"Understanding Sexual Orientation" And " Tough Guise"

The article "Understanding Sexual Orientation" basically explains the assumptions our society have made about the homosexual population. As the article discuss even many psychiatrists agree with the concept that there is a patter of characteristics which compose "the homosexual personality". As a common belief, many people assume that those who define themselves as homosexual usually have feminine gestures, prefer any profession that is categories for women and also they have an unsettles personality. If we read between the lines it is clear that all this ideas are created by the dominant group, with the purpose of connecting homosexual tendencies with weakness. As its explained on the article "Tough Guise", men are raise to believe through the process of socialization that the are certain characteristics they should have in order to be consider a "real man". Some of the characteristics are being tough, independent, strong and respected, but for those who doesn't have those traits are just simply categorize as "weak" or assumed they are homosexual. The media that we are expose to related violence with masculinity, which seem to represent a positive and acceptable behavior for men. Perhaps, this attitude not only harm women but also men themselves because they are always in a constant fight between them to protect their pride and their image.      

"A Way Outa No Way" by Becky Wangsgaard Thompson

Eating problems such as anorexia, bulimia, extensive dieting, or binging, have always been a phenomenon that affects many people, especially women, physically and emotionally. Not until recently according to Becky Wangsgaard there was not research done that included African American, Latina, Asian and working class Native Americans as groups affected by this issue because just white upper and middle class Americans were consider for the previous researches. Also previously the only known cause for this problem was "culture of thinness", concept that was also challenge by Becky Wangsgaard after proposing that those eating problems are also ways women nowadays use in order to cope with their traumas. In other words, the ideal figure that our society sells to women as beauty is not the only cause of eating problems, because race, class, and sexuality are really the key terms in other to understand the real reason behind this issue. 

Eating problems were mainly connected with sexual abuse, poverty, heterosexuals, racism and class injuries. Perhaps all this traumas show that the reason for this phenomenon is clearly affected by the socialization process they were expose of. Perhaps, even the relationship and image they had of their body also changed which lead to an intense feeling of discomfort with who they actually view themselves as. The fact that most of the participants of the research developed their conditions at an early age, reported that it lasted more than half of the life, should made us question on how power this issue really is. In other words, most of our girls may be experiencing the same struggles that the participants pass through, but many of us may not even recognized until later on or when its too late.

"People Like Us"

The documentary "people like us" explains the differences points of views people have depending on the class they believe they are part of, but also how they see others. Meaning that even though most of us do not recognize it, we all act and interact with others according to our class. The differences between classes is huge, that is the reason why it have been always seen as a battle. For instances, based on the  documentary for the upper class there is no way a middle class person could climb up to their class successfully because their dont belong there, never have never will. On the other hand, those in middle and lower class believe that the upper class just want to implement all their will on the poor people to take advantage of them. 

"Positive Functions of the Undeserving Poor..."by Herbert J. Gans

"Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is."

Benjamin Franklin

According to Herbert J. Gans in his article "Positive Functions of the Undeserving Poor: Uses of Underclass in America" those who are part of the lower class do contribute to our society as much as the working and higher class do. In others words we all benefit from the poor people whether we see it or not. This idea for sure may impact many people, because a really large number of our population believe that the poor people are just obtaining services that cost a lot of money without deserving them, which is obviously not true. The unfortunates are blame for most of the crimes and unacceptable behaviors that occurred in our society just because of the stereotypes they supposedly into. Even for those label the poor people, they used them as a motivation for not being like them but also its one of the ways in which they protect themselves from being point out as well. Everyone in our society have an essential role that can not be replace, even if we -as a society- do not recognize its value. 

Deviance

Deviance is any action that violates a social norm, and they may be illegal or not. For instance, breaking a law, lying, alcoholism, being rude to others, stealing, or even picking one's nose in public. However, for an action to be considered a deviant act sometimes would depend on what is considered normal. In other words, society's expectation counts. Whether we are conscious or not some of us may be consider deviants for just being part of minority group.

Socialization

Socialization is the process in which individuals learn how to interact with others in order to become a member of society. However socialization is really different for men and women because of the difference of expectations and image our society have for each one. 


Jean Kilbourne explains in her documentary Killing us softly 3 that advertising through decades has emphasize that the only aspect that really matter for women is how they look. This idea that beauty is the only power that young women have in our society, is created by this "ideal image of a woman" advertising promote. Just like Jean Kilbourne said, the perfect look advertisers present nowadays are imposible to reach now thanks to the retouch all the public images have now. Although advertising is the foundation of mass media with the main goal of selling products, it also impact the values and judgement of our society. Thanks to all of this women are now seen more as things and sexual objects than humans. Whether we are conscious or unconscious of this situation the true is that for women most of the stereotypes are mainly based on physical attributes, causing a negative impact in our young girls. As it was mention in one of the ads presented, "The more you subtract, the more you add" is the most frequent  message women are receiving from our media.


On the other hand, in Tony Porter's TED presentation he explains that the way men socialize are based on the "Man Box". Which is the way our society expects men to behave according to the attributes they naturally should have. For example men should be tough, dominant without showing any sense of fear or emotions. Boys are rise to fulfill this standars because there are a symbol of masculinity, this situation is often seing in the way boys are treat by their fathers. There is where the sense of inferiority cames from, which lead to men seeing women as property and objects. This situation could be addressed only if our society change the way we rise our boys by teaching them a sense of equality and by breaking the limitation of emotions they have.

   

Society

"Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both." - C. Wright Mills. I strongly agree with this because our society influence us in many different ways. However, a society can be change by their individual as well. Like everything in this world nothing is perfect neither our society. That the reason why many people try to make a huge impact just to make a change, but essentially society is part of us whether we like it or not. That the reason why we should find first the reason why our society is the way its before judging and making assumption about it. Big changes also begin with one person why the desire to improve our society.