School has taken over my life. One day I will return to the land of the living. Hoping that day will be at the end of May. Oh to have a master degree!

My Gender issues class

I am taking a course called Intercultural communication:Gender Issues. I have really liked this class so far. I have really learned a lot from class discussions and the readings. There are several international students in the course and it has been really interesting to hear their perspectives on gender issues. Last week we were talking about gender violence and violence against women. Here's what I wrote my journal on this week....

I watched the youtube video looking at male violence in media and society: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3exzMPT4nGI. The figures in the video were really alarming. 85% of murders, 90% assault, 95% domestic violence, 95% dating violence, 95% child sexual abuse, and 99.8% rape, of convicted cases are committed by men. These numbers are alarming but seem totally realistic. As the video illustrated that the roles that men are taught that they must be tough, strong, and fierce create this atmosphere of violence. The media especially enhances these images of what “real” men should be. It’s especially interesting to analyze how men of color are portrayed in media. Latino men are typically seen as boxers, criminals, or gang members. Asian men are seen as martial artists or criminals, and African America men are frequently portrayed as gang members, fighters or thugs. What does this tell us about society?

All these issues seem so obviously connected with crime in the United States, but the question no one is asking is why do these images of men continue? I think society needs to wake up to the connection. It seems that whenever these issues are brought up it seems as if society would rather continue with the ways things are then take the time and effort to change. Men control the power in this country and longer gender issues are seen as female ideals than change won’t happen. The biggest thing that needs to happen for change is for men to take a stand. My boyfriend belonged to a student organization in undergraduate called “men against rape”. The organization worked on campus to utilize men in the fight against violence against women. They would give workshops each semester to the fraternities on campus. They would also volunteer at the Vagine monologue productions and other advocacy efforts. Organizations like these seem to be a big part of the movement toward change. Women alone can’t change the violence statistics the effort must come from both sides. I looked into other organizations that were male run organizations against violence towards women. I have included a link that is interesting.

http://www.rapeis.org/activism/prevention/menagainstrape.html

Pumpkin Season

Tommy's 26th birthday is next week! We are going to go the the Pumpkin festival in Keene, New Hampshire. Also we are going to go see 'Where the wild things are'!

wild things

http://www.imeem.com/karenoandthekids/playlist/MW0cdjqf/where-the-wild-things-are-soundtrack-music-playlist/

Where the wild things are soundtrack online free!