Straigt but Not Narrow (show and tell post)

After watching the movie The Hunger Games and seeing how beautiful the actor Josh Hutcherson was in it I took it upon myself to do some celebrity stalking. I’m not going to lie the amount of stalking I did was creepy but it was well worth it.  I got to look at his beautiful face and I came across this video on YouTube titled  “Josh Hutcherson is Straight But Not Narrow” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNqKmdN08tE ) After watching it I knew would be perfect to use in a show and tell post. He did the video for a campaign called WeareSbnn (we are straight but not narrow). Their goal is to impact teens positively on how they treat and view there LBGT peers. In the video he is getting the word out about not hating on gay people when you are straight. He says it shouldn’t matter if you are a straight guy and have a guy friend that is gay because that just means there are more girls for out there for you .There are other celebrities involved with this campaign. The actor Cory Monteith who is known for his role in the hit t.v. show Glee did a video too

 ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL7hLzDDbak ) where he says, “We’re guys talking to guys, about guys who like guys.” This is such a huge movement because I feel like there are still so many homophobes out and it is just a sign of ignorance. I mean why does it matter if a girl finds a girl attractive or a boy finds a boy attractive. In Hollywood it is very common for straight guys to be friends with gay guys because there are so many gay guys in the industry. The thing is though in the real world its not nearly as common.  It’s nice that there is a campaign out there that isn’t necessarily focusing on bullying like most of them do but they are taking it a step further and talking about befriending a person who you would normally not.  As a straight girl I have a gay friends that are boys. Honestly I have more fun hanging out them than I do a straight guy or one of my girlfriends. What girl doesn’t want a gay best friend? If someone asked me if I was a homophobe the typical response would probably be me getting really defensive and saying something along lines of me telling them I have tons of gay best friends and I love the Ellen show.  While all of those answers are true I don’t have any friends that are girls that are gay. That’s what these guys in this video are trying to get across. We need straight women talking to women about liking other women and vise versa.

It’s easy to be the neutral person who doesn’t make fun of the gay kid but sees it happening and doesn’t do anything about it.

The question is isn’t that just as bad? Would you not be friends with someone because they love pickles and they hate pickles? I know that’s a silly question to ask, but when you look at things in a simpler perspective it kind of makes you realize you shouldn’t pick your friends by what they like because the fact is, if someone likes or doesn’t like pickles it doesn’t really change their personality or who they are as a person. Your sexuality is whom you are and you are born that way. It doesn’t make you any more or less of a person.  

Rape Awareness post 13

From this week’s readings I was shocked when I read  “Meet The Predators”, and found out that six out of seven rapes are committed by people the victims know. I think I was so shocked because it’s a lot easier to imagine a scary low life person raping someone rather than a person who you are familiar with who looks like a “normal” guy. I think it is a subject that more people need to be aware of. Women are more likely to have their guard up around a stranger or a sketchy person but if you are with an acquaintance or a friend of a friend you feel more comfortable. A rapist could be your brother’s friend or a guy you meet at the grocery store. It could be anyone and rape is a lot more common than you think. I think it should be talked about more in pop culture and it doesn’t get enough attention from the media. I feel like I here celebrities talking about saving the animals or anti-bullying (which are great things to talk about too) all the time, but never about rape statistics and the dangers of it. Maybe its because people are nervous to talk about such a sensitive subject? Or people forget about it. Non the less I think it is a very important issue that needs to be talked about a lot more in order to help people be aware and more cautious of the situations they are in.  

post 12

I feel like from this class I have opened my eyes to a lot more issues that I didn’t even know existed because people in the class are from so many different backgrounds I am more aware of things that I didn’t even know were issues in our society. I’m not as naïve about situations and I am a lot more open-minded. I like how this class made me think about other people views on things and not just my own. I feel like because of that when I leave this class I am going to be a better listener and not be so quick to jump to an opinion on something before I know all of the different perspectives of the issue. I actually want to take more classes like this. I like getting to here everyone’s perspective rather than just what the teacher thinks or one student thinks. Later on down the road when I look back at this class I will be glad I took and remember to not be so quick to judge on issues.

