I thought this was a beautiful and powerful speech. It made me feel connected to her and her story and the stories of the other women she spoke of. I think we are all to used to hearing about negative and sad events happening all over the world. We hear about a family of innocent civilians being killed in crossfire in Iraq or Afghanistan…we feel sad for maybe minute or two and express how unfortunate it was, but then moments later we forget. Just like that we forget that there are ordinary people just like us paying the price of the war with their blood and innocence. But what Zainab Salbi (the woman speaking) did was give a face to the faceless and a voice to the voiceless. So we can’t just look away and forget, we shouldn’t just change the channel and forget….we should remember and share and help. I think Ms. Salbi is truly inspirational she is an ideal example of the power of one. That one person who is passionate about something they truly believe in can make a vast impact and difference in the world we live in. She said it herself she began her journey with nothing and now helps women effected by war all over the world with her organization; women for women international.

I also think her speech was amazing because the message was clear and one that I wish more people would understand; of the importance of women in society…especially during times of war. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women stated that “placing women in government can lead to less violence, advanced social institutions, and the ability for the country to progress to a first world status.” The more women are involved in government and leadership positions the more successful a nation can be. Yet there are many cases were the equal right to help, and the involvement of both men and women in society is lacking. For example, Afghanistan is a country that has been through many brutal wars and instability in various aspects of their government. It is also a country where the gender disparities in education are also very alarming, with only 36% of the student population in general education schools being female. Not providing women with the equal opportunity to be educated sets a road block for their much needed further involvement in their countries future. Because in order to have a successful participatory democracy, Afghanistan needs to have an educated population. This means educating both men AND women, equally. Secondly, providing women with a good education will then give them the tools and opportunity to participate in their government and higher decision making positions. if countries do this, like Salbi encourages I also strongly believe we will see a safer more peaceful world.

Overall I thought Lorie and Sam’s presentation was great, but when Lorie brought up the point of how women dress provocatively and uncomfortable while men tend to dress down and comfortable really make me realize just how true her statement really was. The standards for how a woman is dressed is obviously higher than a man’s but I never realized that we’re almost conditioned to think we want to and should dress that certain way. Because we live in a male centered world the way women dress is actually geared toward pleasing their (male) senses rather than our own.
When she showed fashion magazines like ‘Cosmopolitan’ which is designed as a magazine for all women, It made me realize just how much this male centered way of thinking has even infiltrated the female thought…making us feel like this is how we should look, and talk, and act. And it’s actually very sad because there are woman who look at all the picture perfect images of these woman and think that is how they ought to be, and if they’re not then they are not the ‘norm’ or you’re unattractive. But all women young old across cultures…strive to look that certain way that’s what we all have been conditioned to think.
And the thing that really shocked me is that like many of the other girls in the class, I’m one of those girls who where the stiletto heels and dress with a light jacket when it’s frigid out! And like sam and lorie said, I too tell myself, no these shoes aren’t that bad and no im not cold at all…when in fact my toes are squished and I’m so cold I can’t feel my face.
And its funny because I have always proudly considered myself a feminist. And even though I think Sam and Lorie made very valid points, I don’t think the way I dress and act has everything to do with men and their “needy penis.” I believe, I can accomplish just as much if not more than any man AND wear a cute pair of heels while I’m at it too. People do whatever ever makes them happy its human nature. And for me personally, I enjoy occasionally going out with my closes friends and dressing up. And yes actually dressing up for myself…I’ve always felt that the most beautiful thing about a woman is her confidence…if she’s is proud and confident in a pair of sweats or a dress it’s all about how it makes her feel. Don’t get me wrong though, I definitely don’t agree with all the false and exaggerated images of woman that are displayed all over magazines and television, what I think is that a woman should do whatever makes her feel the best.
but i'm really happy i was able to hear this lecture..because i don't think I or any other woman should feel like she HAS to look a certain way...as difficult as it may be i think we should all try our best at taking a step back and start doing things for ourselves not for a man.

