LGBTQ

    I got to have the experience of being able to listen to four of my classmates talk to us about what it is like to be a part of the gay, lesbian, or transgender community. We were able to listen to their own personal stories, which was very touching, and were truly able to feel the pain that they had experienced during one part or another of their lives. All I wanted to do was be able to help them. To let them know that they are never alone. Most were able to say that they were able to find and have felt acceptance at our high school, and that made me very happy. I have personally always have been more than accepting to the gay community and will always be. One of my closest friends is gay and he is the sweetest guy I have ever met. I wish the world for him and I never want him to be dragged down because of his sexuality. I remember when I was younger, I was the first person he ever came out to about being gay, and that is a moment I will never forget. It made me feel like he could trust me and that he knew I would never judge him and only accept him for being himself, and of course he was right. Because of all this, I am a huge supporter of gay marriage rights and I hope that others hearing the true personal stories from people like these will be able to open up more minds. I know it will be a difficult journey, but the more who are willing to step up and fight for who and what they believe in, I truly believe the faster it can be accomplished. I really love the picture below because I truly believe that this freedom is what America is all about. I am very glad that we were able to hear such speakers and take another step towards making a difference.

Masculinity

     Today's youth are raised from the beginning to be formed with ideas of masculinity and how their life and their actions should revolve around this. This "masculinity" negatively affects boys by the way they are constantly pressured to be "tough", "dominant", and "respected". This is overwhelmingly seen through acts of violence. As boys are raised, they are constantly exposed to violence through TV ads, shows, video games, and much more. Through this violence, boys grow up with the fear the thought of being considered and seen as "gay" or "feminine" and think they can counter this threat by committing violent acts to hold up their "man-hood".  They believe that this violence and attack will gain them respect. This is how society has raised them. I can personally see the idea of how the "true man" of being big, tall, and strong can affect others. I have two older brothers. The oldest one is shorter than the his younger sibling and ways significantly less. During my older brothers high school graduation dinner, a man walked over and congratulated my younger brother on the graduation instead of the rightful older brother because the younger brother looked bigger and stronger like a "man" should be, so he  automatically saw him as the older one. This made my older brother upset, and all of this has stemmed from what society has deemed as "normal" and the necessity to influence on continuing generations.

Impact of the Media

        This week, we focused greatly on the impact that media has on our lives since the second we are born. I found it very interesting how the baby educational videos such as "baby Eisenstein  can actually cause your child to grow up with the inability to focus on one thing, just as the TV program jumps from one thing to another. Children are immersed into this world of advertisements without even knowing it. Teens compare themselves with the celebrates they see on TV, when in reality, those celebrates are photo shopped and are depicted as "flawless", which is impossible. Children and teens today are striving for the "perfection" that is, in reality, unreal. These individuals teens are striving for focus on the idea that weight and appearance are the main thing that make you beautiful  and teens think that if someone can do it, so can they, and this leads to eating disorders and other issues for a goal that is in reality unrealistic. The new development of such great technology is seen as amazing and as a way to broaden socialization, but in reality, it makes this country a lonely place. We are so glued to our televisions that we forget what a real and realistic relationship is. In my life, one of my close friends growing up loved to play basketball. To me, always seeing girls our age playing with barbies and dolls on advertisements, I thought that we automatically had this want and need to do so as well. Seeing her not have any interests in these sort of things, at first confused me, but I was able to grow out of the stereotypical idea of what each gender is supposed to do what, and see that advertisements do not determine what your interests are, but it is getting very hard to ignore each year that technology grows and finds new ways to subliminally plant these products in today's youth.

Nature vs. Nurture

       This week we learned about the term socialization. We first started with the concept of the "growing man". When you are a child, you are controlled by your nature, which consists of genes, biology, emotions, and instincts. As the infant grows, it is also affected by outside environmental factors, nurture. This nurture consists of social interactions with observational learning and language. We read in article about a little girl named Genie who had been locked in a closet for the first thirteen years of her life with virtually no human interaction at all. When she was discovered, she could not speak, eat solid food, or even walk or stand up straight for being tied to a chair for all that time. These cases prove that from early development, it is vital to experience this human interaction in order to have the brain develop properly. These terrible cases are very stunning to me, it really shows how much the development of a brain can be impacted by nurture factors. This proves that the life of a person is represented with both nature and nurture. I personally have learned how much I truly do take advantage of situations in my life. I have a loving family who exposed me to social interaction. I really took advantage of the idea of socialization. You rarely stop to think about the concept of nature or nurture, but it is what makes you the person you are today.