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Homosexual and Heterosexual  Questioning the Terms

In today’s society we use terms like heterosexual and homosexual so often that we don’t even question of where those words originated from. Those terms in my opinion is unnecessary because nobody ever said that it is only normal to like women if you’re a man and vice versa. How do we know that it is not normal to like both sexes regardless of the gender. So terms like homosexual and heterosexual does not explain anything but it only creates a label for something that is unexplained. In the reading however it defines Heterosexual as “A note explained that “heterosexual” were persons in whom occur inclinations to both sexes” Based on this quote I can conclude that the word heterosexual has been changed a lot since it was created. The quotes definition of heterosexual is that having attention towards both sex. So their definition is almost the complete opposite of what we define it today. In that case everyone is attracted to everyone and no particular sex.

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Chauncey Gay New York

This reading focused a lot on prostitution and from what I read. I can conclude that it is more acceptable for females to be prostitute than males. Based on the reading class and the family background plays a major role. In my opinion if a man is homosexual and he is from a wealthy family. His surroundings make him feel obligated to be heterosexual. This is because if a son from a wealthy family is homosexual then they are seen to less dominant and wealthy families do not want to be seen that way. In the middle class there are prostitutes from the middle class which means that even when talking about prostitution there are different standards. So prostitutes or sex workers are somehow acceptable because they have their role that can help someone who tries to portray a heterosexual role. But if a guy is a prostitute then it draws more attention and will be criticized. For example, in the text the authors state the following quote “female prostitutes congregated to ply their trade. They made no effort to disguise their purpose, and the children who grew up on the Lower East Side quickly learned to identify them.” This quote indicates that female prostitution is so common to the point where even children have an idea of who they are. This is because it is more acceptable where oppose to a man if he is a prostitute then he will lose all of his dominance regardless of his actual sexuality.

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Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History by Baynton

This reading relates to what we spoke about in class today. As we discussed there are some disabilities that are visible and is obvious like when someone is walking with crutches. Then there are some disabilities that aren’t that easily visible like a learning disability. In the reading Baynton states the following “Normality, in contrast, was an empirical and dynamic concept for a changing and progressing world, the premise of which was that one could discern in human behavior the direction of human evolution and progress and use that as a guide.” I think what the author means in this context is that people with disabilities don’t get what most normal people get mainly because people feel that abnormal people or people with disabilities will not make positive impact on the world. They only feel that normality is the key to success. I think what most people don’t understand is that a disability does not always mean something physical. Someone who walks and run perfectly could have a disability. In the reading it focuses a lot on working and someone with a disability might be seen as less useful. I disagree with the fact that this should be something that holds someone back from getting a job because I see that some people can be equally as productive and if they really aren’t. Then there will always be a job that is suited for that one particular person.

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Coltrane Household Labor and the Routine Production of Gender

From people's perspective the father is the more masculine role supposedly. This makes the father less visible in the family because he's outside working while the mother is inside the house or at least with the kids. This reading is a good example of how society shapes gender roles and it puts pressure on them if they refuse to be that particular role. It's not because the father enjoys leaving the house to go to work and repeats the routine everyday. The fact is if he would like to stay home and let his wife work a job. This looks bad on his part and then people will frown upon it. The author also mentions how if mothers were to get a job for whatever reason. The workplace will hire mothers over father and this is because they already have that knowledge in their heads that mothers will do a better job. I also think that the reason why couples might have different decisions on whether or not to have children is simply because the father do not want to do that particular role yet. Where he will have to leave the family for the majority of the time.

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“Dude You’re a Fag”: Adolescent Masculinity and the Fag Discourse

I found the quote from the reading very interesting "I argue that the "fag" position is an "abject" position and, as such, is a "threatening specter" constituting contemporary American adolescent masculinity." This quote I think explains all these words that are created such as fag and gay this is because male think it is a masculine thing to do to call other men gay. But mean while a fag can be anyone even if they are straight. Similar to what we discussed about in class today where the person who calls the name is usaully the one who is a fag. Also what we spoke about in class about when a gay man marries a women and have kids to show to the media and public that they are masculine. But what we don't see in the background is that they are discreetly having an affair with another man. The quote basically means that society is making a man think that they are only masculine if they are heterosexual and if they are homosexual then they are less masculine. This causes those who are homosexual obligated to be with a women even though they are homosexual just to appear to society as a strong man.

