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.