Sunday, December 9, 2012

Final Draft!!





November 24, 2012
Payton Schwarz
Dear Mother,

People are born with a specific sex.  You can't change that, you're either born a male or a female.  But that does not necessarily define you as masculine or feminine.  There are specific gender roles that are associated with either.  These roles are placed on one via society, whether it from your family, friends, school or church.  Our distinction between one another is culturally adapted with specific traits. Traits that segregate ourselves from one another and build prejudices based on subconscious “knowledge”. But these traits change over time; they adapt to the environment around them, much like humans themselves.  Unfortunately there’s a resistance movement that is attempting to suppress our evolution.  This restriction is preventing us as human beings from reaching our full potential.  The only thing these discriminations are achieving is regression and leaving us a stagnant world that will either die off, or never be able to evolve to a more advanced society.


 Here in our country of the United States, we seem to associate gender directly to one's sex.  If one has a penis, they are ordered to be manly, rugged and enjoy cars/guns.  Or if one have a vagina, they must be sweet, decorated with makeup, nurturing and passive.  This coincides with the idea of the Nuclear Family and traditional gender roles, ideologies that have been force-fed to us since the early 20th century.   But what happens if someone steps outside of those gender barriers?  Our gender roles are so intertwined with us in our society that we don't notice them.  But the second someone DOES, we are quick to judge.  Think of a full grown man, walking down the street in pumps and a halter top.  The average person would immediately take notice of him over everyone else on the street.  Why?  Because he's "weird".  We have an immediate prejudice against that individual because he doesn't fit the roll of a fully grown man that we envision in our minds.  This could be derived from the Christian upbringing our nation has had, “And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver.... And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels. (Leviticus 27:3-7)”.  Literally, there in plain English, the Bible states that a woman is worth about half as much as a man.  And being in a country where all of our nation’s leaders have been Christian, there is good reason to believe there is religious input when it came to forming our nation.   The Christian faith, unfortunately, is infamous for being derogatory towards people that are “different”.  The Ku Klux Klan has very “Christian morals”, which they employed through violence and bigotry, also the Spanish Inquisition was establish by Catholic Monarchs to ensure “orthodoxy” of its people through sadistic torture. On the contrary,take Ancient Rome for example, homosexuality and orgies were accepted among the social elite and part of everyday life, “The prestige of Greek literature and art made homoeroticism seem urbane and sophisticated.” This society, obviously, had different contributing factors to the creation of their social norms, as did we.  Unfortunately, ours is just a tad bit more restrictive.  Our race is under constant change with a constant altering set of standards.  These changes have been proven to aid us in time of need, when gender lines can be blurred.


 In World War II, women had to take up a "man's role" of building airplanes, tanks, bombs and more to fuel the war, and our eventual success.  Even though temporary and brief, this gender roll adaptation shows the fluidity and effectiveness of an androgynous society.   Unlike us here in America, there are cultures all around the world that have much different roles that what we assign our citizens.  Native American tribes in Northern America have what is called "Two Spirit", which is someone who has qualities of both male and female.  They would wear the clothing of both genders and perform actions that were of both genders as well, such as cooking and hunting.  They were held in high regard and held positions such as healers, match-makers and foretellers of the future.


Think of what a genderless society would look like.  It would be a society where there would be no masculine or feminine.  Everyone would do the same things, and look similar as well.  Could you imagine a world where men and women play with dolls and wear makeup, then later that day go change their oil and play some football?   There would be no prejudice because the only thing that would be separating the two different parties would be their sexual organs.  Sure biology takes a roll in influencing people’s likes and interests, but there would be no definition as to which activity is either masculine or feminine.  People would be free to do what they please without fear of repercussion from their peers.


