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Coffee/Class — Ch 4 (JCB)

First of all, I wanna talk about “expenditure cascade.” I thought about it before, but didn’t put a name to it. I always wondered what was the point of purchasing items had a far more inflated price than what was necessary. The only thing I could think of was that they do it because they can. That, and buying a bunch of things that are expensive and considered “nice.” I guess people really want to show off, which really upset me (because I don’t personally like things for the point of being flashy–maybe having so much money enough to actually buy things just because they’re flashy is something that only wealthier people understand?). When I read the part about “upscale emulation” and “new consumerism” I immediately thought about social media. Social media influences so many people–a lot of young adults and adolescents. It’s become easier to spread ideas and new things, including products. Adolescents, who are very impressionable, can see so much from social media about the newest fashion trend and immediately want it for them themselves. I think social media as a whole influences people way more than what they like to admit. Credit cards, like the chapter mentioned, adds to that. Sometimes, even when people don’t have the money to afford what they want, they’ll keep charging credit cards for the sake of wanted to follow the trends and being cool. This leads to a lot of people in debt and I witnessed it first hand with some people close to me, so it really upsets me (and I try to make it a point to really reflect on what I’m purchasing–do I like it because it’s popular or because I like it?). Also, cultural capital is something I didn’t realize. When I was younger, I watched the Princess Diaries where this teen girl all the sudden becomes a princess of this faraway kingdom. It’s quite unexpected for the girl, but in order to fit in to the royal society, she has to take lessons. All of the lessons are seemingly ridiculous–how to hold a fan properly, how to walk and sit down, how to greet people, etc. With cultural capital coming in to play, these are all very important lessons. Anyone who rises up in the classes has to accommodate to that class in order to “fit in.” Without it, it’ll make that person fairly lonely since they don’t fit in with their class, per se, and they can’t exactly go back to their previous class. Somewhere in the middle. On to the Starbucks coffee discussion, I think now Starbucks coffee (versus other coffee) has become really normalized. What I mean is, it’s considered “basic” to get Starbucks. There are other coffee shops that are most likely less expensive, but people still go to starbucks and I guess it’s for that refinement that was mentioned in the chapter (and people who don’t go to Starbucks, well I guess they’re more conscious of their spending and neccessities and they reject the trend). I think the public space part is really important as well. If I had to pick a between a Starbucks and a coffee shop I’ve never been to before, I’d probably pick Starbucks only because I’m so anxious about being in a new place (especially–not knowing what to expect, what to order, where to sit, etc) that I’d want something I’m used to. Overall, I do agree that coffee brings up interesting conversations.

The Uses of Poverty — Gans (H)

Something that another professor once said really stuck out to me. He said, it’s a hard pill to swallow, but there is always going to be “the poor” (to which I immediately thought, well they don’t have to be that poor, do they?). Anyway, it kinda just made me think about the lower class. Like Gans explains, there is a lot of functions to the poor including the “dirty work.” I think now with the COVID-19 situation, you can see that a lot. Most of the essential workers are people who work at grocery stores, fast food places, etc and they’re on the lower classes. They have to put their lives on the line, essentially, to do their job and that’s part of the “dirty work” (although, surely not all of it). The third example that Gans provides is someone I found really interesting. It is true, without the poor most social work would go away. In a way, that’s kinda scary for people who want to go into social work. They want to help the poor, but they want to keep their jobs. Despite how scary that is, it should be done. Maybe this is a stretch, but isn’t this similar to the wealthy? They like their status and wealth, and they have the power to help the lower classes, but they don’t. They don’t because they are who they are with that wealth and they don’t want to give that up. A lot of people are upset at that. For social workers it’s similar, right? You want to fix the problem, but you also want your job (but ideally, you are working your job because you want to help people and that means more than your income). That was a little off track though. The eighth reason that Gans explains is something I think about a lot. For someone to be wealthy there has to be someone who is not wealthy aka poor. I think about this a lot–like the flip side of situations (for example: if there’s a good there’s a bad, etc). In the sense of what my previous professor stated–“the poor” has to exist in the sake of identifying those who are not poor. In the alternatives section, it kinda talked about what I was thinking–that the poor don’t have to be as poor as they are–which I think is very important (but challenging to do).