Overall I thought Lorie and Sam’s presentation was great, but when Lorie brought up the point of how women dress provocatively and uncomfortable while men tend to dress down and comfortable really make me realize just how true her statement really was. The standards for how a woman is dressed is obviously higher than a man’s but I never realized that we’re almost conditioned to think we want to and should dress that certain way. Because we live in a male centered world the way women dress is actually geared toward pleasing their (male) senses rather than our own.

When she showed fashion magazines like ‘Cosmopolitan’ which is designed as a magazine for all women, It made me realize just how much this male centered way of thinking has even infiltrated the female thought…making us feel like this is how we should look, and talk, and act. And it’s actually very sad because there are woman who look at all the picture perfect images of these woman and think that is how they ought to be, and if they’re not then they are not the ‘norm’ or you’re unattractive. But all women young old across cultures…strive to look that certain way that’s what we all have been conditioned to think.

And the thing that really shocked me is that like many of the other girls in the class, I’m one of those girls who where the stiletto heels and dress with a light jacket when it’s frigid out! And like sam and lorie said, I too tell myself, no these shoes aren’t that bad and no im not cold at all…when in fact my toes are squished and I’m so cold I can’t feel my face.

And I have and still do always proudly considered myself a feminist. And even though I think Sam and Lorie made very valid points, I don’t think the way I dress and act has everything to do with men and their “needy penis.” I believe, I can accomplish just as much if not more than any man AND wear a cute pair of heels while I’m at it too. People do whatever ever makes them happy its human nature. And for me personally, I enjoy occasionally going out with my closes friends and dressing up. And yes actually dressing up for myself…I’ve always felt that the most beautiful thing about a woman is her confidence…if she’s is proud and confident in a pair of sweats or a dress it’s all about how it makes her feel. Don’t get me wrong though, I definitely don’t agree with all the false and exaggerated images of woman that are displayed all over magazines and television, what I think is that a woman should do whatever makes her feel the best.
but i'm really happy i was able to hear this lecture..because i don't think I or any other woman should feel like she HAS to look a certain way...as difficult as it may be i think we should all try our best at taking a step back and start doing things for ourselves not for a man.

I personally think that interracial relationships are beautiful. As cliché as it sound I really do believe that love has no color. So when it comes to a relationship I don’t think that the color of a person’s skin should have any issue. That’s why it truly bothers me when I hear men and women saying they would “rather” or “prefer” to say within their own race because its “easier” or you apparently have more in common with someone from the same race. I really disagree with that for several reasons. The first being that it’s really ignorant and sad to think that people from different culture, race, ethnicity don’t have anything in common. We all have more in common then what most think. Also, any relationship can be difficult at times that’s all a part of relationships so if one person is from one race and the other from different race they will probably have difficult and trying times whether they were both from the same race or not.

The world is full of many races, cultures, elasticities, etc. of just amazing and beautiful people so when people limit themselves to only dating within their own race they are only cheating themselves from finding someone really amazing. I have also heard that many people are really hesitant to be in an interracial relationship because they are afraid of any outside scrutiny that they might face. My response to those who are afraid is…don’t let others who have no personal relationship with you or your partner rule what you do. It is your life and your personal relationship so no one else stop you from being with someone who may be just a little bit different then you.

Not that long ago there interracial relationship were illegal, the United states didn’t legalize interracial relationships in all 50 states till 1967, that’s only 44 years ago that’s not a very long time. It astonishes me that not that long ago people of different races were forbidden by law not to marry. Yet years later many people are still hesitant to do so even though they have the right to. I think its unfortunate and sad. But there really are also more interracial relationships then people think though!

My Mother is Arab and has darker skin then my Father who is American; they have had just as many issues as any other married couple. The difference in their coloring has never been an issue. They love each other have been happily married for 30 years.

I personally wouldn’t care what race or culture my significant other is. What matters is that they have a good heart and is respectful and kind. That’s all that should matter too.

