Deviance/ 30 Days

Today in class we watched the show 30 days. Also, we learned about the shocking facts that America has the most amount of people locked up. This fact kind of scares me. While watching the show though, and taking into account that all of the men that were in the prison were there because of drug related crimes or because they were being "deviant" in other ways, I formed a strong opinion. I think that depending on what the crime was, by locking those guys up and resulting to prison, isn't helping them to better themselves. By making them suffer, that's not doing anything to help their problem.If anything, I think it's making matters worse. For those with drug problems and addictions, when they are put in prison, that's like adding oil to the fire. They are going through terrible withdrawal and when they get out and can finally get their fix again, they may turn into an ever bigger drug addict because they are so withdrawn. While it is important to crack down on people for drugs because of the drug epidemic and the severity of drugs, I think we should be more concerned about bringing these problematic people to rehab facilities where they can actually get help instead of throwing them behind bars. Even though people won't change unless they really want to, it could at least be a more effective approach to the problem of putting these people in a prison where they don't belong. They belong either in rehab or an institution.

Teenagers & Socialization

This past week in class we've been discussing socialization and the role of teenagers in our society today. We, teenagers, aren't really defined as adults. We are looked upon solely as "children" going through a change in life, or one may say we are trying to find out who we really are. We are looked down upon and characterized as irresponsible and disobedient. I think I'm a really good example of a girl who could be called an adult, and not be generalized as a teenager. I matured at a very young age because my dad didn't force me, but taught me quite early on the essential responsibilities I would eventually need to have. At just 8 years old, I was doing my own laundry and cleaning the house. He didn't care that I was just a 3rd grader, he cared that it would be of my benefit later on so who cares about the age. My dad never had to tell me to do anything because I would just do it. The typical teenager, as we are generalized, is always being told to clean their rooms or when asked to do their laundry, they may reply with a "I'll do it later" or " I don't know how" and so they consistently put it off, thus resulting in them never really learning how to do their laundry. People look at us as kids that don't know what the real life is like. But like Mr.Sal said in class, then what is this? A fake life? No. It's not. While I can understand the generalizations made about teenagers, I believe there are many exceptions like myself. I don't think we are really given a chance to prove to society what we are capable of because they look down at us like we aren't able to be like adults.

How do we define Masculinity?

As we've been discussing, guys have been shaped to meet the standards of what makes them masculine. I interpret a masculine man as being a big, strong, protective, insensitive human being that works hard and provides for himself. The idea of men needing to meet this standard has led them to prove it through unnecessary actions such as violence. For example, guys often will say to a girl " if he hurts you, I'll kill him" and this is definitely related to the idea that a man believes that by hurting another man they are showing who is more dominant and that feeds their confidence. Also, touching upon the insensitivity aspect, we think of guys as much less emotional than girls. When a guy cries, they're called a big baby or a sissy or something along those lines. Guys tend to hide their emotions because they believe that it will only undermine their masculine identity. For instance, I look at my dad as a real man. He provides for his family, works hard, takes care of all the things men should, he's protective and all that stuff. And his response whenever I play fight with him is " you can't hurt steel" or something toolish like that. Also, I've never seen my dad cry besides for a few instances that were death related. These things tie into the fact that my dad is an example of a man which displays what masculinity means.