Final Post - Brooke Dinsmore

Our final papers are actually a very good representation of a few very important things about this course. Thematically they show how complicated sex, gender and sexuality really are, how many angles they can be approached from academically and how many different levels they affect our lives on. They show how interwoven into fabric of our lives and our identities these constructs ultimately are and how grave the consequences can be.

The most striking paper to me was Gracie’s paper on the construction of birth because I had never thought of birth as something constructed or related to gender. The consequences here really are life and death and so many factors are at play; our ideas about motherhood, the effect of capitalism, how obvious and not obvious gendered consequences can be. These things are important.

I also thought our papers were a representation of something that I loved about this course which was the diversity of our class’s experiences and perspectives. I use diversity here in the deepest of ways, to express how each one of us had our own unique perspective formed from our experiences that brought so much to this course. Each of our papers was a representation of ourselves, of what we thought was important, as much as it was about the world around us. One of my favorite parts about this course was getting to learn about all of you, about experiences you had had, about what had shaped you. Thank you so much to everyone for sharing themselves - everyone was brave and honest and it really made this class awesome to take.

Final Post by Blair West

I was quite interested to hear about other people's final papers; I had been spending so much time researching and formulating my topic that it was refreshing to sit back and learn about other sociological issues that I found to be downright fascinating. While it sounds trite, I am so impressed with our class because everyone showed so much curiosity, enthusiasm, and insight. Ellie, I thought your statement that homosexuality cannot be synonymous with 'sexuality' was quite wise. Just as Mike pointed out that people often associate masculinity with anything 'not gay.' Ellie also said that hatred and fear go hand in hand, a fact which I have found true in so many aspects of our society. People mistreat what they do not understand. This reality relates to Brooke's topic, which I found quite relevant and personally meaningful. The fact that female politicians are judged solely on their appearance is appalling, but it is indicative of our society's ignorance and arrogance towards certain groups. Brooke's topic struck a chord with me, because, as a woman, I have often been put into certain categories based on my appearance or behavior. I have lost count of the amount of times that men or people in general say 'you're much smarter than you look,' or 'I'm was surprised when I met you,' or, 'you don't act the way you look.' Perhaps its my blonde hair that makes many people assume I'm a ditz (just as Sarah Palin was labeled because she took care of her appearance). My father told me that I should dye my hair for job interviews and wear no makeup-- seriously! It truly frustrates me how some people are marginalized or pre-judged, just as the female politicians are. Clinton apparently looked haggard and unkept during one public appearance (irrelevant!!!!) but they did not judge her for being preoccupied by her appearance, as they did Palin. Men have never had such foolish adversity with which to contend. It makes me wonder whether we should have 'ghost politicians' who never reveal their race, gender, age, or identity (what a thought..).

Another presentation that I found particularly intriguing was Gracie's. After hearing you speak about the difficulties of the birthing process, I whispered to Jenn that I never wanted to have a child! My close cousin just had her first child and she elected to do a water birth during which she delivered her son in a bathtub. I asked her why she would put herself through that extra stress and pain, and she answered "I just want to be in control." Gracie, you really explained well how pain medication and procedures can be tricky and untrustworthy in this day and age. I was shocked how you emphasized the fact hat hospitals are essentially a business and doctors just want to continue with their jobs. I volunteered in a hospital for four years and during emergencies the oldest volunteers would deliver paperwork and I always eavesdropped on the doctors' conversations. They would be filling out lab reports and be talking about their personal lives or weekend plans. Of course, I don't mean to criticize every physician out there, but they are certainly not flawless geniuses.
It is fascinating how we collectively researched a wide range a topics, from sports culture to homosexual rights to reality TV. Well done, class! You really made me think.

