Unanswered Questions from Guy Code Class

Hey guys. I was really looking forward to what you had to say about some of my questions for class today, but unfortunately we didn't have time for them. Here they are:

1. Why is the problem of homophobia and gender roles statistically more of a problem for males? Why don't females feel the same amount of pressure to be feminine/heterosexual?

2. How do you think females contribute to males' pressure to "be a man", i.e. how does modern female sexuality influence the average male (or doesn't it)?

3. Where does homophobia come from? Is it a natural feeling of confusion and fear or is it created by our society?

Let me know what you think!

Automatically Gay?

In class today we talked a lot about men needing to maintain their "masculinity", having a lot of this pressure come from parents. It reminded me of this article I read a while back about this 5 year old boy who wanted to dress as Daphne from scooby doo for halloween (a female) *gasp*.

When entering school, a lot of the parents were highly offended about the whole ordeal, creating a huge scene about it.. but why?! For one, he's FIVE. And who really cares if he is gay or not (talked about more in the link). And why is it okay for girls to dress like men characters (superheroes, etc) and not the other way around?

Anyway, the article - actually it is a blog written by his mother - is below.. it's interesting and quite funny how she pokes fun at other peoples idiocy.

http://nerdyapplebottom.com/2010/11/02/my-son-is-gay/

Girlcott- Is the sexualization of children the fault of companies?

We've been talking a lot in class about the over-sexualization of young girls, particularly tweens and teens. There is no doubt that this is happening, and has been happening for some time. However who to blame for this phenomenon has been widely debated for a long time.

In class we have suggested everything from the media, selling the promiscuous standards to beauty to impressionable children, to society, changing it's standards to meet new acceptable norms, to even parental influence, the need for parental figures to see their girls as popular, well-liked teens. However, we haven't looked to closely at corporations selling the provocative clothing targeting younger and younger ages.

Today I read an article about a new line of bathing suits made by Abercrombie and Fitch. The "Ashley Push-up bikini" was first launched by A&F listing it on the kids portion of the website targeting girls ages 7-14. The bikini was meant to be a "push-up" acting in the same manner as a push-up bra would for older girls. A psychologist, Dr. Eileen L. Zurbriggen, leader of an American Psychological Association task force on the sexualization of girls, was outraged by this apparent sexualization of second-graders, calling the company out. In 2007, research conducted by the task force showed a link between sexualization of girls and eating disorders, low-self-esteem, and depression. The company has since recategorized the bathing suit as suitable for older girls.
(The article can be found HERE.)

This reminded me of a similar fight between girls I knew in high school and the same company in 2005. Similar claims (oversexualization of women and sexist tee-shirts) were made against A&F.

Here is a video explaining the current controversy and the incident in 2005:


Here is my question to you: What do you think? Are these claims legitimate? Are the companies at fault here or are the parents? Is this a teaching-tool as suggested by the psychologists on the today show? What is really going on here?

The Guy Code / What's a Bromance?

Michael Scott explains The Guy Code: Bro's Before Ho's

Funny Videos on "Bromances"

 

What do you guys think? A lot of the comments under the videos were even suggesting they were gay. Would you be guilty of perceiving them as gay?

War & Peace (and Kids)

We've talked about children developing in different social settings like North America or Europe, however we have neglected countries that are not as stable as our own. War is constantly raging in the Middle East, and with the current trends of rebellion within countries there may only be more to come. So my question is this: how do you think war effects a child's role, identity, and morality? Also what things maybe absent within these warring societies that forces a child to grow up differently?

Juvenile Delinquency

This is an article about a friend of a friend up at Hartford University. I had heard lots of funny stories about him from one of my high school friends who had become very close to him at school. My friend described him to me as very funny, nice, and extremely intelligent. After watching Stand By Me, I was somehow reminded of this article (possibly through River Pheonix's character?). I've just been wondering what may drive certain teens to behave in such an extreme way, even when they appear to be well adjusted and intelligent. If anything, this post is just to share this story with you. Hopefully we can start some constructive conversation.

Here's the article:

http://www.wmur.com/r/26088851/detail.html

Parents and the Internet

I know on Tuesday we talked about our parents' reactions to our internet usage, and the generation gap that exists because our parents did not grow up in a technology age. Also, the internet is still relatively new, which could increase parental suspicion because they may be unaware of the content that is out there. But do you think that when we become parents we will be in total agreement with teens using the internet? I first thought we would probably be more comfortable with the idea since we have a better understanding of why it might be a necessity for a teenager. I also thought the generation gap would be temporary because we have lived through a technology era, and would be able to associate with whatever technology comes of the future. On the other hand, we also know all of the explicit and horrifying things one might come across from searching the web, which could make us even more strict against internet usage as parents. I was just wondering what stance you guys would take from a parental perspective or if you had any internet-related experiences that would define how you would treat your own children.

Videos About the Online World

In relation to today's discussion, I found two things that I think relate to the class..

The first is Brad Paisley's goofy, yet very true (and directly related to our class) song called "online":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE6iAjEv9dQ

It is clearly about the fake personas people use in the cyber world. Though many of you thought the internet world is the "real world", I tend to disagree. This video alone helps show how different one can be on the internet; I'm not sure anyone can be their "true self" online.

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The second video relates to Dave's comment about facebook and having your page express who you really are. Again, I feel that facebook doesn't clearly represent anyone, and here is a video relating to that exact topic - how often enough, people are merely being judged and acting (or expressing) themselves as someone they aren't:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UouP8cRYZ8

Complex Identities

Today we briefly touched on how identity amongst students is affected in a school setting, such as cultural clubs and other organizations like the Gay Straight Alliance that strive to unite people of different identities. We did not reach a clear consensus of whether these groups were beneficial or whether they created even more of a divide between students, but identity in school can also be affected by peer influence. When people are told they do not act how they are supposed to (like how Nick was told by peers that he does not act Jewish enough in the Complex Identities reading) do these people lose a sense of their true identity? Also, what type of responsibility do adults (such as teachers) have in order to make everyone feel comfortable, no matter how diverse the students are?