post 11

trigger 

Abortion is such a touchy subject and to be quit honest it is one of the most annoying debates to listen to because really no one can win. I am a Christian and grew up in church, which in most circumstances means that I should think abortion should be illegal.  But I don’t. Reading these different articles for class has not made me change my views on it either. I believe that everyone should have the right to choose between abortions. I say I would never have an abortion but when it comes down to it if I found out I was pregnant right now I couldn’t tell you what I would do. I say I would never have an abortion but what if I am going through something really horrible in my life. The thing is that there are so many girls who have had abortions and you just don’t know that about them. Maybe the reason I am so open about this topic is because I had a close friend in high school that did have one. I was the only one she told about it. It was scary and I tried to talk her out of it but I told her if she did it I would still love and support her no matter what which I did.  The thing that mad me the most sick about it all is that her boyfriend told her he would break up with her if she had the baby. She is the kind of girl who always had to have a boyfriend. She didn’t know how to be alone. You can say she is selfish and an awful person but the funny thing is if you met her you would expect her to be the last person in the world to go through with an abortion. She is one of the sweetest kindest people I know and would give you the clothes off of her back.  Both of her parents have not been in her life that often growing up and were on drugs. She knew if she were to have a baby her very cut off and it would make her parents unstable when they were finally getting better.  Yes it is sad that she did it and I don’t necessarily think it is right but she was 16 and a child herself. Can you really expect a 16-year-old girl to think rationally in this situation?  Especially given all of the circumstances she had been through. When it comes down to it what would you really do? 

Blog Promt 10 Objectification

I feel like everyone can think of a time when they have been objectified sexually. Some women take it as a compliment and some get very offended. I think I get more offended. This might sound weird but too me when someone makes a snarky comment to me or looks me up and down and makes me think I look easy and I’m not that pretty because if I was pretty they would see me as more of a challenge and they would look at me like a human but not an object. To be honest the guys that usually sexually objectify women are kind of trashy looking and they aren’t usually that attractive.

I can’t really think of a time I have been sexually objectified where I took a stand for myself. When a guy says an offensive comment to me about how hot I look I usually just ignore them and keep walking. A lot of my friends give in to it and think its funny to mess with them and playfully banter back. I think its annoying and give them the silent treatment or sometimes give them an answer to their question or comment with a harsh toned comeback and walk away. Why should I talk to someone who says comments to me like that? I don’t think they deserve any of my time. The funny thing is I don’t think I’m that pretty or anything but I always have the creepy guys come up to me and say things and my friends are always like why you. It’s weird because usually those kinds of guys go up to the really hot girls dressed in the skimpy clothes but I’m not that kind of girl. I can’t recall a time when a normal cute guy has approached me. The only thing we can think of the reason they come up to me and not them is because I come across as naïve and innocent so they might think they can get away with something, which is not the case.  

I guess those kinds of guys will never learn and I will just have to keep ignoring them, it’s annoying but not the end of the world. 

Blog prompt week 10-22-12

I found Liz Fletchers visit to WGS very insightful and interesting. One thing that I found very interesting that she mentioned was that a lot of people think you have to have body dimorphic disorder you will most likely develop an eating disorder when the fact of the matter is that is not true. Many people have things about there body that they wish to change. Being a girl that is normal. Basically she was saying just because you wish your arms were a little more toned or your thighs were tinnier doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to develop an eating disorder. Another thing she said that caught my attention was anorexia nervosa has the highest death rate of any other mental disease with a 60% death rate prematurely.  She said that most frequently the patients die by suicide. One statistic that she said shocked me was 8 million Americans have eating disorders. That means 1 in 200 woman suffer from an eating disorder and only 30-40% if people with anorexia recover from it because many of them do not want to be treated for it because they think that is the only way they can live. In a broader since not just talking about eating disorders she said that 1 in 5 Americans are being treated for a mental illness at any given time. People who suffer from anorexia nervosa often times do not want to be treated which means they don’t want to get better leading them to just get more sick. 

Hopefully as time goes on we will know more information about this disease and be able to help more people over come it. I was also shocked to find out that one of the main reasons people don’t get treatment for it is because many people’s insurance will not cover rehab or therapy sessions for it so many people can not afford it causing them not to get treatment.