My 2 Cents

      In class this week we talked about a lot of different topics. Things from rape, to other forms of violence between men and women. I know people that have been victims of sexual assault and been apart of intimate partner violence. I think those were two of the biggest issues that were touched on this week. Both which I have some things I would like to preach about.
          First thing is sexual assault. From the amount of people who reported they have been raped, it is obvious the issue is out of control and really out of the justice system's hands. Keeping in mind there are just as many, to probably 3 times as many people who have been raped and just haven't said anything about it. Some of the people I knew didn't tell anyone but their closest friends and half the time it was years after it happened. Seeing how frequent sexual assault happens I feel the only way to solve the problem is for people to take it into their own hands. Laws aren't going to be good enough. We all have to do our part, do anything through out the day we can do. Whether that's getting people to speak up, spread the awareness, promoting self defense classes for people, or any little thing you can think of. It's one of those issues people have to actively to forth effort in order to stop it.
        Another thing that stuck in my head this week was intimate partner violence. That's another issue only the people themselves can change because that type of violence can be triggered by almost anything. Just depends on the person and what it takes to make them snap. One thing for sure is that if anybody knows what makes you snap, it's probably the person your most intimate with. One reason why is that the person it seems a lot of people take their aggression on, is their boyfriend or girlfriend. I remember days when I used to live with my girlfriend and there were times things got out of hand. I never hit her but she has came close to meeting the floor. I just knew drama with a female wasn't worth me messing my record up.  But intimate partner violence is something I feel has to be addressed at the beginning of a relationship. You can't go into a relationship with the mindset that there will never come a time that you want to knock out your partner. If the issue if addressed at the beginning and there is an agreement made that the both of you will never commit violent acts against each other, then things might be a chance. If you make the agreement then you have to come up with what actions will be taken if the agreement is broken. Whether that means you stay in a relationship or whether you end it. That's just a solution I thought of but I know the issue is bigger than that and more complicated. But I know for sure it can only be stopped if the issue is addressed before people become intimate with each other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjfZaswsbPs

TURN OFF THE DAMN TV, Watch God

      This week in class we discussed the effect that gendered media has on people. How it effects our ideas, actions, and the problems we stress over. One thing we really focused on was how the media portrays beauty. One thing I think is funny about it all is how everyone tries to play the victim of media. People blame the media for them being in the condition they are in. I don't blame the media, I blame YOU. I think that's a big problem today, no one wants to take responsibility for their lives. No one wants to live outside this matrix of reality.
      I remember in kindergarten every morning we had to watch Sesame Street. I HATED that part of class just as much as I hated nap time. Call me a weird kid but I never liked watching something that's telling me how to be me. Sesame Street taught numbers, letters, and how to interact with people. Nap time taught me how to do nothing. But from an early age we are forced into participating in television PROGRAMMING. I'm sure they gave it that name for a reason. The side effect to this programming is being shown today. The problem in our society has never been the media, it has been people's dependency on it. They aren't being taught how to think for themselves when they watch tv, they are being taught how to think. As people get older and have problems arise, they don't sit and think deeply on it to find the ANSWERS IN THEMSELVES, they run to the internet, tv, or a magazine to fix the problem. When I hear about people with eating disorders it makes me sad because they have so much power within them that they don't even know. The television has drove them crazy because they feel like they aren't skinny enough or their skin isn't beautiful. But at the same time they know that the things they see on tv are not real and have been edited. The media doesn't have any power over us, we just give it power. Every time we lash out and tell a company to censor something, we are subliminally telling ourselves that we can't handle seeing certain things because we will believe it. We show we haven't unplugged from the media, that we still use it to construct our lives. Therefore we want to tell people what can go on it. If you can't handle watching television PROGRAMMING with a conscious mind, then you subconsciously will be PROGRAMMED. If you want to free yourself and figure out what you really need to be happy, maybe you should TURN OFF THE DAMN TV. And delete that twitter account of yours, but thats a whole different monster. If we think the media is effecting us bad now, just give it a few years. Tv's are just getting bigger, more channels, and more dimensions and we are just going to keep buying them and feeding our little minds with whatever bulls*** they want to put in there. But we can't blame the drug (tv) for killing us slowly when we keep injecting it (watching it). And for people struggling with weight, stop trying to look like the people on tv and also stop trying to justify reasons for being fat. Just like the media is fake, so is half the food they promote. Focus on being healthy, eating healthy, and being a healthier you. That will make you healthier physically and mentally. Plus, you sure won't loose any weight sitting on your ass watching the tv PROGRAMMING or their magazines. That's what probably got you in that condition now.
    I just feel people have too many mixed messages from the outside of themselves that they focus on 24/7 because they haven't been taught/PROGRAMMED to look inside themselves. If we looked inside ourselves it would change a lot of choices we choose to make and things that influence our bad decisions wouldn't be there. Think now about why you think the things you think. If your answer if because of something other than God, then erase that thought and start over. Rebuild your beliefs if you must, but take control back over your mind and get your life back.
 WATCH BBOOTTHHH AND UNPLUG.....just a little bit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq9Gg7A-YEE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmBymKXgrV4&feature=related

