en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/3568352 Comments by glove0812 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/29/voices-from-the-classroom-81/#IDComment231829086 As a Christian, I, like many other followers of other religions, do not condone war. Although not many people are aware of the similarities between various religions, almost all religions have a framework of peace. I challenge anyone to find me an excerpt from the Bible or the Koran dictating others to harm, or torture, or kill others who do not follow their own religion. Of course there are some fanatical followers who use religion to kill others. However, they use religion simply as an excuse for their ulterior motives. Just like any hobby or organization, such as Pokemon or a cult, some people turn fanatical about religion. Unfortunately people who are fanatical about religion have become more violent than the fanatical elementary schoolers who trade Pokemon cards in every spare moment of their time. However, I think that when looking at the war in Afghanistan we must take into account much more than simply religion and worshipping different gods (even if our gods of different religions are much more similar than we want to imagine). The war in Afghanistan has many factors contributing to it, not just religion. However, as we discussed in class, the politics behind our nation’s stakes in oil sources and companies in the Middle East is a huge underlying force in our nation’s decision to invade the Middle East in a war. Although the government used “weapons of mass destruction” as the overlying title and justification, as Sam spoke about in class. Thus, I think it is a very loaded and difficult question to ask if one’s god believes in the war in Afghanistan. I believe former President George W. Bush made a huge mistake when he said that this is a holy war. Not only does this redefine a war based on political measures as a religious war, but it also shifts all emphasis onto religion and has no doubtedly fueled the anti-Islamic sentiment in the United States. It is public statements such as these that move our country backwards to fear religion as we once feared race. Before we can open our eyes and realize that our religions are so similar, we cannot truly discuss if a war is religion-based or approved by our gods. Fri, 2 Dec 2011 21:11:02 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/29/voices-from-the-classroom-81/#IDComment231829086 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/15/voices-from-the-classroom-78/#IDComment227460729 I do not think I can truthfully say there is a single person who has not learned a lesson after this entire Penn State scandal ordeal. From the faculty, to the administration, to the students, it has shaken the very core beliefs on which we form our faith and judgments. I believe the administration has learned the lesson to always investigate every accusation thoroughly, regardless of how much clout the accused might have. After all, if the university had studied Sandusky’s previous allegations more carefully, rather than favoring his large endorsements and reputation that he brought to Penn State, he might never have gained the full power that he had at the peak of the scandal, to abuse boys on Penn State’s facilities. Not only does the administration need to investigate these matters, but they also need to be more specific on the written guidelines of protocol one must follow if a person hears of such an allegation. They must also be more specific about how these guidelines will be enforced. For example, Joe Paterno did everything in his written job description but was still fired based on his failure to his moral obligation. If something along these lines, such as a morale obligation to report everything directly to the state police, had been outlined in Joe’s job description, I think many of the students who had rioted and people who had protested Joe Paterno’s firing would at least be a bit more understanding. As for students, I know at least I have learned to always question figures of authority and to never idolize anyone too much. Although I still have a lot of respect for Joe Paterno, we must always remember that almost no man is perfect. However, I also have had my skepticism in media reinforced. Growing up with a father from London I have always heard him be very skeptic of American media, especially with international affairs. However, this showed me that one must watch plenty of news stations or analyze only the facts that are given, and even in instances such as the Grand Jury Report, witnesses may be lying. Only time and thorough police and federal investigations will begin to shed light on what is true from these instances. In the meantime, we must do our best to try to stay as unprejudiced as possible. It is hard to accept that we will never know all the facts about this scandal. However I am sure that we have not yet hit the bumpiest part of the trip, nor will we anytime in the near future. In the meantime I just hope that our school can strap on a big heavy Band-Aid and work hard to start refurnishing the class to our name. Sat, 26 Nov 2011 03:51:18 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/15/voices-from-the-classroom-78/#IDComment227460729 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/10/voices-from-the-classroom-73/#IDComment220618334 To