Tough Guise & Understanding Sexual Orientation

Tough Guise

The documentary examined masculinity in the United States culture and the media and how it affects people's opinions and behaviors, especially for males. The mold of what makes a real man is causing males to be violent and emotionally closed off. Men tend to believe that masculinity equals invulnerability and this could cause covert depression. Men tend to be more violent against other man than women. Its more outrageous when women commit violent crimes then when men do. Masculinity affects minority men in a different way because they feel life it is all they have to survive and seem powerful. The concern is that masculinity is inflicting negative traits on society, especially males. The hope is that males will be able to see that its ok to express their emotions and to be human. I feel like masculinity is a problem in our society. Many of the boys i know rarely show emotion when they are sad or hurt. In fact, a lot of the guys I know seem uneasy when they see someone crying.
Important Points From the Video:

The Video identifies several cultural developments in the past 30 years that are in part responsible for the current levels of date rape, domestic violence and school shootings.

The wizzard of Oz is cited as a metaphor of how men wear a mask that is disguise of being tough, a tough guise. 

• Katz asked young men what it mean to be male and got replies like, strong, physical, independent, in control, powerful, athletic, and tough.
• Media are crucial to constraining men to seeing violent masculinity as the cultural norm, there is a growing connection in society between being a man and being violent.
• 85% of murders are by men, 95% domestic violence are by men, and 99% of rapes in prison are by man.
• The invisibility of masculinity is played out, media say it is "Kids Killing Kids" not that it is boys killing boys and girls, not girls doing the killing, and so must be tied to masculinity. 
• Katz says that what needs to be visible its how violent masculinity is visible is the first step to seeing how it operates in the culture.
• The video explores the construction of violent masculinity and the connection to violence and suggest some answers.
• Some of the possible solutions that Katz mentions is that we must change the "Cultural Environment" so to being men must have the "Courage" to work with women and speak out. They need to see a more honest portrayal of male vulnerability. Girls and women must show they value men who reject the tough guise.

My Opinion of the Video:

I feel that it is important for films such as Tough Guise to be shown in all schools around the country to enlighten those who may not see the critical and immediate danger that is facing our society when it comes to violence. By allowing an up close to look at issues that affect each of us we can move closer to being rid of violent attacks upon those who are in educational environments.

My Overall reaction to the video propels me to look deeper into the problems that are facing our schools and students in to making a positive move towards making changes. By viewing this video we dont have to take a back seat to the events and crimes that may affect our immediate communities. We lean to be ready to identify threats so that we can better address problems and issues with those around us. People can learn about violence for all racial backgrounds. I think that by showing violent behavior to be a multicultural and national epidemic that it takes the horrible deed of violence off the race of people and places it where it belongs with the individual who practices bad behavior.

Understanding Sexual Orientation

The article explains the three commonly recognized aspects of sexual orientation which are

• Heterosexuality (sexual attraction to people of the opposite gender)
• Bisexuality (sexual attraction to people of both the male and female gender)
• Homosexuality (sexual attraction to members of the same gender).

Sexual orientation differs from sexual behavior in that it involves an individual's feelings and perception of their own sexuality. On the other hand, sexual behavior or the act of sex may or may not express an individual's feelings or self concept. The author implies in the article that either heterosexual or homosexual is implied from the time of birth and that there is little chance for one to change their pattern in the course of their lifetime.

Race Matters By: Cornel West

In Race Matters, Cornel West describes not only the state of race relations in this country, but also some causes for the thinking that perpetuate the cycle of distrust and fear. Race Matters offers some of the most intelligent, concise and controversial commentary on race. Race Matters is not just another summary of race relations in this country.

One of the main reasons this article differs from others is that West does not allow his membership in the African-American race to hinder his view. In addition, he ignores the prevailing concept of political accuracy and speaks freely. Race Matters is an insight into many of the stereotypes, misconceptions and clashes caused by race. He describes race from multiple angles. By discussing race in a historical, social, sexual and political sense, he is able to produce some uncommon assessment on the forever variable state of race relations.

A Different Mirror By: Ronald T. Takaki

In my Opinion I believe that for many decades people have been using race as a way to classify humans into different social categories.  Lower, Middle, and Upper classes were created to divide humans into appropriate categories using their individual lifestyles, financial income, residence, and occupation. People decided to ignore this classifying system and classify one another, simply by the color of their skin. People's skin color says nothing as to what a person does, their beliefs, attitudes, or any of the ideas for creating a fair social classification system. Racial barriers were created that divided people into different groups at work and at home. Race differences in identity and social position were, and are, more important. 

In “A Different Mirror” by Ronald Takaki, he explains stereotypes and biases of white, Eurocentric attitudes that have been with us since the earliest days of the colonies and settlements here. Beginning with the early colonists and their treatment of the natives, there is a pattern of ruthless acquisition of land and goods. According to Takaki, the early settlers judged native americans as lacking everything identifiable in a civilized society. It never occurred to them that the natives had never been exposed to their european “civilized” ways and did not have knowledge of sophisticated weaponry as their culture did not need such devices of destruction. They did have tools and means of hunting and gathering food but it was all quite unsophisticated compared to European advancements. Shakespeare introduced the character Caliban in “The Tempest” This can be interpreted as an indirect depiction of what was then believed about native Americans. According to Takaki, the Caliban character could have just as easily represented Africans that had began migrating to the new land. Like the natives, African people had an unfamiliar color to their skin and were thought to be unintelligent and savage by the Europeans.

