Gender Identity

        Gender for a lot people is a very sensitive topic. People, especially from the south, don't like when things change away from the traditional values. So now in modern times with people being more open with themselves, others who are stuck in the past are quite against it. I, personally, identify as a girl and am physically a girl therefor giving me the benefit of the doubt in most situations. I have been privileged with the trait of being 'typical' but not everyone is born this way. I have no problem with anyones decision to be who they want to be and I don't think anyone should have a problem with it. 

I think a lot of how you identify is in your genes and isn't something you can change. Although, while being raised, little things in movies, around town and other family members will all affect how you grow an understanding of how genders identify. Along with that, being raised in certain areas can definitely influence you on how willing you are to open up to your community which would influence how you identify. If you're in a very closed environment you may be scared to identify as something other than what you're 'supposed to' causing you to force yourself to be the way you don't want to be. While being raised in an open community you may be more willing to experiment with different things. 

I think it shows from birth on in to adult hood that girls can identify as a boy a lot easier than boys can identify as girls. In elementary school I can remember lots of girls, including me, who called themselves 'tomboys' and it was normal. They were athletic and liked boyish clothes. But if a boy tried to do it they were, more times than not, ridiculed. As adults, I feel like girls are more open most of time which, once again I think makes it easier for girls to open up about identifying as a boy. While when a boy tries to identifying as a girl, girls may be more okay with it but boys won't be so accepting. Although I say this, it is not always true. You will find a ton of boys who are accepting towards these situations and girls who are not. 

Friends

        Unfortunately the episode I decided to watch was one about an engagement so obviously there was a lot of talk about guys with the girls. There are three girls in the show and they all do talk so it passes two of the three criteria and as many episodes as I have seen they do talk about things other than men but it is definitely one of the most popular topics. 

This assignment has definitely surprised me more than expected. When reading the instructions for what we are supposed to be paying attention to and the criteria for the Bechdel test, i honestly thought it was going to be bogus. I thought it was one of those things where people had only looked at a couple different examples and came to the conclusion of how shallow some women characters could be. But after trying my hardest to pay attention I have noticed a pretty sting theme. Of course there are the crime shows and others of those sorts that the women characters are actually productive and don't talk about men all the time, however if you look at the popular sitcoms shows there is hardly anything else that they do talk about. 

Whether they are talking about shopping or boys it is always very materialistic and almost prissy. There are times in Friends that they do talk about things like their jobs and family but it is definitely the minority and rarely does it get much deeper than the surface. With this assignment I tried to look at the whole show remembering everything I have learned thus far in my two education classes and began to notice a couple other things. For one thing the personalities of the six main characters. Two of the men are very successful and with minor exceptions pretty normal. While the girls are have huge extreme personalities. Rachel is all about boys and shopping and is supposed to be considered spoiled, Phoebe is dumb and just in her own world and Monica is very OCD and bossy. The writers made the woman actors very stereotypical which i had not noticed until now. 

Having to view media in these ways this week has kind of made it hard to view it in any other way. I have started looking at every thing including commercials, shows, movies and advertisements and have noticed how girls are made to look on them which I don't think i have before. There are always exceptions but for what i have seen, most women are portrayed very dependent. Im sure that is a huge impact on how young girls are brought up and what they are made to think of themselves. 

Raising Your Child Genderless

         To me, this is a very interesting topic and I'm sure very controversial to many. When I first read all the headlines my first reaction was completely negative towards it. Now after reading, it doesn't sound as bad of an idea but like Judith Rich Harris explained maybe more misguided if anything(Huffington Post). The idea of raising a baby gender neutral is great, in theory. Letting them choose what they want to play with, what they want to wear or even how they want to present them self might, in the long run, be beneficial but I think as a child it may be detrimental. 

Another good explanation in one of the articles was Sherri Shepherd from 'The View' saying "First of all, the child is a baby. He doesn't know. He's not going to be able to say to anybody, I'll let you decide. He's a baby. That's where you come in as parents,"(abc news). I don't think this could be said any better. Elementary students, and even some middle schoolers are not old enough to understand the concept of someone being raised genderless. I think more than anything this would lead to more bullying and ridicule during grad school. While doing research for our 'YES curriculum', I read about how every student reaches a point where they rely on acceptance from peers and become very self-aware. I think this is when the child will have the biggest problem. Because every student is not going to be raised in this way, when they reach this stage of development I think the child might be pushed aside as an outcast. So many people have such a hard time figuring out who they are that, I think, making them choose a gender might just confuse them more. As parents you are supposed to help guide your child. I think it is a great idea to be open to letting your kids do what they want, dress however they please and wear their hair the way they want but when you are voiding them of such a large personal attribute will confuse them, in my opinion. When the child gets in to high school or even college, they will probably be accepted more and will have a better understanding of the good the parents were intending by doing this. Until than, unless they live in a very open minded area, I think the childs life will be a little rough around the edges, they'll still be happy in most ways but maybe a little lost in others. 

References

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/genderless-baby-controversy-mom-defends-choice-reveal-sex/story?id=13718047#.TzrzM5jg-zA

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-harold-koplewicz/genderless-baby_b_868056.html