answer this question we need to look no farther than facebook statuses and twitter tweets. The world without a doubt views The Pennsylvania State University completely differently now. But how can we blame them? Most of us view our own school differently now. As Sam said in class, this has forced us to look inside ourselves and think about what we really stand for and try to figure out how we will proceed from this point forward. I’ve heard way too many insults against Penn State recently. Some that I have heard include, “Ped State” and “State Pen.” And these don’t even begin to describe the cruel and disgusting jokes that people have been posting online. These jokes are not only about Sandusky being a pedophile, but they have ranged everywhere from Joe Paterno to Penn State being just as guilty as the Catholic Church, for covering up children’s sexual abuse scandals. These jokes are just one side of the interpretation that has happened for Penn State, from the outside world. I think many more people have actually taken a bit more time to think about the matter. While many have agreed that Joe Paterno needed to leave the school, others have jumped to conclusions that have absolutely no validation thus far, such as Sandusky pimping out boys to other wealthy donors. While many other witnesses have validated Joe Paterno’s retirement, there as so far been no substantiation on other such rumors. Yet, as in many cases, no proof did not stop the rumors from spreading. Unfortunately it will only be a matter of time (a lot of time) until we will fully know what happened, if we will EVER know all the details. Until then, many outsiders view The Pennsylvania State University as a tarnished establishment, which had many of its top executives cover up a huge sexual abuse scandal. While some might feel compassion for our world around us crumbling, after the symbol of our entire university not only retired, but was then fired in a disgraceful manner, others believe that doing a clean house sweep of all Penn State administration is not enough for the process of revalidation. But I have noticed that they have no further suggestions, other than repeating, “Everyone must go.” Unfortunately, many of these people don’t even want to know what really happened. Regardless of what the future entails for our university (because I am sure it will get worse before it gets better) I hope that all people, both at and outside of Penn State, will wait to take a step back and view all the evidence before passing judgment. This is the only way that our school will be able to move forward successfully. Fri, 11 Nov 2011 23:16:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/10/voices-from-the-classroom-73/#IDComment220618334 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/01/voices-from-the-classroom-20/#IDComment217069025 Even after twenty-one years of life and the discussions we have had in class, I am still amazed by how many Americans want to require that immigrants speak English in our country. My first question is how would this be monitored? Would we require all immigrants to take English classes? Who would teach these classes and how would our government monitor who attends the classes? Teachers in our country are already being paid minimally low wages, in comparison to other jobs, and I believe it would be extremely difficult to locate enough teachers to teach all the immigrants in our country English. Further, when would the immigrants have time to learn English? Although I am fully aware that not all immigrants are employed, many are. And many of these immigrants work much longer, harder hours than we as Americans do. When they are picking fruit and vegetables on farms, in the head, from sunrise to sunset, how will they make the time or have the energy to then sit in class to formally learn an entirely different language? When I think back to my childhood and how much my parents worked, I cannot imagine them trying to attend a class to learn a different language, after coming home from a full work day, cooking dinner, and taking care of me. Secondly, who would classify as an immigrant? Would we require that immigrants from every single country, other than the United States of America, would need to learn English? For some reason it seems as though our country is only focused on despising Mexican immigrants who don’t speak English. My father is an immigrant here. Although he moved here from England almost thirty years ago, he still uses a British dialect, using words such as “loo” (as the toilet), “boot” (in reference to the trunk of a car), “carriage-way” (in reference to a highway). Although Americans might now know what these words mean, they are far from American words. So should my dad have to stop using such words to become more “Americanized”? I think not. Finally, how many Americans move to another country for an extended stay and immediately learn the language, or learn it beforehand? As Sam mentioned in class when he and his wife moved to the Czech Republic they knew zero Czech. Nor did they learn any while there. However, they still successfully lived there and did not detract from the Czech society in any way. I think Americans also need to think about how requiring English to be spoken by immigrants would affect our economy. Like the video we watched in class, Americans don’t seem to realize how positively immigrants