A society like this is referred to as a “Type One Civilization”, a global(if not planetary) society.  Michio Kaku, a Professor of Theoretical Physics at CUNY explains that there are two paths our society can go, being a “Type Zero Civilization”: “The first trend is toward what we call a type one civilization, a planetary civilization, a civilization that resembles something out of ‘Buck Rogers’ or’Flash Gordon.’  A type two civilization is stellar.  They consume so much energy they can play with stars.  That is for example the Federation of Planets in ‘Star Trek.’  ‘Star Trek’ would represent the typical type two civilization.  Then we have type three, which is galactic like the Borg or ‘Independence Day’ or the empire of ‘The Empire Strikes Back.’  That is a type three civilization, which is truly galactic.  Now by the time you reach type two, you are immortal.  Nothing known to science can destroy a type two civilization.  Comets, meteors, earthquakes, even a supernova a type two civilization would be able to survive even a supernova.”  Kaku goes on to explains that since we are dependent on “salvaging”, such as harvesting energy from fossil fuels and dead plants-we could be en route for destruction.  There are far more incidents that can go wrong using these primitive sources of power, along with having nuclear weapons that are capable of wiping out the entire planet.  But there is hope, we are already showing signs of transitioning to a Type One, we have the European Union, fashion and music trends that cross all borders, and even a semi-universal language, being the one I’m speaking at this very moment.


In conclusion, I beg to you as a human being to do your research on these subjects.  Our civilization has so much potential in the fields of science and evolution.  But we are limited by segregating ourselves which leads to fighting over such trivial things as religion.  Perhaps gender roles were more important back when finding a mate was absolutely necessary for survival, back when environmental disasters weren’t a priority.  But today, we risk planetary destruction.  Our society needs to reunite as one to overcome this obstacle that has been placed upon us.  We have the power to evolve past these differences and come together and as a more whole society that has one common goal.  Evolving.  We can reach the stars, if not other worlds – if only we can throw away the past.

Sincerely,



Payton Schwarz

Friday, November 30, 2012

Formal Paper #2 Revised Draft





November 24, 2012
Payton Schwarz
Dear Mother,

People are born with a specific sex.  You can't change that, you're either born a male or a female.  But that does not necessarily define you as masculine or feminine.  There are specific gender roles that are associated with either.  These roles are placed on one via society, whether it be from your family, friends, school, church, etc.  Our distinction between one another is culturally adapted with specific traits. Traits that segregate ourselves from one another and build prejudices based on subconscious “knowledge”. Take Ancient Rome for example, homosexuality and orgies were accepted among the social elite and part of everyday life, “The prestige of Greek literature and art made homoeroticism seem urbane and sophisticated.” This society, obviously, had different contributing factors to the creation of their social norms, as did we.  Unfortunately, ours is just a tad bit more restrictive. This restriction is preventing us as human beings from reaching our full potential.  The only thing these discriminations are achieving is regression and leaving us a stagnant world that will either die off, or never be able to evolve to a more advanced society.


 Here in our country of the United States, we seem to associate gender directly to one's sex.  If you have a penis, you are ordered to be manly, rugged and enjoy cars/guns.  Or if you have a vagina, you must be sweet, decorated with makeup, nurturing and passive.  But what happens if someone steps outside of those gender barriers?  Our gender roles are so intertwined with us in our society that we don't notice them.  But the second someone DOES, we are quick to judge.  Think if you saw a full grown man, walking down the street in pumps and a halter top.  The average person would immediately take notice of him over everyone else on the street.  Why?  Because he's "weird".  We have an immediate prejudice against that individual because he doesn't fit the roll of a fully grown man that we envision in our minds.  This could be derived from the Christian upbringing our nation has had, “And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver.... And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels. And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver. And if it be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels.  (Leviticus 27:3-7)”.  Literally, there in plain English, the Bible states that a woman is worth about half as much as a man.  And being in a country where all of our nation’s leaders have been Christian, there is good reason to believe there is religious input when it came to forming our nation.   Take a look at how the Christian faith has been derogatory towards people that are “different”.  The Ku Klux Klan has very “Christian morals”, which they employed through violence and bigotry, also the Spanish Inquisition was establish by Catholic Monarchs to ensure “orthodoxy” of its people through sadistic torture.


