Lewis Raney
WGS 201
May 14, 2015
This class has been more than an average class. When we enroll in a college course we assume we will learn things. We will learn the things that will get us to the goal of the degree of our choice. This is how I approached classes. I enrolled in this class to help fulfill the my Miami plan. Specifically, I enrolled because it was an option to help fulfill the my Miami plan, and my wife thought it would help open my eyes to the other side of the argument. As much as I want to say I have always been a fair, open minded man, I can’t say that and be honest. To an extent I was open minded, but I was raised that women are inferior, not by their choice but because they are women. This caused me to have some views that I didn’t realize I had. My wife would point out through the course of our marriage that I valued a man’s opinion over hers. I continued to argue that it wasn’t true. This class not only made me realize it was true, but how some other things were true, that I didn’t realize.
The most enlightening experience was my meeting Carla (name changed to protect identity). In our textbook readings it stated, “…transgender also overlaps with cross-dressing, the practice of wearing the clothes of the opposite sex, or the sex different from that to which a person was assigned in childhood,” (Shaw Pg. 121). I will admit that I had limited knowledge of trans genders or the obstacles they face. Even when I read this I wondered, if a transgender person is someone who identified with the opposite sex as they were given at birth, is it really considered cross-dressing? I did some of my own research, as this point confused me. I understand technically the book is saying cross-dressing is wearing clothes that are physically the opposite of someone’s physical sex, but this made me wonder if these identifications is part of the problem? On the website newscientist.com they reported a study done in Spain at the National University of Distance Learning. In this study, they researched the areas of white matter in the brain, and found female-to-male had masculinized areas of the brain. From male-to- female it was in-between, but still caused the individual to identify as female. "Research has shown that white matter matures during the first 20 to 30 years of life," he says. "People may experience early or late onset of transsexuality and we don't know what causes this difference,” (newscientist). Armed with this new information to me, I was able to meet Carla.
I think when we first met, she was as nervous as I was. I assured her, her identity would be protected and I am doing my own independent research, to help me, and maybe help others. The first thing she wanted to know was what do I think I know. I told her what sparked this journey, and the study I found on trans genders and the effect it has on the white matter of the brain, and the media is not consistent with this information. I can only assume once she trusted that I just wanted to understand better, and I wasn’t going to make her life harder she opened up and told me what it was like to have her life, and how other people treat her. She has been refused service at smaller shops, people have called her names, thrown things at her, and then she asked me if I knew what the worst part was. Of course I didn’t, but even now what she said haunts me, as a conscience ghost. She said, “And not one of them knew my heart,” With that statement, my whole view of life changed. I asked her what was in her heart, as it was important, but seemed more important to her, than most people I come across. It was one word, but sometimes one word can be more powerful than the most articulated speech. She said, “Forgiveness.” That let me be more open to new information and experiences that I may have avoided before.
The next thing that really struck me was the textbook defining family. “In the United States, there is no “normal” family…..” (Shaw Pg. 434) This reading was in the same module as the video The Biology of Dads. A long time ago I believed family was blood. My wife who is different in the way she views things disagreed. I was shocked, but then she made a point I hadn’t thought about. If we were to find out that who we thought was a blood relation was in fact not, would we lose that attachment we felt before we found out? Of course we wouldn’t, family is built off choice and emotion. The book proves this fact when it addressed lesbians as parents. There would be no way for a lesbian couple to both be genetic donors for a child/ren however it doesn’t affect their parenting abilities or causes them to be predisposition for psychological disorders. “Research indicates that there is no difference in the development or frequency of pathologies between children of heterosexual parents and children of homosexual parents,” (Shaw Pg. 436) This showed that I wasn’t wrong on how I view families are actually built.
In the video, The Biology of Dads, it addressed how testosterone levels are affected based off the relationship type a man is involved with. Years ago I had blood work done to check my testosterone levels. When I got my results, my doctor gave me my number and then explained there was a normal range and my number was in that range. Until the video I never knew why there was a range, assuming it’s just because everyone is different. To find out the highest testosterone levels are in single childless men, was surprising. The video said then after marriage it drops, and once a child is born it drops even further. Then it addressed, how a fetus reacts to a mother’s voice then a father’s voice. In the test they did in the video, the fetus had more reaction based off the heartrate with the Dad’s voice, than with the mother’s voice.
I had always believed that a Dad’s role in his child’s life is of vital importance. This view is constantly challenged by my mother. My biological father was abusive and played no role in positive interaction. I was completely dependent on my mother and grandmother until I was 12 years old for positive influences and I felt the effects. My mother then remarried and he is sexist. So I lacked a positive male role model in my childhood. This caused me to be timid in approaching new things. This video addresses how the father’s role encourage competitiveness and to try new things. While I lacked that in my childhood, I experience that every day in my home life now.
