just wanted to thank you for a great class. you've really taught me alot, and it was always enjoyable being in class.
francois
Thursday, October 18, 2007
FINAL BOG ASSIGNMENT
Im sooo sorry this is late.. but my internet has been down for 2h and ive been totally freaked out.
Being raised by two failry well off european parents, i have been blessed with a very multicultural childhood. I was raised in america, then when i was ten i moved overseas. I have since lived in Madrid, Paris, and Zurich. I believe that my social environment has effected my sexuality in that what my views of masculinity are. My father is very succesful business man who expects nothing but the best from his family, and he has showed me in many ways that he considers his profession more important than family. I guess this can effect someones personality relationship wise. But as he was often gone, i spent alot of my time with my mother. My mother has always had an extremely open mind in terms of sexuality. She never hid anything from me, and she always made me understand both sides of the story. My father has told me many times that he does not approve of homosexuality, but my mother has always told me to keep an open mind. I guess i felt alot of pressure from my father to not be homosexual. I remember him telling me that he would not approve of me being homosexual, and I thought to myself, "god damn, thank god im straight, because this would really suck!" In terms of school, i went to international schools around europe where there is a huge student diversity. My graduating class represented around 40 countries. This has been a phonominal experience for me because i have been around people of all sorts. I have had many friends who were gay and from other countries where homosexuality is extremely dissaproved. I think that my social environment has taught me to always keep my eyes open to new things, because i strongly believe that ignorance is the worse thing in the word. I think that i have upeld the norms of my sexuality in that i date girls, and i have always been proud to introduce my girlfriend to my friends. But interms of differences of how i am supposed to express my sexuality here in america, it is very different that in france for example. I think that people here in america are extremely homophobic, they freak out about the slightest physical contact, and can under no circumstances let anyone think that they are gay. It happens to me that i will accedentally cross someone's boundries by doing things that are the norm from where i come from. For example hugging men here is considered pretty homosexual.. its really wierd. same with crossing my legs. Its bizzar, but i definantly have to hold things back over here,,, even when i am 100% comfortable with my sexuality.
Being raised by two failry well off european parents, i have been blessed with a very multicultural childhood. I was raised in america, then when i was ten i moved overseas. I have since lived in Madrid, Paris, and Zurich. I believe that my social environment has effected my sexuality in that what my views of masculinity are. My father is very succesful business man who expects nothing but the best from his family, and he has showed me in many ways that he considers his profession more important than family. I guess this can effect someones personality relationship wise. But as he was often gone, i spent alot of my time with my mother. My mother has always had an extremely open mind in terms of sexuality. She never hid anything from me, and she always made me understand both sides of the story. My father has told me many times that he does not approve of homosexuality, but my mother has always told me to keep an open mind. I guess i felt alot of pressure from my father to not be homosexual. I remember him telling me that he would not approve of me being homosexual, and I thought to myself, "god damn, thank god im straight, because this would really suck!" In terms of school, i went to international schools around europe where there is a huge student diversity. My graduating class represented around 40 countries. This has been a phonominal experience for me because i have been around people of all sorts. I have had many friends who were gay and from other countries where homosexuality is extremely dissaproved. I think that my social environment has taught me to always keep my eyes open to new things, because i strongly believe that ignorance is the worse thing in the word. I think that i have upeld the norms of my sexuality in that i date girls, and i have always been proud to introduce my girlfriend to my friends. But interms of differences of how i am supposed to express my sexuality here in america, it is very different that in france for example. I think that people here in america are extremely homophobic, they freak out about the slightest physical contact, and can under no circumstances let anyone think that they are gay. It happens to me that i will accedentally cross someone's boundries by doing things that are the norm from where i come from. For example hugging men here is considered pretty homosexual.. its really wierd. same with crossing my legs. Its bizzar, but i definantly have to hold things back over here,,, even when i am 100% comfortable with my sexuality.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
How to be a "dude"
If i had to teach a class on being a male, this is what i would teach...