When Sam showed the video where the young children were asked to choose which doll they preferred and thought was nicer between the white and black doll, it honestly broke my heart. It demonstrated how these young innocent black and brown kids saw their own skin color as being inferior and not nice. However, it’s really difficult to pin point who or what exactly is to blame for this idea that dark skin is less beautiful then lighter skin because this wrong idea has been a part of social and cultural ideas for a very extensive period of time. It has embedded itself (in some ways obvious and other very much hidden) in people’s perceptions of beauty throughout history and across cultures.

For example, in literature, movies, art, etc. the color white is seen as pure and good, while dark colors are associated with things that are mysterious and evil. Think about Disney, and old fairy tales that you used to hear as a child, there was always a hero and a villain, like a ugly witch garbed in black and a good fairy dressed in white. And the good white fairy always prevails. What may seem like simple little color details actually hold a lot of imagery, which people carry on to real life. So when the kids in the video saw a black and white doll, the symbolism behind the color black and white had an influence on how they looked at the dolls.

These messages of black being bad and white being good also is greatly enforced by our media, and the media holds so much power and influence on how people perceive things around them. Even in the so called progressive and modern age we live in, you rarely see black or brown people as being in the position of protagonist and hero. Especially in cartoons and shows for young adults. I’ve noticed, that most of the nickelodeon and Disney shows have white people in the central role and the black or brown character is usually the best friend. To the young audiences this sends a subliminal message that white is good and better because they are the center of the story.

This is not something that can be solved over night but it is something that deserves more attention than it is given. CNN did a story last year, they had conducted a similar test as the one we saw in class and they came up with similar disturbing results the article said “we are still living in a society where dark things are devalued and white things are valued.” Like anybody who is facing an issue, you first need to admit that you have one. I think we all know that societal and cultural racism is a major issue, and is effecting our youth (the future!) so isn’t it about time we get OVER this ridiculous bias, and instill positive ideas like that black, white, brown, tan, all of the above is equally beautiful and good?!

When discussing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, most tend to think of it as a Manichean clash between the West and East. When in fact there is a lot more to this complex issue between Palestinians and Israelis than most understand, including me. But to be honest not that long ago I used to think I was one of the few who knew exactly what was going on; I would follow the latest news, debate about it in school, sign petitions, but most of all I felt that because I am Arab because I am Muslim, that I had a deeper understanding because I shared a common faith and ethnicity as the Palestinian people so therefore, their pain was my own and their cause was my cause. It wasn’t till I attended the New York City Muslim day parade in 2006, when I discovered something that filled me with new questions about the conflict in Israel/Palestine that had me questioning my own understanding of it. I attended the Parade with my parents we were all happy to be there and enjoy ourselves with fellow Muslims. So to the best of our ability we walked the streets following the decorated floats and tried to ignore the small patches of protesters that held up crude signs and yelled on the edges of the streets. But at one point I let myself look over to the sidewalk at the onlookers and I saw a young woman waving a plain white poster high over her head that said, “I support my Muslim brothers and sisters” and around her neck she wore a necklace with a sliver star of David hanging from it. She was Jewish and she was there supporting me…in that moment I realized all this time I had been obsessed by trying to figure out who was at fault in the debate and thinking I could only support one side without giving any thought to whats best for both sides, which is peace, nothing more nothing less. So instead of looking at the conflict as a Palestinian vs Israeli or Muslim vs Jewish…I needed to look beyond that and in the end we’re all human and as Sam mentioned in class, biologically we are all 99.99% the same. That woman I saw that day was Jewish and she supported me as I should support her…this is not about whether we bow our heads in a synagogue or mosque, because we’re praying for the very same thing.
I guess the what im trying to say is simply taking a side won’t solve the issue. We need to look at this from a human perspective where we all basically want the same things, happiness, and health for our families, etc. so regardless of one’s religious beliefs they all encompass peace, so if you believe in peace then we all basically share the same faith. So we should support each other in achieving peace.

