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! :)