 In World War II, women had to take up a "man's role" of building airplanes, tanks, bombs and more to fuel the war, and our eventual success.  Even though temporary and brief, this gender roll adaptation shows the fluidity and effectiveness of an androgynous society.   Unlike us here in America, there are cultures all around the world that have much different roles that what we assign our citizens.  Native American tribes in Northern America have what is called "Two Spirit", which is someone who has qualities of both male and female.  They would wear the clothing of both genders and perform actions that were of both genders as well, such as cooking and hunting.  They were held in high regard and held positions such as healers, match-makers and foretellers of the future.


Think of what a genderless society would look like.  It would be a society where there would be no masculine or feminine.  Everyone would do the same things, and look similar as well.  Could you imagine a world where men and women play with dolls and wear makeup, then later that day go change their oil and play some football.   There would be no prejudice because the only thing that would be separating the two different parties would be their sexual organs.  Sure biology takes a roll in influencing people’s likes and interests, but there would be no definition as to which activity is either masculine or feminine.  People would be free to do what they please without fear of repercussion from their peers.


A society like this is referred to as a “Type One Civilization”, a global(if not planetary) society.  Michio Kaku, a Professor of Theoretical Physics at CUNY explains that there are two paths our society can go, being a “Type Zero Civilization”: “The first trend is toward what we call a type one civilization, a planetary civilization, a civilization that resembles something out of "Buck Rogers" or "Flash Gordon."  A type two civilization is stellar.  They consume so much energy they can play with stars.  That is for example the Federation of Planets in "Star Trek."  "Star Trek" would represent the typical type two civilization.  Then we have type three, which is galactic like the Borg or "Independence Day" or the empire of "The Empire Strikes Back."  That is a type three civilization, which is truly galactic.  Now by the time you reach type two, you are immortal.  Nothing known to science can destroy a type two civilization.  Comets, meteors, earthquakes, even a supernova a type two civilization would be able to survive even a supernova.”  Kaku goes on to explains that since we are dependent on “salvaging”, such as harvesting energy from fossil fuels and dead plants-we could be en route for destruction.  There are far more incidents that can go wrong using these primitive sources of power, along with having nuclear weapons that are capable of wiping out the entire planet.  But there is hope, we are already showing signs of transitioning to a Type One, we have the European Union, fashion and music trends that cross all borders, and even a semi-universal language, being the one I’m speaking at this very moment.


In conclusion, I beg to you as a human being to do your research on these subjects.  Our civilization has so much potential in the fields of science and evolution.  But we are limited by segregating ourselves which leads to fighting over such trivial things as religion.  We have the power to evolve past these differences and come together and as a more whole society that has one common goal.  Evolving.  We can reach the stars, if not other worlds – if only we can throw away the past.

Sincerely,



Payton Schwarz

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Formal Paper #2 Rough Draft





November 24, 2012
Payton Schwarz

Dear Mother,

People are born with a specific sex.  You can't change that, you're either born a male or a female.  But that does not necessarily define you as masculine or feminine.  There are specific gender roles that are associated with either.  These roles are placed on one via society, whether it be from your family, friends, school, church, etc.  Our distinction between one another is culturally adapted with specific traits. Take Ancient Rome for example, homosexuality and orgies were accepted among the social elite and part of everyday life, “The prestige of Greek literature and art made homoeroticism seem urbane and sophisticated.” This society, obviously, had different contributing factors to the creation of their social norms, as did we.  Unfortunately, ours is just a tad bit more restrictive.


 Here in our country of the United States, we seem to associate gender directly to one's sex.  If you have a penis, you are ordered to be manly, rugged and enjoy cars/guns.  Or if you have a vagina, you must be sweet, decorated with makeup, nurturing and passive.  But what happens if someone steps outside of those gender barriers?  Our gender roles are so intertwined with us in our society that we don't notice them.  But the second someone DOES, we are quick to judge.  Think if you saw a full grown man, walking down the street in pumps and a halter top.  You would immediately take notice of him over everyone else on the street.  Why?  Because he's "weird", we have an immediate prejudice against that individual because he doesn't fit the roll of a fully grown man that we envision in our minds.  This could be derived from the Christian upbringing our nation has had, “And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver.... And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels. And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver. And if it be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels.  (Leviticus 27:3-7)”.  Literally, there in plain English, the Bible states that a woman is worth about half as much as a man.  And being in a country where all of our nation’s leaders have been Christian, there is good reason to believe there is religious input when it came to forming our nation.   Take a look at how the Christian faith has been derogatory towards people that are “different”.  The Ku Klux Klan has very “Christian morals”, which they employed through violence and bigotry, also the Spanish Inquisition was establish by Catholic Monarchs to ensure “orthodoxy” of its people through sadistic torture.