Last Post!!!! Jenn Hyslip

I was looking forward to this class to see what other direction the class took with such a open topic. While I looked at reality television, others looked at such things as male and female sports in the media, and advertising. A huge theme across the board was media, which I think is awesome, considering our generation thus far has been seen as the "social media" generation. I was interested in Brooke's paper about the way female politicians are stereotyped and more specific, through the objectification theory. It reminded me of a few of the clips from the documentary we watched earlier in the semester, Miss. Representation. Gracie did her paper on another shocking topic - the birthing process. I definitely give her serious credit for branching out in the direction of females as mothers, as many of us looked at females as sex objects. The statistic that c-sections are most common at 4 PM and 7 PM because doctors want to get out the hospital as early as they can is crazzzzy! Other topics that sounded really interesting were the ones focused on advertising. Advertising is such a huge market, and analyzing them is always fun. It would have been interesting to look at the advertising from the marketing perspective and observe the different strategies they use.

Reflecting back on the semester, I really enjoyed the class, as I felt that every one was extremely open-minded and not afraid to speak up. I'd have to say that this was my best class discussion class this semester. Sex and gender in society is such a prevalent topic that surrounds us every day, which adds a great meaning to taking this class. Although I took Race, Class in the Mass Media, this class offered a more rounded perspective. I was happy that we ended the semester with talking about more global issues. It allowed me to connect the topics we talked about in this class to what I learned in my seminar - Globalization of American Culture. I almost wish we had one more week of readings involving world-wide issues abroad, such as the adoption dynamic in China, in regards to females always being given up for adoption. A few memorable things that I will never forget have been...
1. Daddy & Papa documentary - I loved this and thought it told such amazing stories in a great way.
2. Presentations on children's television - Everyone did such a great job with these and it made me reminisce to the days when I watched TV and look at the TV my little sister watches in an extremely different way.
3. The article on FGM was really interesting and eye-opening. Although uncomfortable at times, it was definitely worth the read.
4. The grinding topic........

Overall, this was a great class to take, especially in my last semester as a college student!! I will leave Conn with a greater understanding of the words "sex" and "gender" and what they actually mean. What I have learned in this class I know will come in handy in other parts of my life.

Last Post-Molly Bienstock

I was not in class on Wednesday because I had to travel home for some family issues unfortunately, but reading other students' comments is allowing me to be privy to the topics of everyone's papers and they all sound so intriguing!  We should make a sociological cookbook of all our papers!  My paper, specifically, will discuss the emergence of androgyny in a patriarchal world, while closely examining cyclical fashion trends and how what we wear allows us to express how we feel.  I will explore the change in our societal climate as we begin to accept the concept of more than two genders or two sexes and move towards a more agreeable way of defining how we feel inside and out.  Androgyny represents the combination of masculine and feminine traits whether it be in fashion, sexual identity, sexual lifestyle, or biologically.  Individuals are classified as one of four gender-role orientations including masculine, feminine, androgynous, or undifferentiated.  Western society is drastically changing and I wanted to document what is going on in a once highly exaggerated man's world to maybe a more equitable future of acceptance for all genders.  I was inspired by Andrej Pejic, a famous male model who is successful as both a male and female model.  Andrej is obviously very androgynous, but I was riveted by his emergence and fame and how his success translates into the real world.  We all know gender is a performance, so I want to understand our ways of performing new identities as our social fabric begins to undergo drastic modifications for hopefully a better future of widespread acceptance and equality.

I was also very interested in Jo's paper from a global perspective of gender inequality.  I would love to know more about other cultures and how they perceive and perform gender.  I also liked reading about Gracie's paper on birthing.  We really never talk about this process and it is so taboo to do so because it is the true grit of being a mother.  In addition, I enjoyed the papers regarding the media whether it be violence, gender representation, or children's TV/parenting.  The media is really something we can never know enough about.  We live in such a fast paced society that there is always something new to watch, judge, or comment on.  Everyone has an opinion of how to be a parent, what someone should dress like, and how humans should treat each other.  I, too, wish I could read everyone's papers to become more well informed on these interesting topics!  But I loved learning the bit that I did.  I learned a lot this semester about many sociological problems I had not idea about and want to continue my exploration of these topics in my next two years here at Conn.  I love sociology and think it can teach us all how to be aware of how we act, what we say, and how we feel as people present in the here and now in the cosmic year of 2012.  We are the future leaders of tomorrow and I am so happy we could all start this journey of discovery together!  Have a great summer everyone and just be you guyss! :)   
  
