:]

‎"Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short, wear shirts and boots, because it's OK to be a boy, but for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, because you think that being a girl is degrading. But secretly you'd love to know what it's like, wouldn't you? What it feels like for a girl?" - Charlotte Gainsbourg

Unisex clothing? saw this in the mall

Blog Posts

1,2,5 and 7.

Thank You

Kurt Cobain in a dress

Blog Post #12

The Hangover focuses on a group of man trying to find their lost buddy after a night of partying. This movie falls under the category of Bromance a term for close male relationships. The movie portrays the different type of male stereotypes there are including: the one that is too nice and is pussywhipped, the weird male and the tough cursing male that does whatever he wants. The relationships between males seem a intricate and puzzling one specially the ones considered Bromances. These bromances seem to fall under their own category because they stick together forming close bonds and yet some might see it as man being too close so they could be seen as possibly being homosexuals. But the bonds these male form also serve the purpose of actually boosting each others masculinity whether it be that they win or lose girls or to see who can out drink each other. As Grazian states in his article males go through "collective rituals of confidence building." (325). This is clearly portrayed in the movie because right before they go to have a night of partying, booze, hookers and drugs they gather around together in a rooftop to drink and celebrate the night that hasn't even happened yet. The get together drink and hurdle together maybe in order to boost their confidence or maybe to just have a good time, but either way if there were no males around would it still be the same? Would a lonely person drink and get ready before going out? Perhaps. The movie makes it seem as if man although needing woman need man more in order to approve of each other behaviors.


                                                              Works Cited:

Grazian, David. "The Girl Hunt: Urban Nightlife and the Performance of Masculinity as           Collective Activity." Men's Lives. Ed. Michael S. Kimmel and Michael A. Messner. 8th ed. Allyn & Bacon, 2010. 320-37. Print.

The Hangover. Dir. Todd Phillips. Perf. Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper, and Justin Bartha. Warner Brothers. Pictures, 2009. DVD.

Course Reflection

The group assignment would be have to be the one that stands out when I think of a fun assignemt. The group met outside of the classroom and discussed what we needed to do. Also things like the debate and the little acting we did was fun and brought energy and active discussions to the classroom. One of the things that I took away from that assignment is that although being a single parent is hard, a child being raised by a single father is more likely to stir into the "wrong" path.

I pretty much cared for all the assignments just some of the assignments were not as interesting as other ones. Or maybe not that the assignment was not interesting it's just that they were hard but hard assignments challenges the mind, and stereotypes. An example would be the first research assignment it took a while in order to learn how to do a proper research paper with all the necessary components.

Blogger was useful in this class because it was simple and easy to use, Nimg not so much. All Blogger needed was a bit more personal touch not only school work but things about Masculinity. A blog with just assignments looks boring and dull so it was cool that you posted all different types of things in your blogs.But I try to stay away from using too many google services, it knows too much.

In my own I found a paper talking about Brazilian masculinity so I still have yet to read it but I have printed it out. I also intend on reading the book called White Masculinity In Crisis I believe is the name. In my own I also researched some photos on all aspects of Masculinity. I also watched a very interesting documentary on Netflix about sexuality in different countries. I also invited my sister and a friend to come with me to the classroom and I was often discussing Masculinity to a friend applying what I learned in class. Very interesting subject indeed. I just wish the semester wasn't so short because things start to snowball.

Research Paper Revised

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gXtb2mrQ7nGMHFsNEe7sMxe4KU6oyd9K2JHLpRwNOKg/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CLeZ_pgP

Single Dads Final Draft

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1frcEA9k_plrMAST3Ucvnf2yGcopW-sGLsqv9IUDPshk/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CK2x0JIK

My Part Reviewed

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_KayRGeDzvKy1SoRi204-El3AougoA8R0Pthsj6wIyM/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CNSi-vYP

my part of final draft

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xBgRXekhEdfz2L6kBMPHPRTECIZ-SuShnVv7ICdrBP4/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CJSwi4QP

Another source for the annotated bibliography

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QPkg-Lkaw9AhYKzkWl0YqxsNuWLhC9xCBBL86mkupd4/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CMmB3N8E

