Analyzing with Andrea

Gender identity is important to us all. Some are born male with a female soul, others born with a female body with a male soul, while others don't identify was either. This is apart of our identity because it makes us who we are. Some parts of society will never accept these. Same with the terms, masculine feminine, feminine, masculine, or feminine masculine. People believe what you are assigned at birth, that's who you are. You can't explore any different sides of you, you have to be what you were assigned at birth. This is just wrong though, people are allowed to express who they are and explore who they are meant to be. Forcing them to shut that down by saying "it's just a phase," is invalidating anyone who is struggling their true self. People who have this type of internal conflict are trying to break through that. I believe it's important to let everyone express themselves. It builds confidence and boosts up their self esteem. 

 The articles that were provided from the group were all very informational about guns. I really like how this group was very engaged with the class. They brought in discussion questions that made all of us really think. Since they let us choose a question to answer, I chose the question "Why is America so obsessed with guns?" This question makes you sit back and start really thinking about why is that? Why do they feel the need that they absolutely have to own guns? The more I though about it, one answer came to me. Power. Americans want power and will forever crave it. I believe since it is written in the constitution, the second amendment, guns are associated with power, individualism, and bravery. Americans will do whatever they can to fulfill that. Guns are romanticized into that idea.  In the article they provided, The Psychology of Gun Ownership, it lists character traits that gun owners tend to carry. Such as impulsiveness, anger, internal conflict, etc. I saw one...

 Watching the documentary, we go through the lives and grieving family members who are mourning the victims of school shootings. The trauma that these students have are real. It's so heartbreaking and upsetting that the family members have to accustom their lives without their loved ones. In the documentary, a student who was a friend to one of the victims mentioned how the image and sounds were still vividly replaying over and over in her head. Having stricter gun laws is so important. It is absolutely insane how America still have not put tighter restrictions on gun laws.  The trauma of the surviving victims of these shooting now have to live with this survivors guilt and trauma. Adjusting their lives without the people they were used to be around everyday is a drastic change. The speech made by the student at March for our Lives was incredibly moving. It was so powerful, her voice strong although you  could see on her face that she wanted to break down. Once she w...

Big makeup companies tend to push out "color - correcting" products. These products tend to make one's skin color appear lighter to fulfill the beauty standard. So many skin whitening products are always promoted.  It is a sad thing that women have to alter their appearance so they can feel accepted and loved by society. Although, confidence is a big part that is played as well. If someone does not feel confident in their own skin, they tend to change their appearance. I believe we all do this. It could be from the clothes we wear, to shoes, to makeup, hairstyles, etc. It's sad that society will always have a beauty standard and will always push that out onto other people.  Makeup companies push out these skin care products that are promoted to hide dark spots, dark complexion, freckles, pigmentation, etc. Reading the article made me realize it does have a racist background. How low class people who would earn income by working on farms, would get these dark spots, th...

9/15   Women throughout filmmaking have always been portrayed as spicy, sexual, curvy, tempered, etc. And women in these films will use that to their advantage to get what they want.  "What are some ways in which we can correct/change this behavior and mindset as a society?" This question was presented in class during the group's presentation. After discussing it in our group, we concluded with a few ideas on steps to take in order to change society's mind/behavior. We said that we could change the media's representation, educate ourselves, and call people out on stereotypes. Even if a comment can seem positive, it could have heavy impact that is negative. For example, a peer brought up that Black women are represented as strong, independent. She proceeded saying that it could effect their health at the doctors because doctors could stereotype them and not give the medical care they need. The group that presented also brought up how we can help younger generations...

   9/13  A Dive into the Degrading world of Fetishization Latinas live in        Reading the author's experience about how her partner has a fetish for Latina women is super disturbing. I just can't believe people don't look at other people as a human being. Instead, they are being used for their fetish fantasies. While reading this, it made me realize how normalized it is for movies to have Latinas and make it stereotypical. Racial fetish is seen a lot in movies whether we realize it or not. Have you ever noticed that in movies, Latinas are always shown has "spicy, curvy, tempered, and crazy"? These type of films start to drill these ideas into society's heads saying that all Latinas act this way. Latinas are put into these categories that are extremely harmful. This just puts a stereotype saying that all Latinas are the same. It's always "I need a crazy Latina." Or "I only date Latinas." I understand there are preferences when it come...

 Week 3: Identity and Label Videos      Our identities is parts of ourself who makes us who we are. Whether it is the hobbies we enjoy, the music we listen to, nationality, race, etc. People are often put into boxes, categories, based on who they are. Often times, it is because our appearance or the color of our skin. We get labeled whether we know it or not. These labels are so thrown in our faces that most of us just accepted the fact we are those things. This is putting ourselves in that box, making us not truly be ourselves and free. Doing this could really mess up your self identity causing you to change every time you're around someone different, not allowing your true self to be revealed due to fear of neglect or not knowing who you truly are.        Jim Carrey's speech about self identity is so well spoken. He talked about how he became that sense of calm and relief for others. How he wanted people to watch his films and get a sense of cal...

9/13 Western Eyes Documentary The women within the documentary have started to try and look different. When they were younger, they would wear makeup. Such as eyeshadow, lashes, eyebrows, etc. I believe they do this due to having low self esteem, not feeling as if they are beautiful. Changing the way you look by changing sense of style, makeup, or surgery, gives a sense of escape from your "old self". The women in the documentary are constantly finding different ways to alter their appearance to fit in or feel accepted. The woman in the documentary is struggling to come with a decision whether or not she should have the incision eye surgery. She wanted to do this due to Western beauty standards. She feels as she did not fit in and wanted to feel accepted. Sharon had noticed that she had her father's eye shape. So her mother mentioned to her when she was younger that there is surgery for it. Initially, Sharon had said that she likes her natural appearance. But as she grew ...

    I would say I am in the middle when to comes to describing myself as a curious person. There are certain things that capture my attention and make me want to learn about said thing. I really enjoy expanding my knowledge about the things I am interested in. But when it is forced upon me to learn about it, I tend to lose my interest. I think what I can do to cultivate more curiosity within my life is to be more open minded. If I am more open minded about new things around me, my curiosity will definitely grow.       In the video, he mentioned how grades are very forces upon students. How schools force assignments and topics on students that they do not care about. They lose their interest. Therefore, losing their curiosity. I believe if someone is truly curious, then that person would do anything to learn more about it. You can't force something on someone and expect them to like to right away. That is not how curiosity is built. Students' future all depe...