Blog 6

Anna Ehler
Eng 254
2/24/15

The community I think I would like to work with that has been "othered" is teenagers. Most people might not view this group as one that is ostracized or set apart from the norm but I want to write about this group because of the stereotype that often is set for them. One that states that they are crazy and irresponsible and lack moral judgement. I think that this group is one that is not normally seen as one that has a stereotype set against them but I would like to explore both articles and hopefully documentaries that discuss some of the tendencies that society has set towards teenagers.

blog 5

“In other words, deviance is not automatically understood as an objective fact but as constructed and interpreted meanings that are subject to change.” (Hanfler, 13) I think this is an interesting statement. Growing up in the Mid-West, actually Nebraska, my whole life I have not been exposed to this kind of deviance what so ever. It wasn’t until college that I met a gay man for the first time. Watching the Ted Talk about gender identity brought about a lot of different ideas and provided some interesting information I had not been exposed to before. I agree that there is a biological component to gender, the physical aspects of our bodies, the chromosomes and genes that dictate one way or the other. In only extremely rare cases are there any kind of questions or uncertainty in the physical aspects of gender. However, when he discusses the aspects of gender identity and gender expression is where I found myself empathizing with what he said but coming to a different understanding than him. At one point in history there were definite constraints on gender roles. The man went out and worked and brought home the money and the woman stayed home and cared for the house and kids. I agree full heartedly that there were hardly any alternatives outside of those two roles to play. In this day and age I think it is expected that we identify ourselves by so much more than that. Yes, the way my body is made up proves that I am a female but the way I act and the way I think of myself consists of so much more and is far beyond the realm of one simple identifier. I can identify myself as a leader, as an athlete, as a scientist or anything really for that matter and I think it is safe to say that for the vast majority, most would look at me and call me a female but would have many other descriptors that would follow based on how I have interacted with them and what they have seen me do. I don’t need to label myself with another word, though, to be able to express the many different dynamics that being a female can bring. I think by having to put a name or a label to certain aspects of femininity or masculinity or the lack of either or the in between of either ends up getting caught in the same trap as the binary system, why is there a need to have a label anyway? But then I think of labels as creating a sense of meaning as Hanfler explains, “ We learn meanings. Parents, teachers, friends, coaches, the media and so forth teach us our initial interpretations of the world. The process begins at birth, when parents dress baby boys in blue and daughters in pink; we start learning right away what it means to be a girl or boy.” Is it so bad that we have colors that remind us of a specific gender? I think it’s safe to say, and I know this is a generalization, but that once children grow up they have the freedom to associate with whatever color they like. I know my 5 year old cousin’s favorite color was pink for the longest time. I do see, however, that some men in my family who were older were a little put off by that fact and saw it as deviant, different than the norm. But I do see the social construction of that norm changing and that to me shows a population willing to learn and grow.