Free Religion

This is a late post but about 2 weeks ago Dr. L-U made it a point to tell all of us that the author of our book sometimes leaves religion on the back burner. I thought it was really awesome how she made it a point to say that we shouldn't forget about that and our personal beliefs, whatever they may be, should play a role in how we learn about and analyze communication and gender. Two thumbs up!

Sororities!!

        Years ago, when I was a freshman I rushed and joined one of the, to remain anonymous, sororities.  All of the senior girls who rushed me and wanted me to join sooooo bad were sooo pretty, and sooo blond, and hot...etc.. 

          I love heels, and getting all dolled up like you do for rush, but I also have a tom-boy side.  I wear a sideways hat and board shorts when I go ride my longboard.  

        After rush I remember seeing the older hot girls who wanted me to join when I wasn't dolled up, and I got treated a lot differently! Funny actually, I saw one of these girls once when I had to run in a store and get some beer to go float.  I didnt have any shoes on and I looked like a TOTAL scrubb (we were on our way to the river!!).  She had the most awkward and surprised look on her face when I said hi to her and her friends.... and I thought she liked me sooooo much???

         I will agree with the ideas that fraternities and sororities have underlying pressures that enforce gender stereotypes. I felt like some of the girls in the sorority held everyone to these stereotypes of us having to be girly and pretty all the time.  

Hug Day

When I was in high school, our principal brought in a group of people that conducted a "challenge day." It was much like a diversity training. It was good that they brought these people into the school because everyone should be aware of differences, however the day turned into a cry fest. Much like on The Office, they pointed out peoples differences. We had to get into groups and talk about ways we were oppressed. Our vice principal was in my group and he talked about the issues of segregation his family encountered when he was a child. He broke down, along with several others. It then turned into everyone having to hug each other. After all of that, we called it "hug day."

Talking about diversity is important and people need to recognize that we are all different and have different feeling. Things like this, however, are not necessary. I shouldn't have to feel bad about myself or be brought to tears because I may or may not have had a more challenging life than others. Pointing out differences in an emotional way like these people did does not help awareness positively, it just makes you feel like crap.

10/20

Today in class we discussed Affirmative Action. I think that it is a good thing, however i think people take more advantage of it than good that it gives back to the public. My dad knew a guy in law school who filled out his whole application in Spanish, the guy could not speak one word of spanish. But because the admissions people did not know that he had his whole tuition paid for. I do not think that this is right at all, i think that this should help people that actually qualify for the policy, obviously this guy didn't.

so this isn't really on topic for what we were talking about in class but its gender related for sure. So yesterday i was with my boyfriend his brother and his brothers girlfriend who is also my best friend. we were on our way somewhere and stopped sonic to get food. well the person that brought us our food was a transgendered individual. the reason i know this is because my best friend whom i was with and i went to highschool with her. And in highschool she was a he, but now she is clearly a she. honestly i didn't even recognize her the first time i saw her after her change. what upset me about this was that when my boyfriend and his brother found out they were completely disgusted and kept referring to this individual as "him" i would correct them and say "her" and they would yell at me and be like NO thats DUDE. i tried to be as calm as i could when explaining to them that because that person is transgendered that they are now a female but the would have none of it. Now i'm conservative on most things but this is one aspect where i fall slightly liberal. Honestly, i feel that transgendered people are born in the wrong body and struggle with that their whole life. No one would just choose it unless they were miserable the other way. that is what i tried to explain to the guys but all that they were say is no, thats disgusting, he's gay. which is completely false because just because someone is transgendered doesn't make them a homosexual. It frustrated me the most because my boyfriend is usually open minded and willing to accept other peoples views. maybe it was just the influence of his brother and the feeling like if he accepted that person as a female it would make him less masculine. i dunno but it made me so mad!

Something I was thinking about this weekend

I stopped to think about my parents and their jobs, my brothers and theirs, and even my grandparents and boyfriends and so forth.....here is what I found

Mom- accountant
Dad-engineer
Brother-Machinist
Brother- College--working on becoming a sports journalist
Me-Sales
Boyfriend-landscaping, and outdoor work
Best friend (female)- 4th grade teacher
Grandma- Nurse
Grandpa-Worked in a cheese factory
Grandma-Stay at home mom
Grandpa- Janitor


Now just looking at these jobs, they all fit into what is stereotypically seen for men a women....I just thought it was interesting...look at the people in your life how do they fit in to these stereotypical view. =)

So this was something I found to be ironic in class when we talked about the idea that due to the fact that women have children then they are charged a higher insurance; however medically we have better health compared to men and men are more likely to have a heart attach due to their work enviornment. So I guess the solution would be to charge the women the higher insurance until they cant have children anymore and then when the men hit the target age for stress related illnesses then charge them; whatever the case I found it to be completly unfair to try and justify all of these rules against women just becuase they may be a mother on day.