 

    

Last Post Everrrrrrrrr- Ellie Merrell

            I was really impressed with and interested in everyone’s paper topics, particularly Brooke’s, Mike’s, Carly’s, and Josie’s. Brooke’s topic strongly reminded me of part of Miss Representation. I believe that Miss Representation acknowledged gender differences in the media attention received by politicians. The documentary pointed out that people are more likely to be concerned with female politician’s ability to manage their domestic lives than their ability to manage their work as a politician, which is completely outrageous. Additionally, I think the documentary showed articles in which the attention was focused on the outfit selection of female politicians rather than the reasons they had called a press conference (okay, with Sarah Palin I kind of get it- you can’t have serious discussion about her political ideology anyway, but with Hillary Clinton? For real??).

            I though Carly’s topic was really good, too because I feel like we learn a lot about gendered behavior through the TV shows that we watch, and so a study of the evolution of popular sitcoms could be really telling about the progress we have made as a society in terms of equality and the progress we still need to make. I’m really impressed that Josie is tackling sociology from a more global perspective and I’d love to read her paper because I admittedly know very little about the subject.

            I learned a lot from class this semester; primarily that it is really tough to be a guy and that, if I have kids, I should raise them in a media-less bubble. It freaks me out to think about how much our lives are influenced by social factors without our awareness, but it is definitely good to be cognizant of this fact so that we can make more logical and informed choices. 

           Thanks for a great semester everybody!

Final Post by Dakota Peschel

           The research presentations were extremely fascinating, and I am glad that we are able to get a glimpse at some of the research that the other members of the class are doing. I found that Ellie’s research was an extremely interesting topic, and I would honestly like to know more about how gender affects homophobia. I also thought that Gracie’s topic would be extremely interesting to learn more about, especially because the birthing process is necessary in our society. It is fascinating to learn how screwed up the whole process is, and how bad our statistics are compared to other countries, even less developed ones.

            Sociology is a truly critical field, and this is the least upbeat class I have taken all semester. The critical lens that we looked through this semester brought to light the most disheartening and disgusting aspects of our society today. I was shocked by a lot of the articles we read, and especially the documentaries we watched. I found Dream Worlds and Wrestling with Manhood to be the most disturbing documentaries that we watched. It is shocking how twisted the perceptions of the media are by the regular people, yet when you look at these music videos or wrestling critically, it’s almost like a culture shock. I could not believe that I had been subject to these ridiculous messages of masculinity and femininity throughout my whole life, yet I had never even realized it. This class has totally changed my views on the media and has taught me to look critically at how awful the media is. I also found it incredibly eye opening to look at how children’s television programs are so very gendered. I had never even noticed how eyelashes characterize feminine characters on these shows.

            Overall I completely enjoyed this class. I don’t think I will ever be able to look at society the same way, which is what the goal was.

Keith Veronesi Final Post

After listening to the 2-3 min presentations that everyone performed on wed. I was able to walk away from class with a better understanding of a lot new topics. For example the 2% that sportscenter attributes to women's sports. However, as everyone's topic was interesting, what I found to be the most interesting was that in one way or another everyone's topics reflected them in a way. For me, being an athlete, I do not think that it is fair that these gay athletes, which obviously there are, are forced to stay in the closet in fear of violence and many other things. But I feel that most people choose their topic because it is a problem close to them. We were given the opportunity to research one thing, anything, and it is really interesting to see what each student picked as their research project.