Blog Post #11

Sister: I met the perfect man yesterday I'm sure it was love at first sight.
Jonathan(Me): Where did you meet this "perfect" man?
Sister: At the club
Me:The club? Interesting
Sister: Why is that interesting?
Me: I don't think that is a very reliable place to meet someone
Sister: Well he was nice to me
Me: That is because he was probably wasted when he saw you
Sister: Well it is a club
Me: Right so you admit that he had a little to drink?
Sister: Of course everyone did
Me: Well don't be so quick to assume why do you think he had to drink?
Sister: I don't know, why what do you think?
Me: To get some liquid courage, now let me ask you did you get his number?
Sister: No he said he couldn't remember his so I gave mine
Me: Did he call you yet?
Sister: No but I'm sure he will
Me: I wouldn't wait too long if I were you. Why do you think it was love at first sight?
Sister: He was funny, charming and handsome
Me: Those are just all traits by funny he was probably showing off to his friends by charming he was probably trying to please you to get you in bed and by handsome he was probably trying to dress to impress
Sister: Your such a idiot your just jealous
Me: Nope just looking out for you
Sister: So what if he was showing off or trying to dress to impress?
Me: Well why does he feel the need to make himself the center of attention by showing off. What kind of questions did he ask you?
Sister: Well you know boys will be boys or men rather will be men
Me: Right so all boys have to fall into this one category?
Sister: Well no it's just sort of expected
Me: What kind of questions did he ask you?
Sister: My age, where I'm from and stuff.
Me: Doesn't sound like to me like he was interested in a long term relationship
Sister: Well what do you expect for him to ask me about my feelings and if I have children?
Me: Why what would happen if he asked that
Sister: That doesn't sound very manly to me but it is a club realistically speaking no one will ever ask that.
Me: So why did you go there if you weren't looking for a long term relationship?
Sister: Well I don't know just for fun
Me: Well sounds like to me you were his prize and basically his tool he used you and let you go
Sister: What kind of brother are you?
Me: I'm just trying to warn you what most guys in the club are like and what they are looking for
Sister: Oh ok Mr. Big Man
Me: Not at all not all anyone can tell you this so next time when you go to a club don't think you will meet the perfect man because man are not there to meet women but rather use them or maybe the other way around who know you guys use each other? Look it's ok for you to go there to have fun we all need a little fun but that is it just fun don't think too much of the whole experience. Unless of course he calls you
Sister: He will your wrong about him
Me: I hope I am too.

Part 2 of Research Paper #2

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sMHZ6D9h1PbtXcBfmUIILqsF8TbBvw17R9QPw64t6lE/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CIqez80G

Blog Post #10

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gFPfqTiBOhxctjBigIvrfORUSM0hmQlt6hqr9S5wtQQ/edit?hl=en&authkey=CNK61p8P#

Proposal and preliminary thesis

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dHNOLtine-VkxaiXtZjsXTd4RxA6gKxGo_BKRILGvSk/edit?hl=en

:]

Part IV of Research Paper #1

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rmf8UsnZaSuGt4OptCBDOOsmZBwlkWqjeiW5E_KTitY/edit?hl=en#

The document is private so I added your email not the laguardia one but the gmail one any problems please let me know.

Whoops sorry for posting on the class blog ;p

Re-Upload

I tried to speak louder and clearer but my camera still seems to have static, I have no idea why.

Revised Midterm

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZbZ9H4HUCCYZ_ngFl6CQpCjGFKNzaw1g1n1gHD4QgZ4/edit?hl=en&pli=1#

Posted at 11:44pm.

Video Blog

Blog Post #9

The act of fathering does not fall into the simple categories of the over nurturing dad or the overly strict father it can vary from one individual to the other. Factors that can play into a way a father raises his child can include; the culture of the community and economic factors. Males earn better wages than woman even if just by a bit so that automatically sets them for having a higher chance of being the patriarch of the family but what if gender equality was actually reached somewhere in the near future? That would mean that both men and women would have about just the exact same amount of earning wages so there would no patriarchy and no matriarchy so this could lead to a universal way of parenting.Now if kids were to be raised equally by both the mother and the father they would each get the exact amount of nurturing by both of them and there would be no over toppling of the "ideas" of how the kid is to be raised according to males or female standards.