Moving Up… — Morris and Grimes (H)

I thought about the activity we did class where everyone started at the white board when we did this class. All of the prompts that indicated if we take a step forward or a step back for, were all out of our control. Most likely unbeknownst to our parents, what they taught us are really important. What was mentioned in the prompts and how Morris and Grimes mentioned what parents teach their children, make me think of the cultural capital that was discussed previously (which they also discuss here). When talking about encouragement and expectations from parents, I agree with what was said. When I was younger (and still now, but less frequently), my dad always told my siblings and I that we needed to go to school and get good grades so we’d have a stable job. He’s an immigrant who came here when he was 16 (alone) and currently he’s a laborer building buses. Mainly, he doesn’t want us to work in a place like his (the company is okay, but the people there–not so much). That also meant, that my dad really wants one of us to go into the medical field (primarily, a nurse). While that’s a good job, it’s really not what me or any of my siblings want to do. The pressure to do well is hard though. For me personally, it’s hard to see myself in a higher class than my parents and maybe that perspective will be what determines me to stay in the same class.

The U.S. Upper Class — Higley (H)

I thought this section was really insightful since I didn’t know much about the Social Register and the Upper Class as a whole. I do agree with what Higley stated in the beginning regarding how the upper class (and I think he made a connection to the Republican party) all works together–they are unified. Also, the talk about the exclusive clubs make me wonder if those are still in place today and what that means for new students. Overall, I wouldn’t say I appreciate the private happenings of the upper class, but I can say that I do see the necessity of getting in on these private clubs and sorts to do well in that aspect of society.

“Wealth Inequality in the United States” — RE

First of all, I agree with the notion that most Americans know that the wealth is not distributed well in the United States, but I also didn’t realize how badly the distribution actually is (how far from the ideal the actual is). As discussed in class, most Americans like to assume they’re in the middle class (whether they know for sure or not–they could be on the high end or the low end). Looking at the graph in the video changed what I was thinking slightly. The narrator stated that in actuality, the poorest are barely distinguishable from the middle class. For some reason, that really stuck with me. People in America know the situation is bad. They just don’t know how bad, and more importantly, they don’t know how to fix it. It seems impossible given that the wealthiest people in America also tend to have a lot of power (especially over policies and things). I also think back about how we talked in class regarding how the 1950s was a time where the U.S. was actually doing okay economically. The wealthy were getting taxed more (I forget the exact statistic) and that caused a better economic balance. Then when the policies shifted later (by both democrat and republican presidents, if I remember correctly) so the wealthy were taxed less and less, the inequality began to grow. I want to try to think progressively–how do we fix this? The answer is too long and complex. Most of the lower classes–lower middle class, the poorest in the country, etc–are already way too busy to be thinking about the structure as a whole. They’re already working multiple jobs, taking care of their family and kids, trying to get an education, etc. They’re so overworked that they don’t think have the energy to fix these bigger problems. They try to work the already broken system and that ‘s really depressing. People can try voting for new tax policies/laws, but those have to get approved (and they might not due to the wealthy people in power) and lots of people may not even have time to vote. The system is built against them. It’s a tough situation that everyone seems to be aware of, but doesn’t know what to do.

Sports/Race — Ch 6 (JCB)

If I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t a big fan of sports. There were aspects to it that I liked, but others parts that I didn’t. Like the author mentioned with the Super Bowl or the FIFA World Cup, sports can be really unifying. I agree and I think that’s what I admired most about sports: it brings people together. People do get in fights over teams and what not, but overwhelming it’s unifying and it terms of country versus country (such as the Olympics) it can become nationalistic. I think what I didn’t like was the competition. Sometimes that could get too extreme. And also how some sports are more violent then others (namely American football). When that happens, I don’t particularly see the point. I think the author brought up an interesting point about the “team players” part that lead in to talk about gender binary. The topic of separating girls and boys teams have been debated a lot and most people argue that the physicality difference between the sexes is what sets them apart in sports. I remember in high school, my older sister had a friend (a female) who wanted to be on the football team. She really wanted to play, but they didn’t allow her to play (I think they gave the reason that it was a boys team and there wasn’t a girls team or something). Anyway, there are some sports that aren’t as popular from sex to sex. Here, football isn’t as popular among girls as it is among boys (there isn’t enough girls who want to form their own team, instead of allowing them to play with the boys). It kinda just makes me think–in the context of football, is it not popular among girls because it’s something about the sport or because it’s seen as a “girl’s sport” as well? I don’t know how much sense that made. Also wage discrimination and media coverage from female teams and male teams are really bad (as highlighted by the author).