As for class this year, I think I walk away with a much greater prospective of race and gender and how it is portrayed in our society. I am much more conscious of the way I think. I am going to be honest, at the beginning of the semester I was not sure if I would like this class or not. First, the dynamic of the class was not favoring, as males were greatly outnumbered by females. However, with that being said, the input that the girls of the class had really benefited me because I am always around my roomates who are guys and I really only get the guy perception of things, so having a women's prospective was very good. One thing I am pretty sure will stick with me for a long time is the section on vagina mutilation and plastic surgery. I never even thought of a surgery in which women would feel that they needed to fix their vagina to feel like they are more beautiful. At the same time, I also never thought about how many guys get plastic surgery. I have always associated plastic surgery with women, but clearly that is not the case. I think my favorite part of the class was digging into the idea of masculinity and how males feel that they need to appease other males, not necessarily their female counterparts. It is so true when I think about it as I am always in competition with my friends.

Lastly, I am excited to keep learning about sociology and the sociological ideas that arise in our society. Thanks for a great class!

Final Post - Mike Murgo

Listening to everyone's paper topics was not only intellectually stimulating, but also very fun. I learned a lot of interesting little facts, like how there is only 1 out, gay athlete in professional athletics. I was also intrigued by how many students focused on masculinity in their papers. I never really thought about all the subsets of it and ways that it could be interpreted, so listening to all the things that my classmates did with it truly expanded my mind. I felt that Josie's paper, which dealt with women in the middle east, was the most unique topic. Her presentation, along with many other students' presentations, made me wish I could read my classmates' papers. The presentations were a nice way to get the gist of the topic, but I wanted to delve deeper. Ellie's paper, for example, dealt with the correlation of homophobia and gender. As a social justice oriented person and an advocate for the queer rights movement, I almost wish she just read her entire paper to the class right then and there.

Overall, I truly enjoyed taking this class. I feel like I learned so much about the world that I never really understood or delved into before. My favorite units had to be Sexuality and The Social Construction of Gender and Socialization. Before taking this class, I knew that masculinity and gender roles were problematic in many ways, but I never really knew how they came about. This course taught me how they are formed, taught, and spread throughout society.

Although I enjoyed learning about all these topics, I don't know if any class has ever depressed me as much as this one has (in a good way, though - now we know what to attack in order to fix it). Naturally, sociology is about critically examining our society. Unfortunately, this critical analysis reveals many unsettling statistics and facts. The most memorable ones, for me at least, involved the degradation of women. Miss Representation did a fantastic job of revealing the atrocities that women still face in this supposedly progressive age, but I don't know if that movie will stick with me throughout my life as well as a scene we watched in class where male band members slapped pieces of bologna on a woman's butt. Of the two major genders, women are undoubtedly the more oppressed gender, but I would have liked to learn more about male oppression as well. I feel that we focused primarily on issues of feminism, which is fine and incredibly valuable, but it would have been great to have a lesson on the difference between feminism and the men's rights movement, and how men can face oppression as well (like how the general public typically does not take women raping men as seriously as men raping women, how they perceive it as humorous, etc), granted, to a much lesser extent than the oppression that women face. This article takes an interesting approach: http://www.avoiceformen.com/mens-rights/whats-the-difference/

I would have enjoyed having a discussion about it with the class. Furthermore, I feel that we didn't explore the tensions and divides within feminism as much as we could have. I often felt that issues arose, a stance was taken, and everyone agreed with it. FGM was a great example of what I was looking for; we examined the dynamics and ethics of choice and how the world influences such decisions, and not everyone agreed on the topic. I also liked how we were all in a circle for that discussion, as I felt that it really encouraged participation and it made it easier to accommodate. I know that, for me, round-table discussion always makes me speak up more.

In the end, I truly enjoyed taking this class and will be sad to let it go next semester. Thanks for the awesome few months, Professor Jafar and all my classmates!