Blog Post #8

Thesis: Men it seems will always be judged one way or another whether it be going to "female   jobs or moving up in "female" jobs. To be fair it seems you have to be unfair to everyone no matter what. Williams, Christine.  “The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the “Female” Professions." Men’s Lives. Eds. Michael S. Kimmel and Michael A. Messner. New York: Allyn & Bacon, 2001. 211-224. Print.        This article compares man and women advantages and disadvantages in what is considered "male" and "female" professions. In the article it states that that men in female jobs are pushed up by an invisible glass escalator which are due to their expectations of being in the more "male" positions within their jobs such as administration. While women encounter a glass ceiling in male position jobs.         The author (Christine) took time and put time and effort in conducting her own interviews according to "... the coding techniques described by Strauss (1987). She interviewed 76 men 23 women over the course of 6 years. She also draws from the census and has a good list of References.         My thesis is not very strong and isn't necessarily reflected in the text itself but even though its main focus is on how men are pushed in the glass escalator by invisible forces she states in the end that " Sex segregation is two-way street". In my thesis I state that to be fair you have to be unfair so not only do you have to remove the privileges that men have in "female" professions but also the advantages women have in "male" professions such as being treated too nicely.

First Draft of Research Paper

**First Draft of Research Paper**
Click-Ith Here

**Proposal and Preliminary Thesis**
Proposal and Preliminary Thesis

** Part II of Research Paper #1: Revised Preliminary Thesis and Annotated Bibliography**
Part 2 of Research Paper

Hello Miss B I did not go to class today because I did not have the first draft done so I thought there would be no point.

I also have a couple of questions which I hope you can answer:
What do you mean by the revised thesis?
Can I still have the Peer Review online? Can I share the document with someone and they make can leave comments in the documents? ( Just like we did in class)
Also I have not got any feedback from my research advisor but here is the link you can see my comments
http://lrc1031491spring2011.ning.com/profiles/comment/list?attachedToType=User&attachedTo=08z6bvnglxgdt&commentId=6379845%3AComment%3A3002&xg_source=activity
Am I missing anything else?

Thank You very much.

Research Paper #1: Annotated Bibliography

Click Here 

Due on time and date :]

Blog Post #7

In Chicano Man and Masculinity Zinn focuses on the micro aspect of Chicano masculinity ( which I assume from the text to be Mexican Men within the Hispanic community). She states that although she doesn't disregard the fact of culture as being a factor it is not the only factor, that socioeconomic roles also play a big role in defining their masculinity. Sometimes masculinity was a cultural factor for these Chicano Man but a lot of the times work was actually shared between the men and the woman. This goes against the stereotype of Man running the household. I agree with her overall message because I never really thought about it that way specially in this one quote; "If this is the case, it is reasonable to suggest that the father's authority is strongly upheld because family solidarity is important in a society that excludes and subordinates Chicanos." (30) By being excluded in the outside world it actually strengthens the bond within the family on the inside which contradicts the notion that men could care less about their wives and children. A very interesting paradoxical reading indeed :]

Asian/Black Masculinity

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NHrPnKsN_InGxGVeSvXMVQcIsDCUfUUDa13z5hHVWDI/edit?hl=en&authkey=CLXH36MD

I did it on paper on time because I couldn't figure out how to do it on google docs.

Blog Post #5 Espiritu Article

Black slaves in U.S. history were beaten, degraded, and were considered animals by the white folks. They had no choice of say in their life whether women, men, children or elderly and were considered mindless working machines with no rights for years. Japanese Americans who were born here were were tax paying U.S. citizens, that is until the bombing of Pearl Harbor. After the war act they were taken into concentration camps and had all their rights expunged by one single order by the President. Japanese Americans were no longer considered people but a threat to the United States because of their ties to Japan. Both Blacks and Asians felt the governments attacks tactics on them solely based on their race. While Black slaves had no freedom, Japanese Americans had some freedom in the internment camps but both freedoms were imposed on them so as long as they behaved like dogs and followed orders they were considered "good" people.To me that is a sort of updated modern day slavery, you are given a "house" some commodities and as long as you do what you are told nothing bad will happen.Although there were cases of guards killing people for resisting orders so not only where their freedom taken away from them they were imposed with this new standardized freedom until further notice. The freedom of both Blacks and Asians was easily given and easily taken away, men were not men anymore there was no such thing as patriarchy because they were equal to the children and were equal to the mothers.

