What it all boils down to, however, is self esteem, If a girl can look past the magazine covers, the television shows, and the superficial world, and be happy with herself, then that is all that matters. But our society is so stuck on the "perfect" image that it has burned a hole in girls heads to make them think they will never be good enough when they are already great. why do we leave it to hollywood to tell us what is acceptable and what is not, the world is all about variety, not everyone likes the same things, or else this world would be bland. Girls just need to be able to look at the whole society and say "you know what. i dont give a shit" just like guys do.

Part of the societal problem against girls, are themselves, plain and simple. Girls compete against each other, and if they feel threatened, the names start coming out about these girls, whore, slut, and all the others. i have actually had this conversation with girls, and they said they tend to feel threatened by girls that look better than them. Here is a little secret, confidence is what makes you noticed, if you stay confident in yourself and show that you have nothing to worry about, that other girl does not matter. Guys on the other hand, if they lose out, they say oh well and move on to another, able to not give a shit. Guys do make fun of other guys too, but not as badly as girls do to each other.

As much as any guy may try to deny that they do not "conform" to the norms of society, they do in one way or another. Although it may be something small that it is barely noticeable. However, guys do have the upper advantage on girls, not because girls are pressured more, but because guys are alot better at not giving a shit. Everytime there is a guy on a magazine cover, he is always muscular, 6 pack abs, tan, the whole deal. In my eyes, that of a guy, i would think for girls this is the dream guy and is what any girl would want and never be able to pass up. Therefore, guys get the idea that if your not in shape then girls will not give you a chance. Now, guys are more heartleess and superficial than girls are, which makes the pressure harder, but again, that is because guys are better at not giving a shit. But there are girls as well who are superficial and only want the guys who are tan, muscular, have money, etc.. Look at all of your realty shows, how many have people overweight, tanless people? its a disgrace, people should be judged by character, not looks.

Because of Sam's class, i will try to keep a good mind to what i buy from here on out, and try to make sure that i never buy slave made goods, however like i said, it is practically impossible to know what is slave made and what is not. i highly doubt that some stores are able to say whether or not they know where their inventory comes from. i know of two chocolate factories in my area that make their own chocolate, but i doubt that they know of where their cocoa comes from. As much as i would love to see slavery taken off the earth and completely eliminated, there is so much of it that we cannot be certain as to what goods are slave goods and what are not. i believe that obama and the government should make a push to have a tarriff on any company that cannot trace their products from outside the country from beginning to end to make sure that slavery is not supported in this country. if the United States can make sure not to buy slavery, i think that would make a great statement to everyone else on the world to make a step towards eliminating slavery.

I will admit, as i am sure everyone else did, the second piece of chocolate was much harder to eat, knowing the possibillities of what that piece of chocolate may have caused. only the most heratless person could have eaten that piece and not felt remorseful at all for the people that were in that documentary. the atrocities that are included within the slave world is rediculous. the fact that someone can believe that they own a person and can treat them like they were nothing is so amazing to me, and i say that in terms of amazement to how someone can be so heartless. animals are treated better than slaves, at lesat they feel a level of love from their owners.

You know why i ate that second piece, because Sam did, because he is right, unless i can promise myself to never eat chocolate again or guarentee im going to buy the slave free chocolate, why should i not eat it? i know i will eat chocolate again in my life many many many times, however now i can be more conscious of trying to buy slave free chocolate. the problem is that in today's world, how can you be sure anything you buy, eat, wear, watch, anything, is not in some way related to slave work of some sort. unless you are a vegetarian hippie who grows all the food they eat, makes all the clothes they wear, and walks everywhere, your life will fall under some kind of criticism, but even then you get singled out.

Growing up, my main group of friends were white, but that wasnt because we did not want black people around, we always called everyone to play baseball, basketball, football, whatever, and sometimes they would accept, sometimes not. There were tons of kids, through little league and other friends, that i would see, they would be of another race, and we would get along great because we never saw color, we just saw each other. When i got to Penn State, i never thought to myself "There is a ton of white people" because i never cared to look at color. I noticed alot of asians due to i didnt grow up around many, so that was cool to see more cultures like that, but in the end, i never cared to look at color, because i never judge a place like that. So i believe some people can have a head start on the stages, and yes some can fall back, but by the time i got to Penn State, i had matured enough to where color was not a matter for me, and i tried not to see things in color, but to just see things as they are. This campus could be dominantly black, i would still walk around with a smile, being polite to everyone i see, and going about my day.

I do think that i have been through most of the stages to where i saw the racism and inequality, tried to make a connection to better understand the sides of my friends, and then been pushed away because i am white and cannot understand. Also i have had black people use racism on me, in which i was thought to myself "how am i to help if they dont want it from white people and just become racist to us?" But i still understood that not all black people were like this due to knowing many black people who werent that way. Plus my parents always raised me to understand that everyone is the same, deserves a chance, and nobody is below me, i am not better than anyone else, and we are all equal.

I am white male and i grew up in a city that was dominantly black. The city was probably a 65/35 percent black to white, so i have associated with black people my whole life. needless to say im not sure i was ever in the pre awakening stage because of the fact i grew up with other races. I cannot remember the first time i saw racism on the black community, but it did happen because of the white community, there were alot of older people who remembered the city when it was safer and more multi cultural, but this was when the steel mills were booming. They had troubles with being able to go with the times. So i did see racism at a young age, but never from myself.

As for the girls and whether or not they should be ashamed in it, why? Why be ashamed of something natural? I understand that it is not something that just is a natural topic of discussion, and rarely do you hear a girl come out of nowhere and say "im bleeding today". It is just not a topic of discussion that society has allowed to be spoken of, but there are people out there who understand the naturalness of the whole process and have no problem with it. If guys had periods, yes it would be different in life, guys tend to not care about the things they talk about and it is a guys world, sorry to say. But as for Sam and his analogy, i think he made a good point in saying, why do women have to hide something that is natural?