affect our economy. If we were to require immigrants learn English, I believe we would have much fewer immigrants here and our entire country would experience the plight that Alabama experienced when they tightened its immigration laws. In conclusion, before Americans make strict laws about immigrants, we need to view all aspects of this area. Sat, 5 Nov 2011 00:46:29 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/01/voices-from-the-classroom-20/#IDComment217069025 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/27/voices-from-the-classroom-54/#IDComment213664237 I believe racism is an extremely broad term to defy. It incorporates not only physical attributes, but also emotional gut feelings. It can house philosophies or stereotypes that have been passed down for generations or it can be initiated immediately after just one, most likely negative, encounter. To me, racism harnesses one’s beliefs about a different race and makes them negative in a way that prohibits that individual from interacting with the other race in a normal fashion – or how they would act around someone of their own race. However, I think that racism is such a touchy and taboo/difficult to discuss topic because people do not want to admit if and when they are racist or act in racist ways. We do not want to believe that we are so shallow that the color of a person’s skin would allow us to treat them in an inferior way. While none of us want to admit that we have unfounded negative feelings towards someone, it is even more difficult to accept the fact that sometimes this can affect our actions. I found it extremely interesting to watch the videos about interactions between different races while in class. Even people who said that they weren’t racist ended up showing different reactions towards people of other races. This proves the belief that racism is innately within many of us. This is one of the main reasons why racism needs to continuously be a topic of modern day conversation – and it needs to be discussed thoroughly in an open discussion, in which people can say exactly how they feel, without the option of offending others. We also need to be able to discuss racism of all types. Racism is not simply between whites and blacks against each other, it includes Asian races, brown races, Native American races. Further, racism extends to religion, while between sexes it has its entirely own name of sexism. To be, these are all intertwined and will all be helped if we discuss even just one aspect of the multi-faceted stone of racism. Although I have never personally been the victim of racism, I have seen it many times. I grew up in a county where 99% of the people were white. Not only are they white, but they are rednecks. Going home even from Penn State, a college in the middle of nowhere, I experience culture shock at how insular some peoples’ minds are. It blows my mind that some white people still think that black people are not as intelligent as whites and that they make such blanket statements as saying that blacks are lazy and don’t deserve anything in this country. Statements like these are the root of racism, and are the first thing that need to be addressed in our battle to an equal, Stage 6 world. Sat, 29 Oct 2011 00:40:21 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/27/voices-from-the-classroom-54/#IDComment213664237 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/20/voices-from-the-classroom-51/#IDComment210757976 I strongly disagree that hanging out with a group of people unlike you makes you a poser. Although some people do stereotype hanging out with people unlike you, such as a tall skinny white kid hanging out with a group of black gangsters, as posers, others simply view it as being culturally diverse. I find it difficult to understand how some people are against people’s racism and dislike people who do not associate with any other races, but will then turn around and call people who do associate with other races posers. Why does hanging out with another race mean you’re posing in an attempt to be another race? I do not believe that it does mean this at all. At least if it does, it means that I am a poser, as at least fifty percent, if not the majority of my friends since coming to college are Asian or Middle Eastern, specifically Indian and Persian. While I am often joked about for being the “token blonde girl” or “token Caucasian” in the group, I feel completely comfortable with all of my brown friends. Further, just because I am hanging out with them does not mean that I am trying to dissociate from my own race, even though Indian food is my favorite type of food and I even went to India Pavilion for lunch with my friends this afternoon. While I embrace their cultures, such as Garba and praying before every meal, I do not wish to forget about my cultures and suddenly adopt theirs. I believe the difference between being a poser and being culturally aware and accepting is that posers want to make others believe they are someone they’re not. This doesn’t necessarily need to be only about race. Someone could be classified as a poser if others might consider a person stupid but he is hanging around smart people… is he just hanging around the smart people because he wants other people to think he is just as smart? Or does he just have fun when he is hanging out with them? Why does someone need to