GENERgenderGENDER

GENDER is a very commonly mis-understood term. Many people, when talking about gender, will think it is the same thing as sex (Make/Female).  “What gender are you?” someone might ask on a survey to see whether the person taking the survey is male or female. But, gender is NOT the same thing as sex. Although many people think it is, sex is male or female. Plain and simple. Penis or Vagina. Gender is NOT that. Gender is the social construction of cultural meanings that are attached to biological differences in genitalia. This means that based on if you have a penis or vagina, that is what will determine how society looks at you and what the “norms” of your sex are. Gender is how society as a whole looks at you. For example, if you are a girl, you are feminine; you are dainty, stressed, hormonal, bitchy, drama filled, talkative, etc. Whether people like to admit it or not, that the “norm” of how a typical woman should act. If we look at the male norms, we will see hard workers, masculine, big, strong, tough, etc. The two different sex’s have two completely opposite views of them by society. Gender is clearly not just about genitalia, it is about what comes with it by how society looks at you.

Although gender is deemed as how people look at you based on your genitalia, people who are queer might act more feminine and show signs of how women are looked at by society. Clearly, they might not be women, but they might act as it which will have people questioning their gender. This is the same way that lesbians might come off more masculine even though they are clearly not men.

Because the norm of queer and lesbian have been the opposite of what they are “supposed” to be, the “norm” is that lesbians=masculine and queer=feminine.

Advertisements are the strongest way to see how men and women are looked at by society.

In this advertisement, it shows a woman, very dainty, smiling, tiny. Her finger is in her mouth. Looking at this one ad. won’t bring you to the conclusion that her finger is in her mouth so that men will think that she is being quiet “for once”. In many other ads that feature women, their fingers are usually in their mouths to promote quietness and showing that the girls who are usually so talkative are not in this ad. This will relate to men better.    

In this advertisement, you will see that the man is masculine and tough. He is confident and sure of himself. In almost every ad. this is how the man is portrayed.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE IN A KINSHIP?

kin·ship (knshp)

n.

1. Connection by blood, marriage, or adoption; family relationship.

2. Relationship by nature or character; affinity.

3.family relationship or other close tie or relationship.

This definition to me means that although you might have a large family, its the one’s who are most important, or closer to you, who are in your kinship. I have a big family and many friends, but when it comes down to it, i put the most important people in my life in my kinship. I put my intermediate family as well as my grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles because I feel that those are the people who are closest to me in my life. Although the definition of kinship says “connection by blood”, I am not necessarily connected by blood to my aunts or uncles but they are still just as close to me as some of the people that I am blood related to. The people in my kinship diagram are the people who I am not afraid to be myself around; the people who I feel most comfortable with and who I feel i can turn to no matter what. They are the people that I might not always see as often, but i know that when i do see them, things will fall right back into place again. I honestly don’t feel that I would be the same without any of these people in my life. I love each of them very dearly and feel that it is necessary for them to hold a spot on my kinship diagram.

OUR CURRENT ECONOMIC CRISIS: A SOLUTION?

Though many people are sheltered by this harsh reality, we are indeed going through an economic crisis. The stock market is down,housing market went down, and unemployment rates are growing. Unemployment areas is where we see the crisis the most and realize we need a change, a solution. But how!? Currently the unemployment rate is over 9% right now. This may not sound like a crisis, but when the normal or average unemployment rate is usually at 4 or 5 percent, there is a problem. There are many different ways to approach this issue. The more democratic way or the republican/ conservative way. But which way is the right way to solve this crisis? In my personal opinion, I feel that mixing and matching is the best way to go about this crisis.

I believe that the way to get America out of this crisis and out of unemployment is to get the government involved. The government should hire people to work. This means that the government needs to make jobs so that people can fill them and get out of unemployment. By the government making more bridges and roads and buildings, this will give people more opportunities for jobs. The government would pay for this to take place while the unemployed get employed with these jobs. Many can argue that this will cause the U.S. to dig ourselves a great hole and become in debt. I feel that for this crisis, we need to start somewhere and worry about that later.