My wife and I have a somewhat different view on what our kids are safe to try and what they are not safe to try. My wife is more protective and I encourage them to try new things. Our oldest son is 12 years old, and my wife still didn’t want him to move a stack of wood, because he might get a splinter. She doesn’t want them running on concrete because they might fall. Last year we had to have a discussion about them baiting their own hook when we fish. She by her own admission was eight years old when she started baiting her hook at the encouragement of her grandfather. I wanted our oldest two to try and bait their own hook under supervision. This shows the difference between the mother and father roles, and the video addresses that. The video addresses the science behind it, which I was unaware of. I knew I experience this in my family, but to know it’s a natural thing that happens in our bodies was extremely interesting.
One of the concerns I have had since my daughter was born, was society’s view of what beauty is. I worried because it’s unrealistic. The top models in the world are air brushed or covered in makeup, to hide what we consider imperfections. I didn’t want her to view herself as something that has to be corrected or hidden. “In contemporary U.S. society we are surrounded by images of “beautiful,” thin (although fit, sculpted, and large breasted), young, abled, smiling women,” (Shaw Pg. 188). I want her to be seen for who she is, flaws and all, not because of what she could be, with the right makeup. In the video Miss Representation it is brought up that the media is derogatory to the most powerful women in the world and Dr. Condoleezza Rice PhD makes a great point, “That’s a loss for the world.” It is a loss when a woman has to explain why her belly might be a little distended. There are many reasons for that, but women in the spotlight have to defend against pregnancy rumors. As in the video Jessica Simpson did after a performance wearing her Daisy Dukes shorts, and her stomach appeared slightly distended. Her publicist had to explain to celebTV reports of an “unflattering belly bulge” that she was not pregnant. The video was awful that the media portrays women the way they do. They are constantly on the defensive about pregnancies, plastic surgery, and imperfections. This caused me to look more closely at how females are treated by society.
I had noticed after this module that most female actresses are asked in interviews about what they are wearing, or their makeup and hair color. Where their male counterparts are asked about their skills and hardships they faced portraying a character. Then I watched an interview where they flipped it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9sEkdJrIRM . In this video the interviewer for Cosmopolitan UK flips the sexist questions and asks Mark Ruffalo about what he will be wearing, where Scarlett Johansson is asked more about the hardships of playing Black Widow. I do think the fight for equality has a long way to go, but I think people are starting to fight back.
This class has opened my eyes to several topics I had previously been blind to. I am more aware of how individuals who are considered different are portrayed in the media, and how people chose to treat them. While I never participated in anything to treat someone negatively, I never took the time to further educate myself either, until now. While I could probably write another 2,000 words on what I learned in this class, what I learned most was to see people for who they are and not what they are. It opened my eyes to some of the injustices in the world.
While most, and I was one of them, people think most injustices are overseas and we here stateside suffer very few. That is simply not true. We suffer injustices here just some are the same as overseas, and some are different. We tell our children not to judge people. My wife will even intentionally embarrass our kids and now I do it, although I think she has them understanding it enough I don’t get to do it often. If they say something that is judgmental about another person, she will yell out, “Judgie!!” That got their attention real quick. After this class and seeing a lot about how people judge, especially the media, it makes me think we should have someone following them around yelling “Judgie!!” when they decide to judge a person.
I learned some of the most brilliant minds in the world never get the recognition because they are women. Tawakkol Karman won the Nobel peace prize for her work on non-violent struggle for women’s rights. (Karman nobelprize) Françoise Barré-Sinoussi 2008 Nobel Prize for the discovery of the enzyme that is linked to HIV. (Barré-Sinoussi nobelprize). This is just a few of the women that the average person doesn’t know who they are or what they have done for the good of the world. However, if they were men, would they be known? In the time of societal evolution, it is time to see people for who they are and what they are. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?” (womenshistory). I think after this class I can answer her question. Our consciences will grow one person at a time for a reason that is unique to us. With one shifting mind, it will grow to two, and it catch like fire. Then we will be the society that decides what is the way of the world will be, and it will be different.
Works Cited
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20032-transsexual-differences-caught-on-brain-scan.html#.VVSmM_lViko accessed April 24, 2015
Shaw, Susan M, and Janet Lee. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009. Print.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9sEkdJrIRM
"Tawakkol Karman - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 11 May 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2011/karman-facts.html
"Françoise Barré-Sinoussi - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 11 May 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2008/barre-sinoussi-facts.html
http://womenshistory.about.com/cs/quotes/a/qu_e_roosevelt.htm accessed May 13, 2015.