Thesis Proposal

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FHCGmp-l2cfXcMcVX_D5ayHV7jNrMHciJDtxcX_eN5U/edit?hl=en&authkey=CJmV6ZIH

Male or Female?

Final Draft Photo Analysis Paper

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LG46wRIClpAKc-R7NSK2zu2-Xx1xbu6QXJmYM9KJdw0/edit?hl=en&authkey=CK_-hckE

Who's the Man?

In my opinion both men from "The Male Myth" and "The Black Male" are equally as masculine. Not all men are the same and to compare one to the other is unfair, because not every man or person for that matter behaves the same. The idea of masculinity can differ from person to person from one culture to the other. To where as black male in general have gone through many hurdles through time, Paul also went through struggles clearly not as hard as black men did but nevertheless he still had his hurdles. Both man were born the same but grew up in different circumstances so to place one idea of what a men is supposed to be like to two man who grew up in differently i find it not so reasonable.

Work Cited:

Theroux,Paul. "The Male Myth" Across Cultures: A Reader for Writers. Seventh Edition. Eds.Robert Becker   and Sheena Gillespie. New York: Pearson and Longman, 2008. 101-104. Print.

Marable Manning.  "The Black Male: Searching Beyond Stereotypes: Men's Lives". Fifth Edition. Eds. Michael S Kimmel and Michael A Mesnerr. New York: Allyn and Bacon,2001. 17-23. Print.

The Black Male Searching for Stereotypes Blog #4

The struggles of woman are often downplayed in our society specially when it comes to black woman. The challenge for woman as it seems is that they have to prove themselves to be just as good as man are, and for black woman they have to take it a step further. First they have to prove that they are just as worthy as any white woman while not being affected by judgmental stereotypes and then prove that they are just as good as man are. As stated by Manning "not only did they have to endure exploitation and racism they also had to deal with the negative consequences of being a woman like sexism and rape, often the choices of weapon that men use to make women feel worthless and insecure." On top of the racism and rape they also had to somehow balance the everyday responsibilities such as the responsibilities of being a mother and being lovely and caring to the husband needs. She is one of the pillars that holds up the family, she bears responsibilities and the burdens. Apart from Michelle Obama ( who hasn't done that much) Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks are one of the few black women who are recognized for their contribution and courage. Unitedly they helped society as a whole in understanding the importance that black women have contributed towards building a better and equal society for women and men everywhere, but more needs to be done to learn not only about a few black women ( in comparison to men) but black women everywhere who against all odds managed to overcome the hardship entrusted upon them and emerged triumphant.

Masculinity Paper

I did on time but just forgot to post it

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_Juhh-3B_Xb5wCs8dUKSnNIbt_jUsbp67auljRhUHDw/edit?hl=en&authkey=CLvN-KwF

Paul Theroux The Male Myth

In chapter 3 paragraph 2 Paul talks about disliking the idea of a what a men is supposed to be in his opinion. I'm sure that every boy growing up was told to "men up" at one point or other is his life and in high school this seemed to be a prevalent theme throughout my gym classes. In my gym classes i never bothered to work out or play football at one year I'm just the lazy type of person i suppose.When i attempted to play football apparently i wasn't good enough and so i failed. American Football would be probably the first sport that comes into anyone's head when you think of masculinity specially in the United States but I was held back one year even with summer school due to the fact that i was a butterfingers and because i couldn't play football like just as well as the other boys did, but hey at least i was pretty good at Volleyball.

Photo description.

Advertisements

A thought came into my head as we were discussing and analyzing a photograph on class, the power of advertising. If i remember correctly there were 3 man on top of a woman and as we analyzed it i thought about how advertisement can affect people or at least in a subconscious way.During the class many interpretations came about including that the picture almost depicted rape because one men was on top of a woman holding her down and three other man watching. They were looking down on the woman and mind you that her pelvis was raised almost as if she wanted it to happen and in the background was a little bit of a cloudy sky.

