Gender Segregation in Education

            I believe that the educational system should be based on the idea of “Separate, but Equal.” This idea was first introduced to keep different races separate but equal when racial segregation was still around. Given what Restak said, that there has been many researches and studies among men and women (which were all most likely different races and ethnical backgrounds), nothing about their race was mentioned at all. So racial segregation was a different thing because I don’t believe that a person’s race determines how they think or act, so that wasn’t even necessary. But what about gender segregation? There are biological facts that prove that men and women learn and act differently throughout their life. Since this is true; I do believe that there should be some kind of gender segregation in schools. Of course I don’t believe that there should be all girl schools and all boy schools. Instead of that, they should have a school with boys and girls, but have all boy classes, and all girl classes. This might sound sexist, but given what Restak said, boys and girls have to be taught differently, or at least boys do. Restak said that modern education is favorable to girl than boys. So if that’s the case; the idea of gender segregation in school does not sound as sexist as it did.

            One can also ask the question, “Will all boy classes and all girl classes affect the way boys and girls interact with each other?” I see how one will ask that question because one might think that if a boy or girl is always around their gender, they might get too comfortable around their own sex, and not want to interact with their opposite gender in the long run. Obviously, boys and girls in school have recess and lunch every day, so that would be one way where they can interact with each other. But even that is not enough for boys and girls to get comfortable with each other.  If there is all boy classes and all girl classes, I believe that the solution to prevent children from getting too comfortable with their own sex; is to have days where both sexes have to interact with each other. For example, have a day of the week where girls and boys are brought together and learn things that are compatible for both girls and boys, and not favor a certain gender. Another way can be, half the day girls and boys have and all boy class and all girls class, and learn things favorable to their gender, and the other half of the day, they come together have something taught that is compatible for both of them.

            Hopeful I didn’t sound biased to male because I am a male, but I do have a perspective from both sides because I am a gay male. So I have sympathy for both males and females. I was just giving the example for elementary schools because that is where Restak when into detail with. He didn’t go much into detail with higher levels of educations, but he did say that higher education favors men over women, so that is why I gave that example. So if elementary favors females, and higher education favors males; that is why I believe that modern education should be revised and changed.

Offensive Ads

While I was browsing through the internet, I came across a set of two pictures which was an advertisement for a company that gives children karate lessons. The two pictures depict a little boy (about 5 years old) who is most likely at risk of becoming a homosexual. This message is sent out because in both pictures it shows him playing with his mother’s things. The first picture shows the little boy in a room (which appears to be his parent’s room) sitting on a bed, while holding a mirror and applying some lipstick on his lips. The second picture shows the same boy in a room (also appearing to be his parent’s room) standing in front of a closet, while trying on a pair of red stilettos. On both these pictures, the logo of the company RDCA is stamped, and next to it has a caption saying, “Karate lessons.”
These ads were very offensive to me, not only because it is promoting Homophobia, but also because I myself am a homosexual male. By implying that a parent must take their child to karate lessons if they want to prevent their child from becoming gay, is basically promoting Hate and Homophobia. Children at a young age are naturally curious and tend to do silly thing, but that does not mean that is a “gay thing” (given that the child’s actions does not match up to the expectations of their gender role). A parent is going to do what they feel is best for the situation, whether they just simply laugh about it, or the have a talk with their child and tell them that what they did was wrong. These advertisements not only suggest that Homosexuality is wrong and should be avoided, but also it suggests to parents on how they should raise their children. I parents want to be told what to do, they’ll go and read a book about parenting. Ads like this shouldn’t just subliminally tell parents how to raise their children and promote homophobia.
I believe that the creators of these advertisements should have really thought about how it might offend a group of people, or society in general. And if they did think about it, and it was their intention to send out this message and are too homophobic, well then I think they should discontinue the ads if someone got offended by them. I know that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but this ad is just wrong. I have many gay friends who I am truly proud of, and are one of the best people I have ever met. I hate the fact that big companies like RDCA use their power and their ads to promote hate. So I sincerely ask if RDCA and/or the creators of this ad would discontinue that sort of promotion.



