Gender and Sexual Orientation - Personal Statement Example

? Info] Worksheet Number Four: Gender and Sexual Orientation Question Sexism Sells In the video developed by the Women’s Media Center, the current treatment of women by the media in broadcasts and other shows was highlighted. The greatest point raised by the video was that sexism has become the new trend in the broadcast media. This popularity of sexism stems from the idea that “sexism sells”. However, the creators of the video disagreed that sexism sells, and that discrimination of females is still very pervasive in today’s society. More specifically, the WMC stated that “they were not buying [sexism]”. As for me, I agree with the video. When I first watched some of the clips in the television, some of them appeared hilarious. Indeed, at first, I did not realize that they were sexist. However, after viewing the video, I realized that some of the comments indeed, were rather discriminatory, especially when the broadcasters labeled Hillary Clinton within the stereotype of a nagging wife. I am not essentially a feminist but I strongly believe that some of the comments by the broadcasters were stupid and unfair. In fact, they displayed some sort of microaggression wherein it was as if they were projecting their negativities about women towards a single person who, at that time, happened to be Hillary Clinton. As portrayed in the video, I totally agree that sexism has now evolved to take a more insidious and subtle form. Perhaps the sadder part is that some of the discrimination are unintentional, and some are even unaware that they are not doing any form of sexism. Question 2: Kimmel: “Bros before Hos” The quote to be analyzed in this section is the one in Page 55: “There is only one complete unblushing male in America: a young, married, white, urban, northern, heterosexual… Any male who fails to qualify may view himself as unworthy, incomplete, and inferior”. This quote can be found in the section involving the psychological development of boys, or where the Guy Code Begins. This quote struck me the most among all the other parts of the readings in “bros before Hos” because of the implications and effects of such an event in a male’s life. Such a system that works even in the earliest days of the boy’s development is something that reflects the sad state of today’s society. The readings in this section also made me ponder about the upbringings of a male relative. I have a distant male cousin who lived in a farm with his family. Their family rarely goes out of the countryside and when we came to visit, my cousin would often be forbidden from playing with us, because he had to learn to be a man and the process of doing so does not allow for playing. In addition, during a time when my cousin fell and broke an arm, he was not allowed to cry or else he would be called a sissy. From these, I realized that somehow, there is a burden among males to conform to the society’s definition of what a male is. Still, the fact that males have to be “boxed-in” into a certain criteria before they can even begin to feel “macho” is rather absurd. Thus, I believe that in this sense, females are a little bit luckier. Indeed, although females have their own stereotypes that they have to fall into, they are freer in discovering their identities because societal norms allow then to reveal much more emotions than those permitted for males. Females are also now given more flexibility in the choice of the roles they want to play in the society, wherein they can now function in roles that were previously exclusively dominated by males. It is also sad to realize that as developments can be observed in the world’ perception of females, the males’ perception of themselves remained the same. Therefore, improvement is need so that males may be able as well to create more flexible definitions of flexibility. Question 3: Video Analysis (Impressions) The video on 30 Days “A Straight Man in a Gay World” is an interesting film. I have known long before that the arguments against being gay stems from the verses in the bible, but I did not realized how close-minded religious people can be when it comes to homosexuality. Granted, some homosexuals are rather too liberated for my taste but I believe that they do not deserve to be condemned to hell or ostracized. Indeed, I was struck by the statement of a Pastor, wherein he said that “all homosexuals are going to hell, and they deserved to be informed that they are going to Hell”. This same pastor, who is supposed to be a holy man stated that “Homosexuality is not a civil right. It is a monstrous sin against God Almighty”. His statements made me angry somehow because I believe it is hardly fair for him to judge people just because of their sexual orientation. To be a judge of who goes to Hell is in itself a blasphemy and a violation of God’s orders to “Love thy neighbors”. In fact, I agree with another interviewee in the video, who stated that members of the LGBTQ community are as much in need of God as heterosexual individuals. Therefore, Christians and other individuals who claim to be religious that in order to be