1) Never talk about emotions
2) Never cross your legs
3) Wear baggy pants
4) Talk about getting into fights
5) Talk about sex
4) Walk like you have eggs under your arms
But seriously, I would emphasize the fact that men shouldnt talk about thier emotions with other males. Males can never show thier emotions. Males are also always leaders, a male will do anything to surpass another male. A male should also be very pushy and aggresive. In terms of dress, nothing revealing... pants shouldnt be tight, prefferably loose. Shirts, hoodies, button up shirts, collerd shirts, is about all a male should wear, keeping in mind that shorts should rarely ever be shorter than the kneecaps. Hair should be kept on the shorter side, no longer than shoulder length. Colors pink should be avoided.. prefferably stick to black, navy blue, white. When walking a male should always keep his chin up, and sway his arms around, some more "ghetto" males like to lean back and swing thier bodies when walking. As for sitting a male should never cross his legs... that would be considered "homosexual." Only crossing that is appropriate is ankle over leg. A male's body language can be viewed as more lazy i guess, he shouldnt ever stare down another males eyes because that too would be considered homosexual. What not to do as a male is NEVER wear high heels and ear rings. This would totally give away your cover.
1) Never talk about emotions
2) Never cross your legs
3) Wear baggy pants
4) Talk about getting into fights
5) Talk about sex
4) Walk like you have eggs under your arms
But seriously, I would emphasize the fact that men shouldnt talk about thier emotions with other males. Males can never show thier emotions. Males are also always leaders, a male will do anything to surpass another male. A male should also be very pushy and aggresive. In terms of dress, nothing revealing... pants shouldnt be tight, prefferably loose. Shirts, hoodies, button up shirts, collerd shirts, is about all a male should wear, keeping in mind that shorts should rarely ever be shorter than the kneecaps. Hair should be kept on the shorter side, no longer than shoulder length. Colors pink should be avoided.. prefferably stick to black, navy blue, white. When walking a male should always keep his chin up, and sway his arms around, some more "ghetto" males like to lean back and swing thier bodies when walking. As for sitting a male should never cross his legs... that would be considered "homosexual." Only crossing that is appropriate is ankle over leg. A male's body language can be viewed as more lazy i guess, he shouldnt ever stare down another males eyes because that too would be considered homosexual. What not to do as a male is NEVER wear high heels and ear rings. This would totally give away your cover.
Assignment #9
In my opinion, for females and males, gender is not a choice, gender is something that we are born into. I did not choose to be a male, i was born a male. I belive that your born sexuality is predetermined. There is nothing you can do to change it, i belive we are all born as heterosexuals or homosexuals. We are all born Female or Male whether we like it or not. But there do exist some problems, sometime people are born male, but feel like females or vice versa. When people trasistion sexes, i believe it is almost completely choice. Before they transition they must realize and understand all the concequences they will face, the troubles they will undergo in day to day life, and if they can accept all that they may undergo surgery.
Friday, October 5, 2007
PS.
I made a really stupid mistake. When i was configuring my blog at the begining of the semester, i made two of them by accident. aFor the last few weeks ive been posting on another blog other than this one. Ive just transfered all the assignments on the other blog.
assignment #8
In the movie "but i'm a cheerleader" normal femininity was portrayed as girls who like to kiss hot guys and put pictures of guys in their lockers. It was very black or white and nothing inbetween. The main character was a girl who never thought of herself as a lesbian, but was confused because she didnt fall into the norms of what women are expected to do and enjoy. All of a sudden she confronts an intervention and gets sent to a sort of homosexual camp. This movie clearly brings up the intersection between gender and sexual identity.