I couldn’t agree more with what he is saying! Especially when he said, as the “educated elite” we have a responsibility to know what is going on in the world, therefore, whipping out the ignorance card and brushing off an important issue by saying, “oh I didn’t know” is simply not an excuse. Now don’t get me wrong…I’m not saying we need to be knowledgeable of every single issue out there, no, what I’m saying is that we should at least have an understanding and a care for what IS going on outside of our comfortable little bubble.

I understand that maybe 50 years ago it might have been a little bit more difficult to know what may be going on around the globe…but not today. Not when we have tools at our exposal such as the internet and newspapers, and cell phones, etc. Today it’s much easier to find out what’s going on, everything is literally just a Google search away. The only thing that’s stopping people from knowing what’s going on in the world is themselves. As sad as it sounds I really believe this to be the truth. They are okay with not knowing about happenings such as “corrective rape” in South Africa, or the increase of LGBT Hate Crimes in America. The only explanation to this situation is that they CHOOSE to be ignorant they CHOOSE to ignore, but why? The only reason I can think of is that knowing about what’s going on in the world around us makes people feel uncomfortable. Like the instances when you’re flicking through the channels because nothing seems to be on and you land on a commercial and you see a child small face living in obvious poverty and a number across the bottom of the screen asking for donations to help the poor. What do you do? You probably get that feeling of discomfort and all you say is “aww” then change the channel and go back to not caring. You know what is happening yet you choose not to give it any attention.

I think the real shame lies in those who are educated, yet choose not to have a care about whats going on in the world. They choose to be ignorant. This topic reminds me of a black eyed peas song that I heard once (when they still used to make good music lol) its called “where is the love”

“People killin', people dyin'
Children hurt and you hear them cryin'
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek”

So whoever said “ignorance is bliss” is an idiot! A person may feel blissful in not knowing about the world but they have to understand that in a way they are not only harming themselves they are also indirectly harming others, others who could use their help.

When I first saw this picture and heard the story, it gave me goose bumps. I thought to myself this is absolutely beautiful and inspiring and why aren’t we hearing more stories like this? I agree that coverage of events such as this are more common than people know, however they are left unheard, because they get put on the back burner in favor of more dramatic and negative stories. And as much as I would like to blame this all on the media there is only so much of that that can be done. Yes, the mainstream media is in part to blame; however, we have to think about who the media is catering to. They are in business to sell news, and what kind of news is the audience (us) obsessed with…negativity. Today watching the news is like watching a car accident on the highway…all the cars slow down to see what’s happened and everything seems to stop and surround around this single horrific event. But if we were to see someone on the side of the rode planting flowers or collecting money for charity (something good) many drivers just keep on going, without even sparing a glace. It’s like what Lorie said in that video, Sam showed us in soc 119. About how in a way people are obsessed with negative stories in the media because it’s human nature to be on the lookout for what’s dangerous in order to always be on guard and survive.
So when I saw this picture and noticed how quickly it went viral and people were interested in such a positive story, made it all the more amazing to me. I was happy to see that the world was opening their eyes to something beautiful. Because as important as it is to be on guard, we don’t need to always fixate our attention onto negative stories in order to survive. Hearing about something in the news that is optimistic is just as important if not more so. Especially in the world we live in today that is so consumed by “I” and “me” it’s important for us to be reminded of our own humanity, and of the good that is still out there if we only take a closer look.
Also, what I really love about this particular story is that it’s a wonderful example of people acting selfless. Those who bravely used their own bodies to protect the innocent protesters while they prayed, weren’t getting anything back by doing so, they just did it because it was simply the right thing to do. I also hope that when people see this picture and hear about his story they see that we’re not all just about hate and war in the Arab world we actually care about our country and we care about our fellow countrymen.