truly Christian, they must stop erroneously and judging condemning people. Question 4: Video Analysis (Triggers and Comfort Zone) One of the greatest triggers for a conflict with Ryan (the heterosexual individual who stayed with a gay guy) is the condemnation by the Bible of gay individuals. Indeed, most of the conflicts in the film arose whenever Ryan would mention that God forbids homosexuality. Even as Ryan went through his thirty days, he remained adamant that gay people are twisting the Word of God just so they could justify and condone their sinfulness. No matter how respectfully Ryan tried to explain his views to others, he was bound to create enemies in the community because the community was largely gay. Still, another trigger of conflicts for Ryan is touch. This was something Ryan had pointed out in the earlier parts of the video, wherein he stated that “as long as they don’t touch [him], they would go along fine. However, during one of the scenes, another conflict arose when Ryan was touched by some gays when he was dancing shirtless in gay bar because of the influence of alcohol. These events showed that Ryan had very limited comfort zone when it comes to gays, and he was even trying to avoid any form of contact from them at the beginning. This can be rather expected from him, who grew up condemning gays as immoral. Question 5: Video Analysis (LGBTQ Multicultural Issue) The LGBTQ community is perhaps one of the subcultures of the society that experiences the most criticism and racism from the mainstream population. Problems occur for gay individuals not only in the form of ostracism, but also in discrimination and lack of opportunities to excel. Indeed, most gays are still being called derogatory names and a lot more are still being beaten for being effeminate. Another problem encountered by homosexuals is that some opportunities are not opened for them because of their sexual orientation. Some accounts speak of gays being passed for promotions, being laid off, or even being abused in the work place, in universities, churches, and other settings. Most importantly, the greatest hurdle that homosexuals have to face is the reaction of their families when they “come out” as gays. Most gays narrated being disowned by their families, while a select few are accepted and loved. These problems are a multicultural issue because they are experienced by almost all gays, no matter the race. Certainly, every person belonging to whatever race or ethnicity can become a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. However, it is also a multicultural issue because some cultures are much more severe in punishing gays, such as Islamic cultures. Question 6: Gender Microaggression In terms of gender microaggression, I was most interested on the section involving “Second Class Citizenship”. Under this concept, females are often viewed as inferior or second class citizens, and priviliges granted to men are not provided for them. In fact, this concept also involves environmental, behavioral, or verbal communications implying that women do not merit the privileges, benefits, and opportunities provided to men. Some examples of this form of gender microaggression involves the following: a) women are given less desirable tasks in a place of employment, women are served only after males have been served, or when females are seated in undesirable places or locations when other settings are obviously available. Personally, I realize that I have observed several gender microaggressions around me. One time, I observed a female friend being bullied by males just because she wanted to play with them some soccer. My friend was good in the said sport and her record may actually be better than some of the males in the soccer varsity. Although some members of the team would allow her to play, the more “masculine” members of the team would taunt her about being a girl and tell her to “stick to cooking and cleaning”. One time, this same friend also mentioned that the University’s male teams are given more benefits than the female teams. Indeed, like the example in the question, male groups had better equipment and more frequent uniform changes than the female teams. When I was witnessing these occurrences, I did not know that they were forms of gender microaggression. I knew the males’ actions were somehow not fair but I did not know that are termed as gender microaggression. This agrees with the idea that microagression can be subtle and those doing it are hardly aware that they are committing gender microaggressions. Question 7: LeVay: Chapters One and Two The concept to be analyzed can be found in the second chapter involving the need for biology in explaining homosexuality. Specifically, I was interested in the claim that nonbiological theories have a lot of shortcomings in the way that they analyze and explain the concept of sexual orientation, as well as the factors that affect it: “these weaknesses spur the search for other biological explanations [of sexual orientation]”. The first two chapters of LeVay’s book discussed the biological aspect of sexual orientation. As mentioned earlier, I will focus