Girls are tought that they have to do girly stuff, and they have to like guys, and they like to kiss guys etc.. But then this brings up a problem because then there are examples of girls who are clearly girls, but dont like guys, and doing girly stuff. Then what? this raises alot of confusion. I think this has been a huge problem for alot of people. This movie shows a sort of camp that homosexuals go do and they can learn to to become heterosexuals. To me this really shows how society views homosexuality, they really don't understand it, and because we dont understand it we cannot associate with what goes through thier minds,a nd some people think that it has to be changed, or that it CAN indeed change. There is a clear problem with the gender binary we have, and sexual identitiy because the moemnt you dont fall into a specific category it messes everything else up. After a couple of weeks in the camp the main character begins to understand her sexuality, and she starts of open her eyes to the whole world of being a lesbian. This doesnt happen until she meets people that are just like her, and who also dont fall into the social norm. This illustrates the problem. If we were to remove the fact that women are supposed to like guys, and are supposed to be nuturing and the whole social construction of it all, i belive that it could eventually help alot of people in that there are specific guidelines for men and for woment, because clearly the guidelines have way too many exceptions.
Girls are tought that they have to do girly stuff, and they have to like guys, and they like to kiss guys etc.. But then this brings up a problem because then there are examples of girls who are clearly girls, but dont like guys, and doing girly stuff. Then what? this raises alot of confusion. I think this has been a huge problem for alot of people. This movie shows a sort of camp that homosexuals go do and they can learn to to become heterosexuals. To me this really shows how society views homosexuality, they really don't understand it, and because we dont understand it we cannot associate with what goes through thier minds,a nd some people think that it has to be changed, or that it CAN indeed change. There is a clear problem with the gender binary we have, and sexual identitiy because the moemnt you dont fall into a specific category it messes everything else up. After a couple of weeks in the camp the main character begins to understand her sexuality, and she starts of open her eyes to the whole world of being a lesbian. This doesnt happen until she meets people that are just like her, and who also dont fall into the social norm. This illustrates the problem. If we were to remove the fact that women are supposed to like guys, and are supposed to be nuturing and the whole social construction of it all, i belive that it could eventually help alot of people in that there are specific guidelines for men and for woment, because clearly the guidelines have way too many exceptions.
assignment #7
The author of this article relies on traditional notions of masculinity and femininity to construct Hillary and Obama in contrast to one another in that he brings up the reversal of gender in these two presidential candidates. The author describes Obama as a more "nuturing" canditate, and Clinton as a more "masculin" "iron-fisted" candidate. I think it is very interesting how these two candidates choose what impresion they must make, to try and win peoples votes. It was clear to me that Clinton is trying to be much more iron-fisted because she is a woman candidate and as the author mentioned many people are skeptical of whether or not she is capable of "pushing the button." Obama, chooses to portray himself as a much more nuturing candidate. Displaying signs of affection, and "uniting people for a common purpose." This tactic is trying to make people at easy and feel comfortable with him, and this is a very female characteristic. This is very different from what we have seen in the past, usually leaders are always portrayed as very masculin people, who can "get the job done." Both of these tactics can, of course be criticized. I think that clinton's tactic is much more transparent. It really seems to me that she is using her attitude to make up for the fact that she isnt a masculin male leader, and so she has to have an even tougher personality so that no one will think that she is not capable of running the country. But even more interesting is that Obama seems to notice that she is very poingant and counteracts his compnent by being more compassionante and "soft." This raises problems again like i said because male leaders are supposed be be strong and "hard" because this is how masculinity is viewed.
Another interesting is idea is if these two candidates were to switch gender. Then i think that hillary's tactic would be much more steriotypical in that thats what most men canditates do, but mabye not to the same degree. But Obama on the otherhand his tactic would not work very effectivly because then the people would see him as weak and not capable of doing the job right. But then think of hillary as if she was like you said "uber-feminine." This would never work because the typical qualities of a leader are extremely masculine, and she would clearly not fit the bill. Its really interesting to see the roles of gender and gender qualities in political campaigns and i look forward to discussing it in class.
Another interesting is idea is if these two candidates were to switch gender. Then i think that hillary's tactic would be much more steriotypical in that thats what most men canditates do, but mabye not to the same degree. But Obama on the otherhand his tactic would not work very effectivly because then the people would see him as weak and not capable of doing the job right. But then think of hillary as if she was like you said "uber-feminine." This would never work because the typical qualities of a leader are extremely masculine, and she would clearly not fit the bill. Its really interesting to see the roles of gender and gender qualities in political campaigns and i look forward to discussing it in class.
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