Music/Racism and Cultural Appropriation — Ch 12 (JCB)

I agree with the author when he mentions how, especially in high school, music goes to form social groups. When I was a freshmen or sophomore in high school, I used to be very resistant certain music. I really like all the emo/punk rock music, but hated anything country or rap. I kept to these distinctions very strongly because I wanted to be as consistent as possible or some other reason. As I grew older, I decided that my thinking back then was wrong. Essentially: I don’t have to be so close minded to certain things. Music kinda reminds me of how the author explained sports–it brings a wide variety of people together and it’s conversation starters. The author specifically mentions protest songs which are a huge contributor to how people connect with others. I didn’t really think how strong of a connection music has with consumer culture so that was insightful to read about (in particular, hip hop). When the author mentioned the youth control complex, it reminded me of a video I watched about the U.S. prison systems. The video talked about how, in this particular state, prison (especially juvenile facilities) were over flowing and the state was having to pay thousands of dollars to keep them open (and to essentially take care of the people locked up). The documentary focused in on the youth (all African Americans) who explained that the town they grew up were biased. At school, they would get targeted more often and about smaller issues than other students elsewhere. Additionally, they felt that it was expected of them to end up in prison one day and most of them felt that they couldn’t stop that (as most of their family members had either been to jail or was currently in). The youth control complex explains this as the students were more scrutinized based off of race. I also liked how the author talked about cultural appropriation and how it relates to music. Hip hop is so deeply rooted to history, as the chapter discussed, and easier to tell the difference (sometimes) when it is being misused (as the chapter discussed with Iggy Azalea). Currently, the k-pop industry has becoming very popular internationally. Recently, I think I heard of a group from the UK that was created by this one infamous guy (I forget his name, but he got plastic surgery so he could look as close to identical as possible to his favorite Korean singer). This group, although I don’t know if any were ethnically Korean, were claiming to be a k-pop group. Many people commented on the issue–mainly since this group probably did not go through the harsh training that k-pop idols go through. K-pop itself is a genre of music and an entire industry and I wonder if this incident would be considered cultural appropriation (I cannot say, though, because I myself don’t know the full details of the event). Similar incidences of cultural appropriation have popped up–mainly connected to fashion or hair styles.

Showing My Color — Page (H)

I could never say I truly understand what it is like grow up black in America, but reading passages like this help shed some light on the true happenings. When Page began talking about the school in his neighborhood being “diverse” and “integrated” although not really, I couldn’t help but relate (but on a smaller scale, I would say). At my high school (in the Bay Area), there was a lot of Asian people (predominantly Asian, I’m sure). Given that the school was diverse, per se, as a whole, people were friends with everyone. While people were friends of people of various racial and ethnic backgrounds, there was still separation. Asians were the largest group and there was separation in Asian groups (South indians, north indians, koreans, chinese, filipinos, etc). They all formed their clubs and groups based on more specific ethnic backgrounds because there was enough of them in the school to do so. There was also Mecha for hispanics and the Black Student Union, but they weren’t as big as the other clubs. This kinda reminds me of what was discussed in the lecture–about the liberal arts college compared to, I believe, UC Irvine. Anyway, when I was in high school I kinda saw how the school as a whole was “diverse” but looking deeper it also wasn’t (but not as apparent as the author mentions).

The Racist Mind — Ezekiel (H)

When reading this passage, I appreciate how the author mentions that to reject the strangers (those who he’s interviewing) is easy but no understanding would be gained. I think nowadays, there’s a lot of dogmas. When talking to anyone about what they think about, say, neo-nazis or a resurgence of nazis–they’d absolutely disagree and refute them. I would agree with them, but I also know that most people wouldn’t bother talking with them (shutting them out before hearing them out). I probably would do the same, but it’s wrong to do so (since we have to understand what it that we disagree with, not what we think we disagree with and the only way to learn that is to understand them). I think one of the most insightful thing about the group was how much fear they live through, but also how much fear they in turn instill in others. I agree with the author’s overall message at the end–we must understand racism in order to prevent it from affecting us or others (harming others). It’s similar to the prejudices/discrimination. You can acknowledge that you have a prejudice, but you can prevent yourself from being discriminatory based on the prejudice.

Interview About Race — RE

Toys/Gender, Sex, and Sexuality — Ch 7 (JCB)

