Gender and Sexual Orientation Personal Statement

Gender and Sexual Orientation - Personal Statement Example Question 1: Sexism Sells In the video developed by the Women’s Media Center, the current treatment of women by the media in broadcasts and other shows was highlighted. The greatest point raised by the video was that sexism has become the new trend in the broadcast media. This popularity of sexism stems from the idea that â€Å"sexism sells†. However, the creators of the video disagreed that sexism sells, and that discrimination of females is still very pervasive in today’s society. More specifically, the WMC stated that â€Å"they were not buying [sexism]†. As for me, I agree with the video. When I first watched some of the clips in the television, some of them appeared hilarious. Indeed, at first, I did not realize that they were sexist. However, after viewing the video, I realized that some of the comments indeed, were rather discriminatory, especially when the broadcasters labeled Hillary Clinton within the stereotype of a nagging wife. I am not essentially a feminist but I str ongly believe that some of the comments by the broadcasters were stupid and unfair. In fact, they displayed some sort of microaggression wherein it was as if they were projecting their negativities about women towards a single person who, at that time, happened to be Hillary Clinton. As portrayed in the video, I totally agree that sexism has now evolved to take a more insidious and subtle form. Perhaps the sadder part is that some of the discrimination are unintentional, and some are even unaware that they are not doing any form of sexism. Question 2: Kimmel: â€Å"Bros before Hos† The quote to be analyzed in this section is the one in Page 55: â€Å"There is only one complete unblushing male in America: a young, married, white, urban, northern, heterosexual†¦ Any male who fails to qualify may view himself as unworthy, incomplete, and inferior†. This quote can be found in the section involving the psychological development of boys, or where the Guy Code Begins. Th is quote struck me the most among all the other parts of the readings in â€Å"bros before Hos† because of the implications and effects of such an event in a male’s life. Such a system that works even in the earliest days of the boy’s development is something that reflects the sad state of today’s society. The readings in this section also made me ponder about the upbringings of a male relative. I have a distant male cousin who lived in a farm with his family. Their family rarely goes out of the countryside and when we came to visit, my cousin would often be forbidden from playing with us, because he had to learn to be a man and the process of doing so does not allow for playing. In addition, during a time when my cousin fell and broke an arm, he was not allowed to cry or else he would be called a sissy. From these, I realized that somehow, there is a burden among males to conform to the society’s definition of what a male is. Still, the fact that males have to be â€Å"boxed-in† into a certain criteria before they can even begin to feel â€Å"macho† is rather absurd. Thus, I believe that in this sense, females are a little bit luckier. Indeed, although females have their own stereotypes that they have to fall into, they are freer in discovering their identities because societal norms allow then to reveal much more emotions than those permitted for males. Females are also now given more flexibility in the choice of the roles they want to play in the society, wherein they can now function in roles that were previously exclusively dominated by males. It is also sad to realize that as developments can be observed in the world’ perception of females, the males’ perception of themselves remained the same. Therefore, improvement is need so that males may be able as well to create more flexible definitions of flexibility. Question 3: Video Analysis (Impressions) The video on 30 Days â€Å"A Straight Man in a Gay World† is an interesting film. I have known long before that the arguments