be classified for with whom he or she hangs out? But then again, this thought might be traced back to Benjamin Franklin’s saying, “Those who lie with the dogs rise with fleas.” If people constantly run the risk of being classified as a poser how will we ever reach a point of social equality and complete acceptance? In stage 6 of the race stages people are aware that other races exist but everyone is accepting and comfortable within their own race. This will only happen if we allow each other to act with others of different races/cultures but still respect the person for being aware of his or her own race. In my opinion, calling people posers accomplishes nothing except making that person even more self-conscious and possibly uncomfortable in a multi-racial situation. This will only result in that person moving backwards, farther from Stage 6, further resulting in racial inequality and future problems. Sat, 22 Oct 2011 01:57:36 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/20/voices-from-the-classroom-51/#IDComment210757976 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/13/voices-from-the-classroom-45/#IDComment207688682 There is no doubt in my mind that our race determines the way we look at the world. Not only does our race contribute to this, but so does our ethnicity, including geographical locations and cultural traditions. Coming from an (immediately) all-white family, my experiences have been somewhat narrowed when it comes to different skin colored experiences. I grew up in a rural area and graduated from a high school of about 1000 students, of which maybe five were black – one or two families maximum. Having this is type of schooling was very different from my current school setting, here at Penn State. In high school I had no idea what “ebonics” was, nor did I know much about gangs in existence. I will always remember when my sophomore year of college I was talking with my friend Rachel about where we group up. Because Rachel’s dad is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, her house is literally in Pittsburgh, and is only a couple of streets over from the rough area. I was amazed when she told me that she hears gunshots from her bedroom almost every night when there are shootings in the area. On the other hand, she was left gobsmacked when I told her that the only gunshots I hear are during hunting season. She didn’t believe that people in Pennsylvania actually still hunt in this modern age. Although Rachel and I share the race of white, our different locations of where we spent our childhoods vividly depict the differences in our experiences and norms. Such customs have also shaped people’s portrayals of many other parts of life. For example, in one of my classes a professor asked us to name television sitcom characters who were different races. Although I had never thought about doing this before, I did not view our Hollywood world as at all racist. However, when I started trying to name minority actors and actresses I was quickly realized that the proportions were extremely uneven. I could only name a few handfuls of minority actors while every single television show of which I thought had at least one white family. Even in today’s Modern Family television stereo, in which there is a flamboyantly gay family, ALL the members are white. The most racially diverse the cast gets is to Gloria, who is the sexy younger wife of the older man… talk about playing off stereotypes. However, because I am white and have grown up in an almost totally white neighborhood/area, I was unaware of such discrepancies until they were pointed out to me. Once pointed out to me, however, it was perfectly clear how many errors our society has in place. Because many of us continue to associate only with our particular races, including our geographical comfort, we fail to look outside of our own boxes and in from the windows of other races. Sat, 15 Oct 2011 03:10:28 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/13/voices-from-the-classroom-45/#IDComment207688682 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/02/voices-from-the-classroom-29/#IDComment204570367 I would, without a doubt, let my child choose his or her gender. After taking a human sexuality class last year and this sociology class this year, I feel entirely comfortable talking with people about the differences between gender and sex and I have thought multiple times about how I want to instill this knowledge in my future children, so they don’t wait until college to learn it, as I did. As we discussed in class, sex is determined physically, when one is born. However, gender is a psychological attribute and needs to be treated as such. I see no difference in choosing one’s gender and acting tomboyish or extremely girly. Except however, I think that it is safe to say that people would pay more attention to a little boy wearing a tutu and playing with barbies than they would pay attention to a young girl who loves to play in the mud and get dirty. If one extrapolates this idea, maybe twenty more years down the road, it might explain why our society seems to be more accepting of lesbians than gay men. However, as we discussed in class this may also be caused by our society’s portrayal of lesbians in media – as a way to arouse men by watching lesbians hook up. I view limiting a child’s gender as equivalent to limiting not only