International Military Tribunal was majorly involved along with American judicial officials with bringing the criminals to justice. Prosecuting and convicting these individuals was a way to discourage genocide and aggressive war all over the world. They wanted to remove the nobility from their position and actions, so the prosecution tried to bring out all of the atrocities that happened in Nuremberg and in concentration camps all over Germany. Before they could be brought to justice, Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler committed suicide. A few other Nazi war criminals were remorseful and apologized for what they had done, but the others remained steadfast in their belief that they had done noble and honorable acts as patronage to their country. The trials lasted about four years and towards the end, all of the judicial officials were brought over from America and the International Military Tribunal removed itself from the trials.

I found the acts that were committed by these officers to be very inhumane all of the time. I cringed at the thought of one of the officer’s wives using tattooed skin of Jewish prisoners to make lampshades for her house. How can someone be that inhumane and heartless?  I couldn’t believe that a human being could be so hateful that they would perform experiments on women and children that would essentially kill them; it was as if the were lab rats with not souls or purpose. It makes me think about the state-government-funded killings of tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of Native Americans shortly before the legalizing of slavery. Genocide has been around since before the American Revolution, but the savagery with which the German Nazis carried out their hatred was disgusting and twisted, not that all acts of genocide aren’t repulsive and unfortunate. I like the last paragraph of the article. it points out that while revealing the horrific acts of these Nazis has de-glorified their names to many, the mark was still missed because aggressive war crimes still exist and so does genocide. And unfortunately those officials are still glorified within Anti-Semantic groups all over the world; hate still exists. 

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A Long Way Gone

This excerpt from the book was a heart-wrenching story about a young boy forced to fight in war to survive. The young boy describes the first of day a front-line fighting. He explains how deep down inside knew that this day was unlike the previous drills they had experienced. He reveals that they are given white pills that make them stay up and are supposed to help with the anxiety—I wonder what drug they were given. He knew that not everyone would make it back alive, and he was terrified. He explained how his two friends were so young and frail that they could not hold their guns correctly to shoot even if they needed to. He describes with great detail the fear in his heart and other’s too, as they walked to their destination to begin bloodshed. He tells how his two friends are instantaneously killed in battle, without a fighting chance and he partially felt responsible for them being there. Beah, in a desperate attempt to live, finds himself able to kill his enemies and take cover during battle, starting a transformation from innocent boy, to murderer. Later that night he begins to suffer from paranoia and in a sporadic episode in his barrack, he is taken outside and is given more of the drug, which causes him to stay up from days and sometimes weeks at a time.

It is unfortunate that this child had to experience these horrific acts, but I think it necessary that stories like his are told so that people can understand that hate and violence is powerful, so much so that it can motivate people to act unjustly, inhumanely, irrationally, and illegally; engulfing those innocent people like Beah, who are forced to take part in these barbaric acts.

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Left to Tell

After seeing Hotel Rwanda, and reading articles on the genocide in Rwanda, I started to feel that I had a great understanding of the genocide, but I didn’t. After reading only of portion of Immaculee’s story, I was faced with the reality that there was no easy solution as to escape to a refugee camp or hide out because this was a nightmare of the literal slaughtering of a people. I did not know that Hutus were killing family members, friends, and loved ones who were Tutsis—it didn’t matter if they were a neighbor, mother-in-law, or childhood friend, they were killed because they were Tutsis. It was incredible how Immaculee was able to escape death, and once confronted with the man who had her family, and let go of her hurt and pain in order to forgive the man, whom she was close to as a child. She played with his children and he murdered her family and tried to find her to do the same to her and possibly even sexually assault her. This was such a sad story, no one deserves to be hunted and killed, especially over such a racially motivated rift between ethnicities. I thought Immaculee’s story showed that life is too short to spend it upset and hating others. When you are able to let go and forgive then you regain power over your life and sanity.

