Sex Ed

In today's presentation we focused on sex education and programs that are implemented throughout the country that deal with sex ed in schools. For me it was interesting to hear about the sex ed or lack there of that some of my classmates received in comparison with my own. For me we received most of sex education in high school and then we did not really focus on abstinence. It was mentioned that abstinence was the best way to prevent pregnancy but we focused more on the over all health surround sex and our bodies in general. It was kind of unspoken that most people would not remain abstinent until marriage and that general education about our bodies and how they go together was best. I thought it was interesting to hear about some different atmospheres where abstinence was seen as the only option and sex was out of the question.
Another aspect we talked about was even knowing that when we are going to have sex we need to use protection how do you ask your partner about using a condom or the pill. In the throes of passion how does a girl stop and ask the guy if he has a condom or how does the guy ask the girl if she is on the pill. And is it okay for girls to have condoms as well or should it be the guys responsibility. This made me think while the sex ed I received seemed very comprehensive, how do you broach this subject? I believe in order to truly get teenagers to use protection the aspect of asking about it needs to be shown in the education videos they show us. After all what guy walks around all day with a condom on so they are ready to go at anytime?

Rape as a Tool of War

In our presentation on Thursday, much of our conversation turned to the topic of the use of systematic rape as a tool of war. This was a topic that my small group had been focussing on in our previous discussion and I believe it is one that must be talked about. In conflicts where ethnicity is involved, rape is used as a way to destroy what makes a community a certain ethnicity. In the Balkans, Serbs raped Bosnians to cleanse the land of Bosnians and make sure that their Serbian blood line permeated the region to assert their superiority. But what happens after the Serbians leave. Many women are left with children they would rather forget about than raise and others with husbands who would disown them if they even mentioned being raped. And worse in a society as patriarchal as that of the Balkans, the women have absolutely no one to talk to. Despite the fact that many of the women in their community might have been raped as well, they cannot find comfort in each other for fear of what would happen to them if they found out. One woman went so far as to say that all of her daughters were good girls and only served the soldiers tea, there was no way that her daughters would have been so bad to have been raped by the soldiers. She acts as if they ever had a choice, which goes against the whole definition of being raped. In a society such as this how do people even begin to heal and others even begin to help. For many of this women it will be a torment that they will harbor their whole lives with the feeling of blame for allowing this to happen. For many women it would be better to committ suicide than be raped. This makes you question what kind of world do we live in that a women would choose death over the possibility of life and what kind of societies allow women to believe that their rape is in any way their fault?

Human Trafficking

In class on Tuesday we had a presentation on human trafficking around the world. This got me thinking that human trafficking is an unspoken problem around the world including in the United States. It is a huge problem that everyone knows exists but very few people do anything to combat it. Much of the conversation we had in class was focused on solutions to help prevent human trafficking. While many of the solutions for awareness of the situation were excellent points, I believe that in order to combat human trafficking we must combat many of the reasons why humans are trafficked. Although some people in the human trafficking industry are kidnapped and essentially forced into sexual slavery, the majority of people in the industry are sold by family members, sell themselves or are tricked into a kind of indentured servitude. In many underdeveloped countries children are seen as commodities. When a family needs money, they are then sold and often times become part of the trafficking industry. Therefore the best way to combat the industry is to deprive it of its commodities. The best way to do this is to promote financial security in the underdeveloped countries so selling children is no longer the only option. Until we can do this the ideas to promote awareness will do little to end the trafficking of humans.

Gender in War

While doing research for my group project in this class, I came across an article about female suicide bombers. I was immediately intrigued because of the discussions we have been having about females as violent. This text, by Nino Kemoklidze, centers on the stereotype of women as victims and how that is applied to female suicide bombers. The author uses the so-called Black Widows of Chechnya as her example of a group of female suicide bombers. Kemoklidze sets the stage by talking about the patriarchal background of the Chechens to better explain the role the women play in this type of society. She then goes on to explain that even as these women were taking the lives of so many, the media still portrayed them as victims. Society could not understand why a self-sacrificing woman would take her life and others unless she was forced into it. Where as a male suicide bomber would be portrayed as evil the woman can only be portrayed as weak and vulnerable. Kemoklidze challenges the reader to realize that a woman can be political and trying to fight for the independence of her country without being forced by men. A woman can be dangerous and violent.

            This article was very interesting to read because Kemoklidze forces the reader to question the stereotypes they have of women and their ability to inflict harm. She argues that especially in a society as patriarchal as the Chechen society that the idea of a woman as harmless and vulnerable is just that, an idea. She argues that it is demonstrated especially by the Black Widows because they blow the stereotype completely out of the water. Here are women intentionally harming those around them as part of a political movement. This is a very good argument for the idea that gender in war is socially constructed by the media surrounding the conflict.

Princess Boy

Princess Boy Video
This is a video I saw on facebook that someone had posted about a young boy who prefers to dress up in girls clothing. What I love about the video is the support system he has from his whole family and his teachers at school. I love the fact that in order to make him feel more comfortable on halloween, three men from his school put on a ballet performance for his whole school to teach other children that  it was okay. The tolerance that they are teaching I think is something that needs to be taught in every school. These days children are so mean. I think all parents should take a cue from the older brother of this little boy and just be proud of their kids no matter what they like to do and teach them about acceptance of everyone.