Hearing that sex and gender are socially constructed suddenly put everything into place. Before, I kinda didn’t want to talk about gender, sex, sexuality, etc with people mainly because I didn’t want to offend anyone. I think a lot of people are very specific about their preferences and while there’s nothing wrong with that, I wasn’t exactly knowledgeable about the subject/area that I didn’t want to accidentally make someone feel bad (I think it’s an area that a lot of people are sensitive about). Thinking about gender and sex–I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me sooner that it’s socially constructed. i thought about it before–so there’s male and female. And then there’s feminine and masculine. I just thought–how did people determine what was feminine and what was masculine? The whole, that’s a “boy color” or that’s a “girl’s toy” really seemed pointless to me. In high school, my sister’s boyfriend had a friend that used to call so many things “gay.” Although it’s not quite the same thing, it really upset me. Why would people assign a sexuality to an inanimate object or action that also didn’t even make sense. It was meant to be an insult and honestly it made no sense (this person used to say a lot of things were “gay”). It kinda just boggles me how insensitive some people’s comments were/are. Although I lacked knowledge, I try to be as respectful as possible (at least). What the boy was trying to get at, I could only assume, was that object or action was more feminine, but even so how could you determine what was feminine? You would look at gender roles? But it’s all socially constructed, so really what society kinda says at the moment goes (as seen with the “blue for boys” and “pink for girls” situation that was actually flipped long ago). About the toys discussion, I think people currently are less conforming to gender roles and they would want to raise their kids without that conformity (which I think is important). I don’t have statistics to back this up, but in my bubble of knowledge, I think gender non conformity has been on a rise (or maybe I just opened my eyes to see what was happening). I watched a video of someone exposing their inner thoughts on the color pink (it was a girl who made the video). She discussed that she really loves the color pink, but she has doubts. Mainly, she delved on the idea that maybe she just likes pink because society told her to like pink. From there, she let her thoughts wander. I thought this was particularly interesting since it’s somewhat the same with toys. If you tell kids to play with certain toys–girls with, say, kitchen sets and boys with, say, legos–will they grow up to like those things more? Girls like cooking and boys architecture? Or would they like it simply because they were taught to enjoy it (maybe they gained positive feedback/reinforcement when they played with certain toys and learned to like those things). This entire topic reminded me of a study I learned about in my psych class. Hopefully I can paraphrase it as accurately as possible based on what I remember. There was about 25 intersex babies born and they all had surgeries to be “corrected” and have fully female bodies. When they were kids they played with predominantly “boy’s toys” or as boys would play. In a follow up of the participants, about 10 or 15 of them came out as transgender and identifying as male. I think the study as a whole showed how something as small as what toys one plays with as a kid reflects something about their gender and/or sexuality (hopefully I took that study properly and not out of context).

Beauty/Ideology and Intersectionality — Ch 11 (JCB)

I think the diary comparison from a 100 years prior to the 1980s was interesting. I didn’t realize how apparent the shift was–I agree with the author. From the 1890s, the girl was focusing on changes to one’s mindset–thinking of others and not letting thoughts stray. The second from 1980s focused on changing the physical appearance–makeup, hair, weight, etc. Both, in their own way, were restricting though. The first girl was putting a restriction on her mind–don’t let her thoughts wander. Wander to what? And why would that be so bad? The second was focusing so much on her appearance. Why does it matter so much (why does it still matter so much)? Why are those aspects of the individual so highlighted? It’s all what society says is important at the time since it’s socially constructed. Further into the chapter, I thought it was interesting that apparently lighter skin tones for both white women and black women is preferred (lighter skin white women than white men and lighter skin black women than black men). I didn’t really think there was those distinctions between the genders as such, but reflecting back on media I can see that distinction. It was considered that darker skin tones is associated with less sophistication and is more sexualized (according to the chapter). Thinking back, and I don’t have statistics for this, this was kinda the same in Indian cultures. South India is closer to the equator and thus it’s hotter there. Generally, South Indians tend to have more melanin in their skin to accommodate for increase of sun exposure (meaning they have darker skin). North Indians, while exposed to lots of sun as well, are lighter skinned because there isn’t as much sun (overall, less melanin in the skin). In a lot of Indian movies I have seen, there isn’t many dark skinned Indian girls portrayed as the leads (or males for that matter). They’re maybe extras or side characters, but not much. Growing up, I heard conversations from my dad’s side of the family (my Indian side, North Indian). People from South India are considered a lot differently to North Indians–some north Indians consider South Indians as dirty or bordering on uncivilized (which I never really understood). It was almost an insult–from aunties: who are you friends with? Oh, they’re South Indian (with a shake of the head). I haven’t experienced much of this recently, but it’s still sad to see it happening. Back to the chapter, on thin=healthy, I think about this a lot. Freshmen year (high school) in health class, my teacher said, do not make this mistake: you could look healthy on the outside but not actually be healthy as looks are deceiving. It honestly scared me. A lot of media focuses on fat free diet plans/exercises and while that’s good to make “healthy” weight (or to simply not be considered obese), it doesn’t always guarantee healthy individuals. I think I look fairly average, but I don’t think I have the best eating habits (which worry me). Someone who, say, eats better than me (a healthier diet) could maybe have more weight than I do (that doesn’t mean I’m healthier than them).