that child’s creativity, but also his or her emotional development. While it might seem a bit extreme to compare a child’s gender to freedom of speech, I think allowing a child to express his/her gender is just as important as adults marching in protests in Washington D.C. Not allowing children to express themselves fully causes them to feel emotionally trapped and confused. Regardless of how one dresses on the outside, one can feel differently on the inside. A child who is forced to conform to such stringent constraints will undoubtedly have issues in future life. Restricting one’s gender choice and expression is much different from, say, the establishing a conservative dress code. If we do not allow children to understand who they are and to embrace it, we are destroying the very human species to which we belong. Further, confidence is an issue that we are constantly taught to have… whether it be from our parents or our teachers. What better way to destroy one’s confidence than to not allow one to act how one truly feels? If parents repress their children’s desirable gender, it is only a matter of time before the child comes to term and realizes that he/she must come into his/her own sexuality. Whether this be in college, or high school, or middle school, it will only be tougher with time. Discovering that their parents have repressed their natural instincts can create tension and rebellion that could forever destroy the relationship between children and their parents. Sat, 8 Oct 2011 00:09:16 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/02/voices-from-the-classroom-29/#IDComment204570367 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-26/#IDComment201422196 I believe there is no doubt that stereotyping of different races affects our view of criminals. Although I have always had faith that our justice system is not prejudice, the statistics of arrest and race, that Sam showed in class, made it clear that there are in fact issues within our system that need to be addressed. It was made clear that law enforcement agents have a much higher arrest rate for minorities, even though the majority of drug dealers are white people. Just as many brown or Middle-Eastern travelers get stopped more often in airports and Mexicans are viewed as “lazy,” stereotypes exist throughout any and all races. I also believe that race stereotypes are assumed in the education field. Just as people in the bicycle theft video that we watched in class assumed that the black child was breaking the law by trying to steal the bike, but not white children, I also believe that some educators believe that their black students are going to have lower grades than their white students. This can have an effect and be part of the self-fulfilling prophecy because if teachers expect black students to make mistakes they will be more on the watch to catch them. There are many forms of stereotypes, other than those based on skin color. The “bad woman driver” seems to be a constant joke of many conversations. Others believe that Indians are the slowest drivers on the planet. Although we like to joke about it, being a “dumb blonde” is a common assumption of many of us each day. I found it extremely interesting that in the first session of our recitation group, when we went around the room writing down a common misconception about ourselves, almost half of the girls wrote down, “People think I am a dumb blonde.” Whether others actually believe this or not, many girls think other people view them in this way, which is an issue because it might one day also lead to the self-fulfilling prophecy, about which I learned in social psychology. Another stereotype that many people don’t like to mention or think about is the stereotype that overweight people are less intelligent. I’m not saying that our culture assumes all fat people are dumb, but I do believe there is a correlation between attractiveness (not sexiness) and assumed intelligence. When going into an interview one usually does better if one feels better, and weight has a correlation to this. I believe interviewers should be very carefully about their own, unidentified prejudices. Although I understand that it is almost eerily natural for us to have some innate stereotyping within us, it is imperative that we are aware of it and self-check ourselves to realize how unwarranted the assumptions are and to ensure that we are not acting upon our stereotypes. Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:37:47 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-26/#IDComment201422196 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/20/everyone-respond-to-this/#IDComment197691352 I found the video about Madame Lamour's flower/bouquet business an interesting example of how tailored businesses in Haiti can be. I feel as though some Americans view Haiti as an underdeveloped country and thus think that any businesses that do exist are the most basic, fundamental, need-based organizations. However, this video showed that while some Haitians do struggle to get food at some times, there are people like those in this company who focus on the happier sides of life... making sure that Haitians who are getting married have the best day of their lives - just as Americans work to have their wedding days to be unforgettable. Madame Lamour not only makes bouquets and veils for brides, but she meets