Meg DeJong - Final Post

I really enjoyed listening to people’s paper topics yesterday. It was interesting to hear what people had chosen to write about and to learn a little more about the topic. I thought that Gracie’s presentation on birthing was very informative and it really resonated with me. I think it’s really interesting to think about how perceptions of birthing have changed over the years, and I was horrified to hear about how many unnecessary C-sections are happening in hospitals around the country. I was also really fascinated by Josie’s presentation, especially after watching Professor Jafar’s TED talk. It’s interesting to think about how our society perceives people in other cultures and how many of the perceptions we have are actually misinformed, biased, and and based off our own society’s norms and values. Lastly, I was very intrigued by Keith’s presentation about homophobia and sports. I had no idea that only one professional male athlete had every come out as gay during their professional sports career. This made me think about how hard it would be to be a gay male athlete and how much pressure they must feel to keep their sexuality a secret.

Going off on the topic of masculinity, this class taught me a lot about how many are portrayed in the media. Before this class, I definitely paid a lot of attention to how women’s bodies were sexualized and objectified in the media because I knew firsthand how those images affect women’s self-esteem and their perceptions about themselves. However, I had never really looked critically at how men are portrayed in the media. This class made me realize how much pressure many men feel to achieve unattainable masculine ideals that are becoming increasingly present in our country’s mainstream media. Watching the documentary “Wrestling with Manhood” made me think about all the distorted images that men get about what it means to be a real man and about how a real men should act and treat women. Overall, I feel that this class made me a much more critical consumer of media, and also made me more aware about the social construction of gender. Because we are forced into gender roles from the time we are born, it becomes so easy to forget that gender roles are socially constructed and to see them as something natural.

During this class, I also really enjoyed listening to other people’s opinions on the topics we were talking about. It was fascinating to hear about other people’s perspectives and to hear about people’s personal experiences related to the topic. I really appreciated how honest people were during in-class discussions, as well as in their posts and comments, because I think it enhanced the overall class experience. I believe that everyone brought something unique and important to the class discussion, and that it was a rare opportunity to get so many different perspectives on topics such as the social construction of gender, masculinity, family roles, homophobia, sex tourism, etc.

Josephine Bingler - Final Response

          At first, I didn't really think much of each student presenting their research topic to the class but after hearing them all, it was amazing to see what interested each of us the most and how we decided to explore that. I found John's topic very interesting. I was very surprised and appalled that only 2% of Sports center is dedicated to Women's sports highlights. In high school, I remember how much of a struggle it was to get fans to our soccer games compared to the boy’s team who always had full stands. The boys’ games were always so much competitive and fights broke out which is why they seemed to draw a bigger crowd. The worst was seeing people cheer on the fights and giving positive reinforcement to the players that received red cards for punching the other in the face. For us, "cat fights" on the field were incredibly frowned upon. This speaks directly to the two very different societal expectations of each gender. I was amazed at how early gendering starts. As a tutor in an elementary school, I can't help but observe how differently the little boys and girls are treated. It is even reflected in their uniforms, which for girls is a dress, which completely restricts their play activities.

            This class has completely shifted the way I view media and its impact on our society. One of my favorite assignments was our presentation on either children's shows or parenthood in the media. My friends always roll their eyes when I watch TV with them because I can't help but point out every enforced gender role. It is amazing how much our media propels women towards motherhood and life in the private sphere while pushing men away from the family and into the business world. I think I was most shocked by the commercials for Swiffer that portray women as loving their housework as they dance around in heels and smile while scrub the kitchen floor. This relates to Gracie's topic around how media portrays women and birth. I was amazed at how society makes hospital birth the norm and the safest option, ignoring water or at home births. The way media glamorizes motherhood is pretty disturbing considering how many women die in childbirth.

            I leave this class with a very, very different view on our society. I see our world through a much more critical and gendered lens. This class was incredibly engaging and I enjoyed our class discussions. While I am now stuck in a habit on analyzing the Disney movies I know and love, TV commercials, and music videos, I am thankful that this class opened my eyes and provoked many thoughts about why we think like we do and how our social roles and gender roles are constructed.