On Becoming Male — Henslin (H)

Reading through this, it reminded of an incident that happened when I was maybe in middle school. My aunt and younger cousin was visiting my family for the weekend or so. My younger cousin is a little boy and at the time of this event, he was maybe 5 or 6. My youngest sister is a year older than him, so at the time she was about 6 or 7. My youngest sister, while she had some pink and purple tops (generally considered “girly” clothes), she also had what would either be considered “boy clothes” or unisex. There was this one shirt in particular–a navy blue mickey mouse shirt. It can easily be found in the boys section at Target or something, and no one in my family minded that my sister wore it (it wasn’t too “boy-ish” to the point where my sister would protest to wearing it, so let’s say it was a unisex). I think my mom was just happy she bought the shirt on clearance. Anyway, my cousin spilt something on his shirt or something like that. He needed a new shirt and only my youngest sister was about this size. We decided to give him the mickey mouse shirt since it was probably the closest that we’d assume was of his liking. He very adamantly refused the shirt and cried quite a bit about it. We didn’t force I’m to change, all in all we felt bad we couldn’t offer him a change of clothes. I remember distinctly thinking that my family should have more “boy” clothes in case something like this happened again (most of what my cousin was upset about was that my sister wore the shirt and hence it was considered a “girl’s” shirt). Thinking back on it, there was nothing about the shirt itself that was “girly” and I don’t think I should have thought to have more “boy” clothes around (I only have sisters). In the “And the Twain Shall Never Meet” section, the first line was insightful. Boys don’t think about being masculine, they just are themselves/they’re just being. It highlights how boys have more freedom to act as they wish without those constraints (on the flip sides, girls constantly have to think about their actions). Also, it’s mentioned how boys “shame sissies” and they only accept “tomboys” up to a certain point. It’s explained that the boys get more boundaries after puberty, but I found it interesting to see how quickly young boys turn on those unlike them (which might be the same for young girls).

On Becoming Female — Eder (H)

When the author mentioned the parts of cheerleading–about girls always having to wearing a smile–I think about other activities as well. Cheerleading is difficult to do, one has to remain cheerful and supportive at all times (which can easily get exhausting). In other physical activities and things, there’s that same expectation. The expectation is girls have to smile, be cheerful, look pretty, etc in all that they do (which is very exhausting and restraining). This connects to the ranking that was discussed. To be high on the ranking, you have to look great all the time (even though people’s attractiveness is subjective and out of the person of question’s control; also girls shouldn’t be ranked at all). As discussed in this section as a whole, girls think way more about their appearances than boys do (as compared to the previous section). It appears that girls negatively criticized each other as well (if there was “too much” or something or “not enough” of something else) showing that if you were not what you were “supposed” to be, then you were somewhat separated from the group. With girls, however, it seems that nothing they do is considered okay (essentially, girls are criticized for everything regarding appearance). Additionally, girls are sexualized from a young age and that is equally disgusting and alarming.

Sexuality and Gender — Thorne and Luria (H)

The authors mentioned about boys wanting to break more rules and often break more rules in a group (group of boys). This is a very clear distinction between girls and boys as girls focus more on cooperation (as stated in this section). What was interesting about the boys dynamic–regarding the “dirty” talk that lots of boys make–I didn’t think about the arousal and it being a group thing. It’s odd to think about. Also, back onto the groups of boys breaking rules, I’m interested that the authors connected it to anonymity. Anonymity is very powerful as it you’re identity from your actions (making it easier to break rules when you’re in a group since the identity shifted to be of the group and not you). I recognized this so much throughout school. Boys were okay, on their own. When having a partner with a boy in class (just one), it was okay. They were respectful and pleasant (for the most part). That same boy with all of his friends–he’s a completely different person.

But What Do You Mean? — Tannen (H)

Immediately, I related to the apology section. There are so many incidences where I say I’m sorry and most of the time I don’t really have anything to be sorry for. I just say it, at this point it’s like a filler. Sometimes I say it just in case I made someone upset. When I hear it from someone else–one time I watched this movie where this girl apologized to her boyfriend for something that was completely not her fault–I get so upset. I would think why in the world would they apologize and then I think, well maybe if I were in that situation I would do it too (which then prompts me to remember to stop apologizing so frequently). This is the same with the following examples they provided. Sometimes I don’t really mind acting that way, but other times I do. I didn’t really think how “automatic” my responses were and perhaps how sensitive I really am (as other girls probably feel the same).

