Part Deux: As Nature Made Him response

About two weeks ago, I finished reading the book as nature made him by John Colpinto; where he depicts the life of David Reimer (also known as: Bruce, and Brenda) and his life as a boy, to girl back to a male. His story is unique because he was born a healthy baby boy and due to an unfortunate circumcision accident, his parents, with the advice of Dr. Money had a sex reassignment to a girl. Colpinto just depicts the life of David as he grows up; emotionally, physically and psychological.

The more I got to analyze this story, the strongly I felt against Dr. Money and his theory. I just think that it was so unfair that he was so pompous and stubborn that he didn’t care about the life he was ruining—or shall I say lives; yeah, lives sound better, for the sake of his reputation. He ruined the lives of the reimer family, he tried to put his “theories” and tried to make Brenda happy with whom she was, even though on the inside he/she was miserable. We can clearly see that the twin's ending is not your typical, "and they lived happily ever after",  because of Dr. Money's meddling and stubbornness.   the scars that were left were deep, which hugely affected the twins, even in the later years of their lives.  Another thing that upset me was the things he made the twins do, it was completely disturbing. Dr. Money tried messing with nature and nature came back and bit him in the arsenal (I apologize for my lack of better words). Another thing I realized while we discussed this in class was nature vs nurture go hand in hand. You cannot believe that one is greater than the other, and we can see in this case how nurture did not work.

What I learned about gender identity is that your identity (well the majority of it) comes from within, how you feel and not by how your parents dress you, not by how people tell you how you should feel. In David’s case, even though he was dressed as a girl, he felt like a boy. His thoughts were boyish; his attitudes were more masculine than feminine, boyish things interested him. But he was constantly told that he was something else. Gender Identity is not the sex you were born, it’s how you feel. Also with construction, I’ve felt that if you feel that you should change, then do it. Because you feel like you’re old enough to make your own decisions and how you feel. What the Reimers should have done, what Dr. Diamond stated is that: they (parents of those who went through the same situation as David) should let the children decide when they are aware of their gender identity. When they know who they are, even if you’re 4 years old, kids know who they are. Maybe it won’t be 100% but they know. 

As Nature Made Him blog response numero uno

Reading “As nature made him” brought mixed thoughts, reactions. While reading this, I didn’t know what to expect and as I read more into it, I was just getting more upset and Dr. Money. I was so upset with him because he didn’t take the twin’s feelings into consideration, and all he wanted was to look good. He was ambitious and didn’t stop at nothing. When he was questioned, he would get agitated and yell. But aside from that, as I read it I realized that even if you’re born a certain gender, it doesn’t mean it determines how you act, if that makes any sense? I feel that you’re born a certain way and you can’t, even if you try psychologically make someone feel a certain way. In Bruce’s example, even though he was a girl, he never felt like a girl, no matter how much he tried to feel like a girl and fit in. The parents tried their best to make him fit into society. David’s (Bruce or Brenda’s) accident was a horrible one, and his parents out of love did something so he won’t feel left out. But in the end, it just made things worse.  This happened during the 60’s 70’s, during the “sexual revolution” so what was happening was new and controversial, but more accepted as if were to happen 20 years before.

As I said earlier,  I feel as if gender does not determine how you feel (feminine or masculine). A woman can be a woman, but if she doesn’t feel like one, regardless of the times she’s told one, she won’t be happy. Like Bruce’s case. 

Space: influencing character? (Persepolis)

Space is everywhere. I’m not talking about the outer space, where the nebulas, and different planets are (although, that is a space). But space: where one goes to relax, to read, heck even personal space is space. Space doesn’t necessarily means a room with four walls; it could be outside in a park, beach, and mountains. Space does determine who we are, too; or it shapes us, it can mold our characters.

In Persepolis, we see the different spaces that Marjane finds herself in. These spaces transform, and shape Marjane, whether or not she sees it. For Example, in the beginning of the book, when Marjane is explaining her childhood, she was a very imaginative child. She talked to God; she thought that she was going to be a prophet. Even though her parents weren’t so religious, but she read books about religion.  Also, as the Islamic revolution starts, and Marjane starts finding out about heroes she wants to learn more about them and she is more interested in different governments, this is where a seed is planted, where she starts getting more interested in politics which later on shape her more. As she grows older, Marjane gets more politically involved because she knows more and she is more aware of her surroundings, she starts rebelling and questions her teachers to a point where she almost gets expelled. In the book, her parents decide it’s best that they send her to Austria. Here, is also another space where Marjane inherits a different persona. The people she met change her, and she starts smoking weed and even sells it, and starts dating. When she goes back to Iran, she enrolls into an art school with her then husband. Because she wanted freedom, she got married, thinking that she loved him, but the marriage didn’t last. During the “space of marriage” I guess you can say, she wasn’t the same Marjane. Although her husband wasn’t those, “macho” men, Marjane would still just lounge around her parents’ house, and dind’t talk to her parents—to a point that her father had told her that she was just being lazy and wasn’t doing much with her life. All of these influenced her a great deal, it in a way shaped who she was whether it was permanent or temporary, but these spaces influenced her a lot.

