Deviance

This week we talked about deviance. Deviance means someone going against social norms. We read an article deviance. In the article the Saints were looked as good well behaved kids, but they committed crimes and were able to get away because they were able to have the resources to get out of trouble. I don't mean directly to the people, but the property of others and public places. You wouldn't think that those who got good grades would do those things. They committed more crimes than the Roughnecks. The Roughnecks were the real stereotypical bad kids. They didn't do good in school and committed crimes. Although they did commit crimes, they did far less crimes than the Saints. The Saints were richer than the Roughnecks so they were able to afford the nice clothes and nice home. The Roughnecks were the opposite. They couldn't afford nice clothes and because of that they fit the stereotypical gang look.

We were also asked to do a random act of kindness. I helped a mother and her son get their car from the rain. It was pouring I had a family umbrella with me in my mom's car. I went to the market to buy something and when I returned to return the cart, I saw a mom and her son standing under the roof of the store trying to escape the rain. I told her she can get under my umbrella to get to her car and she first  said it's fine but I insisted. I helped them get to their car and her mom thanked me. It felt really good to know that small action was able to help someone.

Bocce Ball

This past weekend I spent my Sunday volunteering for the Special Olympics Bocce Ball from 7:30AM-5:30PM. It was really fun except for the fact that I got sunburned on my face. It was really weird because it was really cold and windy, but the sun was out and apparently burning my face. Anyways, overall, I really enjoyed it and met so many new people.

I was in group N and my teammates and I switched the roles of duties. It was kind of confusing at first on how the game worked, but after two to three games we got the hang of it. I was worried that the whole day was going to be dark, cloudy, and raining, but thank goodness it didn't. The ground was really muddy and the bocce balls were muddy and wet. 

After two to three hours of playing, I observed the players and couldn't help but feel a nice warm feeling. It made me think that the athletes weren't afraid to act the way they wanted and express their thoughts. They didn't feel limited and restricted, but just wanted to have fun. I compared them to people I meet at school or at work and it was completely different. We don't express our thoughts even if they are good thoughts. Some people feel sorry for those with disabilities, but I kind of felt a bit jealous. I care more about how people will think of me instead of freely expressing myself.

Masculinity

This week in sociology, we talked about masculinity and what it means to a guy. When you think of masculinity you think of a muscular guy. Masculinity by definition is maleness: the properties characteristic of the male sex. Characteristics of the male sex could involve many different things, but society (men) think it's about the physical appearance of a male. 

If you only look at this guy's face, you'd think "I better not mess with him because he looks really tough." Now if you look at the whole picture you'd think "Hey he looks like an affectionate guy." Well maybe not affectionate, but you wouldn't think the same way you did the first time. This picture shows both a tough and soft side of the guy, but that one softness has made him a failure of masculinity. Masculinity has become a either you have it or you don't. Even if you have a little bit of soft side to yourself, then you're not masculine. 

Boys and men try to prove that their masculine to each other. That is suppose to make you a man. Why do you need to know if someone is masculine or not? How does that affect you? 

Just a question to the viewers. Would you consider this man masculine? Don't mind the winder on his back, but just look at him. Do you think he's masculine? He's got the strong physical appearance, but he's doing a "ladies" work.

Media Portray Humans(Objects, Things)

This week we talked about how the media has shaped us from as young as a few months. People think all girls must like pink and all boys like blue so they make girls play or wear things associated with pink. For the picture below I just typed in "girls bedroom" and this popped up. All of the picture of little girls bedroom were all pink. There were only girly things and nothing that would make you think it wasn't a child's bedroom.

When I typed in "boys bedroom" this popped up. While the girls room looks more feminine, the boys room looks more masculine.

Media has shaped us to think that girls should be girly and guys more masculine. What does that even mean? Why is it so bad for humans to be imperfect? Women might've got the right to vote but that didn't help our self-esteem. Men are just as much victims as women are too. Men can't be weak and small. They have to be strong and charismatic. What would happen if our men were weak and small? The world will end? No! 

                                                                                                                                                                               

Little kids who watch their favorite Disney movies will not walk away without thinking that the guy saves the day, and not the girl. Why? Because that's just the way that it has to be.

Disney prince's are characterized so that only they will save the day and get the girl. They have to strong and brave. What's so bad about the girl saving herself?

People say that the children are our future. Do they think that we're going to change things in the future and live a better life? They're the ones raising us and teaching us the ways of life so I don't think that much will be different in the world if we do the same things over and over again. 

Nature and Nurture

This week we talked about Nature and Nurture and we also watched a movie on child neglect. I was mind boggled when I saw the sizes of a neglected child's brain and one that wasn't neglected. I usually thought that the brain would just grow no matter what impacted us but I was proven wrong. The children that were neglected had a significantly smaller and less filled brain than those who weren't neglected.

It was really interesting to me how chewing food and the different kinds of food was learned. You'd think that we'd already know how to chew and understand that it's ok to swallow larger sizes of food. I use to think that when parents make the weird funny face when feeding their kids were just weird, it made me think that the baby's would actually be imitating what the parents are doing. It looks silly to an outsider but it's actually helpful. Also this way the baby is interacting with their parents in a loving way.

We're born with genes and certain traits, but the rest is all influenced from our environment. The minute we are taken out of our mothers womb we are being influenced by our surroundings. This made me think about crying. We would cry if we were hurt, but then we would have to know what feelings we feel would be right for crying. We wouldn't know if we have to cry or respond to a certain feeling if we weren't taught or if we never observed it.

This led to me think if were to touch something hot or cold, would we react involuntarily? Or do we act voluntarily because we've done it so much from early age?
Danielle didn't know how to respond exactly when she fell down and scraped her knee. Would we be like that as well if we weren't taught to cry in that situation?

I really liked this lesson because it really got me thinking about what kind of person we would turn out if we received little love or lots of love. There are a lot of what ifs. For those that were raised by animals, did they understand how to communicate with them? So curious.