After this course I learned multiple things about the issues of race, class and gender and how it relates to today's popular culture. An issue that I myself have never realized was such a profound issue in society is the issue of race and gender. Alone the issue of race still exists in our world. Racism is still persistent among cultures and present throughout our structural system. The most interesting topic to me that we discussed in depth was the two issues on White Privilege and Color Blindness. As a white middle class female, I never really realized the privilege I do have as an individual. And I feel that most of my friends and family are also very blind to privilege our skin color has given us. Another issue that applies to me is the idea of color blindness. Since my family is white and privileged I feel like I have been raised to ignore the issue of racism, and fall into the category of colorblindness. The intersecting of these issues was very interesting and made me think about the privilege I have been given but also the sexism I face daily being a woman. It didn't become as apparent until I wrote my research paper. I wrote my paper on the stereotypes of female athletes. The research involved in my paper was very extensive and I really enjoyed it. Being a female athlete myself made it that much more important to me. But to read about the sexism and ridicule female athletes had to face in order to gain the rights to participate in the Olympics and organized sports is insane. Women had and still have to face stereotypes of being lesbian, dyke, butch, masculine, etc. because they chose to act out of the norm of society and play a sport. After every discussion we have had in class I have come away from class thinking about how corrupt society is. The media and popular culture feed into a large part of why stereotypes, rationalizations, and hatred are present in our society. But the worst isn’t just the media and culture it is people in our society. It is the beliefs that we as people have bought into, the norms and precedents we have set for the people in the world around us. Especially, including our family, friends, and peers. What our society needs to understand is how to adapt. The world is constantly changing, and people need to learn how to adapt to the world around them, rather than create phobias and hatred toward issues they fear.
Since taking this course many things in my life have become much clearer. I understand more about my identity particularly, my race, class, and gender, and the privilege I have been given. After being educated about race and the ideals behind color blindness, racism, and white privilege I feel that I can be much more open-minded. Open minded in a sense of understanding other races, that aren’t my own. And I hope I can spread my ideal of open-mindness towards other races to my family and friends. Today’s world is so diverse with cultures and peoples; I feel that it will be beneficial to me in my life now and for my career. For my career as an elementary school teacher I will be able to connect with more of my students that are of other races and cultures than myself. In addition, being open-minded will give me more of a curriculum to teach and will help me educate and open the minds of other students that seem to be racist or color-blind. As far as my everyday actions and behaviors, I think a huge behavior I need to change not just for myself but for my surrounding community is the ignorance toward homosexuals. I hear many people in my community misusing words that refer to the homosexual orientation, and I feel that that is a big issue. By reacting to how people use such words around me I feel I can make a difference, and change how they use the words. I also feel that in a school setting I can aid children in being comfortable with both race and gender. I also feel that I can promote girls and women in my school system to stand up for women’s rights and themselves as women. Overall, I have learned a lot through taking this course, and feel that I can change others views and make a difference in the world!
Depending on the society access to wealth, powers, rights, are influenced by their race, class, and gender.
ReplyDeleteThe first and major group is “race” (White, Black, Latino, Asian, etc). These are what separate all people into groups around the world. Each race is a group of people and in that group comes the next divider - “class”. In each race there is/are classes that designate groups of people into their positions of that particular race – upper class, middle class, lower class, and poor. And after class, comes the most basic binary system: “gender” – man or woman.
Then “race” is put into its own hierarchy, however, classes of different races intersect. Within each race there are people that can move between classes.
From there it becomes a “flight of stairs”. An example of the “flight of stairs” will be the white race. In that white race are the classes, each class being above or below another. The upper class is made up of man, who ranks the highest of all, and women, the second “lower” highest. The upper class men and women have more opportunities in education, resources, money, and privilege then the class below them – middle class. From there the same process continues until it comes down to the very bottom – the poor white man/woman.
This “flight of stairs” exists within every “race” and “class” that intersects until it too comes down to the very bottom - poor man/woman.
There are people that escape race, class, and gender stereotypes such as Opra Winfrey.
Knowing now how complex the world is and what I have learned makes this life changing.
I would think I would understand a person’s situation better and even help in pointing them in the direction of where to improve it. Being able to be more analytical and using more complex reasoning in everyday situations and encounters with people when issues like these come up. Not looking on what’s on the outside or where that person is coming from and looking on the inside, seeing past the social stigmas and binary system.
I believe that I can make the greatest difference by teaching my younger cousins (8 and 12) the next generation (my children) about what I have learned. To explain to them about “white privilege” which they didn’t earn just born with it and how there are those weren’t born with either. To give them a full understanding that the way they view “their” world is not the same as everyone else’s world. To have them understand that they are white, middle class, male/female; and it is these that give them “privilege” that was unearned and that not all people have this “privilege”.
By opening their eyes to the diversity of the world (race, religion, gender, ethnicity, etc) and have them know that people should not be judged by these things but by who they are, what they are able to achieve, and that everyone given an equal and fair chance will make society a better place. And if possible, that they, and others who have the knowledge that our class has learned, teach their children these important issues, maybe then in a future generations they can look back at this one and previous ones and think “I can’t believe how backwards we/they were” and “look how far we have come”.