My Comments on Posts for Week #4

To "Sky"-

Maria's Blog for Gender and Communication said...

Hey thanks for shedding light on how even accomplished women are portrayed. One would think that if a woman was professional or talented, she would at least be talked about and referred to as intelligent in some form. However male producers, and maybe even female producers, still can portray their female workers in negative ways in order to get higher ratings. The very over used saying "sex sells" remains true and continually demeans both sexes in order to get a few bucks. (to "Sky")

To Mario- Thank you for your comment on my page, I appreciated it. As for your eureka moment, It is wonderful that you are taking your realizations and allowing them to not only fuel new thoughts, but to also lead you to activism! What can be a better way of utilizing what we learn! I understand your desire to want to help your girls conquer sexism as they grow up, as I have a niece and I think about similiar things. I noticed that as I was growing up, my mother never told me that it would be harder for me because I was a female. As a result I excelled in different areas of leadership, never feeling different or less then men. There is something I'm researching called the "stereotype threat" which is a reality in which people react and actually live out a stereotype when they are reminded of it. For example, studies on girls showed that when they were made aware of their gender and that they weren't as good in math as boys (via viewing pictures or filling out a test), they actually scored lower then when they were not subjected to these false realities. This means that what we tell our children, they believe and will live out. I'm sure you will be supportive of your daughters, as I hope to be supportive of my little niece, so she believes she can accomplish anything. My research has also taught me that when we are made explicitly aware of stereotypes example: "you may find that your boy classmates are viewed as being better at math then you, but it is not true it is only a stereotype" we acheive higher marks and don't act within stereotypes. That means there is a fine line between making our children aware of stereotypes and that they can overcome them, to intimidating them with them. I guess figuring all of this out takes time and is the wondrous/difficulty work of life!
Maria

Hi Sarah-
I like that you took what you are learning in class, and discussed it with your boyfriend. I think that's the best way that we learn, by putting things into our own words and discussing them with others. About your opinion that men and women can never be just friends, I may have to agree with you. For in my life, all the circumstances in which I was extremely emotionally intimate with my male friends turned into some sort of romantic relationship. I read before that there are a few things that help people fall in love with eacother: one of them being close proximity. If we spend time with the same friends often, we may at one time or another be attracted to them either in a superficial or real way. What we do with these attractions is a different story! I believe some people remain friends for a long time always denying their feelings for eachother and being with other people in the meantime, while others seem to completely enjoy a fully platonic relationship never acting on wanting more. I have had both relationships and find that it seems more emotionally rewarding to date a friend, but ultimately difficult because the transition from friendship to romantic relationship can be jarring and cause one or both people to lash out.

June 10, 2009 9:13 PM