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Welcome to the Men’s Club: Homosociality and the Maintenance of Hegemonic Masculinity

The author Bird demonstrates how different gender has it very own norms. One quote that really got my attention was in the reading Bird stated the following quote " I focus specifically on the connection between individual masculinity and gender norms in small group interactions to capture subtle mechanisms of control." This quote stood out to me because when men hangout with all men in one group. Their behavior is different from when there is a girl in the group and this is also the same vice versa. This is because when the same gender get together there is a natural kind of connection that happens between the gender. Like would feel that it's normal to compete against other guys. Where as to females would more likely to compete in a different way such as who has a better fashion or style in their appearance etc. But as soon as the gender steps out of that small gender group that they are hanging out then the behavior of that person change. This is because when there is a different gender that is present it shapes the behavior of the opposite gender. This is something that happens naturally and it may or may not be inside their comfort zone.

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What is Hegemonic Masculinity?

This reading explains the role of a male and what a masculine male is suppose to be. I think every guy has this in the back of their mind that they must be better than another male or at least better than a female because if they are not then they will lose masculinity. In the text it states the following quote "and what do we men do then, about the masculine images in and through which we have shaped a world so cruel to most of its inhabitants?" I kind of agree with this quote but I feel like there is no right or wrong answer to this question. This is because the way a man behaves to look masculine could change over time. For example a guy might look masculine if they have leadership and be a boss of other people. But in the future if everyone was a leader and not a follower. Then they will look for new ways to present masculinity.

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Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex

One quote that stood out to me in the reading Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex by Crenshaw is "Discrimination against a white female is thus the standard sex discrimination claim; claims that diverge from this standard appear to present some sort of hybrid claim." I think the author in this quote is trying to say that when it comes to discrimination. White women are less discriminated compared to black women. Even though white women are discriminated based on their sex. Black women are discriminated both their sex and skin color. This is similar to what we talked about in class today. Like the skin color of a person will make a big difference and especially for women when they are already discriminated in many ways being a person of color will make it more challenging due to what society wants to see in what a specific color and gender live it's life.

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The Bridge called my back

The reading The Bridge called my back have a strong connection to what we spoke about in class today. The reason why some countries are label first world and third would is because one group or country feel more dominant to label themselves first world. In the text the author states the following quote "And, we must look deeply. We must acknowledge that to change the world. we have to change ourselves even sometimes our most cherished block-hard convictions." This quote is similar to what we mentioned in class. The world is divided up and becomes problomatic when people start to label other people as lower class. But in reality we are all made to be equal. The first and third world is abbritary which means that it is made by people that some skin color are meant to be higher class. So the author is basically saying that in order for the world to not be problematic we as people have to not under estimate some groups of people. It all boils down to racism at the end of the day. Also another quote that the author stated "And way before that when Chinese, Mexican, and African women in this country saluted each other's attempts to form protective leagues." This quote indicates that in previously in history and even till this day. Bias towards certain groups of people exist and as the quote mentioned Chinese Mexican and African were not a priority at all. They were considered to be less important and this is mainly due to the color of their skin.

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The Problem with no name

This reading is very interesting because it explains the kinds of feelings that women go through before modern time. When a women marries a man they are looked at as mostly housewives and doing chores at home taking care of the kids. In the reading the author states the following quote "They learned that truly feminine women do not want careers, higher education, political rights the independence and the opportunities that the old fashioned feminists fought for." This quote I think is the reason why women are felt as unequal. Society point of view on women is that they are less important when compared to men and this is why women were expected to not have higher education because they are not expected to have careers. The author also mentions how the women life goal and purpose is to find the right husband. Even if women went to school it was for the purpose of finding a husband. I feel that women never liked the idea of giving up education but it was only so that society would not say that they are a true female. But in reality the women should not focus so much on what society thinks but rather what they truly want. This is why in modern society more women are going into the career fields that no one ever expected them to go to.

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The Second Sex

The author pointed out in the text that "Man can think of himself without woman. She cannot think of herself without man." This quote brings me back to what we spoke about in class today. Such as the proletarians and in this case the male is the proletarian. In a captalism society a proletarian can easily live life without the business owners. This is because as much as the proletarians are worthless they are essiential in order for the duties to be completed in a business such as a manufaturer they are needed to make products etc. Back to the reading women in this case are kind of like the bourgeois in the capatalism society. They feel the need to have a man in their life because they think that it is needed. But the man feels that he is in control for the most part because he could easily walk away from a women and continue with his life.

