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These two pictures are ones from my baby book. I was born early, yet some family and friends managed to get an “It’s a Girl” basket for my parents nearly right away. It was pink, had a stuffed bear, and filled with candy as well as all sorts of other things. The pink color was intended based off the fact that I was born a girl. Before taking this class and I would look at the baby book my mother made, I would think how sweet it was to receive this; however, now I see why some individuals would be displeased by this. 

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This picture of my brothers and I is specifically a favorite of mine. I am in the middle of both of my brothers and I was just two years old. Growing up, my mom never really stuck to dressing me up in girl clothes if we were at home. She would only do that if we were going out someplace or seeing family and had to look nice. Even though I may not be dressed like a girl, I did however receive the pink bandanna (on purpose) out of all three of us.

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This is a picture of my older sister (left) and my cousin Samantha (right). Above I mentioned how my mother didn’t dress me up in girl clothes often unless we were going out or seeing family. My sister, Dannialle, almost always dressed more girly than me when we were kids. I remember the overalls but I hardly wore them and hardly had bows in my hair, especially if anything I wore was pink because I was not a fan of the color. 

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Final Project on Week 2: Girlhood and Heteronormativity (Part 1/2)

Throughout this semester, I noticed there were several reoccurring topics that were brought up in nearly every discussion group. They weren’t aimlessly discussed because of the class we were all in, rather it was the topics that related to each other, how one lead to the other, or it was the similarities and differences between the two. In my perspective, one of the topics that reoccurred the most was the topic of girlhood and heteronormativity. It was constantly being spoken about how social norms have/haven’t changed since the traditional norms of when our parents and grandparents were around. Many comments in discussion groups always circled back to gender and how heteronormativity is the traditional view and/or belief of individuals.

For this first photo, which I have found, I believe it describes the word “heteronormativity” pretty well. When people hear heteronormativity, they may not necessarily know exactly what it means; however, if they were to look at this short comic strip then they would probably have a better idea as to what it is.

Found at: https://twitter.com/assignedmale/status/656273382019854336

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This picture above is pretty self-explanatory. This is another thing where heteronormativity has its privileges. According to one of the articles, “social scientists have identified not just heterosexism and homophobia as social problems, but also heteronormativity—the mundane, everyday ways that heterosexuality is privileged and taken for granted as normal and natural” (Martin, pg 190). Those who are gay can be fired simply for that reason. From looking at the picture, it is very noticeable that southern Arizona is one of the darker parts of the states, meaning that certain individuals do not “recommend moving there and taking your chance.”

Found at: http://itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2012/01/29-examples-of-heterosexual-privilege/

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Personally, I live in a household where the statement “he’s a man, he can do it” is used quite often. Or instead of saying a man can do it, it’s said a woman can do it; however, that all depends on the task at hand. I believe the above photo is a prescribed heterosexual script. When a woman needs a jar to be opened, a male should do it instead of the woman. Women can do plenty on their own even when they are told that a man should do it.

Found at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Mean-Woman-Can-Open/dp/1853753513

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Only one type of these families is seen on a family restroom sign. That is the one with the female and male parents with the male and female child. I have yet to see one that is not a male and female sign. If others have seen them, I am sure that it was on a rare occasion when it happened. This is another display of heteronormativity. I shouldn’t be surprised if I see anything other than that of a man and woman as parents on a family restroom, yet I am because of how uncommon it is.

Found at: https://i.pinimg.com/236x/30/27/df/3027dfbcfbd98bd1bfef9a9a45d51c27--restroom-signs-bathroom-signs.jpg

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I took this picture of an ad along the way down Palm Walk. Looking at this earlier in my life, I would not have thought much of it, other than the fact that there are job openings. When I read this and saw the “Now Hiring Nannies & Tutors”, the first thing I noticed was how there is a picture of a female at the top. Why not a male? In one of the articles, it is stated that in order “for women to “do gender” properly, they adhere to heteronormative ideals. They compel each other to follow prescribed heterosexual scripts, continually realigning gender performances” (Myers & Raymond, pg 168). Whenever I see the word “nanny, nannies, or sitters”, I still think of it as an occupation for females and advertisements like this would only reinforce that idea. 

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This picture shows how magazines are heteronormative as well. The middle of the picture above says “why is a magazine that’s made for ME all about HIM?!” This is beyond a reasonable question. All the magazines I have seen are for heterosexual relationships. This is yet another flaw in the social system.

Found at: http://solaceforsuperheroes.com/the-impact-of-heteronormativity/

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This year the movie “Love, Simon” came out. I have read something on social media about a girl who lived in a pretty heteronormative household and her mother did not approve when she came out to her as not straight. The daughter was seeing a female an the mother made it very clear she would not give her approval. The daughter took her mother to see the movie and once it was over, the mom finally understood what her daughter was going through and finally started to give some approval regarding her girlfriend. Media plays a huge role in society and movie are rarely not heteronormative.