 In World War II, women had to take up a "man's role" of building airplanes, tanks, bombs and more to fuel the war, and our eventual success.  Even though temporary and brief, this gender roll adaptation shows the fluidity and effectiveness of an androgynous society.   Unlike us here in America, there are cultures all around the world that have much different roles that what we assign our citizens.  Native American tribes in Northern America have what is called "Two Spirit", which is someone who has qualities of both male and female.  They would wear the clothing of both genders and perform actions that were of both genders as well, such as cooking and hunting.  They were held in high regard and held positions such as healers, match-makers and foretellers of the future.
Think of what a genderless society would look like.  It would be a society where there would be no masculine or feminine.  Everyone would do the same things, and look similar as well.  Could you imagine a world where men and women play with dolls and wear makeup, then later that day go change their oil and play some football.   There would be no prejudice because the only thing that would be separating the two different parties would be their sexual organs.  Sure biology takes a roll in influencing people’s likes and interests, but there would be no definition as to which activity is either masculine or feminine.  People would be free to do what they please without fear of repercussion from their peers.

Sincerely,



Payton Schwarz

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Annotated Bibliography #2

"Two Spirits." PBS Documentaries. N.p., 20 May 2011. Web. 21 Nov. 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/two-spirits/>.
 I used this source because it featured a few different videos with interviews of people from these tribes.  These individuals expressed their reasoning behind the Two Spirits and how modern day culture has interfered with it and turned it into a hate-crime breeding entity. They go into detail of how a 16 year-old was murdered in the name of their gender roll.  Lastly they feature a map of untraditional gender roles world wide.  I found this source credible because PBS tends to release non-biased information.
Nobelius, Ann-Maree. "What Is the Difference between Sex and Gender?" What Is the Difference between Sex and Gender? Monash University, 23 June 2004. Web. 21 Nov. 2012. <http://www.med.monash.edu.au/gendermed/sexandgender.html>.
This source was useful because it provided a home page with a brief overview of “sex vs gender”.  It informs the reader of the definitions of each and how we as a society get them mixed up and directly correlate them to each other.  The site also features side tabs that have sub-articles on the gender perspective in medicine, gender mainstreaming, common misunderstandings, gender-blindness, gender competence, gender studies, gender identity, along with gender and medical workforce issues.  This source is credible because it was published to a “.edu” website.

Goldstein, Joshua S. "Gender Roles." Gender Roles. Cambridge University Press, Sept. 2001. Web. 21 Nov. 2012. <http://www.warandgender.com/wggenrol.htm>.
This source goes into the details of gender roles in war.  Specifically in this section, WWII.  They talk about how the war shaped gender and vice versa.  They talk about how women had to take on the traditional male role of building aircrafts, bombs etc.  This source is reliable because the source of information refers to Cambridge University.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Sex vs Gender ROUGH rough draft


Payton Schwarz
Sex vs Gender Rough Draft


People are born with a specific sex.  You can't change that, you're either born a male or a female.  But that does not necessarily define you as a man or a woman.  There are also specific gender roles that are associated with either being masculine or feminine.  These roles are placed on one via society, whether it be from your family, friends, school, church, etc.  Our distinction between one another is culturally adapted with specific traits.


Here in our country of the United States, we seem to associate gender directly to one's sex.  If you have a penis, you are ordered to be manly, rugged and enjoy cars/guns.  If you have a vagina, you must be sweet, decorated with makeup, maternal and passive.  But what happens if someone steps outside of those gender barriers?


Our gender roles are so intertwined with us in our society that we don't notice them.  But the second someone DOES, we immediately notice.  Think if you saw a full grown man, walking down the street in pumps and a halter top.  You would immediately take notice of him over everyone else on the street.  Why?  Because he's "weird", we have an immediate prejudice against that individual because he doesn't fit the roll of a fully grown man.


