9to5!

So I chose to do my service learning hours for Gender and Communication with 9to5 and I met with them for the first time on Friday the 18th. I was satisfied with the meeting and everything went swell! We covered a few projects that we will be working on together and decided on a scheduled time to meet every week. It has been decided that I will be working with 9to5 every Thursday in the morning. Tomorrow is the first day I will be legitimately working with them and logging hours. I am excited to see what is instore for me and I already have a few ideas for the project we will be working on.

We will be helping to plan all the ins and outs of an event that will be taking place in August. Once it is all set up and August rolls around, even though spring semester will be over, it is my full intention to attend this event and see how everything panned out. It will without a doubt be great time and Im excited to see my ideas and work along with everybody elses flourish and come together as a whole.  My expectations of 9to5 and the work I will be doing with them have been met so far. I have a good grasp on what is expected of me and what the work I will be doing entails, which was a big expectation of mine because I do not want to be working blindly. Second, I got to meet a couple of the other students and 9to5 staff that will be coming together to complete the project as well as other tasks. This was important to me because now I have a good idea of the group dynamics and I know what everybody has to offer after speaking with them at the meeting. I am excited to be working with 9to5 and I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Gender Movements

Men and women have battled for their rights for ages and still are. Of the many men and women's movements that have influenced society I cannot say that I personally identify with any of them. I am a man so obviously I cant relate to any of the women's movements. In addition to that I'm a college student in my very early 20s and a majority of the men's movements are targeted at older men with a lot more problems on their hands than reading textbooks and getting assignments done on time.To be honest, before taking this gender and communication course I didn't even know there were men's rights movements. The masculinist men's movements struck me by surprise because of their extreme nature and I found that the men's rights movements had more merit to them. After reading about the many mens movements I decided that the father's rights movement, which is relatively new, was the most legitimate. I say this because it strives for fifty-fifty custody rights for fathers, which I believe is an important issue. In my opinion, every good father shouldn't have to lose their children, whom they love and have helped raise, to a divorce.

The Power of Naming

Language shapes awareness in a variety of ways and has the power to influence the meanings of culture. As a society we tend to only name what is important to us and the meaning of what is being named relies greatly on the connotation we associate with the word or phrase. With a positive connotation comes acceptance and favorability and a negative connotation brings distaste and rejection. This being said, we can change language to reflect our changing understandings and perceptions of ourselves and the world that surrounds us.

Recently many people have made an effort to shape language in order to be politically correct. Instead of using the word stewardess, we say flight attendant because the word stewardess insinuates the profession is exclusively for women. This is exactly why we have mail-carriers instead of mail-men and this trend is also affecting the way we describe cultural happenings. "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year," a phrase used forever has changed to "Happy Holidays" partly because all the cynics out there believe it to be offensive due to its exclusive nature. In this particular situation I don't agree with "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" slowly changing to "Happy Holidays" because it addresses two special days that are already exclusive to a culture and the people that identify with it. Why try to include people of different cultures in a time that only has significant meaning to the individuals that identify with it?

Early and Recent Portrayals of Gender Expectations

There are countless expectations for genders in our society and they are communicated to each and every one of us through many channels such as the media, parents, and peers. It is tough to remember the earliest interaction with my parents that communicated expectations for my gender. This is because as far back as I can remember, I knew I was a boy and not a girl. I attribute this to the fact that expectations for genders are imposed upon children at a very early age, from the time they are wrapped in a blue or pink blanket until adolescence.

The most recent interection I had with someone that communicated expectations for my gender was just last Saturday. I went to Colorado Ski and Golf with a friend of mine to buy a GoPro action camera for snowboarding, and while there we decided to walk around a bit and check out the store. After browsing their selection of boards I decided to try on some helmets. I picked one up that I thought looked cool, but once I strapped it on my buddy laughed a little and said "you shouldn't get that one,you look like a girl." I laughed a little and immediately took it off because Im a man and I don't want to look like a girl while im snowboarding. There was no mirror to examine how I looked, but I valued my friend's opinion because I have known him for a long time and we both associate with the same gender.