       The Gender roles changes in Iran and in the west; in Iran, the women (after the revolution) women where required to hear the veil and the long skirts, barely showing any skin. Whilst in the West, it’s not strict as far as dress code goes.  But it seems that women in Iran were more oppressed, and they didn’t have the chance to do much. A great example is for marriage. Women couldn’t divorce, without the husbands consent. While in the west, well, a woman can get divorced on her own account and doesn’t have to ask for her husbands permission. It exemplifies part of the gender role. Women aren’t allowed to do much in Iran. While in the west, there are different gender roles, but it doesn’t oppress women’s right.

Twilight V.S Hunger games

Okay so I came across this video whilst tumblring (Yes, I just made up a word using tumblr in the past tense). But while I was on tumblr, I came across this and it reminded me of our class discussion on Monday, I believe? When I mentioned points similar the the points she mentions here in the video.  The day  Syuzanna called me a feminist (I honestly, do not understand why I remember this, but I do) although, twilight and the hunger games should not be compared because they are completely different plots they DO have similarities. Also, this coincides with all the topics we've discussed pertaining to gender roles, Also, because we're about to read "as nature made him". As a hunger games fan myself, I agree with her to a certain extent--to which I won't mention here unless asked. I just wanted to share this with you guys because this was the topic on Monday and I find it funny when she mentions twilight because as you all know, I'm not a twilight fan. But enjoy! /END RANT/

Btw, "may the odds be ever in your favor" :3 (le kitty face)

project space

For project space the group and I decided to go to different parks. Due to lack of transportation and time management, I was only able to visit one park. The park I decided to go to was Northridge Park, by Reseda and Devonshire. Around the park there were restaurants and houses, the houses seemed to be in a secluded area though, the streets were not main streets. Also, around the vicinity of the park there is a police station. When I went it was on a Tuesday around 6:30, the sun was still out, but it was soon to turn a little dark. The people that I saw were couples jogging, there was a kids working out area, and what seemed to me to be an exercise, people who were in their mid twenties to thirties and forties were working out and taking the class; both men and women. Also, by the basketball court I saw a lot of men in their early/mid twenties playing basketball. It was a nice park, clean with a lot of facilities and it seemed like they offered a lot of classes. A lot of the people were there after work it seems, to blow of steam or to relax. The ethnicity varied, too. I didn’t see just one group. Also, there were kids practicing soccer. Since it was a Tuesday, I think many were there to relax or to get their work out. It wasn’t a lot of people either, not compared to how it would be on a sunny Saturday afternoon. The park itself was very nice and clean. I can't say it was your standard park, because each park depending on the neighborhood is different. But it was a middle-upper class park. It was clean and you didn't see graffiti, and it offered many classes. I visited a park in Los Angeles once, and it was not as nice as this one, it wasn't clean nor did it seem like people cared taking care of it. So depending on the area you're living in, the park will reflect a lot about the neighborhood.

my essay

       Ever since we can remember, we’ve had this idea of how a certain gender should be. Whether or not we notice, Gender Roles seem to have a huge impact in the society we live in. In advertisements we see the masculine male, who is handsome, buff, which is related to strong. If he is with a woman, the woman is usually beautiful, tiny, and delicate, which can be related to weakness. In Disney movies, we’ve always seen the same old plot that a handsome prince comes and saves a damsel in distress. But it’s not only in Disney movies in which we see that. In movies that are out today we sometimes see that the huge role that gender roles partake in. Even in real life, outside from movies we see that gender roles have a huge influence. Women are usually seen as the caring, who provide warmth and love while men who are usually seen as the strong, “macho”, and the breadwinner. In the 1950’s and even in the present, we see this. In the 1950’s a lot of women stayed home and were the housewife and took care of the kids and had a home cooked meal for the family while the husband was away at work. Today, we still see this, but it’s not as present as it was back then. Gender Roles has also influenced us on how we live, on popular culture, such as movies and even in books. Even in advertisements we see gender roles. The graphic Novel, the Surrogates uses gender roles that are similar to how gender roles are viewed in society in real life.