on the second chapter of the book, although I will be deriving some details from the introduction and the first chapter for the discussions. The second chapter of LeVay’s book delved on a critique of the psychoanalytical theories attempting to explain sexual orientation, and it also analyzed learning theories, and several others. By poking holes into the arguments presented by these theories, the author was able to establish the need for more biological bases of sexual orientation. The chosen quote caught my attention foremost because it was interesting and it was novel. Indeed, it was an idea I have not yet heard before: there is actually a biological basis for being gay. This idea made me ponder the numerous details that I did not know about sexual orientation. At first, I though sexual orientation simply involved the person’s sexual preferences, or their choices of the gender of their partner, but I came to realize that sexual orientation was much more complex that simple preferences. Still, most importantly, this new science provided a support for most gays’ claim that they were “born homosexual”, and that it was not their upbringing that made them gay. In fact, when I mentioned this reading to a gay acquaintance, he rejoiced about finding a proof that people can be born gay. Nevertheless, an issue I have with LeVay’s books is that why is there a need to explain, and even justify why people are gay, or why they are not? The world is changing so fast and the different explanations provided before are more than enough to explain homosexuality, that people do not really need another justification for being gay. Indeed, a very confident gay friend once said that you do not need the affirmation of the larger society in order to be happily gay, and you certainly do not need to explain to people why you are gay. He said, “I am gay because I’m gay, just like you are a human being because you are a human”. Question 8: Sexual Orientation Microaggression As much as microagression can occur in gender-roles, it can also occur based on people’s sexual orientation. Indeed, gays and members of the LGBTQ community are among the subcultures of the society most commonly ostracized and discriminated. Homosexuals encounter numerous problems in their career, education, and even in their daily lives. These problems can be as subtle as the silent deprivation of opportunities and microaggression, or they can be as overt as verbal and physical abuse. One of the greatest microaggrresion experienced by homosexuals is the assumption of inferiority and/or immorality. Indeed, most members of the straight community, especially those who claim to be religious, are so quick to judge homosexuals as immoral, dirty, sinful, and even inferior. Sexual orientation microaggression is also much more complex than gender microagressions because the former levels the field between males and females, wherein gay males can be discriminated as much as, and sometimes even more than, gay females. In sexual orientation microaggression, biases and personal prejudices towards gays affect the quality of relations and communication between individuals with varying sexual orientations. In here, gays are most commonly overlooked, and seen as powerless, unworthy of recognition, and even unimportant. Moreover, in sexual orientation microaggression, the contributions, talents, characters, and abilities of homosexuals are hardly recognized, and the credit is sometimes even given to others who are undeserving. I have once experienced sexual orientation microagression when a gay friend and I went into a restaurant for lunch. My friend was a cross-dresser and he had a personality that was loud and that easily catches the attention of others. We came earlier than a heterosexual couple but we were asked to wait for a while as the staff seated the other couple first. When it was our turn to sit, we were directed towards the table nearest the comfort room. My friend wanted to complain but I stopped him for the sake of diplomacy. When we ordered food, the waiter did not even look at my friend to confirm his order, and we had to wait so long before the food was delivered. I also observed that three of the other diners that entered after us were served earlier than us. This experience somehow irritated me and we would have left for another restaurant had I not been tired walking. At the time, I knew we were experiencing some form of discrimination, although I was not aware that it was a form of microaggression. Indeed, even though I was not gay, I went through the same experience as my gay friend, and this helped me realize the struggles that the LGBTQ community has to go through almost everyday. So, in the end, after our meal, I realized that we needed to stand up for our rights. I went up to the counter asked for the manager, as well as the waiter who served as and in the most polite manner possible, I related to them that what they made us experience was discrimination, and that it was wrong. The manager gave an apology and promised that it would not be repeated. Sadly, the waiter just stood in the corner, with not one bit of remorse. Read More