Hate and Bias Crimes

Active Hate Groups

The Active US Hate Groups document displayed hate groups that are active in the US and also gave a brief description of what some of the hate groups believe. What I found interesting was the amount of active hate groups in the US—especially in Missouri. I have heard about the KKK being active in areas such as Raytown, but I didn’t expect to see many hate groups in St. Louis. I had heard of Christian Identity, but I did not know that it was an actual religion. I was surprised to read that there was an actual hate group that consisted of black racists under the name of the New Black Panther Party—that is disrespectful to the original Black Panther Party. The original Black Panther Party represented unity; there were white members of the party, and they all fought for equality by any means necessary.

When It Comes to Peddling Hate Music

The blogs were a lot to read, but I couldn’t stop reading until I finished! I was shocked to find that iTunes blocked music that bashed homosexuals, but didn’t ban music that was racist. However, that is their choice to make. Personally, I had no idea there was any type of hate music on the website because I don’t purchase music from iTunes often. The most interesting aspect of the blogs is the realness of what the people are saying.  It sheds light on the fact that racism, prejudice, ignorance, and bigotry still exist. One of the bloggers made a remark that all rap music was hate music and I had to chuckle at how ridiculous the comment was. What was even more comical was that not that many people defended rap music…not surprising though.

Incidents and Offenses

This section of the reading was not shocking because I am taking a Hate and Bias Crimes class in which I am studying this same information. In studying this subject I have learned that there are many inconsistencies with the UCR’s data. For instance, not all law enforcement agencies are required to report hat crimes—it depends on the state. So the information in the report does not accurately represent the actual number of hate crimes that are committed in the US.

Hate Groups in America

What I found interesting about the map was that there were no hate groups reported in Alaska and North Dakota. While I wasn’t surprised to see that there was a large number of hate groups in the Southwest region of the country, I was surprised to see that there was a large amount of hate groups in the Northeast region.

On Being A Cripple

On Being A Cripple

In the essay, “On Being A Cripple,” Nancy Mairs describes her thoughts and opinions regarding the illness that she lives with, Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, as she refers to it. She explains that while she wasn’t born the disease she was diagnosed in her late twenties, while she was still in graduate school. She also talks about how the disease has put limitations on her life, but it has not stopped her from having a career and family and hobbies that she enjoys. Mairs goes into depth explaining why she chooses to refer to herself as “crippled” as opposed to “handicapped,” “disabled,” and especially “differently abled.” Crippled is a word that she feels is clean and most accurate to her circumstance. Although she seems to have a very pleasant and charming tone throughout the essay, she does reveal that she has had occurrences of depression and has an underlying belief that her family and the people around her only pretend to be understanding of her illness out of obligation.  That thought alone has followed her and caused her to try and over compensate by being pleasant and always trying to help others. Mairs closes the essay by explaining that one is never fully done adjusting to life itself, and that is the approach she has taken to her disease. When she thought that she had finally adjusted to the disease she was faced with the reality that there are new curve balls thrown at her at any given time, it is not so much that she had adjusted to the disease as she is learning to live with it.

What I found most surprising is how much Mairs’ essay made me empathize with my grandmother. The essay touched me personally because like Mairs, my grandmother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis before I was born. I was very young when I found out and I never really understood the disease or that it often left many disabled requiring the use of a wheelchair, cane, or brace. Although my grandmother walked with a limp that eventually required her to use a walker—and occasionally an electric scoter, I never associated these changes to her MS; rather I attributed it to her old age (she was in her early sixties when I was informed of her disease). It did not occur to me until recently that my grandmother was disabled; I had taken a summer course that dealt heavily with literature about disability and Multiple Sclerosis was discussed. I guess I felt a bit of guilt because I never pondered what my grandmother went through as a mother and wife who was very active in ministry and traveled often with my grandfather who is a Reverend.  Whenever I am around her, she is seemingly happy and always willing to help (even though she now requires the assistance of a cane, walker, scooter, or helping hand to walk). She sends a card for every occasion, to every family member—even to my father whom she has no relation other than that he was once married to her daughter. And while I can only assume that her faith has lead her to peace and assurance, I know not of what kind of depression or loneliness she may have suffered as a result of her diagnosis.

On a more positive note, I did enjoy reading Mairs’ essay. It had a much lighter tone than a lot of literature I have previously read written by individuals living with disabilities. I especially like how she went in depth in her description of how and possibly why doctors may treat patients with MS as if they are less than human.