Found at: https://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/roses-are-red-gender-is-performative-mass-market-romance-is-heteronormative-a1e78/?tagSlug=lgbt

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This photo is a great way to show how individuals grow up with heteronormative aspects in their life, either instilled by parents or society in general. I have lived a life that is pretty much heteronormative, especially coming from the traditional family that I did.

Found at: https://anallenblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/fulfilling-the-heteronormativity-categories/

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4.12.2018

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Morehouse student Timothy Tukes accompanied by friend, Kim, engage in a silent protest with a message that speaks volumes ! #ithappenedtous #morehouse http://ift.tt/1YaMtmc

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The following link is to the Arizona State University website for Sun Devils Against Sexual Assault:

https://sundevilsagainstsexualassault.wordpress.com/

Today in discussion, we talked about how sexual assault and what comes to mind when we think or hear about it. My first thought is how I am always told never to walk alone in the dark or go to sketchy or unknown places, and to always make sure that someone knows where I am. As a female, I was taught things in order to prevent harm or sexual assault from happening to me. With males, it isn’t quite nearly the same situation. I have attached the link for those who would have an interest in researching further into ASU and sexual assault. The website includes a timeline of what has happened at ASU, some of which is displayed in the picture above as well as videos from ASU officers, and short stories from what happened to individuals. 

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Journal 5

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This is important hello (x)

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3.26.2018

While talking in our discussion groups, I noticed that many comments about rape culture were made mainly regarding females as the victims and very rarely regarded males. It is known to happen to females mostly, but it does happen to males as well. I was raised in a family with boys and girls; I have two brothers and a sister. I have always noticed that my brothers were treated differently than my sister and I. The most my brothers were told was to be careful. On the other hand, us girls have always been told to be careful, not walk around alone at night, always keep in touch with our mother or father so they would know where we are, and we were told to dress modest as well. 

One of the individuals in my group said that her friend was roofied at a party and when she was leaving the party with her friend, some guy made the comment that she got roofied because of the way she dressed. It shouldn’t be like that. Males can control themselves. but some decide to take advantage when they can. Parents shouldn’t have to tell females to be careful of the way they dress. Their clothes are not the reason they get raped or become sexually assaulted. It is the individual who is forcing themselves onto another. 

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3.22.2018

Today while in group discussion, it came to my surprise that cops were having sex with sex workers whom they were arresting. These women (an possibly males as well) didn’t give consent to that. I’m not sure why it came to a surprise because there are cops and government officials who always take advantage of their job and/or their position. These women and men who get in this business, do it with consent. They are not being forced to do anything until something of the situation appears. This is something that should be changed because despite their job, those individuals have rights as well. They are human and their job doesn’t mean that any government officials can dehumanize them and treat them like they are simply objects they can use for their own pleasure. Below is a link of an officer who was accused of rape but said he was counseling prostitutes.

https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/cop-accused-rape-said-was-counseling-prostitutes/dC7MG3GuixKaeg1r1SxIgP/new.html 

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Journal #4

I had never thought too much about this topic. It wasn’t something I had really thought or pondered about unless I was watching a movie. Movie content shows sex worker several different kinds of ways and I never thought of them in just one way. That way being a stereotypical one. The stereotype where they hang out on the corner waiting to be picked up by some guy, or that they are dirty and filthy. I had never talked about this in class before nor have I ever really had a discussion about it with family or friends. It is still one of those topics people don’t discuss in comfort. For sex workers, they decide to do this and they protect themselves while doing so; however, they are always treated with rights.

The above photo I have included in this entry clearly states its message. Sex workers rights are human rights. They are still human and they are also still individuals with rights. Just because they are sex workers, does not mean they are automatically striped of their rights. There are times when they are taken advantage of, solely because of their occupation. There is a project known as Sex Workers Project or SWP. The sex workers provides social services and client-centered legal services to individuals who are in this occupation. This includes those who do so by choice and those who don’t have so much of a choice, meaning their circumstances or they were coerced into it. The goal of this project is to create a safe world for sex workers and to create a place where human trafficking does not exist.

There is a quote from the article by Yasmina Katsulis stated by a 23 year old female sex worker named Yizel. Yizel said “The very work on the street, it dehumanized me because I was on exhibit like a thing for sale, facing dangers, and being subjected to humiliations and being frightened and abused by the police” (Katsulis, pg 344). This world will not truly be safe for sex workers until individuals change their opinion or viewpoint on them. Some of these individuals chose the occupation to make sure they would have a place to stay, food to eat, things necessary to survive and not die on the streets because they couldn’t work.

