When Sam told us how prevalent sexual abuse is now a days i wasnt as shocked as some of my classmates. Not that i know anyone personally who has been abused but i knew that there was a lot more abuse out there that we knew of. I was shocked when Sam said that most likely someone in your has been abused that you dont know about. To think that someone in my family could be someone who was abused or someone who abused someone is frightening. Even though i know that sexual abuse is more common than we think im not so sure if i believe sam when he says that there is someone in your family that has been sexually abused. Its hard for me to look at my family and think someone has sexual abused someone. Most abuse cases happen with someone that you know, usually family. I honestly cant see how someone in every family has been abused, because that is a lot of people. Also, i dont think as your family gets bigger the more risk there is that someone will be abused. It doesnt matter how big or small a family is, it matters who the person is. if a person is going to abuse someone in there family they are going to do it no matter the size of the family. on thing That really gets me is That someones own family member could abuse them. I dont understand how someone can think that that is okay and that there is nothing wrong with that. And its even more sickening how many times kids come out about there abuse and some people dont listen to them. An example is the girl at the candlelight vigil and how she went to the police officer and he didnt believe her. We need to bring the issue of sexual abuse out to the public more. People need to be more aware of how prevalent this really is and there need to be outlets that abused children and even adults can go to so they can tell someone what is going on and get the help that they are looking for without being afraid.

It is a shame how the rest of the country can let the acts of one man now define an entire university. People use to hear the name Penn State and so many good images would run through there head: a good school with good academics, Joe Paterno, the best student section in the world. And now when people hear Penn State they shake there heads in disgrace. Students from other schools who really do not know much about the Sandusky scandal are making jokes about our school saying we are pedophile state university and the joke about how a cougar is a older woman who rapes younger boys but a older man who rapes younger boys is a nittany lion. And students from others school are saying how they are so happy to say they are not a Penn State student and how Penn State students should be ashamed of themselves. Do people realize that one man, ONE MAN, molested those children? When all of that was going on the current students here were like 9 years old. Us students have done no wrong. Why are we getting punished for what one man did and what a few man didnt do? And then, people are saying that we support child molestation because of how we reacted to Joe Paterno being fired. Yes, majority of the students and even faculty at this school do realize that Joe Paterno could have done more, but he did legally what he was suppose to. He did not deserve to be fired. That man has done so much for that school for the past 61 years. He is an icon to many and did not deserve to be the scapegoat for all of this. And that is why so many students here were so upset. So to everyone out there saying we accept child molestation, we dont. Joe Paterno wasnt the one raping little boys and he did legally what he was suppose to do. We as a school came together to show our support for the coach that we love and the school that means so much to all of us. Yes, the riots should not have gotten to be the way they were because vandalizing our own town is not going to do anything, but that doesnt mean that us penn staters are this terrible people who should be ashamed of themselves. People in the country need to stop associating the acts of 42,000 people to the acts of one man. Because we students have done NOTHING to deserve the scrutiny that we are getting from the media and the rest of the nation. We are just showing our support for the school that we all love.

If I was the owner of a business I would not hire illegal immigrants. I am not a supporter of illegal immigration so I do not support hiring them. I understand that people come to the US to have a better life but I do not understand why they cant come into this country legally. If they legally come into the country than I would be more than willing to hire them. It is not fair to take jobs away from actually US citizens. I know that business owners hire illegals because they will do work for cheap, but still, I would hire a US citizen over an illegal anytime. I feel that illegal immigrants take jobs away from Americans. Yes, the jobs that illegal immigrants are usually jobs that Americans ourselves wont do because we feel that they are embarrasing, but still American are US citizens and they should get priority over those whose are not citizens. I know that it may sounds harsh, but it is true.

