random post #2! --work uniforms

at stop and shop, the uniform requires jeans (which i never wear), an ugly mustard colored long sleeve, or short sleeve with the companies logo printed on the collar, and on the back, and a black apron.  however, sometimes the males in the company are required to wear hats, or just choose to wear a hat.  

SO, one night at work, i had nothing really left to do in the florist department so i was kind of walking around talking to people, when i saw a co-worker named Tyler, wearing a hat.  I kind of like the hats.. their cute just black with a little logo.  and stop and shop makes my hair so staticy i always wear it up anyways.  so i asked my manager for a hat.  he laughed and said "only the boys wear those," i told him i wanted to be one of the boys that night.  kind of hesitantly he went and fetched me a hat.  when Tyler had saw me again he told me that i was "trying to copy him," and that "those hats were only for the real men of the store." 
while walking around with this hat on i saw a couple of double looks come my way.  with this class in mind, i decided to wear the hat the next day at work, too.
this time a different manager was on and he too, made some sort of comment about me looking like a boy.  and my friend stephanie was working and decided she wanted to wear a hat too, just to be cool like me.  

the moral of the story is.. if i wear a hat.. im a guy? really.. girls cant wear hats in public places without getting double takes?

and this is a picture of me and stephanie being "boys."

cinderella ate my daughter.

HYPERLINKS:

for this article a lot of great points were raised. while reading, i did a lot of agreeing and disagreeing.  AND laughing.  some of the things i could say applied to specific people.  unfortunetly, i do not have a younger female in my life to compare this article too (since it was more about three-seven year olds).

for the first point i wanted to bring up:
the words "princes or ballerina" or have butterflies all over the item. OR the infamous color PINK. (and im not talking about the victoria's secret line).
these words are always seen on clothes, and this color is the most popular.. and every little girls FAVORITE COLOR.
while scrolling through this page, anyone can agree that the majority of the shirts are the color pink.
googling "little girls princess shirts " almost every picture has a typical white american girl wearing a princess shirt.
this picture specifically shows the american girl.


point 2:
as for the actually Disney princesses which are talked about majorly in this article, i found a perfect youtube video explaining them.

this video may go a little too in depth about some things, but it is a general opinion of what Disney princesses teach little girls, who are young minded and dont have their own voice yet.

To go further with the princess idea, there's a quote that Orenstein says is, "Princesses may confide in a sympathetic mouse or teacup, but, at least among, the best-known stories, they do not have girlfriends.  god forbid Snow White should give Sleeping Beauty a little support.  
Let's review: princesses aviod female bonding." Page 23
This is showing girls that they are the best and the only princess around.  in photos of each disney princess none of them acknowledge eachother.  they do not look the same way and only embrace themselves and their pretty smiles.
also t go along with this quote it says how girls are loners and to themselves more, which can make them come off more bitchy then they really are. the "catty" image of girls.  
this goes along with the princess culture, and body shape. thin perfect, have a nice set of boobs, and be materialistic.
just like in Ariel in the beginning of her movie, singing "I Want It All," even though she does not know what these things are. MATERIALISTIC!  ----> this is of course a parody to make some people laugh at the movie. ( i couldnt find the original, so i thought this would be the second best)


point 3:
american girl dolls/bratz/barbies. to go along with the statement above this creates the ideal picture of a perfect girl, in a handheld version.. 
bratz dolls have the perfect full lips, that are always nicely painted
american girl dolls are always cute and dressed perfectly
and barbies have the perfect bodies with the long pretty wavy blonde hair. 
i found an article i thought was interesting about the topic of barbies
i thought this article was very interesting, and covered some points that i thought Orenstein was trying to make. 




comments/questions for class:
do you agree with any of the articles/stories i posted above? have you had a catty girl experience?
were you into pink and princesses when you were younger?

what are little boys made of? - extended comments

After reading the article, I was confused to which prompt I would use to write my own blog post.  SO, I decided to read everyone else’s posts (well, the people who were done by 9pm on Sunday) and after reading Celine’s blog, I wanted to do the extended comments.  Especially because I did not see anyone else do this prompt yet.

Each quote she picked were all ones I had highlighted and wrote little side notes on my article, so I knew that we were on the same thinking pattern with the article.

