Blog #10 Masculinity

In today's society men fell like they have to be strong, independent, and violent in order to be respected. If they are not then they are considered to be a wuss, weak, and get picked on. If men put on a "tough guise" they benefit very much from it. They are socially liked and have much popularity. Perhaps the media can be blamed for this portral of men. In all kinds of movies, even little kids movies, the muscular, violent, stron man is shown as the leader and well respected. The weaker men are used as servants and beat up all the time. People say it is bashing men by saying they are the violent ones, but its true and they learn it through society. It seems to be a cultural norm. This view of men makes it harder on men of color. Ther are already so many stereotypes of people of color. The men of color already feel like outsiders and not respected because of their race. So, it seems like they have to be violent to be a man. Asians are linked to being martial art fighters. Latinos are associated with fighting. So, seeing these men of color engaging in such violent sports, it makes the sterotypes even worse and formulate even more. The combination of those things make the white majority see men of color as the ones to commit crimes and resposible for all of the violence. It makes the white majority to be reserved about being associated with men of color and increases discrimination.

Blog #9 Women and the Work force

People are pretty split on how they feel about Belkin's essay. The sides to the arguement is whether moms should work when they have kids or have no job and stay at home with their children. Those who choose not to work are simply opting out. They want to stay at home to experience every little detail of their childs life and not put them in the hands of other people to take care of while they are working.
I personally think that women should definetly work. Even if it is just a part time job. It is hard to get back into the work force once one has decided to get out of it. Staying at home puts stress on a person. Me personally, I would go insane with boredom and get tired of looking at all the things in my house. And I do not like to cook and clean that much. If I stayed at home then my husband would probably expect me to cook everynight because he worked all day. I do not want that for me. I want it to be 50/50 and both of us contribute to chores in the house and raising our child. And if divorce happens then the woman is left to fend for herself. She becomes very vunerable. Women in our history worked very hard to earn rights for us. By staying at home to become the traditional house wife make me think that we are saying that how women were treated back in day was ok.

Blog #8 Single Parent Income

A full time workin single parent with 3 children who make 1048 dollars a month after taxes has a very difficult time makin it through each month. The cheapest place I could find was a 2 bedroom 1 bath apt that was $340 a month plus the cost of utilities. It was not in too good of a shape. After just the rent on a place leaves $703. I found a daycare from a woman who does it in her own home. It would be #300 for all the kids becase the 5 and 6 year olds would be in school most of the day. This would leave $403 for the rest of the month. A church offers Angel food. $28 for for 2 weeks worth of food. It has ramen noodles, hamburger helper, and hamburger meat. Theat leaves $347. If the church runs out of food it would cost more for food at the store. The rest of the money would have to be used sparingly because most of the remaining #347 would be used for utilities. It is just not very possible to live on this income. Something would have to be donw without to provide for the necessitites or late payments probably accumulate on bills. If something unexpected happens like a flat tire, then there definetly will not be enough money.

Blog #7 Privileges

McIntosh describes some pretty big things that I have never even thought of. I did not realize that people still had so many problems with their race in todays society. I knew in the past there were issues but didnt think it carried over in todays society. I guess there are the older generation that still remembers being segragated and things like that that still hold the same views about race as they did in the past. Some privaleges of being white would be having no one look at you and think of so many bad stereotypes. Even on the video when they interviewed people about some stereotypes about people, they had so many bad things to say about people of color without even thinking about it. But when they had to think of something to say about white people they were like ummm..... didnt have too much to say. Except that whites are rich and the leaders, but even then they had to like a little while before coming up with that. Another perk of being white is that there are more whites around you so you dont have to be lonely and considered an outcast. You are around people mostly the same color as you. Some privelages of being female is that if you do not like working (which I totally do, I would never do this) you can stay at home and not work and no one will really be tough on you and say you do not amount to anything like they would a guy, because it is ok and "normal" if women decide to stay at home as with a guy, it is not so heard of and normal. Most of the time on dates, guys want to be a "gentlemen" so they pay for the date, open your car door, and just treat you soo nice just to impress you. And women do not have to do the nasty dirty work if she does not want to because "its the mans job" so to say. Middleclass you do not have to worry and stress over coming up with money just for simple necessaties such as a roof over your head, food on table, and you can even have extra money to be able to afford to go out to a movie or buy yourself a new outfit or something like that. Being young means that you can have your parents pay for everything. They provide you with a place to live, utilies, and food. Well most of the time, if you have parents that care about you and stay around. You have no bills to pay. And even when you are old enough to drive, you can get a job and just blow all your money and still have no bills, just to put gas in your car and go have fun. You do not have much responsiblities.

Blog #6 Gender in advertising

This ad is for selling shampoo. The target audience is for women. It is trying to sell the shampoo by suggesting that if you use the shampoo not only will your hair look this good but so will your body. We live in such a culture that magazines and tv try to make it seem like you are not good enough or pretty if you are not skinny or have big boobs. Most famous celebs have cosmetic surgeries to enhance their bodies like this model does to make themselves appear 'beautiful'. Women's bodies are shown off in many ads to promote their product. Why does it always have to be women who show off everything and why do we have to feel like we have to live up to the expectations of trying to look super model cute. Those people did not get that way on their own. It is impossible to look like the person in this ad by using the shampoo. Shampoo only works on your hair not your body.
Women exist for many more reasons than to just have a baby. Contraceptions should be an option, as well as abortion. Wether anyone does or does not believe in abortion, I think it should be kept legalized. Because if it is legal, it will be done unsafe and illegally anyway. And it also hinders women's choices they have over their own body. It would just be another way to try and control and put down women, just like in the old days when women were not allowed to have credit card or even money.