I think that we should help the native people reestablish what they have lost. I don’t think that we should give the land that had been taken though. It is not this generations fault or the many generations before us fault that the land was taken. So to ask the people of todays generation to give back the land that they now live on isn’t right. I don’t think that it is there responsibility to give up there land because of something there ancestors did many years ago. I do think that helping the native reestablish what they have lost is okay though. We can help them better the lands that they have been given and we can help better there living conditions. We can do this by giving them money or by going in and fixing there reservations. I think that by doing that we show that we do feel remorse for what was done to the natives by our ancestors but we aren’t punishing the people of today by making them give up there land that they have rightfully owned for years.

I was always a real believer of freedom in the freedom vs. determinism debate. I always felt that people end up where they are or are put in certain situations because they did things and chose certain paths that lead them to that point. But after watching the video about Abby and Brittany my viewpoint is different. Abby and Brittany definitely did not choose to live like that, I don’t think anyone would. Other factors beyond their control lead them to that lifestyle. There mother had the free will to either try and separate the girls so they could each live in their own body, or chose to keep them conjoined. They were determined to live that way. These two girls cannot live without each other. Yes, they have free will in their choices, but they somewhat don’t because they have to make choices that will be best for both of them. And they cannot do one thing without the other. They cant eat, get dressed, do there hair without the help of the other one. But they are dealing with the situation that they were given the best that they can. It seems like they do not let it affect them or bother them that they are different then anyone else. I know there must be certain things that they have concerns about, like dating, but they seem like they handle it very well. They make a free choice to accept what happened to them and to not let it get them down. They use the fact that they are two people in one body in a very effective way. They make the best of there situation. I am really glad that I watched this video because, like I said I always thought people were where they are because of free will. I didn’t believe in the idea that some outside factor put someone where they are. I always felt like well if one person can work hard and make money then why cant that homeless person over there not do the same thing. But after this video I see that outside factors beyond ones control really does affect ones live and choices they make.

I think that it is unfair that there is so much more pressure put on girls to look “sexy” and good when they go out and guys can look however they want. You see that on campus here on the weekends all the time. The guys go out to parties wearing jeans and a tshirt, but if girls wore that that wouldn’t be acceptable. Girls have to go out in short skirts and dresses and high heels in order to look good and get in to parties and have guys talk to her. If a girl were to go out to a party in jeans and a tshirt, she wouldn’t get into very frat houses and I hardly doubt many guys would give her any attention. Media puts a lot of the pressure on girls to look a certain way. The media pretty much tells girls that this is the way to look and any other way is unacceptable. Media also tells girls that if they want to get the attention of guys then they also have to look a certain way. And guys themselves don’t do much to make girls feel that they don’t have to dress like that to be accepted. A lot of guys like when girls dress, for lack of better words, slutty. But they don’t realize many girls don’t like dressing like that.
I think that girls should be able to wear whatever they want just like guys without getting criticized. If girls have to get all dressed up to get the attention of guys then guys should have to do the same, and if guys don’t have to get all dressed up then neither should girls. The guidelines for the way girls need to look is a lot stricter and it isn’t right.

Being white, there really are not any stereotypes that I do not believe in because it is really hard to think of stereotypes against white people. But it is a lot easier to think of stereotypes against people of other races.
One stereotype that I do not believe in is that black people commit more crime than white people. We talked about this in my discussion group. In class last week, we watched the video of the white kid and the black kid stealing the bike and how more people called the police on the black kid. Everybody commits crime, not just black people, especially black males. There are just as many white males that commit crime as black males, it is just society is a lot more lenient on whites. The media is a main reason for why people believe in this. Media portray blacks as criminals, so people start to associate those images they see on tv to real life. I remember in my sociology class in high school my teacher was telling us how when people are giving the reports of robberies most people just automatically say a black male even if the race is not known. I do not believe this stereotype at all because I know that there are just as many white or Hispanic people who commit crime as there are blacks.
Another stereotype that I do not believe in anymore after todays class is that blacks and Hispanics are more likely to do drugs and to deal drugs than whites. Most people think many black people are drug dealers but that is not actually true. In class we did a survey and it turned out that a lot more white people actually use drugs than black people, and Hispanics are in the middle of blacks and whites.
Another stereotype that I don’t believe in is that all Muslims are terrorists. After 9-11, this became a big deal. People started believing that if you were Muslim than you were a terrorist and people would start to treat you unfairly. It is not right to label all Muslims as terrorists based off a group of peoples actions. I would hear stories about people who were Muslim but they would hide that fact because they did not want people to find out and pretty much treat them as outcasts. I feel that as time has passed since 9-11 people has started to back down on this stereotype, but there are still people out there who truly believe in this. People need to start putting themselves in other peoples shoes and see what it is like to be stereotyped and mistreated because of something that is out of there control.