Nature vs. nurture is something I learned in high school, and I have always been interested in.  I always think about it when personality questions come up.  I agree with Celine when she says that she believe in nature/environment of which a person grows up.  Lots of things in life are mimicked, whether it is by TV shows, or your very own parents.  This could have a lot to do with boys “fitting-in” in school also.  They want to be cool so they act as bullies to show that they are the boss, and that they are tough.  To be tough also means to not act like a women, which would be showing emotion, and the infamous crying, that us women do “all the time.”  However, unlike Celine and the article, I feel like nature also does have a significant role in how we grow up.  I feel like if a male is more friendly with his mom, he gets the “momma’s boy” image, and is a lot more in tune with his emotions, and feelings.  So either or would work for shaping an individual – I feel.

In Celine’s blog she used a lot of real-life connections to this article, and asked the males in her life questions.  I really like this a lot so I decided I would ask my own boyfriend the same question she did.. This was his response to the “code of silence” quote:

“There’s a bad outlook on men that talk about their feelings, I feel like that there’s a time and place to actually express how you feel.  Mostly in front of your close friends, because other people are judgmental. I wouldn’t cry in front of a stranger I would look like a pussy.”

Such a way with words, huh?

Although this whole article was directed towards males, I agree with Celine when she says that she herself holds in her feelings sometimes, and would rather hangout with guys, and stay away from too-emotional girls.  This was my childhood, I was friends with the guys more because they were more fun, girls just wanted to sit around gossip, and paint their nails.  I found this funny, because there’s so much truth behind it.  I hold in my feelings a lot; I myself could even be in this ‘code of silence.’

i had to throw this in here.... i laughed for a good 5 mins because it beat all stereotypes, because he is older, a male, and african america.  which are supposed to be the most masculine.. (irony)

Comments/questions for class:

MALES: Whom have you cried in front of before?

MALES: Do you have guy friends that know about your emotions, or are you in the ‘code of silence’?

Was this an enjoyable read?

something about the subject makes it hard to name - yamato

REFLECTION:  I actually enjoyed reading this article.  Not because, I am rascist, but only because everything Yamato has written was true, or I could relate to in some sort of way, because I have heard it or lived through it.  Racism is the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other races.  Or the discrimatory or abusive behavior towards members of another race.  It has been around for way too long.  Yamato also writes about how people say that it is not seen in today’s world! This is a funny thing, because they are not opening their eyes.  It is unfortunate, but it is all around us… everywhere.  I see racism especially at my job.  I know that the security guy is watching the African American male very closely on the cameras, or the Spanish male with the Rico Suave hair cut.  I know it, not only because I see him watching, but also because he tells me.  Yamato states that there are four kinds of racism “1) aware/blatant racism, 2) aware/covert racism, 3) unaware/unintentional racism, and 4)unaware/self-righteous racism.” Page 28.  I could not have said it any better.  This is deffinetly the classifications of people and racism.  I laughed while reading the unaware racism alos, I would say that these are the people who think that they are not racist, but are.  I think that the truth is we all have a little of it inside us, and it depends on who has done uswrong, or who we have seen do wrong in the past.  Another aspect of how it is formed, would be family.  I have friends whose parents have disowned them for bringing home a male African American and calling them their boyfriend.  Horrible.  This makes me think about all of the people in the wrong that are being treated wrongly, or looked at funny because of their gender, race, color, ethnicity, etc,.  The world is cruel and unfair. 

Questions for the class:

Have you ever seen an act of racism being done in front of you?  Did you do anything about it?  Has some sort of race card been pulled on you?  How did that make you feel?

Comments for the class:

If we work one by one, in stopping racism, we could stop it.

random post #1 -- talking to my grandfather last night

My mother is very into voting, and says that every number counts.  Last night, my grandfather was over, and the topic of voting came up.  He asked me if I was going to vote, and if I was registered.  My answers were both yes. 

Previously, my answer would have been, yes I am registered to vote, and no I do not know who to vote for so I am not going to.  This class has changed my thoughts completely.  I will definitely vote in November. 

Anyways, my papa said that he was a republican, and it only made sense to vote for Romney.  This is where I told him that Romney would not be a good choice, and that is Romney won, it wouldn’t be a happy place for women anymore.  He did not really listen to me and seemed too stubborn.  I could not let him vote for Romney.  I see myself trying to change everyone’s opinion on the election.

I wont give up on trying to change my grandfathers vote :p

something to bring up in class:
who would YOU vote for? and why?