The Importance of Being Beautiful — Katz (H)

I didn’t really think people used (knowingly or not) appearance so much in decisions. I knew that at least sometimes, more beautiful people get away with things, but I didn’t think it happened as frequently as it apparently does. Additionally, I didn’t realize that beauty was so closely associated with innocence. It makes me think of how many decisions have I subconsciously made based off of others appearance. Actually, I remember this one time. I was on a school trip to Italy (I was a sophomore, but there was a range of high school students). My group consisted of two schools in my city. There was a second group from Maine that had mainly juniors and seniors. I remember there was one senior girl, she looked very sweet and innocent looking (she was pretty, but overall gave off that vibe). At the end of the trip, another friend (who mingled more with the other people of the group) she found out that the boy this girl was dating was supposedly selling/doing drugs and everyone was doing drugs (this is all based off of what someone else told me so who knows). Anyway, my friend and I were really in shock because she seemed “too innocent” to do something like that. So, I retract my statement. I guess I do make a lot of assumptions based on appearances as well. In terms of grades in schooling in particular, I didn’t think they were so biased on appearances. I would hope that doesn’t happen.

Women in the Military — Miller (H)

I like how the author identified “gender harassment” as a possibility and how it is distinct from “sexual harassment.” I can see how perhaps women would say that nothing was really “wrong” per se, since there wasn’t any sexual harassment. Giving the category of gender harassment allows for those concerns to be brought to the surface and talked about instead of pushed away as insignificant (it gives women a voice, essentially, which I appreciate). The experiences of women in the military that are discussed in the chapter (being called a “slut” or “dyke” based on the amount of relationships/sexual partners they had or the rumor of “sleeping their way to the top”) are very much so similar to the experiences of women in any area where there’s a significant hierarchy of power (I think). For example, in a work/business setting (perhaps something more male dominated), I wouldn’t be surprised if the results were the same. Thinking about it while reading, it seems odd that this would occur in a military setting. I think there are areas where it’s okay to joke around, but all the name calling? When the author mentioned the how a young women was pulled aside and told by the commander that she was sleeping around, the girl was justly surprised. The military works in teams and they focus (or should) on being one unit, working together. It seems to go against that notion to single out a soldier like that (female or not). It’s upsetting that gender harassment and rape happens to female officers when the whole picture should focus on working together (and it’s upsetting that a majority of the male officers are so sexist; I’m not surprised but it’s still upsetting).

Toy Store Observation — RE

For this observation, I looked at Walmart’s online selection. At first, they seemed to be doing okay in terms of being gender neutral. They had toys like jigsaw puzzles, board games, legos (or other building games), and outside games that weren’t clearly advertised for one sex. On the covers of the sections, there were both girls and boys playing with the toys and there wasn’t apparent color differences. Scrolling further down, however, things changed. There was a sections called “take care of a baby” that had baby dolls with bottles, diapers, etc and everything was colored pink. On the cover, there was two little girls dressed in pink dresses. Also, looking at the filtering column on the side, there was an option to shop by gender. The boys section consisted of toy trucks, legos, outdoor-ish toys (drones, bikes, remote controlled cars), and action figures (with bendable arms/legs). In the girls section, there were legos (same category as the one in the boys section), baby care dolls, doll collections, and mostly items that were indoor toys (arts and crafts, pretend play, building sets, dolls and doll houses, and electronic pets). There were more toys in both categories, but I listed most of them. Overall, most of the girls sections was pinks and purple (playing on the theme that “pink is for girls” as “blue is for boys”) and majority of the girls toys were centered around taking care of something or making something (cooking, etc). The boys section had more blues and greens in the toy designs and offered more outdoor toys (drones, bikes, etc).

Counting Beauty — RE

For this assignment, I looked at Harper’s Bazaar fashion website. On the front cover they have about 50 pictures alone on the first page (various articles attached and things) as well as more sub sections with less recent articles that have their own pictures. For the purpose of this assignment, I mainly looked at the first page. On the first page, there was two pictures that were object-focused (shoes, clothes). In all the rest of the pictures, there was at least 1 woman (save for 2–those two had one male). 14 of the pictures had one man (to clarify: 12 pictures depicted both male and females, two depicted just males). The majority of pictures had women (based off of those numbers, approximately 34 had only women). Around 20 pictures depicted people of color (with about 15 depicting blacks, and for the other 5 it was harder to determine what race was being depicted). As a side note, I do not know the people’s race or ethnicity, the numbers were only estimates based on what I assumed. Moving forward, there were no East Asian people depicted in any of the pictures (I think I could determine that much, but I could be wrong). Out of all the pictures, there was only one with someone who had noticeable body fat. Most of the people depicted were white women of average weight showing that that appears to be ideal beauty (light skinned and thin). There was a bit of diversity, but not nearly enough to represent everyone (of various races and ethnicities and of weight). I think I kinda expected the pictures depicted to be more inclusive, however, it’s been like this for a long time, so I can’t say I’m surprised.