:-0 "You FagGot." .... ;-/ "I Fag Got What?"

     Reading "Dude, Your a Fag" by C.J. Pascoe really brings to light how the word "faggot" effects people. It talks a lot about how the people who are called "faggot" are effected by its negativity. It also highlights on how much it is used because it you can be called a fag for anything from being gay, to just doing something out of the norm of your gender role. To me it just seems like another word made up to once again throw at the people who choose to live life different.
      Homophobia is one of the main roots that the word fag grew from. Homophobia has always been the funniest word I ever heard growing up. I first thought it was a joke that someone made up, now the world has blown it up to the point we treat it like it's some kind of contagious disease. People talk about it like they're getting diagnosed with the shit. I could really care less if someone is gay unless I'm in an uncomfortable setting like a locker room where I know someone might see me naked and like it. But that's just personal I guess. But what do I have to be scared of? I never understood that. We look at gays and other people that do things out of the norm and immediately focus in on them. Instead of opening our Awareness to there Diversity, we just try our best to outcast them like their ways are unacceptable, but the truth is we can't think we are better than anyone if we are ignorant enough to judge other people we don't even know. We don't See through their Minds, or walk in their shoes so we will never know why they feel how they feel about Their Life. But at the same time, we focus in on them because we see someone who probably feels just like we do about things we don't want to do or live by, and they are just strong enough not to let negative reactions from others make them conform to doing it. Everyone does something that they know the rest of the world would view bad if they were caught doing it. So why give others hell just because their secret is out? I'm not saying I haven't seen someone and thought to myself, or said to a friend "That's some faggot a** s***" but at the same time, I don't have any negativity towards the person. They may look like a so called "fag" but I have to respect they aren't afraid to be what they want to be. Not afraid to wear what they want to wear, say what they want to say, and do what they want to do. If that's what a faggot truly consist of then I might be a faggot myself. That is more honorable in my book than changing who you truly are just for the world that doesn't care about your ass as much as you think anyway. The worst person to lie to is Yourself because the moment you do, you loose Yourself. I'd rather stick with my "faggot ass" reputation than to walk around this world Lost and Controlled just Thinking I know something.
     You may think someone is a faggot but he is still your fellow man. People get so much negativity for not conforming to the world, it starts from what we were taught. Things like what our parents say, the media, and the biggest one, religion. But all I can say on that is if you believe anything that can make you loose your connection to the person beside you and make you feel like you are separate from them, then your probably in an illusion anyway. Just think about it. And the scary thing is you can make anyone believe anything if you get certain feelings of theirs involved, and you can control someone if you control what they believe. People should try to have a stronger mindset and not let the fear of being unaccepted or the fear of being called "fag" stop them from being their true selves. How can we ever learn who we really are if we try to cover it up 24/7. And for what, to be accepted by other people covering up their true selves? Instead of trying to fight the problem with the word faggot by focusing in on how bad it effects the people who hear it, shine the light on how the biggest issue in the world isn't the "faggots" its with the people who use it. The people who still fail to see how dumb and controlled they are. Controlled to the point they can look at someone and think THEY have the problem when THEY are the only ones using their minds and letting the voice inside them guide their path instead of letting the environment subconsciously control how they think and view others. I guess all I'm really trying to say is how can you benefit from your own Mind if you let someone else depict how you See things through it. And the high usage of the word fag, just shows how many people can hate others, over some unjustified reason they have in their minds, that what someone else is doing is wrong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InP81ELjdOY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uGFHrSGK-E&feature=related