The first video that I watched was Anaes Blaise video. Anaes owns a business where she makes handbags. I read under the video that she only employs about five people and works with local artists to make the bags. In one of the responding videos she said that she doesn’t make the profit that she should because some of the local people think that her bags are expensive. When she has said the prices of the bags I also felt that they were a little pricey for the area that she was selling them in, because I know Haiti is considered poor. I feel that people don’t have $45 dollars to spend on a bag. I feel that they need that money for food and other resources like that. It is a shame though that she isn’t making profit because she does have a talent when it comes to bag making. I feel if she sold those bags here in the US she wouldn’t have a problem making profit because of our economy.
The second video that I watched was Meet Manouchka. Manouchka had a business where she makes picture frames, bracelets, hair clips, and woman’s hair products. I was really impressed with this video and how talented this woman is. The video showed off some of her products and showed her making a picture frame. It was really impressive because all of the frames and products that she makes are orders that people have given to her. It said that she started off this business by herself and now has two employees, so its nice to see how her business is a success and how shes really making something of herself and of her talent. She said that she wants to move into an actually workspace. I feel like that could be accomplished if more people knew about her products, because if more people knew about her products they would buy them and she would be making a bigger profit allowing her to move into a bigger space. I feel if she were to advertise her products to people in other places besides Haiti, she would definitely get a lot of feed back and a lot of business.
The third video I watched is Meet Suze. Suze has a business that produces and sells candied peanuts. Suze and her three other employees work to make these. She also collaborates with two other women who make jelly and peanut butter. She had said that her vision is to someday sell there products in schools to school children, but she doesn’t know how she is going to be able to do that because schools in Haiti don’t have cafeterias. I really like the business that she runs because she said that families have to pay to send there children to school and that leave families with very little money to feed there children. Her business allows for kids to have lunches while at school.
I really was impressed with all three of the woman and there business ideas. They are all very talents and really have something going for them and they are doing things to help the people of Haiti and to help the community. I think everybody she watch some of these videos and see how hard it is for people in other countries and make something of themselves and their talents.

Even though I feel like you can choose to express your gender however you like, I do not feel that we choose our sexual orientation. There are girls out there who choose to express their gender in a more masculine way than other, like by playing many sports and dressing in more baggy clothing, but that does not make them a lesbian. And there are some guys out there who are more feminine than other guys, but that does not necessarily make them gay. And there are some gay guys out there who are more masculine that some straight guys. I feel like we do not just wake up one day and choose to either be straight or gay. I think you are born attracted to a certain sex, but even though you do not have the ability to choose your sexual orientation, everyone has the ability to choose how they express their gender.

In class today Sam told us that we have very little freedom in choosing our gender. If you are a boy than you are pressured to do things that will show your masculinity and if you are a girl you are pressured to do things that will show your femininity. I disagree with this. I feel that we have a lot of freedom in choosing our gender. There are certain things that are considered more for men and things that are considered more for women, but that does not mean that those things are solely for men and women. Like dance for instance. Dance is looked at as more of a thing that girls do, but there are some boys out there that choose to take dance lessons instead of playing sports. We are all free to choose to express our gender however we like. Sometimes you will face ridicule for choosing to go against gender norms, but you still have the freedom to express your gender.