White Wedding/Marriage and the Family — Ch 8 (JCB)

The very first line, the author provided a statistic–about 80% of Americans will get married at least once in their lifetime (mainly: most Americans believe they’ll get married one day). I think about marriage from time to time. Mainly, I don’t really see myself getting married (which is not to say I won’t think about it down the line). A lot of people I know share similar thoughts. The idea of marriage is so far away. I know the author is only saying that most Americans will get married and isn’t indicating when those marriages would occur (because that wasn’t the point), but I can’t help thinking of it. At one point, getting married really young was normal (right out of high school, during high school, etc), but now people don’t get married until they’re maybe in their thirties (and won’t have kids–if they choose so–until later). Most people that I know want to focus on establishing their careers and life first before dedicating their time elsewhere. This idea kinda touches on the topic of what the book/tv show The Hand Maiden’s Tale mentions (about fewer and fewer babies, but the book states it’s due to lack of fertility). A little off topic, but it’s where my thoughts strayed (I wrote that last bit before I got to the point of the chapter discussing it). On to the concept of weddings themselves. In my personal experience, everyone I knew advised me not to have a big wedding and instead save up for a house and other things. I have to agree with them and it would feel weird to me to spend so much money on one night alone (depending on the ceremonies, it could be more than one night, but even more expensive).

The American Family — Coontz (H)

In the beginning of this section, Coontz mentions how many people think that it’s currently worse in America than it was, say, a hundred years ago (which she states is not true). I think it kind of goes along with the popular idea that seems to be floating around. A lot of people make statements along the line of, “I was born in the wrong era” or “I should’ve been born 100 years ago,” etc. I don’t really know why this is so popular because, like the author highlighted, life was challenging back then (arguably more so) but in a different way to the challenges today. I think people think they want to live in a time where the problem is “simply” one thing and not deal with the complexity of todays problems, but in actuality it’s all problems (soe more life-threatening than others). I think the author made an interesting point, though, regarding the increased change in family dynamics as compared to the lack of change in institutions to accommodate for it.

Wedding Dreams — RE

When I was about 10 or so, I started thinking about weddings. Maybe younger than that. I didn’t really think about partners, I thought of the event itself. Mainly, the dress, flowers, food, decorations, and festivities. I grew up in a mixed household (my mom’s side being Catholic and my dad’s side being either Sikh or Hindhu), so when I thought about weddings, I was very confused. I didn’t know what type I wanted–a Catholic wedding with a white dress or a traditional Indian wedding with a red lengha. I got really upset thinking about it, to be honest. I didn’t want to offend either of my parents by picking one or the other and if I wanted to invite both sides of my family, I didn’t want anyone to feel out of place (which I assumed they would). When I was in middle school, I thought of it less. In high school, I decided I didn’t really care. I wanted to focus on myself and I decided that when I am ready to get married (if I’m ready), I’ll worry about it then. On my dad’s side, weddings area a big deal. There are multiple ceremonies involved, but the most important (as I saw it) is when the daughter is given away to the groom (normally, she’s moving out of her parents house and says good bye to all of her family). On my mom’s side, it isn’t so focused on. I think of my mom’s side as more “americanized” for lack of a better word. This means, people hold up more individualistic ideals (women are more independent). For women on my mom’s side, it’s common to move out and get your own apartment (without a husband). On my dad’s side, where things are more traditional, it’s less common (it is possible though). Since I grew up in America, I tend to think more independently and have more individualistic ideals than, say, my cousins who grew up in India. The female and male gender roles are something I thought about when thinking of marriage. I think I stopped thinking of marriage when I was younger because I knew the stereotypes of it (the heteronormativity aspect of marriage and also how men were the ones who had jobs where as women stayed home and does housework). I didn’t want to be the stay at home mom type–I wanted to have a job. Mainly, I didn’t want to feel constrained and I think when I was younger, I thought that marriage was constraining.

Eating Your Friends is the Hardest — Henslin (H)

The Pathology of Imprisonment — Zimbardo (H)

This experiment is really famous in the realm of psychology and it demonstrates how powerful roles are in human societies. The fact that the participants of the experiment accepted their roles of authority (a third of them had done but the “good” officers didn’t exactly stop the “bad” ones) explains how much context and social situation matter for people’s behavior. I think the experiment also reflects on the idea that everyone likes to assume how they’d act in a certain (maybe tough) situation, but no one actually know unless they’re in it. Milgram’s electric shock study also displayed the obedience people had (in an attempts, originally, to explain the Holocaust). Accepting the role of prisoner in Zimbardo’s experiment also contributes to the idea of learned helplessness–you accept you’re position as inferior in that circumstance and you believe that there’s nothing you can do to change it. I agree with Zimbardo’s final statements about caring. When people come out of prison, there’s no support system that helps them integrate back into society. It’s almost guaranteed that they’d go back into prison. In California, it’s called the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Focusing in on the rehabilitation aspect, rehab is meant to help people get better and to, most importantly, stay out of prison. Despite this, recidivism remains relative high in California (I think it has one of the highest rates, if I don’t recall). There simply isn’t enough programs or support for ex-cons meaning the cycle repeats itself over and over.