with the brides to cater each piece to that individual bride's taste. Sonia's video about the insulated bags also caught my attention because it showed how much businesses in Haiti have expanded. The video explained how Sonia had just finished a contract with a company, selling 3 insulated luggage bags. Her versatility of making small lunch bags to large luggage bags gave her the ability to make contracts for promised income with other companies. This shows not only diversity in product manufacturing, but also initiative in entrepreneurship to further her business by making sustainable connections with other companies. I really enjoyed Figaro's video series becaues the combination of all the videos showed the different aspects of Haitian life. While Figaro takes her boys to school each day and pays for their education, she is also balancing the life of owning her own business and taking care of her ill husband. Additionally it talked about the hardships of having to invest so much time in traveling to get the supplies she needs for her baking. She also told Sam about how she was held up and robbed of everything she had on her at that time. This made me realize how safe and easy Americans have it. Most of us don't worry about being robbed on our way to work. Further, we simply drive five minutes to the grocery store and have everything we need within an hour, or we can click a few butttons and order what we need online. Both of these methods are completely opposite of investing an entire day to buy the supplies to cover only one week of business. I believe Americans, and others, need to focus on these types of issues to be able to brainstorm potentially-viable solutions to socioeconomic problems in Haiti. We need to think out of the box of our lives and out of the box of immediately-fixing solutions. Rather, we need to focus on sustainable solutions. Living in Kenya for a month last summer taught me that to have a true impact, one must always be thinking five steps past the initial solution idea. Ideas must not only be socially acceptable, but probable enough for the locals to continue to work on it to push it to its utmost potential. Fri, 23 Sep 2011 23:01:05 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/20/everyone-respond-to-this/#IDComment197691352 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/13/voices-from-the-classroom-9/#IDComment194218898 I believe that the correlation between SAT scores and income is not at all surprising, but a reflection of just about everything in our society. I’m not saying anything near the sort of phrase that, “Wealthy people are more intelligent than poor people.” Far from it. However, I do believe that people who have enough money to be financially stable place more emphasis on education. Usually families who have more money have parents who went to college and earned higher degrees, and thus understand the value of education. It is usually these parents who instill within their children the understanding and work ethnic needed to be academically successful. In a more materialistic sense, obviously families who have more money also have the ability to pay for extra study preparation courses and even private tutors, specially trained for exams such as the SAT. Along with family income, there are many factors that play a role in correlations with SAT scores. Similar to income is one’s living area. If students are going to school and living in a dangerous city ghetto, where they need to worry about being shot by rival gang members, it is likely that they are going to be more worried about protecting themselves and their families than they would be about studying for a standardized test. While this might be linked to a family’s income level, it isn’t always such a large player. Sometimes wealthy kids also get mixed up in gangs and illegal deals that carry them away from their studies. Another side, that is often a touchy subject, is genetics. Although some parents do not like to hear that their children are disadvantaged, it has been proven in the science world that genetics can have an effect on the ability to learn. Mental retardation is an obvious example of a hindrance, however there are also less common ones. For example, extreme emotional stress as a child can alter one’s brain so that it is less likely to develop into a fully mature brain as an adult and is more likely to develop a neuropsychological disorder. Such triggers can be detrimental to one’s academic career, later in life. However, regardless of all outside or uncontrollable forces, I believe that self-determination is the single most important key to success in anything, including standardized tests. Even if one’s parents did not go to college and do not emphasize education, one can motivate him/herself to stay focused and study hard to do well in school. Similarly, when all is said and done, choosing to do drugs or get involved in such activities is a personal choice, even if this choice may be made easier or harder by one’s environment. The only thing one cannot control is his/her genetics. However, with the debate of nature versus nurture, it is believed that nurture has a lot more to do with one’s development than previously thought. Fri, 16 Sep 2011 20:45:49 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/13/voices-from-the-classroom-9/#IDComment194218898 