"It's A woMAN's World"

        In the society that we live in, men have been looked upon as the dominant gender. Some say that men are in power and some say that they have the advantage in the world when compared to women. Depending on your perspective all these things may be true. I personally feel like the biggest way to truly get to the point where men and women are treated equally is to stop comparing them, stop stereotyping, and look more closely at the similarities we have with each other. When we were growing up, society was always pushing its gender roles at us like it was the only way to live. For example, "The act like a man box", which is described by Paul Kivel as the mental "box" that men grow up trying to fit into so they can be looked upon as what society views is a real man. When a boy steps outside of the box he usually will get a negative reaction from people for being out of the norm set up for men. Women also go through this same problem.

          Being told how to act and think because of your gender is taking away from a freedom you were born with. A freedom you are blessed to have as a human being that helps you grow and prosper, your free will. In result it leads to one gender thinking they are more superior to the other. It also makes both genders focus on how different they are and it makes us tend to not see how much we are the same. I feel men and women do and are capable of doing the same things but maybe just in a different way. We can't live without each other, and last time I checked I wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for a woman being in the dominant position for 9 months to give me life. So I know her job on earth is more than to just serve men. Our society can make men and women look at each other as just two different forms of life with totally separate roles, standards, and individual value. I personally feel like we are two different forms of life but we come together to make each other whole. We are equal because we both need each other and every great thing needs balance. 

         If we viewed each other more equally then certain actions people do wouldn't be labeled feminine or masculine. Men wouldn't be called gay for doing something mostly women do. And vice versa. One thing I hate is how people say women belong in the kitchen when I’m the type of man that loves to cook. It doesn’t mean I want to be a women, I just like good food and like to know exactly what’s on my plate. Plus I know a woman likes to eat a meal her man cooked just as much as a man likes to eat a meal his women cooked. The Mythopoetic movement really caught my eye in class because they focus more on men growing not only emotionally but spiritually. When fighting oppression, especially oppression on women in "A Man’s World", open-mindedness is very necessary and I feel that can be achieved if you can deepen men's spirituality and try to expand people's mind. Stopping oppression can't be done by voting or signing a bill. It’s like the world itself, the only way to change it, is by changing the mind of its people which will ultimately change their decisions and actions. We all have to be the change if we want to stop oppression, if we want to be viewed as equals, and if we want to live in society together equally. Men who oppress women just oppress other men because they push men back into that "box" without even recognizing it. We must first change our minds, and then change how we live. Our perception, not what society wants to make us perceive, is reality. So let’s start creating the reality we want to live.

       I wouldn’t call myself a feminist because I may not agree with everything they say and by calling myself a feminist I feel like I’m just throwing myself into another box. I am just me and that’s all I can be, and that perception itself could be the start to solving some of the problems we are facing now.

- Kivel, P. (2007) The act like a man box. In M. Messner (Ed.), Men's Lives, 7th ed. (pp. 148-150). Cranbury, NJ: Pearsons/Allyn & Bacon. 

.