Racial Stratification and Education in the United States: Why Inequality Persists - By John U. Ogbu

I thought this article would be just another article about the effects of race on schools. I think that students are affected by economic conditions, not by racial factors. The articles thesis is that Minorities do poorly in school as a result of racial stratification, rather than as a result of economic stratification. Ogbu believes that "Class has not replaced race as the chief determinant of the life chances of black Americans". I have never read a article of this type, Ogbu argues that racial inequality persists because of barriers in opportunity structures and because black responses to racial stratification have not been targeted. Additionally, he introduces the idea that the racial stratification that was placed in schools many years ago continues to exist and maintain the gap between the races. Ogbu continues to explains the differences between social inequalities and social stratification. Social inequality is a universal phenomena while social stratification is not.

According to Ogbu's definition society is stratified when its individuals members from different social groups are ranked on the basis of their membership in specific groups that are also ranked. Ogbu claims that although the increasingly common belief is that economics play a role in the differences in school performance between students, it is truly racial differences that create this inconsistency in performance. He also explains that one major purpose of the school desecration movement was to improve black school performance. After reading this article i do believe that one of the greatest obstacles that needs to be overcome in US schools is the elimination of differences in performance in schools as a result of racial or economic differences.

People Like Us

"When the rich wage war its the poor who die" 

First of all the Video "People like us" was a very interesting video it made me reflect on the stratification system we live in. "People like us" describes how social class plays a role in the lives of Americans based on where they live such as park avenues penthouses, bayou houseboats or suburban gated communities. The video presents stories of family traditions, different lifestyle and class mobility. It explains how income family background, education, attitudes, aspirations and even appearance mark people as members of a social class. In the video they interview people from diverse socioeconomic groups, the film describes how social class in america has a much influence as race or ethnicity in determining what kind of opportunities a person has in life. 

"People Like Us" explains how the class system does exist and its based on looks, money, popularity, whether you live in a big house, and where people work. The video also describes that as you move through life we separate our selves from people who don't fit in our groups and social class and that America is a country divided by class and by what kind of neighborhood you live in, the type of food you eat, how far you got in school and the way you wear your hair. 

This week in class we dealt with the subject of varying types of social structures. To start there are open and closed systems. An open systems allows for an individual to move up or down in society where as the closed system allows for no mobility. In a closed social system you are born into your class and that is the same one you will grow up in. While discussing this subject it would be helpful to define class in the manner we did as a group class, in this context, is unequal access to economic resources, power, and prestige. 

Positive Functions of the Undeserving Poor: Uses of the Underclass in America

First of all the reading By: HERBERT J. GANS was very interesting,  it expand my knowledge on the importance of the functions of the undeserving poor. He discusses the strange alliance between the poor and the wealthy in American society. He states that the underprivileged in essence have kept several vocations in existence such as social work, criminology, and journalism. These vocations serve the double pretense of aiding the less fortunate and protecting society from these same individuals. He Mentions 13 important points of the ways that poor people have a positive contribute to society:

He applies this same logic to the existence of poverty in a society that had so much material wealth and concluded that poverty had 13 functions in society that was beneficial to nonpoor members. They include making sure that the menial work tasks of society will be taken care of, the creation of jobs that provide aid for the poor, and the existence of the poor keeps the aristocracy busy with charitable works, demonstrating charity to the less fortunate and superiority over the elites who chose to spend their free time making more money. He also give several alternatives to poverty such as redistribution of the wealth in society, putting everyone on a more even playing field, but ultimately concluded that poverty will continue to exist because disturbing the unequal balance between the poor and the wealthy in society would prove to be dysfunctional for the affluent and that will not happen.


13 Points:
1. Risk reduction
2. Scapegoating and displacement
3. Economic banshment and the reserve army of labor
4. Supplying illegal goods
5. Job creation
6. Moral legitimation
7. Norm reinforcement
8. Supplying popular culture villains
9. Institutional scapegoating
10. Conservative power shift
11. Spatial purification
12. Reproduction of stigma and the stigmatized
13. Extermination of the surplus

Deviant

Deviant are Differing from a norm or from the accepted standards of a society. One that differs from a norm, especially a person whose behavior and attitudes differ from accepted social standards.

Deviance is any behavior that violates social norms. Deviance can be criminal or non criminal. The sociological discipline that deals with crime the behavior that violates the laws. Today Americans consider such activities as alcoholism, excessive gambling, being nude in public places, playing with fire, stealing, lying, refusing to bathe, purchasing the services of prostitutes, and cross dressing to name only a few as deviant. People who engage in deviant behavior are referred to as deviants.