When people really open their eyes to sex workers and the reality of the occupation, they will realize that these individuals, women and men, are human being instead of simply bodies people can use for sex. They are not dehumanized because of their occupation. They should not be taken advantage of by individuals and should be safely protected. Of course, there will not be change immediately but because of the Sex Workers Project, there may be change to come. SWP and other organizations, even random individuals who come out to support sex workers, can help make a change to the rights and treatment concerning sex workers. They take precautions, do their best to keep themselves safe and healthy, but sometimes that isn’t enough.

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3.15.2018

Beginning in kindergarten and going through to high school, all schools I went to were public schools. My first sex education was in the fifth grade. It was very similar to the documentary we were shown in class today. the girls and boys were split up; girls went in one room and boys went in another. At this time, the sexual education was very short. Girls were taught about their bodies, puberty, and what events would happen; however, it was vague. The instructors mainly spoke about the body and puberty. There were no lessons about sexuality or what sex is. In the documentary, there were green bags being handed out to the girls in the elementary school. Yup, my class got those too. My next sex education class was in the sixth grade. This class went more in depth. It was about a week long class where we boy and girls were again separated. Even though we were separated, we all learned about both of the bodies. We were taught about STDs and HIV/AIDS. To this day, I still remember the pictures they showed on the projector. They really weren’t easy on the eyes. If i remember right, the middle school I went to repeated it during seventh grade as well as eight grade. My last sex education class was when I took health during high school. I remember my health teacher having a binder of things she could talk about and things which she could not. Not by her choice though, they were district guidelines she had to follow. This class was probably the most in depth sexual education I had throughout my years in school. She discussed the human body, STDs, HIV/AIDS, protection, planned parenthood, those you can talk to for help, etc. There should be no restrictions on what someone is allowed to teach, explain, or speak of in public schools when it comes to something that concerns another one’s health. 

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2.22.2018

Masturbation is an activity done by both men and women. In the group discussion today, someone brought up a good point that I didn’t necessarily think of. They said when talking about women and masturbation we automatically say “female masturbation” even though the word masturbation is generalized for both males and females. It is absolutely true as well. In the past, women were seen to be more reserved and not allowed to be sexual beings whereas men are seen to be the sex that is labeled as “player”. All nicknames given to men are in a more positive light; however, with women it is one of those topics where most people still get shocked when it is brought up and they begin discussing it. I don’t believe that this is something, even currently, that should be awkward or uncomfortable to talk about concerning females. Both females and males have sex drives so why should it be a problem for one sex and not the other? 

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Journal #3

There are several things that factor into the discourse of female sexuality. One of the main things would be that it isn’t socially talked about a lot. If you compare the discussion of male sexuality to female sexuality, one definitely comes out as more common than the other. Men are seen as being able to talk about it freely and openly whereas women keep it to themselves. Women tend to keep it to themselves because they would feel shame. Usually young girls are not taught that it is okay to be a sexual being so then when they grow up, they would be feeling ashamed to speak about it freely or to even have some people know. Honestly, this is the first class that I have ever had any assignments or lessons about female sexuality. Of course I had classes where it was spoken about female sexual dysfunction and anything else that was medically geared towards the topic. Other than that, there was no discussion of it.

Another factor would include parents not telling their kids about it. As mentioned previously, young girls are not taught that it is okay to feel and/or be sexual. Young girls and boys need to be taught, at the mature age, that it is okay for females to be sexual in the way that boys are. There is always some discussion where there is inequality between the sexes. This is a socially unequal construct between males and females. Usually if a male if sexual and is urged by his peers than it is okay and that he is a “player” or a “stud”; however, with a girl she would not be called such “positive” nicknames. If a female were to be sexual in the way that a male is then they are called slut, whore, etc. 

Religion is a very important factor concerning female sexuality as well. With individuals who are religious, their families and religion expect them to keep that sacred part of them and save it for marriage. If a male who is religious had sex before marriage, it isn’t nearly looked down upon as it would be with a female. If a female had sex before marriage, she would be considered impure and seen to have committed a sin that can never be forgiven. I think that if you were religious and had sex before marriage, the feeling of shame would increase. I say this because this is your social group and you wouldn’t want them to judge you. This social group also combined with the social constructs would make an individual feel the lightest bit of shame in their sexuality, probably even if they were confident and comfortable with it. 

Overall this is huge topic that is more reserved. Because of this and other social construct reasons, women are seen to be not as sexual in the way that males are. As talk about this topic gets out and people become more comfortable discussing the statistics and information about it, I believe that there will be an increase in women who feel more comfortable with their actions and feelings instead of the shame and guilt society causes them to feel.