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/06/voices-from-the-classroom-2/#IDComment191706323 Along with this Soc 119 class, I believe that BBH 446, Human Sexuality as a Health Concern, should be required for all Penn State freshmen. In this biobehavioral class we discussed human gender roles and sexuality in depth. After taking this class, I have no doubts in my mind that people are born with a mental gender identity, even if it differs from their physical appearance. A person might have male genitalia, but mentally feel like a woman, the same way a person can have female genitalia but relate to a man. Similarly, I believe that people are born feeling a certain sexual orientation. I remember having my first crush on a boy in preschool. Before this, I did not say to myself, “Self, I am going to like boys for my life.” No, I didn’t even think about it, but I knew to whom I was attracted. Because of this, I also believe that one chooses sexual orientation even less than I believe that one chooses gender. While one can choose to dress as a female or male, and date men or women, one does not consciously decide which feels better; rather, it is an innate feeling... usually coming naturally after birth. In my BBH class we watched a video on a kindergarten boy who chose to dress as a female. He insisted on wearing skirts and dresses and bright pink sparkly frills; for Halloween he dressed as a princess. Fortunately, his parents were open to accept his love of bright, female clothing and have allowed him to dress as he likes. He still plays basketball with his dad, but chooses to do so while wearing bright pink socks. While some might call this an identity crisis, I disagree, because as Sam mentioned in class, there are many different ways to express masculinity. On a parallel note, not all females choose to wear heels and sparkly outfits or flowery blouses to appear super feminine all the time, so why is there a stereotype that men need to always appear super masculine? And who defines masculinity as only wearing baggy pants and oversized t-shirts? In class we talked about how women view slim, longer noses, rather than short, wider noses, as attractive because man chose to make that type of women the “attractive” women, on the covers of billboards and magazines. I believe that this type of stereotype has also been expressed when it comes to judging masculinity, and gender identity/sexuality. Further, I do not believe that a woman who turns to man, and then dates a woman is a homosexual. A woman, who self-identifies as a man, is heterosexual if he/she is attracted to a woman, because that person identifies as a male. One needs to not pay attention to the physical attributes of a person, but to the mental aspects of one self-gender-identification and sexual orientation, neither of which are chosen, but are determined at birth. Sat, 10 Sep 2011 00:05:02 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/06/voices-from-the-classroom-2/#IDComment191706323 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/08/26/what-do-you-want-to-know-before-its-all-over/#IDComment189177952 Before this class is over I would like to understand if it is possible to truly change someone’s mind about being prejudice, or whether prejudice is something that must die out with the generations. It’s an issue that I constantly debate with myself because of my family. While my mother grew up as one of five children on a farm in rural Pennsylvania, my father grew up during World War II in London. Although he was subject to bombing every night by the Germans in order to embrace only the Aryan race, my dad’s childhood has not prevented him from being prejudice, himself. Perhaps it is because when he grew up the only blacks around his area were known for drug dealing and gangs; or, maybe it's because when he reads his British newspaper online many of the conservative journalists compare the modern day London as the degradation of the London they once knew. Either way, my dad stereotypes black people as drug-dealing law-breakers, even though he loves such people as Wynton Marsalis and Louis Armstrong. While he is nowhere near thinking that schools or businesses should be segregated, his stereotypes against black people and Islamic people is clearly obvious. When I have asked him if he would mind if I marry a black person, he responds saying that it would be unfair to my children because they wouldn't know to which society - white or black - they belong. Although I used to think this was just an excuse, one of my black friends in college told me she had a really time during freshman year, figuring out whether she fit in the white crowd or the black crowd. On the other hand, my mother would not mind if I married a black person, even though her parents would not have allowed her to marry a black man. Although she grew up in a rural area where there were not many blacks, she grew up during the Civil Rights Movement and her parents were very old fashioned. However, somehow while growing up, my mother transformed her taught to not be anti-black. So now I wonder if it is possible to actively change someone's mind about the black/white dividing line or if it is a concept that must simply die out with time, like many parts of history. Fri, 2 Sep 2011 23:49:21 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/08/26/what-do-you-want-to-know-before-its-all-over/#IDComment189177952