        In the graphic Novel, the surrogates we are taken to a society where people from the comfort of their own home operates as surrogates. These surrogates are robots who look how one wants them to look. This allows the owner to do normal day-to-day errands or activities without leaving the comfort of their own home.  We are introduced to the main character a man named Harvey Greer, who is on the case to find the person who is trying to kill off these surrogates because of these surrogates, people are forgetting what is real and they would rather be lazy and not enjoy life and they let vanity control their life. Harvey Greer, is a policeman, that seems to be strong, and in the end comes to his senses on the dangers of surrogates, and seems to be strong. In the novel, we are introduced to Harvey’s wife Margaret. Margaret is so consumed with her surrogate because it makes her young and feels beautiful. She can’t stand the fact that she is aging and when her husband Harvey tries knocking some sense into her, she won’t budge. The gender role that is being exemplified here is that while the man has common sense, he tried telling her that she didn’t need the surrogate that he wanted to see the real her, she wouldn’t listen. It showed that women could only care about how they look. At the end of the novel, Margaret commits suicide after the surrogates were disabled. Also, another gender role that were seen in the book was the creator of the original surrogate actually was a woman named victoria who changed her name to Victor. The reason why she chose to change her name and gender was simply because a woman could not be taken seriously and men could, so in order to be taken seriously because she was a woman, she had to change. It showed that for some reason women were untrustworthy and maybe even delicate. We’ve always had an idea that strength is by how big are a man’s muscle. In the novel, the gender role that were perceived is that men were strong and the rational ones, while women were untrustworthy and vain.

      Women tend to be viewed as vain because of how the media portrays us. In real life, we see magazines and it’s women usually beautiful celebrities trying to sell us a product. If you pay close attention, you will see that the product that they are trying to sell us is a beauty product. We also see how a women’s role is viewed as vain in the shampoo section or the hair product section at target, or Wal-Mart. Shampoo and conditioner is a unisex product, but it seems to be appealing more towards women then men. You do see the shampoo that does say “for men” but those are very limited. Because women care more for beauty product, companies try to get their attention more. It just shows that many think that one of the many roles that a woman can play is being vain. Or in television shows, they always make a joke about how a girl must always go shopping in order to be happy, or we see in a show or we’ve all encountered a friend that can’t go out because they have no make up on. It is a sad reality that we have this idea on how women are supposed to look or how man is supposed to look because of the gender role that we’ve came to know. In the book, Margaret was so vain that she would rather commit suicide when her surrogate who was younger was disconnected. She did not want to see herself nor accept the reality that we all age and we all grow up that beauty is not only in youth, but as we grow older too. Another juxtaposition from the novel and in real life is when the creator of the surrogates’ name is Victor, but in reality it’s actually victoria. She chose to do this because she as not taken seriously as a woman. Maybe because they’re not viewed as smart as men? Or is it because they are viewed as weak? Whatever reason it may be, she decided to change her name to a manlier name. It just in a way proves that many believe that in order to be successful, you must be a man. A case like this that happened in real life was in S.E Hinton’s life. The author of a great book, “the outsiders” decided to change her name because probably many thought that a woman could not write a book about gangs the way she did. In order for her books to sell or get published for that matter, she had to change her name to make it seem like a man wrote it. Which isn’t fair because women can write a book just as good as a man, but because of gender role and the perception many have, it just makes it difficult for a woman to be taken serious at times.

      The gender roles that are found in the surrogates can be easily related to the gender roles that are in real life. Many have this view on how women should be or how a man should be. It was showed how Margret was seen as this woman who just loved beauty more than her husband and wasn’t happy because she wasn’t young. And Victoria becoming Victor just to be taken seriously. We see this in real life because how the media can sometimes portray women, as women who are more bout their beauty more than anything else, or women have to change their name in order for their book to be published. But it’s not only in the book industry that this happens. Many women will not be taken seriously in a job that is only male dominant because they are viewed as weak. Gender role is everywhere. Unfortunately, nothing can be done about it.

       

The place that my group and I decided to visit was the botanical gardens which is located near Chaparral hall. We just roamed around, until we found a cool green house that you could visit that had many exotic and beautiful plants and flowers. Because it was ten in the morning, my group and I were the only people roaming around the place. It was empty but it was really nice. I think the purpose of that place was just to educate those who are in biology about plants and science, although, it's not very big. But any one can go and visit if they'd like and see around. It just serves more of a learning place rather than a place to relax.