American Dream

Q.: What is being "normal"?  Why is society developed like this? How can we achieve power and control over our lives? Why do some people have to change who they are just to fit in to be "normal"? Why cant we different and be who we are meant to be without being judged?

A.:In Kevin Jennings' American Dream, he talks about some of the major cultural artifacts in his life that made his own social identity. While growing up in rural community in Lewisville, North Carolina, Kevin Jennings and his mother wanted what most people wanted in the 60s, the American Dream.One of the first cultural artifacts that affect Kevin Jennings was his father and his father’s ministry. He was brought up as a Southern Baptist and right from the beginning he was taught in his father’s sermons that, “gay people were twisted perverts destined for a lifetime of eternal damnation.”  He knew from a very young age of six or seven that he was gay and that because of his upbringings and his father that he needed to hide his difference and pretend to be wheat he thought was “normal”.

Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes

Q.: I really don't have any questions. The questions I have I answer them myself.




A.:In today’s society, there are clearly outlined rules and guidelines that explain how men and women should act. Although they might not be specifically written down on stone, gender roles definitely exist in popular culture. In his article, "Gender Role Behavior and Attitudes", Aaron Devor discusses not only what men and women’s gender roles are, but he attempts to explain why they have become so unflinchingly strict in today’s society.  He says masculinity is usually characterized by dominance and aggression, where as femininity is characterized by passivity and submission.  How exactly did the roles become established? Devor claims that gender roles are the result, rather than the cause, of status inequalities. He explains this hypothesis by saying that the ideology behind gender roles postulates that the cultural superiority of males is a natural outgrowth of predisposition  of males toward aggression and dominance. While females gender roles are based on evolution of the species, such as childbirth and breast feeding, essentially reflect the view that femininity revolves around heterosexuality and maternity.

Goin' Gangsta, Choosin' Cholita

Q.:Some teenagers dismiss gangsta and cholo styles as "affections." What does it mean

 

 to call something an "affection"? What are some examples of an "affection". Is the

 

word used positively or negatively? When we call something "exotic" what do

 

we mean? Is it a favorable or unfavorable comment? Where does the word

 

come from?

 

A.:

In “Goin’ Gangsta, Choosin’ Cholita: Claiming Identity,” Nell Bernstein argues that

some young people have claimed racial identities other than their own and this is not a bad thing.  Some young people are influenced by music and television, and then they begin to mimic the things they hear and see while other people claim to be races they are not because of association or they only claim part of their identity.  Bernstein explains that as time goes by the suburbs are becoming more diverse and people in the suburbs have become infatuated with the “city life”.  At the same time, others have found it too hard to be white or their own race, so they claim another ethnicity, or only part of theirs to fit in.  Bernstein believes that being who you want to be is what the 21^st century is all about.

Acting White

Q.: How does a white person "act"?  Why would people label what we do as a "thing"? Why do we need to be with other people like us?  Why are they just targeting black people?

A.:The fact of the matter is that is does not matter what your skin color is that defines how your future will be determined.  Only you can determine your future.  So you can go with the stereotypes of each race, or you can go against all odds and prove to society that there are no barriers.  I can also tell you that when you have a great home and family that you are able to support because of the hard work you have put into the past, no one will be judging you and saying that you "acted white."  Whatever they say will not matter because whatever you did worked and whatever they did, did not work.