A great debate is the “drilling for oil”  debate. Basically, we have oil on our territory under our ocean. The only way to get it is to drill. The problem that this faces is that if we dig for oil under the ocean, this can pose as a problem with making a mess and the water becoming infested. This is not a problem that many people want to deal with. The reason that drilling for oil will help the economic crisis is because currently we pay millions of dollars to foreign countries for their oil. If we dig it ourselves and sell it, we would be making the millions and millions of dollars instead of spending it. Along with that, more job opportunities come out from that because we need employers to drill.

Another way to help the crisis is to cut the unemployment time. People who are out of work get unemployment checks of 500 dollars a week for 100 weeks. With this time people are supposed to be looking for jobs. But, many people are free loaders and just want to take it easy and live off the governments money for a while and not look for a job until their unemployment time is up. If the unemployment cut was reduced to 50 weeks, it would still give people time to look for jobs but they would probably find jobs quicker knowing that they cant just live off the governments money for too long.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE AN AMERICAN?

Being an american is one of the most underrated privileges. Americans don’t fully appreciate the fact that they are Americans. The fact that we get to be free is what it means to be an American. To live in a democratic government where YOU get to decide who YOU want to run YOUR government. A country where you don’t just see the same breed of people everywhere you look, living in a melting pot is one of Americas greatest qualities. To be an American, is so underrated because when you look at other countries where they are being led a life with no choices, no privileges, and then you look at America, the difference is clear. Living in America is one of the greatest gifts anyone can have. When we look throughout history, we see people risking their old lives, families, everything just in hopes of starting a new life in America. Immigrants would risk it all just to live in the big “melting pot.” America to me is a living a life of choices. Being able to freely say what’s on my mind. Being able to meet a variety of different people from different backgrounds in one country. This is something that is rarely found anywhere else. I feel that it is a privilege to have this array of people all in one country. It’s what makes America, America. Being an American allows me to know that when i finish college, I have the choice of what job i want to do. As a matter a fact, I have the choice to go to college. America is all about choices. Being an American hits people so hard that they risk their lives to fight for it. Soldiers go to war and risk everything just to protect America. Being an American is so powerful that it is hard to put it into words. Imagine living anywhere else but America. Life wouldn’t just be different, I have no doubt that it would not be nearly as good. America give people a sense of luxury whether that is just giving people rights or allowing all different genders and races to work in all different jobs, America is great.

RELIGION

Religion is a big part of any culture. No matter what culture you are in, you will see that each one practices different religions and has different rituals. Religion is a collection of cultural symbols, belief systems, and world views that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. (Wikipedia). In many cultures, there is some form of a “rite of passage”. This is when someone goes from one stage in their life to the next. Not physically, but spiritually. In most cases, it is a boy becoming a man; a girl becoming a woman. Basically an adolescent becoming an adult. Sometimes it could be something more on the lines of an immigrant becoming an American citizen.

In class, we watched a documentary that showed us one religions way that they perform rites of passages on boys. In this specific religion, they did not allow the boys to cut off their hair at all. Even the slightest trim would be considered a sin. Most families would usually disown the boy if he decided to cut off his hair or just look at it as their son has committed a murder and would make him pray to be forgiven for his wrong-doings. For the boy to become a man, they go through a rite of passage where the boy’s hair grows long enough that he can tie a turban around his head. Once the turban is tied around his head, he is considered a man. Physically he did not become a man by hitting puberty, but spiritually and religiously he did.

In my religion, we have a huge rite of passage for both girls and boys. I am apart of the Jewish religion, so our rite of passage for girls is a Bat Mitzvah and for boys it is a Bar Mitzvah. In both cases, throughout this rite of passage, you are changing from an adolescent to an adult. For both of these rites of passages, the adolescent will spend a good period of time learning a passage in the bible to read in front of the congregation. The service is usually held at a temple with a Rabbi helping lead the service. The temple is filled with family, friends and members of the temple. When I was going through my Bat Mitzvah process, I remember being so stressed. For a 13 year old, learning how to read a whole passage in the bible was extremely nerve-racking and difficult. Not to mention the whole thing was in hebrew! I got through the whole service beautifully though and I could see people in the audience crying. I wasn’t sure why they would be crying. Now i realize that because it is such an emotional rite of passage of me becoming a women, the people who were closed to me were weeping tears of joy. After the service, we eat and celebrate.

Having that rite of passage in my religion makes me feel special that I got to be apart of something that has been done by Jewish people throughout history.