Like many others have expressed, there is no such thing as a single most beautiful race. In fact beauty is really all up to interpretation and people interpret things differently. Therefore, what a man or woman from the Philippines will have a different definition or idea of what a beautiful person looks like, versus someone from Wisconsin. So naming a single race as “beautiful” in my opinion is impossible. Unfortunately, it is a common misconception that there is such a thing as a most beautiful race, and in many cases what people see as beautiful is what is similar or like them. That is way we see cliques, and so many people only hanging out or dating people of their own race…because everybody deep down inside believes that they are the best and so people similar to them are at that same higher standard.

I have personally always felt that mixed race people are absolutely beautiful. And when I say I think mixed race people are beautiful I don’t just mean physically beautiful, I am also talking about what they represent is beautiful. They represent people not caring about these made up notions that only people of one’s own race are most beautiful. They represent two people seeing the beauty in someone different then themselves.

I grew up in a very mixed racial, ethnic, religious, background where for example, seeing a black woman and white man married was a pretty normal. It really wasn’t till I moved to the U.S and lived in Pennsylvania did I notice that it actually wasn’t so common here as I thought it would be. Just take a look at a commercial on t.v for an online dating site like eHarmony or match.com, you mainly see couple of the same race being advertised, this is only just starting to slowly change. Another example would be all the cliques you see on campus. All the Malaysians are together, all the Indians, African-American, Arabs….etc. as diverse as all the Penn state campuses are people will always levitate to people similar to them because they are too afraid to step outside of this comfort zone that they created for themselves.

And to answer his last question of who we personally hang around with most often, for me reflects my own mixed background in many ways. I have always felt most comfortable being around people from various backgrounds, because I really like to talk about culture, politics, history, traditions, etc. Whether someone is of a different or similar background to me never really mattered. No matter how ‘different’ a friend and I may seem we always find similarities and differences between ourselves. And I think it’s those similarities and differences that make love and friendships so beautiful.

Before going into why such inane things like stereotypes are still prevalent in our modern society I think it is important to really understand what exactly a ‘stereotype’ is. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a stereotype is, “a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment.” In other words, instead of looking at people as individuals and judging them based on their character and own actions, some tend to judge by looking at a whole group of people and making assumptions based on what they see from their narrow perspective. The keyword in this is “narrow.” People like to think that there is such a thing as homogeneous societies where everybody is relatively the same, when in fact there isn’t! Especially today we live in a world of multiculturalism where people from various cultures interact and exchange thoughts and ideas, therefore even though someone may be from a similar cultural or social background that does not necessarily mean they think and behave the same way. With this in mind, you can immediately begin to understand why stereotypes make no logical sense and they are undeniably wrong.

Then back to her question, if we know stereotypes are wrong then why do we still have them? Well in my opinion, stereotypes are still so widespread today because ignorant people don’t like feeling ignorant, so they like to fill in the gaps of what they don’t know with generalizations and false information. In many cases these stereotypes are fueled by the mass media. For example, after the events of 9/11, a whirlwind of media reports on Arabs and Muslims began, some accurate news, while others were exaggerated stories. Soon it became difficult to even decipher between reality and fiction. Newspaper headlines included words such as: angry, hateful, radical, oppressive, and extremists. These are just a few of the many negative terms that have been used to describe Arabs and Muslims in the American mass media. The recurring use of such words when referring to Arabs and Muslims in the media made, and in combination with images of violence, creates the impression that all Arabs and Muslims are like the terrorist who committed the atrocities on 9/11. These “impressions” and ideas of what Arabs and Muslims are, are none then stereotypes.

Also, I would like to add that I don’t think people understand just how harmful and dangerous stereotypes actually are. Many seem to think that just because a stereotype isn’t targeting them, that its okay. Its not okay! Whether you are the target of a stereotype or not, its offensive none the less. And sitting back and not saying anything when you hear someone using stereotypes as if they are factual information, then its you’re responsibility as an educated human being to let that person know that they are wrong.