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The Media and Society

In today’s society, the media puts too much pressure on everyone, and especially women. For example, women in magazines, posters, and commercials are always thin and pretty. This puts so much pressure on women because they think they have to look and act exactly like them. In reality, no one looks like that. Women in magazine, posters, and commercials are just models. You really don’t see those kinds of women in society. They all are off in their mansions away from regular society and nowhere to be seen. Even though the pressure is so exhausting and frustrating for women to become like models, people really bring it towards themselves. No one is going to want to see a acne written chubby girl on a huge billboard or in a magazine article. People want to see these gorgeous women with a perfect bottle body half naked. People “want” that, and the media “gets” it for them. So the phrase "you get what you want; you want what you get" is a 100% accurate motto for the media industry.
Gender roles are another pressure that the media put on people. Men and women are always portrayed in a very stereotypical form. Where the man is strong and aggressive, and the woman is sensitive and passive. Is this even who we are? Are we forever going to be crafted in the image of the media? Sadly enough we will be. The media projects on to society and society determines how a person is going to be. People are crafted and influenced by their parents, school, friends, work, and society in general. Why must we put all these expectations amongst ourselves? In spite on how the media have crafted people’s lives for decades, I honestly believe that the power media has, it deteriorating. The movie, "Sexual Stereotypes in Media: Superman and the Bride," was most likely made in the 1970’s and that is the time where the media’s power was at its highest. Now people are becoming more open to different types of people and their customs.
One example one how society has become more open is on the topic of homosexuality. Back in the days, homosexuality was seen as an abomination and a taboo subject. There is still people who don’t agree with it, but back then, the majority of the population wasn’t. Now I see many girls who have a sassy gay best friend. I think it is a wonderful thing that society is beginning to be more open. Not only in society, but the media is starting to pick up on it too. In television and movies, we are starting to see many different types of characters with different personalities and different life styles. Where as back in the days, television and movies had very common characters“1) The movie, "Sexual Stereotypes in Media: Superman and the Bride," suggests that the images we see in , and families were all the same. A typical family on television and movies would be a Caucasian family with two or three children, a house mom, and a working dad living in the suburbs. Now we see many varieties of characters and families in television and movies. I believe this happened because people started to get bored of the same-old-same-old stuff. So obviously we wanted something else, and we got what we wanted. So whatever the media sees that we want, the media is going to give it to us.

Unreliable Narrator

Does it even matter how a novel ends if the story was told by an unreliable narrator? Well that’s exactly what I think, I’m not going to really care or even believe the ending of a story if it was told by an unreliable narrator. For “Written on the Body” the narrator says himself/herself that he/she can not be trusted or may very well be biased. To me it just seems like a terrible waste of time if I’m reading a biased story, because it might as well be a diary instead of a novel. To me, reading a diary is a way to better understand a person and know more about the writer, even though they will be biased because it is from their perspective. But when you read a diary, that biasness is not as annoying as it is in “Written on the Body” because it may be bias, but the narrator really does not open up completely or give out any details (especially gender) about himself/herself.
So if you ask me if Louise was alive or was she an apparition at the end of the story, I’ll just have to say that it really does not matter and she can be either be dead or alive. The fact that the narrator had been in many different affairs before Louise, indicates that he/she is not a stable person. I don’t care if the narrator states that there is biological evidence that supports how long “love endorphins” last in the body when one is in a relationship, because I don’t trust him/her. That can very well be an excuse on his/her part to cover up how unstable he/she is with relationships. Again, the fact that the narrator is unreliable and bias, just makes me even wonder if he/she is telling the truth about that. The narrator doesn’t even tell me his/her gender, which is one of the most important qualities of a “human”, so that there loses my trust and their credibility. To me, the narrator may as well be insane, not only because he/she is unstable in relationships but is passionate about love, but also because it still bugs me that he/she does not tell me his/her gender. What is he/she trying to hide? If a person is going to open up and tell the story about themselves, why keep certain things secret? There is no point in saying anything at all if that is the case.
So even though Louise at the end of the story was left for the reader to decide if she was dead or alive, I believe that she might have been dead because how I stated earlier, the narrator just seemed insane to me. The image of Louise at the end can very well have been a figment of the narrator’s imagination, because I still question the narrator’s sanity and that will never change. Unless there is a sequel to “Written on the Body” and the narrator tells us more about what happened after that or if he/she finally decides to tell us what gender they are; Louise is dead to me…