Whatever the term deviance creates , in general i believe it is popularly assumed that 'deviants' are individuals who are somehow less capable, less socially responsible, less adjusted, and consequently less useful to society than their more fortunate, upright and 'normal' fellows.

Gender Socialization

"Killing Us Softly" is about the world advertising of women, it describes how women are portrayed as "Sex Objects" in the media. She demonstrates the changes from the earlier versions to the current versions of how women are objectified and presented as a sex object, which demonstrate society to think it is acceptable to commit violence against women. She explains how advertising sell values, images, concepts of love, sexuality, romance, success, and who we are or should be as women. She also mentions how the dominant culture are creating these problems for women and men, how women are characterized and man are not. She talks about the Culture Message that its beeing presented to teenage girls which is "The more you subtract the more you add". By this ads they show teenage girls not to be a fool of themselves and that women are not powerfull.
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"A call to Men" speech is about the socialization of men. Tony porter talk about his life experiences and how he grew up in a neighborhood which he had to learn to be tough, strong, dominating, show no pain and emotions with the ecception of anger and fear. He talks about the ways that men think about women which was that women were weak and men were strong. He describes the Socialization of men which its described as "THE MAN BOX"  which defines what it was to be a man, which was not to cry, express their feelings and emotions, not to show weakness, and to have power control over women. He also explains the collective socialization of men as less values, property, objectification, and violence agains women. He mentions the Foundation of violenve against women as domestic violence, sexual assult, stalking, rape, dating violence, harrasment and porn. Men and women are part of the solutions and more of the problems. Rather than showing this negative concepts to teenagers and kids they should more less show them that is okay to be dominant, show feelings and emotions, equality, and only be friends with women and no more than that.
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I believe these Gender socializations are one of the biggest concerns in our society and how its so open to the public by advertising, tv channels and influence and so on, yet our society charactized us all to be the same.

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What does it mean to be Human?

I have never wondered on such a question that reflects the whole human race and what it means to be a human being.  To be a human being does not mean to have a face, eyes, heart, to be able to drive a car, or to own a house.  Being human is being much more than that, the answer is more deeper and passionate.  To be a human being is to have the ability to know what is right and wrong, having rational thought and to think deeply beyond the tangible things of the world one of the most important aspects to being human is to find love regardless of age, sex gender or social class.  Yet as I think deeply into this more and more, I see that those things are not as important to being a human, simply because you can live without those things to a certain extent, but to really live and thrive and build a a family among society, being a human being is to have the ability to build relationships around anyone and everyone around us and to simultaneously love and hate every little thing about them.

Kony 2012

My Fellow classmates lets Support KONY 2012!!!!

CULTURE

Culture

In the last class we learn several different concepts of culture, before this class I thought that culture was just customs, and beliefs that distinguished one group of people from one another but its much more than that. In class we learn about Subculture and Counterculture which both distinguished culture, Both of this culture identify themselves through their differences to the dominant culture. We also talk about the 6 elements of culture which are material culture, symbols, language, rituals, norms and values.We talk about heterosexual culture as it has the power in the world. people who are married have many advantages that single people may not have. I really enjoy this topic because I Love learning about different culture and diversity.


I really enjoy this sociology class because its definitely expanding my knowledge in each class I Learn more and more about different topics. =)     

What I Learn In Sociology Class So Far...

I Learn That Sociology is the way we see the world and the study of human behavior in society. I also Learn that the way we see the world can be a  combination of order and chaos. 

In the reading "The Promise" by C. Wright Mills I Learn that our environment shape our perspective an the way we see the world. I learn that our society is organized through the Government, Democracy and elections. I also learn the differences between issues and troubles. Issues are societal issues that happen in our society and Troubles are personal concerns or problems that an individual can have.

In the last class I learn about the history of the Age of Reason, The Enlightenment and how it can relate to sociology and how Augustine believe all society's go through the following stages religious stage, metaphysical stage, scientific stage as it was what he saw in his society as well. 

So far I'm really enjoying this class because I'm learning lots of new things which can help me later on in my future career and personal life as well. I'm really looking forward to the rest of this semester :-). 

Katherine Leonardo  

Story of My Life....

Name: Katherine Leonardo

Age: 21
Nationality: Dominican Republic
Occupation: Manager at a Travel Agency & Full Time Student at BMCC
Status: Engaged
Like: Travel, Work, Love learning new things and meeting new people, Read, Dance, Listen to music & Party.
Dislikes: Sports, Dishonest People Ect.



I am sweet, honest, caring, and educated.
Lover of shopping, traveling, working hard, reading and dancing. 
I admire people who are sincere, positive, and rational.
I need lots of money, a car and a mansion.
I fear dogs, death, and being deprived.
I give lots of love, true friendship, and consideration.
I like to live, learn, and accomplish my goals.
I live in the “boogie down Bronx.”


I'm Looking Forward to this Sociology class because I Love learning new thing specially about Society and how Sociology can relate with psychology as I planned to Major in Psychology.


Katherine Leonardo.