On Being Sane in Insane Place — Rosenhan (H)

Police Accounts of Normal Force — Hunt (H)

Adapted Joyce Johnson Assignment — RE

The one person I distinctly remember thinking was “weird” recently was my neighbor from down the street. I feel really bad saying this, but I did think it. This neighbor lives down the street from me and our families haven’t really spoken (my dad once bought the kids that lived their ice cream from the truck and the neighbors mom came to talk to us, but that’s about it). Back to our neighbor, he’s about mid 40s and male. Around 7 in the morning, he was pacing up and down our street (but pausing frequently outside the house across the street from mine). He appeared to be on the phone and very upset since he was cussing loudly and almost yelling into a phone (with headsets on). Two houses on our street were getting construction done so there were various other trucks around the street. I thought it was weird that the neighbor was all the way down the street (in across the street from us), yelling about something on the phone, but I didn’t think it was too odd. There was a tow truck pulling a car, coming up the street (I don’t remember if it was this neighbors car or not) and I don’t think this car had anything to do with the construction going on in the street. Naturally, I assumed our neighbor was upset that his car was being towed and called whoever to deal with it. I didn’t exactly appreciate that he was yelling so loudly so early in the morning, but it was okay (I guess). What made me think he was a bit weird, was when he did it again and again the following days (about two weeks he done this). He never done anything like this before this event (I barely saw him even, only when he drives down the street occasionally passing our house). The following days, there was no tow truck. He was pacing up and down the street, angrily talking to someone on the phone (around the same time in the morning) and he almost always stopped for a bit at the house across from mine. After a few days, it changed. Instead, he was just pacing and blasting music from his phone. It was really loud, but I thought he was just walking. The weird thing was that he had headphones over his ears and he was still blasting music. It randomly stopped and I hadn’t seen him do it since. It’s not too crazy, now that I’m looking back at it though. I think it I focused more on it since it woke me up each time. I think the “norm” being broken was along the lines of not talking loudly in public and keeping things about one’s personal life private (again, he was yelling a lot and cussing about something going on). I noticed this norm before on the bus I used to take to school. If someone answered a phone call, they kept their voices low –just enough for the person on the other end to hear them. Mostly, they didn’t publicize their issues (although some people did occasionally, most didn’t). It definitely raises some eyebrows from onlookers when you break this norm (like how I thought my neighbor was a bit weird), but it’s not something you would, say, call the cops on. I think with this norm, most adults know not to talk so loudly in public (respecting other’s peace and keeping private matters to themselves), but kids not so much. Given that my neighbor is an adult, I would’ve expected to behave accordingly. I think there are situations in which is behavior would be rational. If he was at maybe the DMV or maybe a customer service area (an area where people typically get really upset at or where you can go to to solve problems) then his behavior would appear more rational. The situation and context matters a lot. For example, it would be normal to yell when talking to your friend at a rock concert and it wouldn’t if you were at a library. I think if I was really upset about something (to the point where I would blow up on someone, which is unlikely), I might not think I’m crazy (since I would think my frustration/anger/etc is justified). I feel really bad thinking that my neighbor’s actions was weird. I could tell my dad thinks of him as really strange now (I know if he were to try to talk to my dad, my dad would be less neighborly–he wouldn’t be mean, just not as open as he normally might have been). When I think of it like that, I feel bad because I don’t know what my neighbor was going through and I know I shouldn’t treat someone differently just because of that. My neighbor seemed pretty angry, so I might keep in mind that anger (mainly: don’t do something to upset my anger, no matter how small). Overall though, I doubt I would ever talk to my neighbor because I don’t really have a reason too.

Kindergarten as Academic Boot Camp — Gracey (H)

Every time I think about school–especially elementary and high school–I think about how regulated it is. Like the author discusses, from kindergarten kids are learning the role of the student. In a way, it’s really restrictive. And it’s teaching how to behave in society–obeying to authority figures, asking for permission, etc. The students are expected to follow a strict schedule and where as sometimes a strict schedule is good for some individuals (where lack of structure could cause “laziness” for lack of abetter word), it can severely damage the creativity of other individuals. Like the author explains, free thinking is limited and as obedience is more engraved in the heads of young students.