I think the main point of this reading is that women also have the power to be in control even though most of the time men seem to be an essential part of a women life. In the reading it states the following quote "If woman seems to be the inessential which never becomes the essential, it is because she herself fails to bring about this change." This quote i think means that in order for women to be heard and to get their message across. They must act as if the male does not exist and they are perfectly fine without having a man in their life. As the author mention the male and women anatomy have very similar organs. But society agrees that women are weaker and man is more stronger. But if women proves that they are capable of living life without man then there will probably be changes in society.

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Pharmacopornographic Era

One quote in the reading that best explains the whole topic of gender roles and which gender is more dominant than the other is "How did sex and sexuality become the main objects of political and economic activities?" In our modern world people put more attention towards sexuality and pleasure. This is why you see more stuff like things to improve sex such as things invented through scientific research etc. This led to more problems in my opinion towards people being bias towards one sexuality or gender. As mentioned in the reading pornography displays mainly females naked in it and there were more invention to improve sex which prevented reproduction. This caused men to have addition advantages when it comes to sexual activities.

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Lexicon of Debates

The idea that Kolmar and Bartkowski expressed through their reading Lexicon of Debates gaved me a better understanding of what women represented to society when being compared to men. As we mentioned in class about why the country frown upon having a women running for president and why it's not a good idea of having them as president. It is probably due to how our country view women to be. For example in the text Lexicon of Debate Kolmar and Bartkowski both stated the following quote "They are displayed in arts, film, advertising, and pornography." This is how women is viewed to the public and because of their vulnerability. People think that their way of thinking isnt good enough to be president. On the other hand when someone thinks of a man they think of someone with good ideas and strong leadership. The authors focused a lot on how women are more of an object than a human and their bodies has a lot to do with conforming with society. Whether it is for entertainment or just to meet socieites standards like skinny or fat. As a man it is less focused on their body size and there is less critique towards the way they look because the reality is men aren't viewed as an object.

Also because women have the ability for reproduction it can also be something people focus a lot on when lets say a women running for president. This is because as mentioned in the text Lexicon of Debates that women monthly cycles can occur at anytime without a given notice. Also women are frowned upon towards running for any big positions like the president because if the women is pregnant then maternity leave could become an issue for the country.

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Patriarchy, the system An it, not a he, a them, or an us

Men in society tend to speak up and fight for what they desire. That is masculinity and because men are very sensitive when people see them as weak. They are more likely to speak up than a women. In the reading by Johnson it states the following quote "do we participate in patriarchy, and how does that link us to the consequence it produces?" In today's class discussion we spoke about acceptance in Patriarchy and in my opinion that is the only reason why male is dominating over women. It is mainly because we all accept that to be the fact and most people won't speak up nor do they feel like it will make much of a difference. We definitely participate in patriarchy and that can be proven by looking at certain jobs in society. The majority of caretakers are women because they appear as weak and aren't ideal for other jobs like construction or firefighter. In a Matriarchy society we will accept that women are stronger and it is not whether or not it is true. But rather it is due to our beliefs. In this case our beliefs are patriarchy and men are more dominant than women.

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Making Systems of Privilege Visible

Privilege is something which is created by people who thinks of one group of people is above others. When humans first existed we were all equal in the way we function and live. But unfortunately society has created privileges towards certain people and race. In the reading Making Systems of privilege visible the author states the following quote “The apparently neutral categories male and female mask the privileging of males that is part of the gender power system.” When humans were created on earth as a species. We were not marked on our body that males are the more dominant species and females are the less dominant species. In other words, society has pretty much accepted the fact that males are the more dominant ones even though that may or may not be true. The author also mentioned that silence could mean that some do not want to speak up for themselves because they could possibly be afraid or just does not feel like speaking up due to certain consequence that may happen. This goes for race as well no certain race should have privilege over others. I think we as a society could make this change if we all spoke up because if we all initially agreed that whites and males are the more privileged ones. Why can’t we all as a society beg to differ? All we got to do is make things visible because it’s sitting right in front of us.

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