WGS 201
May 14, 2015
This class has been more than an average class. When we enroll in a college course we assume we will learn things. We will learn the things that will get us to the goal of the degree of our choice. This is how I approached classes. I enrolled in this class to help fulfill the my Miami plan. Specifically, I enrolled because it was an option to help fulfill the my Miami plan, and my wife thought it would help open my eyes to the other side of the argument. As much as I want to say I have always been a fair, open minded man, I can’t say that and be honest. To an extent I was open minded, but I was raised that women are inferior, not by their choice but because they are women. This caused me to have some views that I didn’t realize I had. My wife would point out through the course of our marriage that I valued a man’s opinion over hers. I continued to argue that it wasn’t true. This class not only made me realize it was true, but how some other things were true, that I didn’t realize.
The most enlightening experience was my meeting Carla (name changed to protect identity). In our textbook readings it stated, “…transgender also overlaps with cross-dressing, the practice of wearing the clothes of the opposite sex, or the sex different from that to which a person was assigned in childhood,” (Shaw Pg. 121). I will admit that I had limited knowledge of trans genders or the obstacles they face. Even when I read this I wondered, if a transgender person is someone who identified with the opposite sex as they were given at birth, is it really considered cross-dressing? I did some of my own research, as this point confused me. I understand technically the book is saying cross-dressing is wearing clothes that are physically the opposite of someone’s physical sex, but this made me wonder if these identifications is part of the problem? On the website newscientist.com they reported a study done in Spain at the National University of Distance Learning. In this study, they researched the areas of white matter in the brain, and found female-to-male had masculinized areas of the brain. From male-to- female it was in-between, but still caused the individual to identify as female. "Research has shown that white matter matures during the first 20 to 30 years of life," he says. "People may experience early or late onset of transsexuality and we don't know what causes this difference,” (newscientist). Armed with this new information to me, I was able to meet Carla.
I think when we first met, she was as nervous as I was. I assured her, her identity would be protected and I am doing my own independent research, to help me, and maybe help others. The first thing she wanted to know was what do I think I know. I told her what sparked this journey, and the study I found on trans genders and the effect it has on the white matter of the brain, and the media is not consistent with this information. I can only assume once she trusted that I just wanted to understand better, and I wasn’t going to make her life harder she opened up and told me what it was like to have her life, and how other people treat her. She has been refused service at smaller shops, people have called her names, thrown things at her, and then she asked me if I knew what the worst part was. Of course I didn’t, but even now what she said haunts me, as a conscience ghost. She said, “And not one of them knew my heart,” With that statement, my whole view of life changed. I asked her what was in her heart, as it was important, but seemed more important to her, than most people I come across. It was one word, but sometimes one word can be more powerful than the most articulated speech. She said, “Forgiveness.” That let me be more open to new information and experiences that I may have avoided before.
The next thing that really struck me was the textbook defining family. “In the United States, there is no “normal” family…..” (Shaw Pg. 434) This reading was in the same module as the video The Biology of Dads. A long time ago I believed family was blood. My wife who is different in the way she views things disagreed. I was shocked, but then she made a point I hadn’t thought about. If we were to find out that who we thought was a blood relation was in fact not, would we lose that attachment we felt before we found out? Of course we wouldn’t, family is built off choice and emotion. The book proves this fact when it addressed lesbians as parents. There would be no way for a lesbian couple to both be genetic donors for a child/ren however it doesn’t affect their parenting abilities or causes them to be predisposition for psychological disorders. “Research indicates that there is no difference in the development or frequency of pathologies between children of heterosexual parents and children of homosexual parents,” (Shaw Pg. 436) This showed that I wasn’t wrong on how I view families are actually built.
In the video, The Biology of Dads, it addressed how testosterone levels are affected based off the relationship type a man is involved with. Years ago I had blood work done to check my testosterone levels. When I got my results, my doctor gave me my number and then explained there was a normal range and my number was in that range. Until the video I never knew why there was a range, assuming it’s just because everyone is different. To find out the highest testosterone levels are in single childless men, was surprising. The video said then after marriage it drops, and once a child is born it drops even further. Then it addressed, how a fetus reacts to a mother’s voice then a father’s voice. In the test they did in the video, the fetus had more reaction based off the heartrate with the Dad’s voice, than with the mother’s voice.
I had always believed that a Dad’s role in his child’s life is of vital importance. This view is constantly challenged by my mother. My biological father was abusive and played no role in positive interaction. I was completely dependent on my mother and grandmother until I was 12 years old for positive influences and I felt the effects. My mother then remarried and he is sexist. So I lacked a positive male role model in my childhood. This caused me to be timid in approaching new things. This video addresses how the father’s role encourage competitiveness and to try new things. While I lacked that in my childhood, I experience that every day in my home life now.
