Masculinity Versus Femininity: p.175-177

After reading this section I would have to say that I was really amazed at how many different cultures put a lot of high values on masculinity. I understand that in some cultures there are some expected labels of what men are expected to and what women are expected to do, and in my opinion I think that’s sad. In some countries like Afghanistan women are looked at as inferior to men and are forced to obey certain rules in order for the roles to stay that way. In America I would have to say that more of the Masculinity Versus Femininity is based on sports and gender roles. Like some people don’t watch women’s basketball because it’s considered as a man’s sport. For example do you ever hear anyone talk about when the next big WNBA game is? I know I haven’t but one is for sure you see the next Lakers game advertised everywhere! In addition to sports gender roles has a huge part in Masculinity versus femininity. In many families cooking and cleaning is considered to be a females role, where as the masculine role is fixing things around the house. In my family there are some husbands who will not let their wife mow the lawn because they feel as thought it’s their job to do so. In opinion I don’t really believe in Masculine and feminine roles too much. I believe that there are certain jobs men should do because it can be dangerous but I feel like other things like cooking, cleaning, yard work, changing the oil, being the handyman around the house and even playing sports are all equal in my eyes because the women in my women do all of these things. So in my world Masculine versus Femininity is just away to try to put women in their place to fit the male criteria of what a woman should be but doesn’t necessarily have to make it reality.

This photo below is a great example of feminine versus masculinity because she has on the veil which portrays the women’s role but she flexing her are muscle, which is looked at as being very masculine.

Uncertainty Avoidance: pg. 179-180

After reading this section I found it interesting that there are certain cultures that do certain things to prevent the feeling of uncertainty or unknown situations. Based my life I would have to say that I have low uncertainty avoidance because I live life expecting the unexpected. Although I will say that I know a lot of people who have a high uncertainty avoidance in other words they get mad if someone doesn’t have an answer to their question like a professor, or go crazy if they don’t plan their day out according from the time they wake up to the time they go to sleep. People with high uncertainty avoidance live their lives seeking a sense of security knowing what’s going to happen rather than relaxing and excepting life as it comes despite the outcome. In my opinion I feel as though people should live a little bit of both. In some cases I feel as though having low uncertainty avoidance is needed and in a lot cases I feel as though high uncertainty avoidance is needed as well especially if you are in the business field. However in my opinion outside of business and school, people should live their lives in a low uncertainty avoidance it because it would give people an equal balance on life rather than being stressed out all the time or being too relaxed.

I chose this picture because it shows a visual example of how people look at uncertainty avoidance, high or low. Either you’re trying to avoid those routed or you’re going to accept the unknown.

Paralanguage: Pg. 118-119

After I read this section on paralanguage I found it to be really interesting because for one I never knew that this language had a specific name and for two I do this ALL the time. Jandt describes paralanguage as a non verbal element of the voice that includes vocal characterizations, such as laughter, sobs, different pitches (high/low), and vocal segregates like “uh-uh.” Its interesting to know that some of the paralanguages we use in the US to get someone’s attention can mean something totally different in another country. For example whistling in America can mean you think someone is attractive or you are trying to get another persons attention; where on India it is considered as offensive. I also found this section interesting because there have been times when I would be around with my friends or family I would act like I’m sad or mad, by whining or growling, and they usually knew exactly what each of those sounds meant.  Something interesting that I also found to be true was the pitch in which a person uses their voice. Moreover many it bothered me reading the section that talked about how people try to determine someone’s educational status and manners based on the way that they talk. I can relate to this because I have seen situations where people are quick to make assumptions based on the way someone speaks. If a person is loud they are considered as rude. If someone talks with slang or broken language they are considered as uneducated. But if a person talks politely in a soft tone they tend to get more respect. I noticed that people tend to talk politely or softly when they call a business number, or are being interviewed. After reading this subject I never really noticed how much of an emphasis our society puts on paralanguage until I read this section.

Here’s an example of paralanguage from pretty woman. When she walks in the store one can see exactly how paralanguage is portrayed by the employees.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rZJ3pBAYTk

Indentity and Race: P.30-31

In the section of identity and race I feel like the author brushed up on a lot of topics that I can relate to in my life. On page 31 the author talks about how races of color look at the white race as superior, distinct and unapproachable; where as whites themselves are unaware of their racial identity compared to people of color.  Furthermore this topic also talked about how people of color are more aware of out identity and we associate inferior traits with skin color. In addition to this I can truly that that I can relate all of this to my life. Being a female of African American decent there have been times where I felt as though my race had a lot to do with the way Caucasians have acted towards me. For example there have been times when I would go shopping and I would see the cashier kind of following me around the store to see if I was going to steal anything because I was black. Not only that but I have also witnessed racial identity among my family and friends where they would say they didn’t get a job because they were black or situations where the cops pulled them over because they were black. Racial inferiority exists in all races not just mine, but overall I would have to say that I strongly agree with the main points that were said in this section because I’ve seen it happen in my personal life.

I chose this picture below because it gives the perfect example of saying regardless of what are race is black, white, Mexican, Chinese, the only race that truly exists is the human race.

Ethnicity Pg. 21

Ethnicity is a subject that is apart of our everyday life and definitely a big part in mine as well. Ethnicity is another term we use to refer to certain race of a group of people who share the same decent or heritage who share the same common culture. Our race is what makes us who we are because that is how we identify ourselves. After reading this section I realized how much we actually identify ourselves without even noticing it. I also noticed how a lot of people say identify themselves based on tribes. For example I have a few friends who are Nigerian but they use tribes to specify the type of Nigerian they are. Another part of this topic that caught my interest was how the author talked about the use of hyphens to describe cultures because it describes a specific group such as “African-Americans or Asian-Americans”. However in the US today a lot of people have dropped the hyphens and just put the name together like so Italian Americans. In my opinion I think that it doesn’t make a difference because at the end of the day I am still using the same phrase to identify myself hyphen or no hyphen. It amazes me how society will change something small like a hyphen to make other ethnicities feel as though we are all as one.

I chose this photo because this picture because although it shows the different ethnicities’; it still shows how we can all come together as one regardless of what we’re labeled as to society.