What does that all mean though? Are men supposed to be on top of woman and is it ok for everyone to standby and watch? The island sky meaning that it's all good and relaxed? Are woman supposed to take it? While all the men are ripped and sweaty do all the woman have to be skinny and passive? Is this what you are supposed to take away from it, mind you the people that created this ad probably went to school to learn advertisement. I'm not saying all men who are muscular are doing it to fit in and I'm not saying that all women who are skinny are doing it to live up to the expectation, sometimes men are muscular because they do sports and not because they work out and sometimes women are skinny because it's just the genes. And on the topic of masculinity do you see how my thought process on the sentence before already came to the conclusion that men were playing sports but back to the point. While there are ads that are probably the opposite of what i have described above such as this one (http://fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dolce_gabbana_whips.jpg) which reverse the roles of the typical male and female those are definitely not as common, and it is sometimes unrealistic because in school i see people from all shapes and sizes and looks.

Blog Entry #2

In my last blog entry I ended it by stating that it is up to the men inside and not outside to decide his masculinity. Judith Lorber's reading has got me thinking though, isn't masculinity molded in the outside world? There is a certain way you are supposed to dress,act etc. Ten years ago though I don't think anyone would think that men would have their eyebrows shaped to look good and yet they do it today. The world is always changing and to have certain expectations shoved down someone's throat does not make that much sense to me for example: If you are a male your expected to play some sort of sport. Now to what point do genes play a role in your gender? In Fausto's reading he states that the embryonic primordium is a indifferent fetal gonad which can give rise to the testis or the ovary but I agree with Lorber when he says that individuals are sexed but not gendered. A bit of an eye opener really because whenever someone would ridicule me I would always reply with I have a pair of balls so that makes me a man, and in a man's world that's what it's all about who has the biggest pair of balls is the bigger man. When you think of a men the last thing in your mind would be a transvestite. Transvestites are people who cross dress but masculine man will never cross dress because it's not socially acceptable but the way I see it I don't think a actor playing a woman is a cross dresser and I don't think a man wearing a kilt is a cross dresser and I surely wouldn't call Mulan a cross dresser (maybe not the most relevant example). There are those who go against the norm and do what they want or so called rebels but the word seems to have a negative connotation behind it. What makes a person a rebel? Only because they don't go along with what is the typical and expected that makes them a rebel or a bad person because they won't do what they are supposed to do.

When people talk about gender it is either you are a male or a female no in between: it seems to be such a concrete thing, something you can grasp with your hands but you can't. Gender is nothing but a word, a label to describe someone and what they are supposed to be like.

Blog Post #1. Are men born or made?

In my opinion men are born but can surely be made. Most people will agree that in this day and age science can explain 99% of everything that happens in life, and in scientific terms from the second your gene becomes a XY most of your life has been already premeditated. In speaking of masculinity what comes to my mind is what seems to be a universal standard of what a men is supposed to be and how they are supposed to act. Maybe I'm wrongly generalizing the idea of a man because i try to live a life without judging others but for this argument I would say that men have to be rough, somewhat promiscuous, and not be a "sissy", which includes sometimes treating women as tools. But I also say that man can be made because in my opinion the human mind can be shaped and molded.I will use one of John Money's cases example where one twin brother suffered a circumcision accident and then it was decided that the best option would be to get rid of the penis and raise it as a girl including hormonal treatment at puberty. Years later it seemed that he never accepted himself as a female and went to continue his life as a male and a little further research and I find that both the twins ended up committing suicide, now whether or not it was due to John's role in their lives is up to the individual person. Even though John's patient was raised as a female he did not identify himself as a female, maybe this is just an ordinary case but how is it that deep down inside he didn't feel like he fit in even though his whole life he was treated and raised as a female? Surely enough the decision was made in the best interest of the child because without a damaged penis how would he function in his day to day life. Assumptions led to the removal of his penis but maybe all he needed was a chance because with the advance of medicine maybe in years to come a new method of penile reconstruction would emerge and he would be "normal" again.  Everyone is "born free", free with the right to choose and the right to live as they please but it seems that the path to perfection sometimes might get in the way but no matter how hard anyone strives for perfection no one is and will never be. We are all born with flaws and qualities it's what makes us who we are and just maybe some things are supposed to be just the way they are. I say men are born but can surely be made, but that is up to the person inside and not outside.