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2.15.2018

While listening to the podcast “Hysteria”, I had a few laughs. Especially because of the fiction of the topic. It shouldn’t be much of surprise that in the past, males thought women had hysteria because of the fact that they were not wanting to have sex at all or with a specific male, etc. To say that instead of thinking a woman simply did not want to have sex is absurd. To take it even further, medical professionals got involved; however, “hysteria” was a very broad term. There could be so many reasons as to why a woman was labeled with hysteria. Some of these reasons could include natural sexual dysfunction, medications that gave the woman a low sex drive or not one at all, etc. Medical professionals didn’t give treatment to a patient based on full examination. It sounds as if they were only really hearing that the woman was having problems with sex, therefore she must have hysteria. It’s a good thing that medical professionals today now know what they do in order to help and/or treat patients.

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This video relates to a few different things from throughout this week. Firstly, it relates to the video we watched in class on Tuesday as well as my journal and then the class discussion we had earlier today. I noticed that other individuals had the same viewpoint on how child should not be placed into reconstructive surgery because they should look a certain way to society’s standards, that being male or female. There should be another option for those who are intersexed, even if that category is at least labeled as “other”. I don’t mean that as in they don’t have a labeled name, but that classifies them as not simply being male or simply being female. 

What about registration forms, doctor forms, or any type of paperwork? As far as I’ve noticed, the only options concerning gender is male and female. That shouldn’t be the case. Being born intersexed is something in which society needs to accept and readjust views on how things are done. Individuals say biologically you can only be one of two things which is male or female with the corresponding genitals; however, a lot of things are changing especially with people’s rights. How is this any different? Intersexed individuals shouldn’t feel as if they are trapped or placed into a box. They should be able to freely do and say things, because intersex genitals is becoming known as a more common thing only because people are speaking up and talking about it. These individuals shouldn’t feel as if they have to act like it isnt “normal” because it is.

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Journal #2

I believe that a very important piece to remember from the video we watched in class concerning intersexed individuals is that one individual said that her parents never allowed any reconstructive surgery to be done on them. They said it was the best gift their parents could have given them. To be told at a young age that huge amount of information concerning what the “issue” or “problem” is could become a heavy decision on that child’s shoulders. That is only if the parents allow them to make the decision for themselves. At such a young age, children are given the choice to make such a massive decision to stay intersexed or attempt at reconstructive surgery.

If a couple has a newborn and becomes aware their child is intersexed early on, I understand as to why they would go through the process of reconstructive surgery. They may feel they want their child to live a “normal” life, not get judged by those who knew, and/or feel insecure because their genitals do not fit in society’s standards of “normal”. However, the child should be able to make the decision when they are well enough and mature enough to make the right call for what they see as the best fit for themselves mentally, physically, and spiritually.

To go through surgical reconstruction as a child can become traumatizing. As stated in the video, some of these individuals as children were in the hospital up to weeks at a time for the reason being surgery and recovery. Their friends and non-immediate family were unaware of the hospitalizations because the individual’s cover story was they were on vacation and not actually in the hospital. Children shouldn’t be put through the surgery unless it is their choice to do so and they are fully aware on everything that is included. Some individuals don’t even know they are/were intersexed until they were older. There are parents who decide to have the child to go through reconstructive surgery very young and then keep it from them and they don’t know. 

Dating and marriage is another big part. How does an individual who is intersexed feel with this topic? In the video, it is mentioned that one of the individuals who identifies as male is completely open with it. There are other individuals who are insecure or scared about dating because of society’s view on what “normal” is and how the other individual would react to it and/or judge.

I thought one of the sweetest parts of the video we watched during class was when the woman was talking about her and her partner, who is intersexed. It was stated they are lesbians and their children call them mom and dad. The woman was talking about how when she found out her partner is intersexed, she didn’t care because she loved who her partner was and they type of person she was. She didn’t love her because of the body she has. In my perspective, that was the most wholesome clip out of the entire video.

Individuals who are intersexed should be able to make the decision for themselves and live comfortably in this society without feeling like they are metaphorically placed into a box.

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Even though the media has displayed the problems our society has, I don’t think we see enough of it. After watching this video, some may see it as a real eye opener whereas this type of content may be nothing new to them. I like this short video because not only does it show some scenes from the show, but it also has individuals from the film crew discussing the scenes and what was happening in reality outside of filming. I believe the scene where Reggie is at the party on campus and has a gun immediately turned on him is a good representation of what has been happening to African Americans. We hear it in the news, in the media, and also from around us. What has happened and what is happening tends to be because of social scripts and how others perceive that information. They immediately judge, act on their own opinions or what they’ve heard, then are putting people in risk. Reggie is a young black male who immediately has a gun pointed at him when he showed no real danger to receive that type of action.