My wife and I have a somewhat different view on what our kids are safe to try and what they are not safe to try. My wife is more protective and I encourage them to try new things. Our oldest son is 12 years old, and my wife still didn’t want him to move a stack of wood, because he might get a splinter. She doesn’t want them running on concrete because they might fall. Last year we had to have a discussion about them baiting their own hook when we fish. She by her own admission was eight years old when she started baiting her hook at the encouragement of her grandfather. I wanted our oldest two to try and bait their own hook under supervision. This shows the difference between the mother and father roles, and the video addresses that. The video addresses the science behind it, which I was unaware of. I knew I experience this in my family, but to know it’s a natural thing that happens in our bodies was extremely interesting.
One of the concerns I have had since my daughter was born, was society’s view of what beauty is. I worried because it’s unrealistic. The top models in the world are air brushed or covered in makeup, to hide what we consider imperfections. I didn’t want her to view herself as something that has to be corrected or hidden. “In contemporary U.S. society we are surrounded by images of “beautiful,” thin (although fit, sculpted, and large breasted), young, abled, smiling women,” (Shaw Pg. 188). I want her to be seen for who she is, flaws and all, not because of what she could be, with the right makeup. In the video Miss Representation it is brought up that the media is derogatory to the most powerful women in the world and Dr. Condoleezza Rice PhD makes a great point, “That’s a loss for the world.” It is a loss when a woman has to explain why her belly might be a little distended. There are many reasons for that, but women in the spotlight have to defend against pregnancy rumors. As in the video Jessica Simpson did after a performance wearing her Daisy Dukes shorts, and her stomach appeared slightly distended. Her publicist had to explain to celebTV reports of an “unflattering belly bulge” that she was not pregnant. The video was awful that the media portrays women the way they do. They are constantly on the defensive about pregnancies, plastic surgery, and imperfections. This caused me to look more closely at how females are treated by society.
I had noticed after this module that most female actresses are asked in interviews about what they are wearing, or their makeup and hair color. Where their male counterparts are asked about their skills and hardships they faced portraying a character. Then I watched an interview where they flipped it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9sEkdJrIRM . In this video the interviewer for Cosmopolitan UK flips the sexist questions and asks Mark Ruffalo about what he will be wearing, where Scarlett Johansson is asked more about the hardships of playing Black Widow. I do think the fight for equality has a long way to go, but I think people are starting to fight back.
This class has opened my eyes to several topics I had previously been blind to. I am more aware of how individuals who are considered different are portrayed in the media, and how people chose to treat them. While I never participated in anything to treat someone negatively, I never took the time to further educate myself either, until now. While I could probably write another 2,000 words on what I learned in this class, what I learned most was to see people for who they are and not what they are. It opened my eyes to some of the injustices in the world.
While most, and I was one of them, people think most injustices are overseas and we here stateside suffer very few. That is simply not true. We suffer injustices here just some are the same as overseas, and some are different. We tell our children not to judge people. My wife will even intentionally embarrass our kids and now I do it, although I think she has them understanding it enough I don’t get to do it often. If they say something that is judgmental about another person, she will yell out, “Judgie!!” That got their attention real quick. After this class and seeing a lot about how people judge, especially the media, it makes me think we should have someone following them around yelling “Judgie!!” when they decide to judge a person.
I learned some of the most brilliant minds in the world never get the recognition because they are women. Tawakkol Karman won the Nobel peace prize for her work on non-violent struggle for women’s rights. (Karman nobelprize) Françoise Barré-Sinoussi 2008 Nobel Prize for the discovery of the enzyme that is linked to HIV. (Barré-Sinoussi nobelprize). This is just a few of the women that the average person doesn’t know who they are or what they have done for the good of the world. However, if they were men, would they be known? In the time of societal evolution, it is time to see people for who they are and what they are. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?” (womenshistory). I think after this class I can answer her question. Our consciences will grow one person at a time for a reason that is unique to us. With one shifting mind, it will grow to two, and it catch like fire. Then we will be the society that decides what is the way of the world will be, and it will be different.
Works Cited
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20032-transsexual-differences-caught-on-brain-scan.html#.VVSmM_lViko accessed April 24, 2015
Shaw, Susan M, and Janet Lee. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009. Print.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9sEkdJrIRM
"Tawakkol Karman - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 11 May 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2011/karman-facts.html
"Françoise Barré-Sinoussi - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 11 May 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2008/barre-sinoussi-facts.html
http://womenshistory.about.com/cs/quotes/a/qu_e_roosevelt.htm accessed May 13, 2015.