In World War II, women had to take up a "man's role" of building airplanes, tanks, bombs and more to fuel the war and our eventual success.  Eventhough temporary and brief, there was still a gender role switch in the United States.  Unlike us here in America, there are cultures all around the world that have much different roles that what we assign our citizens.  Native American tribes in Northern America have what is called "Two Spirit", which is someone who has qualities of both male and female.  They would wear the clothing of both genders and perform actions that were of both genders as well.  They were held in high regard and held positions such as healers and match-makers

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Formal Paper #2 Proposal

Topic: For my paper, I am planning on writing about the difference between sex and gender.  My main focus is going to be how males can be feminine and vice versa, this all pertaining to how society labels each gender.

Exigence: Depending on the society one grows up in, there are specific gender roles assigned to each sex.  And what happens when one decides to go outside of those bounds?

Intended Audience: Young adults. ill-informed individuals, and those with bias.

Purpose: To educate those individuals on the difference between sex and gender depending on the society.

Claims: My plan is to explore different cultures and their social hierarchy, or lack-there-of.  Then come back and compare it to American culture and point out some of the discrepancies.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

RA #3



Title: “Bros before Hos”: The Guy Code
Author: Michael Kimmel
Date: 11/3/12
Topic: Modern day appeal of masculinity on today’s society.

Exigence: Kimmel’s argument has been very present in society, from as far back as I can remember, and even farther back in time.  Personally, “The Guy Code” has been present since elementary school, there’s always been a struggle of “who’s the most manly” with boys, who are naturally very competitive.

Intended Audience:  I believe the intended audience is a vast number of people.  This article applies to many different people.  It reveals a lot to men ,who might be reading this, about social constructs that they might not even be aware of.  These social norms are so ingrained in one that they go completely unquestioned.  This article also applies to women and children, who may either not understand why men do what they do, or it could reveal to these people that the “Guy code” is a creation of people themselves, rather than just accepting that what men are doing is natural.
Purpose: The purpose of this article is to educate the masses as to why men act this “certain way”.  It also provides anecdotes of men who are afraid of stepping outside the bounds of their gender roles, and how that runs their lives.

Claim: All men are constantly fighting to be “the most masculine” and are trapped within their own idea of masculinity, which hinders them from expressing oneself outside the bounds of gender roles
.
Main Evidence: 

Rhetorical Analysis:

Writer’s Strategy 1: Writer hooks reader in by talking about women, and “what it means to be a woman”.  These women go on to talk about how they can be whatever they desire to be.  This then makes the transition to men who are locked within “being a man”.

Writer’s Strategy 2: Writer then gives us the “Real Guy’s Top Ten List”, which most men can relate to.  Kimmel then breaks down all 10 of what’s on the list and provides a sociological background as to why these messages are so ingrained.

Writer’s Strategy 3: Kimmel then talks about how men are constantly fighting for dominance, and how they strip others of their masculinity by calling them “gay” and “fags”, as to compare them to homosexuals, which is taboo and a curse among men, so they try to stay away from being gay as much as possible.

Reader’s Effect 1: The beginning of the article is interesting because the reader thinks the article is going to be some kind of “yeah guys kick ass” kind of article, but then Kimmel shifts the argument over to attacking men, which kept my interest.

Reader’s Effect 2: The “Real Guy’s Top Ten List” is something most men can associate with, hooking the reader in further.  Then as the article progresses, it shows the reader how all these constructs were formed.

Reader’s Effect 3: Once Kimmel starts talking about how men constantly call each other degrading names in the hopes of demasculating them is eye-opening, to say the least.  Men call each other “gay” and “fags” all the time, without hesitation as to why the person is calling them that in the first place.

My Response:  I am going to defend this article, it really provided an insight as to why men “do what they do”, and how these social constructs are actually bringing us down.  Instead of men worrying about themselves and improving one’s well-being, they’re at each other’s throats making sure the other man isn’t “being gay”.  This really shed some light on my situation in particular, I was in military school for part of my high school career, and that place was the definition of masculine, and “knowing your place”.